WFUV Sure Knows How To Spread Holiday Cheer
WFUV put on their 10th annual Holiday Cheer benefit show this past friday at the gorgeous Beacon Theatre on the upper-west side of Manhattan. The very popular NPR station packed the venue with a very diverse crowd of WFUV listeners old and young alike, which shows the great reach that they have. This year’s installment featured impressive performances from WFUV veterans Brandi Carlile, Dawes and Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings as well as local newcomers Lucius. It was the perfect way to start celebrating the holiday season; the night was filled with festive tunes, dancing in the aisles and tons of support for NYC’s only alternative station which thrives off of member donations.
A highlight of this event for me as a listener is being able to put faces to the voices of the DJs on WFUV that I listen to daily. The fabulous program director and Holiday Cheer co-producer Rita Huston introduced Brandi Carlile to start off the night. Carlile played an incredibly touching acoustic version of Joni Mitchell’s “River” sans her band; this was the first of many appearances Carlile made on stage. Brooklyn’s Lucius then took the stage after being welcomed by WFUV’s The Alternate Side host Russ Borris. The band had a tight-knit set up, having the girls (and vocal powerhouses) Holly Laessig and Jess Wolfe stand facing one another instead of the audience wearing attention-demanding matching sequence dresses while the boys played closely behind them. Although the band had a short set, they were able to give the audience a taste of their new album that will be released in March with the song “Dusty Trails” while also playing crowd favorites “Two of Us on the Run” and “Turn it Around” from 2013’s Wildewoman.
Dawes took the stage next, the band that now includes guitarist Duane Betts, son of the Allman Brothers’ Dickey Betts, was full of excitement to be playing Holiday Cheer and The Beacon Theatre. They played a career-spanning set, giving the audience “Things Happen,” “Somewhere Along The Way” and “A Little Bit of Everything” from their recent release All Your Favorite Bands, “Most People” from 2013’s Stories Don’t End, and “When My Time Comes” from 2009’s North Hills. Frontman Taylor Goldsmith was an explosion of energy from the time they stepped on stage until the last song, running from one end of the stage to the other, getting the entire audience up on their feet dancing and singing along. During the set Goldsmith also confessed to the audience that the band has big dreams of one day headlining a show at The Beacon Theatre, which no doubt will become a reality for them.
After a short intermission, one of my favorite WFUV hosts, Carmel Holt, introduced the legendary Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, who just released the very appropriate album It’s A Holiday Soul Party. Jones, looking stronger than ever after her public battle with pancreatic cancer, dazzled as she hit the stage. Songs from the new album made up most of the set. Starting off with “God Rest Ye Merry Gents,” the band then covered the Charles Brown’s 1960 classic “Please Come Home For Christmas.” After making a joke that she may need some help with some of the wording, Jones sprung into the laugh-and-dance-inducing tune “8 Days of Hanukkah.” Starr and Saun, longtime backup singers, then came front and center with Jones to sing the sassy tongue and cheek tune “Big Bulbs”- which also caused the audience to burst out into laughter. The set came to a close with the James Brown-inspired “Ain’t No Chimneys in the Projects,” which was originally released in 2010. The entire set was incredible from start to finish, and it’s safe to say I know what Christmas album will be playing in my house this season.
Brandi Carlile and her bandmates twins Tim and Phil Hanseroth took the stage next. Carlile dedicated the first song of the set, “Raise Hell” from 2012’s Bear Creek, to WFUVs own Rita Houston. She then broke into the crowd favorite from this year’s album The Firewatcher’s Daughter, “Wherever Is Your Heart.” At the beginning of “The Eye,” Brandi declared that “there is no such thing as a lead singer,” which was proved when she and the Hanseroth twins provided intense and emotional harmonies to the song. The twins and Brandi then gave “The Things I Regret” a twist by playing kick-drums that were out of sight from the audience on the floor, making the already moving song very powerful. Carlile then moved into “The Story,” the title track of her 2007 album; she reminisced that WFUV was the first station in the country to ever play one of her tracks. This is a sentiment that many artists can relate to, WFUV has been giving emerging artists a place to be heard since its inception.
The encore at Holiday cheer always brings amazing talents together for unexpected collaborations and is definitely the audiences favorite part of the night. This year started out with Dawes joining Carlile for a knee-slapping cover of Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues.” Following the slightly off-theme cover, Christmas was back with Sharon Jones returned to the stage with her Dap-Kings for an incredibly soulful rendition of “Silent Night.” Carlile and Jones took turns on the verses, showcasing the undeniable amount of talent these two woman have. The night was coming to a close in what seemed like the blink of an eye as Carlile and her trusty twins came center stage while the lights went down. They then lightly sang “O Holy Night,” their voices soft and angelic while they echoed throughout the venue. The song was a perfect ending to the night, bringing the audience to their feet and even bringing some tears to eyes. Thank you WFUV for being a shining light in the often dark world of radio and continuously offering support to amazing artists.