Show Recap - Steven Roth at The Seamonster Lounge, Seattle 11/16/13

Last night's Steven Roth show at Seattle's Seamonster Lounge started with a bang and ended with a fire. If it weren't for the venue's underwater theme, they may have burnt the place to the ground with their incendiary rock and roll.

Steven Roth and his band was one I saw in Austin back in March at The Outlaw Roadshow during SXSW. When I got home from Texas, I downloaded Steven Roth's debut album, Let it In, and well, frankly, I totally dig it. His brand of jazzy, soulful, funky, dripping with swagger music is pretty rad. Even my 10 month old niece loves his music. Her favorite is his song Emma. We play it for her all the time, her name is also Emma, and she'll start doing her little baby dance. It's pretty cute.

When I saw the Seattle date added to Roth's tour schedule, I knew I had to go. And go I did. Dragging my friend Kim with me, we ventured into the Seamonster. At the table next to ours, Roth was making his set list for the night, and me being the nosy person I am, poked in and suggested Emma, to which Roth responded with "You know our music?!" So that was cool. I wanted to also suggest Dancin' in the Fire but for some reason the name of the song totally escaped me at that moment, so, alas, I didn't.

As showtime approached, I took my place in the crowd. There was a good amount of people in the bar for the show, and for that I was glad. Whether or not they knew Roth's music, they were going to have a great night. With Roth on keys, backed by his band, Neil Daniels (drums), Jesse Berent (guitar), and Federico Orlandini (bass) the show took off with a flying start and didn't land until the last note of the last song. Some bands sound different when you see them live, compared to what they sound like on their record. This can be a good thing, but this can also be a bad thing. In Roth's case, he sounds very much the same live as he does on his record, but better. He captures the moment in each song, making it his own and pulls all he can out of it.

They kicked off the night with Emma. Not too far into the song the crowd knew the night would be jam packed with explosive rock and roll. They rolled on with Make You Love Me, Hurricane, Goodbye to Summer, Funky Bitch and Allison in their first set. Coming back ten minutes later, they continued with Love Light, Cali Love (not sure if this is their own, or a cover, but they included snippets of classic Cali hip hop music in it, the drummer, Neil, did an amazing rap, a song which I should have know, but can't recall the name of, No Diggity,and the Bad Boys theme from COPS) and Get Back Jack.

Roth and his band played their little hearts out. They not only played the heck out of their own songs, but also did some brilliantly amazing covers. The first was Robert Palmer's Sneakin Sally Through the Alley, a song I hadn't heard before, but Roth and his band were a perfect fit for. They also covered the Rolling Stones' Honky Tonk Woman; amazing. Probably my favorite part of the whole show, well, two favorite parts of the whole show, was their covers of Paul Simon's You Can Call Me Al and Me and Julio Down by the School Yard. These are two songs that I love, and hearing Steven Roth and his fantastic band play them was magical. They turned these already amazing songs into something more, the guitar was perfect, the bass, keys and drums brilliant. Really, really good stuff. They closed out the night with the Talking Heads' Burning Down the House, and really they were. Not literally of course, that would have been bad. But seriously though, it was the best.

I was smiling from ear to ear the whole night, and have also added yet another name to my list of musical crushes. That show should tide me over for a while, as I'm not sure
when I'll be seeing my next show here in town. I really, really hope that Ryan Spaulding asks them back to The Outlaw Roadshow in Austin next year, or maybe Tim Slusher will bring them in to the Nekkid Armadilla family. Either way, I hope I see them again soon.