Alejandro Escovedo's show last night at the Highline Ballroom seemed to exist in some twilight zone between 1978 and 2008, swinging back and forth, diving into pure punk, soaring upward with achingly beautiful guitar and string arrangements, and then crashing back with squeals of guitar feedback. In the center of it all was Escovedo, spinning to face the crowd, the strings, the guitars or the drums, urging them on, feeding off their energy and spitting it back out. Well, no real spitting involved, but there were moments when Escovedo came close, abandoning his guitar for the Iggy Pop-inspired "Real As An Animal" so he could grip the mike stand with two hands and sway from side to side, appearing poised to dive into the crowd. But there was no stage diving or slam dancing, with a crowd that was somewhere between crushing the stage and sitting at the outer ring of tables, nodding in time to the music. And that was just fine for Escovedo as he took us on a whirlwind trip through the last thirty years, finishing up with the Stones "Beast of Burden" before walking slowly off stage as his amazing band played out the last few bars.
A nice collection of photos from the show is here, including one featuring yours truly. Another great set of photos is here
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