Concrete Blonde @ Webster Hall, NYC, 6/10

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Concrete Blonde @ Webster Hall, NYC, 6/10

POSTED: Monday, June 14, 2010, 7:22 PM

Filed Under: Music Concert Review

photo by Chris Sikich

Clad in solid black and lit almost entirely in red. Was anyone actively clamoring for a Concrete Blonde reunion tour? Given the lackluster showing the last time they tried getting back together, in 2004, the answer would seem to be no. But try telling that to the wildly enthusiastic crowd that packed New York's Webster Hall on Thursday. Try telling that to frontwoman Johnette Napolitano, who was by turns regal and self-deprecating. Now in her mid-50s, she came off as fiery and funny, and she rocked the hell out her bass and a leg-baring cape dress. So here we are, 20 years after Bloodletting. Vampires are big business and Napolitano doesn't have anything better to do, so why not get the band back together and devote a 16-city tour to the band's commercial peak, which brought a welcome goth-pop infusion to Napolitano's alterna-blues wail and Jim Mankey's punk-metal guitar vamps? Rather than re-create the record, Napolitano, Mankey and drummer Gabriel Ramirez (who joined the band more than a decade after their heyday) used Bloodletting as a jumping-off point. Clad in solid black and lit almost entirely in red, they captured the spirit without being a slave to it. First track "Bloodletting (The Vampire Song)" opened the show to great effect, with Napolitano's doomy bass putting the crowd on notice that the album-cycle conceit wasn't a lark. But then "Joey," their only Hot 100 track, came next — it's ninth on the record — suggesting this wasn't going to be a by-the-numbers affair. By "Days and Days," four songs in, Napolitano was in full voice and had the room at her feet. Though she fumbled a verse a couple of times — and forgive her, it was only the second show of the tour — she never lost the audience's adulation. As you'd expect, most of Bloodletting got an airing — the haunting "Caroline" was a notable exception, dropped from the setlist at the last minute — and provided many of the high points, including the moody "Darkening of the Light," a full-throated "I Don't Need a Hero" and a shiver-inducing "Tomorrow Wendy." But the rest of the group's discography was well represented, with selections that fit thematically, like "Ghost of a Texas Ladies Man" (from 1992's Walking in London) and "Ghost Riders in the Sky" (from '04's Mojave). They drew four tracks from '89's Free, including a blistering rendition of "God Is a Bullet," two apiece from their self-titled '86 debut ("Still in Hollywood," the encore, pleased no one more than a drunken young woman in the front row, who'd been calling for it all night) and '93's Mexican Moon (a stellar "Heal It Up). Even a latter-era album track like "When I Was a Fool" (from '02's Group Therapy) sounded like a classic. In such company, the covers were superfluous but not unexpected: a plodding run-through of Leonard Cohen's "Everybody Knows" and a pleasant-enough take on Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing." The audience — a good mix of balding 40-somethings and worshipful younger fans — ate those up, too. Mostly, the night underlined the injustice of Concrete Blonde's absence from the playlists of stations that purport to play the rock you grew up with. Truth be told, Bloodletting sounds somewhat dated — those huge drums and proud guitar solos didn't survive into 1991, let alone the 21st century — but it'd sound great pouring out of car speakers alongside Led Zeppelin and Heart. Try it sometime.

Ric

Posted 2010-06-14 15:54:25

I do not believe that good music can be dated.  Maybe you should give another listen or I will find out when I see them in SF.

Ron

Posted 2010-06-14 20:32:17

Does it really matter whether people were "clamoring" for a Concrete Blonde "Reunion" tour or not?There last cd bombed,so i guess that means they "suck"??All great bands have albums that bombed(Doors,Stones,Kiss,Zep) or even better yet recieved bad reviews(Rolling Stone tried to "crucify" Zep,now they suck up & say they're the greatest along with The Beatles,Hendrix,& The Stones....How typical.
  Anyway CB were a great band,always kinda under the radar,and really alternative before it was even called alternative.Johnette was "Goth" before it was even cool,and her vocal abilities even now,are hard to match...I've seen them twice in their "heyday" and once in 2004,and they still play & sound great,clearly doing it for the "love" of the music and not some money making scheme "reunion"...
   I will see them tomorrow evening in DC(930 Club,which will be packed i guarantee)enjoying them for the same reason that everyone else thay pays to see them does...because they are a GREAT rock & roll band,no matter how many critics approve.Check them out if you can.....

Guitar Maniac

Posted 2010-06-28 10:25:35

Where did you get this?

Jakes concrete

Posted 2010-07-06 14:24:00

They are very influential here in the states and it's nice to hear some of the youth getting into this seasoned band that only the older generation are into.

antonio

Posted 2010-07-10 11:21:20

the opening band Eljuri rocked the house too

antonio

Posted 2010-07-10 11:22:17

Does anyone have video or pictures from the Eljuri show?

Posted by m.j. fine @ 7:22 PM Permalink | Post a comment

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