Previous concert (Studio Two) ... Next Concert (Grace Morrison)

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

Personnel: Zoë Lewis (vocals, piano, guitar, ukulele, harmonica); Roxanne Layton (recorder, backing vocals); Ron Siegel (bass), Liam Hogg (drums).

I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby {Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields} - Step By Step - Chili - Rotary Phone - Breakfast Blues - Auntie Gladys - Blink - My Encyclopedia (new song) - Welcome To the Circus ... intermission ... Slow Boat to China - When Dog Meets Wolf - Puttin' On the Ritz {Irving Berlin} - Wild and Precious Life - Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue {Lewis/Young/Henderson} - The Stars Came Out Today - Beja Flor - Enough - Cup Of Tea

Well, it was the worst Zoë Lewis show I've ever been to but that was in no way Zoë's fault. It was a Saturday on Cape Cod in the summer and that meant traffic coming on to the Cape was going to be like Tremont Street at rush hour (expression borrowed from my dad), so we went a creative alternate route to get to the Lower Cape, and it still took us about 2 1/2 hours to get to Truro from our house by the pond in Bourne. (What would normally be a little over an hour with no traffic.) We had left with plenty of time to spare and got there at least an hour ahead of the 3:00 pm starting time. Zoë was happy to see us and we exchanged a quick hello while she was setting up. There were a few parking spaces in front of the restaurant and a few up a hill in the back, but I'm not sure where you'd park if you got there closer to showtime. My guess is about five people came to hear the concert and the rest were there just to eat and yuck it up with their friends.

So, the band is setting up under an awning adjacent to the outdoor patio and there are tables for two right next to the band. We seat ourselves at one of the tables for two and ask for ice tea from a waitress. A couple of minutes go by and the waitress comes back and says we have to move. Um, why? We're here to see the show and this is a table for two adjacent to the "stage." Momentarily defeated, the server goes away and returns with our ice tea. Another server comes over and says we're planning on moving these two tables together (gestures to our table and the adjacent table) and make a table for four, so you have to move. No way, says I, I'm here to watch Zoë (and I like to take pictures) so I'm not moving. Minutes elapse and a server returns and points to a table in the middle of the patio and says: We're moving you to THAT table. Ok, ok. We moved to THAT table. The worst customer service EVER. We ordered reasonably good fish sandwiches, and watched the concert at a distance, but it was noisy. A lot like watching a concert in a barroom. And then, about fifteen minutes after the concert started, a party of two came in and sat at that "table for four" from which Concert Going Partner and I had been evicted before the show.

And as I mentioned, about five people had come to see the concert. Zoë and her band are pros and put on the usual great show, but even their hearts weren't in it (as is shown by the fact that Ron didn't do his climbing on the upright bass trick). The only highlight of the show was when one of the five actual concert attendees requested a rarity, "Auntie Gladys."

Looking forward to the next Zoë show when we'll actually be able to see and hear the band. Meanwhile lesson learned. Don't go to Captain's Choice to hear a concert. In fact, don't go to a restaurant to hear a concert, unless it's primarily a concert venue that happens to also serve food.

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