Steve Forbert ~ 2006 September 30 ~ Narrows Center for the Arts, Fall River, MA
Steve Forbert accompanying himself with guitar, harmonica, and foot tapping
Review
I've travelled quite a bit to see Graham Parker these last couple of years, and it seems that every venue where I go to see GP has had Steve Forbert, too, so I thought I'd check him out when he came to my closest venue, The Narrows in Fall River.
I knew his hit, "Romeo's Tune" ("meet me in the middle of the night ...") but none of his other material, but he played some terrific songs including one I took a quick liking to called "Goodbye to Little Jo." He has a somewhat quirky stage presence, but engaging and appealing. He played many different harmonicas, and his foot was miked, so that when he tapped his foot it added a little bit of percussion to the song. He has a very gentle, almost whispery singing voice, but it's melodic and very easy on the ears.
Musically, for me the highlight was Steve's performance of the song "Starstruck," by my all-time favorite band, The Kinks. He had the audience sing along with the catchy phrase "starstruck baby, starstruck baby" and people were having a fun time. Forbert has recorded the song for the Kinks tribute disk This Is Where I Belong.
Steve Forbert is a really fun singer/songwriter who clearly has very good taste in music. He tours tirelessly. He's one of those wonderfully entertaining, underappreciated musicians who play 100-seat clubs for $18 while [insert megastar of your choice] plays sold out arenas for a hundred bucks a pop.