James Blackshaw – Casa Del Popolo – Sunday, January 31st
Once upon a time, Gary Higgins released the cool, charismatic Red Hash, a psychedelic folk-rock album. Once upon a time, Higgins’ whereabouts were unknown. I had not known any of this until after the show was over. Until I read up on who Gary Higgins was, and felt appreciative that I got to watch him play. Higgins’ set list, though a bit lengthy for it’s own good, consisted mainly of songs from his most recent album, Seconds; atmospheric and beautiful, albeit a bit tame. Songs like “Demons,” and “When I Was Young”‘s quiet, river-side flow highlighted the set, but the best part was, hands down, Higgins’ 10-plus minute epic “5 A.M. Trilogy,” where keyboard parts really shined, adding (should i say) a sometimes needed depth to the music by flooding it with soft, synthy soundscapes.
Though I don’t think anyone expected the attendance to be that good, the room was filling and filling fast and before you could say “Cross”, James Blackshaw was on stage playing, well, “Cross,” which also starts off his latest release The Glass Bead Game. The room was deservedly packed, or should i say sold out. Every note, every chord, carries it’s own personality, it’s own charisma that is hard to come by as it is to find a 12-string guitarist this talented. Enough said. Blackshaw dipped into his deep back-catalog to pull out the beautiful epic title track to his 2007 album The Cloud Of Unknowing, and never ceased as he came “back to the future” with “Past Has Not Past” from 2008. If anything should define Blackshaw as a live performer, it is consistency, and that’s what we got on January 31, 2010 at Casa Del Poppolo. – Jordan Ghetler
James Blackshaw
Gary Higgins
Photography by Kenneth Suss
