Bob Schneider and One EskimO – Club Cafe – Pittsburgh, PA 11/8/09
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Being the good South Austin girl that I am, I bought a couple tickets to the Bob Schneider show while he was touring through Pittsburgh, where I am visiting family. My sister Cecilia joined me, and I’d say there is now another convert. Pittsburgh’s South Side Club Cafe is not unlike our Saxon Pub, where Bob plays weekly on Monday nights when in town. It’s an intimate venue with great acoustics, and a good crowd. Having One EskimO open up was the icing on the cake.
Kristian Leontiou, the lead singer, along with Peter Rinaldi, Jamie Sefton, and Adam Falkner (guitar, bass/horns, drums/melodica) hail from the UK. In honor of Bob, I had worn my Waterloo Records shirt. These guys recognized the logo from their own Waterloo Station in London — magically I had worn the right thing.
They opened with hits Kandi and Hometime, spent a good amount of time on the new CD, and played songs I’ve still to learn. It was tight and wonderful. And I’m now even a bigger fan of the cajon drum than ever before.
Bob and the band played many of the songs from the new Lovely Creatures CD, opening it up with Changing Your Mind and covering most of the new songs through the night (though I was hoping for Trash but will have to wait). We were treated to classics like Big Blue Sea and Bullets, had a dance party to Bombanaza, and ultimately ended back with 40 Dogs and The Bring Down along with a bit of flavor and rap. In between, Pittsburghers learned a bit more about the ‘other side’ of Bob, one we know and relish back in Austin, with dialogue I refer to as his “irreverences”. That part remains with the live shows and the recordings that come with each performance. As always, Ollie Steck– our Austin version of Garth Hudson — kept us entertained with his various antics and instruments. And Harmony Kelly (bass), Bill Cassis (guitar; Soulhat member), and Connie Choucroun (drums) were all great.
It seemed at one point he shared a recent faux pas with Bruce Springsten (someone Bob likes but doesn’t listen to) in that he forgot he was in The ‘Burgh, or maybe just forgot which venue he was in, but we hope now that the show is over that he’ll remember and will be back soon.
[Pictures above from top: Kristian Leontiou, Peter Rinaldi and Jamie Sefton, Bob Schneider, Bob and Harmony and Ollie]