“…It’s your little red wagon and you’ve got to pull it.”
In a capacity crowd of 1000+ inside of Philadelphia’s Union Transfer you could hear a pin drop as Jenny Lewis tied her ‘Rabbit Fur Coat’ 10 year anniversary tour up with a big, beautiful rhinestone encrusted bow, barely halfway into a 23 song mega set that included 3 outfit changes, 2 Rilo Kiley reprisals and one full record in it’s entirety (including an intermission)!
That moment came during “It Wasn’t Me,’ the disclaimer of Rabbit Fur Coat, Jenny’s debut solo record. Originally issued on CD in 2006 by Conor Oberst’s ‘Team Love’ label, the album turns ten this year and is being honored with both a celebratory tour performing the record in it’s entirety alongside original collaborators Mike Bloom and the Watson Twins, as well as a proper wax release (on red vinyl no less) on Jenny’s new imprint ‘Loves Way,’ a record label named after her parent’s Vegas lounge act of the 1970’s. Now 3 full lengths wiser and back out on the road directly on the heels of her successful Warner Bros release ‘The Voyager,’ it would appear Jenny Lewis has finally had the time to reflect on her body of her work and wrap up some of the finer points as a gift to her fans… and maybe herself?
When I arrived at 7:30pm nearly 100 people had already queued up on a chilled and rainy Tuesday night, lining the South side of Spring Garden Avenue before doors had opened with hoods up and sleeves clenched. Undeterred, these early throngs were greeted by a beautifully stocked merch booth featuring call backs and inside-jokes for those purveyors of the liner notes; there were Voyager themed baby onesies and male-briefs (how apropos!), a beautiful gatefold vinyl version of the record complete with accompanying gold necklace as worn by Ms. Lewis on the album, and more than a few items featuring Jenny and her little red wagon splashed with the logo of her brand new label “Loves Way.” This would be a recurring theme for the night, the tying together of the old and the new: Jenny may be taking the time to look back and celebrate, but she has one eye firmly on the voyage ahead. The treats she had for her fans would not stop coming all night, in the form of revisitations to her back catalog, previews of the new and unreleased, and even a 1958 Shirelle’s cover just for good measure. To say this concert was a comprehensive look at the past, present and future of Jenny’s career would be like saying Timothy Leary merely ‘sipped’ the Kool-aid of the cosmos; an understatement!
Local opener Wacahatchee (Katie Crutchfield) performed a 9 song set solo to kick off the night. Bathed in house lights of red and purple, her set was short and masterful. Originally from Alabama and named after a creek she spent time at as a child, Katie’s strong and solid vocals and guitar cut through the din of the rapidly filling house, and by the time she had closed at 8:45 with the 2 minute ‘Summer of Love’ the large and percussive nature of the sudden applause was at once jarring and indicative of just how many people she had won over from nervous chatter to idle listening in her short time on stage. I will be adding her records to my must purchase list, for sure.
Not long after the performance space was cleared, a transcendental acapella harmony could be heard reverberating from the backstage area of Union Transfer. Before 3/4 of the crowd even knew it, a faintly lit Jenny Lewis and The Watson Twins emerged from the darkness fully engaged in the three part opening harmony of ‘Run, Devil, Run.’ As the vocals swirled and they slowly approached their microphones ultimately the power of their voices alone reached the back of UT and the crowd was at rapt, silent attention. All at once the three parts found their focus into their mics, and the harmony rose from all directions, amplified by both the Union Transfer sound system and the beautiful natural acoustics of the room. It was a thing of wonder to behold, and it signified that our journey through the 12 tracks of stripped down alt-country, folk and americana post-rock that is ‘Rabbit Fur Coat’ had just begun!
