Findlay Brown at Mercury Lounge 4/14/09

Last Tuesday I witnessed an excellent set from Findlay Brown and his band at Mercury Lounge. Having first seen them perform at Pianos back in February, with very limited exposure to their music prior to the show, I was completely blown away by their performance. While Tuesday night's show at Mercury Lounge didn't come with that initial feeling of exhilaration upon seeing a great band for the very first time, the performance was still very impressive.

Over the course of the show Findlay and his band breezed through 9 tracks of original material each showcasing one of the many different sides of the man from Yorkshire's music. From the poignant, whisper-soft vocals & guitar on "Come Home" to the upbeat, "That's Right" brimming with Southern influence, Findlay demonstrated not only his appreciation for artists like Elvis and Roy Orbison but also his ability to create a sound that harks back to such greats while still maintaining an identity of his own and bringing an element of originality.

The performance was so good (but concise), that when I start to think of highlights I end up remembering nearly every song in the set. The slows ones are so beautifully drawn out with classic sensibilities that they can't be dismissed as sappy. The more upbeat tracks contrast perfectly, bursting with energy that is stomped, strummed, and sung out in minutes.


Findlay's excellent and varied set ended on a wonderful note with Findlay and the band delivering a brilliant "unplugged" rendition of Elvis' "Mystery Train" right in the middle of the crowd...the perfect ending to a set ripe with influence but not imitation. Setlist below:

Findlay Brown at Mercury Lounge - April 14, 2009 Setlist

I Still Want You
Love Will Find You
All I Have
Nobody Cared
Holding Back the Night
Come Home
Teardrops Lost In the Rain
That's Right
Everyone Needs Love
Mystery Train

More on Findlay in this post.