As Chris Owens once commented on rock nyc after I dismantled Girls out of tune performance at Webster Hall, nearly two years ago "dogs bark but the caravan moves on ". And he got it precisely right: nyc was just and is just another stop.
And though Girls were awful in April 2010, that is just one of many, and everybody has an off day.
Girls were very good Saturday night at T5.
Yes, Owens still lacks definition as a band leader , he seems to connect with neither his band nor his audience and while he looks the part in a skirt and flannel shirt, he is an introverted guy and it works against him in odd ways: Chris doesn't really keep the fans on his side so he has to rely almost entirely on execution. Saturday, traveling through his two albums and on EP, chock full of excellent songs, he nails it all, sings em well, uses black chick back-up singers to good effect (sometimes as a stand in for the audience, sometimes as MCs) and the back up band is the best he has had.
The second song of the night is a rushed "Honey Bunny" but within half an hour he nails a breathtaking "Laura" selling "I just wanna be your friend forever" with all his might in a lovely extended coda. And soon after the band gels very, very well on the instrumental break for "Substance".
When I firs saw Girls, they hadn't released any songs at all and I didn't know em. Mistook them for a band. Especially when, in response to an audience member asking if they were gay, Chris tongue kissed his bassist. By now, none of that playfulness remains and Girls are, indeed, the least playful of Chris Owens creations. Everybody except Owens is a hired hand and they are earnest musicians who handle the job at hand with aplomb and musical ambition. They sound great.
Chris himself is a good singer with a very distinctive tone so a Gospel song like "Love Like A river" -while brilliantly performed, seems to drift into the set itself. It is hard to stand out because Girls always sounds like Chris and Chris always sounds like Chris.
I thought Album was better than Father, Son, Holy Ghost, but that wasn't the problem. And, unlike the last time, neither was the pacing or the playing. The problem is Owens. he isn't a rock star and he doesn't know how to play one on stage.
Hey, Chris, I just wanna be friends forever and ever… Too late, the Caravan has gone.
Grade: B+