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Upcoming Shows
Birds on a Wire
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, March 26 & 27
PULLMAN
$35 Adv./$45 Door
$25 Group Rate of 10
Shearwater
w/the Hospital Ships & Wye Oak
FRIDAY, Apr. 30 8PM
@ The BellTower
PULLMAN
$12 Adv./$15 Door
Roadside Graves
w/TBD
THURSDAY, Aug. 5
@ TBA -
Stereopathic on Hypem
Jul
8
It has not been much of a Lovin’ Spoonful ‘Summer in the City’ here in New York these past couple of months, but when I got out from work a few Fridays ago, the rain had retreated and the sun had finally come. The line wasn’t too long at the time of my arrival, but as the weather held up and the minutes passed by, it became increasingly obvious that the first free Central Park Summerstage show of the season would be a very well attended event. And it wasn’t only New York-area attendees who were there, either. While waiting in line, I even met people who had traveled from Connecticut and Massachusetts just for the chance to see this concert.
Now, I know there is a group of you Moscow/Oregon City folks out there (I won’t name names. Not here. Not now.) who are self-proclaimed ‘Ritter-haters.’ I myself stand somewhere in the middle ground. I can’t help but think that Josh Ritter is very over- and under-rated at the same time. His lyric-writing capabilities are certainly deserving of much merit, tackling interesting social/religious themes as well as sentimental ones with casual yet reflective narratation. He also has a firm and refined grasp of weighty and epic build-ups within his songs (reminiscent of Springsteen at times), using somewhat repetitive melodies in his verses, choosing to perpetually raise the rigid background instrumentation and potential gruffness in his voice to convey the intensity of his subject matter, as opposed to just ‘letting it wail.’ But on the flip side of this, I am not convinced Josh Ritter even knows how to just ‘let it wail.’ I think he is a great lyricist, a pretty good music-writer, and a decent guitar player, but oftentimes, his songs seem too basic, too rigid, and he can get a little preachy. He has a wide range of musical tools available to him. Some of them are getting rusty, some are just right, and some of them need some breaking in. All in all, I like Josh Ritter, and all the same, I like a good number of his songs, so I wasn’t going to pass up seeing him for free in Central Park. To tell you the truth, my bigger reservations were about seeing Josh Ritter WITH the New York Pops.
I have seen or at least heard a few concerts in my time where the rock star decides to play with an orchestra of some sort. Sometimes the music just isn’t right for it and it can be catastrophic. Anyone who has seen the Ben Folds in Australia with the Sydney Opera DVD knows what I am talking about. The (rock/folk/pop) star/orchestra can be pulled off successfully, though–overwhelmingly so in the example of Portishead’s Live at the Roseland Ballroom record, and believe it or not, I even think Metallica’s sound lent itself pretty well to the orchestration in their live album–as far as Metallica records go, anyway.
The stage started to fill with the players in The New York Pops and they began warming up. After an instrumental introduction, Josh Ritter and his band walked–not walked, ran–onto the stage. His face was beaming, and you could hear the thrill in his voice when he sang, and even more so when he spoke. When he said that he had never imagined this would have happened, that Josh Ritter, from Idaho, would be playing a concert with an orchestra like The New York Pops to an overflowing audience in Central Park, I believed him. He looked like a farm boy (albeit a well to do farm boy), his western suit fitted to a tee, his ruddy face overshadowed by his gory mane of curly locks, and his smile glistening in the lights.
It was almost surprising that Josh was such a natural and comfortable performer after he seemed so overwhelmingly humble when he first got on stage, but he was very personal and conversational with the audience. His band was equally enthusiastic, the mustache-ed gray suited bassist, especially, who at one point, borrowed a drum stick to bash some cymbals at the end of a song, his bass still wrapped around his chest. The drummer was also quite energetic, and the band, as a whole, gave off a sense of positive and seasoned camaraderie.
Ritter played songs spanning his entire catalog, and he even played my favorite song of his, which is off of his very first album.The audience sang along basically throughout the whole show. The upbeat numbers took you even higher than they normally do as The New York Pops crafted their sound to fit his, adding that soaring lift where it was able to give an extra boost. Sadder songs were even sadder with the addition of the harp and some cello. Epic songs were even mightier with booming drums and tightly bowed violins. And there were still a few songs Josh chose to play just him and his guitar, or with only one accompanist. A couple of orchestral arrangements didn’t jive with the feel of certain songs, but for the most part, the discretion on the parts of both Ritter and the Pops was rewarded.
Aside from the New York Pops, special guests included the accomplished Grammy-winning violinist Hillary Hahn, and most exciting and unexpected of all, Glen Hansard, of The Frames fame, came out for the 2-song encore. I heard The Frames years ago and was impressed but I just saw Once the week before this concert so when he stepped out on stage right in front of me, I kind of flipped out a little bit. The 2 songs Josh sang with Hansard for the encore were “Come and Find Me” and “Empty Hearts.” I had my trusty recorder with me, so if you should so be inclined, you might want to give them a listen (see below article). Disclaimer: No, I am not the high-pitched screamer in this recording…well not the dominant one, anyway. Summer was in the air, a rustle was in the trees, and folk festy sounds were bouncing around in my ears. At the end of the night, the show hadn’t blown my mind, but it was most definitely a lovely evening, and I should say I quite enjoyed myself. Thank you, Mr. Ritter, for a grand old time.
Josh Ritter feat. Glen Hansard/New York Pops - “Empty Hearts (Live at Central Park Summerstage)” mp3
Nathan Asher lives in New York, where he works for an educational research firm and scours the City for good espresso. He has an appreciation for old and curious things, and he likes his music loud: www.myfloatinghome.wordpress.com
