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Review Tue Aug 04 2009
Live Review: Pete Yorn @ Park West 8/3/09
(photo by Jim Wright)
Last night Pete Yorn played the first of a two night stand at Park West (at one point saying the venue was like a "fancier Metro"). The setlist was heavy on older songs, sprinkling in new material from his newest album Back and Fourth, which he called more of a "good-time record." The ladies in the audience obviously love Yorn--there was yelling between almost every song--"We love you, Pete!" Mid-show Pete reached out into the audience and grabbed a sign that said "Can I have your Burrito?" to which he happily obliged and lept into the song "Burrito." But you don't have to be a girl to enjoy his music. The entire audience went crazy every time he picked up that harmonica for songs like "Strange Condition."
While Pete alone isn't always the liveliest entertainer, his touring band more than made up for it. Drummer Scott Seiver stepped out from behind the drumset to play rhythm box for the song "The Man," and guitarist (and Chicagoan) Johnny Polonsky was the most rockin' guy on the stage--thrashing and swinging his guitar around. He seemed like more of a "rock band" frontman than Yorn himself, and sometimes honestly didn't fit in with the demeanor of the rest of the band.
The show kept good momentum with a couple of songs acoustic and sans band. The group even rocked out a surprisingly good New Order cover ("Bizarre Love Triangle") and then closed the night with his biggest hit, "For Nancy ('Cos It Already Is)."
If you missed last night's show, don't fret, Pete is playing at Park West again tonight (tickets are still available) and will also be playing at W Chicago - City Centre on Thursday night as part of their Wonderlust Live events (You have to be willing to fork out for a pretty hefty hotel package for that one though...).
