Theo Katzman played The Studio at Webster Hall to a full house on Saturday Oct. 5. The show wrapped up his “Why Not” Tour in New York City after touring around the Northeast and Midwest through most of September.
Theo Katzman is a New York-based musician who graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in jazz studies. While in Michigan, he was a part of My Dear Disco with Michelle Chamuel (she was runner up on the last season of NBC’s “The Voice”). His album “Romance Without Finance” was released in 2011, and he released the first single off his next album, “Pop Song,” in September.
The crowd was comprised of a lot of young women. It’s not like Katzman isn’t attractive, but nothing about him or his music makes one immediately think of him as a teenage girl magnet. It’s less surprising when you discover that Katzman has spent a lot of time opening up various shows for “Glee” star Darren Criss, including every show on Criss’ summer “Listen Up” Tour.
Joey Dosik opened the show with a handful of songs from his EP, “Where Do They Come From?,” and unreleased album.
It didn’t seem like many people in the audience were very familiar with Dosik’s music (though he had worked with Katzman before in My Dear Disco). First of all, when Dosik walked on stage he made every girl swoon. He is pretty adorable. Then he opened his mouth. He’s not just pretty. That boy’s voice was amazing.
Dosik’s music was laid back but really soulful. One audience member compared his voice to Adam Levine’s voice. She wasn’t far off in that description, but Dosik is definitely a little less nasally (and I think I prefer Dosik’s voice to Levine).
His cover of The Beatles’ “Don’t Let Me Down” was wonderful. His original music was equally impressive.
In one song, Dosik took advantage of the small space. He quieted the audience and asked if we could hear him. We could. Then he started singing acapella, singing that he was using his “inside voice,” for a few verses before bringing instrumentals in.
Relaxed music can be tricky when played live because it can easily turn into a snoozefest. Luckily, both Dosik and Katzman avoided that easily.
The cool thing about a Theo Katzman show is how his music changes when he is live. While his music is chill and relaxing on his album, he and his band bring a whole different kind of energy when he is live. They were excited and so into the music. Soft songs, like “White Picket Castle” and “I Feel Love” are transformed by their enThey rock out, and the audience feeds that same energy back.
When Katzman came out, the screams were deafening and Katzman seemed genuinely surprised by how excited his audience was. It seemed like a proper homecoming for the Brooklyn native.
When the audience sang back all of his lyrics, Katzman was impressed. When they sang the lyrics to his newly released single, he looked floored.
It’s understandable why the audience was singing along, though. Katzman’s music is fantastic. He played fan favorites (“Brooklyn” and “Country Backroads”), new songs (“Pop Song” and “Romans”) and a cover (Frank Ocean’s “Pilot Jones”). The Frank Ocean cover was unexpected, but it worked really well with his set.
He interacted with the audience well. Aside from the usual small talk with the crowd, he made a lot of eye contact with audience members (a perk of a small venue) and even said to one girl who was singing along quite well, “We can do this, just you and me.” It makes the entire performance feel so much more personal. He seemed comfortable on stage, as did his band. (Dosik joined Katzman’s set on the keyboard with Jack Stratton on drums, Tomek Miernowski on guitar and Joe Dart on bass.) Combine that with good music and that’s a great concert.
Joey Dosik’s music is available at joeydosik.bandcamp.com. Katzman plays in New York City pretty regularly. Check out www.theokatzman.com for future tour dates and theokatzman.bandcamp.com for his album. His latest single, “Pop Song,” is available on iTunes and bandcamp.
PHOTOS TAKEN by Nicole Massabrook
