Like real estate, live shows come down to three things: location,
location, location. This was proven again during The Felice Brothers
April 10 show at Valentine's in Albany, NY.
This concert couldn't have been any more different than the band's
September appearance in Albany at the Linda Norris Auditorium. At The
Linda show the crowd was confined to their seats and mostly sat
politely with their hands folded while the band played. Valentine's?
This was the polar opposite.
They opened the set as they have at many shows during this tour,
coming on stage one at a time with The Big Surprise. After that they
launched into Loves Me Tenderly, which pretty much set the stage for
what was to be a raucous night of sing-along, washboard-slamming,
guitar-pounding fun. I would have jotted down the complete set list,
but a pencil in my hand would have been nothing but dangerous to the
people standing near me.
It was interesting that they mix things up a little, too. You can
imagine a band getting tired of playing a crowd pleaser like Frankie's
Gun night after night, but they brought it down with a funky beat that
gave the song a decidedly fresh groove.
The comparisons to Dylan and The Band that music critics lean on when
reviewing The Felice Brothers are getting extremely old. You
understand how wrong they are when you see these guys in a bar or
dancehall.The vibe at Valentine's was more like punk shows that I've
seen than anything else: rough, raw, and with pure energy that spilled
off the stage.
Rob Madeo
