LIVE: “Hearts 4 Haiti” @ the Palace Theatre, 2/11/10

The music was great.

A batch of some of Nippertown’s finest homegrown musical talent graced the stage at the Palace Theatre on Thursday night. Slick Fitty kicked off the evening’s festivities by steamrolling through some gritty, roots-oriented rock & roll. Sirsy was in the number two slot, and the dynamic duo of Melanie Krahmer and Rich Libutti had no problem filling the theater, as they ripped through the title track of their latest album, “Revolution,” and served up new ones like “Goner” as well.

The Audiostars balanced the old and the new by showcasing classic nuggets like the Allman Brothers Band’s “Midnight Rider” and Dobie Gray’s “Drift Away” with more contemporary material, such as Kings of Leon’s “Use Somebody.”

Backed by her crack six-piece band, Jill Hughes got the crowd up on their feet and dancing as they cranked up a solid beat on selections from her recently released debut album, “For the First Time,” as well as funky collection of golden oldies ranging from Stevie Wonder’s “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” to the B-52s’ “Love Shack.”

And guitarslinger David Malachowski capped it all off leading his aptly named band, the Woodstock Allstars, through a delicious set that included blues gems (“Further On Up the Road”), classic rock (“Feelin’ Alright”) and a blast from Malachowski’s new solo CD, “The Secret Life of Colonel David.” Anchored by bassist Graham Maby and drummer Gary Burke (Joe Jackson’s original rhythm section), the band sounded even tighter and more confident than they did in concert at The Linda last month (See review here). Marshall Crenshaw didn’t make a surprise appearance this time, but Stacy Wilde did, and she howled through the closing rendition of “I Shall Be Released.”

There was, however, one problem with the concert. The audience. Or rather the lack of an audience.

I don’t know what the total attendance figures were. Maybe a lot of people bought tickets and then didn’t show up for the concert. But there were never more than 200 people in the theater (which seats 2,800), and that’s just sad. Especially for a benefit for a good cause with a cheap ticket price ($15).

Photographs by Andrzej Pilarczyk. Here are more of Andrzej’s photos from this show.