{"id":3452,"date":"2010-03-03T16:35:00","date_gmt":"2010-03-03T20:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/?p=3452"},"modified":"2010-03-03T16:56:05","modified_gmt":"2010-03-03T20:56:05","slug":"ian-axel-at-joes-pub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/2010\/03\/03\/ian-axel-at-joes-pub\/","title":{"rendered":"Ian Axel at Joe’s Pub"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve seen Ian Axel<\/a> perform three full sets before, plus a few songs at the New York Sings for Haiti benefit and some guest appearances. Still, we were looking forward to last night with great anticipation.<\/p>\n

Joe\u2019s Pub<\/a> is our favorite NYC spot to see a show, and Ian is one of our few current obsessions<\/strong>, so having the chance to see him headline at our favorite place was a real treat.<\/p>\n

The show was sold out (no surprise). Ian put out a new CD, This is the New Year, on January 5th. The title track video<\/a> has become a music-lover\u2019s destination on YouTube, with over 61,000 hits at the time I\u2019m writing this.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure there were a few guests in the audience who hadn\u2019t heard Ian\u2019s music before, but from the roar and claps three notes into most songs, clearly the overwhelming majority were quite familiar with his material.<\/p>\n

Ian is an exceptional pianist with an electrifying voice, who happens to write great songs. As great as his music is in our iPod, his performances are better for the energy that emanates from Ian, through his every pore.<\/p>\n

\"IanAxel1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

He opened the show with Waltz [Intro] (a solo classical piece for piano) with the band in the shadows standing quietly watching like the rest of us. Just like on the album, [Intro] flows directly into Waltz, where the band comes alive and everybody starts to tingle.<\/p>\n

He played all but two or three of the songs on This is the New Year. He also played Say Something on the ukulele. That song isn\u2019t on his CD or EP, but we\u2019ve seen him perform it before, and I know a few people who tear up each time they hear it! (You know who you are!)<\/p>\n

\"IanAxelUkulele\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Toward the end of the set, Chad Vaccarino<\/a> stepped onto the stage. It\u2019s hard to describe how much noise (and joy) can be generated by the roughly 200 people that were stuffed into Joe\u2019s Pub. Obviously, there was no secret as to what the next song was going to be. Chad was rightfully overwhelmed.<\/p>\n

\"ChadVaccarino\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Chad is Ian\u2019s manager. He sings lead in one verse and harmony on the others with Ian on This is the New Year. He\u2019s our hero because he\u2019s the one who convinced Ian to start singing. Before that, Ian was just<\/em> a piano player.<\/p>\n

Chad is self-deprecating about his singing style<\/a> (he sings wonderfully and expressively<\/em>!), but the most interesting part is that he\u2019s perfectly matched in his energy with Ian, and it all comes across in This is the New Year!<\/p>\n

\"ChadVaccarinoSinging\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Two of Ian\u2019s core band members were on hand with two additions.<\/p>\n

Chris Anderson<\/a> played bass and a bit of harmony. We like a lot of bass players, Chris included. But, as with Chad, Chris is perfectly matched with Ian. He has an emotive, energetic style on stage, and he\u2019s fast enough to keep up with some of Ian\u2019s more challenging riffs. Chris is always a joy to watch and listen to.<\/p>\n

\"ChrisAnderson\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Adam Christgau<\/a> on drums and a bit of harmony. We missed Adam the night before at Highline Ballroom<\/a> (covered in this post<\/a>, where I specifically mention that). I\u2019ve noted many times that Adam always matches his drumming to the artist and song, but that much of Ian\u2019s music allows Adam to let out his wild child a bit. He was as tight and good as always last night!<\/p>\n

\"AdamChristgau\"<\/a> \"HadarAdamChristgau\"<\/a><\/p>\n

(No, I wasn\u2019t drunk or high, just a little cold. We bumped into Adam before the show while we were on line.) \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

Adam Tressler<\/a> was a new addition (for us) playing electric guitar and a bit of harmony. I didn\u2019t hear quite enough to have a strong opinion, but the little I heard was quite nice. Ian\u2019s music doesn\u2019t tend to highlight solo guitars (which is fine) but Adam supported the rest well enough.<\/p>\n

\"AdamTressler\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Dave Eggar<\/a> played the cello on most of the songs. I covered him extensively in yesterday\u2019s post (linked three paragraphs above), so I won\u2019t get too repetitious here. This is the first time we\u2019ve seen Dave sit in with Ian, so the comments I made about how well he blended with ambeR on such short notice probably apply here.<\/p>\n

