A four-piece with a feral, rockierupdate of The Smiths’ melodramatic guitar-pop, The Celebrated Workingmansoundtracked a two-hour tour of the Milwaukeewaterways Saturday night. They performed on a makeshift stage on the boat’sstern, which they had decorated with Christmas lights, using amplifiers thatsat precariously on stacked deck chairs.
The voyage was scenic and pleasant,with lovely views of the Milwaukee skyline andriverfront and the South Shore Frolics fireworks, though the band andpassengers alike were caught off guard by how rocky the waters briefly becameonce the boat left the Lake Michigan harbor.
“This is really hard,” singer-guitaristMark Waldoch said with a laugh between songs, as the band spread their legs tosteady themselves, and the woozy, merry crowd clung to each other’s shouldersfor balance. Ultimately, nobody took a tumble, but a few came close. (Thepost-rock band Collections of Colonies of Bees, playing the Iroquois’ sister boat the Voyageur at the same time, sadly didn’tfare as wellone of their amps slid into the lake.)
The Celebrated Workingman used theirlengthy set time to preview several new tracks, each a jubilant swell ofemotions conducted by Waldoch’s massive bellow. Staples from the band’s 2008debut, Herald the Dickens, invitedsing-alongs from the tightknit crowd, as did covers of The Cure’s “Boys Don’tCry” and the Muppets’ “Rainbow Connection,” which further lent to the evening’scamaraderie.
The closest the set got to conventionalboat fare was a brief interpolation of “Crimson and Clover” played toward thenight’s end, as the boat returned up the river toward its dock, but withWaldoch’s pugnacious wailwhich took on a particularly raw edge through theboat’s fussy PA systemthere was no risk of patio diners at Ryan Braun’sWaterfront mistaking the group for an oldies cover band. The diners gawked atthe Iroquois with a mix of curiosityand amusement, as well as the natural jealousy that most everybody feels whenthey gaze at a passenger boat from land.
UpcomingIroquois concert cruises include Decibully (July15), Burgundy Ties (July 16), The Etiquette(July 17), The Wildbirds (July 22), 5 Card Studs (July 23), Fever Marlene (July24) and Revision Text (July 29).
