Opening for The Gleam’s CD-release show Friday night at the Hexagon Bar, Your Loving Tiger seemed strangely transient. Maybe it was the way the trio approached the stage to a military cadence and penny-whistle procession that made it feel as though they were on a long march to nowhere. Or it could have been the mournful sounds of a boxcar harmonica. Or the drummer’s snare stand, which, following the whole temporary, ramshackle vibe, collapsed a few songs in. Whatever the case, the band did well in the role of wandering troubadours–or traveling con men, as they pulled one over on the crowd more than once. The first hoax was asking everyone to sing along on a cover of “Money (That’s What I Want)” before changing all the words in the verses. (I’m not sure what the new lyrics were about, but I did catch the line, “Twenty-seven doctors don’t know what to do/It fucks me, it fucks you.”) On the next song, they told the crowd to “partner up” for a romantic ballad whose chorus was, “Why don’t you touch me anymore?” Despite the deception, Your Loving Tiger won everyone back by handing out percussion and letting the audience add to the tangle of hollerin’ vocals and slip-sliding lap steel. Then they ordered a pizza from the stage–food to go for people on the go–and they were gone.
