The Hold Steady enjoy their status as the world's biggest bar band

MINNEAPOLIS -- Tad Kubler says it happened backstage at England's mammoth Glastonbury Festival last summer, when 177,000 attendees were introduced to the Hold Steady. 'We walked off-stage and the crowd noise was amazing,' he recalled. That's when the Hold Steady guitarist realized his Twin Cities-rooted, New York-based group was no longer just a bar band. "It was our first European festival, and we just stood backstage looking at each other through the noise. It was one of those moments when you realize there's no going back." The Hold Steady spent the rest of 2007 touring the world, playing gigs in such far-flung locales as Slane Castle in Ireland (where it opened for the Stones) and Zagreb, Croatia (with the Stooges). So much for that whole just-on-weekends thing. This international success explains why the Hold Steady's... [read full story]