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Low Cut Connie at First Ave
Low Cut Connie Setlist
Ruby Boots Setlist
Tour Dates
11/09/2018 Globe Hall Denver, CO
11/12/2018 Dada Dallas Dallas, TX 11/13/2018 The Mohawk Austin, TX 11/14/2018 The Mohawk Austin, TX 11/17/2018 Gasa Gasa New Orleans, LA 11/18/2018 The Basement East Nashville, TN Read More
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Like the pink wave of the midterm elections a few days following, at a crowded First Avenue Mainroom in downtown Minneapolis, the night was completely owned by three “females”- “Ruby”, “Connie”, and “Shondra”.
The “Ruby” was mesmerizingly filled by Ruby Boots, a Perth, Australia by-way-of Nashville country/Americana/outlaw rock band led by the sassy and effervescent Rebecca “Bex” Chilcott, in support of their latest Bloodshot Records full-length, Don’t Talk About It … but talking about it was all most people in my vicinity were doing, after their powerful forty-minute opening set.
“This is a song about stalkers...three of them”, she said, launching into ‘Infatuation’ whose carefree strumming and uptempo countered any potentially dark lyrics. The new album’s title track was played next, making good use of slide and Chilcott’s appropriate verse, sung with a slight twang and reminding us that “our world's been divided, all that’s left are these hooks”.
‘I Am a Woman’ was done sparsely but empowered by a solo Chilcott, and the closing ‘Believe in Heaven’ turned all the amp volume up, with Chilcott and band optimistically taking us to “the edge of the world, wishing on a star”, leaving her admittedly in “the best mood ever”, and encouraging one and all to come say hello following the set.
“When a guy in Minnesota goes to one of our shows and tells his friends we were the best live band he saw in five years, we need to be back there again in six months. That’s all we got”, Low Cut Connie singer Adam Weiner told the Philadelphia Inquirer last fall, and that’s been the case since local record impresario GoJohnnyGo Kass first helped bring in the Philly band to town in early 2016.
Follow up gigs at increasingly larger rooms have only exponentially increased the local fan base and buzz, culminating in a memorable opening set in the heat and humidity of this past July’s Rock the Garden, a record store appearance just a few weeks later that transformed the retail outlet into the feel of a hot house juke joint, and this stomping eighty-minute good time, inside a crowded Mainroom.
Weiner wasted no time showcasing his piano acrobatics, dressed in bright red patterned jacket, white tank top, chain necklaces, and suspendered black pants, jumping on the top of his battered but still-warm sounding upright piano named “Shondra”(named after an elderly Atlanta stripper), stretching wide along the piano bench and pounding the keys like The Killer, Jerry Lee Lewis in his 50’s heyday.
“Come on, we gotta drink it up!” Weiner yelled, going into the band’s biggest hit to date, early on, ‘Boozophilia’ and most in the crowd took the hint, ordering another drink or two. The rest of the band (James Everhart; Will Donnelley; Larry Scotton; Lucas Rinz; and recent addition backup singer Saundra Williams) remained tight but loose, all clearly enjoying themselves and the night’s very responsive crowd.
The new albums come up in two parts on the band’s own label- Dirty Pictures (Parts 1 & 2) on the groups’ own Contender Records, but the live setting is really where the songs evolve and flourish.
Like Weiner’s picture on the show poster, the songs came rapidly and unrelenting, like a prize fighter landing uppercut after body blow after jab, with the crowd loving every minute and swinging and swaying along to their East Coast blend of rock, soul, blues, and bar/garage rock.
The late 70’s Alex Chilton cover of ‘Hey! Little Child’ especially went down especially well, with the call-and-response chorus yelled back to the band, Weiner climbing on the piano, and all the numerous Chilton and Big Star fans in the crowd, happily chanting along.
Williams then took everyone to church, taking lead with a rousing Brother Claude Ely cover as Weiner went on his knees while still playing the piano with head increasingly backwards as Williams’ voice soared into the rafters, letting loose a stray piece of confetti or two, to float down from a show probably weeks ago.
The encore began with a brand new song, ‘Wild Ride’ before the band paid musical tribute to two legends recently lost, Tom Petty with a driving ‘Free Girl Now’, and Prince, with their hyper cover of his ‘Controversy’ that almost demands you wear a seat belt before experiencing it live.
(click on any photo below to enlarge and see full image)
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