Kurt Vile & The Violators – [Live]

Having moved away from the Philadelphia area to Boston four years ago, nothing brings a brighter smile to my face than seeing some great Philly band right here in beantown. I can’t help but feel proud about Kurt Vile not because he’s a true Philly artist (dude hasn’t been tempted to move to the more affluent music towns like LA, NYC or Nashville), but he is a unique and tremendous act. Nobody – no band and no artist – does what Kurt Vile does and no one keeps surprising me like him; he holds a special place in my heart. That said, when news came down that not only was Kurt Vile in Boston, he’d be playing at the first venue I saw a band when I moved to town, I knew that I was definitely down for that.I try and focus on the positive elements in my head when I think about Kurt Vile’s performance at the Paradise, but the fact remains that we got a pretty rusty Kurt Vile that night and he definitely meant it when he thanked people for coming out so early on the tour while they were still “figuring things out.” Sure it was great hearing cuts from the new album (including my favorite “Life Like This”), but his entire set was unfortunately full of delays, tuning and retuning between songs, technical difficulties, false starts and just generally sloppy and low energy. In situations like that, it’s hard for any band’s set to truly gain momentum and impress, and Vile’s was no exception. It didn’t help either that the songs aren’t really on the short side either and the singer slowed things down with some acoustic numbers and a lot of cuts from Wakin’ on a Pretty Daze as the night progressed. Speaking as a fan, when Kurt Vile was on, he was on during this show – but this just wasn’t one of his best nights.

Needless to say, my first impression as I left the Paradise was a little sour – but I can’t imagine (or hope not to) that this grand tour in support of his excellent album B’lieve I’m Goin Down (soon to be reviewed on this site) will remain at this level. The tour has just started after all, and Vile’s bound to tighten up as his dates progress. After all, he’s truly Philadelphia’s constant hit-maker.

Artist:
www.kurtvile.com/
www.facebook.com/kurtvileofphilly
www.twitter.com/therealkurtvile

Tour:
Kurt Vile’s current North American tour continues. Click here for a regularly updated list of shows.

Album:
Kurt Vile’s newest album, B’lieve I’m Goin Down, is out now. Buy it here on Amazon .