Mount Pocono, PA, Saturday February 18, 2012 Options

[SJN1279]

Ed Kowalczyk will be performing at Gypsies in the Mount Airy Casino in Mount Pocono, PA on Saturday February 18, 2012. Tickets start at 25 dollars and are on sale now at this link:

http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEvent...eventId=4090745

[SJN1279]

http://blogs.mcall.com/lehighvalleymusic/2...-airy-show.html

February 19, 2012 Live singer Ed Kowalczyk still selling the drama at Mount Airy show
Total People in Discussion: 1
Categories: Concert Reviews, Music, Music News
Posted by John J. Moser at 11:56:39 AM on February 19, 2012

Nearly three years after Live officially broke up and 18 years after its commercial peak – the eight-times-platinum album “Throwing Copper” and its single “Selling the Drama,” – lead singer Ed Kowalczyk still is doing precisely that: selling the drama.

Ed Kowalczyk at Mount Airy Casino

His show Saturday at Mount Airy Casino in Mount Pocono was replete with dramatic moments – musically, vocally and performance-wise. But it worked well, and the reasons it did were that Kowalczyk never once made it feel anything but genuine.

And that angst was what made all of Live’s songs so popular in the first place.

And despite Kowalczyk releasing a solid solo disc, “Alive,” in 2010, Live’s songs are still the stock-in-trade of Kowalczyk’s concerts. Just five of the 15 songs in an 80-minute show were from the solo disc – the same number as he played from “Throwing Copper.”

That’s not a complaint: That’s clearly what the crowd of nearly 500 wanted to hear.

After Kowalczyk opened with “The Distance” – nicely nuanced for how hard it rocked with just a drummer and bassist backing him on acoustic guitar – the crowd enthusiastically greeted “All Over You,” cheering and singing along.

With Kowalczyk on electric guitar, the song typified the night’s Live offerings: The playing was not as complex, detailed or rich as they were originally with Live, but they were reasonable facsimiles, and Kowalczyk’s contributions were undiminished.

Kowalczyk acknowledged the age of the songs. “We’re going to go back to the times of slightly larger mobile phones,” he said before “Selling the Drama.”

But Kowalczyk helped elevate those songs with emphatic singing (even though his all-important voice occasionally was too low in the mix) and phrasing – at one point, he dramatically paused before a lyric, then forcefully kicked in. He was desperate and almost possessed on the harder-rocking “White, Discussion.”

The sample of songs from the rest of Live’s catalog also were good. He went back to the beginning, the band’s 1991 debut “Mental Jewelry,” with “The Beauty of Gray,” which he said he wrote at 19 in reaction to racial tensions of his hometown of York, Pa. (He made frequent Pennsylvania references.)

“The Dolphin’s Cry” from 1999’s “Distance to Here” was a particular crowd favorite, greeted by cheers, and Kowalczyk sang it wide-eyed and smiling, as if imparting the song’s message.

But “Heaven” from 2003’s “Birds of Pray” was the best non-“Throwing Copper” song of the night. With the song having touching references to his three daughters, Kowalczyk’s emotions came through. He dedicated the song to his mother, who was in the crowd.

The songs from Kowalczyk’s solo disc also were very good. The first, “The Great Beyond,” was a stylistic sibling to Live’s classic tunes, and held up beside them. “Zion” was sung from the heart, with Kowalczyk’s impassioned scream connecting it, too, to Live’s best days.

He asked the crowd to sing along on “Stand” – “It don’t have to be pretty; just give it,” he said. And before “Drink (Everlasting Love),” he noted how he probably overused water as a metaphor in his songs. But he seemed to put extra effort into it.

But the songs from “Throwing Copper” still were the highlight, as he acknowledged by ending the main part of the set with “I Alone.” Without an introduction, its building progression whipped the crowd into intensity, and he, too, shook about the stage, pulling out all stops.

Kowalczyk opened the encore with a sweet and prayerful “Overcome,” a song off 2001’s “V” that became a song of solace in the immediate aftermath of the 911 attacks. Played gently without drums, it was a good companion to the following “Grace,” the first single from his solo disc.

He closed the show, of course, with the monster hit “Lightning Crashes,” which topped Billboard’s rock charts for 10 weeks. Nearly two decades later, it still raises goose bumps. And though it, too, suffered slightly from the lack of Live’s input, Kowalczyk wisely sang the heck out of it – extending it to eight minutes and having the crowd finish with a cappella singing accompanied by clapping.

It, and the entire show, got a deserved standing ovation. The crowd had gladly bought the drama.