On the Road Again
Live Reviews:

Richard Buckner/Connells
September 1, 1998
The Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto, ON

Last night there was a good old double header at the (legendary) Horseshoe, an infrequent event lately in both modern day baseball and club performances. The evening began with a noisy emotional show by the reportedly morose Californian singer-songwriter, Richard Buckner. Accompanied only by talented pedal-steel player Eric Hallman, Buckner played a mix of new and old songs from each of his three solo albums. He opened the set with two songs from his 1997 album, Devotion + Doubt, before launching into a series of songs from his latest album, Since. The combination of a searing electric guitar and the pedal steel gave Buckner's songs a jarring powerful edge that effectively matched his passionate angst-filled vocals. While the lack of the warm, full sound of an acoustic rhythm guitar (the traditional weapon of choice of 's/s'ers) may have confused some listeners, it was Buckner's tales of loss that were the main focus of the performance.

Most of the audience was quite receptive to Buckner's music and he seemed honestly appreciative of their applause, though there was a table of visitors from the Netherlands not impressed by the performance. A blonde lass was over heard complaining, "I hate this type of music. It is horrible. It sounds like he just broke up with girlfriend five minutes ago."

Buckner's main set was tight, ending with the sombre "Goodbye Rye" from Devotion + Doubt before being coaxed on stage for an encore. Unfortunately, his choice of weaker material (mainly from his debut album), requested by some long-time admirers, gave his performance an anti-climactic finish.

Soon North Carolina-based Connells took the stage for a less-than ear-catching performance. It wasn't that this sextet of jangly pop-rockers played a bad set, it was just too predictable. Though the music from their latest album Still Life is quite strong, the band had a difficult time transferring that studio panache to the live performance. Their live sound could be compared to meeting an old high school friend you've lost touch with for years. You are happy to catch up but you won't be surprised by the focus of conversation. The Connells' older material suffered even more from this stilted weak presentation -- the Horseshoe soon cleared of the crowd mainly interested in Richard Buckner.