two of four
Tomorrow kicks off another two-state, two-night run of Wallflowers concerts, so the least I can do is, you know, mention the two from last month.
Originally, we were scheduled to do “the trifecta,” three shows in three nights in three states, in early November. Two of shows wound up getting Sandy’d out and rescheduled. (Hey, remember the hurricane? It seems like decades ago.)
Being the kind souls (or bored souls?) that they are, though, the band scheduled a last-minute hurricane benefit show in Port Chester, N.Y., on Nov. 10. Or, rather, they jumped in on an already-scheduled show with Justin Townes Earle and Tift Merritt as a second opener.
The WF did a relatively generous set for an opening act, about 10 songs. (I wrote down the setlist and have no idea where it is.) A particular highlight was “Nothing But The Whole Wide World,” performed acoustically. Sort of topically appropriate.
For the most part, as has been standard operating procedure, they mixed up new songs with the old hit classics, mentioning in between how happy they were to do something for hurricane relief. (“It’s the least we can do.”)
I’m also a fan of both Justin Townes Earle and Tift Merritt (heyyyy pedal steel), but ultimately, the night wound up being a pretty strange affair. No end-of-night jam with everyone on stage took place. Very un-benefit-show-like. I got the impression that someone was not too happy to see the Wallflowers crashing his bill at the last minute.
Still, it was a bonus show, it was for a good cause, and it was only an hour away.
The next night, Nov. 11, was Huntington, N.Y. (Lawn Guyland). This one surprisingly went on as originally scheduled, despite the hard hit the island took from the hurricane.
The night proved to be a special one. Musically, it was everything we could have hoped for. As I’ve mentioned before, they band is not really the type to drastically mix up setlists from night to night. The bulk of the songs came from the new album. (“We’re maybe going to play some songs you don’t like,” warned a probably-joking Jakob.) But the appearance of even one or two rarities is enough make the diehards very happy.
By far, the best part was the long-awaited appearance of PEDAL STEEL. This was something we’d talked about with Stuart after previous shows, and he promised that eventually the sound would be worked into a live song. That night, they performed “Baby Bird” (a beautiful song in itself) accompanied by pedal steel. At least two of us were melting there in the front.
We were also treated to an extended accordion solo in “6th Avenue Heartache.” And we got to hear “Nearly Beloved,” which used to be a staple during the Rebel, Sweetheart tour and is quite an underrated gem, in my view. It popped up during the encore, right after I’d said out loud, “You know, I’d love to hear ‘Nearly Beloved.’” Not shouted to the stage or anything. Just an instance of nice coincidental timing.
You know, even the lighting was great that night; all the little things were working. Sir Jakob kept his eyes open more than usual. His audience banter was warm — complete with several probably-sarcastic “heart hands” flashed to the crowd.
This pair of shows also marked our first ones after the release of Glad All Over, which meant all the new songs were nice and familiar by this point. I can now definitively says that they all have a certain extra kick to them when performed live — more so than the songs on any other WF album.
(Will try to remember to write down the setlists again at this weekend’s shows!)
