Snippets from reviews I have painstakingly gathered from all across the internet, just for you!
Singing in Spanish, Italian, French and English, Richman effortlessly entertained a hypnotised audience of all ages. He displayed his usual positive presence, spontaneous dance offs, and charismatic performance style with random crowd banter, then returning to his set like a kid too excited to stand still. Higlights include Mr Sorrow (my favorite), Pablo Picasso (of course), and a few of my favorites off A Qué Venimos Sino a Caer.
think the genius of Richman boils down to his ability to cover the entire emotional spectrum in a single stanza. We aren’t bombarded with jokes in that Adam Sandler stand-up musician kind of way, and we aren’t drowning in serious melancholy. Instead he manages to deliver verbose and hilarious narratives in the same breath as real life lessons. Last night’s “When We Refuse to Suffer” exemplified this coupling brilliantly: one moment he croons, “We turn the air conditioning on and we’re so happy that we’ve avoided bugs and sweat,” and the next he pulls away from the mic to conclude, “No more refusal to feel.” We laugh and we think – and he’s moved on before we have a chance to take ourselves seriously in either regard (the next song was about formaldehyde).
He throws in short songs about still learning about sex at age 59, and both men and women scream. He sings in French, Spanish, you name it. More screaming. His shows end quickly because he doesn’t “want to wear out his welcome,” but I truly don’t think that’s possible.
When you live in a big city like San Francisco, your friends and family will constantly remark on how wonderful it must be to live in such a great city. And when they talk about this, they’re talking about Fisherman’s Wharf and Chinatown. When we talk about living in a great city, we talk about other things. And one of things we San Franciscans should be talking about is the fact that Jonathan Richman is a San Francisco treasure.
here
Also, am I just losing my tiny mind, or is Jonathan generally in Long Beach in the beginning of September? Wishful thinking, I am sure, because I will be down there, but it seems it is not to be :(
Picture stolen from the writer of the first review.
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