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Gig Review: The Waterboys – Alexandria, VA – 2015-04-21

by / Alternative and Indie, / Gig Reviews • Tags: , , ,

Mike Scott and his raggle-taggle gypsies burn the place down on the Modern Blues tour

Fresh off of a performance on the David Letterman show the night before (see link at bottom) Mike Scott and the current incarnation of The Waterboys played a blistering set on 2015.04.21 at the Birchmere in Alexandria, VA.

After an engaging opening set by Woodstock New York’s Connor Kennedy, Scott and his merry gang took the stage with Scott in Western garb and black hat, high-energy and ready for a storming evening of folk-inflected Celtic-flavored rock.

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The set focused on songs from their outstanding new “Modern Blues” album with some new arrangements of classic Waterboys cuts thrown in for good measure.  It’s always a positive sign when a band that’s toured for more than three decades (!) at this point is so confident and happy with the recent material that the show emphasizes the newest songs. That the material was so well-received by a crowd ready to hear the classic hits is a testament to the Modern Blues song-cycle’s strength.

Of course, since the Waterboys collective frequently rotates in new members under the Waterboys banner it stands to reason that the band is always reinventing itself.  In addition to Head Waterboy Scott and founding-member electric fiddle whiz Steve Wickham, the current lineup boasts an amazingly skilled iineup of musicians including long-time drummer Ralph Salmins, fluid guitarist Zach Ernst (who appears younger than the debut Waterboys album), Muscle Shoals bass player David Hood and the indomitable, indescribable Brother Paul from Memphis on keyboards.

Each incarnation of the Waterboys has a distinct group personality, and the current version is no different. Taking their cue from Modern Blues, this is a straight-ahead, driving rock show propelled by Salmins, Scott and Ernst with Wickham and Brother Paul then pulling and tugging on the melodies and rhythms to create the distinct musical colors and shapes of Waterboys songs.

There were fewer long improvisational passages among the band members than I’ve seen at some Waterboys shows, but the passion, soul, spirit and infectious energy of the best of Waterboys shows was still in full effect.  Scott in particular played with renewed energy and vitality belying thirty years of touring, seated only when playing the keyboards and spending most of the show moving and dancing as he played.  It’s clear that he is both justly proud of the new material and believes in it, and he really is able to sell it to the crowd.  This version of the Waterboys plays with the skill and practice of a mature band but with the passion and energy of a young band.

They had played some of the Modern Blues songs like “Still A Freak” and “I Can See Elvis” in their fall 2013 North American tour, including locally in Washington DC at the 930 club, but at that show the songs were still like new shoes that hadn’t been broken in yet, and even though there were some personnel changes from that show, it’s clear that these songs have now been worn in and are being played with a confidence gainsaying the newness of the songs and newness of this combo as a playing unit.

While I was disappointed not to hear “The Girl Who Slept For Scotland” from the new album, they did play most of the songs from Modern Blues and also mixed in some of the crowd-pleasing classics.  “Still A Freak”, “November Tale” and “Long Strange Road” were particularly sharp.

Here was “Still A Freak”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNtz0avnuCg

All of the older songs sounded fantastic and as fresh now as when newly-minted.  “Girl Called Johnny” galloped with Scott at the keyboards and Wickham providing the accents and they stone-cold nailed the audience favorite “Whole Of The Moon”. “Fisherman’s Blues” was a rousing sing-along encore and the old classic “Three Day Man” was a pleasant surprise.

Here was “Fisherman’s Blues”:

For me the highlights of the heritage material were the driving, pulsing version of the Fisherman’s Blues classic “We Will Not Be Lovers” and a spellbinding, showstopping version of “Don’t Bang The Drum” with just Scott and Wickham, both below:

Steve Wickham continues to provide the spice that makes the Waterboys such an interesting meal. Wickham plays with a mesmerizing lyricism and flow that provides color and character to each song. Although I’ve seen Scott play without Wickham, together they are magic; watching them up close they communicate with just a glance as they shift rhythms, speed and volumes. They play with the synergy that only comes with a lifetime of playing together.

