Squeeze Frontman Tempted Fans at Jammin’ Java

March 29

Recommended Beverage to go with this Show:
A bottle of Harp

You might head over to a Glenn Tilbrook show, as I did, to hear a few Squeeze tunes and relive those ’80s memories. You might, as I did, have moderate expectations but think it’d be fun and entertaining. And you would, as I was, be surprised and truly impressed at a show that exceeds all expectations.

Tilbrook—a humble, extremely likeable Brit—performed two sets solo at Jammin’ Java in Vienna, Virginia on Wednesday night. The first consisted mostly of songs from his solo career, including “Hostage,” “Neptune,” “Untouchable,” and “Parallel World,” though we got teased with the Squeeze with "Take Me I'm Yours." His distinct, smooth voice sounded as melodious as it did two decades ago when his band topped the charts. And he’s skilled on the guitar, incorporating stirring solos and bluesy, rockin’ riffs into the repertoire.

His second set was packed with such Squeeze gems as "Goodbye Girl,” “Annie Get Your Gun,” “Another Nail for My Heart,” and “Tempted.” At one point, he unplugged his guitar and had the entire crowd follow him to the bar, where he climbed on top to do an awesome acoustic version of “Black Coffee in Bed” urging the crowd to sing along, and they happily did. It was a most intimate moment between fan and artist. Other highlights included a moving cover of Willie Nelson's “You Were Always on My Mind” and his closer, the Squeeze classic “Pulling Mussels (From a Shell).”

Opener Jim Bianco was a treat, with a deep gravelly voice that provided a fine contrast to Tilbrook’s sweet, melodic tone. The Los Angeles-based musician with his fun, sometimes-humorous lyrics, is quite talented and has toured off and on with his friend Glenn for many years.

Politics and Romance: Billy Bragg at the Birchmere

March 27 (my b-day!)

Recommended Beverage to go with this Show:

hot tea (iced tea, in a Brit’s eyes, is strictly prohibited)

Billy Bragg has a lot to say. He was quite the storyteller at the Birchmere on Monday night, but managed to find time to sing some songs as well. He admitted losing his upper register while performing at the South By Southwest Festival in Austin earlier this month, and had fans worried when he came out to help opening act Jill Sobule close her set with Bowie’s “All the Young Dudes,” which he completely butchered. But, he then sounded fantastic during his two-hour-plus set, which featured some classics, covers, and new songs.

Sipping hot tea to nurse his throat between songs, he complained about the iced tea he was served in Texas and jokingly threatened to serve the next Texan he meets in England “a hot coke.” He then said he’d sing in the spirit of “Johnny Clash”—a country-Brit rock invention whose song, a spoof on the Clash—could be called “Rock at the Jazz Bar.”

Bragg, who sometimes tours with his band, The Blokes, was a one-man punk rock act that night, as he is on many of his recordings. His opening song, “Sexuality,” was well received, as fans undoubtedly were relieved his voice sounded strong and on pitch. And he sang in that distinctive fashion, with his East London Cockney accent that is unmistakably Bragg.

Fans sat patiently and politely through several long political diatribes and a British history lesson. While plugging unions and nonviolent protest, he sang some of his politically inspired songs, such as “NPWA” (“No Power Without Accountability”).

A major highlight was Bragg’s ode to the legendary Woody Guthrie. Bragg played the ballads “Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key” and “Ingrid Bergman” recorded with Wilco off the Mermaid Avenue album, and “All You Fascists” from its sequel. The album is named for the street Guthrie and his family had lived on in Coney Island, Brooklyn. The project, undertaken with Guthrie’s daughter, Nora, aimed to revive her father’s unrecorded, lost songs by taking Guthrie’s lyrics and setting them to music, composed and performed by Bragg and Wilco. The result is a moving, beautiful two-disc tribute.

Bragg closed the show with a medley of songs from his first album, Life’s A Riot with Spy vs. Spy, released in 1984, including “The Man in the Iron Mask and “The Milkman of Human Kindness.” On his final song, “A New England,” Bragg let the crowd sing the chorus: “I don’t want to change the world; I’m not looking for a new England. Just looking for another girl.” Though many of his songs suggest a desire to change the world, he insisted that his box set contains more love songs than political ones.

Washington Post coverage here

Jamie Jazzes it Up at the 930 Club

March 25

Recommended Beverage to go with this Show:

a cold, hard cider, mate

They came, young and old, filling the 930 Club to capacity on Saturday night to hear the incredibly talented British jazzman Jamie Cullum. The success of this 26-year-old is especially welcome in helping revive an art form that seems largely lost among our youth: jazz.

Cullum’s covers evoke a sound from a time long ago and he infuses new life into such beautiful standards as Cole Porter’s “I Get a Kick Out of You” and Jimi Hendrix’s “Wind Cries Mary.” But, at the same time, such original songs as “Twentysomething” and “21st Century Kid” remind us that—though seemingly wise beyond his years—he’s just a young bloke searching for meaning in this life. The song “Photograph” from his second disc with its simple, sweet piano melody is a narrative about a couple of old photos he found, with a chorus that crescendos into these insightful words: “When I look back on my ordinary life; I see so much magic though I missed it at the time.”

He puts on a dynamic live show, at times soulful, at times playful. Live, his songs are fresh and refreshing. Cullum and his band improvise quite a bit (after all, it IS jazz) and that makes his studio recordings unique each time he performs them. His bluesy “Back to the Ground” was well received, as was the groovy bonus track “Frontin’” from his first album. One track, “All At Sea,” from his first album that he performed in his encore, is an original tune though it sounds like a standard, and could very well become one. Cullum also offers a unique take on newer cover tunes such as Radiohead’s “High and Dry” and popular Brit rockers the Doves’ “Catch the Sun.”

