Don't Wake the Scarecrow

Photo gallery and video links are at the end of the review

The show was bound to be an awesome night from the moment it was announced as an A.A. Bondy and Willy Mason show. It came as quite a pleasant surpise that Simone Felice’s new group The Duke and the King were announced as another opening act. We got to the Bowery Ballroom early on December 9th, 2009, first on line before the doors opened. Minutes before the doors opened we got glimpses of everyone exiting and doing some last minute city-walking. First The Deacon, Nowell Haskins headed out the doors, followed soon after by Simone Felice.



I brought up that I went to the City Winery show and talked to him, reminded him that he signed my books. He thanked us for coming and assured us we were in for a treat by saying “Oh we’ve had a lot of shows since then….it should be a special show tonight”. When I mentioned how I heard the Midnight Ramble show (at Levon Helm’s) went well he sounded so happy that Levon asked him to sing with his band. They left to pack up some stuff and after seeing Willy Mason leave and AA Bondy and Macey Taylor (his bass player, also in Mystic Valley Band) entering, we were let in.

Willy had a nice opening set of 10 to 12 songs, and knows how to hold the audience’s attention while alone on stage. Nice mellow set that included some chatting with the audience. The crowd ate up everything that the young guitar player sang and the place was very crowded towards the end of Willy’s set.

Once Willy finished up we got to see The Duke and the King do what they do best. Play from the heart and make everything just feel so natural. There was a small bit of technical difficulties when starting the first song. Simone’s guitar was plugged in but it didn’t seem to be working. They switched it up and the show quickly got under way.

They ran through a pretty normal setlist that they’ve been known to play. I was sad because they didn’t play “This Place We Call a Home” but we did get a bunch of the classics. Songs included were Union Street, Don’t Wake the Scarecrow, The Devil is Real, If you Ever Get Famous, Morning that I get to Hell, Helpless, One More American Song among others. They played Suzanne which I was glad to see…….I love it when Chicken steps up to the mic to take over. Simone stepped behind the drum kit for Suzanne and it was just magical watching him banging away while his head was thrashing back and forth with a big smile on his face. Simi and Chicken had a little one on one section at the end of the song. The band looked very happy on stage and seemed to be having an amazing time.

Finally, the headlining act came out. AA Bondy, Macey Taylor (bass) and Ben Lester (drums, slide guitar) took to the stage. Bondy was amazing in his ability to go from heavy, feedback-filled swampy jamming to soft, melodic finger picking. His between-song banter was hilarious as always. Before the song “Oh The Vampire” Bondy began saying “Fuck Twilight…..that stuff is bullshit. I wrote this song before all that Twilight, True Blood bullshit. Here’s a song called Oh the Frankenstein”.

We also got to hear him talk about how he has a funny job and that he’s glad for it. One of my favorite talking points was “Fuck Scrappy Doo. I never like Scrappy Doo, Scooby was way better. Sometimes when I’m watching it i’ll say Oh sweet Scooby Doo is on…..then I can tell by the animation that he’ll be there and then I see Scrappy and say ahhh shit.” He also mentioned liking Scooby’s cousin Scooby Don’t.

Stage banter aside….the show was awesome. He was joined on stage by an extra drummer and trombonist (apparently members of Elvis Perkins in Dearland) for a feedback-filled version of Killed Myself When I Was Young. Bondy performed the hell out of tunes from both of his albums, as well as beautiful covers of My Funny Valentine and I’m So Lonesome I could Cry where Bondy was on stage alone for some intimate music that was dedicated to different people. He finished up the night to a chorus of cheers and laughter, and left the stage to heaps of applause.

The Duke and The King – Photos | Videos
A.A. Bondy – Photos | Videos