Joey Cape & Tony Sly @ The Annandale 26/05/10
June 24th 2010 13:45
Over a month ago Chuck Ragan brought the Revival tour to town. A tour where a group of musicians/friends play their solo music together. Just four guys, four guitars and two hours of good times. Taking a similar approach, Tony Sly (from No Use For A Name) and Joey Cape (Lagwagon, Bad Astronaut, Playing Favourites) use that same philosophy with their first solo tour of Australia.
I’ve never hid my admiration for Joey Cape’s music. I have been a fan of all his bands and all of his songs since I was 15, so seeing my favourite artist perform at my favourite venue, The Annandale, is the ultimate musical moment for me. There was an odd vibe in the air however. Maybe it was the driving rain on a Wednesday night that subdued the crowd. Perhaps it was the fact the State Of Origin was on (and as Joey would tell us when they walked on stage) and NSW had been beaten yet again, but there was an apathetic nature to the crowd when Joey and Tony walked on stage. The pair traded song for song to mild polite applause which was clearly growing on the guys nerves. A good gig relies not only the band or artists giving it their all, but also requires the crowd to be energetic and give in return.
With the atmosphere disintegrating, Joey and Tony did what any one would do it this situation. start to drink. And at that moment, it all turned around. The boys were calling for shots and drinks from the bar, the crowd started drinking with them and by the end of 2 1/2 hours, everyone was in the groove and it was a shame when they had to leave. To be honest, I think if Joey could we would’ve kept on playing for another couple of hours!!
Joey mostly played Lagwagon covers. Alot of songs that the band probably don’t play live anymore like ‘Owen Meaney’ and ‘The Kids Are All Wrong’ from “Let’s Talk About Feelings”. ‘Today’ and ‘To All My Friends’ from “Double Plaidnium”. We got a couple of cuts off the new album “Doesn’t Play Well With Others”. The diminutive singer commenting regularly that he gets people to come to these shows to have fun and sing along like they were around a campfire and then plays depressing songs to bum everyone out. While his songs are on the sad and serious side, the man is funny and quite sarcastic and overall, a positively happy person.
Tony Sly treated us with some No Use For A Name classics like ‘On The Outside’ and ‘Coming To Close’, plus a number of songs of his 1st solo album “12 Song Program”. Tony, like Joey writes songs that when played in an acoustic format, sound melancholy and down but the heart-on-the-sleeve honesty is what makes us fans love both guys work. Accompanied by keyboardist Brian who they brought out to “make them sound better” , the guys helped each other out to recreate that experience of The Revival Tour.
What started out as a potential train wreck, turned into a great night of drinking and singing and hanging out with friends. Ending their set with a Jawbreaker cover and being joined on stage by opener Jamie Hay, Joey and Tony emphasized their status as great singer/songwriters.
I’ve never hid my admiration for Joey Cape’s music. I have been a fan of all his bands and all of his songs since I was 15, so seeing my favourite artist perform at my favourite venue, The Annandale, is the ultimate musical moment for me. There was an odd vibe in the air however. Maybe it was the driving rain on a Wednesday night that subdued the crowd. Perhaps it was the fact the State Of Origin was on (and as Joey would tell us when they walked on stage) and NSW had been beaten yet again, but there was an apathetic nature to the crowd when Joey and Tony walked on stage. The pair traded song for song to mild polite applause which was clearly growing on the guys nerves. A good gig relies not only the band or artists giving it their all, but also requires the crowd to be energetic and give in return.
With the atmosphere disintegrating, Joey and Tony did what any one would do it this situation. start to drink. And at that moment, it all turned around. The boys were calling for shots and drinks from the bar, the crowd started drinking with them and by the end of 2 1/2 hours, everyone was in the groove and it was a shame when they had to leave. To be honest, I think if Joey could we would’ve kept on playing for another couple of hours!!
Joey mostly played Lagwagon covers. Alot of songs that the band probably don’t play live anymore like ‘Owen Meaney’ and ‘The Kids Are All Wrong’ from “Let’s Talk About Feelings”. ‘Today’ and ‘To All My Friends’ from “Double Plaidnium”. We got a couple of cuts off the new album “Doesn’t Play Well With Others”. The diminutive singer commenting regularly that he gets people to come to these shows to have fun and sing along like they were around a campfire and then plays depressing songs to bum everyone out. While his songs are on the sad and serious side, the man is funny and quite sarcastic and overall, a positively happy person.
Tony Sly treated us with some No Use For A Name classics like ‘On The Outside’ and ‘Coming To Close’, plus a number of songs of his 1st solo album “12 Song Program”. Tony, like Joey writes songs that when played in an acoustic format, sound melancholy and down but the heart-on-the-sleeve honesty is what makes us fans love both guys work. Accompanied by keyboardist Brian who they brought out to “make them sound better” , the guys helped each other out to recreate that experience of The Revival Tour.
What started out as a potential train wreck, turned into a great night of drinking and singing and hanging out with friends. Ending their set with a Jawbreaker cover and being joined on stage by opener Jamie Hay, Joey and Tony emphasized their status as great singer/songwriters.
| 88 |
| Vote |
Add To: 
subscribe to this blog