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Previous concert (Dave Davies, Club Bene) ... Next concert (Dave Davies, The Big Kahuna)

... by Joanne Corsano ... joanne@picturelake.com

Band Personnel: Dave Davies, lead vocals, lead guitar - Jim Laspesa, drums and backing vocals - David Jenkins, bass and backing vocals - David Nolte, guitar, keyboards, harmonica, backing vocals

Early Show

Till The End of The Day - I Need You - She's Got Everything - Susannah's Still Alive - Tired of Waiting - Creeping Jean - Hold My Hand - Milk Cow Blues - Unfinished Business - Wicked Annabella - Slum Kids (a clip) - Love Gets You - Mindless Child of Motherhood (one verse) - Picture Book - Death of a Clown - Living on a Thin Line - You're Lookin' Fine

Late Show

Till the End of The Day - I Need You - She's Got Everything - I'm a Lover Not A Fighter - Imaginations Real - Susannah's Still Alive - I'm a King Bee - Creeping Jean - I'm On An Island - Tired of Waiting - Milk Cow Blues - Hold My Hand - Unfinished Business - Wicked Annabella - In You I Believe (a snip) - Party Line (just one line) - Picture Book - Too Much On My Mind - Young and Innocent Days - Fortis Green - Living on a Thin Line - Money - David Watts - You Really Got Me

This koncert review and others from Dave Davies' solo tours starting in 1997 were originally published in the Kinks Preservation Society internet mailing list digest. This digest is archived at Dave Emlen's Unofficial Kinks Web Site, under the link labeled Kinks Fans ... KPS Mailing List. I have made some edits for context.

At the ridiculously tiny Turning Point in the lovely Hudson River town of Piermont, NY, Dave played two separate admission shows, and I can safely say they were the best shows I've seen him do to date. The stage was so small the drummer was crammed in the corner and Dave would have had enough room if he stood in one spot the whole show. But nobody seemed to mind. He still had the music stand with his lyric cheat-sheets, but he looked at it maybe twice. He is obviously gaining confidence in himself.

On this tour Dave is using "Till The End Of The Day" to start the shows. As much as "I Need You," the song that opened the fall shows, is a great song, starting with a known hit is a guarantee of getting the audience in your pocket right away, and Dave played a great version of it, true to the original recording. The impromptu verse of "I'm a King Bee" right before "Creepin' Jean" had me in stitches. The band played such a raving version of "Milk Cow Blues" that Dave was out of breath at the end of it. He announced "this part of the song is what we used to call a rave-up" and then he and the drummer really went at it.

Dave is having a lot of fun with the fact that three out of four guys on stage are named Dave. For the record, the drummer's name is actually Jim Laspesa. He is an excellent drummer and singer. Watch his drumming during "Wicked Annabella" or "Tired of Waiting." He nailed the harmonies beautifully, particularly on "Love Gets You" and "Young and Innocent Days." Because there are so many Daves in the band, Our Dave would occasionally introduce the drummer as "Dave, formerly known as Jim." The other musicians are Dave Nolte on keyboard, guitar and harmonica (whose infant daughter Anastasia was present at one or two shows on this tour) and Dave Jenkins on bass. Mr. Nolte played in the rehearsal tour last spring and Mr. Jenkins in the fall tour. The only drawback -- and a minor one -- is that Dave N. is not the accomplished keyboardist that Kristian Hoffman was during the fall tour; in fact, he played the accompaniment to "Young and Innocent Days" on the guitar instead -- but it worked just as well. The whole band is having almost as much fun as Dave himself, by the way.

Another song newly introduced to the set list is "Hold My Hand," never a favourite of mine on record, but Dave sings it so beautifully live that I've decided to put it on my list of my top 5 Dave songs (you know, the list with 25 songs on it). In the first show Dave played one verse of "Mindless Child" and it sounded great, but he stopped it and said they needed to rehearse the rest of it. In the late show, he pulled out "I'm a Lover, Not A Fighter" with a fun country twang. This was in response to a request. Another request had him playing the opening bars of "I'm On An Island" (a wonderfully absurd song for Dave); he admitted he didn't know the words, and basically the audience sang the song, along with some clinking glasses meant to simulate the cowbell on the record!

Last year members of the audience would meow during "Fortis Green" when the song mentions putting out the cat (I am thinking that superfan and Fan Club founder Rafaela may have started that); and Dave liked it well enough to give the meow vocal to Dave the bass player. But he meowed so badly that Dave cracked up, stopped the song, and started the verse again. At the end of "Picture Book," Dave shouted olé and spontaneously played a few Spanish flamenco notes on his guitar. More examples of the real fun Dave is having with these shows.

Another change is in the arrangement of "Unfinished Business." They have added a melodic, almost mystical keyboard intro that sets a reflective mood for this powerful song. The keyboard comes in during the song twice more. But it eventually turns into a straight-ahead rock number, with Dave wailing away on the guitar. That guy really does play the guitar like it was a part of him.

The late Turning Point show ended with a couple of tunes that had me laughing out loud. One of Dave's many strengths as a singer is his sincerity. When he sang "Money," he had us reaching into our wallets, he was so convincing! He segued right into "David Watts," a tune that, like many others, Dave has reshaped and made his own. It's got the maniacal laughter; the line "I have never been a queen" instead of "met the queen"; the hand gestures that originally were meant to mimic brother Ray's flamboyant stage mannerisms, but I am sure Dave just thinks they're part of the song now.

Go look at Dave's facial expressions, from the ecstatic concentration during guitar solos to the elfin grin to the thoughtful biting of the lower lip. I think I would enjoy these shows even if I hated the songs, the guy is having so much fun.

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