Musician Martin Sexton filled Pollak Theatre with his bluesy folk rock this past Friday night, December 9. His set, entitled “A Winter Night,” was a low-key affair that featured Sexton and his guitar.
The Boston native has been a recording artist for the better part of 20 years now with nine full-length albums and an EP due out in January.
Sexton greeted the audience when he first arrived with, “Good evening, brothers and sisters,” and right away the audience could feel his hippie vibe.
However, Sexton didn’t say much else. He’d just go from playing one song after another, often without stopping to say anything about these numbers.
Sexton usually didn’t even introduce his songs, and the closest thing to an introduction was before one song when he said, “I try hard not to suck, and it’s off a record that I think doesn’t suck.” The song did not suck, but it kind of sucks that I have no idea what song it was.
Anyone who wasn’t a Sexton fan might have felt a little out of place, which might explain the various concert goers who left at different points in the performance.
Though judging by the small audience (probably less than 10 rows filled), the audience was mostly Sexton fans. The uproar that was heard every time a song finished was shockingly loud, as was the screaming when Sexton would begin a new tune.
In between starting and finishing songs, though, hardly a sound was made. The audience seemed to just watch in awe as Sexton performed. I could even hear the woman seated behind me whispering the lyrics along with Sexton.
The small audience allowed for Sexton to really hear his fans, though. At one point Sexton said, “Gets to that point in the show where I just don’t know what to play.” Fans started shouting songs and he played some of their requests.
Sexton’s voice is eerily similar to that of Dave Matthews, so it really isn’t surprising to hear that he spent much of this year as the opening act for the Dave Matthews Band. His music is a little bit jazz, some blues and a lot of folk rock.
Sexton incorporated beat boxing into his music, too, which was sort of odd but he managed to make it work.
He also included scatting, the use of nonsense syllables in songs, which didn’t work quite as well. It just seemed really strange and sometimes made it sound like he was in pain. Sexton also doesn’t really annunciate when he sings, which sometimes makes it a little hard to understand the lyrics.
It was a bit of a relief when Sexton covered Buffalo Springfield’s “Stop Children What’s That Sound” because all of his originals were starting to sound the same.
Surprisingly, Sexton’s opening act was much more appealing. Chris Trapper is a charismatic folk rocker and Buffalo, NY native. His songs, like Sexton’s, all tell a story.
Yet, unlike Sexton, he would preface all of his songs with a funny anecdote. Trapper played a song that got him a Grammy nomination and was on the soundtrack of August Rush. He played another tune called “Here All Along,” the recorded version of which features Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty. The one love song Trapper played caused many couples in the audience to become affectionate.
Most concert goers seemed very pleased with the performance. Meg McCourt of Wenonah, NJ has been a fan of Sexton for about five years now and has gone to many of his shows. McCourt said, “I think his voice is just amazing, beautiful. He tells a story [in his songs].”
Kathy Damato of Bradley Beach really enjoyed Sexton’s voice as well. “I just think the different variations in the way he sings are great.”
Sexton even had fans plan a birthday trip to New Jersey from Florida around this concert. Jeff Cohen brought his wife Arlene to the concert as a birthday surprise.
Cohen said that he enjoyed Sexton’s encore, when he played “Blue Christmas” and “Amazing Grace,” the most. “[The encore] was like a great meal where they say ‘nah, we’ll skip desert,’ but they give you just a taste. It was great,” Cohen said.
PHOTO COURTESY of theatrewithin.org
