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What an
honor to see Glenn Tilbrook at the Rave Bar with a group of
30 or so 30somethings, who got every penny's worth of
whatever they paid to get in, with about $100 or so in
credit. File this show under "how cool was THAT!" For those
of you who aren't aware, Glenn Tilbrook is the extremely
gifted singer/songwriter for Squeeze. Only about 30 people
there (sad, yes, but very cool!). Glenn joked that only one
person out of every 10 tickets sold were allowed to get in,
so... he was cool with it. In defense of the City of
Milwaukee and Squeeze fans, I do think this
show was added late in the game. I know I didn't find out
until about a week before, and then was lucky enough to find
one of those wonderful "free tickets" on the sidewalk at
Farwell & North en route to lunch! So, with such an
intimate group, after one or two songs, Glenn moved all the
mic stands and his 2 guitars to the floor. Musically, his
performance was flawless. His voice was as wonderful as
ever. His persona was genuine, charming, funny... His songs
always interesting, catchy, fun... lyrically clever... He
did 2 cover songs... "Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee," which
was a glimpse into what he listened to in his youth. His
love for it shone through in his rendition, as did his
version of "Always on My Mind," when he revealed that Willie
Nelson was one of his favorite performers. I've heard the
song 1,000,000 times, I'm sure, but never had the chills. I
did then. (What I wouldn't give for a recorded version of
that!!) He gave a glimpse into his new CD, "The Incomplete
Glenn Tilbrook," which will be out end of August in the US.
Judging from the songs performed, especially my favorite -
"My Interview with Randy Newman" (a true story about his
interviewing Randy Newman for a BBC show - totally
hilarious), I'll definitely have to put that on my shopping
list. He played requests... he joked about not remembering
some of the songs people asked for. He abbreviated a couple
songs, forgetting a line or so... Didn't matter. It was all
great. "Dominoes," "Up the Junction," "Black Coffee in Bed,"
"Take Me I'm Yours," ....
When he was
done, he ran back and forth like a madman, saying thank you,
running to the back, sprinting back out... about 3-4
times... Of course, we begged for an encore and he obliged.
He took an impromptu audience poll. "We could stay in here,
where it's nice and cozy, or we could go over there (he
said, pointing to the ballroom), where it's big and dark..."
We took a vote, and soon Glenn lead us into a dark and empty
ballroom. On the way in, they had a big floor fan there
toward the entrance, and he sang a bit of "Tempted" into the
fan! :-) It was hysterical. We stood in the middle of the
floor, all 30 of us or so circling Glenn, and he said
"Before we do a song, let's make spooky "Ooooo" noises in
here," to which we obliged. After making the spooky noises
(and doing some Gregorian chants), we (yes we!) sang
"Tempted" (complete with backup vocals!) in the echoes of
the pitch dark ballroom. To tell you how dark it was, you
could make out shadows, but when I took my pictures, I was
never sure if he was facing me or not!! It was really cool.
We sang one more songs, then retired back to the bar where
we were blessed with a couple more songs, including one of
my favorites, "Hour Glass" (I love the challenge in
singing "Take it to the bridge, throw it overboard, see if
it can swim, back up to the shore..." etc. ) and afterward
he came out and signed photos, posters, etc... Really
wonderful. To say it was memorable was and understatement.
It was awesome.
Opening
for Glenn was Ethan Keller, front man for
hip-hop jazzsters, Green
Scene.
He opened solo - apparently somewhat last minute (had to
tell his boss that he had to take a few hours off of
delivering pizzas to open for "some guy" at the Rave).
He had no idea who Glenn was; hadn't heard of Squeeze.
(**sigh** Am I really getting old??) Really
talented 22 year old. You can sense the love and the heart
in the music. That's key if you're gonna make a name for
yourself. Ethan surprised me. Really nice guy (talked to him
before and after the show and bought his CD). He said his
band was kind of hip-hop, but his solo set was gonna be
rather "folky." It was no such thing. Kind of a jazzier feel
to his stuff, sweet and rhythmic, nice poetic but simple
lyrics, nothing too hard hitting. Some wonderful and
interesting guitar sounds. He'd do his self-proclaimed "Paul
McCartney head tilt" to the beat at the beginning of a
few songs. On a couple of occasions, he blew me away with a
scat!! The band's CD has a little more edge to
it. A bit of rap/jazz/funk/hip hop/soul... really fun,
trip-your-tongue lyrics/rap, some mellow sway stuff... some
funky stuff... I'll keep my eye out on the web site and try
and catch them out live sometime. Could be fun!
(Me? going to see a hip-hop band?? Stranger things have
happened.)
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