Live Tracks - Patty Griffin Live from the Artists Den

October 30th, 2007 - by Eddie

Albums, Reviews

The ((( artists den ))) is an organization completely devoted to the live music experience and invites musicians to one of their six beautiful venues around the world to play a show.

Artists have performed in places like a loft in San Francisco, Christie’s auction house in London and a mansion in Beverly Hills.

And on February 6 of this year, Patty Griffin entered an old synagogue in New York City to play a 14-song set in front of an attentive and inspired audience.

Patty Griffin: Live from the Artists Den is the singer/songwriter’s first live DVD and laces that performance in New York City along with an interview with the artists about her songwriting and her life. Amazingly, the cuts to the interview never feels out of place or intrusive.

This performance was recorded the day Griffin’s latest effort was released. Children Running Through eventually gave Griffin her biggest first-sales week of her career and the #34 spot on the Billboard Top 200 chart.

But all of that was unknown during this concert. Here, we see Griffin on the stage at the Angel Orensanz Foundation for the Arts, a converted synagogue on New York’s Lower East Side.

Griffin sounds and looks amazing. She mentions in one of the early interviews how she always wanted strings on her albums and her she’s joined with a five-piece string section, an addition that adds a new level to Griffin’s poignant and engaging songs.

The songs in the performance are a nice mixture of old “You Never Get What You Want” (off her debut Living With Ghosts) to “Heavenly Day,” a love she wrote for her dog from her new album. And on a couple of songs, keyboardist Ian McLagan (Small Faces, The Rolling Stones) shows up to help out.

There is one problem: It’s a DVD…which means you can’t listen to it in the car or on your iPod (at least, not without some effort through various programs floating around the Internet). It’s my one complaint because whenever I want to hear Griffin’s soulful “Burgundy Shoes” or her upbeat “No Bad News,” I’m forced to go to my computer or television.

And the reason it’s such a problem for me is because this live concert DVD is perhaps one of the best I’ve ever seen or heard. It’s my first experience with an ((( artists den ))) production and I have to say I am now a quick fan (those like me should check out their website and check their past concerts which include artists like KT Tunstall, Ben Kweller, and Crowded House).

You feel completely wrapped up in the performance and, if you watch it in a dark room with a decent sound system, you’ll swear you’re at the concert and feel inspired as by your surroundings as Griffin belts out “Up to the Mountain (MLK Song).”

This highlights the best of what Griffin can do and the production quality of ((( artists den ))) and should garner new fans thanks to this concert DVD.

Oh, if you want to see her live, you’ll have to go down under. She’s currently in Australia.

Track List

1. You Never Get What You Want
2. Stay On The Ride
3. Trapeze
4. Get Yourself Another Fool
5. Burgundy Shoes
6. Heavenly Day
7. Moon Song
8. No Bad News
9. When It Don’t Come Easy
10. Love Throw A Line
11. Crying Over
12. Up To The Mountain (MLK Song)
13. Sweet Lorraine
14. Top Of The World