Tag: Anderson East

REVIEW: Anderson East at the Pabst Theater

It wasn’t long ago that Anderson East graced Milwaukee. This time around he came back with a ton more love and a show that he made sure Milwaukee would remember. First thing I noticed was how different the crowd this was, sure the last time was the last day of Summerfest at a small stage, but I did not expect the crowd to be so absolutely full with fans. The man is doing something right. While I sat up in the 200 level section I could see the ground floor was filled with fans that did not sit down for the entire show. Which was completely understandable for the amount of energy Anderson brought to The Pabst.

Grandson of an Alabamian Baptist preacher it’s clear where Anderson East draws his roots. The man has soul for days. His vocals scream and his pitches change with precision like that of someone in a church choir on Sunday. This show was the epitome of the soul/blues revival that is happening with music today. It is respectable and something my generation can relate to since most of our parents listened to the legends like Aretha Franklin and James Brown. Which made it all the more satisfying when he opened his show with Devil In Me. Right out the gate, you are witness to those huge sounds you’ve come to expect. Big horns, soulful piano, guitars, bass, drums, and who can forget, Anderson East’s scraggily yet smooth voice. The man has cultivated a sound for himself that bands work decades on. He’s done it with two records.

It wasn’t until the fourth song that Anderson decided to greet his excited crowd. He is southern charm at it’s finest. The poor guy, ridden with a cold after being in Milwaukee three days prior to the show, admitted he was under the influence of cold meds and Irish Whiskey. Although being a bit of brevity, you could tell he wasn’t feeling the best. Which is what made his show even more impressive. Never seeming to want to leave that moment he soaked up all the “I love you Andersons” he received. As he was tuning his guitar he stated “Contrary to my southern accent, I don’t really play country music. So here’s a Willie Nelson cover.” As he played Someone Pick Up My Pieces it was made clear that we were here for his show. He wanted to play something special for us to remember the night by.

For someone who just released an album this past year, I was surprised at the number of songs he played off his debut album. Maybe touring that long makes playing the same album old, but it was a welcome treat as he then played three back to back songs off his debut album Delilah. It was after this where we got a truly different experience. Have you ever heard a soulful cover of Rod Stewart’s Do You Think I’m Sexy? We did and it was incredible! It was during this time did Anderson take his time to show off his band. Starting with his pianist, who went on to play a face-melting solo to his horn section, it’s clear he chose these guys by hand. They flow together with a tremendous harmony unrivaled by any other kind of band out there right now. All while the band played, Anderson ran around the stage with movement similar to those of James Brown.

After that, he switched back to his newest album Encore which has a much more uplifting vibe to finish out the set. Songs like All On My Mind, Girlfriend and House Is a Building all filled the venue up with hip-shaking joy and invited the crowd to sing with him as they are a bit more. As he closed out his set the crowd stayed and the band cleared out. Anderson only left the stage for a moment thankfully because we clearly wanted more. The encore is finally upon us and he tells us he is going to play a song he doesn’t play very often, Cabinet Door. The lights get low and a blue spotlight splashes Anderson with some light. As he started the song, the room fell absolutely silent. He highlights all the things he remembers about growing up with his grandfather and his huge family. Typically I am not a fan of a somber song for an encore, but this was something truly personal and important to him. There was not a dry eye in the entire theater. Go listen to this song if you miss someone and prepare yourself to ugly cry. No joke. It was haunting and beautiful and something I never thought I’d want for an encore song, but it was phenomenal. Thankfully, he didn’t leave the stage but instead invited his band back to play/jam the fuck out to This Too Shall Last. Much like the show. I didn’t want it to end.

Anderson East is a guy who really knows how to fill up a concert hall. I can’t wait to see this band again and relive all the feelings I felt that Friday evening at the Pabst. Go see this man if you love music, take your wife, kids, parents, and friends because there is something special to be heard at his shows. Something that I feel music lost a long time ago and he’s back to make it known what it was like.

