Gig Review: Chris Isaak Is The Last of the Truly Great All-Around Entertainers And That’s Just Facts.

A review of Chris Isaak, 29 years after I first/last saw him. Still great, in every way. Much the same, but for the passing of time. Which happens to us all. And he was funny and magnificent again.

Chris Isaak

MFC, Wellington

Monday, April 22

This first time I saw Chris Isaak was in 1995. I was new to Wellington, in fact it was the very first time I attended a concert by myself; bought a front-row, centre ticket. And just completely loved the whole experience. I was a fair weather fan back then, I loved Wicked Game, and the new album of the time which had some bangers — including Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing. But that show won me over, made me a fan, such was Chris’ charisma and conviction, his charm, his craft, his silliness, and his wonderful commitment to the bit. He deeply cares about performing. I met him and his drummer Kenney after the show, got their autographs, and was just generally starstruck and in awe. I took away the setlist, signed. Still have it even:

So. I say all of that. And yet, I was on the fence about whether I truly needed to see Isaak again, and then I reviewed this bootleg CD of essentially the gig I saw, same setlist anyway, and that was me won over again, and I had to go…

I’m so glad I went.

It was all at once exactly the same — in the very best way — and of course it was different. He’s older, so am I. The crowd was different, the venue was next door to the one where I saw him last time. There’s a few new tunes. And a lot of older cover versions. And all of it was just so charming.

Isaak came out in his Nudie Suit, all class as always. And by the third song he was out and circulating through the crowd with a wireless mic, mugging for photos and cracking jokes. We’d already heard him croon Somebody’s Crying, so that country lilt and his version of the high-lonesome was still in place. And his band has been a working unit for close to 40 years now. So joining Isaak and drummer/backing vocalist Kenney Dale Johnson, as always, was the rest of the Silvertones: Rowland Salley (bass/backing vocals), Timothy Drury (keys/backing vocals) Hershel Kershel Yatovitz (guitar/backing vocals).

This band sits nicely in the mid-point of the honky-tonk and good old rock’n’roll, serving up lovely covers of Roy Orbison (Pretty Woman) and Elvis (Can’t Help Falling in Love) and allowing Isaak to stretch across the many shades of balladry (Don’t Leave Me On My Own, Forever Blue) and rockabilly (Blue Hotel, Bad Thing) that form the basis of his songwriting. He’s in service to the sounds of his childhood, and the music he was raised on. And when he covers Orbison’s Only The Lonely it comes with the story that The Big O was the headliner that gave Chris and his Silvertones a real foot up, and was friends with the band across the final years of his life.

If Isaak wasn’t a great singer and performer, he’d still win most people over with his banter, and his ability to control the vibe and flow of an evening. But of course that boy can sing. And so when he drops Wicked Game barely more than a half-dozen songs in, as he did when I saw him in ‘95, it’s probably a way of controlling the narrative away from any thoughts of being a One-Hit-Wonder, or someone propped up by a song used in so many films. The song has no doubt been of huge benefit in many ways, but in no way is it going to be a set-closing albatross. Nor is it ever tossed out lightly. The straight rendering of it has a hundred or more iPhones out in force to capture this version (and miss the real magic, and never watch it again, but no matter).

Midway through the set, Kenney joins him up front on a single snare drum and brushes and as well as the Elvis and Orbison songs, we get a lovely Two Hearts.

Throughout the set, Isaak jokes and quips, is generous with his praise for the band, and gives them plenty of spots to solo (Drury and Yatovitz), to dance and folly (Salley) to just generally be his foil (Kenney). But there’s also something magic about the friendship and vocal duetting between Kenney and Chris and the final song of the night, The Way Things Really Are, was genuinely lovely.

I just dig the fact that, ahead of that, Isaak never seemed to ever take himself too seriously, but paid absolute respect to the craft; he definitely takes what he does seriously. It’s an extraordinary performance in fact, something they just don’t teach anymore, something you barely ever see anymore, and it’s an art that’s dying out — the all-around entertainer. It would also all fall over if the songs were flimsy, and they just aren’t. They’re loaded with hooks, and great ideas, and they bounce along so perfectly as to be almost a full set of highlights. Obviously Baby Did A Bad Thing is a fun encore, even allowing some audience members onto the stage for a dance. Obviously, every song I’ve mentioned was great — but there were more besides. And not one dud. Or if there was, Chris was probably able to sweep it up with a funny joke, and the band played through it with such aplomb that you’d just never really remember after whether there was anything in the way of the very good time they lovingly served.

Total class act. So thrilled I stumped up and went again.

See the full setlist here