Dave Davies ~ 2003 May 7 ~ The Sit 'n' Bull Pub ~ Maynard, MA
Band Personnel: Dave Davies, lead vocals, electric and acoustic guitars; Jonathan Lea, guitar and prerecorded samples; Jim Laspesa, drums and backing vocals; Derrick Anderson, bass and backing vocals
Set List
Till the End of the Day - Who's Foolin' Who - I Need You - Creeping Jean - Gallon of Gas/You're Lookin Fine - Big Sky (short fragment) - Wicked Annabella - See My Friends - The Lie - Come On Now - Dead End Street - Rock You Rock Me - Flowers in the Rain - Death of a Clown - It Ain't Over Till It's Done - Bug/Transformation - I'm Not Like Everybody Else ... encore ... All Day & All of the Night ... second encore ... You Really Got Me
Concert Review
Back to the familiar Sit 'n' Bull in Boston's Metrowest for Dave Davies' twelfth appearance at this unassuming nightclub.
The warmup artist was singer/piano player Allison Lissance, who was once upon a time a member of one of my favorite Boston-area bands, Girls Night Out (which also included Didi Stewart and Wendy Sobel), an all-women band who played energetic, original pop with style and skill. However, by herself Allison wasn't all that interesting; her capable, smoky vocals and bluesy piano got repetitive after a few songs.
It was a sign of things to come. Dave's show tonight was to previous Bull shows as Allison Lissance solo was to Girls Night Out. Of course his guitar was blistering, and his vocals were mostly excellent (with one exception), but compared to other times he's played the Bull, it seemed like he was going through the motions. There wasn't much banter with the audience and there wasn't much spontaneity. Other nights at the Bull have been magical, but tonight there were no audience members invited on stage, no songs that were such a delightful surprise that you laughed out loud (no "Some Enchanted Evening" or "I'm On An Island" or "One Night With You"), the show didn't go for 2.5 hours (like in June of '98), there wasn't anything to justify a statement made to a visitor from, say, England, that if you could only go to one show, this was the one to see. I've been to every show that Dave has played at the Sit 'n Bull, and, while still a fun evening, unfortunately this was the least dynamic of all of them.
The band this time out consists of Jim Laspesa on drums, Jonathan Lea on guitar (also serving as guitar tech, a dual role he performs with such suave smoothness you don't even notice), and Derrick Anderson on bass and backing vocals. Derrick's backing vocals are excellent; he and Jim both harmonized very nicely with Dave on quite a few of the songs. Jim, of course, has been with Dave forever (literally, he's the only Raven who's played with Dave at every show). Jonathan is, refreshingly, back in the band after a year off, and his guitar playing is a very strong asset to the Dave Davies Band. He adds a lot of sometimes delicate, sometimes rocking, touches to almost all of the songs, and by doing so has contributed a real improvement to the band. It's the first time ever that Dave has had a second guitarist who's both on stage for almost every song and who has such skill and versatility. I think this is a great help to Dave since he can concentrate on singing when he needs to, because he knows the guitar chores are taken care of. The other member of the band is Brian Myers running the soundboard.
The show featured a generous number of songs from Bug, Dave's superb solo album, which is a year old this month. He played a total of five songs from Bug (I'm considering the "Bug/Transformation" medley to be one song). These included two of the best songs Dave has ever written: "The Lie" (which in my opinion is every bit as good as "Living on a Thin Line") and "Flowers in the Rain," which, damn it, I have yet to be able to listen to live without getting misty-eyed. It is such a simple song, with a simple theme (loss), and it just hits me where it hurts every single time. Dave, umm, can't you just play "Milk Cow Blues" instead! (Actually I wish he'd play "Milk Cow Blues" and "Flowers in the Rain," too!)
The show's musical highlight was a completely perfect rendition of "Come On Now" -- which is an example of Jonathan's importance to this band -- Jonathan played that classic riff (hum it everyone!) while Dave sang and it sounded great!
Although I was thrilled to see Dave put "Wicked Annabella" back in the show, after an absence of a couple of years, it wasn't all that good tonight. He couldn't seem to hit the low notes or the high notes, and also had trouble remembering the words.
He sang "See My Friends" beautifully, and dedicated it to the late Michael Kraus, who was a great fan of The Kinks and a friend to Dave. Sit 'n Bull owner Peter Bochner had left some information about Michael at the tables, and Kinks historian Doug Hinman came to the show with sale copies of Michael's book about The Kinks (Living on a Thin Line; Crossing Aesthetic Borders with the Kinks). It was a touching tribute to a wonderful man whom we will all miss.
"Dead End Street" was both a sing-along and a chance for Dave to show his sense of humor. Toward the end he announced to the crowd "the trombone player got stuck in traffic" and pulled a kazoo out of his pocket and played the trombone solo on the kazoo! The entire place was rolling in the aisles. It was nice to see him being so light-hearted, for a moment anyway.
He played about 90 minutes, a total of 18 songs. This total doesn't count a very brief fragment of "Big Sky" ("just the bridge" Dave said to the boys), which was distinguished by a very good but short vocal contribution by Jim Laspesa.
The show ended with "I'm Not Like Everybody Else," followed by a very quick exit and return to the stage after just a few seconds, and "All Day & All of the Night." Then the band left the stage and the crowd started to chant for Dave, but in keeping with the mood of the night, their chanting was lackluster -- not like other times Dave has played the Bull where there was wild cheering for an encore. After a few minutes the guys came back and blasted through "You Really Got Me" (after which nothing else can be played, I think it's a town ordinance in Maynard if not a state law), and that was it for Wednesday.
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