Second Town Hall Concert, May 20th
As I indicated yesterday, I enjoyed the Wednesday night John Ritter so much that I bought an ticket for tonight. It seemed a bit odd that a center aisle, fourth row ticket would be available at such I late date, but I grabbed it.
The opening act tonight was not the California band Dawes, but Annie & the Beekeepers. Annie & the Beekeepers is a three-piece band (guitar, fiddle, upright bass), and much more sedate than Dawes. More folky. As a result, perhaps, many remained in the foyer drinking rather than in the audience. The noise was considerable, and it made it difficult to hear Annie.
The Josh Ritter concert that followed was about the same as it was last night, but not exactly. Instead of singing Springsteen's The River Josh did a solo version of Leonard Cohen's Chelsea Hotel No. 2. Hearing the words "Giving me head on the unmade bed" coming out of his cherubic mouth sounded a bit strange, but the audience loved it.
The Edgar Allen Poe poem was read by bass player Zack Hickman, rather than Michael Shannon, with more dramatic effect.
One of the encore numbers from last night was moved into the concert, and Josh did not sing Moon River tonight, but the concert was still excellent. It was a different experience sitting in row D orchestra than it was in the center loge seat. The crazy fans were up front, and were standing up dancing until ushers got them to sit down. After the lights were down, and Josh asked for a "sunrise," one audience member made soft, early-morning bird calls that were quite nice. Josh asked for them again in a later number. At that point there were additional owl- and crow-sounds.
A review of the Wednesday night concert was published by one of the entertainment weeklies. You can tell the author, Jeff, was impressed:
There’s nothing cynical or contemptuous about Josh Ritter and the Royal City Band, and at New York’s Town Hall last night, the Idaho-bred folk-rocker bounded on stage like an exuberant puppy freed from his leash. In an elegant 124-minute show, the earnest singer with the earthy voice and hyper-literate lyrics delighted what sometimes felt like an intimate gathering of friends. Ritter reveled in Town Hall’s history, expressing awe at the legendary performers, like Paul Robeson and Igor Stravinsky, who’d helped make it famous, but by the end of the night, the house was his.
It didn’t start out that way. Despite Ritter’s buoyancy, his first song, “Change of Time,” from his latest album, So Runs the World Away, suffered a few mechanical glitches that stunted some early momentum. It’s not unusual for Ritter’s shows to begin quietly anyway, a reflection more of the mild-not-wild NPR listeners in his audience than the band’s fervent energy. After the fourth song, “Folk Bloodbath” (“It’s a comedy,” deadpanned Ritter), he acknowledged the staid setting and warned the crowd not to get too comfortable in their velvet red theater seats. “This is Town Hall and everyone is wearing tuxedos and drinking martinis,” he joked. “But it would really help if we could all scream like … like….” “Like wild banshees!” volunteered a voice in the dark. That seemed to do the trick. The band quickly launched into “Right Moves,” a rollicking number from 2007’s album, The Historical Conquest of Josh Ritter.
From there, the band quickly put to rest any concerns that songs from the new album lacked the rock ‘n’ roll oomph of Historical Conquest. (Only “Rattling Locks” landed flat, judging by its unspoken designation as the show’s “bathroom song.”) Stomping to a thunderous beat, Ritter added an urgency to “The Remnant” that the recorded version lacks, transforming it into a pounding, crowd-pleasing delight. Midway through the show, he revisited his gorgeous, winding rendition of Bruce Springsteen’s “The River” and then showcased some real vocal versatility with an acoustic version of “In the Dark.”
Ritter has said that he plays “rock ‘n’ roll with lots of words,” and he found the inspiration for So Runs in Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe and, in the case of the melancholic “The Curse,” the Egyptian Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. So it was appropriate but no less surprising when actor Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road) ambled on stage before “Another New World” for a mesmerizing reading of Poe’s tragic poem, “Annabel Lee.” Simply epic.
After delivering a knockout version of “To the Dogs or Whoever” to close the set, the band returned for a three-song encore, highlighted by a tender version of “Moon River.” An accomplished storyteller and a versatile live entertainer who makes himself at home in any room, Ritter successfully swept aside any Town Hall stodginess, chugging an entire beer at one point during the encore. For Ritter, whose thoughtful lyrics open doors to hallowed halls but whose musical heart and soul reside in front of the neon beer signs of a pub, it was the perfect symbol for a memorable night.
