The Baseball Project at Bier Hall, Jacksonville (September 10, 2025)

 

 

 

Supergroup The Baseball Project just kicked off their 2025 national tour at the Bier Hall, in Jacksonville, Florida.

 

If you’re not from the area, the Bier Hall is a 6,000 square foot expansion of a bar called Intuition Ale Works, along the St Johns River in downtown Jacksonville. To the East is the Everbank Stadium and Daily’s Place and to the West is the Florida Theatre and Decca Live. The Bier Hall isn’t the most exciting room, but it’s spacious with four small columns and a five-foot stage and a low-hanging tiny disco ball. It’s actually a good space for dancing and moving around. To the north, near the entrance is the bar, and there are chairs and beer barrels (serving as tables for your drinks) all along the side of the building.

 

Although the Baseball Project show was all-ages, no one under 35 was at the show.

 

 

Opening up for the Baseball Project is… the Baseball Project! Actually, another supergroup The Minus 5, which is basically the same band members in the Baseball Project, only R.E.M.’s Mike Mills moved to keys. Wikipedia mentioned that Luke Haines (from The Auteurs) has joined the band since 2025! That’s totally nuts, because I am a big fan of the Auteurs and got Luke’s autograph, along with the bassist and then-girlfriend Alice Readman in July 15, 1994 in Los Angeles. I’m not actually sure he’s an official member, but rather a live band member, since he was on tour with the Minus 5 as the guitarist. Still, that would have been something if Luke Haines suddenly showed up in Jacksonville, having not seen him in over 30 years! Instead, Steve Wynn is the guitarist for this tour.

 

Another thing about the Minus 5 is that I’ve never heard of them before, until Momus wrote a song about them called “The Minus 5”. It’s a pretty great song, summing up the band with this lyric excerpt: “One hundred years from now, who will still be famous? Scott McCaughey of The Minus 5. John Crist of the Dashboard Saviours, or their collaborators Pearl Jam, REM, Sonic Youth, Guided By Voices, The Walkabouts, The Posies (Ken and John), The Presidents of the United States Of America (Not them, the other ones)…”

 

As it turned out, I didn’t find out until later, that the reason why Momus wrote the song was because he had gotten into some legal trouble and to help pay off the settlement, he offered to write “Song Portraits” (like you would pay an artist to paint your portrait) for a sum of money. So, I guess Scott McCaughey commissioned Momus to write the song. I think what it did was actually advertise The Minus 5 to Momus’ fans, like myself… and so that’s how I came to know the Minus 5.

 

It’s the first night of the tour, and usually something goes wrong. Bass not plugged in, drum kit missing, etc. Not with these guys. With over 100 years of touring experience, this was just another Wednesday for the band.

 

McCaughey was the main star of the Minus 5, so he’s doing most of the work, from lead vocals to guitar solos, sometime Steve Wynn would sneak in with a solo. Their songs are rock ‘n roll, and if you like McCaughey’s other band Young Fresh Fellows (which got name checked in a They Might Be Giants song), you’ll have a lot of fun.

 

When introducing their cover of Neil Young’s “Hitchhiker”, McCaughey confessed he wished he had written this masterpiece song. He also mentioned that when they play this song, that he does it The Minus 5 way, so you might not immediately recognize it as a Neil Young song.

 

As for The Baseball Project, we’ve seen them a few times, with the last one in July 2024: “The band played two sets, the first was their standard Grand Salami Time set, and the second was looser with some old favorites and oddities. What made the Turf Club show on Saturday night so special was that Zuzu’s Petals was re-united to pay tribute and honor Laurie Lindeen, who passed away on July 1, 2024.”

 

Overhearing some people in line for The Baseball Project, many of them didn’t know anything about the band. When told all their songs are about baseball, they were genuinely surprised. “Is that possible?,” one woman asked. You’re about to find out, I thought to myself.

 

The Baseball Project are not to be taken too seriously. After playing the first two songs, Wynn said, “That’s two of our biggest hits!,” which drummer Linda Pitmon added, “We got so many hits… soooo many hits.”

 

Wynn wasn’t exactly kidding when he said hit song after “Past Time”, which was the song they typically ended their set with previous tours. Now the song is moved up, in favor of “¡Hola America!” as the closer song.

 

Even if you don’t care for the band, you have to admire the band for their commitment to writing songs about baseball. They really like the sport… I mean no one writes five albums about baseball, unless you really love it. Who else can write a sexy “Box Scores” song? Who else can write songs about curveballs like “Uncle Charlie”?

 

Stay tuned! Look for another review at the Turf Club, in St Paul, on September 17th!

 

P.S. I ran into some super R.E.M. fans, and they were at the show to just support Peter Buck and Mike Mills. They said it was probably the closest thing they were ever going to get to seeing R.E.M.

 

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