Kevin Devine
W/Jennifer O’Connor
Jan 29, 2007
Lee’s Palace

It was cold. It was dark. It was Lee’s Palace. It was a Monday. It was a recipe for disaster. However Kevin Devine and the Goddamn Band had cooked up a night’s worth of political/love songs that would warm us up and make us forget the unfavourable settings of the night.

First up was Jennifer O’Connor with her wispy vocals taking us on a trip across the American countryside. Although like any road trip, it’s a lot more fun and entertaining when the pace is picked up and on “Exeter Rhode Island” she finally hit that tempo and won over the audience. A Julie Fader type singer-songwriter with much more soul, Jennifer would be better suited for a more intimate atmosphere where her voice doesn’t have to stretch to fill the room.

With an extremely short set changeover Kevin Devine and the Goddamn Band took the stage as the audience quickly filled the area directly in front of the stage. Playing mostly from Split the Country, Split the Streets and Put Your Ghost To Rest, Kevin quickly had the audience tapping their feet and singing along. With a voice like Kevin’s a live performance brings out emotions in songs that could never possibly transfer to compact disc. Especially on such set rousers as “You’re Trailing Yourself,” “Yr Damned Old Dad,” and “Just Stay.”

After finishing an hour set with the band, Kevin quickly pulled out the acoustic guitar for another half hour set. Starting off with “Lord, I Know We Don’t Talk,” being sung by the rhythm guitar player Paul Schalda (also from Pablo), the crowd went to a comfortable quiet for the set. Kevin took requests and finished off the night with “Protest Singer” from his very first album and “Ballgame” from the second which was pretty obvious the entire crowd had been waiting for.

The set finished at an hour forty, however not a single person in the room had looked at their watch. Kevin seems to have this uncanny ability to not only entertain, but to seemingly befriend the entire audience with his overwhelmingly sincere tone and expression. I walked back onto Bloor Street 3 hours later. It was cold. It was dark. However, where once I had a case of the Mondays, I now have a case of the Kevin Devines.

- Dan Hamilton



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