Concert Review:
Liz Berlin at the Club Cafe Friday, May 21, 2004
There was magic in the air this night. It being a Friday in May and
spring in full bloom. The Club Cafe was packed with fans - standing
room only. We just got the last of the standing room -with our backs
to the wall by the wait station and entrance to kitchen. That's okay,
we could hear and see just fine and it sounded great. Liz looked like
she was really enjoying herself on stage - relaxed, confidant and
elegantly charming.
In amazement, we wondered why no one was smoking and later found out
from one of the hip waitresses that Liz had asked everyone please not
to smoke through her performance. And, as the audience did all night,
they gladly obliged. Liz had the chic, eclectic room as attentive as
I've ever seen an audience or even heard on live recordings. A
captivating performance that was as relaxed and fun as the ever so
apparent professionalism that Liz brings to the game through
experience, trial and error and an unrelenting successfulness.
For the hardcore listeners of Liz's music, she broke out the
beautifully eerie Monster - that has all the darkness of Freakwater's
Cloak of Frogs yet nicely balanced with her high reaching range of
notes casting bright light to penetrate that darkness and take the
song from what could be "creepy" to a cool, dark, pop song. The lyrics
and guitar playing were so alive for this song that as she sung, "I'm
gonna take this book and gonna re-write it my way.." it felt
liberating to be in that space with her - just being an "awakened"
fan. Liz is going to do things her way and that's what makes her and
her music interesting, fresh and leaves you curiously wondering what
she is going to come up with next in the confines of pop music and
rock stardom that has been played out like a Bon Jovi made for TV
story: Living On A Prayer.
Not too may musicians have successfully shifted with the sands of time
like Liz and her band, Rusted Root. And, all kidding aside, the music
business is like living on a prayer and yet Liz and Rusted Root
continue to "keep on keeping on" and getting people off on a polished,
primordial vibration of big sounds, timed silence, cosmic chaos and
harmony. Liz's versions of Moon off the album Rusted Root and Too Much
off Welcome to My Party were definitely sentimental favorites with the
crowd. With my back to the wall, I scanned the crowd every so often to
gage their reactions - and they nodded to the weaving rhythms as if
they were in their car listening to the CDs or at a Rusted Root show.
It was a great night. There was a sense of magic in the air. Spring is
definitely in full bloom - and so is Liz Berlin. This was my third
night of music in Pittsburgh. Thursday it was Jazz at the Club Cafe;
Friday it was Liz at the Club Cafe; and, Saturday, was farewell to
Mariss Jansons at Heinz Hall Hall featuring Beethoven's 9th: Ode to
Joy - and all of it accidentally spills over and mixes into an
appreciation and gratitude for those who "do" here in Pittsburgh
whether residing here or just blowing
through it.
Written by John A. Conte` JR
http://www.mystrawhat.com
