OLD TIME ROCK AND ROLL

photos courtesy of peteyorn.com

Pete Yorn is a throwback. His music reminds us old-school rock and roll. Part Elvis, part Bob Dylan, part Bruce Springsteen, and part Pete Yorn. With sounds like that, he must be good right? Indeed. I’ve been wanting to see him for some time now and was thrilled to finally get the opportunity. He played at my favorite venue, The Revolution in Ft. Lauderdale. It’s a small cozy tri-leveled hall where I got to see Liz Phair a year ago.

Once again, I was surrounded by youth. I’m pretty sure I was the oldest guy in the place. I had a good vantage point from the second-level, mere paces from Pete. He came onstage dressed in jeans, a tee-shirt, a leather jacket and a good looking hat. With his scruffy beard, he looked eerily like Bob Dylan himself. He opened his set with two songs off his new Nightcrawler CD, Vampyre and the rocking For Us which brought the crowd to an early frenzy. Nightcrawler is sort of the third of the morning, noon, and night trilogy with musicforthemorningafter and Day I Forgot being the previously released Yorn CDs.

Yorn played a cool mix of songs from each of his three CDs alternating between acoustic and electric guitar and playing a mean Dylanesque harmonica. Songs like Life on a Chain and Strange Condition truly reminded me of Dylan in his 60s prime while Murray sounded more like The Boss. Yorn even covered Springsteen’s Dancing in the Dark albeit in a slow acoustic fashion.

Pete talked sparingly to the crowd during his initial 16-song set. He was, however, very appreciative for the 10-minute ovation prior to the encore. During the encore, Pete played perhaps my favorite tune, Crystal Village, which was the song that introduced me to him. It’s been a great ride ever since. Fittingly, he closed the show with a spectacular cover of Elvis Presley's Suspicious Minds. I’d venture to say I was the only person besides the band who knew the words. It’s good to know that old time rock’s not dead yet. Thanks Pete.