Ari Hest @ The Middle East
June 5th, 2007 - by Eddie
Ari Hest is as tall as a small tree (6-foot-3) and an admitted Yankees fan. Besides his appreciation to the Evil Empire, he’s still a favorite around Boston for his non-threatening, rainy day music and his frat-boy looks. Bostonians don’t like to be threatened by anything, especially small lit up signs scattered around buildings and bridges.
Last Friday he played The Middle East - Downstairs to an adoring crowd of college students, loose women and a handful of middle-aged parents. The show opened with sets by Julian Velard and The Damnwells, which were both greeted with intoxicated indifference (though a few superfans in the front could be heard with their lonely wails of “Eeyyyyeeaah!”).
Julian has crazy hair, plays the piano and looks like he was constantly beat-up as a teenager.
The Damnwells is another entry in the long list of rock-pop bands. They weren’t bad, just not particularly memorable. Falangi McFancy, my girl and partner in crime, commented that she may have heard their songs on the radio. After listening for a couple of seconds, she returned to mocking the drunken whore who was trying to bring home the guy who wore a bathing suit with a long-sleeve dress shirt…to a concert. The only time I want to be caught wearing that is when I’m dead or surrounded by supermodels covered in whip cream.
Hest didn’t disappoint (he doesn’t threaten, remember?) and played at least half the songs off his new album “The Break-In,” along with older ones like “Anne Marie,” “Monsters,” and “A Fond Farewell.”He also played his cover of Springsteen’s “I’m on Fire,” which got a lot of cheers since Boston is a big town for cover songs and The Boss.
The highlight of the night came when Hest sang “I’ve Got You,” the song that closes his new album. A female fan named “Alana” was invited on stage to sing with him (he said he originally wanted this song to be a duet with Norah Jones, but since she still responds with a “Hest? Who is that clown?” he sings alone).
Alana didn’t have the voice or the ass of NJ, but she carried the song well, with the perfect amount of innocence, wide-eyed wonder and fear.
To check our what friendly, rainy-day music sounds like, check out Ari Hest’s Myspace page. Or just go to your local coffee shop and find the guy with the guitar who looks like he’s about to cry.
