[ATTENDED: November 14, 2017] Marc Scibilia
I hadn’t heard of Marc Scibilia before this show. He did perhaps the most intelligent think I’ve seen an opening folkie act do. He had a kick drum with his name on it. He never played the drum, it was just there as a simple advertisement (my name is hard to spell, he explained).
When the show started (exactly on time), he came out on stage, walked up to the keyboard and started playing a song. He didn’t say what it was, but possibly “Out of Style.”
It was good. Kinda of dancey, but definitely rocking. When the song was over he picked up an acoustic guitar and started playing a different song. As he started playing he stomped on an electronic drum (it wasn’t the kick drum, because he was too far away and the drum head never vibrated–it was just one of those stomp drum things. And that simple addition really made the folkie songs a lot more rocking.
And then he spoke to us.
Marc was charming and funny. He told us some stories and was quite energetic for an opening act. He seemed to have a bit of fan base in the audience–people who responded to his songs as soon as he started singing. I thought it was pretty bold to try to get an unfamiliar audience to sing along to your third song. But he did ask. You guys want to sing along? No one reacted. He said, “No one? That’s never happened before.” So he tried again and people said they would, and we did. It was a song called “When the World Breaks.” The sing along part is simply a “hey hey ho ho ho ho” so it wasn’t too challenging.
He then told us a bit about himself. He is from Buffalo. He told a story about finishing high school and having no prospects. His guidance counselor sarcastically asked is he was going to move to Nashville to write sons. He decided that that was the best advice he’d heard and so he did just that. Then he told about this particular song which he wrote when he was feeling down. He had been in Nashville (where everybody sings better than me), he was struggling and his friends were now graduating from college and getting jobs. So he wrote “Better Man” about not measuring up. After the first verse:
I’m a small man
Next to a tall man
But, baby, I’m all man
When I am with you
he stopped the song and said, by the way, the girlfriend in this song is imaginary.
He then played a really bittersweet breakup song called “Summer Clothes” which had a great conceit: “Lookin’ for my winter jacket, I found your summer clothes.”
I also applauded him for daring to do a Bruce Springsteen cover just a few miles from where The Boss lives (this was his first time in Red Bank). I imagined that there was 2% change that Bruce might actually be at the show (why wouldn’t he like Rod y Gab?). Bruce wasn’t there apparently, but Marc did a really enjoyable folk guitar cover of “Dancing in The Dark.” I don’t especially like Bruce’s version of the song (that synth is awful), but I really liked it is a folky guitar song. And Scibilia has quite a very solid gruff, Bruce-style delivery, especially when belting out lyrics.
He joked that he must have played all of those song fast because he had more time than usual. Which may be why the final song “Jericho” was as long as it was. He had a looping pedal and he kept adding more and more guitar loops to the song until it was really full. It sounded good and by the end, he had totally earned the clap-along. He probably should have saved the sing-along for the end of the show because I think he won a lot of us over by the end.
It’s great to have an unknown opening act turn out to be so enjoyable.
I just listened to his disc online and he’s got a much fuller sound on the recording (keys and guitar on most songs and a bit more diversity of style). I felt like he had a mix of Dylan and newer Barenaked Ladies going on. The disc is worth a listen. And I could really see him taking off is he finds the audience.
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