Black Rabbit Acoustic And Phil Yates & The Affiliates At New City Galerie In Burlington VT, April 17, 2015

Words by Tim Lewis.

I had a great time seeing music tonight at the New City Galerie. I worked until 7, got home about 7:15, was out the door at 7:30 and downtown around 7:45. I had scouted the venue the day before on the way home from my radio show, but despite my best intentions I only caught the last half song by opener Sean Hood, who goes by the name of Eastern Mountain Time. It sounded nice but I was just getting settled when he wrapped up.

Up next was the oddest of the odd, one of my favorite heavy rocking bands, Black Rabbit, playing acoustic. They went on at 8 and Marc Scarano and Darlene Scarano played a pretty sweet set/ She played electric bass and he played acoustic guitar, and they opened with a couple of newish songs that will be on their next album. The stripped down version let the melodies of the songs shine and allowed Marc to sing in a pleasantly gentle way. They tossed a couple of cover songs, and played 3 from the first ep, Neutrino, Neighborhood, and the one I thought of immediately when I heard they would play acoustic, 89. They had a nice feel to the music, but the thing that really stood out is how talented Darlene really is. Her voice has a beautiful tone that really makes you want to listen, her bass playing is very precise and melodic, and you could tell her fingers knew exactly how to hit every note they crawled over. It was cool to watch them together. The one time things broke down a little Marc was searching for a note with his voice, and Darlene tried a couple and found it and Marc followed her discovery and it nailed it from there. It was great to experience. They tossed in a couple more new ones, including the back and forth vocal on My Libido, then put the energy at almost full Black Rabbit force for Sayonara. What a great set.

Up next was the oddest of the odd, one of my favorite heavy rocking bands, Black Rabbit, playing acoustic. They went on at 8 and Marc Scarano and Darlene Scarano played a pretty sweet set/ She played electric bass and he played acoustic guitar, and they opened with a couple of newish songs that will be on their next album. The stripped down version let the melodies of the songs shine and allowed Marc to sing in a pleasantly gentle way. They tossed a couple of cover songs, and played 3 from the first ep, Neutrino, Neighborhood, and the one I thought of immediately when I heard they would play acoustic, 89. They had a nice feel to the music, but the thing that really stood out is how talented Darlene really is. Her voice has a beautiful tone that really makes you want to listen, her bass playing is very precise and melodic, and you could tell her fingers knew exactly how to hit every note they crawled over. It was cool to watch them together. The one time things broke down a little Marc was searching for a note with his voice, and Darlene tried a couple and found it and Marc followed her discovery and it nailed it from there. It was great to experience. They tossed in a couple more new ones, including the back and forth vocal on My Libido, then put the energy at almost full Black Rabbit force for Sayonara. What a great set.

They wrapped up at 8:45 and around 8:50 Phil Yates and Kevin Stevens took the stage. Phil was on acoustic and sang, and Kevin played the lead electric guitar. They were joined by drummer Jake Blodgett, and Raph Worrick on bass and the small wooden gallery with a reasonably full audience, started to rock. They mixed songs from the first album with the new one, No Need To Beg. Masterpiece rocked nicely and if it was cringe-worthy, the audience missed it. The songs were fun and had their own bounce to them, and the playing was sweet. About half way into the set Phil broke a string and I could see one of those magic Burlington moments happen. Halfway into the song I saw Marc poised close to the stage. The moment the song ended he walked backstage and got his guitar and lent it to Phil. It took a song to get fully back into the groove of the rocking show, but once they were back they stayed there. They played a killer foursome of Might As Well Settle, Ninja’s VS Zombies, Burn It Down Bernadette and Little French Earthquakes. There was some serious rock and roll intensity there. They closed with the Replacements I will Dare (correct me if I’m wrong professor) and that capped a beautiful night. I said a couple of quick goodbyes and headed down the stairs and up the street. It was just after 10 and tomorrow will be a long day. Thanks for rocking!!

This post was originally published by Tim Lewis at his personal blog, https://timstriangletribune.wordpress.com.