The Dave Davies Band ~ 1999 January 30 ~ Maxwell's ~ Hoboken, MJ
Band Personnel: Dave Davies, lead vocals, lead guitar; Jim Laspesa, drums and backing vocals; David Jenkins, bass and backing vocals; David Nolte, guitar, keyboards, harmonica, backing vocals
Set List (second show)
Till The End of the Day - I Need You - She's Got Everything - Susannah's Still Alive - Creeping Jean - Wicked Annabella - Milk Cow Blues - Naggin' Woman (one verse - the band didn't know it) - See My Friends - Unfinished Business - Picture Book - Mindless Child of Motherhood (just guitar intro - no singing) - This Man He Grins Tonight (oops, I mean Weeps) - There is No Life Without Love - Death of a Clown - Fortis Green - Living on a Thin Line - All Day & All Of The Night - Father Christmas - Money - David Watts
This was a double show. Different songs he had played in the first show included Climb Your Wall, Strangers, and I'm Not Like Everybody Else. I was unable to keep a set list from that show because of technical difficulties (I lost my writing instrument.)
Concert Review
This koncert review and others from Dave Davies' solo tours starting in 1997 were originally published in the Kinks Preservation Society internet mailing list digest. This digest is archived at Dave Emlen's Unofficial Kinks Web Site, under the link labeled Kinks Fans ... KPS Mailing List. I have made some edits for context.
On Saturday, 30 Jan. 99, my at-the-time-boyfriend and I journeyed to New Jersey to attend Dave's double show at Maxwell's just across the river from New York City, accompanied by fellow Kinks Preservation Society (KPS) member Jerry. The KPS is an internet mailing list digest devoted to The Kinks. Although Maxwell's is a small club, it was still great to see Dave sell out back to back shows. There were signs on the entrance door saying that by request of the artist, please no smoking, which was a very good thing.
The club was small and dark, the stage was small and only about 2 feet off the floor, but the acoustics were pretty good. There was no backstage and the technical people and musicians had to push their way through the crowd to get on and off the stage. I might advise the warm-up band, The Bitters, to occasionally smile or make eye contact with the audience, or vary the tempo of a song once or twice in a set. It seemed funny that one of their songs was called "The Bitter End" but it was not the last song that they played.
Dave's band consisted of the same personnel as on the last East Coast swing -- Dave Nolte on guitar, keyboards and harmonica, Jim Laspesa on drums and vocals, Dave Jenkins on bass and vocals. These guys show excellent signs of having worked together for a while; they're a true band now. This korrespondent, who was literally unable to take her eyes off Dave at her first Dave solo show (Cleveland, 19 Nov. 97) is these days finding it great fun to watch the other members of the band. Dave J. makes many a funny face or closes his eyes while playing; Jim the Drummer's expressions range from a broad grin to a look of intensely concentrating on Dave's cues during the "rave-up" of "Milk Cow Blues"; as for Dave N., he looks like he's having the time of his life. Their musicianship and backup vocals have matured to a level of excellence that Dave must be very pleased with.
For the first time Dave made absolutely no reference to that certain brother of his. The comedy bit from previous tours, where he would pretend he was going to read from his autobiography, is gone. That was an affectionate send-up of his brother, but Dave's performance has gone beyond needing that sort of thing.
For over 30 years Dave has been rolling up his right sleeve and for the entire duration of a show battling to keep it rolled up. Picture him flinging his right arm up into the air between songs to try to get the sleeve to retreat past his elbow again. Well, problem solved. Dave wore a short sleeved shirt.
A strength of Dave's shows is that he weaves different songs in and out of his set list from night to night. As much as there are particular songs I'd love to hear, it has become my dearest wish at a Dave show to be surprised. And surprise he did. Dave had introduced "See My Friends" to the west coast audience last fall, but this is the first time we have seen it in the East. And it is breathtaking. From the haunting keyboard intro by Dave Nolte, the song became a mystical, twisting musical journey. Dave's strong voice rang out clearly, his guitar colouring the song judiciously with just the right notes, the harmony just right from Jim the Drummer ... and then when Dave sang the line "and now there's no one else around, except my friends," he made a great sweeping gesture with his hands toward the audience, claiming all the fans crowding in front of him as his friends. You could feel the crowd shiver, and I doubt I was the only person with a tear in my eye.
