The Susanna Hoffs Band ~ 2012 November 2 ~ The Center for the Arts in Natick ~ Natick, MA
Susanna Hoffs, vocals, guitar; Andrew Brassell, lead guitar, backing vocals; Jim Laspesa, drums, guitar (on one song), backing vocals; Derrick Anderson, bass, backing vocals; a percussion player whose name I do not know
Opener: Chris Trapper accompanying himself on guitar and (on one song) ukulele
Set List
Set List:
Chris Trapper opening set:
Keg On My Coffin [cheerful singalong about death] - Attack Ad - Boston Girl [theme song from the TV show Sox Appeal] - Look What The Wind Blew In - This Time - Still In Me - When We Go (on ukulele) - Skin
Scroll down past the videos for review; photo gallery is to the right.
Videos
"Raining":
"Hazy Shade of Winter":
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"One Day"
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"Under a Cloud / Walk Like An Egyptian"
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Review
On a drizzly night, Concert Going Partner and I arrived at the easy-to-find The Center for the Arts in Natick ("TCAN" for short), which is situated in a brick building that started its career as a firehouse. We found a convenient parking spot in a lot a half block away. We were a little surprised at how intimate this venue is. We were expecting something more like a concert hall, but TCAN is more of a folk venue, with seven to ten rows of chairs splayed in three sections in front of the moderate sized stage, with two additional wings of four or five rows of seats on each side. The selling of coffee and treats completed the folk venue ambiance, as did the moderate volume at which the band played. The sound was very good, the staff friendly and helpful, and I'm impressed with this venue and likely will go there again.
Susanna Hoffs, singer, guitarist and founding member of the all-female '80s group The Bangles, is almost 30 years older than during the height of the Bangles' success, but you'd never know it by a quick glance. Dressed in a sleeveless top and short skirt, she appeared slender and extremely fit. Her long brown hair added to the girlish look, as did her occasional hesitation about what comes next. Once or twice, while tuning, she told the crowd that since it was only the third show of this short tour she hadn't worked out any good banter yet, and the crowd could ask her questions. But it was a folk crowd, and for the most part the crowd waited politely for her to finish what she was doing, although one person did call out a question about Susanna's work with Matthew Sweet, to which she replied that they were working on some more material together but that it wasn't ready for public exposure.
Susanna performed a selection of familiar Bangles songs, a few rock 'n' roll covers, and a handful of songs from her new album, Someday. She is a great singer with beautiful vocal tone and is also an accomplished guitar player. The band was fantastic, and I'm not saying that just because the rhythm section, Jim Laspesa on drums and Derrick Anderson on bass, are friends of mine whom I first met when they played with the Dave Davies Band, lo these many years ago. Each member of the band contributed very effective backing vocals. Other than Susanna, the band members all remained seated during their set, possibly so that their height wouldn't overwhelm the slight Susanna. A few audience members called out for "Going Down to Liverpool," which wasn't a Hoffs lead vocal as a Bangles song, so the band hadn't learned it; they played a few bars of it and Susanna promised to learn it before the next concert.
A musical bonus was that the show was opened by the excellent Chris Trapper, whose show at Club Passim on May 31 of this year is reviewed here. Chris played an eight song set sprinkled with his trademark humor. For one song, he picked up a ukulele, and began by playing the riffs from "Stairway to Heaven" and "Smoke on the Water" on the uke.
I recorded four videos of Susanna and her band; links to the videos are above.
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