Last night Mrs. Elbeno and I saw Glen Phillips and Jill Sobule at Largo. Funnily enough, Largo is almost directly opposite Bang.
It was a good evening. The food was passable (although that was not penne) and the atmosphere was intimate. I would have preferred a little more light to eat by; as it was I used my water glass to focus the candlelight into a feeble beam of plate illumination. The music was excellent. Jill started off, and her songs are funny, upbeat, and urbane; sprinkled with detours and audience involvement.
Glen followed at about 9.30pm and started out with two songs about death! One upbeat, one not. He has a great mic presence and a very distinctive singing voice, and he comes across as very thoughtful and tolerant. Much of his in-between conversation was about upbringing, religion, parenthood and politics, but he never descends into overt anger or bitterness – mostly he seems tinged with sadness about the state of the world. In between songs he constantly tuned his guitar while talking to the audience – even though most of the people present probably couldn't tell if one string was a quarter-tone off. I guess he's a perfectionist about performing.
On the way out, we bought two CDs of his that were on offer: Live at Largo (RIAA-safe) and Winter Pays for Summer (RIAA-tainted, but hopefully no money goes to the RIAA from concert sales).