The Willie Nile Trio ~ 2011 May 15 ~ Budarz Theater, Ossining Public Library, Ossining, NY
Band personnel: Willie Nile (lead vocals, acoustic guitar, grand piano); Johnny Pisano (backing vocals, bass guitar); Frankie Lee (drums)
Set List
The songs on which Willie played the piano are noted; otherwise he played his acoustic guitar.
Seeds of a Revolution - Rite of Spring - Sing Me a Song - I've Got a Girl - Rich and Broken - The Crossing [piano] - Sunrise in New York City [piano] - Yesterday's Dreams [piano] - American Ride - House of a Thousand Guitars - The Innocent Ones - Streets of New York [piano] - Rave On {Buddy Holly} - Les Champs-Élysées - One Guitar ... encore ... I Want To Be Sedated
Video
"Rich and Broken"
Review
This show was the second of my two shows for the price of one weekend, having seen the Grand Slambovians last night at Club Helsinki further north along the Hudson. What looked like an easy drive from one venue to the other turned into a winding challenge for this out-of-stater, but the price was right -- free -- and the time of day was another incentive -- 2:00 pm.
This was a trio show, Willie Nile, Johnny Pisano on bass, and Frankie Lee on drums. Frankie played a very minimal drum kit, possibly because of the time of day and the nature of the audience, which was mostly an older crowd than what the guys would play for at the Iron Horse, for instance. In the front row was sitting the mother of the person who schedules these concerts, and I enjoyed sitting right behind her and watching her delighted reactions to the music. Willie played his acoustic guitar and on several songs he switched to a beautiful, resonant grand piano.
This show was part of a free concert series being offered at the library. Willie commented that it was really great that the library was offering this free series for cultural enrichment ("not that I'm cultural enrichment!"). It was a good big stage and the room had plenty of rows of seats, sloping up auditorium style so even the back rows had a good view.
It was a treat to hear a few songs from the next album Willie is planning to release, including the heartfelt "The Crossing" and the very visual "Sunrise in New York City."
I took just one video, "Rich and Broken," (scroll up for link), which subsequently received some discussion on a Kinks digest mailing list I subscribe to. Willie himself has said that he was writing the song in tribute to Ray Davies, and it does seem very Kink-y to this long-time Kinks fan.
More Willie
Here is a page with a handy list of links to all pages on this website with content relating to Willie Nile.
Click for 2011 Concert Page with links to all 2011 concerts ... Click for Main Concert Page with links to all years