Jonathan Richman at Eddie's Attic, Atlanta, February 19, 2019

Well, Monday night was certainly intense.  So what does one do on a Tuesday night after spending the previous evening staring down death in the rear-view mirror for 25 minutes?  Why, go to a Jonathan Richman show, of course.

We first saw Jonathan perform live sometime in the mid-80s.  There was something so joyful and life-affirming and honest about the set that we made a vow to ourselves then and there that if were ever again in the same town in which Jonathan was performing, we'd go see him. If we've ever broken that vow, it's only because we didn't know he would be playing that night.  

Last night's show was at Eddie's Attic, an old cabaret-style club, so of course there were two show - an early 7:30 set and a "late" 9:30 set. We stayed for them both.

Jonathan's constantly evolving style now has him as likely to be playing a flamenco passage on guitar or singing in Spanish, French, or Italian as playing any of his older, 80s or 90s songs.  In fact, come to think of it, it's been quite a while since we've heard him play Pablo Picasso or I Was Dancing In the Lesbian Bar.  But his songs are still as quirky and charming as ever, full of references to Boston and Fenway and the Gardner Museum, as well as his career-long themes of adolescent love and the quest for personal identity.  It's just that he now peppers in equal numbers of references to Rumi, Spanish wines, abandonment of ego, and, um, one new song from the point of view of a dog in the pound.

One of the interesting thing about watching both sets last night is it gave us a glimpse of his creative process.  The set lists weren't the same - at least not the same order - and like a jazz musician improvising on a theme, even when he did repeat a song, he did it differently, with different lyrics in places and different commentary to the audience, a large part of his set.  His sets are now almost equal parts stage banter backed by music, written songs, and improvisations on written songs. 

As he has for at least the past 15 or 20 years, he played acoustic guitar backed only by drummer Tommy Larkins, with whom he's developed a near-telepathic rapport on stage.

Here's a well-shot fan video of a Brooklyn set by Jonathan from a year ago that's pretty indicative of his current style, and he did perform this song last night, even including the audience call-and-response.

I don't know where this current tour takes him next, but if it comes to your town, go see him - he's an American treasure and he probably won't be touring forever, so catch him while you can.