The Del Amitri Concert, March 9, 1996
"7 Willow Street" in Port Chester, New York
by Jason Scully-Clemmons

When New York City weathermen said it was "unseasonably chilly" out that night, most New Yorkers had the good sense to stay indoors. Luckily, Karen and I don't have that much good sense, and we weren't about to let a little cold keep us off the Metro North train to Port Chester, NY to see Del Amitri play at 7 Willow Street.

The doors at 7 Willow Street opened at 7 pm, and the place was practically empty for the first couple of hours. Mid-way through the opening act (Josh Clayton Felt, formerly of School of Fish), the place started to fill up somewhat, but the crowd hung back about ten feet from the stage, and didn't seem very animated. It wasn't looking good for our favorite Scots - a club only half-filled with a half-awake audience. Luckily, when Josh Clayton Felt had been off stage for about 10 minutes the place got pretty packed. When the Dels hit the stage, leading off with "The Ones That You Love Lead You Nowhere," the crowd welcomed them with plenty of noise.

The acoustics at 7 Willow Street weren't the greatest, the sound seemed to get swallowed up in the incredibly high ceilings at times, but the band still sounded terrific. The set seemed to fly by:

• Just Like A Man
• When I Want You
• Always The Last To Know
• Here & Now (Justin even put "drive all day," "break my heart," and "crash the car" in proper order)
• Driving With The Brakes On
• Medicine
• Roll To Me
• Crashing Down
• Hatful of Rain
• Start With Me (medley w/ "Lust For Life" in which Iain does lead vocals)
• Stone Cold Sober
• Being Somebody Else

And the crowd went wild! After a very short rest, the Dels were back. If memory serves, the first encore consisted of a cover of a Crazy Horse song in which Iain, John, a.k.a. "the new guy," and Justin alternate on lead vocal followed by "Kiss This Thing Goodbye."

And again the crowd went wild, and again Del Amitri returned. This time the encore began with a new song entitled "Spare Pair Of Laces;" if you haven't had a chance to hear it yet, you're in for a treat when you do. I was particularly pleased with the second song of the second encore - "Fred Partington's Daughter" - which the Dels played at our request. The fact that before they could play the song Justin had to teach Andy the chords and ask us what some of the lyrics were made it that much more impressive that they took the request. After "Fred Partington's Daughter" came an exceptionally plaintive "Tell Her This."

And yet again the crowd went wild, and the Glaswegian rockers came back to the stage to finish the evening off beautifully with "Be My Downfall."

A humorous highlight of the show was Andy accidentally knocking his keyboards over in the middle of "Just Like A Man." No damage or injuries to report . . . just sort of an embarassment I'm sure.