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Live Review: Weiss Family Show

Posted 09/16/2009 02:20PM by Stephen Harris as Show Review

09/16/2009 02:20PM

When mewithoutYou released It’s All Crazy! It’s All False! It’s All a Dream! It’s Alright!, they went full on into their new folk rock sound. It garnered very mixed reactions, and definitely put a large question mark into what the now-quartet’s usually raucous live shows would be like. Members of mewithoutYou announced that there would be a Weiss Family & Friends tour, which would consist of acoustic re-workings of mewithoutYou songs. While some people are disappointed in the band’s new sound, this reviewer was excited to see some of his favorite tunes in a new musical mode. Along with tourmates/bandmates Psalters and Damien Jurado, the tour rolled through Baltimore on August 28th to create an intriguing night.

Psalters was the first band to play. The mostly six-piece began with some quiet acoustic murmurings, but quickly launched into insane trance-inducing percussion and chanting. The crowd was obviously surprised and went crazy clapping and dancing (although much of it looked like seizing). The vocals mainly consisted of shouted chants and middle eastern/muezzin style chanting. Members of other bands casually walked onstage during some songs to lend a percussive hand, and the crowd was often brought into the more simple vocal parts. The highlight of their set was their cover of the folk standard “Wayfaring Stranger”, which was imbued with such a frenzy and intensity that the old song was given a new life. A special note should be given to the accordion player. While my wife noted that it is impossible to play the accordion and be sexy, their accordion player proved us wrong. When she walked through the crowd later on and smiled at me, I swooned and will now get a sweet feeling anytime I hear the old squeezebox. Although some songs went on too long, Psalters brand of gypsy-Christian-folk-punk was an interesting and energizing show, and the crowd ate it up.

Next up was melancholic folkster Damien Jurado. He played a nice set of his songs, but sadly not many in the club were familiar with his work, and after the crazy Psalters, his show felt like an abrupt stop. The highlights of his show were his single “Ohio”, which was familiar to a few listeners, a song about a serial killer which sounded like Nebraska-era Springsteen, and an odd song about Michael Jackson. The song about the King of Pop accompanied his “Forever Michael” t-shirt, and featured a great rhythm that actually got people dancing, which is not an easy feat for a solo acoustic troubadour. I thought Damien Jurado put on a fine, engaging show, but one that was slightly out of context with the rest of the evening.

Despite the greatness of the two opening acts, people were obviously there for the headliners. Utilizing the same set-up of Psalters (and a few members), the troupe of musicians (sometimes with up to 10 onstage) started with “Yellow Spider” and quickly moved through a 19-song set that was almost completely hits, but with a few minor misses. Luckily, most of their re-workings of the songs kept the energy and the tempo up, bucking the trend of acoustic tours delving into the more moody side of things. Because of this (and maybe because it was a Friday night), the crowd was way into every song, old and new, clapping and shouting along. Songs like “In a Sweater Poorly Knit” and “The Fox, The Crow and the Cookie” drove the crowd absolutely insane and were the definite highlights of the show, and their newer songs translated perfectly to the new musical settings. “King Beetle on a Coconut Estate” in particular was transcendent, as the horn and strings players were able to perfectly recreate the studio version, making for an experience that felt something like a homeless symphony.

However, not everything was completely rosy. While they had a valiant effort in translating some of their older songs, such as “Son of a Widow” and “Messes of Men”, it was jarring to hear them outside of their previous context. As much as I enjoy maturation and change, these songs need to be loud with a full drum set to be fully enjoyed. These same issues made Aaron not play the second (and louder) half of “A Glass Can Only Spill What it Contains”, which was an obvious disappointment to many fans. While I definitely love the new album, the set list was too heavily weighted towards it, with only 4 songs off any other album (the spider songs not withstanding). Lastly, some blowhards might have been disappointed that vocalist Aaron Weiss didn’t do any of his old-style shouting, but this was for the best, as it would have just felt out of place for most of the songs that were played.

After playing through their own songs, the group closed with a few covers, the last of which was “The Weight” by The Band. For this last cover, they brought friends on stage (I’m guessing there were upwards of 25 people up there), many of which got to sing their own verse to the song. The great sing-along chorus of this song created a nice intimate communal feeling to end the show.

All told, this was an odd show, but one I am glad I was able to attend. Psalters and Damien Jurado were great, and the crowd was lively. Although they weren’t perfect, we have little to fear if this is the direction mewithoutYou moves in. Their music, no matter in what mode, is still able to create the feelings of intensity and intimacy that made us all fall in love with the band.

This set list is not in the order that the songs were played

1) Son of a Widow

2) Messes of men

3) Yellow Spider

4) Orange Spider

5) Brown Spider

6) A Glass Can Only Spill What it Contains

7) In a Sweater Poorly Knit

8) Every Thought a Thought of You

9) The Fox, the Crow and the Cookie

10) The Angel of Death Came to David’s Room

11) Goodbye I

12) A Stick, a Carrot, a String

13) Cattail Down

14) The King Beetle on a Coconut Estate

15) Allah, Allah, Allah

16) Unknown cover

17) Unknown cover

18) Yuma, AZ (by Damien Jurado)

19) The Weight (by The Band)