After witnessing countless bands with some of the fastest stage set-ups I’ve ever seen (A+ for the roadies!), my CMJ Music Marathon experience came to a close on Saturday afternoon with a few shows at the Rockwood Music Hall. Brooklyn band Hospitality took the stage around 3:30pm for some rock jams featuring wailing electric guitars and Amber Papini’s sweet and spunky lead vocals. Although the instruments sounded great, Papini’s voice was unfortunately a bit overpowered by them, making it harder to hear her beautiful voice. Still though, they put on a pretty entertaining show and served as a good lead-in for Rachael Yamagata who was up next.
Playing mostly news songs with a few older goodies thrown in, Rachel Yamagata put on one hell of show to a beyond-packed and enthused audience. The highlight of the set really had to be “The Way It Seems to Go,†a bluesy jam from her new album, Chesapeake, which was cranked up about a thousand percent in terms of gritty, dirty sassiness with great pedal steel guitar and keys from her fantastic backing band. “This song started out as a joke song,†she said before launching into it, “and then it made the record.†And thank god it did.
