The Dave Davies Band ~ 2001 July 29 (Sunday) ~ North Star Bar ~ Philadelphia, PA
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
I Need You - Till the End of the Day - Gallon of Gas/You're Looking Fine - Tired of Waiting - See My Friends - Imaginations Real - Nothing More To Lose - No More Mysteries (new song) - This Man He Weeps Tonight - Death of a Clown - Young & Innocent Days - Fortis Green - I'm Not Like Everybody Else - All Day & All of the Night - Living on a Thin Line - One Night With You - David Watts - Father Christmas - You Really Got Me
Concert Review
A medium-sized, rather dingy place with a big rug on the wall behind the stage (oh excuse me, tapestry). Pretty narrow, not very good visibility if you were a few rows back. (Not that I would ever be a few rows back.) A woman bartender wore a t-shirt that said "phone sex" (I mention this to set the atmosphere of the club). I met a fan who was wearing a Kinks hat that had been signed by Dave Davies, Ray Davies, and (of all people) John Entwistle. John actually didn't "autograph" the hat -- he wrote on it: "F*** Ray, I like Dave."
The warm-up band was Lava Baby, a five piece band fronted by two female vocalists. Their music was described by the male guitarist as "girl pop" -- an accurate description of their catchy style and relationship-anxiety lyrics. They were really quite good (good thing, since we were to see them three more times).
Although Dave only played 19 songs, this was the best show so far. It included a couple of real treats. One was "No More Mysteries," an excellent song from Fragile, Dave's recent demo disk (which if any of you haven't bought yet, please do -- it is a treat and a huge improvement over the previous demo disk in the series -- you can get it at davedavies.com). They played it acoustically, with Dave playing rhythm guitar, Kristian playing a delightful, playful melody on the keyboard, and Jim playing the "pocket change" (I don't know what it was, he had something in his hand which he was shaking and it was making a shoop-shoop sound). The song has a line about looking to the North Star, and I was glad he debuted the song at the North Star Bar!
"This Man He Weeps Tonight" was another treat. Dave loves singing this song, and has a lot of fun with it. He made one "weeps" into a yodel.
Another surprise was "One Night With You," a song I think I have heard Dave sing just once, at one of the Sit 'n Bull shows. I wish Dave would do an album of covers of '50s r&b songs -- he has the perfect voice and vocal style for them! I'm really glad this song is on Rock Bottom Live.
There was something a little quirky about the sound system, or maybe it was where I was standing, but Jonathan Lea's guitar was really loud in the mix. His guitar was just about as loud as Dave's. I very much enjoyed listening to him play. Dave is fortunate to have such an excellent second guitarist in his band.
More Dave
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