After the show, I accidentally crossed paths with Dave Eggar as he was leaving. I got to say the following to him (100% heartfelt!): \u201cYou are perhaps the greatest musician I\u2019ve seen live, on any instrument!\u201d. The fact that his instrument is a cello astounds even me, and I said it! Obviously, that\u2019s a wildly subjective statement, but I\u2019ll let it stand.<\/p>\n

Given how active Dave is on stage, and how dark Joe\u2019s Pub is, there wasn\u2019t a single photo of Dave that was worth sharing from last night. \ud83d\ude41<\/p>\n

Ian closed the show with a song that the audience sang along on the chorus. As the song went on, the band left the stage and Ian started playing the piano softer and softer, until the audience was singing with no accompaniment. At that point, Ian slipped off the stage too. The audience was supposed to keep singing (I suppose), but instead erupted in whoops and claps until Ian came out again.<\/p>\n

For his encore, he performed Home which also isn\u2019t on the CD or EP (YouTube video of Home<\/a>) accompanied only by Dave Eggar. A very emotional way to end a spectacular night.<\/p>\n

One of the more amazing things is watching the band when they play with Ian. It\u2019s obvious (to me at least) that they are huge fans<\/strong> and aren\u2019t just there to pick up a paycheck (though what indie musician doesn\u2019t desperately need one of those?). They are as happy as we are to be a part of the evening, though their part is just a tad more integral and difficult than ours is.<\/p>\n

In case you doubt me when I say how much energy they put into the show, I\u2019ll try and prove that assertion. Ian broke a piano string during the performance. A few minutes later, Adam cracked a drumstick.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t name names, but someone was kind enough to make sure that we got both the piano string and the drumstick as mementos. We\u2019re grateful for that, and we\u2019re willing to share our booty\/bounty with the rest of you (at least through these pictures):<\/p>\n

\"PosterBrokenPianoStringDrumstick\"<\/a> \"BrokenPianoStringDrumstick\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Greg Holden<\/a> opened for Ian. We\u2019ve seen Greg a number of times before, and his music continues to grow on me. He started the set a bit more mellow than usual but it had a nice feel. He got more energetic throughout the set.<\/p>\n

\"GregHolden\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Ian joined him for one number (just piano, no harmony). Nate Campany<\/a> joined Greg for one number as well, also just piano. Greg said that he co-wrote that song with Nate.<\/p>\n

Dave Eggar joined Greg for two numbers. No such thing as \u201ctoo much Dave\u201d!<\/p>\n

Greg also joined Ian on Say Something. Greg sat at the piano, but didn\u2019t play it (during the song), singing very soft harmony. Before the song started, Greg tickled the keys a bit, threatening to start a couple of Ian songs (including This is the New Year), and Ian retaliated by starting a Greg song on the ukulele. The crowd was in stitches.<\/p>\n

Apparently, Ian is giving Greg piano lessons. Even though he only played a few notes, I bet he\u2019ll master it in the not-too-distant future.<\/p>\n

After the show, Lois bought a few more T-Shirts (we already had two) and posters. If you\u2019ve watched the video (if you haven\u2019t, shame on you<\/strong>) then you might recognize that Lois had one of the women in the video model the poster for us (and now you):<\/p>\n

\"PosterModel\"<\/a><\/p>\n

You have two chances to catch Ian on the East Coast before he heads out west. In Philadelphia at Tin Angel<\/a> this Sunday, then on March 12th at Nightcat in Easton, MD. If you can, do it, you won\u2019t regret it!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve seen Ian Axel perform three full sets before, plus a few songs at the New York Sings for Haiti benefit and some guest appearances. Still, we were looking forward to last night with great anticipation. Joe\u2019s Pub is our favorite NYC spot to see a show, and Ian is one of our few current […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16,15,17,2],"tags":[490,641,561,602,613,491,601,29,1367,521],"class_list":["post-3452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dining","category-food","category-music","category-2","tag-adam-christgau","tag-adam-tressler","tag-chad-vaccarino","tag-chris-anderson","tag-dave-eggar","tag-greg-holden","tag-ian-axel","tag-joes-pub","tag-music","tag-nate-campany"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3452"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3456,"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3452\/revisions\/3456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}