Opening for Cullum was an extraordinary lady from Seattle, Brandi Carlile, backed by a tight band. She crossed numerous genres from folk-rock to alt pop, with a hint of blues, and a voice at times reminiscent of Bonnie Raitt and Melissa Etheridge. Her vocal range was remarkable, as she went from powerful and sultry to sweet, soft notes an octave above. Carlile closed solo, strumming her guitar, with a moving cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” Later, she joined Cullum on stage for a stunning version of Elton John’s “Rocket Man.”

Cullum closed the show with a Thelonious Monk groove that segued into an impressive solo by his drummer, Sebastian de Krom, which segued into his contemporary take on the classic “I Could Have Danced All Night.” Cullum’s style and boyish charm attracts the masses—not to mention young, adoring ladies—but it’s his love of music that radiates, and his raw talent will keep his fan base around, and growing, for many years to come.

Billy Joel: Round 2

Recommended Beverage to go with this show:
Ginger ale (hey Billy's off the booze, so why not?)

Billy Joel, who played the Verizon Center in Washington, DC on March 16, truly continues to sound in top form on this tour and, as a testament to that, he effortlessly hit the high notes on the song, "An Innocent Man." On earlier tours, he needed the aid of a backup singer. On occasion, at this show, he did need the aid of a teleprompter for his lyrics but, hey, he's been in this business a long time and he's earned it. Plus, who can remember all those words to "We Didn't Start the Fire" anyway?

Joel changed up the setlist quite a bit from the show I saw in Boston back in January, and I was quite happy with this other set of "oldies" he delivered. He whipped out "The Entertainer" from the 1974 Streetlife Serenade album, joking that probably only 10 people had bought this album. I, proudly, am one of them. He also performed "Captain Jack," a fan fav from the Piano Man album; in Boston, fans instead heard "Ballad of Billy the Kid" from that album. Joel traded "Stiletto," which he had performed in Boston, for "My Life" from the 52nd Street album. He managed to play at least one song from every album from Cold Spring Harbor onward but, again, mercifully, excluded all songs from The Bridge album from his set.

From Glass Houses, he treated us to "Don't Ask Me Why" which sounded as fresh as it did back in 1980. He performed that one at a rear-stage keyboard, giving fans like me seated behind the stage a great view. He then ran to the other rear-stage keyboard for "Pressure." He also performed "Downeaster Alexa" from Stormfront, prefacing it with a story from his days when he had a house on Martha's Vineyard. He said a local fisherman there would come back and bring him fresh lobsters, but one day the man didn't return.

This crowd seemed more accepting of his rarer tunes (or perhaps I just sat in a friendlier, happier section this time). Joel was having fun up there, joking with the audience, in good spirits and again joking about his sober status. During "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" during the encore, he sang, "A bottle of red, a bottle of white, I won't be having either one tonight" and the crowd roared. Everyone, as always, got on their feet for the last song, Piano Man, and as always, for the nearly three-hour show, he had us "feeling alright."

SETLIST (arranged by album)
album/song

Cold Spring Harbor
Everybody Loves You Now

Piano Man
Captain Jack
Piano Man (last song)

Streetlife Serenade
The Entertainer

Turnstiles
Prelude/Angry Young Man (first song)
New York State of Mind

The Stranger
Only the Good Die Young (in encore)
Scenes from an Italian Restaurant (in encore)
Movin' Out
She's Always A Woman

52nd Street
My Life
Zanzibar
Big Shot

Glass Houses
Don't Ask Me Why
It's Still Rock & Roll
You May Be Right

Nylon Curtain
Allentown
Pressure
Goodnight Saigon

Innocent Man
An Innocent Man
Keepin' the Faith

The Bridge
nada (thank you!)

Stormfront
Downeaster Alexa
I Go to Extremes
We Didn't Start the Fire

River of Dreams
River of Dreams

and completely random: his roadie sang ACDC's Highway to Hell (I'm serious).

Coldplay Sounds Hot in Washington

Recommended Beverage for this show:
an icy cold Boddington's

Singer/songwriter Chris Martin still seems stunned at his band’s success, but they again proved deserving of it at the MCI Center on March 2, their second area show on this tour. Martin’s energy and magnetic stage presence drew in the audience from the moment the 90-minute set began, with a setlist that offered a good sampling of their three albums. The opening song, Square One, from their latest album rocked a little too hard, slightly drowning out Martin’s voice, but the mix was quickly adjusted and sounded tight thereafter.

While their albums tend toward the mellow, Coldplay rocks hard in concert. Such popular songs from the first album as Don’t Panic, Yellow, and Trouble sounded effortless and fit in quite well with the new songs—particularly the U2-esque track Talk. They did perform two melancholy songs in slow, soft arrangements that brought tears to many eyes, including my own, and for a moment we were transported, almost forgetting we were in an arena. The Scientist—from their second album, “A Rush of Blood to the Head,” and the show closer Fix You from their latest album, were intimate and beautiful, and the crowd both cried and sang along.

The band came out for an acoustic encore, as giant lighted lyrics floated on the screen behind, performing fan favs that included Clocks and In My Place. Indeed, “God Put a Smile Upon Your Face” and everyone else’s at this show.