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

Zoë Lewis Band
click thumbnail to see a photo gallery
of the concert

Personnel: Zoë Lewis (vocals, piano, guitar, ukulele, harmonica); Roxanne Layton (recorder, vocals); Tom Leidenfrost (accordion, vocals); Ron Siegel (stand-up bass, vocals); Kareem Sanjaghi (drums); a fiddle player; a guitar player (apologies for not recording their names).

I Can't Give You Anything But Love (Baby) - Slow Boat To China - Puttin' On the Ritz - Rotary Phone - Chili - Blink - When Dog Meets Wolf - Vagabond - Has Anybody Seen My Girl? (5'2" Eyes of Blue) ... Intermission ... Step By Step - Beja Flor - Welcome To the Circus - Happy Birthday (sung to Sherry and Lane) - These Shoes - Nice Cup Of Tea - Breakfast Blues - Breakfast in Bangkok - You'll Always Have the Moon

Scroll to below videos for a review of the show.

Step By Step

We've seen Zoë with a band before but never with a band with quite this many musicians. It made for some significant jamming on a few songs, and what fun she had praising these fellows to the sky. We'd seen Tom on accordion and Ron on stand up bass before. Although we'd seen Roxanne on recorder many times during Zoë's through-the-window pandemic-era streaming shows, this was the first time we'd seen her in person. She plays two recorders, one high in pitch and one that's more like a bassoon. That usually little-thought-of instrument adds a surprising texture to a song when in the hands of such a talented recorder-meister. Roxanne also provided splendid harmony vocals. My apologies for not retaining the names of the guitarist and the fiddle player; the fiddler added especially good accompaniment to quite a few of the songs.

Okay, so what's Herring Cove like as a concert venue, you ask? Like no other place we've ever seen a show, is what! We read the weather forecast and bundled up. Long pants and sweaters were necessary, and gloves wouldn't have been a bad idea. Wind whipping off the water is clearly evident in many of the pictures, though I was told by another concert goer that when the wind is still, one should remember the bug spray. It wasn't a bad drive from the other end of the Cape, traffic insignificant, and we got there while the band was setting up under their big tent, which was secure enough for the strong winds, and found a spot to the side of the stage. We were there about an hour before show time. David (usually referred to on these pages as Concert Going Partner, but why not start using his name) went to the concession stand and came back with sandwiches -- I'll give my approval to the food, and the prices. And as for the view facing west over Cape Cod Bay, that's the nicest view ever from a concert venue.

As soon as the show started it became clear that this is very much a party venue! The very big crowd included quite a few folks who had come to dance! They were having a very, very good time. I immediately grabbed my camera and joined them. Zoë herself mugged for my camera a couple of times, and moving around to all sides of the stage enabled me to get various views of everybody on stage, and the dancers themselves, not to mention the view, through the course of the show. Had a nice chat with Kareem after the show -- what a treat for me to be able to get actual good pictures of the drummer in a band!

Zoë and band played two songs from the new album, the title track, "Blink," and the wonderful, optimistic "Step By Step," the song I took a video of. I think the sound in the video is pretty good despite the wind. The rest of the songs were a cross section of originals and a smattering of covers that characterize Zoë's shows. "When Dog Meets Wolf" right there on the beach just shy of sunset, and "These Shoes" with an important election coming up, were both particularly appropriate. "Welcome to the Circus" is the song where Zoë usually does that trick where she spins plates on top of a stick, and with this wind that was going to be a challenge. Meanwhile there was a fellow in the back of the audience who was having fun juggling, so she asked him to come up in front of the stage and add his juggling to the act -- what fun! This is the kind of show one gets when one goes to see Zoë Lewis at Herring Cove Beach on Cape Cod Bay at the Cape Cod National Seashore!

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