Kristian Hoffman and Friends ~ 2002 November 6 ~ Fez Under Time ~ New York, NY
Kristian Hoffman on vocals, piano, and cowbell, accompanied by a band including Joe Berardi on drums, a guitarist whose name I did not record, and accompanied on vocals by about nine other singers, listed in brackets next to the song on which they dueted
Set List
Madison Avenue [David Driver] - Get It Right This Time [Sally Norvell] - Anyone But You [Joe McGinty] - Scarecrow [Michael Cerveris] - God If Any [Abby Travis] - Just In Time [Michael Cerveris] ... intermission ... Revert To Type [Philip Shelley] - Palace of Corn [Antony and Ann Magnuson] - After the Fall [Antony and Ann Magnuson] - Sex In Heaven [Antony and Ann Magnuson] - Die For Cute [Wendy Ip] - Crocodile Tears [everyone] - Moonage Daydream {Bowie} [everyone] ... encore ... Out of the Habit [Kristian solo]
Concert Review
My first acquaintance with Kristian Hoffman is as the fab keyboard player in the Dave Davies Band. However, this is just one link in the chain of a long career. He got his start with the New York band Mumps, led by Kristian as main songwriter and the late Lance Loud on vocals. He has been in other bands since, has performed and recorded with dozens of other musicians, gained a dollop of fame from writing songs for the unique Klaus Nomi, and in the past few years, put out two tuneful, literate, and lovingly produced solo albums, Earthquake Weather and I Don't Love My Guru Anymore. His third solo album is new, and this was the record release party for it. The new album is called &, because the album features a co-vocalist in each song. The vocalists on the album include Rufus Wainwright, Ann Magnuson, El Vez, and others.
Thus, the record release party concert, this one in New York City, featured a handful of vocalists and musicians duetting with Kristian. It's a gimmick, but the shimmering personalities and abundant talents of these New York City musical artistes definitely enriched the show. Without a doubt, the beautiful Antony (of Antony & the Johnsons) stole the show, including a short bit of "After the Fall" as a tribute to the incredible Klaus Nomi, and joining in with Ann Magnuson for a handful of songs. Antony's voice is operatic and mesmerizing. Kristian himself played piano for most songs, and toward the end of the show moved to the microphone at center stage to play the cowbell while he sang a catchy tune from his old band Mumps called "Crocodile Tears." All the other songs were from the new album, with the exception of the song he played (back at the piano) for the encore, a new song called "Out of the Habit."
Concert Going Partner and I travelled via auto and New York City subway to this small, hip nightclub, where the subway trains rumbled by every couple of minutes, making me think that Kristian ought to do a train song. We thought we might run into a few of our friends from the Dave Davies koncerts where we first met Kristian, but the only one who was there was Frank Reda ("Freaky Frank"), to whom we offered a ride home from the subway.
It was an enjoyable concert absolutely loaded with talent, all paying tribute to their friend Kristian, and seeing Kristian as the star of the show made me hope that Dave Davies realizes how lucky he is to have a musician of Kristian's talent in his band.