Set List:

Devil In Me
Satisfy Me
Surrender
If You Keep Leaving Me
Somebody Pick Up My Pieces (Willie Nelson cover)
Hold On, I’m Comin’ (Sam & Dave cover)
What a Woman Wants to Hear
Lying in Her Arms
Only You
Do Ya Think I’m Sexy (Rod Stewart cover)
All On My Mind
Girlfriend
House Is A Building

Encore:

Cabinet Door
This Too Shall Last

REVIEW – Anderson East at Summerfest

Summerfest ‘18 was drawing to close. The final night was upon us all and the lineup was of minimal fame. However, one man stood apart from the rest. That man is Anderson East.

Anderson East reigned in the crowd in a humble fashion as he nonchalantly walked out onto the Johnson Controls stage on to greet the 150-ish guest that had come to see the roots-rock star and his ensemble of brass, keys, strings and of course drums. Although Anderson East has been around for a few years he started to woo the crowd with a classic cover of Willie Nelson’s “Somebody Pick Up My Pieces”. Thus starting a night filled with loads of tremendous southern sound in one of Summerfest’s smaller venues.

As the show progressed on Anderson followed his Willie Nelson cover with another blues-rock legend’s song “Sorry Your Sick” by Ted Hawkins. Anderson’s ability to belt out these songs not only paid homage to the clear influencers of his own sound but did so in a way that made it his own. Neither of these aforementioned music legends was necessarily known for their voice and that’s where Anderson East truly let his vocal range show. East’s fantastic studio albums do not even come close to displaying this man’s true potential when he is on stage. You could hear every pitch switch and rumbling vibrato that could soothe even the angriest New Yorker on a hot summer day. As impressed as I was already just two songs in, what came next is something I wasn’t expecting at all.

I’m fairly new to the Alabamian, now Nashville native rocker, as I just discovered him a little over a year ago. But that didn’t deter from my enjoyment of his music any less. In fact, I gained even more appreciation after seeing him live. After opening with two covers he jumped right into some of his tracks off his latest album “Encore”. The immediate upbeat brass of “Surrender” mixed with the clapping of a tambourine stood as a wonderful contrast to East’s extraordinarily raspy vocals reminiscent of Little Richie on this track to get the crowd up and moving instantaneously. Shortly after the song finished East did his hello followed by a vaguely obscure reference to the crazy world we are living in. What I appreciated about this sediment is that he left it at that. Nothing heavily politicized just thanked the crowd for having the choice to be anywhere and choosing to come to listen to him and his music. He then introduced his piano player and off they went into the softer “Devil In Me”.

Throughout the show East kept the pace of the show going and the crowd stayed exactly where they were the entirety of him speaking. As he went on to play a few other songs off his first album “Delilah” I saw about half the crowd seemed to know every word and switch up that East threw at them. Then as he started “Without You” I saw a heard a tonal shift, it no longer felt like another Summerfest show, but instead it was something much more personal. He gathered the crowd together and wanted everyone to be a part of the experience with him. Sure it sounds cliche, but when a performer can control a crowd with such simplicity it makes you feel like you are there for more than just some hit songs. Which was a welcome change up as he then proceeded to blow the crowd away with his hit songs “Girlfriend”, “All On My Mind”, “Satisfy Me”, and finished with the perfect ending song for this extremely intimate Summerfest show “This Too Shall Last.”

Throughout the show, I felt that each instrument played an integral part of his larger than life sound. Each member stood out in the songs and of course, there was some very tasteful jamming as one expects when they have a 7 piece band, only to tease us with their quick departure followed by a haunting encore with “House Is A Building’. If you’re ever in Nashville these are the guys you’d hope to see in a random pop up bar playing to their fans and making sure you were eating it up. The show was warm, the instruments were crispy, Anderson East’s vocals blew the crowd away, and left everyone with such a great final Summerfest 2018 experience.

Somebody Pick Up My Pieces

Sorry You’re Sick

Surrender

King for a Day

Devil In Me

Learning

If You Keep Leaving Me

Without You

Girlfriend

All On My Mind

Satisfy

This Too Shall Last

Encore:

House Is A Building