More surprises. As soon as "See My Friends" was over, Dave inquired whether anyone wanted to hear any more obscure songs, and getting a loud cheer, he launched into a charming, country-ish intro, accompanied dynamically by Dave N. on a slide guitar, and Dave began to sing: "This is a story of my true love ..." It was "There Is No Life Without Love." Dave also treated us to a still-rather-rough rendition of "Climb Your Wall," a demo recording from the late '60s that is featured on both his recently-released UK and US anthologies.
A personal highlight for me in the first show: when Dave sought an audience member to sing along on "Death of a Clown," he picked me! There I was in the front row with David Russell Gordon Davies holding a microphone for me to sing into! A longtime wish, a teenage fantasy happening in reality, happening to me! I did the best I could on those "la-la-la's," but I didn't get a whole lot of rehearsal time!
The first show ended with a blistering rendition of "I'm Not Like Everybody Else," which, as played by Dave Davies and the Kink Kronikles, gets my vote as the most exciting piece of music ever created. I was told after Dave went off stage that the first show was short, only a little over an hour, but it was so good that I honestly didn't notice.
The second show was longer, 20-plus songs. There was some overlap with the first show, but Dave tucked in some more surprises and a bit of unintentional humour. The humour came when he started in on "Picture Book" and then realized he didn't have a cheat sheet for the lyrics on his music stand. He started the song over again and you should have seen the look on Jim the Drummer's face as he tried to mentally transport the lyrics into Dave's head. Dave Davies has many great qualities as a performer but remembering lyrics is not his strongest suit. Laughing good-naturedly at himself, he managed to remember most of them and did a good job with the song, and to Jim's credit he managed to sing a nice harmony with Dave even though there was no way he could be sure of which line was going to tumble out of Dave's mouth. He did forget the line about a "picture of you in your birthday suit (ooooh)." Then in response to a fan request, he started "Mindless Child of Motherhood," but he didn't even attempt the vocal. I think we should make a rule that anybody who requests a song from Dave ought to bring him a lyric sheet.
Other tunes in the second set included a song that Jerry and I share as a particular favourite, "This Man He Weeps Tonight," one verse of "Naggin' Woman" in response to a fan request, and the wonderful "Fortis Green" and "Unfinished Business."
After finishing the klassic "Thin Line," Dave thanked the audience and tore into "All Day & All of the Night," after which he went over to Dave N.'s keyboard and fiddled with it, and out came a tinkling sound like a child's toy piano. It was a song that I probably would have ranked in the bottom 10% of Kinks songs likely to be played by Dave, but it was a brilliant choice and they did a fantastic job of it -- "Father Christmas"! Dave absolutely wailed on guitar and the whole band was working up a mighty fine sweat. I think I spent the song laughing in delighted surprise. Following "Father Christmas," Dave finished up with a song pairing that has become a show-stopper of his, "Money" seguing into the brilliantly re-written "David (this is my song now) Watts."
A kinky footnote: on the way home to Cape Cod the next day, my friend and I stopped for lunch somewhere in Connecticut, and wound up in a restaurant called the Kountry Kitchen (a spelling sure to attract Kinks fans) where we were seated in front of a picture of Santa Claus (Father Christmas)!
So, was it a great show? Oh yes. For me personally the singalong with Dave was a highlight that I will never forget, but it was great to see so many of my friends (Kate H., the very pregnant Annie, the Franks, Andrea, Rafaela, Dennis the Apeman, among others). For the fifth time in almost three years, Dave Davies is on the road with a solo tour. I have been privileged to attend shows from three of these five tours, and he started out great and he keeps getting better.
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