Photos and Review by Nate Hastings
Show photos HERE
After a day of sampling the best of Portland’s cuisine and craft beer and observing its tattoo culture, David Wax and Suz Slezak joyfully led their band through new songs and selections from their back catalog at Port City Music Hall in Portland Maine.
In between numbers, Wax and Slezak shared humorous stories about the tour. Considering it was April Fools Day it may be true, or it may be false, that no one in the David Wax Museum is actually tattooed – although Wax and Slezak’s daughter refers to her parents’ colorful left arm bands as “tattoos.”
David Wax Museum is in the early leg of a 25-date tour that will take them up and down the eastern seaboard and into the Midwest. If they can bring this much passion and energy to their next 20+ dates, it will be a treat for any audience.
The crowd at Port City ranged from young adults to grey-haired lifelong music fans. The engaged audience featured a mix of folks happily dancing, appreciating the musicianship of the band or both.
The set started with short punchy songs rooted in a Mexican folk aesthetic, elevated by rock & roll energy from Wax and tinged with jazz runs on electric guitar from Josh Kaufman. (It’s also worth noting that he was impossible to miss, as he appeared to be some kind of hazmat/Ghostbuster/hipster playing lead guitar shirtless in high-waisted, bright orange overalls.)
The earnest enthusiasm and rock solid musicianship of the David Wax Museum was evident. The rhythm held down by Wax and the band set a solid foundation for Wax, Slezak and Kaufman’s melodies. Slezak put on a clinic of what it means to be a multi-instrumentalist as she moved from accordion to jawbone to fiddle to keys, while still contributing vocals, all before the end of the fifth song.
Repetition is a fixture of many of the “earnest” bands on the road today. This often leads listeners to wonder if the singers forgot the lyrics or were too lazy to actually write words to accompany the melody. Refreshingly, David Wax Museum uses repetition sparingly and only when it serves the song. When the band did repeat the lyrics in an extended way, it drew power to the point of the song rather than appearing to be a desperate appeal for audience participation.
Wax and Slezak have recently chafed against the folk/Americana label they were assigned earlier in their career, saying that they are at their most comfortable when the band fires on all cylinders and puts on a rock show. This was my third time photographing the band over the past four years, and I can honestly say that I have never heard them play better. There’s no need for a tune-up.
David Wax Museum at the Port City Music Hall – Portland, ME
