Sanders Bohlke @ The Troubadour

For a second time in the last 6 months, I saw Sanders Bohlke open up for someone at The Troubadour. This time it was for Bic Runga, a pop sensation out in Ireland. She had a gorgeous voice and some good songs, and apparently it was her last show before she takes her pregnancy leave (or as she said "before [her] life is over").

But I was there for Mr. Bohlke, hoping that he'd finished up his second album and was going to be playing from it and selling it at the show. To my disappointment, he hadn't finished the album. He is still working on it, and is hoping for/seeking out a possible record deal that would be able to help him. However, he did play new music, which made the night totally worth it. Even though the set was short (6 songs in a half hour), it was most definitely worth seeing him show off some of his new music, which got me excited for the upcoming album.


He started off his set with 'I'm Gonna Make It', which was the same song he'd started out with last time (but I didn't know the name). The song was played on the keys; Bohlke went through the verses fairly softly and let loose a little in the choruses. The outro (if you must) found him repeating "yes, I will" (in response to the title) with such passion and conviction that it brought to life the urgency found in those lyrics. And just like the last time I saw him, the room was suddenly found in awe of the voice that until then had been hidden from them. He ended the song and invited his friend (Jonathan? I can't remember) on to the stage to accompany him on the bass.


The last time that Bohlke played, it was just him, and so to have a bass accompanying him added another layer to his music that I did appreciate. The next song was 'The War' which had a surprisingly anti-anti-war message, in a sense. With so many artists getting political in their music and all of them pushing anti-war propoganda, it was refreshing to hear something that criticized that use of cheap publicity. He wasn't saying he was for the war, but that war is something that everyone lives through, and that he'd much rather choose "blood over water". Maybe I'm just odd, but I enjoyed that song.


He followed that up with 'Misdirection' which was the first song he donned his harmonica on. It was another new song that he played and followed by yet another called 'Some Bridge'. I believe it was this song where the bassist was playing with a capo on. Now this little detail will only make sense to anyone that's played bass - you don't capo a bass. But, when he did that, it occured to me that if you wanted a certain note to be played on an open string, then a capo is not a bad idea at all. In fact, it's brilliant if you think about it. Also, I don't recall which of these songs it was (the latter is my guess), but halfway or more through that song, Bohlke was just playing the chords, while the bassist was accompanying him, without any vocals at all. It seemed like he was building up to something though, and my suspicion turned out right when he just unleashed an amazing wail (my attempt to describe it) on an unsuspecting crowd. I do believe the cheering rate went up after that song.


[Didn't get a good picture of him with the capo on]. The song that followed was a familiar one, 'Some Kind Of Woman'. One of my favorite songs of his (that's been recorded), he took his time with it, and I started remembering when I first listened to it. He had announced that they only had a couple more songs for the night and so I decided to enjoy myself thoroughly as he finished up, and he made the final song, 'Weary Soul' (the only song he played off his self-titled debut), stick in every audience member's head.


Just like the last time, he played the song on an electric steel lap-guitar with distortion, this time with a few more intricate riffs and licks throughout. What was absolutely incredible was that towards the end of the song, he went a capella, and sang his heart out (as you can clearly see in the picture above). To say that audience was entranced would be about right because the whole room was dead quite and all you heard was Bohlke's resounding voice. Whether they'd been there for a couple songs, or for the whole set, the crowd enjoyed all they saw and heard, and gave Bohlke the applause he deserved. The set was short, like I said, but hearing him play the new songs justified spending the 30 or so bucks I paid.

Setlist:
I'm Gonna Make It
The War
Misdirection
Come Bridge
Some Kind Of Woman
Weary Soul

He will be playing again on April 10th (Tuesday) at the Hotel Cafe, and I think everyone needs to come out to see him. He goes on at 8, so grab a friend, come down early and get some dinner, and then stick around and see him play with a full band. He'll be playing some more new songs, and I know I'm going for sure. You better be too!

Sanders Bohlke - Weary Soul
Sanders Bohlke - Lovesick Misery

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