The promoters of last night’s American Music Club show have every reason to be disappointed with the turnout. Heck, I’m disappointed. There were maybe 70 or 80 people there total, very much below anyone’s expectations. Maybe it was because it was a Monday night and Ryan Adams is tomorrow, though I doubt that Ryan Adams draws the same type of crowd as AMC. Add last night to the poor turnout for Matthew Sweet and Vic Chestnutt and you begin to see an unfortunate trend in terms of shows that target an older “heritage” crowd. Side note: AMC was officially One Percent Production’s 300th show.

AMC fans who stayed home last night because they couldn’t get a sitter or had to work this morning missed out on what could be the last AMC show they’ll ever get to see. I overheard Eitzel talking to a fan while he was signing a couple albums. He said that touring was getting too expensive, too hard to do, and that this might be it. And though he sounded great last night, he looked a bit agitated on stage. He was in perfect voice, opening with a couple classics off Everclear before segueing into material from his amazing new album, Love Songs for Patriots. The mix, however, was poor — too bassy, and there seemed to be a problem with the monitors. Eitzel fiddled with earplugs and looked exasperated. During one song, the bass rumbled like a bomb going off, some sort of weird effect that was distorted and strange. As the set wore on, Eitzel quit talking to the crowd and looked like he wanted to just get off stage, especially toward the end when his vocals seemed to fade and get lost in the ruckus. Still, it was a good set that at times transcended the technical glitches, especially when the band got to stretch out, and Vudi, looking like a indie version of Leonard Nimoy, leaned into a feedback-laden guitar solo.