Mike Gent ~ 2018 August 25 ~ Wellfleet Town Hall, Wellfleet Porch Fest, Wellfleet, MA
Set List
This Might Get Boring - Goodbye Girl (Squeeze cover) - No Worries - Taking a Grass Bath - Feline Blue - I'm Only Sleeping (The Beatles cover) - She Said She Said (The Beatles cover) - For Those Left Behind - Graham Isn't Dead - Break Them Down (Graham Parker & The Shot cover) - Serene With an Untethered Head - New Byrds ... intermission ... So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star (The Byrds cover) - Luxury (The Rolling Stones cover) - A Life of Illusion (Joe Walsh cover) - Smoking Guru - Proper Opera - Possession (Elvis Costello & The Attractions cover) - Motel Matches (Elvis Costello & The Attractions cover) - Waterloo Sunset (The Kinks cover) - Sunny Afternoon (The Kinks cover) - I Brought Merch - FWFYS
Setlist copied from setlist.fm, where Mike helpfully posts set lists of his solo shows as well as Figgs shows.
Review
Mike Gent was a last minute substitute for a performer who couldn't make it to the Wellfleet Porch Fest, so since he and his wife and son were vacationing on the Cape anyway, he was available to fill in.
It wasn't a typical venue to see a rock 'n' roll singer/songwriter. Mike set up with acoustic guitar and no amplification on the front lawn of the Wellfleet Town Hall. The Porch Fest is basically a lousy idea. A dozen or so performers are shoehorned into spaces in front of buildings around this charming Cape Cod village, and without aid of amplification they compete with passing traffic. With the lucky exception of Mike's venue, few of them even have any real space for an audience. Fest attendees are encouraged to wander from one performer to the next, but on a hot day like this that isn't all that appealing, and it's insulting to the musicians, anyway.
Mike gamely put on a very good solo show for close to two hours to a randomly circulating group of Fest attendees and a handful of actual fans. He played a few songs from his excellent new solo record, Headphone Music, and a generous selection of known hits (and a few obscurities) from the rock 'n' roll era. My favorite of the covers was the Kinks' "Sunny Afternoon," which became, at Mike's encouragement, a fun audience singalong. My favorite of his new solo songs has to be "Graham Isn't Dead" (for obvious reasons), but I also really like "Untethered Head," which has a real nice groove. And "This Might Get Boring," with which he often opens solo gigs, proves that Mike can definitely write a funny song.
Click for 2018 Concert Page with links to all 2018 concerts ... Click for Main Concert Page with links to all years
More Mike
Here is a page with a handy list of links to all pages on this website with content relating to Mike Gent and his band The Figgs.