LIVE: Nané & Al Olender @ Lark Hall, 03/09/2022

By Leif Zurmuhlen On Mar 11, 2022

Between apologizing for the need to constantly tune her vintage Airline guitar and cheerful between-song banter singer-songwriter Al Olender delivered a fine batch of her “funny-sad singy-thingys” at Lark Hall Wednesday night. She joked that watching true crime shows help her to relax and get to sleep before performing “All I Do Is Watch TV” with the lyrics “All I need is eighty summers to get my shit together, all I do is watch TV, I thank my lucky stars those people aren’t me, but I’m still staring at a screen”. Her new album Easy Crier is out May 13. She made a point of making eye contact with each and every member of the audience and offered a unique reworking of Tom Petty‘s “You’re So Bad”.

“I know I’m fun, but I’m not for everyone” sang Nané‘s dynamic frontman Daniel Sahad in their song “Blue Velvet”, but this band has something for everyone. Guitarist Ian Green, bassist Scott McIntyre, drummer Brady Kippa, keyboardist LaRon Marshall and percussionist Gustavo Hernandez presented energetic “soul on the rocks” -sweet indie R&B and soul with rock riffs and latin flavors. Vocalist Sahad (childhood nickname Nané) suggests the Aaron Neville Conundrum: that voice from this man? Built like a linebacker and possessing an expansive, uninhibited voice that sweeps from falsetto to a roar Sahad led the group through slow jams like “Ladybird” and the powerful build up of “Always On My Mind”. Baby-Making music with a classic Love Man out front. Referring to the day’s snow the band said,” We just made it from Pittsburgh to Albany today! We’re from Texas-we don’t know how to drive in this shit!” Nané swung into 1956 with their take on Louis Prima‘s “Buona Sera” and pulled Al Olender back onstage for a joyous cover of Lionel Richie‘s “All Night Long”. Stellar sound at Lark Hall as always.