Willie Nile with Dan Zukergood opening ~ 2023 November 3 ~ The Drake, Amherst, MA, MA
Willie Nile (vocals, guitar), Johnny Pisano (bass, vocals), Jimi K Bones (guitar, vocals), Jon Weber (drums).
Set List
American Ride in its entirety: This is Our Time - Life on Bleecker Street - American Ride {Willie Nile, Mike Peters} - If I Ever See the Light {Willie Nile, Frankie Lee} - She's Got My Heart {Willie Nile, Frankie Lee} - God Laughs {Willie Nile, Eric Bazilian} - People Who Died {Jim Carroll} - Holy War - Say Hey - Sunrise in New York City {Willie Nile, Frankie Lee} - The Crossing - {Willie Nile, Frankie Lee} - There's No Place Like Home ... bonus tracks ... Run - House of a Thousand Guitars - One Guitar - Run Free - Ramones medley including California Sun and Sheena Is a Punk Rocker
Review
It's been ten years since Willie Nile released the album American Ride, and he (as well as many critics) consider it one of his top recordings. So, why not do a 10 year anniversary retrospective? It was a treat to listen to these twelve really good songs performed in the order they appear on the album. This was the first performance using this format, and it was evident that Willie and the band were winging it to some extent, since they don't regularly perform many of these songs, but other than Willie sometimes not being sure of which song was next, the format didn't seem to present any challenges. At one point while introducing one of the songs (it might have been "She's Got My Heart"), Willie did say he wasn't sure what album it was on, which drew a laugh from the sold-out audience and an immediate "duh!" from Willie himself.
After the dozen songs they played a handful of "bonus tracks," starting with the incomparable "Run." As I was listening to the high energy and brilliant lyrics of this tune, it occurred to me that this is the rock 'n roll version of the song "Life Is Large" by Pete and Maura Kennedy. Willie's song: You only live once no you don't live again; Everybody's looking for the safe way out; Not me no no I want to scream and shout and Run; to the far off places. The Kennedys' song: You've only got one chance to walk this line; And if you should get lost or stuck in time; Just believe this road does not end here; How do you want to be remembered; A raging fire or a dying ember; Life Is Large.
The bonus track set consisted of five songs, including Willie's guitar number songs ("One Guitar" and "House Of a Thousand Guitars") and finished up with a blistering medley of Ramones tunes. This was not a show with a lot of ballads. A couple of relatively quiet tunes from the album ("She's Got My Heart," "The Crossing") were the chance to take a deep breath. But Willie, with this tremendous backing band that he obviously loves, is all about rock 'n roll.
During "One Guitar," Willie asked opener Dan Zukergood to come up on stage to do backing vocals, and Dan's bass player Guy DeVito (who sat in with the band a year ago when Johnny was out of commission with a kidney stone) came up on stage, too, and Johnny handed him his bass. This freed up Johnny to do the rock star. He pranced around the stage, shared the mike with lead guitarist Jimi K. Bones, scooted over to Willie's side, shared the vocal mike with him, and planted a kiss on his cheek! Johnny was obviously having a very good time.
The show was opened by Dan Zukergood with his band of guitar, drums, and bass, and was joined on a few songs by a female vocalist/guitarist whose name I didn't catch. He played a half hour of mostly original songs including the laugh-out-loud "Hanging With Keith Richards." I've seen him open for Willie before, the last two years when Willie played a gig around this time of year at a venue in Holyoke which has apparently since then closed.
The new venue, the Drake, is on a downtown main street in Amherst. Tickets were general admission. There were only about eight seats in the front row; these long and narrow venues aren't the best for getting good seats. Due to a bit of a mix-up about which seats were reserved, I wound up in the seventh row -- a test of the cliche that the sound is better further back in a venue (I couldn't tell). I was sitting next to a post along the side of the seating area and it was convenient for me to stand up and get some pictures since there was no one behind me. Not close enough for videos but those will be with the next day's show.
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