Yoav
8 out of 10 - Great. Good show.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Mercury Lounge, New York
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There are some artists that are too large for a room. Almost certainly, fame is just around the corner. You know it, the rest of the crowd knows it, and the artist knows it, too. However, you look around and the space is half-empty, and you feel lucky to be in the know so early. Chances are, they’ll seldom play such a small venue again.
This past Saturday, London, England’s newest sensation, Yoav, played the early show at the Mercury Lounge. The room was—unquestionably—too small. This dude is huge. It’s just that the world hasn’t caught up with him yet.
Sporting hip prescription glasses and a Bob Dylan T-shirt, Yoav stepped onto the stage. Barefoot and grinning, he grabbed his guitar as if he’d missed it dearly and moved quickly toward the microphone. Anyone that was close enough to the stage could attest to the plethora of pedals that lay at his feet. These would eventually get as much use as the guitar and his vocal chords.
The delay pedal, it appears, is Yoav’s closest friend. It becomes his backing band while he creates hip hop and dance beats by passionately banging on his guitar. He sings into the sound hole of it to create echoing backing vocals, and scratching on the strings only makes the “band” sound even more full.
Live, the bursting sound swarms around the crowd and envelops the listener, almost forcing them to dance. The little bit of corniness that slips through on the recording of his 2008 debut, Charmed and Strange, is not evident live.
The show opened with the percussion of a great version of “Live” from his debut, but it really picked up when he performed the eerily sexy “Club Thing.” Dancing to a dude playing an acoustic guitar is unheard of no longer. Everyone recognized this track, and people seemed to suddenly feel the need to dance. Before breaking into “Adore Adore,” Yoav announced that the song was inspired by a bad Grammy Awards show one year—a show after which he asked himself if he was in the right line of work. Apparently, he is. The cover of the Pixies' “Where Is My Mind?” that followed was surprisingly even more enchanting than his album version.
Chances are, Yoav will take his success to the next level. We may see him— hesitatingly—at a Grammy performance near us very soon. And maybe that room will grow too small for him as well. Soon, us indie rockers will be too cool for Yoav. Go see him before it’s too late.
Set List:
Live
There Is Nobody
Wake Up
Angel and the Animal
Club Thing
Adore Adore
Where Is My Mind?
Beautiful Lie
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Yeah, The End
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