By the time the drums kicked in for ‘The Big Guns’ there were whoops, hollers, and smiles all around. It was apparent that both the band and the audience were immediately having a blast, and rightfully so. This is, after all, a celebration! The first thing you notice on Jenny’s stage is that the girls outnumber the guys 4:3. The second thing you notice is the outfits, and you’d better take notice quickly because there’s going to be a couple costume and set changes before the night is over! With her entire band sporting one variation of a traditional suit or the other, Jenny and the Watson twins took the stage in matching tailored long-sleeved mini-dresses; Jenny in a shimmering ruby rhinestone affair and the Watson Twins in glittering blue. The band, from house left to right, included Nashville’s Melissa McCormick in a matching rhinestone tie on Second Guitar, Birmingham’s Mason Taylor on Bass (black shirt), Joshua Adams of Kansas City on Drums (white shirt), and of course the ornate vested Mike Bloom on everything from lead guitar to slide guitar to Rhodes piano. This man could do no wrong throughout the night, and although he was the only band member to get a nickname instead of a hometown shout-out (turns out Cave is from Manhasset New York), after watching him skill so many of our favorite Jenny Lewis songs we’re now dead set on searching out his solo record ‘King of Circles.’ Jenny’s band was impeccable throughout the evening, displaying a deep and reverent understanding of the source material and jamming out together with the air of road-hardened troubadours, she has really put together something special in these 7 players.
As the band played through the record’s openers, the sparsely accompanied ‘Happy’ allowed Jenny’s stellar vocals to shine through, and in the 15 years I’ve been following her career I’ve yet to hear anything as beautifully clean as her harmonies with the Watson Twins accompanied by Mike Bloom’s slide guitar on this piece. By the time Jenny had delivered an amended verse in ‘Charging The Sky’ slickly shifting the lyrics to ‘In the belly of the beast, in the Philadelphia streets’ she had the crowd eating out of the palm of her hand. With McCormick and Bloom trading licks and riffs off of each other to the sheer delight of both sides of the stage, there was not a bad seat in the house for this show!
Slowing the pace down for the ‘Mazzy Star’ moment on the record, Joshua switched his kit over to brushes for ‘Melt Your Heart,’ and Jenny’s soulful vocals blended beautifully with the Rhodes Piano and the Watson Twins lush backgrounds. ‘You Are What You Love’ saw one of the twins seated with a keyboard, and garnered the biggest sing-a-long of the night. For a record that’s only ten years old, you could tell by the enraptured audience that this is a collection of songs that has been poured over and absorbed wholly by a majority of the room. When Jenny changed another lyric to reflect the ten years that had passed since the records release the crowd was immediately on it: “I guess that’s why you keep calling me back” was changed to “I guess that’s why you keep texting me back” and Jenny left the stage for a set break and costume change with a wry smile to a chorus of laughter and applause. Ever a true show-Woman, she led her Female bandmates offstage while Mr.’s Bloom, Taylor and Adams continued to jam out on an extended version of ‘You Are What You Love,’ much to the delight of us die-hards in the audience who reveled in the 5 extra minutes or so of one of the best tunes on the album being jammed out to by one of the original performers! As a big Rilo Kiley and Elected fan, seeing Mike Bloom at work up close and personal is always an amazing sight and sound to behold. I had to grab a pack of pink ‘LEWIS 2016’ guitar picks on my way out just to remember how well all of the night’s voyagers performed: there was more than a little bit of magic in the air at Union Transfer on Tuesday!
Returning to finish the flip side of the record in new digs, Jenny and the Watson twins reemerged in all black pantsuits to perform the title track off of Rabbit Fur Coat, Jenny’s suit featuring heart and devil embellishments, the twins with horseshoes and clovers. Again there was total silence as she delivered another of the most stripped down arrangements on the record. Immediately afterwards, however, the band kicked into gear for the Traveling Wilbury’s cover ‘Handle With Care,’ and for the first time in the evening provided us a glimpse of Lewis in her natural habitat: out from under the microscope of a debut solo album, and in amongst contemporaries paying homage to guitar heroes past. This would also be our first glimpse of the night into perhaps her true joy, the role sorted out during Laurel Canyon jam sessions and Elvis Costello studio dates, the times when Jenny gets to truly be ‘just one of the guys,’ back to back with Mike Bloom strumming on a six string, eyes wide and grinning just belting rock and roll. Through and though, Miss Lewis is a true performer. She can work a mic solo behind a Rhodes, as she did for my personal favorite number ‘Born Secular,’ or accompany herself on the aforementioned disclaimer-in-a song, “It Wasn’t Me,” smiling at her own inside joke while knocking the restrained performance out of the park.
