[ATTENDED: October 29, 2022] Chris Forsyth
I saw Chris Forsyth a few years ago and have been wanting to see him again. It didn’t really matter what he was playing, I knew I’d enjoy his improv-filled jamming rock songs.
I was pretty excited to see him at Johnny Brenda’s as I knew I could get up close to watch him play. It turned out that this particular show lined up with the Philadelphia Phillies’ first home game of the World Series. Which meant that a) it was impossible to find parking and b) hardly anyone was in the concert hall. Which was fine for me. And probably for him, as I’m sure he sold a bunch of tickets ahead of time.
After raving about Meg Baird, Chris came up on stage with some of the band that Meg had used. Douglas McCombs (from Tortoise!) and my favorite new (to me) drummer, Ryan Jewell.
The show started with Chris on a guitar that he didn’t play for the rest of the night. The song was quiet and a little trippy. A simple guitar chord structure with very loud simple bass line from McCombs. I thought I knew the new album pretty well, but I didn’t recognize this song. Nevertheless is was clearly a Chris Forsyth song with an interesting riffs and a tasteful solo or two. I enjoyed how after about three or four minutes of this quieter introduction, the band totally rocked out.
As Chris wrote in the press for this show
On this tour, Meg & I will each be doing a set with a great band (Douglas McCombs, Ryan Jewell, and Charlie Saufley, and if they don’t appear throughout your music library, how did you even get this email?). Although it’s very much a co-bill / co-headline thing, we’ve decided that Meg will play first and I will play second, mainly for volume/dynamic considerations.
That song felt like a bit of a warm up because up next was Heaven for a Few, which is a classic Chris Forsyth piece. An instantly recognizable guitar riff (the style of his riffs is all his own even if they are not wildly unique). The main riff ends with a series of harmonics which was very cool. This song was stretched out with a lengthy solo in the middle.
Then they played the only song that’s not on the new album, Tomorrow Might as Well Be Today, with that wonderful opening riff. On the record, this song is barely 4 minutes long, but they stretched it out forever, with some great soloing and improv.
he then said the rest of the show would have some guests. Out came Nick Millevoi to play lap steel on the Richard & Linda Thompson deep cut. Even though Forsyth is an amazing guitar player, he cedes the spotlight to Millevoi who played some gorgeous and tasty lap steel soloing. Millevoi stayed on stage for “Long Beach Idyll.” This is a slower song and Millevoi and Forsyth shared solos. I was right in front of Millevoi and his lap steel was louder than Forsyth’s guitar, so it wasn’t always clear that Chris was soloing, but I really enjoyed Millevoi’s work.
Millevoi left the stage and Forsyth called up Bill Nace (who I know from playing with Kim Gordon, although I’d never seen him) to play the Suzuki Ran–an Electric Taishogoto. They played “Experimental & Professional” song starts with a deep pulsing bass and then Nace started messing around on the Ran (billed on the record as Metal Machine Tashigoto. It sounded like a bunch of noise, honestly—there were some loud and wild effects on it [I have since listened to what this thing sounds like on its own and it is quite lovely]. It also drowned out Forsyth’s guitar. This is probably because I was standing in front of it and Forsyth was on the far side. However, if I had stood near Forsyth, I wouldn’t have been able to see him very well as he mostly faced the band–so, sacrifice one thing for another.
For the final song, he called back Charlie Saufley. During Baird’s set Forsyth and Saufley traded off solos to end the set and the same was true here for Forsyth’s lengthy “Robot Energy Machine.” They have such different energy onstage, it was a lot of fun to watch the two of them together–adding to and playing off of each other. I loved the way the song jammed out for a while then grew very very quiet, with Ryan Jewell going from pounding the drums, to barely tapping them (he is such a treat to watch). He eventually grabbed a string full of tiny cymbals and was shaking them around to create quiet atmospherics. Then the song started to build again and Jewell put the string in his mouth, shaking his head to keep the cymbals chiming as he used both hands on the kit. The song built up again and it felt like they could have played for another twenty minutes at least.
i don’t know if Johnny Brenda’s has a curfew. It felt like they had to end by 11. Which they did. Or maybe Chris just wanted to make good on his promise that t he set would be over before the end of the game (which the Phillies lost big time). I was happy it ended earlier than the game because it meant I could get out of Philly before the bars let out. Phew.
A great set. Even if it was fairly short in minutes, it felt huge in sound.
- Bad Moon Risen €
- Heaven For a Few €
- Tomorrow Might as Well Be Today ¶
- You’re Going to Need Somebody €
- Long Beach Idyll €
- Experimental & Professional €
- Robot Energy Machine €
€ Evolution Here We Come (2022) [played the whole album except Hey, Evolution]
¶ All Time Present (2019)
⊗ Dreaming in the Non-Dream (2017)
When I saw him in 2019 he played these three songs in a 45 minute set backed by Garcia Peoples (and Ryan Jewell).
- Tomorrow Might as Well Be Today ¶
- Mystic Mountain ¶
- Dreaming in the Non-Dream ⊗
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