Member Review: Amos Lee

BPD member Tupelo Honey checks in with this review:

I went to see Amos Lee expecting to enjoy a somewhat mellow performance by the singer/songwriter and instead Lee turned out to be a true showman bringing an energy that had the audience on its feet for most of the night.

I saw Lee for the first time when he performed as part of last fall's Farm Aid Concert. However, I was disappointed that I wouldn't be meeting him backstage. Lee had strep throat and didn't want to give it to any of his fans.

I'm sure this caused Lee to adjust his performance a bit but it didn't stop him from giving a crowd pleasing show. For this tour, Lee added a backup band consisting of five members made up of a pedal steel guitar, standup bass, drums, guitar and keyboard plus two singers which added an rich and energetic dimension in comparison with his solo Farm Aid appearance.

The evening opened showcasing Lee's songwriting talent with "El Camino" from Mission Bell and went on to include several songs from this introspective collection but also a spattering of songs from all three of his previous albums. This brought a variety of moods and tempos to the show - the defiance of "Truth," the breeziness of "Sweet Pea," the melancholy of "Arms Of A Woman" and the soulful emotion of "Windows Rolled Down."

The band took a break from the stage for a solo acoustic set including "Kid," "Listen," "Out Of The Cold", a cover of Paul Simon's "Peace Like a River all leading up to his unrecorded "Johnson Boulevard." The band returned to the stage bringing the fans back up on their feet for the rest of the show.

The encore was a bluesy cover of Neil Young's "Are You Ready For The Country" followed by "I Learned A lot." A return to the stage for a second encore treated the audience to a rousing "Won't Let Me Go" which Lee turned over mid-song to his backup singer Angel who playfully took over the stage to give a soulful performance to finish the night.

Setlist:

El Camino
Supply And Demand
Truth
Dreamin'
Bottom Of The Barrel
Flower
Keep It Loose Keep It Tight
Kid
Listen
Out Of The Cold
Johnson Boulevard
Peace Like A River (Paul Simon)
Violin
Cup Of Sorrow
Seen It All Before
Sweet Pea
Windows Rolled Down
Arms Of A Women

Encore:

Are You Ready For The Country (Neil Young)
Learned Alot
Won't Let Me Go

Tupelo Honey, thank you; sorry about Amos' strep.

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