Young Folks –
Peter Bjorn & John
Heard
7/2/2016 around 12:00, at Roti (Pike & Rose)
Saturday, July 2, 2016
Owen Danoff w/ Mike Schiavo, The Hamilton, 6/30/2016
Table for 8,
left-center, about halfway back (good view)
The previous
two times I had seen Owen Danoff perform in person, it had just been him and
his acoustic guitar, so I was somewhat surprised Thursday evening when he came
out with four bandmates for his sold-out “homecoming” show at The Hamilton. It
totally worked, however, as there really wasn’t a weak spot in the entire
90-minute set, whether they were doing old favorites (such as the opening “Hometown
Headstone”, “Amsterdam”, and “Have I Ever Fallen”), newer tunes (“No Such Thing”
and the soon-to-be-released “Love On Your Side”), or a few well-chosen covers
(including Death Cab for Cutie’s “I Will Follow You Into The Dark”). The band
was top-notch throughout, adding a touch of rock snarl to songs such as “See
This Through”. Danoff provided some variety by going back to his solo acoustic
roots for several songs midway through his set, including “Don’t Think Twice It’s
All Right” (which he had used as his audition for The Voice). He wound things up with a great take on “Alexander
Hamilton” (from that musical you might have heard of) and crowd favorite “Never
Been Kissed”.
Given his
superlative songwriting, singing, improved confidence, and band, Danoff is now
the complete package, with a show that can play anywhere. With any luck, he’ll
be able to leverage the visibility and contacts he got from his appearances on The Voice into the stardom that he
clearly deserves. (Hint to Adam Levine: how about an opening slot on the next
Maroon 5 tour?)
Fellow Voice contestant (and Danoff roommate)
Mike Schiavo opened with a 40-minute solo set of mostly original material
(although he did include an interesting cover of Tove Lo’s “Talking Body”). Best
of luck to him as well, although for me his songs aren’t nearly as strong as
Owen’s. Of course, you could say that about a lot of people these days.
Thursday, June 30, 2016
June 29, 2016 – Nationals 4, Mets 2 – Nationals Park
Attendance: 33,386
Game Time: 3:01
Weather: 80 degrees, clear
Wind: 7 mph
Umpires: Home Plate - Alfonso Marquez, First
Base - Larry Vanover, Second Base - David Rackley, Third Base - Chris Guccione
Highlights – Scherzer fanned 10, only
allowed 2 hits, and pitched shutout ball into the eighth … Murphy continued to
torment his former teammates, kicking off the scoring with a solo HR in the
second and providing some welcome insurance with a 2-run blast in the bottom of
the eighth
Other – not as historic a performance as the
last time we car-pooled down on a Wednesday to see one of Max's starts, but
traffic was (somewhat) better, I was able to use my 2-For-1-Nats-Dogs coupon,
and the weather was perfect
Tuesday, June 28, 2016
Paul Simon – Wolf Trap, 6/27/2016
Row J, Seat
45
This was one
of the rare Wolf Trap shows that started somewhat late (about 8:15), perhaps
because much of the crowd still wasn’t seated by 8:00. Since there was no
opening act and no intermission, it really didn’t matter, as he did pretty much
the same 130-minute set as in previous tour stops. The audience enthusiasm
level seemed higher than at some Filene Center shows, with everyone
spontaneously rising when the band started “Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard”
relatively early in the show, and later on several other occasions, most
notably “You Can Call Me Al” (which closed the main set). We also provided
great “lie-la-lies” for the chorus of “The Boxer”, if I do say so myself.
Simon was in
fine form throughout, both vocally and with his whistling on “Rewrite” and “Julio”.
I was a little surprised that he wasn’t wearing a cap, which seemed to have
been always present when I had seen him on TV. He actually has a compelling
stage presence, particularly when he wasn’t playing guitar; he’s definitely of
the “less is more” school of movement, but his gestures were very effective,
reminding me more of crooners than of typical rock stars. (He also contributed
some awkwardly endearing white-boy dance moves on an extended version of the
zydeco-flavored “That Was Your Mother”, which was one of the high points of the
show.)
His 9-piece
band was also great, although unfortunately he never introduced them; I don’t
think you can apply unless you play at least three different instruments. Many
of the songs were re-arranged at least slightly from their studio versions to
spotlight various band members.
The songs
ranged from early Simon & Garfunkel classics such as “Boxer” and “Homeward
Bound” through three tracks from his latest album Stranger to Stranger (the title track, “The Werewolf”, and initial
single “Wristband”, which was the first of seven encore songs). Despite the
excellent work by the band, some of the best moments were during the ballads,
with my favorite being Simon’s poignant solo version of “American Tune” to end
the evening. If you haven’t gone back and listened to that one in a while, you
really should.
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