The Dave Davies Band ~ 2000 August 4 (Friday) ~ Resorts International Casino ~ Atlantic City, NJ
Band Personnel: Dave Davies, lead vocals, lead guitar; Jim Laspesa, drums and backing vocals; David Jenkins, bass and backing vocals; Kristian Hoffman, keyboards; Jonathan Lea, guitar
Set List
Charity - Rats - Till The End of the Day - I Need You - Creeping Jean - Gallon of Gas intro - You're Looking Fine - Tired of Waiting - Mindless Child of Motherhood - Wicked Annabella - Unfinished Business - True Phenomenon - Picture Book - There is No Life Without Love - Too Much on My Mind - Death of a Clown - Living on a Thin Line - All Day & All of The Night - I'm Not Like Everybody Else - Father Christmas - You Really Got Me
Concert Review
I'd never been in a casino before Dave scheduled these two casino dates for this summer. Yikes, if I'm going to feed quarters into a machine I want it to play a song for me, or let me pretend to be driving a race car, or something fun -- not just take my money and say to me "you sucker."
I was lucky to arrive in Atlantic City before torrential downpours delayed some of the other koncert goers. Everyone arrived on time, but I understand it was a wild drive for some. Despite arriving first in line, my party of Olga, Rafaela, David, Kate, Annie and myself were seated in an upper level about forty feet from the stage. We found out later to sit on the floor in front of the stage we would have had to "tip" (that's a nice word for it) the hostess. I preferred sitting where we were.
Anyway, all in all it wasn't a bad venue. The sound and the lighting were good. The room seats about 200, with large windows that open up into the casino itself, so passersby on their ways to lose their shirts at the gaming tables can watch the show. It was another enthusiastic crowd (like the previous night at the Swing Set), something I had been a little nervous about, but the majority of the attendees were true Kinks/Dave fans and not just casino goers who happened to wander in to a free show.
Another one of the new songs that Dave has debuted in this tour was "True Phenomenon." I don't like "True Phenomenon" all that much on the Fortis Green CD. I dislike the slushy synthesizers and drum machine, the excessive layering of vocals, and the weird sounding voice, which sounds like it's playing at the wrong speed. That being said, I love the song live. Here we have a musician who has probably never stood on stage without a guitar in three and a half decades, singing, crooner-style, into a microphone, naked but for the microphone cord, accompanied by Kristian Hoffman on keyboard and Jim LaSpesa on drums, as if to declare to the world: "I, Dave Davies, am a singer." Yeah, Dave! It sounds great. Now that it's stripped down to its essence, I notice the song's strengths: a very pretty melody and an interesting, if "spacey" lyric (all about UFOs). Dave introduced the song with good humour -- he realizes the lyric won't be everybody's cup of tea: "Is anyone interested in UFOs? Has anyone ever seen one? Anybody here ever been on one? Are there any aliens in the audience?" Then after singing it, he declared: "Now you don't know what to expect!" Exactly, Dave. Every time I see Dave Davies he proves his versatility as a performer more and more.
Another musical highlight was "Wicked Annabella," a song reintroduced to the set with the return of Kristian Hoffman to the keyboard. It was a great song in past tours, but this time Dave has extended the end of the song for about a minute with what I can only describe as a psychedelic jam, complete with the interesting visual effect of Dave playing up on the neck of the guitar. There was a discussion among the Traveling RDFs (ed: Raving Dave Fans) as to whether this jam is a good thing. I say it feels great to hear Dave stretch out on guitar a few times in the show (and not just on "I'm Not Like Everybody Else"). The other opinion is that one of Dave's positive qualities as a guitarist is his economy -- that he plays to support the song and not to show off -- and that a jam like this compromises that positive quality. Opinions, anyone?
God Save The Kink!
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