Willie Nile visits the Space Ballroom in CT...

There are two types of music fans, those who are Willie Nile fans and those who have never seen Willie Nile perform. Once one sees Willie perform live, they will instantly become a fan of both the man and his music! Recently he brought his band back to the Space Ballroom located in the New Haven, CT suburb of Hamden for a night of raucous musical enjoyment.

Opening the show was local troubadour, Christian Marrone. Christian took the stage with his acoustic guitar to perform songs from his self-produced upcoming release, “Don’t Sell Me Your Hate”. He seemed a bit nervous to be playing before a crowd that was not there to see him perform his must but his music was very well received by the audience which loosened him up quickly. His folkish ballads are loaded with social commentary and introspective lyrics which made him a perfect opening act for Willie Nile whose own songs are of a similar spirit. Keep an eye out for the release of Christian’s CD and more music from this New Haven area musician.

The following is a bit of intro to Willie Nile for the uninitiated. Born in 1948, he has been active in the music industry since 1976 and has a dozen studio and four live albums to his credit. The New York Times called Willie Nile “one of the most gifted singer-songwriters to emerge from the New York scene in years” and folks, that is not fake news! In 2014, he released an album titled “If I was a River”. This piano based release had the New Yorker magazine proclaiming him as “One of the most brilliant singer-songwriters of the past thirty years”. His praises have been sung by the likes of Pete Townshend, Bruce Springsteen, Lou Reed, and a number of other big names in the music industry.

Willie puts on a very high energy show which belies his age and encourages those in the audience facing aging in the near future. His enthusiasm is contagious and his band certainly follows suit. Mentioned several times throughout the set were lead guitarist Matt Hogan, drummer Jon Webber, and high-flying bassist Johnny Pisano, who accentuate Nile’s musical brilliance with that of their own. One is reminded of Springsteen and his band as the audience is seeing a group of talented musicians who enjoy what they are doing and who they are doing it with.

The set was peppered with songs from throughout his almost 40-year catalog. His latest release, Children of Paradise was released in 2018 to critical acclaim and it was well represented. Willie also pulled out some cover versions that have found their way onto his albums over the years. Interestingly, the covers were that of artists who have also been highly acclaimed singer-songwriters. In a moment of punk rock-edged moment, Jim Carrol’s “People Who Died” was performed similar to the original classic but Lou Reed’s “Sweet Jane” and Bob Dylan’s “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35” (Everybody Must Get Stoned) where done in a more up-tempo rock & roll beat which gave them a great Willie Nile feel.

On several occasions Willie mentioned the good in people and that everyone should take the time to see that. Negativity needs to be shunned and we need to all work together to make this a better world. He is a performer who speaks of how to make things better rather than dwelling on all of the bad issues surrounding society these days. His message resonated loudly with his Hamden audience and hopefully everyone who sees Willie will bring forth his message of the good that surrounds us all. That’s not to say his lyrics don’t bring forth social injustices as opening act Christian Marrone’s lyrics did, merely that his between song interaction with the audience was always upbeat and positive which it seems is not in style these days. Thankfully, it’s in style for Willie Nile!

Photos and review by Rich Russo