Vic Chesnutt live review
This review is of the Vic Chesnutt gig at The Concorde 2 Brighton in November 2007.
Who is Vic Chesnutt?
Vic Chesnutt is a solo artist who got his big break when he was spotted by Michael Stipe of REM who produced his first 2 albums. In 1983 he was paralysed after a car crash but went on to prove life doesn’t have to end there by becoming one of the greatest and least well known singer songwriters around. A true musicians musician.
Who was on stage tonight?
Vic Chesnutt was joined by members of various other bands whom he recorded his last album North Star Deserter with in Montreal this year. These included members of Godspeed! and A Silver mt zion (Efrim and Thierry) and Guy Picciotto from Fugazi. As well as Vic on guitar and vocals there were 3 other guitarists, double bassist, violinist and drummer.
Ratings
Performance
The performance tonight was outstanding, everyone played with incredible power and strength, and this added up to a very moving and emotional performance. Many of the songs sounded a lot bigger live than on the album, with the traditional Godspeed! build up and roar of dueling guitars apparent throughout. The musical arrangements gave Vic an opportunity to scream and wail as well as his usual more restrained vocals, producing some very moving and even harrowing moments.
5/5
Sound quality
The sound for once was perfect tonight. The choice of instruments helped, double bass always sounds better than bass guitar. The music was almost classical in many places and sound was everything tonight, top marks.
Here’s a track from tonights performance:
[youtube aVCWI0XJ3hc]
5/5
Between song banter
Excellent between song banter from Vic, although the others remained silent. He’s a funny man, joking about people pushing the barriers to get at him and the impending disco crowd (the Concorde hosted a club night after the gig) who would crush us like grapes.
Vic’s fellow bandmates seemed a little tense, especially Godspeeds Efrim who seemed to keep glaring at people. Thats no surprise though, he’s known for being quite a tense chap, taking his music very seriously. And when your that good a musician, who can complain!
5/5
Loseyourselfability
Not a band for dancing to but swaying was far from out of the question, and you could certainly get lost in the music.
3/5
Audience
Brighton let itself down badly tonight, a low turnout for the Concorde, and given the quality of musicians on stage, even if people hadn’t heard of Vic, there was surely someone that might have caught their fancy. Most of the audience were older, 30′s +, and it just goes to show, the best taste is certainly not always with the kids.
Luckily, there were enough people to fill half the Concorde, and those that were there were full of enthusism, pressing right up close to the band (hence Vic’s comments) and shouting out wherever possible. The demand for an encore, despite curfew being called, was insatiable, and after 3 more songs the applause went on for longer than I can ever remember being a part of.
4/5
Overall
A superb night of top quality post rock with vocals on top. One of the gigs of the year, and some of the most talented musicians I have seen together in one night.
4.4/5
Buy Vic Chesnutt Albums
To get a feel for the music that was played tonight, North Star Deserter is the album to buy.
Where to find more about Vic Chesnutt
Vic’s website is a slightly surreal affair, and requires some time to navigate
Rabbits are cooking breakfast is the fan site and includes tabs, a forum and news