Adam Ezra, Corinna Smith
As they do every year, Adam Ezra Group sailed around Boston Harbor on the Provincetown II last Sunday afternoon with about 750 fans cheering them on as they played through several of their original songs and arrangements. A day after some of the band’ equipment was stolen from their van, surprisingly good weather one upped dreary weather reports and the musicians and their Sunday afternoon fans had one fine day.
AEG began their first set with their traditional opener “The Basement Song.” The band’s easeful delivery matched the gentle breeze and the take your time pace of the boat. Moving into their award winning “Let Your Hair Down,” the band created a fine sing along, clap along mood with fantastic rhythmic support from percussionist Turtle and drummer Alex Martin. Soon, brisk fiddle and organ work began “Hippie Girl,” a swaggering number that had the band and the crowd fully into the neo-hippie vibe that comes with this outfit’s live experience. Friendly, groovy, fun loving people that were packed into the boat were clearly feeling it and responding with energy of their own. An experienced music scenester could tell by this point that it was going to be a good show.
A jetliner flying over the boat as the band was performing was a sign of many cool things to come. The River 92.5 FM’s Steve Friedman co-hosted with Frank FM’s DJ Chris DeSimone. New England Music Awards president Joe Graham was also on board.
The band went into a new song titled “Shine” from their latest CD Songs For A Movie. Ezra’s raw handsome vocal and Corinna Smith’s forlorn fiddle memory made one feel what the song was about. The Harbor cruise was also a kind of makeshift CD Release Party. The band went on to showcase more its new tunes throughout the day. These new songs were intended and written for a an indie film score.
Turtle
Next, “3 Days” featured some interesting changes that also fit the vibe before the AEG played a new, unrecorded song called “I Believe.” A tune about Ezra’s search for faith and hope, it found a receptive audience on the boat, as most AEG fans come to see this group for its positive, life-affirming experience. It was a good bit of acoustic guitar and fiddle driven rock. Ezra couldn’t resist the urge to poke fun at his experience of playing on a boat so he went into a cover song titled “I’m On A Boat” by Lonely Island. Aside from humorous lyrics, it featured fiddle player Corinna Smith’s sweetly beautiful voice adding its own perfect texture.
Another tune off the new Movie album, “Come On Over,” had more of that neo-hippie vibe, sing along thing going on. Its harmony vocals gave it a 1960s folk feeling throughout as its groove too was particularly fetching, lolling beats and smacks pushing it along with Francis Hickey’s bulbous low end. The band’s “Life Of A Thief” was another that rocked. Brisk vocal delivery over swirling synth and organ lines and a three dimensional groove coming from the rhythm section made this one come alive. Smith contributed even more to the rising tensions inside this number with her whistle thin fiddle melody.
Josh Gold’s organ line ushered in “Miss Hallelujah” with sublime beauty, a feeling he created by playing up wide, arcing waves of sound, a sound that suggested something big was on its way. Ezra’s handsome rasp then rode that melody like a true artist, someone who sings with as much grace as passion.
Something in the air or mood at an AEG concert always indicates when they’re going to play their hit song “Scandal,” a fun, Boston flavored pot shot at corruption at all of our treasured institutions. Ezra worked his way around his lyrics with his usual understated cool. Turtle’s percussion solo was packed with plenty of metallic smacks before Alex Martin’s drum solo got creative with Martin sticking trash can lids.
Adam Ezra Group, crowd
Rapper Young Kali was called up to the band stand to do his thing during “Kill Like This.” His rhymes were one highlight. Another was Josh Gold conjuring manic organ work, using a clavinet and some guitar pedals to make his keyboards sound like a wild lead phrase. “The Toast,” known for its lilting melody and lolling groove, has become a popular sing along for the group and with all the energy on deck it came alive under the bright blue sky.
The second set began with a few mellow numbers, including one featuring Ezra’s long time friend and former fiddle player Jackie Damsky. Speaking of fiddle players, Corinna Smith was up to her old tricks during “The Devil Went Up The Boston,” displaying her skills at flying, up tempo melody and fierce stops. Ezra, too, was his usual self on this tune, funny as hell with his foul mouthed humor while mimicking the treasured Boston accent.
It was not surprising that Ezra utilized his rap portion of “Burn Brightly” to reflect on how he felt about the stolen band equipment. He said it didn’t get him down because of all the positives around him. He had a couple of fans in the audience who had flown in from Texas and Utah for the cruise. He also some fans from Saratoga Springs he had met the night before and told them he’d pay for their tickets if they were willing to drive all the way out to Boston the next day. Ezra went on to say that if the people who stole his gear needed the money that bad they can have it. His humanitarian response may have inadvertently shamed those of us who wanted to rain down vengeance on the perpetrators. Maybe the world would be better off if everybody, when confronted by such ordeals, would ask themselves “What would Adam Ezra do?”
The band featured another song from their new Movie album. Titled “A Boy’s Song,” the band had had to rework the finished tune to fit a certain scene only to learn it had ended up not being used in
Crowd
the film’s actual soundtrack. The number was played with an infectious rhythm from Smith’s banjo and Turtle’s percussion. Segue into another live staple, “Devil Side,” a vigorous drum solo from Martin went over well. The set list followed a natural progression to the band’s badass tune “14 Days.” Played like a force of nature by Ezra on harmonica with Gold offering more of wild guitar effects, its harrowing lyrics seemed so right as a jetliner flew over the boat to land at Logan.
Smith’s fiddle rendition of the melody line during Tom Petty’s “Free Falling” made the song even sweeter, more touching. Yet, the band soon went back into their assertive material, playing their haunting, vigorous rocker “Steal Your Daughter” as the Provincetown II floated back into port. After an encore of John Denver’s “Country Road” the cruise had come to an end. A cruise into a beautiful, sunny day of music was over, a series of special moments that will never happen again but will exist in the memories of over 700 passenger fans.
Many on board, by then, were likely wondering if it was too soon to buy tickets to next year’s harbor cruise concert.
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