Albert Hammond, Jr. @ House of Blues, 5/21/07
Entering into the House of Blues last night, standing in the Industry Entrance line, behind the well to do hipsters of Los Angeles, I see this smallish woman with red hair, grabbing Foundation Room bracelets in her hand after putting her shiny black gloves back on. She turns around and I realize that it is Drew Barrymore. Who else, right? She was dating Mr. Hammond Jr's bandmate Fabrizio Moretti.
Seeing her and a certain Home Alone child star seemed to sort of set the tone for the evening, I knew it would be cool, but not too cool that even I, who tends to blend in most places, would not feel welcome. I mean, come on, if Macaulay Culkin is there, it can't be too uncomfortably hip.
I had listened to the album quite a bit before going into the show and most of us who enjoy the live music experience know that most often, the live show is very different for that which you hear on disc. In concert lies the thrill of improvisation, the excitement of feeding off of the musician's energy because he/she is feeding off of the crowds. And so it went.
Albert Hammond, Jr is a charming fellow. Enjoying the crowd, he and his band played a lively, exhilarating set, running through his album, Yours to Keep, without much time wasted in between. In short, between songs, he joked with the crowd, played around a bit, gave and took.
His music has always struck me as a cross between The Strokes and The Who, with a dash of Delta Blues mixed in. His melodies tend to strike me as a bit infectious, I have a weakness for guitars (what woman doesn't) but his lyrics are not what I would call, profound. However, they don't have to be, it's rock and roll, they just need to get to the point. And though the sound, overall was great, three guitar players, a bassist, and a drummer, I couldn't really hear the lyrics anyway, except when this really hip, cute Englishman who I was standing next to started singing along to Cartoon Music for Superheroes (another favorite).
He closed with Hard to Live (in the City), which is one of my favorite tracks from the album and then, as I had hoped he would do (he is officially a rock star), wrecked his guitar by throwing it into an amp. Beautiful. It was an awesome show, short and sweet.