The Round Table

Irish eyes haven’t been smiling down on me the last few weeks when it comes to catching some of my favorite performers live. A few weeks ago I braved the drunken debauchery that was the Hoboken St. Patrick’s Day parade to enjoy Sondre Lerche at Maxwell’s. Wednesday, I maneuvered the streets of Manhattan to see Tony Lucca perform at City Winery.  While Lucca more than made up for the inconvenience, booking agents should try to avoid dates that align with drunken “holidays.” Rant done.

As always, Lucca was a crowd-pleaser. He hit the stage roughly after 9:45p and opened his set with “Darlin’ I,” a borderline country tune that exemplifies his nomadic ways followed by the more politically focused “Close Enough.” Pacing himself through recent set list staples of “True Story,” “Death of Me,” and “Undertow,” Lucca captivated a sold out crowd of predominately Tyrone Wells (tour-mate) fans. In true fashion, the audience gave the most thunderous applause for his ode to the big city with the aptly titled “New York City.” Lucca ended his nearly 40-minute set with “Pretty Things,” which is by far one of my favorite songs to watch him perform live.

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As a perpetual touring artist, Tony Lucca is no stranger to the noisy dive bar scene – regardless of which city he finds himself in. While there are always going to be loud, disrespectful people who (drunkenly) chat their way through his set, that doesn’t mean that he isn’t keenly aware to the fact that his fans paid their hard-earned cash to experience his show. With that in mind, Mr. Lucca faced the disruption head on, suppressed his frustration after addressing the situation briefly and went on to deliver a stellar performance.

He switched it up from his typical acoustic setting and was accompanied by a keyboardist and percussionist. As always Mr. Lucca mixed crowd favorites like “So Long,” “Death of Me,” and “Melancholy Collar” with newer songs in “Undertow,” “Foxy Jane,” and “Stay With Me.” (aka the Britney/JT song). He even shared a poignant moment as he unveiled his newest song written for his now 8-week-old daughter. Thankfully even the loud talkers in the back of the venue managed to listen albeit ever so briefly.

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Fried pickles, sweet tea, fireworks, and Tony Lucca or the perfect way to spend 4th of July. We headed to The Evening Muse in downtown Charlotte, North Carolina for an intimate performance with Tony Lucca who started his set by asking the audience to snap along to his opening number as hand-clapping is too much of a commitment upfront.

Having seen Tony Lucca perform numerous times now, I was surprised by how candid he was that night. He hit on everything from taking swipes at Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and Sarah Palin all in one song to his life story through music and quite possibly one of pop cultures most talked about break-ups: Justin and Britney (more on that later). Of course he also found time to mix in several love songs and even a Billy Joel cover “Vienna.”

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