Back on the lonesome road to promote his 4th solo record “The Dreamer,” Old 97s frontman Rhett Miller absolutely destroyed a small club in a lazy Rust Belt town. Inspired by the crowd of roughly 100, Miller put on a Springsteenian show of epic proportions. He and his band, The Serial Lady Killers, played 27 songs during a nearly 2.5 hour set. He was so worked up at one point he couldn’t remember the lyrics to “Time Bomb.” Didn’t matter. He could have been singing “Paddy Cake” and the crowd would have exploded.

Of course, every song was punctuated with a “Thanks, y’all.” Polite but unnecessary. We get it. You’re from Dallas. Even John Ross doesn’t “y’all” incessantly. He just smolders. The camera loves him, but I digress.

So what about this new record that Rhett came to promote? I thought the reason for the solo records was to explore his poppy side and leave the twangy country to Murry. This record rocks less than previous solo releases, and when held up next to his very best (“Fight Songs,” “The Instigator”) it comes up a little light. Still, there are a few nuggets on it that stand out such as “Lost Without You” and “Marina.” Worth the price at twice as much! Buy it!

Opening act, the Spring Standards were a complete delight. Trying to out Low Anthem the Low Anthem, these kids switched instruments and traded harmonies like they were auditioning for their lives. Which isn’t a bad thing. I haven’t purchased their latest record yet, but I intend to.

Here’s a picture of me and Heather Robb, a Spring Standard indeed. In addition to writing songs and singing, Heather is credited with playing melodica, keyboard, glockenspiel and drums. That woman must be a damn octopus!

Prometheus, are you seeing this?

More on that later.

So before they took the name Squeeze in 1974, Tilbrook and Difford performed as Captain Trundlow’s Sky Company. By the time they charted in the U.S. they were about to break up for the first time. And by 1985, they reformed and added more new members than Spinal Tarp. In 2004, they told VH1 that they’d never play together again. But off stage, back accounts were behaving terribly.

They are currently on tour as Squeeze, and for geezer rock they are performing quite admirably. As you can see from the set list, they performed “Singles 45’s and Under” from start to finish. While it was enjoyable and they sounded great, I couldn’t help but feel like I was contributing to a pension fund.

I also felt melancholic for a time that never was. Hearing Squeeze always reminds me of how idiotic the music industry is the states. Why weren’t these guys huge here? Did Don Kirschner ignore them? Don Cornelius? Casey Kasem? All of their singles should be talked about like “Yesterday” or, at least “Penny Lane.” They are so good and so unpopular that they almost seem mythic. They were Sloan before Sloan.

Also on the bill was Dave Wakeling performing as The English Beat. I think Ranking Roger gets to perform as The Beat English. The British courts try to be too fair, me thinks. Anyway, I’d forgotten how much 80’s bands relied on the saxophone. Delightful. Dave’s voice couldn’t quite handle the exquisite “I Confess,” but overall it was nice to be a part of the Oldies crowd.

Now let’s see if China Crisis and Thompson Twins can get a tour going. A philistine can dream, can’t they?