08-01-2008, 10:15 AM
Sam Roberts makes it clear why he is a genuine rock star
By Evan Parker PierceNEWS CONTRIBUTING REVIEWER
Updated: 07/31/08 9:51 AM
LEWISTON — Here’s the thing with this review — going into Sam Roberts’ show at Artpark on Wednesday night, this reviewer was already a big fan of the Sam Roberts Band. So there’s a certain bias going into what you’re about to read. So let me give you some objective points about the concert:
• Sam Roberts and his band played for about three hours.
• There was not one, but two encores.
• There were approximately 3,000 people at Artpark, and the concert bowl was still full after the second encore.
Those are the facts — that should clue you in to the kind of show that Roberts gave Lewiston on Wednesday night and allow for the review of the performance you’re about to read to make sense.
Sam Roberts is big in Canada. He should be big in the United States, too. And he’s getting there. His fans, who filled Artpark’s concert bowl-on-the-gorge Wednesday night, are passionate. They sing every word of every song, even the new ones. His male fans lift their beers in salute. His female fans shriek about activities I can’t write about here (he is, apparently, very good-looking, if a little short).
Rock-star good looks aren’t the reason he should be all over U. S. rock radio, however. It’s his songs. They are really, really good. He’s not an artist who writes one kind of song well, but only that one kind of song. Wednesday, he took a ride that moved from straight-up rock to tight alt-pop to psychedelic, meandering jam sessions, bringing his audience with him through the whole trip.
At Artpark, Roberts:
• Cast a folk-pop spell with 2008’s “Magic On My Mind.”
• Had a crowd of thousands singing and clapping along to 2002 hit “Brother Down” — and I mean everyone knew the words.
• Taught the kids to dance to rock and roll with 2008’s big single, “Them Kids.”
• Played an epic, 15-minute version of “The Gate” and then played a 20-minute psychedelic jam out of “Mind Flood,” two songs off 2006’s “Chemical City.”
• Inspired a boatload of cliches from this writer because it really was a damn good show.
Even at an outdoor venue like Artpark, Sam Roberts set himself apart, even visually. Tuesday’s Gov’t Mule concert had that band surrounded by smoke machines, giant backdrops and wildly dynamic light shows. With Roberts, it was stripped down — aside from some color changes, the entire light show consisted of lights on the band and bright audience lights shining on raised hands. Oh, and a field of lighters during mellow parts of songs. There was no backdrop either — just the natural setting of the
Niagara Gorge. When you’re a consummate showman, you don’t need more.
Smiling, waving, reaching out and grabbing hands, Roberts is a performer with Springsteen-level stage presence. And he does have that aforementioned way with the ladies — before he kicked into “Dead End,” he threw it up to the ladies.
“This one goes out to the ladies in box 10, who really got it going on tonight,” he said, which, of course, was met with a high-pitched round of approval.
I honestly wish I could cite some critical flaws in the performance — maybe that a note was missed, or certain songs came off a little flat. But it wasn’t that kind of show. Roberts was too engaging, and his band was too energetic, to hold things back.
I was talking to one of the many Canadians at the show, a lovely girl named Aurora from Kitchener, Ont. While she wasn’t a passionate fan coming into the show, she was familiar with Roberts through a few of his radio hits. So different from passionate fans — again, this reviewer included — she was able to offer an objective point of view.
During Roberts’ “Mind Flood” I asked her if, based on what she had heard on the radio, she would have expected this kind of show.
“Even his radio songs, you knew there was something going on beyond what you heard,” she said. “You knew there was something deeper. But I never expected this. It’s amazing.”
Concert Review
Sam Roberts Band
Wednesday night as part of Wednesdays on the Gorge series at Artpark
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.buffalonews.com/entertainment/entertainmentnews/story/403787.html">http://www.buffalonews.com/entertainmen ... 03787.html</a><!-- m -->
By Evan Parker PierceNEWS CONTRIBUTING REVIEWER
Updated: 07/31/08 9:51 AM
LEWISTON — Here’s the thing with this review — going into Sam Roberts’ show at Artpark on Wednesday night, this reviewer was already a big fan of the Sam Roberts Band. So there’s a certain bias going into what you’re about to read. So let me give you some objective points about the concert:
• Sam Roberts and his band played for about three hours.
• There was not one, but two encores.
• There were approximately 3,000 people at Artpark, and the concert bowl was still full after the second encore.
Those are the facts — that should clue you in to the kind of show that Roberts gave Lewiston on Wednesday night and allow for the review of the performance you’re about to read to make sense.
Sam Roberts is big in Canada. He should be big in the United States, too. And he’s getting there. His fans, who filled Artpark’s concert bowl-on-the-gorge Wednesday night, are passionate. They sing every word of every song, even the new ones. His male fans lift their beers in salute. His female fans shriek about activities I can’t write about here (he is, apparently, very good-looking, if a little short).
Rock-star good looks aren’t the reason he should be all over U. S. rock radio, however. It’s his songs. They are really, really good. He’s not an artist who writes one kind of song well, but only that one kind of song. Wednesday, he took a ride that moved from straight-up rock to tight alt-pop to psychedelic, meandering jam sessions, bringing his audience with him through the whole trip.
At Artpark, Roberts:
• Cast a folk-pop spell with 2008’s “Magic On My Mind.”
• Had a crowd of thousands singing and clapping along to 2002 hit “Brother Down” — and I mean everyone knew the words.
• Taught the kids to dance to rock and roll with 2008’s big single, “Them Kids.”
• Played an epic, 15-minute version of “The Gate” and then played a 20-minute psychedelic jam out of “Mind Flood,” two songs off 2006’s “Chemical City.”
• Inspired a boatload of cliches from this writer because it really was a damn good show.
Even at an outdoor venue like Artpark, Sam Roberts set himself apart, even visually. Tuesday’s Gov’t Mule concert had that band surrounded by smoke machines, giant backdrops and wildly dynamic light shows. With Roberts, it was stripped down — aside from some color changes, the entire light show consisted of lights on the band and bright audience lights shining on raised hands. Oh, and a field of lighters during mellow parts of songs. There was no backdrop either — just the natural setting of the
Niagara Gorge. When you’re a consummate showman, you don’t need more.
Smiling, waving, reaching out and grabbing hands, Roberts is a performer with Springsteen-level stage presence. And he does have that aforementioned way with the ladies — before he kicked into “Dead End,” he threw it up to the ladies.
“This one goes out to the ladies in box 10, who really got it going on tonight,” he said, which, of course, was met with a high-pitched round of approval.
I honestly wish I could cite some critical flaws in the performance — maybe that a note was missed, or certain songs came off a little flat. But it wasn’t that kind of show. Roberts was too engaging, and his band was too energetic, to hold things back.
I was talking to one of the many Canadians at the show, a lovely girl named Aurora from Kitchener, Ont. While she wasn’t a passionate fan coming into the show, she was familiar with Roberts through a few of his radio hits. So different from passionate fans — again, this reviewer included — she was able to offer an objective point of view.
During Roberts’ “Mind Flood” I asked her if, based on what she had heard on the radio, she would have expected this kind of show.
“Even his radio songs, you knew there was something going on beyond what you heard,” she said. “You knew there was something deeper. But I never expected this. It’s amazing.”
Concert Review
Sam Roberts Band
Wednesday night as part of Wednesdays on the Gorge series at Artpark
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.buffalonews.com/entertainment/entertainmentnews/story/403787.html">http://www.buffalonews.com/entertainmen ... 03787.html</a><!-- m -->
