Last week, Ian Walsh had a big CD release party at World Cafe Downstairs Live. However, I was there more to see all of the other acts than I was to see Walsh...
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Starting off the show was Susan Steen. There was no one to introduce her, so she came up to the front of the stage and talked about the show and how glad she was to be opening it up. She also mentioned that she didn't have a CD out yet, but she was working on, and her first song would be the title track of that CD, Start Again. It's a very sweet song with an interesting combination of sadness and hope for the future. She followed that with Bring Me Home, then as she tuned for the next song, she mentioned how quiet the crowd was. She said it was nice to have everyone listening, but got them to make some noise by asking if they were ready for some of the acts coming up later.
Sue continued her set with Don't Wanna, explaining that it was about not being sure what you want. The song after that was Come Undone, then Sue played For You to Notice. She had a little trouble with the fingerpicking on that song and had to restart it, but it ended up going okay. She then finished her opening set with Goodbye, which is always a fun song.
Sue's set was far too short, but still very good. She had a little trouble with For You to Notice (which looks incredibly difficult to play), but otherwise everything sounded as great as I would expect. I'm sure there weren't many people there to see Sue, or many that had even heard her music before, but she got a pretty good response from the crowd throughout her set. It was a very nice start to the show.
The second performer of the night was John Faye, playing some IKE songs solo on his acoustic guitar. He started off with Whites of My Eyes, then surprised me by following it up with Pure. I don't know how long it's been since I last heard that song because IKE tends to focus primarily on newer music in their shows. They have a bunch of good songs on Parallel Universe that they almost never play anymore (outside of Deathbed), so it was great to hear Pure again.
John's next song was Atomic Rose, from IKE's last album. He then mentioned that the full band would be returning to WCL at the end of the month for a show with Jealousy Curve before moving on with one of his newest songs, Hints & Arrows. I've heard that song a few times now, and it seems to be growing on me more each time. Next, he played We Like Sugar, then mentioned the contest his band was in to open for Coldplay, encouraging the band to go online to vote for IKE.
John moved on with I Knew You When, which he followed with the IKE staple, Into Philadelphia. At that point, John mentioned that he only had time for two more songs, starting with Deathbed (Na, Na, Na). He then ended his set with Message of Love because he said he wanted to end with a happy song. I was surprised that he did that song on his own because the Crash Motive would be playing later in the night. Since Derek Fuhrman had helped write the song, I thought he would have been asked to help John sing it.
John put on a good set to follow Sue's. It does sometimes feel like something is missing from some of the songs because I'm so used to hearing them played by the full band. However, John always does a good job of slightly altering them to work as solo acoustic songs.
Following John was the headliner of the night, Ian Walsh. His drummer came out first and started playing before Ian came out to join him. The two of them made up the full band with both handling vocals, and they were accompanied by a bass track. I was impressed with the drummer, and Ian had some good energy on stage, but the music just wasn't working for me. It sounded fine, but it just didn't sound that much different from any other rock music. That lack of uniqueness hurt my interest in the set, so I ended up just sticking around for a handful of songs. I believe the band was also joined by Ritchie Rubini ..boards later on, but I never got to see that part of the show.
I was really tired, so I was thinking of going home. However, the Crash Motive was due up next, and after some consideration, I finally decided to stick around. I've seen the band before in a few different versions (Derek solo, Derek with the keyboardist, and full band), and they sounded fine, but I've never really been a big fan. I did see a couple of Derek's solo shows recently that I thought were pretty good, but the biggest thing that got me to stay was the fact that Josh Dannin, formerly of OutSet, was now part of the band. I hadn't seen him play with the band yet, so I figured I would stick around to see how he fit in with them.
Like I said, I've never been a huge fan of The Crash Motive, but on this night, I thought they sounded great! I seemed to remember them having a softer sound in the past, but they really rocked at this show. They played a lot of new songs that they haven't recorded yet, including one that Derek said had never been played live before. I also remember them playing No Tomorrow, Just Tonight, and I know they played some other songs from the Consequence album.
Having known Josh for a while now, I found myself focusing on him a lot, and he was doing a great job! Maybe it's just because I haven't seen him in a while, but I think he's improved since I last saw him with OutSet. I ended up staying for The Crash Motive's full set, despite how tired I was, because they were sounding really good. As soon as they were done, I headed for home to get some sleep, but hopefully I'll get to see them again soon and be just as impressed.
