Colin Hay @ World Cafe Live Philadelphia, PA 4-6-09

Mr. Colin Hay!

After his show (and during) you feel like you know him. Great storytelling!

This was my 1st show at World Cafe Live---WHY DID IT TAKE ME THIS LONG? Absolute one of the best venues I have attended. The sound was crisp, clear and B E A U T I F U L.

This was a FUN show, from Colin's continually humorous banter and his trademark sound, the crowd was enlightened by his lyrics as he sang of life and the ability to enjoy the life all the while a smile.

I have a set list, if you will, but I don't know all the titles. I will give the lyric snippets and you can fill in what you will, known titles in yellow italics.

1. No time to live, no time to die, no time for sorrow.
2. California- Golden Promises
3. New & unreleased-Play the highlights, came into your store you don't work there
4. Who Can it Be Now
5. Conversation
6. Melbourne Song
7. Down Under
8. Nothing left, nothing came, can't stop my mind from doing prison time
9. Bees buzzing in my ear
10. Norwegian Wood
11. My Hometown
12. I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You
13. Maggie
14. Circles Erratica

15. Beautiful World
16. Overkill
17. Waiting For My Real Life to Begin


When a musician is enjoying himself on stage it shows and Colin enjoyed himself immensely. When the crowd was asked for requests the crowd jokingly shouted out "Freebird" & "Norwegian Wood"....thank goodness he made the right choice!

Colin has a new record coming out in April on Compass Records; Transcendental Highway. If you make the purchase it will surprise you--you can't miss with poetry, Colin's accent and his trademarked guitar sound!

Colin's 15 minutes of fame (Men at Work 1979-1986) continues from the time he takes the stage and begins his strumming and storytelling till his last song which in this case, appropriately was Waiting For My Real Life to Begin his 15 minutes has been extended.

Ray LaMontagne @ the Tower Theatre, Philadelphia, PA 4/4/09

The voice that is described as an "amplified whisper"; Ray LaMontagne.

After speaking with his bassist of the past few years Jennifer Condos, she commented "that the trick to working with Ray is to not get in his way".

On this tour Jennifer's boyfriend Ethan Johns is drumming. Jenn and I talked about the past US Guster tour as well as Ray's European fan base and she mentioned that the next leg of the tour in Europe may be a threesome.

LaMontagne refers to himself as a "very private person", and rarely gives interviews. He also usually does not interact much with the audience between songs. LaMontagne has been known to perform live shows in the dark in order to separate himself from the audience. Source: Wikipedia

Ray's music is the spotlight and his humility shows in his performance. This is one reason I believe he receives more appreciation in Europe and my guess, an audience that is discerning and refined, something I would think Ray appreciates.

For this Philly show he omitted the final song Wild Horses and during Empty a fight had broken out towards the rear of the theatre causing the audience to be distracted.

Two unreleased songs were performed: Allie a ballad of love and Achin All the Time a country sounding song.

About 2/3's of the way through the show the few hecklers gave up shouting out "I love you's" and song requests given Ray's total ignorance of their voices. Ray is an artist that when performing is showing his heart. This is where his communication comes in and for audience members who seem to want the spotlight or to connect with Ray this can be difficult. I say let him sing and play whatever/whenever/however he wants to.

It is hard to come away from his shows and not feel "moved" and I think this man's talent is amazing and his shows are pure art.

The click between audience and artist did not take place at this show. The music performed sounded as good as the albums and Ray's voice can give you goosebumps. The missing element of connection and Ray's ommission of the last song showed that he did not feel the electricity as well.

Various Artists, Philadelphia, PA 2/21/09

Hard (literally) to review yourself.
The Guitar Students of Mike Weiss Presents a Winter Recital

Set List
Peace, Love & Understanding- Tate Perazzelli guitar/vocals & Aaron Weiss drums
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCL-NT7JhqU
Everybody Hurts- Tate guitar, Aaron drums, Mike Weiss keys & Greg Jehanian vocals
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bhd-AB2Jp10
The Bottom of the the Rhine, Take Two- Matt Chapin guitar & Mike guitar
Starman- Louie Reyes guitar, Mike guitar, Greg vocals & Aaron drums
I Want You- Louie guitar, Mike guitar, Greg vocals & Aaron drums
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-a_88yex2Y
Disarm- Barbie Welsh guitar, Aaron drums & Greg vocals
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea- Barbie guitar/vocals, Aaron drums

Wow....we made our mistakes, but we had a BLAST! A serious blast! Music is communication and this was an evening of communicating love. Yes, we are all amateurs, but on this night we were letting the music live.

