Table 102, Seat 3 – directly facing the alto sax player, and
close enough to easily touch the stage. (The other three seats at the table
were unoccupied; I hope those who purchased them had some compelling reason for
missing the show.) I had to look somewhat upward to see the top half of the
performers’ bodies, but my head was about on the same level as Hunter’s
frequently-tapping feet.
All of the 9+ Hunter
shows that I’ve attended have been top-notch, and this 85-minute set was
certainly no exception. Hunter was the only remaining member of the Six from
the most recent band show that I saw, but the 5 newcomers were excellent
throughout. The set contained an almost-even mix of songs from 2020’s Nick
of Time (10 of the album’s 13 tracks) and older Hunter material, with four
covers thrown in along the way, including his inimitable take on The “5”
Royales’ “Baby Don’t Do It”. Nick of Time highlights included “Brother
or Other”, the upbeat title track, and “Ain't Goin' Up in One of Those Things”,
a bluesy ode to aerophobia. A big crowd-pleaser relatively early in the show
was the one-two punch of “No Smoke Without Fire” and “Don’t Do Me No Favours”,
both of which featured extended solos from three of the band members. The main
set ended with the lovely ballad “Something’s Calling” followed by the up-tempo
“Believe Me Baby”. We actually got two encores: with the obligatory audience-participation classic
“Talking ‘Bout My Love” preceded by a duet with bassist Myles Weeks on “September
in the Rain,” which they had been performing together during 2019’s “James
Hunter Duo” tour.
As a bonus 20-minute appetizer for the main meal, three
members of Hunter’s band (saxman Freddy DeBoe, drummer Rudy Albin, and organist
Adam Scone) came out shortly after the scheduled show time of 8:00 to perform
an enjoyable set of jazzy instrumentals, mixing original material with a couple
of covers.
No comments:
Post a Comment