You can’t discuss this incarnation of the Waterboys without focusing on the whirling dervish of a keyboard player that is Brother Paul. Brother Paul is a marvel to watch, a kinetic bundle of energy just short of exploding at all times, whipping his hair around and beaming the entire time. He plays in an extremely animated and thoroughly enjoyable style, throwing his hands at the keyboards like a wizard casting spells on the keys. There were a couple of times where after a particular flourish, Brother Paul would look over to Scott like a child caught in the cookie jar asking tacit forgiveness. Brother Paul’s ageless enthusiasm is a real joy to behold, and worth the price of admission alone.

One practical tip: with all apologies to Ernst and Hood who while virtuoso musicians keep a low profile onstage, try to work your way over to audience-left (stage-right) which is the area that Wickham and Brother Paul inhabit. They’re worth seeing up close.

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Scott can be a mercurial performer, and you know you’re at a classic Waterboys show when at some point Scott has to berate the crowd for misbehaving and you’re treated to an “aw, snap” moment. In this case, during a particularly quiet passage in “Song Of The Wandering Aengus“ (from the 2011 tribute album to W.B. Yeats poetry called “An Appointment With Mr. Yeats”) the rather noisy crowd was clearly bothering Scott who stopped the song about 30 seconds in and sternly addressed the throng:

“Perhaps we should play more quietly so that you can hear each other talk more clearly?”.

The crowd went stone silent for 15 seconds or so and Scott was content to let the silence linger. Then he calmly restarted the song and within a few seconds the crowd was back in the swing. Classic.

In short, it’s great to see Mike Scott and The Waterboys at the top of their game 31 years after they first toured the US. If you have the opportunity to see them play in your town, by all means treat yourself to one of the finest rock bands extant.  If they’re not coming to your town, you need to move to a better town. Life’s too short not to fill it with great live music from a masterful group.

Setlist from the show as best I remember:

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Destinies Entwined

Still A Freak

Girl Called Johnny

We Will Not Be Lovers

November Tale

Rosalind (You Married The Wrong Guy)

Three Day Man

Nearest Thing To Hip

I Can See Elvis

Song Of Wandering Aengus

Whole Of The Moon

Don’t Bang The Drum

Long Strange Road

Fisherman’s Blues

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Waterboys on David Letterman the previous evening doing “The Girl Who Slept For Scotland”:

For more information on Mike Scott, The Waterboys and Connor Kennedy see:

http://www.mikescottwaterboys.com

http://www.connorkennedymusic.com

Gig review: Los Lobos – Annapolis, MD – 2015-02-27

by / Americana Roots, / Gig Reviews • Tags: , ,

Forty years on, Los Lobos have not only survived, they still howl.

There is something noble about seeing a professional working band in the October of their careers, especially a band as great as Los Lobos.   Their brilliant 1984 major label debut asked the question “How Will The Wolf Survive” and the answer 31 years later is “quite nicely, thank you”.

Los Lobos have constructed a career out of constant touring and remain consummate musicians, able to turn on a dime from roots-Americana to roadhouse blues to jazz to Norteno to jamband riff-rock. To me Los Lobos are the consummate American band, and possibly one of the most underrated American bands of all time. I’ve never seen a band proficient in so many different styles and moods.

I have seen them live on the order of twenty times in their career going back to the mid-80s when they were part of the Los Angeles roots and punk scene, opening for bands as diverse as the Blasters, X and Black Flag. I can honestly say I’ve never seen two Los Lobos shows that were alike.   I have seen them play their 1987 fluke #1 US hit “La Bamba” three times in a show in three different styles, some shows where they don’t play it all; some shows where they stuck to Norteno music, some where they played nothing but blues, some where they played mostly covers including Grateful Dead songs.

