So it turned out that, despite my neighbourhood's record of not getting side streets cleared until a couple of days after any significant snowfall, the only issue I had with getting to Tribeca last night was clearing my own parking space. (I take the bus to work, because I don't have to stress about where to park a bus downtown, which means my parking space is never plowed out for me because there's a car in it at the time. On the up side, that led to my having a snow shovel in my car all evening which would have been handy if I'd gotten hung up on a snowy curb or something.)

So this week's Adam and Rob and Friends show consisted of one set with just Adam (guitar and vocals) and Rob (keys), and then a second featuring them with a drummer and bass player.


Which kind of got me thinking.

Just a second while I digress a little. A while back, when I saw Kris Kristofferson, one of the things I liked about his solo-with-guitar show was the fact there was absolutely nothing between me and the song, if you see what I mean. To use an embarrassing example, I remember the finale of the first season of American Idol, and noticing that when the runner-up sang the Special Idol Single I was aware what a horrible song it was, but when Kelly Clarkson sang it her voice was so great that I hardly noticed how much the song sucked.

With Kristofferson you (by which I mean I) got the reverse effect: the more you strip his songs down, the more you realize that they sound that good not because of great vocalists or wonderful musicians or any wizardry done in a recording studio: they're just that good all by themselves.

Not that you can compare anyone to Kris Kristofferson, but the thing about the first set last night was how strongly the mood of the songs came through. I mean, I've been listening to them but until I heard half a dozen of them in a setting like that one I didn't really pick up on that really wistful thread that runs through them. "Wistful" is perhaps not exactly the word I'm looking for--pensive? Reflective? Something like that. The overall tone is not exactly sad or mournful or any of the other words Roget's Online Thesaurus suggests, but the net effect is that you end up sort of thoughtful. I can't describe it any better than that. It's not quite the same effect with the band--not that the band vibe is wrong, it's just different. (And there's my Willie reference for the week.)

I was on a discussion board earlier in the day where a conversation broke out about whether early shows in Halifax could ever work, and a few people opined that most people tend to come out later. I thought about that last night when, the later it got, the more people showed up, to the extent that the band set ended up running for a few more songs than they'd planned because you're not going to pack it in when people are arriving. Which led to an unexpected and very welcome choice of final song.

I hoped to create a linked set list this time out and I may get back to this entry later and add links to the songs. Most of the titles should be correct, although I notice I have one song appearing in both sets and I can't for the life of me remember if that's accurate. Sorry!

But here we are:

Edited to add: I've added links to the songs that appear on Adam and Rob's Soundclick page, so you can go listen to them if you want to. I've also linked the covers to YouTube videos in case you're interested--the Stealers Wheel one is as far as I can tell some random guy on YouTube and a couple of the videos are cover versions. Still: an interactive music post at last!)

Set List
Adam/ Rob (guitar/keyboards)

Empty Streets

With Or Without You (Not a U2 cover)

Sometimes

Lover Sweet Lover

Leaning On the Wind

Meet Me Halfway

Light At the End Of the Tunnel

Star (Stealers Wheel)

Break
Band set

Walks Away

Can I See You Again

Maybe

No Telling When

Witch Doctor

Desperately Dreaming

Working Man Blues (Merle Haggard)

Colours Of the World

Lady In the Cold

Drive (The Cars)

Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues (and at this point I need to confess that, despite picking up Highway 61 Revisited the other day, I have still never heard the original version of this song. It's going to be like those Monty Python sketches the boys at the Gliding School used to do on the runway when we were shut down for weather--by the time I saw the original performances I kind of preferred the Gliding School take on them. Don't tell Bob I said that.) (With that said, it's probably appropriate the link takes you to another cover version...)

I need to check on this one

Sometimes
[At which point they were well past the pre-planned set list, owing to all the latecomers who had just showed up, so Adam remarked they were going to do one on sort of a wing and a prayer and Rob started that piano intro and they went into:]

The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down (The Band, and it was a beautiful thing)

I understand that last week things ended with a big jam that sounded like a lot of fun, but you picks your battles so I didn't stick around just in case or anything. I'd already had plenty of fun for a Tuesday at that.