| First things first: Club Bene is quintessential New Jersey shore. It's 1950s vintage, and just a little tacky. It smells like a bowling alley. But it's a fairly decent place to see a show.
The opening act was Jill Sobule. I've seen Jill three times, and each time, she was an opening act, and I didn't know she was going to be there. The first time, in 1991, we got to the show late, and we didn't even know who she was (she never said her name during the whole set, and it wasn't on the ticket. Anyway, she was getting ready to promote her new album Pink Pearl, and played a lot of good songs from that, and had Warren come out and sing the first verse of I Kissed A Girl with her, and that was fun.
Then Warren came out and did his set. Solo. Just him, a guitar, a keyboard, and a harmonica. Occasionally he would use a digital delay to loop one guitar part while playing another. He was great. Played a wide variety of music from his entire career, was funny with the banter between songs, and was generally completely committed to the performance. However, the crowd was dead. They just weren't in to it for some reason.
It turned out my friend Tom had a friend who's a musician in the New Brunswick, NJ area, and was good friends with Warren. So, he got us backstage to meet Warren after the show. Backstage is sad--particleboard, dank and dreary, but Warren was gracious, even though he was a little bummed about the vibe of the show. I thanked him to let him know at least a few of us appreciated the show he had done.
I envisioned Warren touring all of these dumps, with just a manager and a small crew and your opening act and I felt a little sad for him. I heard, though, the West Coast shows were much better recieved, so I figure he'll be alright. And I had heard some inteviews about his new album which also made me happy.
Zevon is a must-see live performer. You won't be disappointed.
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