{"id":26821,"date":"2017-01-30T09:53:53","date_gmt":"2017-01-30T17:53:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/?p=26821"},"modified":"2017-01-31T12:57:33","modified_gmt":"2017-01-31T20:57:33","slug":"review-john-k-sansom-the-winter-wheat-bring-their-winning-ways-to-the-wiltern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/2017-01\/review-john-k-sansom-the-winter-wheat-bring-their-winning-ways-to-the-wiltern\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: John K. Sansom & The Winter Wheat Bring Their Winning Ways to the Wiltern"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Photos by Norm Popp<\/strong><\/h6>\n

Oft-times the world sorts itself out. But sometimes the world makes no sense. These are those times. Adding to our confusion, vaunted singer-songwriter\u00a0John K. Samson<\/strong><\/a> (with The Winter Wheat<\/strong>) left his beloved Winnipeg to be one of three (!) bands opening\u00a0<\/strong>(!) for Brit\u00a0Frank Turner and The Sleeping Souls<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0Saturday night at The Wiltern<\/strong> in LA. While Turner<\/strong> is an infectious live performer (see photos at bottom), a particular strength of his is his good taste in other musical artists. Turner<\/strong> has repeatedly touted Samson<\/strong> (and his much-praised\/beloved band The Weakerthans<\/strong><\/a>) to his ardent fans. And Turner<\/strong> also managed to coerce the seemingly-recalcitrant Samson<\/strong>\u00a0to make a rare visit to California as Turner’s<\/strong> tour-opener. And for that alone we say: thank God for Frank Turner<\/strong>! Samson<\/strong>\u00a0hadn’t played in California since we caught The Weakerthans’\u00a0<\/strong>swan-song tour in July 2009, so whatever it takes to flush the multi-talented Samson<\/strong> out of Manitoba for a California gig is fine by us.<\/p>\n

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On Saturday the Wiltern<\/strong> crowd quickly warmed to\u00a0Samson & The Winter Wheat<\/strong> (consisting of Samson’s<\/strong> talented wife Christine Fellows<\/strong>\u00a0on keys\/vocals\/uke\/melodica and former Weakerthaners Greg Smith<\/strong> on bass and Jason Tait<\/strong> on drums\/melodica). Long-time fans of the songwriters’-songwriter mixed with young fans (culled, largely, by Turner<\/strong>) and sang every word as Samson<\/strong> and band soundly impressed (as always). Their set featured a fantastic mix of songs from last year’s solo album\u00a0Winter Wheat<\/strong><\/em> (in part an homage to Neil Young’s<\/strong> seminal On The Beach<\/strong><\/em> and our No. 1 Best Album of 2016<\/strong>) and older, but forever-affecting,\u00a0Weakerthans’<\/strong> songs. For the uninitiated, Samson<\/strong> is easily one of, if not the best lyricists and songwriters of this generation, and he always conveys soulfulness live.<\/p>\n

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Samson<\/strong> opened with his wistful, yet encouraging, hymn-for-this-era,\u00a0Select All Delete<\/strong><\/em><\/a>,\u00a0featuring Fellows’<\/strong> mournful piano and train-whistle vocal. The more up-tempo (but not necessarily upbeat)\u00a0Weakerthans’<\/strong>\u00a0song Sun In An Empty Room<\/strong><\/em><\/a> followed, enabling bassist Smith<\/strong> and deftly-adroit drummer Tait<\/strong> to better exhibit their fine skills. Before launching into the rallying Post Doc Blues<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>(“recommit yourself to the healing of the world”), Samson<\/strong> acknowledged the current political climate and admonished the crowd to “resist” and to “remember, no one is ever illegal.” The Weakerthans’<\/strong> rollicking\u00a0New Name For Everything<\/strong><\/em><\/a>\u00a0followed (“Stand with your hands in your pockets and stare, at the smudge on a newspaper sky, and ask it to rain a new name for everything”). Samson<\/strong> then mockingly boasted that the next song (Alpha Adept<\/strong><\/em><\/a>,\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>one of our favorites off Winter Wheat<\/strong><\/em>) would feature “my big guitar solo<\/strong>.” And so it did, while Smith’s<\/strong> bass sang sweetly along with the crowd, and especially on one of the best stanzas of any year:<\/p>\n

“All I can say is I’m excited
\nAll I can do is let you know
\nYou are the one I wanna be with
\nWhen they return to claim the Earth
\nFor a planet near Orion’s belt
\nWhere everyone is happier and tall
\nAnd they sing a billion stories with their minds
\nWhile flying all around the sky”<\/p>\n

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Samson then dedicated the raging Vampire Alberta Blues<\/strong> <\/em><\/a>(off of Winter Wheat<\/strong><\/em> and an update\/tribute to Neil Young’s<\/strong> anti-oil-industry anthem Vampire Blues<\/strong><\/em>) to “all the people of Standing Rock<\/strong>,” giving the performance added gravitas. The Weakerthans’ <\/strong>deeper-cuts\u00a0Bigfoot<\/em><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(which always reminds of Paul Simon<\/strong>), and the punk-ish\u00a0Aside<\/strong><\/em><\/a>\u00a0and Confessions of a Futon Revolutionist<\/strong><\/em><\/a>\u00a0followed, receiving rapturous support from the crowd. Winter Wheat’s<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0beautiful, plaintive Requests<\/strong><\/em><\/a> followed, featuring\u00a0Tait<\/strong> on melodica. Samson<\/strong> then unleashed the Weakerthan’s<\/strong> poetry-cloaked-in-punk masterpiece Plea From a Cat Named Virtute<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>(songwriters: if you need an example of well-crafted lyrics, here’s Lesson One). With only time for one last song, Samson<\/strong>\u00a0appropriately closed with the sanguine\u00a0Winter Wheat<\/a>,\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>with both Fellows<\/strong> and Tait<\/strong> joining in on melodica.<\/p>\n

And in that moment, the “world was good enough.”<\/p>\n

We only hope that our world will be bettered by Samson<\/strong><\/em> returning to California soon for a headlining tour. To catch him live, go HERE<\/strong><\/a> for the current tour dates.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, do yourselves a huge favor and support this artist by picking up Winter Wheat <\/strong><\/em>(on\u00a0Epitaph\/ANTI<\/a><\/strong>) HERE<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photos by Norm Popp Oft-times the world sorts itself out. But sometimes the world makes no sense. These are those times. Adding to our confusion, vaunted singer-songwriter\u00a0John K. Samson (with The Winter Wheat) left his beloved Winnipeg to be one of three (!) bands opening\u00a0(!) for Brit\u00a0Frank Turner and The Sleeping Souls\u00a0Saturday night at The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t