Today’s Live Friday featured Todd Snider, the gifted alt-country political satirist. Normally, I’m not much for music with such aims, but Snider’s is so relentlessly witty and non-intrusive it’s impossible not to enjoy. With an acoustic guitar in hand and a harmonica around his neck, Snyder declared that “I only share my opinions because they rhyme”. Ranging from topics such as drugged-up baseball players to the effect a skinny high school kid named Marilyn Manson doesn’t really have (you had to be there), the songs from today’s performance were simultaneously poignant and laugh-out-loud funny throughout.

Snyder has 10 studio albums under his belt, and his eleventh, “The Excitement Plan”, includes more of his signature narration and bluesy rock. The release is appropriately titled, as all of the songs are meant to cheer and bring hope in times of struggle. As Snyder himself puts it, “I know right now that times are hard for all of us… These 12 songs can be part of your solution. Just give them a chance. Take them in. Use ‘em to help you appreciate your girl if you still got one, and/or your job if you still got one.”

If you weren’t lucky enough to catch Snyder at the FAN, you have another chance; he’ll be playing at the World Cafe again tonight.

Bekah Larsen
UPenn Intern

Set List:

1. Can’t Complain
2. Bring ‘Em Home
3. Green Castle Blues
4. America’s Favorite Pastime
5. Doll Face
6. Corpus Christi Bay
7. Unorganized Crime
8. Song #10