Welcome to CONCERT OVERLOAD, a place for sharing my concert-going experiences. My goal is to say a few words about each and every concert I've ever attended.
CURRENT CONCERT COUNT: 868 (most of them in the Los Angeles area)
Almost four years after the concert, I can still clearly recall the overall impression I walked away with from McCabe's, but there's not much I remember about any of Patty's songs. I went to the show without knowing much about her music, hoping to discover a new source of musical pleasures from an artist not known by the masses. Well, Patty wasn't bad, but she did not deliver the knock-out punch I was ready to absorb. The problem was probably me - I was expecting to be hit hard - and that punch never came.
Patty's set was quite similar to that of your typical singer-songwriter - she sang mostly her own songs, played the guitar and told stories. Yes, she definitely belongs on the national scene, but there wasn't anything out-of-the-ordinary to these ears, nor do I recall any numbers of high vocal or instrumental virtuosity.
The surprise of the evening turned out to be Peter Mulvey, whose opening set was unexpectedly good. Funny thing - that was the same Peter Mulvey who failed to impress me the first time I saw him, in 2005, when he appeared alongside Kris Delmhorst and Jeffrey Foucault in Redbird.
Peter Mulvey
I will probably catch Peter again in the future. I'm less sure about Patty.
After a long wait of twenty years or so, I finally had my chance to see someone I truly admired, the great Albert Lee, the devilishly great guitarist I first became aware of two decades ago on Mark O'Connor's "The American Music Shop". So there I was, sitting in the front row, dead center, I could have almost touched my hero, but instead of loving every minute of the show, I was unhappy.
A music-stand and a huge Korg synthesizer stood between my eyes and Albert's guitar and hands. For the entire duration of the show, Albert played either fully or partially hidden behind those things. That was disappointing. After all, I waited in line for close to two hours so that I could sit up-close and watch Albert's finger work. Here's a photo that shows what I mean:
Can you spot Albert Lee's guitar?
OK, so a humongous synthesizer blocked the view of some of the spectators. That would have been tolerable had someone actually played the darn thing. But no - the Korg just sat there unused until late in the show, when Albert accompanied himself on keyboards for the playing of two ballads.
But enough venting. There were plenty of positives to talk about, which I recognized even while being unhappy. Albert is a guitarist like few others. His blistering solos were something to behold. And he can sing, too. While on CD he sounds like an OK singer, I was surprised about how good a singer he actually is. Clearly, he is getting better with age, and that is quite a compliment, considering that Albert has been on the road for fifty-two years, as he told us last night.
Albert may hail from Great Britain, but his set consisted almost exclusively of older American songs, originally recorded by the likes of Fats Domino, Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris, Ray Charles, Carl Perkins, the Everly Brothers, Little Feat, Rodney Crowell and others. In that sense, Albert reminds me a bit of Dave Edmunds, another British guitar wizard with somewhat similar musical interests. To me, the best songs were John Stewart's "Runaway Train", Ray Charles' "Leave My Woman Alone" and "Spellbound".
The set list
The final song of Albert's set was "Country Boy", a number that I've heard many times over the years without knowing who penned the song. Now I know - Albert himself is one of the co-writers! Here's a high definition YouTube clip showing Albert's outstanding treatment of "Country Boy":
Alexandra Lee, Albert's singing daughter, took the stage to perform Emmylou Harris' "Luxury Liner" and Gram Parsons' "She". No doubt, Alexandra can sing, but she appeared exceedingly nervous up there on the stage.
Albert Lee and daughter Alex Lee at McCabe's
Albert Lee came out with Will McGregor (bass), JT Thomas (keys) and Jason Smith (drums) - they played well together in spite of having had only one rehearsal under their belt. Albert told us that the band had showed up late, so they had no time for a proper pre-show sound check. The first song of the evening, Fats Domino's "I'm Ready", served as the de-facto sound check: it did not sound good when it started, but by the time it ended, everything was in good balance.
Albert Lee singing
Albert Lee signing merchandise after the show
The stage before the show
Musically speaking, the show was exceptionally good, yet I went home with a sense of disappointment. I did get to see Albert Lee in concert, that was great, but the overall experience could have been better. Five of my regular concert-going friends were in the room - although seated in different areas, they all had some trouble seeing Albert's guitar and fingers. We all hope and pray for Albert Lee's return to McCabe's, sometime soon, with nothing placed between him and his fans.
Even after having seen Dave Alvin many, many times, I still can't resist the temptation of buying myself a ticket to see him yet again, especially when McCabe's is the venue. This happens in spite of my knowing precisely what to expect from Dave.
Last night at McCabe's I got exactly what I expected. Dave played for an hour and fifteen minutes, which is pretty much the norm when there is a 10 PM late show as well. OK, so the set wasn't a super-long one, but the song selection was top-notch.
Carrying an acoustic guitar in one hand and a bottle of Bud Light in the other, Dave came out dressed in a black suit, white shirt, cowboy hat and his trademark scarf around his neck. He kicked off the proceedings with a great acoustic version of "Ashgrove", one of my favorites.
After his third solo song, Dave brought out Chris Miller, his long time musical partner and member of the Guilty Men. Chris and his Telecaster were great additions to the show - I enjoyed very much the interplay between the two guitars. Chris' solos were all low key, thus perfectly complementing Dave's sound.
Chris Miller
There wasn't much chatter between songs, but there was some and it was all funny and informative. Dave spoke and sang lovingly about three of his departed musician friends - Amy Farris, Chris Gaffney and Bill Morissey. I have seen Dave perform together with Amy and Chris more than once, so I'm aware of their closeness. "Black Rose Of Texas" and "Run Conejo Run", the songs written by Dave for Amy and Chris, respectively, were some of the best of the concert. The first of last night's two-song encore was Bill Morissey's "Inside", the show's only song not written or co-written by Dave.
