July 6, 2016: The Polyphonic Spree

Concert Details:

Bands: The Polyphonic Spree, Harper Simon

Location: Sixth and I, Washington, DC

1. Opener
2. Light to Follow
3. Hold Me Now
4. Younger Yesterday
5. Popular By Design
6. Two Thousand Places
7. Get Up and Go
8. Running Away
9. Hold Yourself Up
10. You Don't Know Me
11. Light & Day / Reach for the Sun
12. The Best Part

Encore:

   13.  A Long Day Continues/We Sound Amazed

   14. Wig in a Box (Snippet)

   15. Soldier Girl

   16. Lithium (Nirvana cover)

   17. My Umbrella (Tripping Daisies cover)

The opener for this show was quite a treat, Paul Simon's son Harper.  While he may not have the songwriting talent of his father, he still put on quite a good show. 

Unfortunately for him, shortly into the set for The Polyphonic Spree every other form of human existence is forgot and all you know is that you are now a member of the band, for at every The Polyphonic Spree show, every member of the audience becomes a member of the band.  As they did last time I saw them the show opened with the lead band hidden behind a white sheet which is slowly cut away to reveal the band, all of whom except the lead singer, Tim DeLaughter are in red flowery gowns (he's only wearing the design on his shirt).

The Polyphonic Spree are a hard band to explain without first knowing a little bit about them.  They are a band that has a range of 15 to 30 members including multiple string playing members that you normally would not see in a rock band as well as a group of backup singers, they are almost like their own little cult.  A cult whose only value is to have as much musical fun as possible.

They have a reasonably large catalogue of songs to choose from but almost always choose those that can be used to provide the largest energy exchange between the crowd and those on stage.

Tim isn't really a lead singer of a band, but a conductor of an orchestra that includes everyone who can soak in what is happening, frequently (as seen below) trying to evoke the type of magic that can only be found a truly wonderful show.

Not a lot of people I know listening to The Polyphonic Spree which led me to believe that they were not a wholly well known band who not many people had seen, but talking some of the others at the show I must just be in the wrong circles.  One girl I met had seen them around 15 times before that show and another couple was on their 11th show.

Musically, the band puts on a flawless show moving through their setlist with great exuberance, occasionally playing slower songs so as to recoup some energy to save it to expend all of their energy on their most well known song Light and Day, possibly their only song that is known outside in a main audience, possibly because of its use along with the bands appearance in the show Scrubs.  With the amount of energy they put into this song and the final song of their main setlist one who doesn't know the band would think they had nowhere to go but down, but I, like many of the members of the audience knew they had a few cards left to play.

They come back from the encore with two songs and a snippet, warming themselves up for what was to come.  For all of their own wonderful songs, their is no moment at this show, or moment at almost any show I've ever been to as when The Polyphonic Spree cover Nirvana's Lithium.  After asking for all the lights on as the opening chords of the song begin, the crowd sings with Tim the opening part of the song as it slowly builds, and builds it does.

As the first chorus hits, the whole crowd erupts, bouncing up and down like many of us feel to old to get away with anymore, but somehow it doesn't matter at this show.  The second verse begins and Tim descends into the audience, shaking hands and receiving pats on the back.  Once the second chorus hits he goes crazy with the audience, this time the crowd having erupted bigger than the first and staying that way through the third verse with Tim now conducting from the center of the audience while standing on a pew.

As the third chorus ends he instructs the crowd to sit down where they are and talks to us a bit buying time for us to maybe forget what the energy of the chorus was like and begins to sing, singing only half of a line of the next verse letting the crowd sing back the second half.  It's at this point the band begins to build back up and as the chorus rears its head again the crowd is back on their feet jumping up and down again with the combined energy of all previous choruses of the song.

From this point, there is only one song before the end of the show which was probably for the best as it would be hard for any band I've ever seen to exceed the performance of Lithium.  All I have left to say about this show is, when can I go back?

June 26, 2013: Joseph Arthur

Concert Details:

Bands: Joseph Arthur, Rene Lopez
Location: Ram's Head On Stage, Annapolis, MD

1. Currency of Love
2. Saint of Impossible Causes
3. The Ballad of Boogie Christ
4. I Used to Know How to Walk on Water
5. Wait for Your Lights
6. I Miss the Zoo
7. It's Ok to Be Young/Gone
8. Still Life Honey Rose
9. Black Flowers
10. King of Cleveland
11. Famous Friends Along the Coast
12. All the Old Heroes

Joseph Arthur is a musician that I have followed for quite a long time and while I really loved his album going into this show, I'm a huge fan of his early stuff, especially that of his first album.  For this show he only played one song not on his new album and started the show by playing his most recent album at the time straight through.  For someone that has been listening to him for nearly ten years, you would think this might be a let down, but it was anything but.

For a man that puts on a very minimalist show, just a bassist and a percussionist to join him on stage, Joseph Arthur can command the stage and put on a great show.  As a song-writer and poet he's got a quick wit who provides humorous commentary and jokes between and during songs.

He moved swiftly at a comfortable speed through each song adding guitar flourishes and solos were he saw fit.  The high point for me was the acoustic version of a song from his previous album that was released on the most recent album I Miss the Zoo a song that is a poem roughly sung/spoken to music, and something that I honestly wonder how long it took him to memorize.  It was sung beautifully with tremendously evoked emotions.

For a show that played none of the songs I was really hoping for, I did not walk away from this show wanting anything, the man is just as talented live as he is on his albums and I will attend his shows over and over in any capacity.  After the show he came out and talked to any fans who wished to stay and took time to not only sign things but also draw on them.  It was a good end to a great night.