Rocco DeLuca Live at The Paradise
April 20, 2009 by Editor
Filed under Concert Reviews
Rocco DeLuca and the Burden
with honeyhoney
April 10, 2009
The Paradise
Boston, MA
The last time Rocco DeLuca and the Burden played at the Paradise (back in 2007), they were just coming of the success of the single “Colorful” from the I Trust You To Kill Me album. Five men took the stage and captivated the crowd for an hour and a half. This time around would be a bit different.
Photo by Kristen Pierson
The Paradise is an interesting club. The large pillar in the middle of the room (right in front of the stage) gives new meaning to the term “obstructed view.” It’s an intimate setting, yet still a good sized room.
Honeyhoney opened the show. Prior to this show I was only familiar with the “Little Toy Gun” song and the video they made with Kiefer Sutherland. They immediately impressed me with their onstage rapport and their ability to set the crowd at ease and draw them in.
More impressive was their performance. Ben Jaffe can be a madman on guitar and Suzanne Santo’s vocal performance was beautiful and flawless. She also plays a mean fiddle and banjo. My friends who joined us at the show immediately loved them and purchased a CD right after their set.
Photo by Kristen Pierson
Rocco DeLuca and drummer Ryan Carmen walked onto the stage. The crowd cheered. Surprisingly, it would only be the two of them on stage this night, and many of us wondered what was in store.
The performance was something to behold. DeLuca and Carmen tuned into to each other, and every nuance of the music… playing for the crowd, but not to it. They were consumed by it, and the audience was enraptured. The only time DeLuca directly addressed the crowd was to thank them.
The crowd reaction was great. Roars and cheers during Rocco’s vocal and Dobro outburst. However, some were rather chatty during the song “Nightingale” from the new album Mercy. The chatty ones will never know what they missed. A funny moment occurred when someone yelled out “How Many Times” and DeLuca momentarily broke from his musical meditation and stifled a laugh… it was the next song on the set list.
This is the third time I’ve seen Rocco DeLuca and the Burden perform live, and each time has been a wonderfully unique experience. DeLuca is an artist who strikes me as one who is comfortable with what he does, but never content with the way it’s done.
