Wesley Stace Played The Saint with Rick Barry and The Sunday Blues, 10/4/13

"We're not here to rock your socks off."

I'm going to start right off by apologizing to The Sunday Blues. CoolMom and I thought we had plenty of time to enjoy dinner with MomVee and her husband, but who knew that Mexican food could take two hours? We got to The Saint just as the alt-country trio were finishing their set. After watching Sunday Blues guitarist Keith McCarthy play in the band that Rick Barry had assembled for the evening (Vocalist Lindsey Miller also joined them for a song.), I'm going to make it a point to catch the band's next local set.

Rick Barry turned in a great set that had CoolMom singing his praises even as we drove home in the car hours later. Also joining Barry onstage were guitarist Justin Bornemann (on acoustic bass) and drummer Andy Bova, both of Dentist. The all-acoustic, full-band set up did a nice job showcasing Barry's brand of indie folk-pop on songs like "Leave It Up To Luck" and "On Our Way Home," along with an excellent cover of The Smiths' "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out."

Wesley Stace took the stage with his band, The English UK, at about 10:30 and ran through a set heavy on songs from his latest record, Self-Titled, the first released under his given name. As usual, he used the time between songs to interact with the crowd, tell stories -- one about an incredibly strange, post-show interaction with a fan -- and set up his songs. This, coupled with the small setting of The Saint, gave the show an extremely intimate feel.

Self-Titled is a, mostly, "quiet" album compared to the pop-rock records Stace put out, as John Wesley Harding, early in his career. The songs -- especially those he co-wrote with Eleanor Friedberger ("When I Knew," "Stare at the Sun") and "We Will Always Have New York" -- played well in the live setting. Stace did reach back into his -- or John Wesley Harding's -- catalog for "I'm Wrong About Everything" and closed the main set with last year's "Making Love to Bob Dylan." He came back for a one-song encore, performing The Monkees' / Neil Diamond's "I'm a Believer."

Despite having to leave for the drive back to Philadelphia, Stace stayed after the show, signing records and speaking with fans. I got a chance to reminisce with him about some of the many John Wesley Harding shows I'd seen over the years. He indulged me and even remembered a few.

Over the last few years, I've only seen Wesley Stace perform in the context of his Cabinet of Wonders variety shows. Those are a lot of fun, but it was also fun to see him perform a headlining set again -- especially one full of material he's obviously excited about.

Here are some photos of the two sets I managed to catch last night.