Bob Evans @ The Metro 15/5/09
June 11th 2009 06:53
Jebediah front man Kevin Mitchell has been working of late under he’s alter ego Bob Evans. While many have quipped at the blandness of a stage name in Bob Evans, I think the name is a compliment to the music. Simple and honest. Tonight, Bob Evans took to the stage trailing the rest of his touring band with aplomb. Evan’s guitar outlined with colored lights shone out through the darkness.
The set kicked off with the title track of the new album “Goodnight Bull Creek”. The thing that grabbed my attention was the guitarist. A skinny man in tight black jeans and jacket, hawking himself over his guitar. He looked like he should’ve been in Placebo and not in Bob Evans’ band. The bass player looked like he was trying to hard to not fuck up his part to get any enjoyment out of playing live. As Bob went through his set list comprising mostly of the new record to begin with, it felt like I was at a party and someone had put on the cd as background music. In fact, you could’ve put Bob Evans’ albums onto iTunes and let genius make a playlist and get the same vibe as seeing him perform live. It all felt a little flat.
Midway through, Kevin got a girl up on stage, sat her down and then serenaded her with a cool bossa nova feel of a tune where it was just him and the guitar. And at that point it seemed to click. As the second half of the set filled with mostly the songs of his last disc “Suburban Songbook”, the crowd began to sing along and Bob Evans found some energy on stage. The end of the set featured a 5 minute jam that felt like The Doors without the drugs.
Bob returned for the encore by himself doing an old song and a fantastic cover of a Lily Allen song. (The one that goes ‘I think you’re pretty mean’ in the chorus. I’m not a fan so I don’t know what it’s called.) . The band trotted out for two more songs before saying goodnight.
I left feeling a little underwhelmed by the show. I almost felt the backing band was too much. That the venue was too big. Maybe if it was just him with the drummer, at the Annandale, it would be a better show. But tonight I felt Kevin Mitchell missed the energy of a rock show. For a folk show, it was too polished. For a country set, it was too alternative and for a rock show, it was too soft. It just didn’t mix well.
The set kicked off with the title track of the new album “Goodnight Bull Creek”. The thing that grabbed my attention was the guitarist. A skinny man in tight black jeans and jacket, hawking himself over his guitar. He looked like he should’ve been in Placebo and not in Bob Evans’ band. The bass player looked like he was trying to hard to not fuck up his part to get any enjoyment out of playing live. As Bob went through his set list comprising mostly of the new record to begin with, it felt like I was at a party and someone had put on the cd as background music. In fact, you could’ve put Bob Evans’ albums onto iTunes and let genius make a playlist and get the same vibe as seeing him perform live. It all felt a little flat.
Midway through, Kevin got a girl up on stage, sat her down and then serenaded her with a cool bossa nova feel of a tune where it was just him and the guitar. And at that point it seemed to click. As the second half of the set filled with mostly the songs of his last disc “Suburban Songbook”, the crowd began to sing along and Bob Evans found some energy on stage. The end of the set featured a 5 minute jam that felt like The Doors without the drugs.
Bob returned for the encore by himself doing an old song and a fantastic cover of a Lily Allen song. (The one that goes ‘I think you’re pretty mean’ in the chorus. I’m not a fan so I don’t know what it’s called.) . The band trotted out for two more songs before saying goodnight.
I left feeling a little underwhelmed by the show. I almost felt the backing band was too much. That the venue was too big. Maybe if it was just him with the drummer, at the Annandale, it would be a better show. But tonight I felt Kevin Mitchell missed the energy of a rock show. For a folk show, it was too polished. For a country set, it was too alternative and for a rock show, it was too soft. It just didn’t mix well.
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