jose gonzalez live review

Old Habits Die Hard | Jose Gonzalez Live Review & Concert Photos | The State Theatre, St. Petersburg, Fl | September 29, 2015

by • October 15, 2015

I have bad habits.

Some I’m aware of: Netflix binges, late night eats, etc. Others fly under the radar, undetected by myself, but obvious to those around me. One I happen to have noticed (on multiple occasions) is the habit I have of buying an album or two by a band and falling completely in love with those specific recordings. In many of these cases, the band or artist won’t tour anywhere near me, and I’ll wear-out the albums of theirs that I love. They’ll proceed to drift out of my periphery. In the following years, they might release another record, then another, then another, and eventually, I won’t even know that they’ve released anything new. Now this phenomenon occurs, not because I’m not interested in hearing new music by them, but because the music I know and love of theirs is stuck in a certain time.

Jose Gonzalez Live Review

This happens to be the case with me and José Gonzalez. I can’t pretend like I’m familiar with his most recent album, Vestiges & Claws, or with the recorded output of his band, Junip; although, I did see Junip put on a fantastic show, at Crowbar in Tampa, back in 2011). In fact, I’m only familiar with his first couple full-lengths: Veneer and In Our Nature (which was released 8 years ago!). But, I absolutely love those records and don’t think it would matter if they were released 20 years after the fact; I would still make it a point to go see him. Needless to say, I was very excited to find out that he would be performing at State Theatre in St. Petersburg, having not had the opportunity to see him prior.

Luluc opened the show. The Australian, Sub Pop-signed duo were competent in their execution, but struggled to compete with an obnoxiously indifferent crowd who were more interested in hearing themselves as the supporting act. It was so noticeable that the musicians even called out portions of the crowd, and deservedly so.  As far as the music itself was concerned, they brought to mind a more modern male-female version of Simon & Garfunkel, and elicited comparisons to the mid-2000s freak folk revival crowd (Devendra Banhart, Songs of Green Pheasant, Vashti Bunyan’s Lookaftering). They provided some lovingly tight-knit harmonies and generated a vibe akin to a group of friends sitting around a campfire, strumming electric guitars instead of acoustics.

Jose Gonzalez Live Review

Following the break after Luluc, Jose Gonzalez came on to raucous cheers and loving reception. He proceeded to captivate with an incredible solo rendition of “Crosses.” Going from there, he and his enormously talented four-man band plowed through a Vestiges-&-Claws-heavy set (playing 70% of that album, only leaving out “Vissel,” “Afterglow” and “Open Book”). From Gonzalez’s deftly plucked nylon strings, to the vibrant glow of the band’s multi-layered harmonies, there wasn’t a dull moment during the aurally luminescent set. Despite his generally subdued demeanor, the amiable and appreciative Gonzalez was able to really involve the audience (most noticeably with the unshakeable pulsing handclaps of the crowd at the end of “Leaf Off / The Cave” and continuing into “Killing For Love”). I really feel that it served as a testament to the living, breathing quality he and his band were able to imbue into their set. By the time they had hit the last note of their encore, the loping and satisfying “Cycling Trivialities,”  I was able to leave the show wholly impressed, not only with the musicianship and loving craftsmanship that were on display, but by the fact that, instead of being disappointed by not having heard many of the songs I loved and was familiar with, I was more interested in seeking out all of Gonzalez’s music that I didn’t know. And, who knows? Maybe as a result of this experience, I’ll be able to start breaking one bad habit.

SETLIST

  1. Crosses
  2. What Will
  3. Hand on Your Heart (Kylie Minogue cover)
  4. Every Age
  5. Walking Lightly (Junip song)
  6. The Forest
  7. Stories We Build, Stories We Tell
  8. Let it Carry You
  9. Leaf Off / The Cave
  10. Killing For Love
  11. Home (Barbarossa song)
  12. Teardrop (Massive Attack cover)
  13. With the Ink of a Ghost
  14. Heartbeats (The Knife cover)

ENCORE

  1. Line of Fire (Junip song)
  2. Down the Line
  3. Cycling Trivialities

Jose Gonzalez Live Review by Josh Greenberg, edited by Matthew Weller.
Jose Gonzalez Concert Photos by Brian Schanck.

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