Glen Phillips, Willy Porter Play the Birchmere

Recommended Beverage to go with this show:
Starr Hill Amber Ale (from Charlottesville)
available at the Birchmere

Why go see Glen Phillips in concert? For the opening act. Phillips is a solid musician and is always entertaining, but somehow he repeatedly chooses to tour with openers who upstage him. Whether he does this out of admiration for these artists or to give them helpful exposure is anyone's guess, but it's impossible that he didn't recognize the enormous talent of last night's co-bill, Willy Porter.

The first time I saw Phillips live, at my favorite little area club, Iota in Arlington, his opening act was John Mayer, who essentially played his first, soon-to-be-released album cover to cover. It was difficult to concentrate on Phillips that night when he emerged because all of us stood moved and stunned from the opener. The rest, with Mayer, is history. The next time I saw Phillips live, again at Iota, his opener was Teitur, a young, soulful lad from the Faroe Islands off of Denmark who sang sweet, wistful ballads.

So naturally I entered the Birchmere last night with high expectations. I'd never heard of Porter, but I wasn't worried. Out he came, with guitar in hand and, I might add, the Milwaukeean did not disappoint. His style was distinct, yet familiar. His songs were folk-rock, often bluesy, and his vocals went from smoky to sweet, always powerful. Porter's guitar playing was impressive and he used foot pedals at times to record a riff and lay another one on top, showing off his rhythm and skill.

But, most of all, Porter had fun up there. He played a game of improv with the crowd, pledging to create a song on the spot with the words they called out. Somehow, he adeptly managed to include scurvy, chlamydia, and toasted marshmallows in one song. His one-hour set was truly entertaining. He requested and received audience participation on the song "Dirty Movie" from his self-titled cd. He also played a moving song, "Sister" from Falling Forward, which he said was about a friend who went to the brink with a heroine addiction and then fully recovered. He also performed the rockin' track, "Angry Words" from his debut album.

Phillips then took the stage for a longer set. Always sweet and humble and looking like he's still in high school, he performed numerous songs from his solo albums as well as a few favorites from his days fronting Toad the Wet Sprocket. He told us his views on self-improvement, that being to postpone it and played a song based on that philosophy. Phillips also managed to pull off a slow acoustic version of the Huey Lewis song "I Want a New Drug" which was impressive. His voice often had traces of a young Paul Simon in it, something I hadn't noticed before.

Phillips asked for audience participation with the "ohs" on "Dam Would Break," and didn't get much help, though it was probably his best song of the night. The audience chimed in, though, during songs with which they were more familiar such as Toad's "Something's Always Wrong" and "All I Want."

Porter and Phillips both sang about love and the difficulty of being on the road, away from their wives. And both came out together for the encore which began with a phenomenal cover of Van Morrisson's "Crazy Love" and concluded with the two harmonizing on Toad's "Walk on the Ocean."

Thank you, Glen, for exposing me to more wonderful acoustic rock, once again.