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Tour Dates
06/05/12 Detroit, MI Magic Stick
06/06/12 Cleveland, OH Beachland Ballroom 06/07/12 Pittsburgh, PA Downtown Pittsburgh 06/08/12 Philadelphia, PA Union Transfer 06/09/12 Hudson, NY Club Helsinki 06/12/12 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom 06/13/12 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom 06/14/12 Richmond, VA The Camel 06/15/12 Asheville, NC The Grey Eagle 06/16/12 Knoxville, TN Pilot Light 06/17/12 Birmingham, AL BottleTree 06/19/12 New Orleans, LA One Eyed Jacks 06/20/12 Baton Rouge, LA Spanish Moon 06/21/12 Houston, TX The Continental Club 06/22/12 Austin, TX The Mohawk 06/23/12 San Antonio, TX The Korova 06/24/12 Marfa, TX Marfa Book Company 06/26/12 Albuquerque, NM Launchpad 06/27/12 Tucson, AZ La Cocina 06/28/12 Phoenix, AZ The Crescent Ballroom 06/29/12 Los Angeles, CA Echo 06/30/12 Costa Mesa, CA Detroit Bar 07/01/12 San Francisco, CA Make Out Room 07/02/12 San Francisco, CA Make Out Room 07/03/12 San Francisco, CA Make Out Room Read More Whether you think Jonathan Richman is an untrained genius or an overrated man-child, you can’t deny that he’s entertaining…
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Jonathan Richman has the kind of rock ‘n roll holiness reserved for someone like Leonard Cohen. But where Cohen is all hushed poetic passages and melancholy overtures, Richman inspires the kind of reaction that could only be found in a Baptist church on a Sunday morning. Dressed in yoga pants and slippers, with a long-sleeved green shirt over a black and white striped shirt, Richman padded across the Cedar Cultural Center’s stage looking like a Parisian street corner balladeer, his arms wide open ready to embrace the entire audience. An excited young fan near the front held up a glittery and feathered sign (“Jonathan, be my little dinosaur”) and Richman pointed at it and smiled and then patted his chest in gratitude as the entire room erupted in applause.
Richman is a born showman, sashaying around the stage, spinning his guitar in his hands as he played to each corner during the course of the set, encouraging the audience to clap to the beat. Having never seen him before (and for that I am kicking myself), I was really impressed with how clear and strong his voice is and with how much energy he has. As his right hand man, drummer Tommy Larkins, provided a solid percussive backbone, Richman would abandon his guitar for a tambourine stick and jangle it while lithely jumping around to the delight of a clearly enamored crowd. Richman also showed off some sharp guitar skills, noodling on songs like “The World is Showing Its Hand” and the lovely “My Baby Love Love Loves Me” (both from his very excellent record Not So Much to Be Loved As to Love) to a point where he abruptly finished the latter, claiming “there are more songs to play!” An oldie but goodie “I Was Dancing in the Lesbian Bar” had the whole place singing along while Richman shook his hips (no drinking sips!) and while singing “Old World,” Richman slipped into what I think was italian. With a catalogue of music heavily influenced by world music, this shouldn’t be a surprise. “English is okay for some things,” he said during an interlude in the gorgeous “Celestial,” “But this sounds so much better in Spanish.”
I really hate that Jonathan Richman’s name will forever be synonymous with the word “manchild.” It’s just condescending and lazy. I understand that his playful and eccentric demeanor is a departure from the usual cynical and self-aware behavior exhibited by a lot of modern musicians, but underneath the quirk is a passionate performer and lover of music and poetry and art. And maybe he isn’t explicitly spiritual, but there’s a transcendent feel to his songs and the way he sings them, most notably in “When We Refuse to Suffer” and “O Moon, Queen of Night on Earth.” In “When We Refuse to Suffer,” Richman sings about feeling sorrow instead of numbing ourselves with substances and in “O Moon” he mentions there is a special kind of loneliness that you feel when you are alone in the dark with nothing but the moon. It’s clear that Richman knows exactly what he is singing about. People will snicker at the way he talks and or find humor in his exuberant delivery and that’s fine, I think he enjoys it and perhaps that is what it’s there for. But there is a real beauty and honesty in those songs and that voice. Hallelujah!
Richman is a born showman, sashaying around the stage, spinning his guitar in his hands as he played to each corner during the course of the set, encouraging the audience to clap to the beat. Having never seen him before (and for that I am kicking myself), I was really impressed with how clear and strong his voice is and with how much energy he has. As his right hand man, drummer Tommy Larkins, provided a solid percussive backbone, Richman would abandon his guitar for a tambourine stick and jangle it while lithely jumping around to the delight of a clearly enamored crowd. Richman also showed off some sharp guitar skills, noodling on songs like “The World is Showing Its Hand” and the lovely “My Baby Love Love Loves Me” (both from his very excellent record Not So Much to Be Loved As to Love) to a point where he abruptly finished the latter, claiming “there are more songs to play!” An oldie but goodie “I Was Dancing in the Lesbian Bar” had the whole place singing along while Richman shook his hips (no drinking sips!) and while singing “Old World,” Richman slipped into what I think was italian. With a catalogue of music heavily influenced by world music, this shouldn’t be a surprise. “English is okay for some things,” he said during an interlude in the gorgeous “Celestial,” “But this sounds so much better in Spanish.”
I really hate that Jonathan Richman’s name will forever be synonymous with the word “manchild.” It’s just condescending and lazy. I understand that his playful and eccentric demeanor is a departure from the usual cynical and self-aware behavior exhibited by a lot of modern musicians, but underneath the quirk is a passionate performer and lover of music and poetry and art. And maybe he isn’t explicitly spiritual, but there’s a transcendent feel to his songs and the way he sings them, most notably in “When We Refuse to Suffer” and “O Moon, Queen of Night on Earth.” In “When We Refuse to Suffer,” Richman sings about feeling sorrow instead of numbing ourselves with substances and in “O Moon” he mentions there is a special kind of loneliness that you feel when you are alone in the dark with nothing but the moon. It’s clear that Richman knows exactly what he is singing about. People will snicker at the way he talks and or find humor in his exuberant delivery and that’s fine, I think he enjoys it and perhaps that is what it’s there for. But there is a real beauty and honesty in those songs and that voice. Hallelujah!
Jonathan Richman at the Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis (06/03/12) |
