JAPANDROIDS, THE URBAN LOUNGE, Saturday, Nov. 17, 9 p.m., $15
Vancouver-based Japandroids were on the verge of splitting up just four years ago. In fact, the guitar/drums duo of Brian King and David Prowse had decided to break up and head in different musical directions shortly after recording their debut album, Post-Nothing. Then that album managed to get the duo the kind of positive buzz that convinces a band on the brink to stay together. We’re all the better for it, because the band’s new album, Celebration Rock, is one of the best of 2012–it’s a raucous set of straightforward rock of a sort that’s become all too rare in indie-rock circles. Celebration Rock rewards repeated listens, at increasing volumes, and one can only assume seeing the duo deliver its songs live will be even better than spinning the album. Swearin’ open the show.
THE ENGLISH BEAT, THE DEPOT, Friday, Nov. 16, 9 p.m., $20 advance, $25 day of show
This has been a big year for the English Beat, which is saying something considering the group hasn’t put out any new music in decades. In fact, what we see coming through town on town as the English Beat is really just singer/guitarist Dave Wakeling and a fine batch of hired guns taking the place of Wakeling’s original peers in the New Wave/ska band that formed in England in 1978. And that’s just fine, because unlike so many aging rockers, Wakeling’s voice still sounds great, delivering classic songs like “Best Friend,” “Hands Off, She’s Mine” and “Ranking Full Stop” with east, and a lot of good humor. So what made 2012 a big year for the group? The release of The Complete Beat, a five-disc box set that contains remastered versions of the band’s three proper albums, as well as two discs of remixes and live performances that are exciting new finds for longtime fans like myself. As with past visits by Wakeling’s English Beat, expect a full night of great songs, and expect to work up a sweat dancing to some of the ’80s best songs. Local ska kings Insatiable opens the show.
(photo by J. Butler, courtesy EnglishBeat.net)
Any concert by reggae legend Toots Hibbert and his band the Maytals is pretty much a guaranteed good time, thanks to the man’s catalog of classic songs that stretch back to a time before “reggae” was a word anyone outside of Jamaica had ever heard.
In fact, to hear Hibbert tell it (as he did Wednesday night at the State Room), he invented the word, and who are we to argue with him? Have you seen the guns the soon-to-be 67-year-old still likes to show off with his funky sleeveless shirts? If the man wants to claim “reggae” as starting with him, that’s fine by me. The songs prove him to be a legend on par with the likes of fellow pioneers Bob Marley and Jimmy Cliff, that’s for sure.
The twist with Wednesday’s visit from Hibbert and Co. was that they are touring acoustic-style, and that proved a mixed blessing. On the one hand, the new arrangements of such familiar songs made for a fresh take on a show that many Salt Lakers have seen before when Toots & the Maytals came to town in the past. At the same time, what is typically a sweaty dance party was more of a mellow, low-key show than I’ve ever seen from Hibbert. I’m not complaining–it was just a different kind of show.
Hibbert’s songs proved well-suited for acoustic versions, and his stellar band–a drummer, bassist and two female backup singers, all joined by opener Anders Osborne on guitar for much of the show–was equal to the task as well.
Hibbert opened up with “Reggae Got Soul,” and from there, it was a non-stop stream of some of the best reggae songs ever created, including the likes of “Do The Reggay,” “Celia” and “Pressure Drop.” Osborne joined the band on stage with no fanfare, simply adding his dextrous picking to Hibbert’s own guitar work. Osborne lent a particularly tasty solo to “True Love,” and the follow-up “Sweet and Dandy” proved one of the more energetic songs of the night, eliciting a singalong from the crowd.
A cover of John Denver’s “Country Roads” led into a bombastic version of “Funky Kingston,” with Hibbert stalking the stage in his red leather pants and bandana, before the band rounded out the set with “Monkey Man.”
Hibbert’s defiance of aging is no longer a surprise, but the way his voice has remained so strong through the years is truly remarkable. Whether sitting and strumming along or bouncing on the stage and exhorting the crowd to sing along, Hibbert sounded great. The acoustic thing suits him, and if it helps keep the man on the road, taking his music to the masses, I’m all for it.