The music took on it's own persona within the crowd, it wasn't about us as individuals, but about the songs- the lyrics, the sounds they echoed in every one's heads and hearts. The crowd was as loving of a crowd as I have ever experienced, so positive and affirming I was in awe of their patience and "understanding".

Everyone had a really good time & we would all do it again in a heartbeat.

Special thanks to Mike our guitar teacher....he is an excellent teacher and did a more then admirable job in producing this Winter Recital!

Chris Tomlin @ the Electric Factory, Phila. PA 1/25/09

ahhhh.....the EFC-- One of the most intimate venues I know.

super convenient to my home, secret parking tricks

and an intimacy with the performer

Daniel Carson & Chris Tomlin

Israel Houghton New Breed



be light

This is my first "christian" concert review on my Concert Review blog.

Chris Tomlin & crew had a Sunday evening gig scheduled for Philly and what a way to continue what is typically a morning of worship, stretch it out into the night and even the next morning as I type this.

This concert was one of pure unadulterated worship to Jesus Messiah.

I love most general admission shows since it gives me the opportunity to get super close and me not being one to miss too many opportunities in life got right up there. We brought a total of 14 people with us for this venture and I know that God; working through the audience and musicians alike enlightened many and lifted up the name of Jesus Messiah on this night.

Israel Houghton & New Breed---Excellent musicians full of energy and passion. These guys got the crowd worked up and ready and really were worthy of headlining even though most had never heard of them. On the way home most all of our attendees commented on how Israel was such a great performer. Israels voice was amazing. When they took the full band took the stage there were three female backup singers and one male.....everyone's singing, band's rocking out etc and then all of a sudden it gets super quite and you hear this sweet, sweet voice singing over the din. My eyes quickly searched out all the backup singers to see which of the ladies was singing from their heart---I quickly assessed that none of them were singing and was disappointed that this band would use background tracks till my eyes caught a glimpse of Israel himself singing....his voice like pure butter.....beautiful.

Tomlin rocked the house for Jesus Messiah. Normally when a song is completed the audience claps and cheers for the band. This was not really the case; when a song was complete everyone in attendance kinda of collectively clapped for God and not the band....it's a bit hard to explain properly and a credit to Chris' worship abilities.

I usually grab a set-list and was unable to do so @ this show. The band covered a lot of stuff off of Hello Love and a good amount of older popular material. Chris is a master at being part of the audience and bringing it all to God in a beautiful package. Major highlights for me included- Jesus Messiah, God of this City, Amazing Grace (My chains are gone), Your Grace is Enough and I Will Rise as well as countless others. Going into How Great Thou Art after singing How Great is Our God was awesome. It was great to sing acapella several times throughout the show....made me feel right @ home :)

I truly felt that the band and audience was acting as one in unison to Jesus Messiah, This was not your typical concert, but an act of worship.

In closing, Chris' authenticity was amazing. What an appreciative, loving Christ-centered individual.....he has my prayers.

Marc Broussard @ the TLA in Philly, PA 11-12-08

I guess I need to put out a disclaimer 1st. I am not a huge fan of Marc Broussard. I do own an album and have listened to him, but have never found him super compelling.


A good friend of mine, who does not get out much and loves live music asked me to go and I went more for her then anything else as she is a huge fan.

I was mildy surprised by his performance.

The man has talent and there were those in attendance who were moved to tears during the show. Even though the TLA in Philly is one of my favorite local venues, tonight the music quality was subpar. Many of the instruments; including Marc's voice did not play out to the crowd well and were not blended all too well.

The show was nowhere near soldout and the crowd sparse for a national act playing in such a small venue, even though it was a Wednesday nite.

Marc started the show acoustically and solo which to me was the highlights of the nite.

Setlist
Evie Rose
Lonely Nite
Rock Steady
Man 4 Life
Love & Hap (Happiness)
Save Me
Come in Fr. Cold
Booty
Another Nite Alone
Real Good Thing
Come Round
Home
__ENCORE__
Gavin/French
Goin Home

Highlights were the cover Love & Happiness were Marc seemed to cut loose quite a bit. This is a hard song not to like, Marc's voice was on key and the song was well performed.
Rock Steady, Home and Booty were also exceptionally well performed.

