Here's more from the jam packed musical weekend of 2/5 in Chicago (and there's even more on the way).
Being a blog based in the burbs, I'll only briefly question the wisdom of playing a kids show in the one neighborhood in the Chicago area with probably the least amount of children; however I will give kudos to the idea of the musical version of the day-night double header. Keller offered his biggest fans (aka Super Freeks) access to both shows, and an exclusive meet and greet at the venerable Park West in Chicago.
Pulling heavily from his recently released Kids album, the early show played right in the hands of the little ones, peppering his clever original tunes with playful audience challenges related to his state of the art guitar-synth setup ("Who thinks I can make my guitar sound like a [fill in the instrument blank]?") While probably not scoring any points with the grown-ups, his cover of Miley Cyrus' "Party In The U.S.A." was a hit with the nine-year old set and helped ease the youngsters into the jamming, eventually pulling out kid-friendly K-Dub classics "Best Feeling" and "Freeker By The Speaker" before ending the show with a hula hoop extravaganza.
The kids show stream (click to activate):
After the sun went down and the kids were asleep, Williams began the late show by singing about the liberties granted with an "adult show" and plunging into a Chicago-themed take on the Dead's "One More Saturday Night". His two sets featured a few covers from the Thief album, but also included others that suggest the advantage of being a one man band: you get to play whatever you want, whenever you want, without having to get the buy-in from your bandmates ("Moondance", "Groove Is In The Heart").
Of course, the show wasn't all solo. The great Davy Knowles seems to be ubiquitous around Chicago these days, he joined his Rhythm Devils band mate on guitar and vocals for a take on "Scarlet Begonias > Fire On The Mountain" and stayed on through the end of the first set, including "Sultans of Swing".
Set two commenced with a long (24 minute), double decker sandwich to open, with Ryan Adams' "Cold Roses" packed neatly within Keller's "Cadillac" and "Breathe". After more tunes with his trademark loops, samples and improvisational raps, the adult show ended in a decidedly adult fashion, with Keller musically glorifying (or at least pontificating) a "Boob Job" and leading a crowd-pleasing sing-a-long of Cee-lo's "Fuck You".
The late show stream (click to activate):
Both shows taped and transferred by David B. Roth.
Keller Williams
2/5/11
Park West, Chicago, IL
Early Show
Mama Tooted, Taking A Bath, Grandma's Feather Bed, Car Seat, My Neighbor Is Happy Again, Soakie Von Soakerman, Because I Said So, Party In The USA, Horse Back Rider, Keep It On The Paper, Hey Little Baby, Lucy Lawcy, Best Feeling, Freeker By The Speaker, Hula Hoop To Da Loop > Parade
Late Show
1: Rockumal, Saturday Night, Alligator Alley > Moondance > Ninja Of Love, Uncle Disney, Kidney In A Cooler, Back Of The Bus, Scarlet Begonias* > Fire On The Mountain*, Short Show*, Next Dimension*, Sultans Of Swing*
2: Breathe > Cadillac > Cold Roses > Cadillac > Breathe, Hollywood Freaks, Juggler > Groove Is In The Heart > Juggler, Pepper> Doobie In My Pocket, Yoni, Freshies, Mackbook Loop, Fuck You, Boob Job
* - With Davy Knowles