Osborne’s opening set was an excellent display of how a man used to ripping through loud, aggressive and electrified guitar-rock can adjust just fine to an acoustic approach when he has serious skills. Osborne certainly fits that bill, delving into some blues and folk as well as rock via a solo turn on stage featuring songs like “Louisiana Rain.” Like Hibbert, perhaps the acoustic approach frees Osborne up to explore some nuances in his songs that aren’t readily apparent in their louder, electric versions.
TOOTS & THE MAYTALS/ANDERS OSBORNE, THE STATE ROOM, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 8 p.m., $45
This show offers a midweek treat of serious proportions. Toots & the Maytals are reggae legends–leader Toots Hibbert has been a musical force since getting his start in Jamaica in the ’60s, and songs like “Pressure Drop,” “Monkey Man” and “54-46 Is My Number” are part of the reggae canon. There is a reason Toots keeps going strong–his love of the music and performing has taken him all over the world, playing stadiums with the likes of the Rolling Stones as well as playing clubs like the State Room. On this tour, he’s going all-acoustic, so you’ll be hearing the classics in a whole new way on Wednesday. Joining the Maytals is Anders Osborne, the New Orleans guitarist extraordinaire whose fluid playing and solid songwriting make him a headliner is his own right. And on stage? He’s a man possessed eliciting an amazing array of sounds from his instrument. Don’t be late for this gig–you’ll be missing out.
EL TEN ELEVEN, THE URBAN LOUNGE, Tuesday, Nov. 13, 9 p.m., $10
It’s funny to see a band described as an “instrumental power duo,” but it’s pretty accurate when it comes to describing SoCal two-piece El Ten Eleven. Guitarist Kristian Dunn and drummer Tim Fogarty craft multi-layered, bombastic songs using a slew of instruments and electronic loops, and the racket delivered by just the two men is impressive to say the least. It’s a bit math-rock, kinda proggy at times, but it’s always mesmerizing and impressive to watch. Hell, just watching Dunn wield a double-neck half-bass/half-guitar, often playing both necks simultaneously with different hands, is worth the price of admission. The band’s latest seven-song set, Transitions, came out earlier this month, and it’s rock-solid.
There’s a moment in Manning Up when Donnie and Raymond, two 30-something fathers-to-be, act out a baseball fantasy involving a home run and over-the-top celebration.
Unfortunately, Manning Up is more of a seeing-eye single at best.
There is a solid concept for comedy at work in playwright Sean Christopher Lewis’s Manning Up–a look at how pregnancy affects a man’s self-image, and what he thinks it is to be a man. But the characters he’s created to relay his concept are so broad, and their relationship with each other so difficult to believe, that it was hard to focus on the occasional insightful gem that came along in the show’s 90 minutes.
It’s a classic Odd Couple set-up. Donnie (Lanny Langston) is a nerdy nebbish of an English Lit professor who borders on hysteria when he starts thinking of his impending fatherhood. Raymond is an actor and stereotypical man’s man, who covers his basement “mancave” where the play unfolds with a mix of sports memorabilia, movie posters (Goodfellas, Scarface) and enough athletic equipment to open a Play It Again Sports–skateboards, multiple footballs, a basketball hoop on the wall and a box full of baseball gloves, among other items. I’ve been in a lot of mancaves in my life, but never one so well stocked for an impromptu ballgame.
These two unlikely friends seem to have been brought together through their wives’ friendship, but over the course of Manning Up, the depth of their relationship is revealed as the two men discuss their fears of the future, as well as some scary moments from the past that fuel their respective neuroses.
The set-up has potential, but Donnie and Raymond are presented as such broad stereotypes–one the ineffectual spaz, the other a modern caveman–that the scenes intended to elicit laughs are often more groan-worthy than funny, and the moments designed to be poignant are harder to buy because the characters are more cartoonish than real.
At one point in the show, Raymond signs the duo up for a nearby “Manimar,” where they want to go and find and unleash their true inner males. I was really hoping the second act would find them at the Manimar, if only to get a few more examples of what a “man” is, beyond the two broadly drawn characters. Perhaps an academic that isn’t a nerd, or a jock that doesn’t come off like a meathead. No such luck.
Donnie and Raymond certainly talk about the different types of men they might have evolved into–or still might, after their children are born. Those discussions make for the most authentic moments of Manning Up. Too bad there aren’t more of them.
Manning Up runs at Salt Lake Acting Company through Dec. 9. Tickets and information are available through the Salt Lake Acting Company Website.
Daniel Nailen 