Craig Finn on The Replacements

My interview with Craig Finn yielded more material than could fit in print, including this exchange about seeing the recently-reformed Replacements play last fall.

You've made no secret about how big an influence The Replacements were on you. I know that you saw one of last fall's reunion shows. What did you think?

I loved it. I thought it was great. I mean, I saw them with Bob Stinson [original guitarist who was dismissed from the band in 1986 and died in 1995], so it was obviously not going to be the same, but it was ultimately a celebration of these songs. And I loved the fact that [band leader Paul] Westerberg looked like he was having a blast at the show I saw, and was really excited about that.

I saw them in Colorado on the night they came out in orange skirts. It was, um, transcendent.

Yeah, I've seen video of that. That looked pretty amazing. There are these songs, and they haven't run themselves into the ground, they haven't made, you know, a techno album or anything, so for them to come out and play rock and roll, obviously, they're down a few members, but I don't begrudge them that. I just had a fantastic time and I thought they sounded great.