Graham Parker and the Latest Clowns ~ 2007 May 31 ~ Muddy River Smokehouse (Bourbon's), Portsmouth, NH
Band Personnel: Graham Parker (lead vocals, Gibson acoustic guitar, Fender electric guitar, harmonica); Mike Gent (drums, guitar, backing vocals); Brett Rosenberg (guitar, backing vocals); Ed Valauskas (bass, backing vocals); Scott Janovitz (keyboards, backing vocals)
Set List (with guitars noted)
[Gibson acoustic]I Discovered America - Hard Side of the Rain - [Fender electric]: England's Latest Clown - Get Started. Start a Fire - You Can't Take Love for Granted - [Gibson acoustic]: They Murdered the Clown - Suspension Bridge - Other Side of the Reservoir - [Fender electric]: Weeping Statues - Durban Poison - Break Them Down (*not* the First Act guitar) - White Honey (with Mike on guitar) - [Gibson acoustic]: Socks 'n' Sandals (with Mike on guitar) - [Fender electric]: Sailing Shoes (with Mike on guitar) - You Can't Be Too Strong (with Ed/Scott) - [Gibson acoustic]: Waiting for the UFOs - [Fender electric]: Nobody Hurts You - Syphilis & Religion ... encore ... [Fender electric]: Wake Up (Next To You) - Back to School Days - Local Girls
Note: GP also played harmonica on "I Discovered America" and "Syphilis and Religion"
Review
After taking almost four weeks off since the previous show, GP & the Latest Clowns didn't show the slightest hint of rust as they ripped through a 21-song set at Bourbon's in the quaint seaside town of Portsmouth, NH last Thursday evening.
This was one of the best venues on this tour, and although the crowd was smaller than some it was very enthusiastic. Muddy River Smokehouse is the restaurant, upstairs, serving reasonably good pub food with friendly easygoing staff; after a bite to eat, it was a short trip down one flight of stairs to Bourbons, the venue. Peaking surreptitiously through the still closed doorway I saw a low stage (about a foot off the floor) with a raised drum platform, a big dance floor in front of the stage, and tables behind.
When the doors opened, Concert Going Partner and I went in and took a front table where we were joined by Infamous Capgirl Mary. With twenty minutes to go till show time there were only about 25 people in the club, but once the show started it was filled to the capacity of about 100 people.
The warmup act was Leo Ganley, a folkie with a very expressive voice who sang serious songs mostly from a soldier's point of view. He was very good, especially when he was joined on stage by a second guitarist who filled out the sound very well.
A few minutes later the Clowns came onto the stage but without the usual accompaniment of "Tears of a Clown" and immediately Mike Gent from behind the drums gestured for the crowd to come up and fill the dance floor. I had already positioned myself on the dance floor at the side of the stage where I was hoping I wouldn't block anyone's view, but Mike's gestures worked and quite a few of the crowd joined us on the dance floor. So I finally got the standing venue I've been longing for; sitting for these rockin' shows has just been driving me nuts.
The set list was a little shorter than at the Bull Run, but that show was the A++++ show of this tour; the rest have merely been A+. The GP Duo segment has become the moment for a spontaneous request; tonight an audience member called out "Can you play 'Socks 'n' Sandals'," to which GP replied "no," but then when he was joined by Mike, he did play it. Mike expertly played along with the chords and sang enthusiastically on the choruses.
This GP & the Clowns tour has been a series of great shows and it's been fun watching the show get smoother. Graham engaged in less audience banter as the tour went along. He was chattier at the first couple of shows I saw; I think at that time he was still somewhat in solo-show mode, but as the band got into the rhythm of the show more smoothly, Graham apparently didn't feel the need for as much talking. He still poked fun at the excessive, rambling length of "Other Side of the Reservoir," painted a humorous word picture of the Clowns tumbling out of a minivan on the way to the gig, and commented on his habit of putting lyrics about clowns and monkeys into a lot of his songs. He also claimed that in "Break Them Down," a song about Western imperialism in the jungles of Venezuela, he had found a sure subject for a hit record, and that it is the only song ever written that uses the word "ethnocide."
At one point Mike brought out from behind his drum kit what looked like a two foot square piece of cardboard, but when he unfolded it it turned out to be a promo piece for Graham Parker & the Rumour dating from sometime in the last millennium. It was the sort of thing you'd see on a shelf in a record store. GP commented that his hair in the picture used on the cutout looked terrible ("like something out of Mink Deville") and it was the fault of the cheap record promoter who used a picture out of a newspaper.
There was one encore set of three songs, ending with "Local Girls," a fitting end to the east coast swing of any Graham Parker tour. There was a lot of singing along ("Durban Poison," "White Honey," "UFOs") and LG is always the sing-alonging-est of them all.
It's hard to pick musical highlights from a show that is so full of great songs, but you can't get much better than "They Murdered the Clown" with Scott's very expressive keyboard playing, and the very creative "Suspension Bridge," with its haunting, exotic-sounding (Middle Eastern?) music and its beautiful lyrics and universal meaning.
In addition to CDs, the merch table had for sale GP's very funny novel The Other Life of Brian, based on the adventures of a rock singer as he makes his way around the world to off-the-beaten-path locations and has bizarre adventures. Geep said he had liberated the remaining copies of the book from the publisher and was going to try to sell them all before he got tired of lugging them around and used them for kindling. So if you get to a Parker gig buy one or you may miss your chance. Scott Janovitz acquired a copy and I told him that as he reads it, he will imagine Graham's voice in his head reading it out loud to him.
After the show when I asked Graham if he had any solo shows scheduled he said he was going to take just a little time off, so hopefully we can look forward to some solo dates in the fall.
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