Concert review: Buck Pets reunion at Trees (April 10)

by Teresa Gubbins

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Quartet delivers blazing, transcendent performance.

DALLAS — It would be understandable if one were to view the reunion show of the Buck Pets on Saturday at Trees as merely the latest in a string of revivals from the late '80s and early '90s that's included Dallas clubs DJ's, Hot Klub, Theater Gallery, and the Basement.

But that would be wrong. Saturday night's show turned out to be a much greater experience than a walk down Memory Lane. The Buck Pets picked up where they left off more than 15 years ago to give a blazing, transcendent performance -- one whose intensity blew away even the eager expectations of the audience of more than 500.

Charging briskly through two dozen songs, the quartet exhibited its trademark fire but also precision, recalibrated after a week's worth of practice. To make this reunion happen, two members had to return to Dallas: Bassist Ian Beach came from California, and singer-guitarist Andy Thompson from Virginia, joining singer-guitarist Chris Savage and drummer Ricky Pearson, who still live here.

Fans came from all over too, such as Jeff and Rebecca Bridges, who flew into Dallas from California on Saturday and flew back on Sunday, expressly to see the show. Other familiar faces included ex-Course of Empire guitarist Mike Graff, Deep Ellum It Girls Carissa Hughes and Cat Hough, fireball manager Tony Edwards, promoter Scott Beggs, and more.

The Buck Pets' music always had a complexity that surpassed run-of-the-mill rock tunes; they also had stage presence galore and a fiery live show. None of that has changed. Drummer Pearson beamed as he played. Beach did loopy windmill strokes and made beckoning gestures to the audience, as if to say, Come on. Thompson, in the center of the stage, was placid and remote until he sang, when his upper-range vocals conveyed the plaintive vulnerability that is a key component of their sound.

Savage, who currently plays in Dallas band Mic the Tiger, was the incandescent center; he divided his time between issuing walls of rock-god guitar noise and dishing out bits of wit, such as his light mockery of the lameness of the encore ritual. "The 'encore' thing is kind of ..." he said, his voice trailing off as he rolled his eyes.

They did "A Little Murder" and "Hammer Valentine" from their self-titled debut; from Mercurotones, their second release, they did "Moon Goddess" and "Pearls" and "PM" and "Some Hesitation," during which Thompson's teen son came out and played guitar.

They did "Living Is the Biggest Thing," from To The Quick -- "the album nobody heard," Savage said sardonically -- and it was hard not to feel a bittersweet twinge as he sang:

His guitar notes rang disconsolately, seemingly underscoring the injustice of the band's breakup in the '90s, abruptly, before its time, and with it, cutting off the infinite possibilities locked inside its untapped potential; not to mention the sorry state of the music industry and its infuriating inability to make room for sundry good acts instead of the same 15 crappy songs you hear on the radio day in and day out.

But then something Savage said came to mind -- that this reunion was constrained by geography -- i.e., it has to be a one-shot deal, and so they'll go back to their routines still somehow connected. The show provided the pleasure of witnessing four people who are exceptional at what they do, doing it together.

They closed the set with a powerful rendition of "Song For Louise Post," the would-be "hit" off their first album. Its insistent tempo and pleading vocals had Savage and Thompson singing in tandem and the crowd drenched with enthusiasm, raising its arms in salute.

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