Chris Isaak @ Beacon Theater: A Mirror Ball Suit

Your normal postings featuring "indie" rock, BritPop, the newest bands, snarky comments about crap music, dumping on corporate produced music and witty insights into the mind of a music snob will be on hold tonight while I write about tonight's Chris Isaak concert. Yup, while the rest of the music snobbery New York chapter was either at Gnarls Barkley, Iron + Wine, The Losers Lounge: Cure vs. Smiths or Wu-Tang Clan, I took in my favorite guilty pleasure. So I'm hitting you with some of that Lite FM action.

The best way to describe going to a Chris Isaak show is to watch a little scene from The Simpsons where Bart, Milhouse, Martin and Nelson take a car trip on Spring Break. They stop off in Branson, MO to see an Andy Williams show and Nelson (the Ha! Ha! kid) is totally digging the show. That's kind of like how it is. I was thinking for a few weeks that it's sort of gooberish to pay $37 to see him live, but the more I was telling people, they more they agreed that Chris Isaak would be a cool gig to catch. He's favored by the arty, David Lynch crowd and the country music fan base. So no shame in admitting that I have a nice collection of his CDs and was eagerly awaiting this show.

The show was darn fun. He shows his appreciation for Roy Orbison and Elvis proudly as he borrows heavily from the rock 'n' roll traveling show idea. You have the bright suit with some sequins, some pomade induced hair styles, a little hip shaking swagger and some "aw shucks" stage banter.

Since this is his Greatest Hits tour, he played a little bit of everything from his extensive catalog.

Setlist:

• Lonely With a Broken Heart
• Let's Have a Party
• Let Me Down Easy
• Speak of the Devil
• Dancin'
• Somebody's Crying
• Wicked Game
• Go Walking Down There
• King Without a Castle
• One Day
• Want You To Want Me (Cheap Trick cover)
• Here I Stand
• Two Hearts
• Except the New Girl
• Graduation Day
• Can't Do a Thing to Stop Me
• I Love You Too Much
• Only the Lonely (Roy Orbison cover)
• Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing
• Don't Be Cruel (Elvis cover)
• Gone Ridin'
• Encore: Blue Hotel
• San Francisco Days
• Bonnie Bee
• Blue Spanish Skies

I realized during the show that this guy is a true entertainer, which we don't have many of these days. His voice has amazing strength, he's an excellent guitar player, he does pretty well in the acting roles he gets, he's got a cool personality and he's got a heck of a sense of humor that comes off on stage.

In any event, the music has been consistent throughout his career. The foundation is rockabilly, but he mixes in country/western elements, Mexicali, surf rock and old fashion crooner stylings. It's a West Coast sound obviously, since he grew up in Stockton, CA. Almost every one of his songs is about heartbreak. If you compare him with Morrissey, you'll find some striking similarities is terms of delivery, appearance and influences.

The one difference is the mirror ball suit Isaak wore for the encore. Look at that thing. Where can you buy that? You think can wear that outside of a concert stage? How do you dry clean that? With Windex?

That voice that Isaak has is jaw-dropping. He can hit the high octaves without straining and then bring it down for that bedroom seduction voice that he employs sometimes. Just take "Wicked Game," which made him a household name. The "IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII" in that song, not many can pull it off.

As I mentioned before, Isaak is a show man. He jumped into the crowd for "Speak of the Devil" then made his way around the aisles. Then, I knew he'd do this, he made his way to the balcony where I was. I would have gotten a kick ass picture if the old man next to me didn't get his hands in the way, but the pic is below. For "Bonnie Bee", he got some young ladies on stage to dance with him. Note to self: learn to play guitar, record album, tour, get chicks to come on stage to dance for you. Sounds easy enough.

Another thing about him is his dry sense of humor. Even though "Wicked Game" and the video made him a major musician, I think he kind laughs at that whole video because it makes him look like a pin-up. He goofs on that persona a bit with his stage banter, making fun of himself and teasing the crowd. No wonder he had a comedy TV show on Showtime.

Afterwards, he did a meet and greet, so me being a dweeb who brought my copy of the Best of CD/DVD, I waited in line for 30 minutes for 5 seconds of meet and greet time. So I had to think of something amusing or different on the spot. First off, the guy is friggin tall. Second, I just looked this up now, but he's 50 years old. Maybe it was the stage make-up, but the guy looks 30-35. Not many signs of aging. Third, a good, hearty handshake. You gotta have that. So I said, "Hey, aren't you Chris Isaak?" He smiles, "Well, parts of me are." I said my name was Chris too, so he signed the CD, "Chris Rocks!" Yes, I did hand him my blog card.

So it was a good time, I glad I went because I got to relax, sit in my seat in the balcony, and just be another anonymous fan. I had front row balcony. When I got the ticket at Beacon, I said, "I want the best seat in the cheapest area." Thus, not many good pics.

As a quick note, I'm taking a break from gigs for the next two or three weeks, but not from posting. Lot of reasons: need a break from the rock 'n' roll lifestyle, no good shows around, and I want to get caught up on some postings. Nothing dramatic, just resting before September rolls in.

Comments

[AngryCitizen]

Chris Isaak huh? you can still make it out to webster hall for the WU tonight!

[Jen]

It's alright, I secretly like Michael Buble.

I thought that Chris Isaak was really great. His voice was so strong with great range. Even though I like his songs, he could do so many other artist's songs - better than them.

Besides his talent - he is a real entertainer, a showman! Bravo to Chris!

He sang a song in the middle of his set - in which he set up if anyone is going through a hard time. Take a listen. What song was that song? If you should leave me...???

I think the song is "I'll Go Crazy" by the Moody Blues. CI's rendition is steamy.

[Mike]

I missed him this year. He played a show out at the Minnesota Zoo in the Amphitheater and I'm sure that show was awesome. I saw him the early 90's at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis and the State Theatre in 1993.