Dave Alvin (left) and Chris Miller at McCabe's
The highlight of the show was "Mary Brown", brilliantly delivered by Dave. I also liked "Dry River", the old Blasters gem, and "Harlan County Line", from "Eleven Eleven", Dave's current album.
Dave Alvin remains one of my favorite singer-songwriters. I've been seeing him regularly since 1990 and I can state with 100% certainty that today he sounds better than ever and likewise, his songwriting is stronger than ever. Just my opinion.
By definition, any concert announced as "XYZ & Friends" or "XYZ & the
People" sounds tantalizingly promising, and when XYZ happens to be Syd Straw, then the whole proposition becomes a no-brainer to me. Since 2003, I have had the good fortune of seeing Syd live at McCabe's not fewer than three times and I'm one-hundred-percent ready to see her again, anytime, whether solo or with "friends".
Syd's "friends" typically come from LA's immense pool of top-tier musicians, so you don't have to worry about ever catching a sub-par performance. Here's who she has brought along for the ride:
2003
Mike Watt
Dave Alvin
Rob Wasserman
Cindy Wasserman
D.J. Bonebrake
Willie Aron
2006
D.J. Bonebrake
Willie Aron
2008
D.J. Bonebrake
Willie Aron
Francis X (guitarist for the Gang of Four, B-52's)
I sometimes attend concerts that do not involve American or British artists, obviously the result of my having lived in a few different countries over the years. My music collection, which consists of vinyl, CDs and unspeakable amounts of mp3s, includes recordings of musicians from all continents.
Noa, nee Achinoam Nini, is an Israeli singer who has sung for the Pope, toured the world and duetted with Italian megastars Andrea Bocelli and Zucchero, two of my all-time favorites. This gave her instant musical credibility in my eyes and ears, so I got myself a ticket
The concert took place at UC Irvine's Barclay Theater, a medium-size venue that I like very much. Noa came out with Gil Dor, her long-time musical partner and collaborator. Her then-current album titled "Genes And Jeans" was the source of many of the numbers she sang that night. I was - and still am - unfamiliar with her repertoire, so I don't remember any specific songs, but was quite impressed with her stage presence and vocals. Yet, for a split second, she was let down by her otherwise great voice: midway through a song and completely out of the blue, her voice broke down, the music stopped for a few seconds, but she bounced back and was able to continue as if nothing had happened. Noa completed the show without any further incidents and received a well-deserved standing ovation from the crowd.
Overall, the show was very good, with a healthy mix of ballads and uptempo numbers, some delivered in Hebrew, others in flawless English.
Would I want to see her again? Probably not, but I will keep checking her out on YouTube every now and then.
While most of the world's population is going gaga over Lady-You-Know-Who, I prefer to focus my attention on deserving musicians whose names don't ring nearly as many bells. Or no bells at all, as was recently the case with singer-songwriter Ernest Troost.
I'm always eager to discover new music, so whenever McCabe's announces names that I'm not familiar with, I immediately turn to the Internet as part of my due diligence effort. At first, I wasn't particularly impressed with Ernest Troost's music, so my initial plan was to stay home. But an email from my friend Steve made me gave Ernest a second listen and that's when his "Travelin' Shoes" song hit me pretty hard. Without delay, I logged into McCabe's' web site and bought myself a ticket.
Usually I mention the opening act only after I'm done writing about the headliner, but show opener Shaun Cromwell was just too good to be relegated to the end of this write-up. His thirty-minute set was actually too short - I could have gone on and on listening to his songs and voice. Good guitar and banjo picker, too. I know how hard it is to stand out in the overcrowded field of singer-songwriters, but Shaun has a future, as I found him to be more exciting than many other nationally-known musicians of the same genre.
Shaun Cromwell
Then out came Ernest Troost, whose resume lists an Emmy award received in 1996 for the music he wrote for "The Canterville Ghost". Ernest played a fairly long set that left me shaking my head in disbelief: there wasn't a single weak song the whole evening - now how often does one get to say that?
One after the other, Ernest's songs kept me fully engaged and my brain never had a chance to wander away from the stage. The whole show was exceptionally well paced and I'm yet to mention Ernest's great supporting cast. Looking and sounding great, Nicole Gordon provided outstanding back-up vocals and sang two solos as well. Mark Goldberg played the upright bass and the often-seen Debra Dobkin took care of the drumming duties.
The funny thing is that sitting in the front row at McCabe's by no means guarantees the best viewing angles. From where I sat, Debra Dobkin was totally, entirely and completely hidden behind her drum set. Likewise, the most I could see of Mark Goldberg was the lower half of his right leg, everything else was covered by his humongous bass. But no complaints at all about the sound.
Ernest Troost and Nicole Gordon at McCabe's
Shaun Cromwell came out to join Ernest's band for the playing of "By And By", then he popped in once again for "Harlan County Boy", the concert's encore.
Ernest Troost (left) and Shaun Cromwell during the encore
Ernest played many of the songs appearing on his "Live At McCabe's" CD, recorded in January 2011. Sadly and ironically, the song that first caught my ear, "Travelin' Shoes", was left out of his set, but that was nothing but a minor blemish on an otherwise unforgettable evening of stellar songwriting and great musicianship.
Ernest Troost's setlist
Shaun Cromwell's setlist
It's tough to pick a highlight when all songs had quality written all over them, but I would list "O Love", "Resurrection Blues" and "By And By" as some of the best. And one thing is for sure: the next time Ernest Troost plays McCabe's, I will be there without anyone needing to nudge me.
