Mike Doughty
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
The Beaumont Club
By JOHN KREICBERGS
Maybe it was the casual, small-bar rockiness of evening’s opening act, the Panderers. Or maybe it was the soothing aroma of nag champa drifting from the stage area. Whatever it was, the atmosphere at the Beaumont for Mike Doughty’s Kansas City stop on his Golden Delicious tour was about as relaxed as it could be without handing out Xanax at the door.
Taking the stage with casual aloofness, the former Soul Coughing frontman and his nattily attired bandmates opened the evening with “I Just Want the Girl in the Blue Dress to Keep on Dancing,” a raucous homage to the beloved, rail-hugging female concert-going archetype of every musician’s dreams.
From there, the four-piece faithfully paced through a sizable set from Doughty’s solo repertoire, including a few pre-Delicious offerings like “Busting Up A Starbucks” but centering primarily on the current release. Cuts like “Navigating by the Stars at Night” had the breathing room to expand beyond the borders of their tightly defined studio versions, lending a certain jam-inclined airiness to the evening.
Meanwhile, the looped-samples-meet-driving-drum feel of “More Bacon Than the Pan Can Handle” came off as remarkably fresh and spontaneous. The acerbic contrast of “Fort Hood” made for one of the evening’s more interesting moments, a song Doughty wrote that deals with the Iraq war from the poignant perspective of lost innocence and rings with the repeated chorus from Hair’s “Let the Sunshine In.” (More about that song here.)
The lone Soul Coughing offering Doughty put forth ended up being a loosely delivered version of “Circles.” Oddly enough for the 700 or so souls at the Beaumont last night, it was a gesture that was appreciated but didn’t elicit the sort of clamoring response that you’d expect, a sure sign that Doughty has created more than a comfortable niche for himself outside the identity of his former work.
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That was great show. Mike never ceases to impresses me with his live show. I heard this guy named Andrew Paul Woodworth play in Denver back in February totally reminded me of Mike's lyric style.
http://www.andrewpaulwoodworth...
Cheers,
Total miss on my part, Michael. And I agree -- the Panderers were fantastic and set the stage perfectly.
Not only did he play CIRCLES...but the other former Soul Coughing songs were: SLEEPLESS into SOFT SERVE and ST. LOUISE IS LISTENING. It was a great show and the you didn't mention the opening opening act, four guys with fake beards playing some kind of jazz fusion stuff that was brilliant!
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