concert review: pete yorn @ live on the levee - st. louis mo

July 23, 2007

[At right, Pete Yorn at Celebrate St. Louis' Live on the Levee concert series, July 21, 2007. Photo by Brad Andrews]

On a pristine, mild summer evening on the St. Louis riverfront, under the shadow of the monstrous St. Louis Arch and overlooking the muddy Mississippi, the gangly and demure Californian nu-classic rocker, Pete Yorn took the stage to a crowd of 10,000+ to headline the July 21 Celebrate St. Louis’ Live on the Levee free concert series.

A simple stage set-up, subdued lighting, and a ‘mosh’ pit of about 1,000 fans - most of the crowd was seated on steps ascending up towards the arch - welcomed Yorn and his lead guitarist, Joe Kennedy - albeit at the piano - to the stage.

With just his guitar and some piano backing, Yorn eased into “All At Once” from his sophomore album, The Day I Forgot. Yorn’s warbly and intentionally underpitched croon awakened the crowd from its stupor. As they ended the song, the rest of Yorn’s backing band - Minibar - took the stage and Yorn’s strummed into “Life on a Chain” from his first album, musicforthemorningafter.

The guitar tones sounded great as the band continued on and Yorn yelped, “Ask yourself…” to begin “For Us” from his new album, Nightcrawler. At this point in the concert, I was finding myself particularly drawn to Yorn’s bass player, Sid Johnson - who had the rare distinction of smoking a cig and playing at the same time. Those Brits.

Even though Johnson’s bass sounded boomy - not his fault, but the house sound technician’s - he brought fresh, boppy lines to songs [Yorn plays many of his own instruments on his own albums].

Next was one of two covers from Yorn, the Junior Kimbrough, “I Feel Good Again.” The slide guitar-infused, bluesy rendition was o.k., but of all the million songs that Yorn could have covered, this was a vanilla choice. I felt like he was just trying to solidfy how ‘legit’ he was by doing a modern-day blues song. Dissapointing…

Yorn then talked about how moved he was by Jeff Buckley’s version of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” - which has since been covered by Rufus Wainwright and even, Lincoln Brewster - that he wanted to write a song that sounded like it. That song: “Just Another,” from his first album.

Then it was back to his new album with “Splendid Isolation” and then to one of Yorn’s best and bigger hits, “Strange Condition.” As was the case in most of Yorn’s back catalog, he and the band would start the song in an alternate way and then morph back into original flavor - case in point with “Strange Condition.” The song started much like an electronica loop but with live drums. It was smart and very hip.

Next was the unnecessary “The Man” from his recent album. Of the songs he didn’t sing from his new album, for him to do this one was a downer. But following, he won me back over with another one of his bests, “Closet.” Slamming.

As Yorn started “Crystal Village” - one of my faves - I realized that Yorn’s backing band was bringing a slight commercial edge to his tunes. The guitar tones were slightly ‘radio’ without being top 40. Obviously Yorn’s songwriting keeps it way from overt commercialism and on “Crystal Village,” his band made it very accessible.

In the middle of “Crystal Village,” the band brought it down and Yorn announced that this concert was the first stop on a new tour. He then leaned back into the song by singing the pre-chorus, “It was good in the beginning…” - a parallel, as he was complimenting St. Louis on being a great host for the initial concert on their summer/fall tour - then bringing the song back to a raucous ending.

Next was Yorn’s second cover, The Smith’s “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out” and then to the avoidable “Murray” from Yorn’s musicforthemorningafter.

Yorn then kicked off the mature and edgy “Policies” from his new album, with his drummer providing the driving quarter kicks. In my opinion, this song signals the future for Yorn with its slightly more sophisticated musical angle. Great melody, vocal harmonies, and band vibe.

The night ended oddly with the too simple and rambunctious “For Nancy” from Yorn’s debut album. With no encore in sight and songs like “Burritto” and “Come Back Home” unplayed, “For Nancy” seemed like an curious closer.

In a time where there seems the rock and roll world is rife with pretentiousness, Pete Yorn was amiable and authentic. And overall, his performance at Live on the Levee was an relishable evening.

And as it always seem happens, seeing Yorn live endears me in a unique way to his music forever.

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