Carly Rae Jepsen (September 26, Roadrunner)
I'll third
@My Neighbor Brotoro and
@kvetcha - she killed it. CRJ consistently brings great vibes - her crowds are generally super respectful and into the music and that hasn't changed over time. Maybe the crowds have been less into Call Me Maybe and more into Run Away with Me but generally it's been great. With that said, Carly has developed a ton as a performer and is really verging into "must see" territory.
When she has played Boston in the past, she's followed the gradual pathway upwards. The first show I saw her play was at the Paradise Rock Club, which is Boston's "legendary rock club" which is kind of not great any more (sorry!), housing about 1000 people. The second show doubled that size at the perfectly cromulent House of Blues. Thankfully, she has gotten enough of a dedicated (heh) fanbase to move up. And that means she's playing my new favorite venue: Roadrunner. I think I mentioned that on the Bleachers review but it's a 3500 person venue where there are minimal bad sightlines, great acoustics, and reasonably short distance form the stage even if you don't want to cram into a pit.
Empress Of was the opener, and I won't say a lot there - I think she was good she just never really connected with me. I appreciated the high energy and appropriate opening act.
She was insanely efficient. I think she played somewhat trunacted sets at the Bleachers Show, but for her tour it was a 27 song setlist with a couple songs that were combined songs, so something like 29 unique tracks in an hour and forty five minutes. I was really surprised how much pre-emotion has been purged from the setlist. She just put out her 10th anniversary reissue of Kiss but the only Kiss track (or anything pre-Emotion) to make the setlist was Call Me Maybe. On the other hand, she played something like 7-8 "Side B" tracks between Dedicated and Emotion. Admittedly I was a tad disappointed but I totally get it - she will likely be adding new album tracks as they get revealed and it's easier to cut Side Bs than Kiss tracks given the show is structured.
Musically, I was surprised at...the teasing of newer sounds. Several times there were 80s hair band style guitar riffs in the set and several of the tracks felt like those late 80s harder pop music. It was a really cool wrinkle to her sound and a definite evolution from past shows. The unreleased new track "Go Find Yourself or Whatever" was soft, sensitive, and only backed by a guitar and I hope that the album version is like that because it should be a highlight. "Talking To Yourself" is a grower among the new songs as well - I think that'll be a fave and goes hard (for CRJ). Among the deeper cuts both Window and Cry grabbed the crowd and wouldn't let go. I hope she continues to explore these newer sonics for her.
Great show, definite recommend if she's in town and you like her.
Puddles Pity Party (October 1, Lowell Memorial Auditorium)
Well...this was different. I have had some really gnarly luck trying to see this basketball player of a clown with the golden voice. The first time there was about 18 inches of snow and a 60 mile drive that disagreed with each other. The second time my girlfriend got COVID and we got an ice storm. This time we finally got to go to a show I had teased for years and brought my mom for the first time in years. The venue reminded me of why I'm fussy on venues, my back is still feeling those old school seats.
Of note, he had a non musical co-headliner - if you want magic by a short man in a dragon costume and his ancient chihuahua...strongly recommend Piff the Magic Dragon. Exceptionally funny.
Anyway, fascinating performer. Exceptional voice, given he doesn't speak outside of singing, he leaned a lot on some video packages to add flavor. The highlights were hearing the Folsom Prison Blues / Pinball Wizard mashup life and his Billie Eilish cover (When The Party's Over), though he's a pro and knows what he's doing. Fun show for a $20 Goldstar buy.
Ali McGuirk (October 2, The Press Room)
It's been ages since I actually went to a bar show and I remember why now. I'll never understand why people pay real money to get into a bar area just to talk loudly over the performer. Also had some fascinating folks really trying to engage us in some convo that...well out of practice.
The acts are both locals. Lady Lupine opened up - a Boston based "heavy soul" band. There has been a recent uptick in the New England region in soul/groove influenced bands. A lot of the more prominent names have been lighter and more jammy in spots relying on strong vocals, great high energy bass and guitar lines, and generally good vibes to build up fanbases. Lady Lupine (and Ali later) are more true to a more traditional soul sound leaning heavily on their strong female vocalists. Lady Lupine was one of the strongest openers I had seen in quite some time, especially for a local group. About 50 minutes of original, well-written, bluesy crowd pleasing tunes. They were clearly excited for the gig and brought some fans up - I am thinking the 100-150 or so capacity room was a bit different than the bar gigs a band of their size is usually doing, but they were much better than they had any business being.
So after the opener I was feelin real good and came away very impressed by Christina Lacoste's vocals and we see this tall, lanky, late-20-something (guessing here) woman bring up a white stratocaster and the band is setting up their own rig and it's all very unassuming - a standardish bar band look. Then she begins singing and....holy shit.
I go to a lot of concerts - not as many as some folks here but I feel like 20+ a year isn't abnormal. I also really love female vocalists, they're an artist demographic I'll search out and prioritize. Ali McGuirk has, to me, a Top 5 voice among those I've seen live. She's got that rare vocal quality that gives a man shivers and just causes head shakes in the room. It's sultry, soulful, deep, robust, and a really special vocal tool. For comparison. I'd say a slightly more husky Rachael Price (Lake Street Dive), a slightly less forceful young Brandi Carlile, with some songs that really bring back some of those great 50s and 60s jazz vocalists mixed with that 70s funk/soul and 90s R&B vibes.
This isn't to undersell the rest of the band - one thing she's done well on her newest alum and live is to surround herself with very good musicians - the interplay between the group of four was solid as they all got space to really do some work and let everyone breathe a bit. I'd say set highlights include her album opener "X Boyfriends" and her cover of Betty Davis "Anti Love Song" turned into a groove soul track.
She's an artist the Boston music media has been pushing hard for the last few years and honestly for extremely good reason. I think she's
special musically. A big old recommendation from me if she comes around and you have any interest in her sound - I feel like if there's justice in this music world she won't be playing 100-150 person rooms terribly longer and tickets won't be $15. We will see.
None of my videos last night were much good, so here's a recent clip from her playing to a small crowd at the Green River Fest - some Tracy Chapman / Janis Jopliny vibes in there (though comparing to them is too much...I think you'll hear it)