If the first half of the program was a catharsis for anyone looking to put a pin on a decade of soul-bearing ballads, the second half of the event was an unbridled romp through rock and roll territory: the last dozen years of our intrepid voyager beating down dusty paths and motel room doors kicking out the jams through the flyover states from Nashville to San Fernando. Road-tested and seasoned like a pro, nowadays when you shout out “I love you Jenny,” you’re gonna get back something along the lines of “I like you man, I like you a lot.” Jenny has been down the road a ways, and she’s here to play you some songs about that. 10 years solo and four full lengths have forged us a super star.
After a brief intermission announced by a dude with a placard like a ringside bunny (nice touch), Jenny reappeared and addressed the crowd directly for the first time in the night. Having just blown though 12 songs in less than an hour, the whole band came back fresh and charged up, eager to perform tracks representing a “Voyage Through The Past, Present and Future.” Acknowledging the absence of the hallway backdrop from the Fur Coat record on stage, the first words that Jenny spoke to the Philly audience were “I just don’t know what to say in front of that creepy hallway. Thank you for going on this Journey with me!” before launching into the lead tracks off of 2014’s The Voyager (Head Underwater) and Rilo Kiley’s 2007 record Under The Blacklight (Silver Lining).
“I was your silver lining, but now I’m gold,” sings Lewis, now clad in a shiny silver pantsuit flanked by the Watson Twins in matching gold dresses. We have reached a truly magical portion of the evening. The restraint and stripped down versions are behind us; it is time to ROCK. ‘Just One of the Guys’ and ‘See Fernando’ get the full jam treatment here, before the set slows down to accommodate a beautifully harmonized version of the Shirelle’s Doo-Woop hit ‘I Met Him On A Sunday.” Now halfway through the second set, a shrewd audience member takes the brief instrument reset to yell out what everyone is thinking during a particularly quiet moment: “This is the BEST!” she screams. Everyone is in absolute agreement.
For a moment, Jenny’s voice gets serious. This isn’t the same witty, canned banter. She has something to tell us. Something important. “This song is for my Dad, who was born in Philadelphia. The Ultimate Voyager.” And then the song starts, it’s the title track. The title track of her newest record. We all know, all of us Jenny Lewis fans in the audience, that Jenny thinks the world of her father. Whether she’s constantly writing tracks about her parent’s relationship or thanking her dad in her liner notes, to hear that this great man was born in Philadelphia and is representative of the ultimate voyager, well, this is just a huge compliment for Philly. This lent a whole new meaning to the night’s events, the tour and record name, even the name of Jenny’s new imprint ‘Love’s Way’ itself. It was a connecting of all the dots, coming full circle.
“The years transform my memories” she sings on ‘It Wasn’t Me,’ and her lyrics seem as prophetic as ever. Lewis was able to look back on the path she pulled her wagon to get here by and has stitched together all of the best pieces of the last ten years and more for this celebratory tour. It was a set that truly made me appreciate her back catalog all the much more, and by the show’s end I was eager to get home and give ‘Acid Tongue’ and ‘The Voyager’ another listen. Closing out with ‘Pretty Bird,’ the brand new ‘Red Bull + Hennessy,’ crowd favorite and More Adventurous hit ‘I Never’ and finally ‘She’s Not Me,’ it’s clear that Jenny isn’t fully ready to let go of the past, but instead has transformed these pieces of her back catalog into a truly special canon. In 15 years of seeing her perform, this was by far her best show yet. We have a national treasure on our hands here I believe, and I’ll be looking forward to whatever comes next from ‘Love’s Way.’ A sincere thanks to Miss Lewis and her band for a performance that will not be forgotten in my lifetime. Encore!
[Photo credit: Dead Philly]
[Article by Aaron Ruxbin]
Be sure to “like” Independent Philly on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, follow us on Instagram, enter our contests, and love us in person!
**Thank you for voting Independent Philly as the Winner of “Best Local Blogger” in the Philly Region!**
You can view an expanded photo gallery below (click images to enlarge):
[justified_image_grid ids=”68691,68671,68672,68673,68674,68675,68676,68677,68678,68679,68680,68681,68682,68683,68684,68685,68686,68687,68688,68689,68690,68692,68693,68694,68695,68696,68697,68698″]
