Friday, July 22, 2005

M. Ward @ Castle Clinton

Took about 150 pictures tonight and this is the only one you can kind of see Ward's face.

M. Ward played what could be called 3 mini sets with a couple of encores, all for free in the pleasant Castle Clinton venue. All for free.

Ward is a husky throated 20-something with a vintage quality that sings like he's gone through 65 years of 2 pack a day smoking. An extended version of 2005's Transistor Radio instrumental opener "You Still Believe in Me" commences the showcasing Ward's trademark ringing guitar riffs along with his back up guitarist, a few minutes later the bassist and drummer landed on stage to flesh out the sound. Ward kept with the Transistor theme with the slowed down, "Swethearts on Parade," "Paul's Song," and "Fuel For Fire."

Ward then shifted to piano taking on everybody's favorite simplistic yet rousing "Big Boat" and a beautiful rendition of "Vincent O' Brien" from Ward's outstanding 2004 release Transfiguration of Vincent.

The rest of band left the stage, and left Ward to return to his extraordinary arm extension (some might call it a guitar) alone on stage serenading new ears daily with a sound unlike any other they have ever really heard, the way he has been most of his career. He showed off the stripped down with a few tracks including "I'll be Yr Bird."

The backing band returned for a few more tracks including Transistor's haunting gem, the insomnia tale "Four Hours in Washington." "Four" commences with slow ringing guitars that build into the patented M. Ward aggressive strumming, which is eerily reminiscent of an the saddest omission in the setlist "Sad, Sad Song." Still, the crowd was excited to hear it.

Two encores included a segway into a cover of Creedence's "Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog" or whatever that song is called. Yo know what I'm talking about

This crowd including Mr. Conor Oberst who I happened to snag a picture with in my unkempt condition. At least, the lady whose gray hair ruined all of my pictures wasn't in the way. Free shows bring out a lot of useless people.



Conor looked real happy to bothered but he was cordial in small conversation. He did smile in a pic with my pal businessman Dave though.


M. Ward will be at Maxwell's in Hoboken tomorrow. I suggest checking it out. Castle Clinton was pleasant venue perfect for the acoustic singer/songwriter breed that populate it's upcoming shows. Too bad Calexico was up against Dino Jr. and Broken Social Scene last week.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog"?? By Creedence?? The song is called "Run Through the Jungle." It's kind of an American classic. Seriously, dude. Respect the Creedence.

2:43 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

i cant believe how lame all of you are...'green river'...jeez...before you blog about music it might be wise to know what yr talking about.

9:14 AM  

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