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... by Joanne Corsano ... joanne@picturelake.com

Jimi K Bones and Willie Nile
click thumbnail to see a photo gallery
of the concert

Willie Nile (vocals, guitar), Jimi K Bones (guitar, vocals), Jon Weber (drums), Guy DeVito (bass).

Forever Wild - This Is Our Time - Black Magic and White Lies - The Innocent Ones - All Dressed Up And No Place To Go - Magdalena - (on piano, solo) I Can't Do Crazy (Anymore) - The Crossing - (on piano, band joins) Across the River - (guitar) Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 {Bob Dylan} - New York At Night - Heaven Help the Lonely - House of a Thousand Guitars - One Guitar - California Sun {writer credit: Henry Glover - recorded by The Rivieras and The Ramones} - A Hard Day's Night {Lennon/McCartney}

Scroll to below videos for a review of the show.

New York At Night

Heaven Help the Lonely

Willie Nile came on stage with the band and the first thing out of his mouth was "Johnny Pi is in the hospital so he couldn't be with us tonight. We made about 25 phone calls and Guy DeVito said he could sit in. Welcome Guy!"

Turns out Willie's usual bass player and loyal sidekick, Johnny Pisano, was in the hospital with a kidney stone. From the stage Willie made it sound as if Johnny was near death, but the merch girl Kathy assured us later that Johnny was now home and doing fine. In the meantime, last-minute backup Guy DeVito valiantly played the bass parts on a range of new and old Willie songs (and a Beatles cover -- a punky Hard Day's Night) and guess what, he sounded just fine! Guy's a veteran musician of the NY music scene, has his own band, and has played with a million people. During the show Jimi, the guitarist, occasionally coached Guy with a few hand signals as to what to play. The audience of course missed Johnny, his stage presence and backing vocals, but they welcomed the new guy with enthusiasm!

I don't know if Willie was nervous because of Johnny's absence, but his stage banter was more extreme than usual. He swore a lot! He actually pretended to be an angry punk rocker a few times, but Willie is so obviously full of joy and love for humanity he can't really pull that one off. He did dedicate one song to the people of Ukraine after a string of (well deserved) curses aimed at Russian dictator Putin. He let the audience know that his father has just celebrated his 105th birthday, is still living in Buffalo, and goes to Mass every day (all you lapsed Catholics, food for thought?). The set list was full of new and old songs that comprise a fraction of Willie's incredible catalog, including one or two numbers from the two CDs he recorded during the height of the pandemic. The anthem "One Guitar" ended the main set, as it usually does, followed by a two song encore.

Willie stuck around at the edge of the stage after the show to greet the fans. I was able to tell him he's been christened the "Anthem Meister" by Maura and Pete Kennedy, who have been doing a streaming show almost every Sunday since the pandemic began, and have been covering many songs by their favorite performers, including Willie's "One Guitar."

The show was opened by Dan Zukergood with his five piece band (Dan on vocals and guitar/harmonica, accompanied by guitar, drums, bass, and keyboards/accordion). He played a half hour of mostly original songs with one Tom Petty cover. His songs range from the serious to the witty (his "Hanging With Keith Richards" is a brilliant response to the social isolation imposed during the pandemic). He opened last year for Willie at this venue as well.

Race Street Live is the same venue Willie played about a year ago (Nov. 19, 2021). The venue was calling itself Gateway City Arts at the time. Not sure if there's been a change of ownership or what the reason is for the new name, but it's still a very good place to see a show. About 200 seats, mostly full for Willie, a good big stage, excellent sound and lights. Employees are friendly and helpful; when sound check ran a few minutes past 7 pm, the young woman at the front entrance came outside and apologized, saying she'd let us in as soon as the soundcheck was over, and she was quick and efficient checking us in.

Here is a page with a handy list of links to all pages on this website with content relating to Willie Nile.