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05/18/11 Lincoln Hall – Chicago, IL
Read More05/19/11 Off Broadway – St. Louis, MO 06/08/11 Mercy Lounge – Nashville, TN 06/09/11 WorkPlay – Birmingham, AL 06/10/11 The Loft – Atlanta, GA 06/11/11 Grey Edge – Asheville, NC 06/12/11 Cat’s Cradle – Carborro, NC 06/14/11 Ram’s Head – Annapolis, MD 06/15/11 World Cafe Live – Phila, PA 06/16/11 Highline Ballroom – NY 06/17/11 Stage One – Fairfield, CT 06/20/11 Iron Horse – Northampton, MA 06/21/11 Brighton Music Hall – Allston, MA 06/22/11 Narrows Center – Fall River, MA 06/23/11 Higher Ground – Burlington, VT 06/25/11 Petit Campus – Montreal, QC 06/26/11 Horseshoe Tavern – Toronto, ONT 06/27/11 Rex Theater – Pittsburg, PA 06/28/11 Beachland Ballroom – Cleveland, OH 06/30/11 Westscott Theater – Syracuse, NY The Milk Carton Kids is a duo: Kenneth Pattengale & Joey Ryan. They are described as minimalist, so I am assuming it's acoustic and lyrical.
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I am reminded of how much I love the Varsity Theater, in Dinkytown in Minneapolis, last night, May 16th. I love the lights, the spacious stage and setting, and for this event, it was mostly a seated event. To be honest, I haven't been to a seated show, with limited tables and seats, at the Varsity since Sonya Kitchell (and that was in 2008!)
The mood was perfect, the standard noisy concert hall suddenly feel like a listening room. Joe Purdy came on stage to personally introduce The Milk Carton Kids, stating that he was "98% sure" that we were going to love them. Judging from the loud claps and the quiet, attentive audience, I would say 100% of the audience loved them.
I thought they were very funny, with their self-deprecating, calm personal jokes. They did a lot of talking inbetween their set, which was a nice way of introducing their personalities to me. As for the band, they're two solo artists, both playing acoustic guitars, singing folky, singer/songwriter songs.
They started off their set with a Joey Ryan (JR) song, "Permanent", followed by Kenneth Pattengale's "Girls, Gather 'Round". I thought Pattengale's singing style has a very Dylanesque quality to them, especially when he tells a story about an unborn daughter called "Charlie".
Highlight of the night has to be their brand new song, which they've specifically unveiled at the show called "Minnesota". The song hasn't been recorded yet, but they promised they will send us a copy to everyone at last night's show (if you give them your email address at the show). And yes, the song contains the word 'snow'.
They had a broken string on a guitar, so they ended their set with their alternate song, "As It Must Be", which, according to JR, was "their most depressing song".
Many of these songs played are available on their free Retrospect, which you can download on their official website. You can buy a physical CD for only $10, so if you're old fashion and still want to hold and own your music, it's a good deal.
The Milk Carton Kids was pulling double shifts, they came back as Joe Purdy's backup band. This time, JR is playing bass, while Pattengale is doing mandolin, acoustics, and a pedal steel guitar. Apparently neither of these guys normally play bass or mandolin, but Purdy said they were born naturals.
As you can see from the setlist, the show started off with "Pioneer", as a Purdy solo song. TMCK played with Purdy until the solo-piano songs, I think were "Outlaws" and "The Sun".
Highlight for me was the "Ballplayer", which borrows the famous line, "it's one, two, three strikes and you're out, at the old ballgame".
What's not on the setlist were the four songs for the encore, starting with "Canyon Joe". It's followed by what seems like a forty-minute epic guitar tuning (I guess Purdy is a perfectionist) for "Fourth of July". The best of the encore, I thought was "You Can Tell Georgia", it is just a fun song.
Finally,"This American" was the final, final song.
Joe Purdy and The Milk Carton Kids are touring together for This American Tour for all of this and next month. The Milk Carton Kids' album, Retrospect, and Joe Purdy's This American are both out now.
The mood was perfect, the standard noisy concert hall suddenly feel like a listening room. Joe Purdy came on stage to personally introduce The Milk Carton Kids, stating that he was "98% sure" that we were going to love them. Judging from the loud claps and the quiet, attentive audience, I would say 100% of the audience loved them.
I thought they were very funny, with their self-deprecating, calm personal jokes. They did a lot of talking inbetween their set, which was a nice way of introducing their personalities to me. As for the band, they're two solo artists, both playing acoustic guitars, singing folky, singer/songwriter songs.
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THE MILK CARTON KIDS |
Highlight of the night has to be their brand new song, which they've specifically unveiled at the show called "Minnesota". The song hasn't been recorded yet, but they promised they will send us a copy to everyone at last night's show (if you give them your email address at the show). And yes, the song contains the word 'snow'.
They had a broken string on a guitar, so they ended their set with their alternate song, "As It Must Be", which, according to JR, was "their most depressing song".
Many of these songs played are available on their free Retrospect, which you can download on their official website. You can buy a physical CD for only $10, so if you're old fashion and still want to hold and own your music, it's a good deal.
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JOE PURDY |
As you can see from the setlist, the show started off with "Pioneer", as a Purdy solo song. TMCK played with Purdy until the solo-piano songs, I think were "Outlaws" and "The Sun".
Highlight for me was the "Ballplayer", which borrows the famous line, "it's one, two, three strikes and you're out, at the old ballgame".
What's not on the setlist were the four songs for the encore, starting with "Canyon Joe". It's followed by what seems like a forty-minute epic guitar tuning (I guess Purdy is a perfectionist) for "Fourth of July". The best of the encore, I thought was "You Can Tell Georgia", it is just a fun song.
Finally,"This American" was the final, final song.
Joe Purdy and The Milk Carton Kids are touring together for This American Tour for all of this and next month. The Milk Carton Kids' album, Retrospect, and Joe Purdy's This American are both out now.
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