Philly Music!
THEY PLAYED EVERYTHING
What a great show. Long Walk Home's annual holiday "reunion" concert you could call it. It was their best show "yet".
I first saw Philly band Long Walk Home do a live show when they played the Tritone on November 23, 2007. After that I was hooked and saw them in frequent concerts playing all over the city, up through May 21, 2110, which was when they did a "farewell show" at Grape Room. OH, NO! But after graduating from Temple and St Joe's, life was calling them to move in different directions and to go separate ways.
That was an awful day to see them break up. But lucky for me and other fans their absence was to be short lived, for they subsequently did a "reunion" show which has now evolved into an annual event.
Last week was this year's annual show, this time at North Star Bar. The first thing I noticed when I arrived was the large crowd. What a change as attendance has steadily grown each year.
Shortly after I arrived the other night, I got a sneak peak at the playlist for the evening and I immediately saw that they had EVERYTHING and More on their list. All the songs from their most recent full length 2009 album, "Heavy Sand", as well as all the songs from their previous full length, "Long Walk Home". Plus covers. Wow, that was ambitious. ... Mark gave me a copy of the playlist; here it is :::
The band played non-stop for two hours, including all their standards and some exciting and surprising new covers, such as the Stones' "Not Fade Away". The music is not just a repetition of what they previously played but a revisiting of works with new arrangements and enhancements. One of the interesting new takes on a previous standard was their new rendition of "Murder By a Family Man", which was from the earlier album.
One of the main things that has always drawn me to the music of Long Walk Home is the complex instrumentals, and it was good to see that the new arrangements are not showing a thinning out in the composition as we see with too many other bands, but are showing enrichments. Make no mistake, the band rocks hard, but at the same time demonstrates more complexity and nuance in the composition and performance, and doing it all with such confidence and ease.
The lyrics of the music are right in tune with the uncertain times in which we now live. As I've mentioned in previous blogs, there's always some optimism, but still a feeling that we're on the edge and try to keep from falling. Many references to the Fall and Winter months.
Last week the band started off the show with their song "On My Way Down", which is also the opening track of their newer album, "Heavy Sand". It's one of my favorites. Here it is ::: (NOTE ::: THIS MUSIC IS SOURCED WITH THE BAND'S PERMISSION, BUT NOT FROM THEIR WEBSITE. WAIT A MINUTE AFTER YOU CLICK ON THE LINK; YOUR BROWSER NEEDS A MINUTE TO LOAD THE SONG)
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6/27/20 UPDATE! ::: OOPS! Couldn't bring this music forward. Sawry !!! :)
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You should friend Long Walk Home now so you can be alerted to their next reunion. Here is the click ::: Long Walk Home (CLICK HERE)
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"On My Way Down" © 2009, Long Walk Home. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
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