BY TIM HINELY

From the way that the two roadies kept coming out, setting up, steadying mikes, testing guitars, gently laying out towels and walking back and forth across the stage you would have thought that the Rolling Stones were coming on stage. Oh, and the band coming out at 10:30 PM when it was a 10:00 PM start time. Ok, so I'm being petty here, but hey, I can be old and crochety sometimes, right? Oh yeah, and it took bassist Chris Colbourn three songs before he stopped giving the sound guy orders ("Uh, more guitar in my monitor",  ""Wait.....a wee bit less vocals in my monitor", etc.).  That's ok, he's paid his dues.

After walking out, about the most normal looking rock musicians you'd ever see,  the same three of them that started the band in 1986, and guitarist/vocalist Bill Janovitz pipes up "Hey guys, here's a little history. We're Buffalo Tom, we're from Boston, we have been around nearly 25 years and this song is from our first record."

With that they dove right into "Sunflower Suit" and it was indeed a fine opening statement. Then "Taillights Fade" (I would've guessed that would have been an encore) in which Janovitz drew out the vocal phrasings in the song a bit longer. Afterwards, we heard plenty more from their plethora of records released in the 90's.  Punchy/ catchy cuts like "Tangerine", "Velvet Roof", "Summer",  "Sodajerk",  "Tree House" and plenty more (including Skins tunes like ""Arise, Watch", "Down" and the Colbourn-sung  "She's Not Your Thing" and "The Kids Just Sleep.").

They could have been (and often were) described as the quintessential college rock band for everything that title implies. Then, after 1998's Smitten, they were gone, for nearly a decade, and then came back in 2007 with the pretty good Three Easy Pieces and back this year with the terrific return to form of Skins. And after all of those years together they know each other's next move and seem like they genuinely like each other (not as common as you think with most bands).  As for the encores, I was hoping for smashers like "Directive" or "Mountains of Your Head" but they slowed it down and other than "I'm Allowed" (which sounded great) there were a few others I didn't recognize and ended it with a  nice rendition of New Order's "Age of Consent.".  It was then off into the crisp Portland evening with Bill Janovitz guaranteeing us that it won't be another 11 years before their next visit.

Go here to read the recent BLURT interview with B.T. frontman Janovitz.

[Photo Credit: Crackerfarm]