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03/24/2011 Edwin McCain, Tommy Connors (Syracuse, NY @ Westcott Theater)
By Eric | April 20, 2011 4:32 pm
Tiffany and I shot down the 90 to take in one of her favorite artists, whom we hadn’t seen in quite awhile. Seven years to the day, to be exact! Needless to say, Tiff was pretty excited, and I was too. Our opener was a local Syracuse musician named Tommy Connors, whom at various times played solo acoustic, added another guitar player, and even a keyboard player. He was fairly enjoyable as an opener; the songs reminded me of an early-90’s college band type vibe, with some of the lost-love storytelling that you normally wouldn’t get with that genre. Later on in the set, he even got Edwin himself to come out and sing on a cover of The Band’s “The Weight”, to the delight of the crowd.
After Tommy’s half-hour or so was up, it was Edwin time. The band started off slowly, with the ballad “Walk With You”, before giving us two new songs from his upcoming album, the title track “Mercy Bound” and then “Love Is For When It’s Hard”, which were both up-tempo tunes. Edwin regaled the crowd with little stories and anecdotes between most of the songs, which reverted to some old favorites, including the singalong “I Could Not Ask For More”. Another new song followed, and we had a preview of the acoustic version of “Sober” online, but the electric version blew that away. I like this song a lot! The fun continued with one of the bonus tracks from the “Nobody’s Fault But Mine” R&B covers album he did, a rousing take on Teddy Pendergrass’ “Love T.K.O.” that not only rocked, but Edwin came down into the crowd to sing amongst us! More familiar hits followed, including the one song everyone knew “I’ll Be”, before closing with some slower tunes (“Solitude” was a highlight) and ending with another new song, “The Lucky One”. Edwin and his band sounded fantastic, the crowd wasn’t huge, but was very enthusiastic, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that it wasn’t just people waiting for “I’ll Be” and then taking off. There were a healthy number of folks singing every word, and calling out for deeper cuts, including the one couple that got their wish for “Romeo and Juliet” towards the end of the set. The show was enjoyable, well worth the drive, and heightened our anticipation for our return engagement with Edwin a month after this show at Seneca Niagara Casino!
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Edwin McCain Setlist:
Walk With You
Mercy Bound
Love Is For When It’s Hard
Shooting Stars
Darwin’s Children
I Could Not Ask for More
Sober
Love T.K.O.
(Teddy Pendergrass cover)
Gramercy Park Hotel
Sign on the Door
I’ve Seen a Love
I’ll Be
Holy City
Solitude
Romeo And Juliet
The Lucky One
“Mercy Bound”
Topics: Concerts | Tags: 2011, Edwin McCain, Syracuse, Tommy Connors, Westcott Theater | Comments Off on 03/24/2011 Edwin McCain, Tommy Connors (Syracuse, NY @ Westcott Theater)
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