Amos Lee

Man, is this overdue. Amos Lee put in a solid performance at La Tulipe last month, performing just about all of his eponymous album plus a bunch of new tunes before a fucking annoying crowd. The guy in front of me couldn't decide if he should sing along or talk to his ass-ugly girlfriend, so he did both. Despite awful sound (way too much bass; that sort of thing shouldn't happen at a small venue like La Tulipe) and the superficial crowd, Lee and his band played from the heart. New tunes, in particular one about doing coke on a night train (felicitations, M. Boisclair!), whet the appetite for a follow-up record (with a little more bass and drums and a little less sleepy Norah Jones - who has appeared on stage with Willie Nelson, Paul Simon AND Bob Dylan this year - kudos).

The higlight of the night was a gorgeous cover of "A Change is Gonna Come," the Sam Cooke standard Lee performed when I saw him in Chicago, which managed to shut up the chatty Cathy all around us. Lee took some time to come out of his shell on stage, but the band was tight from the first note. Opener Mutlu was a blast (one cannot omit mention of his Justin Timberlakeesque ode to board games) who probably gets straight A's at college.