photos and text by Dan Williams
The Fillmore was packed with about 1,700 Elle King fans night. There were a large faction of young girls and their moms and aunts. The sassy Country-Rock vocalist appeals to that crowd in a big way. Natalie, a huge front-row fan and 6th grader, loves her music as featured in the Lucifer TV show and in the Ghostbusters reboot. She had many in her camp who were anxious for the show to begin.
But first they had Texan Paul Cauthen in for his forty-minute support set. His band began the intro and when Cauthen strolled out, I was surprised there was no applause … not even a peep. I’ve never witnessed that before. Tough crowd.
Well, that silence didn’t last. Cauthen had them smiling and dancing from the first notes. His baritone is chameleon-like. During the opener, I couldn’t help but hear a little Elvis in his voice. Not on purpose, just naturally. Throughout his set, I picked up styles of Merle, Johnny Cash, Toby Keith and The Highwaymen in his writing style. Overall, as comfortable as a broken-in pair of boots.
His four-piece backing band was top-notch as well. But Cauthen is the show. He’s authentic, powerful and memorable.
At exactly 9:00pm, out strolled Elle King’s band fronted by an energetic trombonist getting the crowd up and at ‘em. After a few moments of his fun Pied Piper act, he stepped back as King casually strolled out with her Solo Red Party Cup in hand and a big smile on her face. She launched into opener “Last Damn Night” setting the mood for the night.
Almost every song had a funny and usually bawdy spoken intro, complete with potty mouth. I envisioned young Natalie’s mom covering her ears and Natalie feeling all grown up.
King was proud to tell the audience that she lived in Philly for a time. “It’s where I learned to skip school and to talk shit!” About halfway through her set, she called out an audience member about texting: “Oh look, we have someone texting all night. Yeah, that would be you. All done? Great … Well, welcome to our show. Let’s begin.” A massive round of applause. In fact, from the balcony looking down, it was a sea of smart phone screens throughout the show. King handled it masterfully with humor.
All of her hits were played by her crack band. She seemed to revel in their musicianship giving them ample time to stretch out. She was generous with Cauthen allowing him to sing “Folsom Prison Blues” while she accompanied from behind on her guitar. She joined in the duet late in the song, giving Cauthen many props along the way.
King writes her life story. Many of her tunes are about hard living, meeting difficult people in life and love and how she fights back. Titles like “Good For Nothin’ Women,” “I Told You I Was Mean,” and “Chain Smokin’, Hard Drinkin’ Woman” are great examples.
It was a great evening for this unassuming, unaffected woman of the people. Despite the fact that she was born into show business, she admirably does not trade on that, and neither will I in this review. (I’ll bet she’ll find that refreshing!)
It was a bad ass show by a bad ass performer.
