Fionn Regan
8 out of 10 - Great. Good show.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza
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Lucinda Williams multi-date stopover in New York City brought out the hard-core fans – the ones who scored tickets to every date and who gave such a thorough blow by blowaccount of the previous night’s show that I was beginning to wish that concerts came with spoiler alerts. Huddled in between boozy kissing couples of any and all sexual orientations and the requisite cowboy hat crowd, I was beginning to wonder how Fionn Regan was going to do with this crowd. The young Irish folk singer was going to have to win over the crowd fast or risk some alt-country whiskey-soaked jeers.
After Williams played a long set (“Get Right with God” was fantastic) it was announced that there was going to be 25 minute break. Still no sign of Fionn! I scurried to the merchandise table and learned that he would join Williams during the second set where she would be bringing on artists she admired. Okay, sounded promising and, it wasn’t long into Round 2 that Lucinda Williams brought on Fionn Regan.
The kid had a good amount of buzz on him already what with being nominated for the this year’s Mercury Music Prize for his debut full-length The End of History (Lost Highway Records) and all that kind of stuff. But Williams really put the pressure on when she introduced him as “his generation’s answer to Bob Dylan”. Gulp! Regan took the stage and seemed to take everything in stride. Dressed, not unlike the young Dylan, in a black vest with a red kerchief, the young singer/songwriter shared some of the lilting folk music off his album. While it’s a little early to be handing down the Dylan crown especially since Mr. Bob, himself seems to be nowhere near retiring, it’s nice to know that there’s someone waiting in the wings.
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