No-Strings Intimacy
In personal relationships, intimacy comes at a price. But in music it can come quite affordably, especially on rainy weeknights, and it’s often just as good.
Such was the case watching Jeremy Enigk and Dave Deporis on Tuesday night at Great Scott in Allston. It was a perfect crowd: big enough to be significant, yet small enough to be completely silent at the right moments. Dave Deporis brought some pensive, rainy day emotion with his opening set. He set the tone nicely for the rest of the night, and the rest of the week. Deporis brought shades of Blind Melon’s album Nico, which I say with the highest praise.
For the headliner, we were treated to an acoustic set of national coffeehouse phenom Jeremy Enigk. When Enigk took the stage, the room fell silent for thirty seconds while he tuned. I LOVED it! It was surreal to look out the window and see the hustle and bustle of lower Allston passing by me in total silence. It was like a scene from a movie. As the music started, my mind continued to wander and evoke images of driving first through the city, and then through a desolate road far from home, that I had never been down before. When this starts to happen to me at a show, I consider it a particularly good show. The fourth song, "April Storm," was my favorite of the night, as it engrossed the crowd and really got me warmed up to Enigk’s style for good.
The gathered crowd enjoyed every moment, and I felt a distant sense of camaraderie with all of them, even though I didn’t talk to anyone all night, save for our photographer Beth. The intimacy transferred from artist to music to listener seemed to spread from listener to listener in the form of positive glances and mutual admiration.
I think I need to do small shows more often!
he is amazing bro his style can not be touched....some people dont know what he is talking about caz u dont do what he does he is sickkk bra
by dylyn on Thu Mar 18, 2010 at 11.59 am from the entry: Wiz Khalifa: Burn After Rolling (Mixtape)
Wow,Great post.Thanks for sharing with us. land wi
by wisconsin land on Thu Mar 18, 2010 at 09.53 am from the entry: of Montreal + Gang Gang Dance - Orpheum Theatre (Boston, MA; Oct. 30, 2008)
Ugh. Paste’s profile of Free Energy made me kind of hate them. So does your review. It’s this unctuous defense of good-time rock-and-roll ("we’re just here to party, and we’re awesome!") that seems more self-serving than fun-loving.
by beth on Wed Mar 17, 2010 at 09.41 pm from the entry: Foreign Born + Free Energy - The Knitting Factory (Brooklyn, NY; Mar. 12, 2010)
that inescapable feeling you are referring to, is that like when you hear something and you could have sworn you heard it before because of the nostalgic catchy quality? or is is like when you’ve heard a band exactly like said band?
great post by the way!
by paul on Wed Mar 17, 2010 at 03.15 pm from the entry: The Novel Ideas - "The Sky Is A Field" - Borrow It
Whoa! I had no idea she was enegaged. You would never know with the way she behaves! Wow!
by art on Wed Mar 17, 2010 at 09.48 am from the entry: Nikki Darlin and John McCauley: 1+1=1
This comment stream is so meta. Great review Kelly.
by chris on Tue Mar 16, 2010 at 07.50 pm from the entry: Flying Lotus - "Cosmogramma" - Buy It
no prob. The whole album is excellent, combining some of the harder sonics of Los Angeles with the meat of his debut and obviously difficult to summarize in only 50 words… 
I’d say it’s on par with the debut, but better than Los Angeles.
by kelly on Tue Mar 16, 2010 at 06.23 pm from the entry: Flying Lotus - "Cosmogramma" - Buy It
