Joseph Arthur

Friday night I decided to take a break from my drinking binge and do something a little different. I was invited by my friend Shane to one of his favorite musicians concerts. It ended up he had an extra ticket to his classes event, so I decided to go. Normally I wouldn't go to a concert of an artist I've never heard of nor know any lyrics to one of their songs, but as with all things here I felt as though I couldn't pass up the opportunity. The venue was a mere 45 mins. outside of Bloomsbury. As we approached the venue a large marquee read SOLD OUT. I found it strange considering I had never heard of this Joseph Arthur guy and apparently he was American. The place was massive. It was a 4 level old-style theater reminiscent of an opera house. The stage was decorated in a dark blue with just a microphone and some amps. It was a "cozy" atmosphere that made me feel as though I should be sitting in a coffee shop sipping a warm cup. I wasn't really expecting much from this guy aside from the fact that I was told he sounded like a mixture of Pete Yorn and Howie Day both of which I enjoy separately, so a combination of the two should be interesting.

His opening act was a guy from Texas (sipping a Corona) called Mike Klein. He used this machine that I had never heard of that was wicked cool. He basically created his own band right on stage. The machine allows the musician to create a beat on the guitar, by plucking a single string, strumming it, beating on it like a drum and it records the beat. The artist than loops it over and over setting the pace. He then begins playing the melody live on his guitar and singing. It was a one-man band.

Finally, Joseph Arthur comes on stage. There is a large white canvas on the stage, along with white projection screens randomly sprawled out, a microphone, blue & white christmas lights and spotlights flooding the stage. I had no idea what this guy looked like so when a man walks on stage, grabs a black marker and begins drawing two abstract figures on this large white canvas I'm confused. He starts by playing his most famous song "Honey and The Moon." I'm impressed immediately. This guy is good, he knows how to play his acoustic and he's got this serene-raspy voice that echoed throughout the entire venue. As packed as the place was it had a Mtv Unplugged vibe to it. However, he didn't really strike me as a Howie Day/Pete Yorn. He seemd more like a Jacob Dylan/Wallflowers/Gavin Degraw- more crude version. His music was great. As he sang and played he used the same machine his opening act used. Images of abstract figures and imagery were projected onto the white screens as he moved from song to song without interruption. Then, he gets to this one song where he slowed the pace down completely. He removed the mic from the stand and walked over to the white canvas with these two abstract figures of a woman and man. He begins singing this hypnotic song as he picks up paint and starts painting his creation. The song was amazing. It may have been how he sung it, or the fact that he was painting as he sang it, but I still remember one of the song's lyrics.

"Don't whine
drink wine
like terpentine
it cleans your inside."

I don't know what it was about this song that hit me hard enough for me to remember that one lyric. Anyways, his painting was no work of art by any means. He took some paint and splashed it around, grabbed a few spray cans and spray painted it. It was nothing I couldn't have done, but what can you expect from abstract art? Apparently, he does this at every concert and he ends up selling his paintings for thousands of dollars on eBay. The concert went on for nearly 2 hours. He had a really long set list and he just kept playing. I enjoyed every minute of the concert. To date it has been one of the best things I've ever seen both in London and back home. I was so excited to have come across new music and have taken a chance going to the concert. I ended up going to Virgin Records and buying his cd. I haven't bought a cd in so long and I paid nearly £10 for it ($20). Shane said he'd buy it from me before we returned home though, which works out. I was also able to look up the song he sang as he painted based on that one lyric I remembered. I had to sit and click through all his songs to find it, but what else am I to do at my internship when I'm bored? If you're going to check out this guy (he's good study music material) make sure you start by downloading "Honey and the Moon." If you've got an itch to hear the song I was obsessed with it's "Crying like a man."

Check him out.