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Concert Review
Steve Tannen Live at the Bitter End, NYC —
April 17, 2001
By Jennifer Layton
I have been planning a trip to New York City for a long time to see several indie artists I’ve reviewed. Although I was in the Big Apple to see Kyler England, my travel plans had a catch: I wanted to also see a performance by either Steve Tannen or Greg Tannen, two other folk/pop artists I’ve reviewed and still love listening to.
Tonight, it’s Steve’s show, but I still get to see both artists since Greg joins his brother onstage for several songs. As a bonus, Steve will be followed by Gabrielle, whom my fellow Indie-Music.com writer Les Reynolds raved about in November of last year. And if that weren’t enough to make me pack my bags, this show is at the Bitter End, New York’s legendary rock club where Jim Croce, Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan, and many well-known others used to play.
This is indie heaven.
Adding to the indie family atmosphere I’m walking into, Kyler is with me, and her band also includes the Benelli twins from Steve’s band (Craig on guitar, Chris on drums). When we arrive before showtime, she introduces me to Steve. He is a smiling, curly-haired bounding line of energy who jumps down from the stage and greets me warmly. He whips a chair around and straddles it as we sit across from him and playfully razzes Kyler.
He really is a lightning bolt. Bass player Whynot Jansveld (yes, his name really is Jansveld) calls him from the stage for a sound check, and he’s gone. I can almost see an outline in the air where he used to be. Before I’ve even turned back to the table, he reappears in front of me, apologizing for taking off and saying he has to go backstage to get ready. Then zoom – he’s gone again.
The Bitter End is filling up early. I’ve seen several of the live streams from the club's webcam and am surprised at how big the club actually is. I look up and realize that the camera from which I’ve been watching the live streams is directly over my head. The people sitting around us have come early for good seats near the stage.
They follow Steve to as many shows as they can. They talk about his previous shows. He has built quite a following in the few years he’s lived in New York.
Just before the show begins, Greg Tannen, whom I’ve walked past three times already, joins us to say hello. I lose track of all the names as Kyler introduces me to everyone sitting around us. A woman holding a large flower darts around to different people, hugging her friends, then making a beeline back to her table. But when Steve takes the stage, all the tables are full and all eyes are on him. The introduction over the speaker seems almost unnecessary, although from watching the live streams I know the tradition: "All right, Bitter End, please welcome to the stage, Steve Tannen!" The packed room breaks into enthusiastic applause.
Steve opens with "Brother Uptown," one of the tracks off his debut CD "Big Señorita." It’s always electrifying to hear songs I love being played live by the artist, but Steve takes the experience up a level. He takes the passion, pain and power from the CD and adds his own spontaneous nature to it, singing with all his energy, eliciting cheers from the audience before the song is even halfway through. The music is alive in the air.
"Who is gonna save me from everything you gave me? Everywhere I went I was sent there by you. You pray for rain, then you wish it would stop, You hate your family and then they’re all that you’ve got...."
The song ends quietly with a single guitar chord and Steve’s voice trailing away. The spell keeps everyone still for a couple of seconds, and then the applause erupts.
The energy that made him dart around before the show is what makes him so mesmerizing onstage. The music pulls his strings, and he jumps and turns and just throws himself into it. He pours his heart into his singing, lifting his shoulders, pulling the songs from his soul. I have the feeling that if I stood on my chair for a better view, I’d see that his feet aren’t even touching the floor.
At one point during "Sing Me To Sleep," he locks his eyes on our back table. He keeps singing, intensely watching, and I’m thinking that there’s no way that he can see us sitting back here. But time still seems to freeze until he closes his eyes and throws his body back into the music, and that’s when I realize I’d been holding my breath.
Although he does play several songs from "Big Señorita," he plays plenty of new material as well. Kyler nudges me at each new song and whispers the titles: "Sick to the Bone," "Picture of You," "Marie." "Marie" becomes an instant favorite for me. Steve’s voice cracks with emotion in this desperate love song, and at the end, the gentle percussion closes the song like a heartbeat. For someone who has practically worn out the CD, it’s a real fix to hear new material.
One song in particular breaks the melancholy feel of the music. When Greg first joins his brother onstage, they hit us with the rocking, spirited "Gay Boys." Kyler’s jaw hits the floor. I can’t help laughing. When the song ends, Steve mercifully provides an explanation: he wrote the song after mistaking a guy in a bar for Gabrielle, just seconds before...um, exhibiting a friendly sign of welcome. ("Am I supposed to be insulted by that?" Gabrielle yells from her table.)
There’s a lot of mischief here. Greg is at the front of the crowd with his video camera just as Steve makes a suggestive remark to one of the women at a nearby table. Steve then turns to the camera and says, "Hi, Mom!" Later, he changes his set list on the spot, hurriedly whispering the next song to Whynot and Craig then challenging Chris to figure it out for himself. ("You better guess right, Chris...1...2...3...4...") When he is joined by singers Shannon Post and Greg, who pretend to make out onstage, he shrugs and says, "Ya gotta have visuals." The best comments are in the playful verbal sparring between Gabrielle in the audience and Steve on the stage, which only escalates when it’s time for her set. There’s a warm and longstanding friendship between them, and they’re giddy about playing the same night and being able to catch each other’s sets.
Before Steve goes, he gives us one more track from "Big Señorita." "Now for a change, this one’s about sex," he announces before playing "Don’t Go Away." (It's an ode to sex in a tax. God I need a boyfriend).
"She gets me drunk in a taxi, She leans down in the back seat. Spend my money I don’t mind, Come on it’s closing time..."
The bass drives the song, and Steve’s voice is low and sultry on the verses. The song smolders when played on the CD. Here, live, the air gets steamy. He vents the title line with so much power, he’s several feet away from the microphone and his voice still fills the room.
Of course the crowd wants an encore, so he brings Greg back on for "Vegas Baby," a song which they wrote together and is featured as a hidden track on Greg’s "Roam" CD. (This song recently earned them the John Lennon Songwriting Award.) The CD version is a quiet folk song. The live version jams. I miss the first few lines because of the crowd’s enthusiastic response when they hear the opening notes and realize what’s coming. It’s the perfect song to close the set. It’s also the funniest display of the Tannens’ dancing ability that I’ve seen all evening. (Although just before leaving the bar, I do get to see Greg dancing to hip hop music. Alcohol can do scary things to people.) ...
Steve and Gabrielle have busy schedules ahead of them. After tonight, Steve will head to Boston with his band to play at the NEMO music conference. Gabrielle will do a solo performance at NYC’s The C Note in early May. But they have both become regular performers at the Bitter End, along with Greg and Kyler and many other artists I’ve reviewed but haven’t seen live yet. Which gives me plenty of reasons to make a return trip to New York.
I’m already planning the next trip as Kyler and I push through the crowd and back out onto the busy city street.
See the Archives on the www.indie-music.com site for Jennifer Layton’s review of Steve Tannen’s "Big Señorita" and Les Reynolds’ review of Gabrielle’s "Dreamtown."
You can visit Steve on the web at SteveTannen.com, Gabrielle at MudMusic.com, and Greg Tannen at GregTannen.com. You can also catch the Bitter End’s live shows on the internet at BitterEnd.com (archived shows are at CollegeMusic.com)
By Jennifer Layton