| Devendra Banhart at Town Hall |
| Written by Christopher Sullivan | |
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Banhart opened the night with “Long Haired Child” A favorite from his 2005 favorite “Cripple Crow”. Old and new songs sounded fresh backed by “The Grogs”, more famously known as Little Joy (and also the night’s openers). From there Banhart spent much of the night playing songs off the new record, but the sort of mom and dad on the Fourth of July sound these songs have pack more of a punch live. Many of the seemingly watered down parts on this record are rawer and full of the shaky voiced energy Banhart is known for. While Little Joy gives new life to Banhart’s songs, the highlight of the night came when the band left and the man of hour sat alone with an acoustic guitar. With humor and intimacy, he went through “Little Yellow Spider” and “It’s a Sight to Behold”, two songs from his near flawless early albums “Nino Rojo” and “Rejoicing in the Hands.” He then switched to the piano for slower ballads from “What Will Be”, followed by a tune from his very first record, “Oh Me Oh My…” and a rollicking Johnny Thunders cover. While hearing the songs from the new album played how they are supposed to be heard, with full fuzzy punch, was appreciated, some more back catalog choices would have been nice. Considering the number of excellent and powerful songs from 2007’s “Old Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Mountain”, Banhart chose to play the goofier selections from the album like “Lover” and “Shabop Shalom”. Goofiness could be said for most of the night, with Banhart’s banter with the band and funny anecdotes sprinkled between songs, it was a light-hearted rock concert, with moments of personal folk. The band closed with “Rats” off the new album, it’s ending pounding and intense. As an encore Banhart chose “Chinese Children”, dancing around like a long legged marionette one more time before heading offstage.
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