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Concert Report: Whysall Lane, Calvin Johnson, Mark Robinson

I knew Calvin Johnson solely from his Dub Narcotic Sound System stuff, but I figured anything with him singing couldn't be too bad, and it was a good way to try out my new concert-going friend. So, we made it to the show, stuffed full of crepes, not really sure what to expect. Whysall Lane turned out to be a guy and guitar, an OK player and a decent singer, with some OK songs. It seemed like the songs he played from the other band he is in, Versus, were a little better. Hmmm. But he played a couple of songs with a cello player, and a couple with a bass player, which was neat. I'd be interested in checking out Versus, but not too inspired by this stuff. And the songs with the cd-player as drum machine were a little weird. But he had someone to turn it on and off, and that someone was the cute bass player, so maybe it was ok. Maybe.

But then came Calvin! I find him entirely amusing. And he has a really interesting voice. He did most of the stuff with just his guitar, and then a few acapella, which was neat. The songs themselves weren't so great - almost like they weren't quite finished - but he did little dance moves and all sorts of goofiness to keep things entertaining. He did one song in a frightening falsetto, which was funny. The crowd got into it, too, which was nice. He also had some good crowd banter, including a question and answer session. Heh. Definitely a good show. It would have been incredible to see him doing Dub Narcotic Sound System stuff. But this was still neat. Completely worth $7.

Finally, it was Mark Robinson. He played the first few songs with a guitar player from Canada. His crowd banter consisted of hockey trivia questions, which was disappointing after Calvin's bizarre stories. Then he played a song with Calvin, which was pretty darned neat. And then he finished up with some songs with the Whysall Lane guy, which was solid. Overall, the songs seemed OK but his vocals seemed a little weak, and the use of the CD as drum machine (with no one to turn it off when the song was over) was distracting to me.

Overall, the show was fun. I'm not sure why Mark gets to be the headliner. It was neat to see someone who really was able to handle the crowd well, after so many shows with little or no interaction. And it was nice to go to the show with someone who was actually interested in going. Yeah. Hopefully that is the start of a good trend.