Formed in 1973 but not coming into national recognition until 1983’s “…And A Time To Dance”, Los Lobos has kept the same set of four musicians for that entire time: David Hidalgo on guitar and accordion, the sunglasses-clad Cesar Rosas on guitar, Louie Perez on guitar, Conrad Lozano on bass, all of whom met in high school in East Los Angeles. Saxophone, flute and keyboards virtuoso Steve Berlin jumped over from the Blasters to Los Lobos 1984 to complete the core band that has now held constant for three decades.

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Over the years, Los Lobos have continued to be critics favorites and a sparkling live act and long after the bright “La Bamba” lights have faded, Los Lobos have continued to make album after album of subtle, powerful, nuanced rock influenced by their East LA background to a core group of devoted fans.

But it’s really their live shows where Los Lobos has made their career. They play without a setlist (or a net, for that matter). It appears that they tend to know what the first two or three songs of a set are going to be and then they feed off the crowd and depending on how the crowd responds they move off in that direction. Sometimes their shows are merely very good, sometimes they are brilliant with moments of musical transcendence, especially when Hidalgo is feeling inspired.

Hidalgo and Rosas trade off vocals from song to song, with Rosas doing more of the Norteno and gruffer blues vocals and Hidalgo’s heartbreaking tenor voice carrying off the more poignant ballads and mid-tempo numbers. Hidalgo is an amazing soloist on guitar and accordion and as a singer he is a real revelation, a shy mountain of a man with a gorgeous voice capable of pain and joy, sometimes simultaneously.

When you watch a Los Lobos show, you are taken with how clearly each musician is listening to the other musicians and adjusting their playing in and out of the melody around each other as if they are engaging in an intertwined musical dance.

The other thing you notice is that they’re still pushing themselves musically to find both new colors and moods from the older songs. Most bands forty years into their careers are just going through the motions, playing the hits like a jukebox for the crowd. Los Lobos shows, though, are a celebration of the power of music to continually reinvent itself as the musicians weave and out of each musically in new arrangements pushing each other to find something new out of the old songs.

They still play with a power and a passion belying their years which was testified to by the two sets they played to appreciative crowds in Annapolis, Maryland at the Ramshead on Feb 27. I saw the late set (musicial tip: always hit the late set for any band playing two sets) and once again they did not disappoint.

They played a roughly one hour forty-five minute set that covered their entire career and jumped in and out of every style and genre they play, with maybe a slight emphasis on the jazzy side of the blues. The highlight to me was a showstopping version of the Billy Myles blues standard “Have You Ever Loved A Woman” made popular by Freddie King in the early 1960s, with a solo by Hidalgo that figuratively nearly caught his guitar on fire.

Other highlights were “I Can’t Understand”, “Maricela”, a really nice ten-minute version of the Grateful Dead’s “Bertha”, and every song where Hidalgo played accordion. He has to be the best accordionist in the blues/roots scene.

Los Lobos play music not because they’re trying to be cool or trendsetters. They’re not trying to have another big hit. Los Lobos play music because they’re true musicians, and playing music is what musicians do.

Catch Los Lobos when they come to your town. They are true American originals.

Below is a clip from the show with Rosas doing lead on a cover of “Papa Was A Rolling Stone” then “I Can’t Understand” followed by Hidalgo taking the lead on “Down On The Riverbed”. 

Gig review: Joanne Shaw Taylor – “The Dirty Truth” – Annapolis, MD – 2015-02-11

by / Gig Reviews • Tags: , , , ,

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English guitar phenom Joanne Shaw Taylor takes Annapolis by storm in support of her new album “The Dirty Truth”

It wasn’t all that long ago that the blues was a prominent part of the music scene, with the stars of the blues scene being household names in the general public. Young rock musicians, who learned to play by spinning the albums from the blues masters and trying to copy what they heard, revered blues guitarists and treated the albums as sacred artifacts.

As long as people experience love and loss, and the eternal struggle between the sacred and the profane, the blues will never die. In 2015, however, the blues scene has fragmented into any number of niches, each with a small but dedicated set of followers, and the stars of the genres seem to be known mostly only within the larger blues community. Blues 2015 seems to be defined by rigid rules and styles, at times seeming almost a formalistic exercise in style where both the artists and the audience know exactly what’s expected of them.

