Frank Black celebrated the anniversary of an album that sounds better than ever now

Regarding the grooves of his first album, Black changed things a bit in relation to what he had offered a couple of days before at the Fillmore in San Francisco; not in terms of the presence of the chosen songs, but in the order in which he presented them, because instead of performing “Los Angeles” in the first part of the concert, before launching into the entire “Teenager of the Year”, he left the piece for the closing segment.

He did so with full knowledge that this is a cut that, for natural reasons, occupies a special place among his local fans, even though the lyrics seem to hint somewhat maliciously that he is referring to “another Los Angeles.”

Before playing it, the host of the evening, who keeps his distinctive voice intact, introduced the musicians who accompanied him, almost all of whom came from our city; and at other times, he mentioned some of the experiences he has had in Southern California, implying the appreciation he has for a place where he has spent a lot of time.

But he did not talk about the current fires, which could have left any casual viewer stunned, but which makes sense when it comes to an artist little inclined to public sentimental manifestations and even physical movement on stage.

It was also appropriate that he ended the concert with “I Heard Ramona Sing”, another song from the debut album that attracted attention from its premiere for its catchy nature, and which once again achieved notoriety seven years later due to its inclusion in the band. soundtrack of “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World”, a film with which it had nothing to do (beyond the fact that the main character was in an ‘indie’ band), but whose female protagonist was precisely named Ramona.

Made up mostly of the personnel who recorded “Teenager” – that is, bassist and keyboardist Eric Drew Feldman (who also produced the work), guitarist Lyle Workman and drummer Nick Vincent -, and with the addition of multi-instrumentalist Rob Laufer , Black’s band for the occasion naturally offered a particularly faithful interpretation of the plate; and he did the same with the cuts from the first album that were heard, in which Feldman and Vincent also participated.

Aside from one mistake or another, the musicians established an impressive unity that was even more remarkable given that, outside of the two previous dates in the city of San Francisco, they had not really played together in a long, long time. And all they had to do was dedicate themselves to their thing, without fuss of any kind, to give life to an unforgettable night.