Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy @ the Walker’s McGuire Theater
Playing as Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Will Oldham and his great four piece backing band came to the intimate McGuire Theater at the Walker for two sold out shows that highlighted his sweeping Americana sound that has made him, under any name, one of the most consistently rewarding artists of the last decade.
Any doubts in the minds of ticket holders for the late (10:30 p.m.) show about whether we would get a haggard or less than energetic show from Oldham and band were quickly erased seconds into the opening song “Cursed Sleep” from his album The Letting Go. While the band played this upbeat arrangement of the song, Oldham bounced around the stage and showed a bit of dexterity while setting the scene for the great show that was to follow. For a man who writes some dark and morose songs he proved instantly, and throughout the show, that he doesn’t take himself too seriously. This point was brought to the forefront with the next song, his cover of the R. Kelly song “Worlds Greatest.” Oldham would rotate between playing guitar and serving as the court jester during songs where he was just singing; over the course of the night Oldham would balance on one leg, jump up and down, coax his bandmates and engage the crowd.
Between songs he was hilarious in a completely natural, unforced way that kept the show moving along smoothly and provided a little comic relief between his rather glum songs. Throughout the entire set both guitar player Emmett Kelly and violinist Cheyenne Mize played vocal foils to Oldham and aided in bringing the songs to life. One of the early set highlights was the vocal harmonies between Kelly and Oldham on another Letting Go track, “Where is the Puzzle.” Their voices meshed seamlessly and Oldham, as he did throughout the show, made a point to face Kelly when they were singing together. If it was Kelly duetting with him Oldham would turn his body so that he could look him in the eye, doing the same with Mize to his left when she accompanied him.
Seeing Oldham and his singing partners obviously connecting through their dynamic songs was one of the great moments of the show. Going back a few years to play “Hard Life” from the 2003 album Master and Everyone, all three singers began harmonizing and the song was propelled along by the great rhythm section of Josh Abrams on bass and Jim White on drums. White’s drumming throughout the show was excellent but his playing was especially commanding on “Hard Life.” His style was more improvisatory and idiosyncratic than I expected it would be, and had a really strong, jazzy feel. He would constantly switch between sticks, mallets and brushes for songs that generally fell pretty neatly into the folk genre. The next couple songs, starting with “Hearts Arm” from his most recent disc Beware, showed Oldham and the band at their most haunted. As the band hit full stride, Oldham showed through his plaintive vocals how he has become one of the most respected singer/songwriters of the last decade. This song also highlighted the beautiful singing and excellent violin work of Mize. After a few slower songs things started to build again near the end of Beware‘s “My Life’s Work.”
With the band gaining momentum they played what turned out to be the highlight of the main set, with both “Beware Your Only Friend” and “The Sun Highlights the Lack of Each” showing the band at their quiet folk building into frenzied rock and roll best. Having played for nearly two hours the band did lose a little momentum near the end of the main set, but that could be due in part to it being past 1:00 a.m. on a Thursday night. Even during the songs that may not have been highlights (including “Love Comes to Me” and “Just to See my Holly Home”) the band sounded sharp and never completely lost the crowd. The set ended with a great version of the Lie Down in the Light track “I’ll be Glad,” which was followed by a well deserved standing ovation from the sold out, standing room only crowd. After the obligatory 30 seconds off stage, Oldham led the band back onto the theater stage for what turned out to be a really great four song encore. He started off with the title track to his classic album I See a Darkness, which the crowd loved. For portions of the song he stepped back away from the mic and sang the lyrics at the top of his lungs into the darkened theater. He followed that classic song with the stirring “Careless Love” from his Master and Everyone album. The song was excellent and ended with the whole band singing along with Oldham as he sang “I say sorry, I say bye bye, I say miss you, I say cry cry.” Like a lot of his music, this song, with its crushingly sad undertones, came across as redemptive and full of life, specifically with the band smiling along, obviously enjoying the opportunity to play with such a master of his craft.
Oldham followed this up with another track from Master and Everyone, this time being “Even If Love.” The last song of the evening was his timeless “Horses.” Having turned up on various albums over the years in different incarnations, the song nicely encapsulated the evening by combining the great electric folk sound of the band with the timeless lyrics and singing of Oldham. The show ended with everyone on stage singing loudly that “everyone needs an angel,” with Oldham echoing “but here’s that devil by my side.” When they left the stage for the second time, the band received another well deserved standing ovation.
Will Oldham has always been something of an enigma in the music community. Whenever he seems to be moving in a single direction, he’ll throw a curve ball that will keep his fans on their toes. Live, his dark and serious music is juxtaposed with his playful, even silly, stage presence and his cutting sense of humor. His band was absolutely excellent and seemed little bothered by the gravitas of the music that they were playing. Strings were broken, jokes were told, cheeky rock star poses were performed. No matter what they did, the band still showed why throughout the nearly two hour set (his second of the night!) Oldham and the gang garner so many accolades. Seeing Oldham and the band in such an intimate venue as the McGuire Theater at the Walker only added to this amazing show. As a music fan, you can’t ask for much more than seeing an amazing artist playing such a great show and getting their due accolades from a truly appreciative crowd.
totally spot-on… great review of a great show
From your account it sounds like it was an excellent night – if by the end of his second show Will had any sort of energy left he should be applauded, and to hear that he was still going strong tells a lot about the man (and everyone in the band). Really gonna have to make it out to one of these shows at the Walker one of these days.
Very nice work with this review, Josh. It was a great show, just stretched a bit too late into the early morning for me-it was odd to see the band have more energy than I did at that point in the night, despite the fact that they already played a full set earlier. Will’s offbeat stage presence does balance out the often heartbreaking lyrics he sings, and his witty, off the cuff stage banter showed that he’s not just a clever lyricist, but he’s simply an astute person in general. We were lucky to have him play such an intimate venue as the McGuire theater, and kudos to Minneapolis for selling out both of his shows-I have a feeling if there would have been a third (even if it would’ve started at 2 in the morning) it would’ve sold out as well. Great review Josh.
The first song was “Sheep,” not “Cursed Sleep”