But a genre as hoary as the blues can still surprise. One of the surprises to me over the last decade is how vital the European blues scene has become. There are summertime folk/blues festivals throughout Europe, and the fan base seems to be as fervent there, especially with young people, as anything in the US. On a business trip a few years back to Moscow, Russia, I serendipitously caught a local blues festival and was really surprised by how much the young people were into it as if it were a new thing being freshly invented.

An even bigger surprise to me is how many of the young European blues guitarists are female. Two of the most well-known of this new breed are Serbian whiz Ana Popovic and England’s Joanne Shaw Taylor, the latter of whom played a terrific set on Wed 2015/02/11 at the Ramshead in Annapolis, MD in support of her excellent new album “The Dirty Truth”.

I’ve followed Ms. Taylor’s career since her 2009 debut with “White Sugar” but last week’s show was the first I saw in person. She really is as good as advertised, and I would strongly recommend seeing her if you’re interested in what 2015 blues and boogie-rock sounds like.

Taylor eschews the typical pitfall of young blues phenoms of always trying to play as fast and loud as she can. Instead, she employs a style that is supple, melodic, and lyrical, while retaining all of the power.   Although there were occasional times where she just threw down a monster solo on her Les Paul, far more often she let the melody and music take her at their own pace, with her soloing and riffing style in service of the music, rather than vice versa.

Backed by an able rhythm section from Detroit, she ran through selections from her entire career from “White Sugar”, “Diamonds In The Dirt” and “Always Almost Never” although she did focus on songs from the new album “The Dirty Truth”.

In addition to her sparkling guitar playing, Taylor is an engaging vocalist, with a whiskey-soaked voice belying her years and an expressive phrasing that has obviously been honed by years on the road.

Highlights to me were “Diamonds In The Dirt” as well as “Mud Honey” and “Tried, Tested and True” from “The Dirty Truth”.

If Taylor is an example of the hands into which the blues have been entrusted in 2015, then the statement that the blues will never die may just turn out to be true. If those hands happen to be young, white, female and English all the better.

If you ever get the chance to see Taylor in concert, by all means do so. She’s the real deal.

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Photo courtesy of Natasha Cornblatt

Tone show review – Black Cat

by / Gig Reviews •

If you live anywhere near DC and haven’t been to a Tone show… well, there is no excuse.  They are the awesome and ever evolving guitar rock ensemble that may have started the shoegaze genre.  I caught their first show ever at the old 9:30 club due to my friend Geordie being in the band.  They had the wall-of-guitars droning sound of their namesake going even then, but it was nothing compared to the sonic complexity and pounding rhythms of the current Tone.  Tonight’s set was amazing with lots of new material and rearranged older songs.  Go see their next show at Comet Ping Pong on Feb 21.  That’s an order!

As is true with all shows, you should see the opening acts.  I can’t say how many times the opening band has blown my mind or how many have just blown.  Either way it is worth the effort.  What’s the worst that can happen – they suck and you are forced to have a beer in the back room?  Still worth it.

Tonight’s openers were Cryptodira from Long Island and Technicians from DC.  Cryptodira: sorry guys, but your attempt to meld Math Rock with Metal was not a success.  Pick a genre, because those two do not mix.  Technicians: Not bad.  Math Rock again, a bit on the heavy side.  This may have been on purpose because of the other bands on the bill tonight.  The lighter songs on their web site sounded better to me, but may not have been as well received tonight..

The headliner tonight was Wings Denied.  I stayed for a few of their songs, but was not impressed.  They claim to be prog rockers, but just sounded like a metal band to me.  Lead singer kept swinging on an overhead pipe that looked like it might be a gas pipe.  I’m all for stagecraft and such, but they weren’t good enough to risk exploding for.

Weirdness on the bass guitars tonight.  Wings Denied had a five string bass (unusual).  Cryptodira had a six string bass (never seen that before).  The Technicians’ bass guitar had LED lights shining out of the frets – what’s up with that?  Of course the best bass player was Tone’s: no gimmicks required.