The Revival Tour, for those who do not know, is the brainchild of Hot Water Music frontman / solo folk musician Chuck Ragan. Featuring various performers, oftentimes frontmen of gruff sounding punk rock bands, the Revival Tour is a collaborative folk event in which the artists will join each other on stage and play acoustic, folk-ed up versions of songs from both their solo and band careers. The spring 2012 edition of the tour features Chuck Ragan performing alongside Dan Andriano (Alkaline Trio / In the Emergency Room), Tommy Gabel (Against Me!) and Cory Branan, with special guests appearing at various dates. On Friday, March 30, the Revival Tour stopped at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City for not one, but two shows – a real treat for the city that never sleeps.
I was lucky enough to attend the second of said shows and you can read my review of it here.
The night started off with the four main performers coming out on stage, joined by fiddler Jon Gaunt, and upright bassist Joe Ginsberg, as well as special guests Brooklyn based Kayleigh Goldsworthy, and Dave Hause of The Loved Ones. Bearing in mind that it was midnight, and that all eight musicians had already played a full set just a few hours before, there was a considerable amount of energy on stage. Promising that the show would be different from the earlier performance, the group began with the a capella Chuck Ragan tune, On the Bow, and went on to perform full ensemble versions of a song by Ragan, Andriano, Hause, Branan, and Gabel each before moving on to the solo sets.
Kayleigh Goldsworthy had the honors of playing first. After performing a single song, she was ready to go backstage, before Chuck Ragan “ordered” her to play a second tune. To quote Kayleigh herself: “I always do what Chuck tells me to do.” The songs were short and sweet, and hopefully this won’t be the only year that Kayleigh gets to make an appearance.
One of the greatest things about the Revival Tour is that, as an all-acoustic show, there is the zero wait time in between sets. Dave Hause came out immediately after Kayleigh’s set, starting with Time Will Tell. Rather than sticking to fan favorites by the Loved Ones and from his recent solo debut, Hause opted to play a cover of Hot Water Music’s Trusty Chords and a brand new song entitled The Shine, with some help from Chuck Ragan, Dan Andriano, and Cory Branan. Hause’s set was limited, most likely because he wasn’t initially going to appear on the bill.
The third act was New Jersey native Jenny Owen Youngs. Hiding behind her bangs for most of her set, Jenny played a few songs from her newest release, An Unwavering Band of Light, as well as a cover of Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire. In spite of her shy appearance, Youngs belted out song after song without faltering – not even after she accidentally broke a string during Pirates, she picked up from the exact spot that she left off without missing a beat.
Cory Branan took to the stage next, showcasing his Dylanesque songwriting- focusing more on the story being told as opposed to any kind of rhyme scheme. Mid-way through his set Branan also decided to show off his speedy guitar playing abilities, only to remind himself that during the early show that he tore off a fingernail. This prompted him to also show the audience his impromptu standup comedian abilities, letting everyone know that if he made any faces during his set, it was due to pain and not because he was trying to imitate John Mayer.
It was about a quarter past 1am when Dan Andriano came back out to perform his set, finding a nice balance between Alkaline Trio tunes and songs from in the Emergency Room. Ignoring the hecklers from the back of the room (why do those people even bother coming?), Andriano played through old favorites such as Crawl and Every Thug Needs a Lady, while also treating the crowd to new renditions of Fine and It’s Gonna Rain All Day. The biggest surprise was his final song, claiming that he has “never played it without Matt and Derek before” and was nervous about it. Calling Chuck back onto the stage to help him sing, the two then broke out into the Alkaline Trio classic, Radio. Despite his initial nervousness, Andriano had nothing to worry about, as the entire audience helped sing along.
Tom Gabel’s performance was unique; in that he was the only performer on the tour known for his punk rock band starting off as an acoustic, one-man unit. After playing two new songs, Gabel invited Dave Hause and Against Me! guitarist James Bowman out to play Because of the Shame. Bowman stayed on stage to help through versions of Walking Is Still Honest and the ever popular Baby, I’m An Anarchist. While moshing isn’t exactly something that one would expect to see at a folk show, the crowd came pretty close to opening up a pit during Gabel’s set. Before things got too crazy, Gabel called Chuck Ragan back out, but when he didn’t show, Gabel instead performed a solo version of We Did It All for Don much to the audience’s delight.
Ragan appeared shortly after, getting the Against Me! frontman to stay out for their duet of Greenback Dollar before launching his own solo set. Backed the entire time by Jon Gaunt and Joe Ginsberg, Chuck Ragan played a set that was heavily focused on his solo work (unlike every other performer, Ragan has a number of solo albums); his deep, soulful voice tearing through tracks like Wish on the Moon, Meet You in the Middle, and he even took a request and played Rotterdam. At 2:20am, the trio was joined by the entire night’s ensemble to perform a rowdy version of California Burritos.
Whereas most shows would end after the final act’s set, the Revival Tour kept going. After letting local singer-songwriter Anthony da Costa play a song, Chuck Ragan, Jon Gaunt, Joe Ginsberg, Dan Andriano, Tom Gabel, Cory Branan, Kayleigh Goldsworthy, Jenny Owen Youngs, and Dave Hause all came back out to treat the audience to group versions of more songs such as Harsh Realms and Smoke.
There was a real sense of camaraderie in the atmosphere as the artists joined each other on stage, whether it was to provide second guitar, blues harp, or even just additional harmonies during the chorus. Even with each act only playing for roughly 20 minutes the show still managed to go on for three hours without anyone slowing down. To put it simply, the Revival Tour is unlike anything else today in the world of punk rock and it should not be missed by anyone even remotely interested in any of the performing musicians.