I had the absolute privilege last night of seeing the PigPen Theatre Co. play at the Old Town School of Folk Music last night with Brian and Carla. They and their opening act, the Morningsiders were fantastic.
First, the venue. The Old Town School of Folk Music seems like an incredible institution. In its 50-plus years it has served as a teaching, collaboration, and concert venue to musicians of all skill levels and folk-related interests. The actual theatre was a lovely space to take in the show.
The Morningsiders kicked off an excellent show with an upbeat folk set interspersed with interesting factoids (for example, apparently unless they tell people how to spell their name, there are 64 possible permutations of reasonably valid spellings). I thoroughly enjoyed these guys and I’ll definitely be listening to them for some time to come!
Then there was the main act. PigPen is an interesting musical entity. They are primarily a theatre troupe (I can’t wait to see one of their stage shows), but they have also released two albums and are fantastic as a live band. Their songs tend to build from a single voice to a raucous crescendo and their stage presence and comedic timing – I’m sure the performance training helps here – are some of the best I’ve ever seen. If you get the chance, go see these guys in concert!
Check out below for a sample of their music!