Jenny Lewis, that cute as a button lead singer of Rilo Kiley, played her second ever show as a solo artist with the Watson Twins, Jonathan Rice and some guy named Farmer Dave at the Swedish American Music Hall last night. As of 8 p.m., the line of ticket holders (and those hoping to get lucky with one) wrapped around the block. And for good reason: the Swedish American is a sit down venue with no assigned seating. It's a very intimate venue, so not sitting down isn't really a disadvantage but it may be a minor hindrance. We didn't wait in line (opted for cheap sushi instead) and still got a good spot in the back.
Opening up with Ms. Lewis is Jonathan Rice. He's a guy with good hair, an acoustic guitar and a nice voice which some may compare to a young Johnny Cash. He had his fair share of admirers from the crowd, with some rather loud woman yelling "I love you!" which he replied, 'You don't even know me." The crowd laughed at the off-the-cuff remark and that shut the girl up a bit. I only saw the first three songs in his set and opted to go next door to get a dirty martini (N.B.: Swedish American is a "dry" venue. All they serve are cookies, samiches, tea, hot cocoa and coffee).
We arrived just in time to see Jenny. Jenny and the Watson twins were upstairs and they walked down, candle in hand, and sang "Run Devil Run" as if they were in a funeral procession. Jonathan and Farmer Dave were already on stage when this happened. They then proceeded to play "The Big Guns."
Their set all consisted of songs off of Jenny's new album, Rabbit Fur Coat. So, no, yelling out or even wishing they would play anything Rilo Kiley was out of the question. It was a mellow show, with the crowd in dead silence as Jenny and her band played each song. The only noises emitted were in between songs, with the crowd giving Jenny and her bandmates plenty of loud applause and recognition. It was probably not a good idea to come to this show dead tired (I admit, I fell asleep for a few seconds at a time) since the songs are not as "rock" oriented as Rilo Kiley, but it was superb nonetheless.
Other highlights included "The Charging Sky" and "Rabbit Fur Coat." All of which Jenny played with a lot of emotion and vigor. She ended her main set with "Born Secular" with Jenny on the piano. Jenny and the Watson twins then left the stage the same way that they entered: funeral style and singing acapella.
The crowd gave her a standing ovation. After a few minutes, Jenny came back down. She then did a duet song with Jonathan Rice which I didn't recognize. Regardless, it was very, very good. It reminded me of Walk the Line where Johnny Cash and June Carter would do songs together.
It was a treat to see Jenny in an environment that is simple, intimate and stripped of all the lights, noise and rock stardom. Her songs were well played and her voice was ever so angelic. They will be back next month at Bimbo's, so definitely catch them there if you haven't seen them here.
Beer Rating:
No comments:
Post a Comment