Concert review/photos: Drivin' 'N' Cryin' @ World Cafe Live at the Queen
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
Social realist rockers with a Southern edge.
[ 5/8 ] There may have been only 50 people in the upstairs portion at World Café's Wilmington outpost The Queen on Thursday, but they got exactly what you’d expect if you’d ever gotten a whiff of Kevn Kinney’s pen and vocals — a rip-roaring rock show.
From the anthemic opener “With the People” to the staple closing song “Straight to Hell,” Drivin’ N’ Cryin’ were firing on all cylinders. Touring off of their 2014 EP Songs for the Turntable, the Georgia-based four-piece brought the essence of vinyl to life. “Jesus Christ!” and “Roll Away the Song” were highlights, as was The Ramones remembrance “Johnny Rides Shotgun” from an earlier EP, Songs About Cars, Space and The Ramones.
Kinney was joined by longtime bassist Tim Nielsen, drummer Dave V. Johnson and new guitarist Aaron Lee Tasjan. The latter put on a particularly memorable solo opening set and fit in quite perfectly with the night’s proceedings. Kinney was at his finest when contextualizing the work, weaving truth and fiction into a narrative mythology. His trademark bushy hair sprouting from a ballcap, Kinney introduced “(Whatever Happened to the) Great American Bubble Factory?” by recounting a trip to the dollar store to buy a cheap bottle of bubbles that hardly seemed to justify the cost of importing it from China. The song of blue-collar collapse from the hypothetical closing of an American bubble factory strikes at the core of Drivin’ N’ Cryin’s brilliance. They are social realist rockers with a Southern edge, and they deserve so much more than an audience of 50.
More reviews and photos by Chris Sikich:
- Jessica Lea Mayfield @ Johnny Brenda's
- Ani DiFranco @ World Cafe Live
- Escovedo @ World Cafe Live
- The Sounds @ Union Transfer
- The Stray Birds @ World Cafe Live
- Okkervil River/Typhoon @ Union Transfer
- Tinariwen @ Prince Music Theater
- Suzanne Vega @ Two Rivers Theater
- Drive-By Truckers @ World Cafe Live/The Queen
- Arcade Fire @ Wells Fargo Center
- Throwing Muses @ Bowery Ballroom (NYC)
- Paul Simon and Sting @ Wells Fargo Center
- Ex Hex @ the Ottobar (Baltimore)
