His songs can be as forever-blue as his royal-blue suit, but his shows are as bright as his white Gibson. Photos by Timothy Finn/The Star
When your goal is to entertain and you look and dress like Chris Isaak, you've won half the battle before you open your mouth. When you sing like he does and tell jokes and do comic bits like he does (sometimes to excess), you've pretty much got the predominantly female crowd in the palm of your hand. Or wrapped around your finger. Whichever.
Saturday night, Isaak entertained and seduced a crowd of about 500 in the VooDoo Lounge, the perfect venue for a guy like him. It's as slick as he is.
The crowd was loaded with ladies and couples on dates. The ladies show up because Isaak has to be the best-looking 51-year-old in the music business. Plus when he's not rocking out in basic 4/4 time like it's the mid-1950s all over again, he sings eerie and melancholic songs about love and heartache that imply he's an incurable romantic.
He's also a chronic comedian. He proved that years ago when he starred in the Showtime series "The Chris Isaak Show." He opened Saturday's gig with the theme to that show, "American Boy," then cut right to one of his best-known songs, "Heart-Shaped World," then "Somebody's Cryin'."
He showed off his voice, which can hit notes that ought to crack the glass in his mirror-suit. He also showed off his dry wit and his acting instincts (which he uses when he delivers stock lines he's been doing for years). He can go overboard with the comic bits, like the one where his drummer Kenny Dale Johnson interrupted "Can't Do A Thing" to sing the barely amusing song about cough syrup.
Isaak threw in a few covers: Cheap Tricks' "I Want You to Want Me," plus the cursory cover of "Kansas City" and the required cover of Roy Orbison's "Only the Lonely." Between those two, he bragged about his 20-year-old band and lamented: "This is a dying art." Well, not quite, but not many stay together as long as his.
She said her name was Jennifer. He said, "Hey, that's my middle name."
For his encores, he opened with "Blue Hotel," which typifies his strain of rockabilly/blues, then "San Francisco Days." As they started "Bonnie Bee," several ladies entered the stage and danced. He coaxed one of them, Jennifer, into twisting and grinding somewhat erotically. When she was done, he said: "That was great. It looked like two kids fighting in a tent."
He ended with "Forever Blue," a low-pulse conclusion to a high-octane show. That mood didn't last long, though. He told the crowd he and the band would be over at the merch table, signing autographs and administering free medical exams. "They won't hurt," he said, "so don't tense up."
| Timothy Finn, The Star
Setlist: American Boy, Heart-Shaped World, Return To Me, I Want Your Love, Western Stars, Dancin', Wicked Games, Go Walking Down There, Going Nowhere, I Want You to Want Me, Life Will Go On, Worked It Out Wrong, Two Hearts, Can't Do A Thing (To Stop Me), Cough Syrup Song, Beautiful Homes, Kansas City, Only the Lonely, Baby Did A Bad Thing/Don't Be Cruel, Gone Ridin'. Encore: Blue Hotel, San Francisco Days, Bonnie Bee, Forever Blue.
That show was so much fun, I wish I could do it again. Nice reveiw. If the famed Jennifer, should read this review & comment, I would love if she would send a copy of the photo she took of the cutest divorced couple ever
TO ME at [email protected]
heres hoping she gets this somehow, someway...
Posted by: Shannon Kaffenberger | July 31, 2007 at 09:33 AM
Shannon this is Christy, the famed Jennifer's sister (even though i am the CI fan i would be the one in the background of the picture above!) I have the cutest picture of the cutest divorced couple ever and will email it to you! Great meeting you both.
Posted by: Christy J | July 31, 2007 at 05:40 PM
Jennifer, I'm in love. Will you have my children?
Posted by: smartman | July 31, 2007 at 09:33 PM
You are so damn hot, girl!!!
Posted by: met | August 02, 2007 at 09:21 AM
whoa
Posted by: speed | August 07, 2007 at 02:29 PM