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... 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 - King Bee - Creepin' Jean - Love Me Till The Sun Shines - I'm Not Like Everbody Else - Hold My Hand - Imaginations Real - Tired of Waiting - Wicked Annabella - Unfinished Business (shortened version, somehow the song didn't feel right to Dave) - Strangers - Love Gets You - This Man He Weeps Tonight - Living on a Thin Line - Milk Cow Blues - All Day & All of The Night ... encore ... Fortis Green

Late Show

Till the End of The Day - I Need You - She's Got Everything - Susannah's Still Alive - Long Tall Shorty - Tired of Waiting - Creepin' Jean - Hold My Hand - I'm Not Like Everybody Else - I'm On An Island - Wicked Annabella - Milk Cow Blues - One Night With You - Death of a Clown - In You I Believe - Slum Kids (one verse) - This Man He Weeps Tonight - Picture Book - Too Much On My Mind - Young and Innocent Days - Fortis Green - Mindless Child of Motherhood - Living on a Thin Line - Money - David Watts ... encore ... 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 slight edits for context.

At the early show Thursday night at Maynard's Sit 'N Bull pub, Dave claimed not to be very good at math. But he, and his band of two more Daves and a Jim, are damn good at chemistry.

I am almost at a loss for words to describe Dave's first-ever Boston area solo appearance. History was made Thursday night in Boston's Metrowest. The fact is, Kinklings, it was the most enjoyable concert I've ever seen. By the end of the two shows, I was completely exhausted, hoarse, and entirely happy with my life. It was, honest to God, one of those transcendent musical experiences that will live forever.

But why? The sound wasn't fantastic - the sound at Piermont, NY's Turning Point the previous Thursday was better. The club itself wasn't the reason - the Bull is nothing more than a low-key, fun neighborhood pub. Dave has performed superbly throughout this tour, but he really cranked it up a notch for this show. Was it that his brand new website, designed by fan Chris Locke, was making its debut? Maybe, partly. But I think the main reason for his great performance was the wildly enthusiastic outpouring of love and energy coming from what must have been the best crowd he's played to yet.

From the moment the first show started, most of the packed house was bouncing around in their seats, singing along, clapping, and screaming like crazy in between every song. "Oooh! You're too kind!" Dave shouted, and he meant it - he was thrilled by the Boston-area contingent of KPSers and other Kinks fans.

He played a really raving "Milk Cow Blues" ... in both shows. He played a phenomenal "I'm Not Like Everybody Else" ... in both shows. He played a sweet "Love Gets You" (early show) and "Young and Innocent Days" (late show). He played "Long Tall Shorty" (late show)! He played a big chunk of "Mindless Child of Motherhood" (late show). He played the incredible "This Man He Weeps Tonight" ... in both shows. He played a playful version of "Fortis Green" ... in both shows ... the audience had no choice but to obey him when he shouted out "dance!" at the beginning of the instrumental bridge.

He didn't look at his lyric cheat-sheets once. The band was having a blast, Jim the drummer, Big Dave on bass, Little Dave on keys and guitar. The band, with their gleeful grins, seemed really connected to one another in that magical way that bands are when they're playing really well. Dave made Little Dave repeat the keyboard intro to "Death of a Clown," and Little Dave grinned playfully while he was doing it. Little Dave's guitar playing was sweetly melodic in "Too Much On My Mind" and "Young and Innocent Days."

My dear friend Jill Brand had been quietly enjoying the whole show to the best of her modest ability, (I'm teasing!) - an example of her demure behavior was her delighted shriek at the start of "Hold My Hand." In the late show Dave played "I'm On An Island," and when he started the song he looked over at Jill, and somehow in that psychic way of his perceived that here was the one person in the audience who would put "I'm On An Island" on her list of Top Five Kinks Songs (you know, the list with 25 songs on it) - and what did he do but invite her up on stage to sing along. In subsequent songs, other fans got the chance to sing with Dave, including venue manager Peter Bochner, who richly deserved the opportunity for all he had done putting the show together. Isn't this one of our collective fantasies? Having a chance to go up on stage and sing along with a Kink? Sometimes, fantasies do come true.

Toward the end of the second show everyone had given up on the thought that this was a sit-down gig, and I was standing (well, standing is the wrong word, because it implies a stationary position, but in any case I was no longer sitting), and I was positioned in such a way that my face was about six inches from the neck of Dave's guitar. I stood there, in total, speechless awe, looking at Dave's hands masterfully fingering the frets of his guitar, thinking that here were the hands that played the solo on YRGM, who played in front of thousands of screaming arena rock fans, and here they were, these marvelous musician's hands, so close to me that if Dave turned too suddenly he could have knocked me into the second row.

He played eighteen songs in the early show, a good hour and a half. The early show alone would have been a highly satisfactory night of music. I figured that he'd shorten the second show because of this, so what did he do? He played twenty-six songs, a good two hours. It was incredible ... exhausting ... fulfilling .... and a real lot of great music.

Dave gave me the impression that he was having so much fun that he only quit playing because it was one o'clock and it really was closing time. I was saddened to say good-bye for now to my many friends, with whom I've spent some very special moments in the past week of Dave shows. After a two hour drive back to Cape Cod, I got to bed at some brutal hour that was much closer to when I usually get up than when I usually go to sleep, resulting in a serious lack of productivity at work the next day (not that I cared about something like that, after seeing Dave).

God Save The Kink!

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