Joe's Pub, New York, NY, March 21, 2001

From the ever-popular RT list.


Who's Holding Her Tonight?
(Joe's Pub, 3/21/01)

Last night, just after launching into "Turning of the Tide," Richard broke a string.

"'Twist and Shout'!" requested a friend at my table--a choice that I found rather too in-the-know (though I was looking forward to hearing it). Alas, Richard didn't acquiesce. Instead, he made some funny comments about strings and then, by the time he was done retuning, he seemed to have forgotten where he was.

I was about to call out "You were 'holding her tonight'" when I was hit with a revelation about "Turning of the Tide": the speaker is with the woman even as he's making his observations. I'd never noticed this before. I'm not sure what it says about the speaker--I'm thinking "self-esteem problems," myself. Makes the song, never one of my favorites (I prefer the similar-sounding "Valerie"), more appealing to me.

Highlights at Joe's: "Cooksferry Queen," "Vincent," and "Crawl Back." He's really punching the gas pedal on these, reinventing them, rediscovering them: he's very awake when he does them. "Persuasion," with Teddy, was beautiful.

I had a sense that he was a bit nervous last night, which, given the small crowd and the high proportion of people in the music business, is somewhat understandable. The vibe just wasn't quite the same as at a show that's full of fans. No, that's not quite accurate; Joe's was certainly full of fans last night--a very sophisticated bunch of listeners, it seemed, not just people who got in free because they're in the business. He's clearly got a lot of friends and admirers in the music industry.

Pam