KEVIN DEVINE AND THE GODDAMN BAND PLAY LE POISSON ROUGE

Kevin Devine and the Goddamn Band ended their two-month tour this past Saturday at Le Poisson Rouge on Bleecker Street. Rounded out by Jason Russo on bass guitar and Damon Cox on drums, Kevin Devine is an unassuming presence and an unexpected powerhouse. With nods to a 90s musical upbringing, the “Brooklyn Boy” paints a vivid cityscape in roaming memories, roller-coasting cascades of intensity, and sharp lyrical eloquence.

Devine is nothing but genuine, admitting he was “geeking the fuck out” that Patti Smith played the same stage the night before and that he “recently got taken to task for making fun of a Collective Soul song on the internet by Collective Soul.” Devine bared his soul and lit the room in gratitude. “You guys have been very good to me for a very long time,” Devine told the hometown crowd of loyal fans, lifelong friends, and former members of the Goddamn Band.

There was an intimacy between the band and this audience, as each song gave voice to mutual frustrations, struggles, shattered dreams, and an unbreakable resilience. “We can fix ourselves up, kids,” Devine sang at the end of the Bubblegum-heavy set. “We can learn how to love. We were dying to love. But let’s start with ourselves for once and mean something for more than six months. There’s work to be done.”

Article by: Heather McAdams

 

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