By Ben Grad
Seeing your
favorite singer/songwriter play in person is always disappointing. With a rock band, you expect the muddier live
sound – that in-your-face, energetic dissonance is part of what defines “rock.” But singer/songwriters (even ones who play
with three-piece backup bands, like Kevin Devine) are defined by the clarity of their sound
and lyrics – they're writers first, vocalists second, and instrumentalists
third. Heard live, a vocals-heavy act is
bound to fall short of the clarity and subtlety listeners remember from their
favorite albums.
So I walked
into Kevin Devine's show last Friday at Vinyl expecting to be
disappointed. And walked out two and a
half hours later very happy. Part of it
was the fans crowding Vinyl's cozy space – these diehards had memorized
Devine's choruses AND lyrics, giving the concert a very pleasant sing-a-long
vibe. Another bonus was Sarah Jaffe, Devine's opener, who, backed by
drummer/pianist/guitarist Jeff Ryan, sang in a raw style reminiscent of
Heartless Bastard's
Erika Wennerstrom.
Of course,
Kevin Devine's set marked the point where the audience transformed from
enthusiastic bystanders to a sea of ravenously shivering/bouncing
superfans. This was obviously the
type of show that attendees had been looking forward to for months; I doubt you
could have found one person who had bought their ticket on a whim, completely
unaware of Devine's music. Kevin Devine
and the Goddamn Band (drums, bass and
keyboard) played to the crowd throughout the night, pausing for the audience to
shout choruses, taking requests, and generally being surprisingly responsive
for a band playing halfway through a very long bi-coastal tour.
They also played some unexpected variations
on their more popular songs, like “Carnival” from Brother's Blood, which
gained long jam band-ish musical interludes between Devine's vocals. Other surprising live show additions, like
seamless transitions between a few songs, helped ramp the crowd to a constant
low roar by the last third of Devine's set.
Taken together, it was enough to make a cynic rethink they're opinion of
singer-songwriters and live shows.
