THE BEAT
Top 10 Concerts of 1997
by Seth Rogovoy(WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., Dec. 26, 1997) THE BEAT This concertgoer witnessed some truly great performances this past year -- the kinds of shows that will be remembered for years to come. Here are the 10 best:
1. David Byrne (National Music Center, Lenox, August): You may ask yourself, does it get any better than this? Unlikely. With David Byrne, you never know what to expect. A Latin American big-band in white suits? All new songs arranged for funk musicians who refuse to acknowledge their leader's presence? In this case, we got more than we could have ever hoped for outside of a full-fledged Talking Heads reunion. Byrne hit the stage hard opening in character with "Once In a Lifetime," and through four or five costume changes and with juiced-up, techno-fied versions of old hits and new favorites, he never let up, making for what many who were there consider to be the most exciting rock concert ever, period.
READERS POLL: Hanson or Mansun? McLachlan or McCartney? Last call to sound off about your favorite CDs of 1997. Send a list of your favorites to rogovoy@berkshire.net for inclusion in our upcoming reader's poll. Do it today.2. Sonny Rollins (Tanglewood, Lenox, August): As with Byrne, you never know what to expect with Sonny Rollins, but the master improviser was on fire this night, building his finely wrought solos with muscularity and grace, swinging his ensemble hard, and simply pouring out his soul in a torrent of fierce musicality.
3. The Klezmatics (Knitting Factory, New York City, April): This concert may well go down in history as the one when the 'Matics laid down the gauntlet of Radical Jewish Culture with the force of Joshua's shofar blast -- not to bring about the destruction of any walls, but rather, to herald the building of the new Temple of a Jewish avant-garde. This is what it must have felt like to be Irish and see the Pogues on St. Patrick's Day. The band also added a key element of excitement to the "In the Fiddler's House" program at Tanglewood in July.
4. Bob Dylan/Ani DiFranco (Tanglewood, August): A match made, if not in heaven, in some equally charmed place. Righteous rage met righteous babe, and the results could have been disastrous. Instead, they were magical, as two of the most idiosyncratic voices in folk- rock shared their audiences -- if not their music -- suggesting a legacy that will extend far into the next century.
5. The Rolling Stones (Foxboro Stadium, October): The sheer energy of the songs carried the evening, but with the aid of the spectacle, the fireworks and the extension bridge, Mick Jagger and the boys made U2 look like the old men these guys really are. Not that you could tell for a moment -- Keith Richards is the very incarnation of rock 'n' roll.
6. The Wallflowers/Sheryl Crow (Palace Theatre, Albany, February): A magical night -- the last of the tour for both performers -- when after both acts were done with their own great sets, they teamed up for a journey through rock history, covering songs by the Beatles, the Band, the Stones, the Velvet Underground and others. The Wallflowers were even better last month at Roseland in New York, where Jakob Dylan demonstrated a dangerous degree of charisma.
7. Emmylou Harris (NMC, May): Harris regrouped her "Wrecking Ball" band and rearranged a lot of her older material to suit the album's stark, sonic quality, and demonstrated why she is in a rare class of her own, up there with Dylan, Willie and Merle -- in her case, a one- woman national music foundation.
8. Catfish Blue (Studio, Pittsfield, May): A big crowd was in the house milling around waiting for headliner Delbert McClinton, when all of a sudden everyone stopped what they were doing and -- for once in their lives -- paid attention to the opening act, in this case an age- and experience-defying, local blues quartet boasting an inerrant sense of swing and a secret weapon named Todd Stentiford, a haunted frontman with a voice like Howlin' Wolf's and an axe to rival Buddy Guy's.
9. Deb Pasternak (Milltown Studios, North Adams, February): In just six songs, Pasternak displayed the depth and breadth of her art: carefully wrought songcraft, bluesy, tense guitar playing, and dazzlingly dynamic vocals, all tied up neatly, gift-wrrapped and delivered in a box called "stage presence." Roll over Rickie Lee -- you go girl!
10. Ron Silver, (Berkshire Theatre Festival, Stockbridge, July): "Bill Graham Presents," Leibman's one-man show written by Graham biographer Robert Greenfield, was a heroic portrayal of the echt concert promoter, who as much as any artist defined the rock 'n' roll experience. At times Leibman's face uncannily evoked Graham's aspect. They may have called this theater, but it packed a rock 'n' roll wallop.
[This column originally appeared in the Berkshire Eagle on Dec. 26, 1997. Copyright Seth Rogovoy 1997. All rights reserved.]
Seth Rogovoy
rogovoy@berkshire.net
music news, interviews, reviews, et al.
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