United Palace eats its own: the theater with the highest ceiling this side of the Cistern, is a cavernous mausoleum where the distance from the balcony to the stage feels like a million miles and the close circuit TV system is non existent. The only thing that is modern is the price of a drink and the price of a ticket. Incidentally, they are the only place that won't let you take your soda to your seat and the seat numbering is some sort of Dewey decimal system. The Ushers can't find the seats, you can't find the seats, the seats suck any way. It is the worst seated venue in the Tri-State area.
And everybody gets lost in there. Monsters Of Folk and Bob Dylan are still wandering around in a daze and poor Jack Dishel, who goes by the name of Only Son, a talented enough fellow for damn sure, disappeared before your very eyes.
Jack is best known as the other half of Moldy Peaches,he wrote "Anyone But You" so pronounced on the "Juno" soundtrack. As a solo performer he has some of the sing-songy, nursery rhyme quality of Moldy Peaches but tide tight to n indie rock proficiency. The band is all guitars and drums, and the sound, in a smaller venue, in a place like Webster Hall, would be a thrilling little rock set with mood switches and a smartypants lead singer.
At UP it is nothing of the sort.
I don't know Only Sons material particular well and though I did know "It's A Boy" a dystopia about the pre-ordained manufacturing of a child's life, and it didn't connect here. Jack's voice is a little on the light side and taking up about a third of the stage, nothing he did could really connect with us.
There is no shame here, Jack is a trooper who was selling his own goods in the foyer so you got to think the man lacks pretension. And last years Searchlight was a pretty good effort. But even a non nonsense rocker like "Solo Mission" -sorta Moody Blues pre-Threshold meets the Who, failed to connect.
Grade: B