October 25 Benevento/Russo Duo

Thursday, October 25, 2007
Fox Theatre

Another event-filled day preceded this show. A full day at work, 3rd grade soccer practice, a trip to Whole Foods for another week's worth of food and the first few innings of the World Series. Having never seen the Duo before, I approached show time with a little trepidation. A full moon and a balmy indian summer night helped settle me down.

I arrived around 9:30, early enough to catch the opening act, American Babies. The sidewalk outside the entrance of the Fox was conspicuously empty and relatively few people were hanging out in the lobby. I didn't realize at the time that the World Series game between the Rockies and Red Sox was impacting attendance.

I had heard rumblings from folks in the northeast about the Duo's late-night prowess for some time but had never had the occasion to see them perform live. I did listen to a few tracks on their webpage and some live recordings provided by Weekly Ned. But I had hardly done enough real listening to their music to have a full grasp of what I was getting myself into. So, as I stood on the rail above the floor waiting for the lights to go down, I found myself slightly self-conscious.

Pre-show banter with attendees of this all-ages show confirmed my insecurity. It'll be done by 12 p.m., right? This was a warm-up show, right? After all, they had not one, but TWO shows to play on Friday night in Los Angeles... these guys had bigger and better parties to play, right? And did some 16 year-old really see Mike Gordon in Boulder earlier in the day? By the end of the night, "no" was the definitive answer to all of these questions.

American Babies "solo acoustic" took the stage around 9:45; Joe Russo and Tom Hamilton on acoustic guitars. I didn't realize that the Russo of the Duo had a side project that was opening and what a treat! Acoustic guitar and human voices, a novel approach to an opening act for the technological scrum that was the main event. There were perhaps 30 people there listening to the nervous energy of Joe Russo and Tom Hamilton. Though not totally polished (Joe once missed the capo placement for a song he was starting and luckily was corrected by Tom) nothing was being taken too seriously and minor mistakes were laughed off. Joe was able to hold his own on guitar, provided some beautiful vocal harmonies and performed quite admirably. Obviously he is a multi-talented man.

Tom joked at one point that this was like a "Bon Jovi/Sambora thing" and that they had considered "feathering Joe's hair." They did apparently decide to give Joe some sort of make over as he wasn't wearing glasses.



American Baby

While they play some honest ballads and perform adequately on acoustic guitar I did find myself longing for some gut rumbling bass notes and percussion.

Benevento/ Russo take the stage and I am immediately mesmerized by Joe Russo. I need to read more journalism about percussion so I can find a clever way to describe the joy I feel when an exceptional percussionist is playing. Slowly people started filling the room and Russo got the room moving.


Soba

There is no doubt that Marco Benevento is talented, but for my money his style is a little too sharp. And certainly there's no disputing the connection these two players have and the impeccable timing this musical connection has. And he does have some fun sonic tricks up his sleeve. So perhaps he is an acquired taste... but if he was like a sharp Wisconsin (or upstate New York) cheddar, then Russo was a perfectly sliced Honey Crisp apple - the perfect compliment. Good apples go with just about everything, right?



At some point Marco announced that they had just played a song named 'Birth' and this had been the debut of that song. I think I also recognized Sunny's Song somewhere in there. Tom Hamilton then joined the Duo for a song - it started with Joe on acoustic and some precision picking.





His guitar work was a perfect compliment to a slow building rocker.



Powder with Tom Hamilton

My mind started wandering, I thought about the tall girl on the floor who walked in wearing a fur coat. I thought about the woman seated in the 'sweet spot' on the first rail. And what about that red headed kid dead center in the front row - he can't be more than 17, and why is he wearing a scarf wrapped around his head? I was jolted out of mind wandering as the crowd joined band in a chorus...



Play, Pause, Stop chorus


I thought Best Reason to Buy the Sun was very well played and energetic... This may have been the highlight of the evening for me.


Best Reason to Buy the Sun


I started to fade during the encore but the presence of Tom Hamilton did keep things lively.




They played something during the encore that sounded like a cover but was lost on my ears. It reminded me of U2 or an old R & B tune. Can anyone tell me what this next clip is?



The "Hey, Hey, Hey" song

I stumbled out into a balmy Thursday night, with college students wandering around. I look at the time; 12:45. Benevento/Russo Duo went on around 10:45 and ended a solid two hours later. Two hours lost in the music, a good thing to be sure. I definitely think the improvisational nature of their offering gives those fans who can see them often the advantage. Even so, some of the experienced fans I walked out with indicated that this was a night of new material - one guy said more than three new songs... All I know is that it was a well played show with some very tight interplay between the two that are the Duo. A solid night and one that will likely propel me to another Duo show (or Bustle/Hedgerow) in the future.