Playing the final night of a sold-out 3-day stay at the Paradise Rock Club, the pressure was on for Citizen Cope to deliver a great final set in Boston. With the house full of both fans who knew the lyrics to every track and those just along for the party, Citizen Cope delivered something for everyone.
After waiting backstage for the packed house to call them on with vigorous chants of “Cope, Cope, Cope!” the band opened the night with “If There’s Love,” off of their eponymous first record. From there, lead singer Clarence Greenwood (a/k/a Citizen Cope) led the audience through a tour of their 4 major album releases, all of which have the same satisfying blend of hip-hop, folk, and blues.
Cope followed “If There’s Love” with two more tracks off of their first record, including a highlight of the night, “Let the Drummer Kick.” While drummer Jay Nichols and bassist Preston Crump laid down a tight groove, what made the track great was organ player Jason Yates. On the album, the track uses a looped piano sample that Yates now played live, and the occasional missed note or deviation from the album sample made the track a standout. Similarly, on “Mistaken Identity,” a piano solo and an alternate verse made the live performance special.
The band moved on to play two tracks each from The Clarence Greenwood Recordings and Every Waking Moment, during which Greenwood really began to open up. Though clearly not a fan of crowd banter, he was able to connect with the audience via the raw emotion written on his face throughout songs like “Bullet and a Target,” which interestingly had Greenwood running his voice through a delay pedal to mimic the multi-tracked vocals on the album cut.
Following the first four tracks off of their new album, The Rainwater LP, Cope moved through a Neil Young cover (“Out On the Weekend”) and a few more of their standby numbers before closing with their biggest hit, “Son’s Gonna Rise.” While it is hard to complain about one of my favorite Cope tracks, their closing number was noticeably lacking the huge guitar solo that is so prominent in the original—I was disappointed that no one tried their hand at it live.
After a brief rest (and more chants of “Cope!”), Greenwood returned to the stage alone and treated the audience to three songs with just his acoustic guitar as accompaniment. Perhaps the greatest moment of the night was during the chorus of “D’artagnan’s Theme,” when Cope pulled away from the mic to let the audience sing the final words, “Fade away . . . .” As a performer who rarely smiles (and with his emotional lyrics, who can blame him?), Greenwood’s wry grin each time the audience serenaded him was a beautiful example of someone who has struggled to make it at last basking in his success.
In fact, the entire night felt like something of a celebration for Greenwood, who after years of struggling with record labels (in 1998, he recorded a full album with Capitol Records that was never released), finally took the plunge and released The Rainwater LP on his own independent label.
Finally, after a beautiful solo version of “Holding On,” Greenwood brought his band back on for two final encores. After one last track from their new album, Citizen Cope closed the night with “Sideways,” a perfect example of Greenwood’s emotional style of songwriting that even after five encore songs left the audience wanting more.
Setlist:
If There’s Love
Let the Drummer Kick
Mistaken Identity
Bullet and a Target
Hurricane Waters
Every Waking Moment
Back Together
Keep Askin’
Healing Hands
I Couldn’t Explain Why
Lifeline
Pablo Picasso
My Way Home
Out On the Weekend
All Dressed Up
Son’s Gonna Rise
Encore: (solo acoustic)
Salvation
D’artagnan’s Theme
Holding On
(full band)
Off the Ground
Sideways
