Kevin Devine / Jennifer O’Connor / Koufax – Live @ Canopy Club

February 18, 2007

I got a chance to catch Kevin Devine play the Canopy Club last week. Although, there wasn’t much of a show-up, Kevin Devine played a great show and it gave me a chance to see Matador’s Jennifer O’Connor and upcoming band Koufax.

Although I missed most of Koufax, from what I heard I knew that I would want to check them out some more on my own time. They’re use of keys, swirling guitar, and passionate vocals make them pretty memorable Here’s a couple tracks from their last album to check out:

MP3 Koufax – Why Bother At All
MP3 Koufax – Isabelle

Jennifer O’Connor played next and she played a few songs off her latest release. Most of them were good, but a little too acousticy to keep my attention in a live setting, especially after the dynamic Koufax. Here’s a track from her:

MP3 Jennifer O’Connor – Today

Kevine Devine started the night with just himself and an acoustic guitar and his autobiographical song, “Brooklyn Boy”, while his Goddamn Band joined him one-by-one on stage. Once the whole band was there, Devine began to jam out on a songs from his new album, Put Your Ghost To Rest, as well as a few older tunes.

He showed himself to have a very likeable personality and in the live setting many of the songs came off more as folk jams then polished pop/rock, something that I was glad to see. The band ended with a one-two punch of my favorite songs of him “Just Stay” and “The Burning City Smoke”. The real highlight though was his acoustic encore which included his brilliant cover of “Holland, 1945″ that turned out to be just as energetic with just a guitar and drums.

MP3 Just Say
MP3 The Burning City Smoke
MP3 Holland 1845 (Neutral Milk Hotel Cover)

Posted by Taylor in Live