Graham Parker ~ 2007 January 14 ~ Greenwich Library, Greenwich, CT
Graham Parker accompanying himself on Fender electric guitar, Gibson acoustic guitar, harmonica, and kazoo
Set List (with guitars noted)
[Gibson acoustic]: High Horse - Socks 'n' Sandals - You Silly Thing - Success - Stick to the Plan - Hard Side of the Rain - He's Misstra Know-It-All {Stevie Wonder} - [Fender electric]: Can't Take Love for Granted - White Honey - Lady Doctor - Temporary Beauty - Discovering Japan - Love Gets You Twisted - Don't Ask Me Questions - [a cappella] Someone to Watch Over Me - [Gibson acoustic]: Nation of Shopkeepers - Hotel Chambermaid - Local Girls ... encore ... [Gibson acoustic]: Short Memories - [Fender electric]: Get Started. Start a Fire - Back to School Days
Review
Graham Parker didn't do anything too unusual or different in the show at the Greenwich Public Library on Sunday, just sang great, played great, made the audience laugh, and generally provided a couple of hours of the best entertainment known to the planet. FREE! Thank you to the donor who bequeathed the funds to the library for this concert series.
I arrived at the library at about 2:30 to find the parking lot completely filled and the only available parking in a muni lot across the street. It seemed too good to be true that there were this many folks going to see GP, and it turned out that the library was open and sees a lot of traffic on a Sunday. Around the side of the building there was a handful of folks waiting in line for the 3:00 opening of the doors. One guy had a weird cardboard cutout of Graham that apparently was a promo for one of the early '80s albums. You never know what you can find on eBay. :)
The doors opened promptly at 3:00 and the line, which by this time stretched across the parking lot, streamed into the venue, down the stairs and into the comfy seats. The host was effusive in his introduction, referring to Geep's "distinctive voice" and "some of the most polish and passion of any songs of the rock 'n' roll era." GP started the show with two songs from Deepcut to Nowhere, "High Horse" and "Socks 'n' Sandals," two of his laugh-out-loud funny songs. In my opinion "High Horse" is the best possible song for him to open with; catchy both lyrically and musically and puts the audience in an upbeat mood.
It was great to see the fairly large auditorium (375 seats) nearly filled, even if a large proportion of those in attendance were regulars at the library's concert series and not Parkerillas (yet!). Graham commented that he wasn't used to playing in such a classy place, and he teased the audience about turning out for a concert on a Sunday afternoon at 3:30. He had apparently spent some time in the library before the show since he had some Connecticut trivia. When he inquired if any of the audience were actually residents of Connectict, some hands were raised. He addressed a woman in front of him, informing her that since the inhabitants of her state have the highest per capita income in the country, she could afford to buy all the CDs he had with him to sell. He played "Success" as a tribute to this per capita income status. He also found humor in the fact that Connecticut is the "nutmeg state" (he says that, from his experience, ingesting a large quantity of nutmeg in an attempt to get a buzz brings unpleasant results); that Connecticut's state insect is something called the "European Mantis"; and that the state fossil is dinosaur footprints. (Evidently GP has never been to the truly fascinating museum called Dinosaur Track State Park, which I visited on my way home from another Parker gig last year.)
The acoustics in the large room were somewhat echoey, but GP took advantage of this by singing the a cappella number "Someone to Watch Over Me," which sounded very good in the echoey room. The audience seemed to really enjoy the show and Graham seemed genuinely appreciative of the size and enthusiasm of the crowd. He played my two favorites (that I've heard) of the songs from the new album. They were "Stick to the Plan," the kazoo song -- he mentioned he plays the kazoo on the record, which I'm glad to hear -- and he warned us that the kazoo would probably go flying out of his harmonica holder, which it did just at the end of the song; and "Hard Side of the Rain," which he introduced as the "hopeful GP." One of the reasons I like that song so much is its stick-in-your-mental-jukebox melody; there aren't many songwriters out there with GP's knack for a melody.
He did three singalongs in this show; in addition to the already mentioned "Stick to the Plan," he requested that we sing on "Local Girls" and also the fabulous "Nation of Shopkeepers." While teaching the easy descant to the audience he referred to the third set of "doo-doo-doo's" as the "squiggly part" because that's where you go "doo-doo-doo-doo-do-d'-doo." It's subtle but it makes a difference. He did a sort of spoken-word vocal over the audience's singing of the descant, different from the sort of jazzy vocals he sometimes does during that part of that song. Another musical highlight of the show was the first encore, the anti-war song "Short Memories," which GP said is, unfortunately, still relevant despite having been recorded in 1992.
He was dressed all in black except for a blue wrist band and blue sneakers. Both his son Jimmy and daughter Natalie were in attendance and staffed the CD table after the show with copies of 103 Degrees in June, Deepcut to Nowhere, 12 Haunted Episodes, and Christmas Cracker (which looks like it is going to be the new Your Country t-shirt ... the box GP gets tired of lugging to gigs).
Plenty of folks from the Parker internet community were in attendance including Midnight-To-You with his two red-headed sons who were very enthusiastic and very knowledgeable about their Parker. Good to see the younger generation being raised right. I also waited in line before the show with a dude named Ed who shares my love of the Kinks. Who else out there in Parkerville is a Kinks fan, too?
Graham mentioned that he will be touring with a band in April and to watch the website for the announcement of gig dates. Some of us are waiting impatiently!!!!!! The record release date for Don't Tell Columbus is March 13.
More Chairman
Interested in my other Graham Parker reviews? Here is a page with a handy list of links to all pages on this website with Geep content.