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Dr. John - Le Poisson Rouge - NYC 3-5-11
By Whitman Mayo (Grady) on Monday, March 07, 2011 - 11:24 am: Edit PostI am so glad I went to this show. It was a Mardi Gras Ball, featuring Dr. John and two other bands.
I didn't stay for the last band but I did catch the end of the opening band: Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Birds. I thought they were pretty terrible (you have a horn section, do you really need the harmonica?) and I was afriad it was a sound issue because the band literally hurt my ears. Luckily, it was not the case. Dr. John and The Lower 911 sounded great.
I managed to get up real close and it was a blast. He played most of what you would expect including Guilded Splinters which was nice seeing him play both piano and organ at the same time. He say between two keyboards. He looked healthy. He didn't talk much at all but he did look out into the crowd every now and then.
His guitar player was fantastic, not too punchy, not too subdued, just right.
He's playing a few more club gigs on the east coast I think. Check him out if you can. It's straight ahead Dr. John, no pauses, no bullshit, just song after song for 90 minutes plus. Stripped down and clean. Great stuff.