The concert just never seemed to really get started and the lack of "good sound" really hampered the event even though some hardcore Broussard fans were in attendance which usually makes for some good chemistry.

Ray LaMontagne @ the Keswick in Glenside, PA 10-13-08

Ray LaMontagne Keswick Theatre, Glenside, PA 10/13/08
Ray shared the stage with his band members exhibiting his humility by performing stage left giving the entire band the spotlight and showing his strength with his voice.
Few known performers can get away with performing a set of new, unreleased songs. Ray still can. Therein lies his strength and yet his shyness. Frankly I could have listened to him perform just about anything. I can't really describe what it is other then pure musical ability. The way he weaves a tune musically and lyrically is mesmerizing and I don't think this was one of his better shows although I thought it was outstanding. The stage crew had commented that after doing Boston, Chicago and a radio performance the day of this show, that the band was bit tired as indicated by Ray during the show as he commented on his vocals giving out.

When he started playing Empty I got goosebumps. The song is mystical and the lyrics are downright chilling, but it was a major highlight as were many of the new tunes that I was totally unfamiliar with....yet....they rang true as he sang them.

Watching Ray perform was like watching someone confess all of their hopes and failures. Something we all fail to do. When Ray interacted with the crowd it was great....Ray can laugh at himself! He talked about how when he always looks pissed off and even his baby pictures show a him as a pissed off baby and how when a heckler yelled out to get Ray to get the bar re-opened Ray just told him to drink some f-ing water! Water is supposed to make you feel like a million bucks, yeah right!

Set List
1. You Are The Best Thing
2. Hold You In My Arms
3. Empty
4. I Still Care For You
5. Let It Be Me
6. Henry Nearly Killed Me--
7. Roses & Cigarettes
8. Meg White
9. Burn-Solo
10. Winter Birds- Solo
11. ??days short nites long??-Solo
12. Sarah- Solo
13. Hey Me, Hey Momma
14. You Can Bring Me Flowers
15. Trouble
Encore
16. Shelter
17. Three More Days
18. Jolene
19. All The Wild Horses

If I were to put comments next to each song I would be telling you they were all great and they were. Shelter was especially a work of beauty as was Burn. I would have to say of all the new songs, Winter Birds was excellent.

They had sold out of the new CD @ the merch table so I ordered it from Amazon for 9.99 today---a steal!

Ray LaMontagne is not to be missed....just sit back and listen to whatever he plays.

The Swell Season Tower Theatre, Upper Darby, PA 5/20/08

WOW!
From the opening song---Say It To Me Now performed at the edge of the stage without a mic or amp Glen's passion was of a nature that is rarely experienced as he shouted the lyrics and strummed his guitar to reach the last row of the 3,100+ seats, did I say no mic, no amp????

The story of Glen Hansard is the story of someone who does what they love. From his days of quitting school and busking in Ireland to performing sold out shows across the land it is apparent that he is doing what he loves...period.

A man who has taken the roots of his success and brought them all to the forefront of what he does by including his hometown band of the Frames and a band of musicians that gave him his inspiration, Interference to open for him. This was a show of rock and roll family.

The Tower is one of my favorite Philly venues as it has old world charm. great acoustics and an intimacy that few modern day venues can encompass.

Glen spoke a lot during the show sharing his passion and love for life and people in a spiritual way and then backed up his words with his music and lyrics.

Musical highlights- "Leave" performed solo and with a crescendo till the screeching end. Marketa's humility, innocence and honesty were eye opening as her timid demeanor shone through to the lyrics and musical performances. Every note of every song was played with honesty and passion. A new song was played prior to the encore---"Happiness". Again a song that expresses Glen and Marketa's love of life and their joy.

This was the last nite of this leg of the tour. And the touring entourage was all going their own way. Glen took full advantage of this by bringing all of tour particiapnts on stage for the last jig. An old Irish tune in which Glen brought even the bus drivers up to sing a chorus. It was a moment of fun and family that I shall not soon forget.

I had a chance to talk with one of the bus drivers after the show and he said that he drives tour buses for a living and he had never encountered anyone quite like Glen and crew. This was a family and every member of the audience left feeling they were now family.

One can only anticipate the follow-up album and until then those of us that didn't know the Frames stuff....now do!