Health & Fitness
Adam Rivera LIVE on April 13, 2014 The Middle East - a review
Pennsylvania's own Adam Rivera trekked up to Boston for a big convention and performed at The Middle East in Central Square, Cambridge, one of the hippest clubs in the northeast.
On a bill with a number of folkies, Adam took the stage around 8:43 PM, dressed in a blue shirt with some stage moves the previous act should have taken note of. Rivera's speed-freak staccato style is easily identifiable and separated him from the other performers. How he keeps that brisk guitar strum consistent and flowing is part of the artistry, a wall of sound other solo guitarists don't have to add to the semi-scat singing Adam brought to the first tune.
8:46 brought us his popular title "Gone" - displaying with even more emphasis the large sound provided by his left handed strum-prowess and complex musical phrasings. At 8:49 as Rivera went into his third song, Taxi Driver was playing on the TV screen at the bar. Young Jodie Foster gets into Robert DeNiro's cab with Adam providing the soundtrack, at least in the nightclub that evening. Short, powerful blasts opened up song 7 at 9:02 PM, the tunes in quick succession a la The Ramones. Rivera is a one-man Ramones, but he does have a twisted sense of humor to go along with it. Song #12 at 9:16 pm had the singer noting that "there are no gay bars" in some city, maybe Oneonta NY, though Google says they have three. The hilarious thing was that as Adam Rivera is singing about "no gay bars" and that he's "never been attracted to guys" Robert DeNiro in Taxi Driver is shirtless on the screen all during the song, making the Middle East at least feel like a gay bar! A singalong at 9:21 concluded the set clocking in at a succinct 38 minutes.
Rivera is a powerful artist with a unique perspective and well worth catching as he travels around the club scene up and down the east coast and to some areas west of Pennsylvania.
Hear GREY WORLD here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWENX5jCuas
Directed By: Philip Maniaci
