Typical stage banter from non-traditional looking "rock star" Mark Eitzel: "You know, I was on a talk radio show with Jeff Buckley a couple of weeks ago. All the calls I got were questions like 'So how did you come up with the name American Music Club?' Then Jeff came on and he goes 'I love you, you're beautiful, I want to marry you!"
Random male member of the audience: "I love you, you're beautiful, I want to marry you!"
Eitzel: "Thanks! But I think we'd fight."
Ahh well, so Mark Eitzel doesn't have traditional "front man" looks. He still looks--and sounds--mighty good to those of us who think American Music Club is one of the better "rock bands" (which seems too limited a term for them) prowling the circuit today.
This was my first encounter with live AMC, and though I'd become a fan upon hearing their major label debut Mercury, I was mightily impressed at how the band added an impressive jolt to their finely crafted songs in concert. Mark Eitzel may not think he's got much in common with Jeff Buckley, but in reality they are united in their ability to get beyond the shallow limits of the usual "rock star" ego and damn near take flight as they transmit the emotional depths of a song to the audience. Eitzel also shares with Buckley a "singer's" voice: live, the power of his vocals shines through in a way that makes the albums seem meek by comparison. The man barely needs a microphone.
The bulk of the material on this eve came from the last two albums, the aforementioned Mercury and the current San Francisco. The first part of the set was dominated by tunes from the latter, Eitzel opening the show solo with an impassioned version of "What Holds The World Together" ('the wind that blows through Gena Rowland's hair,' of course). The last notes of this song were cue for the band, minus pedal steel virtuoso Bruce Kaplan, to make their entrance. Kaplan's unexplained absence led the band to avoid the more atmospheric numbers from San Francisco and instead ROCK OUT. Upbeat numbers like "Can You Help Me?," "Wish The World Away," "Hello Amsterdam" and "I Broke My Promise" all worked well live, highlighting the revamped AMC's debt to a seldom-identified strain of rock n' roll I call California Coke-Rock. This line includes Steely Dan, latter-day Tim Buckley, and David & David of Boomtown fame, artists who may be an anathema to the increasingly close-minded alternative scene, but who nevertheless embody their own particular brand of Pop hipster cool. In this, AMC remain true to their roots.
Of course, the darker Eitzelian moments of despair were still in evidence, and they provided the biggest thrills of the night. When Eitzel proclaimed "this is the number that will galvanize the crowd" before the haunting "In The Shadow of the Valley," he wasn't just whistling Dixie. Here, as he did all night, lead guitarist Vudi shone, standing with eyes shut tight and delivering emotional lead guitar reminiscent of another Californian, Neil Young. When Vudi and Eitzel, the best rock duo since Jagger and Richards, began trading feedback-laden guitar licks at the song's end, it could have been Young's own legendary Crazy Horse up there.
Encore time found numerous calls (mine among them) for "Johnny Mathis' Feet" going unanswered. That's my sole complaint about the show. But the charged renditions of "Gratitude Walks" and of course "Mercury" more than made up for any sins of omission. What remains is the mental picture of Eitzel damn near levitating as he wrenched every last ounce of emotion from the songs, and Vudi, looking like some Beat guitar-mystic, driving him on to greater heights.
- John Walker
