Kevin Devine – Is Calling it “Divine” Too Obvious?

Maybe it’s my ever advancing age, maybe it’s my move back to a slower-paced city, or maybe I was never as hardcore as I thought I was. Whatever the reason, I’ve been drawn to slower, more laid back music recently. So when I heard that Kevin Devine, indie rock singer/songwriter out of Brooklyn, was coming to the Metro, I was stoked to spend my night off with a calm vibe from my old adopted hometown.

Like so many aspects from my Chicago youth, the Metro isn’t what it used to be. Gone are the scary door guys, growling at the normals. The smoke filled main room has been cleared out in accordance with the 2008 smoking ban. The general dirtiness that left old folks looking for more Purell has been (somewhat) mitigated and properly lit. It seems that the Metro has matured somewhat, in a completely fitting symbol for my older, more mature-ish Chicago concert experience.

Kevin Devine and the Goddamn Band opened with “Just Stay” on an excessively red stage, and my need for a softer, gentler concert was immediately met. With a calm presence and impressive guitar skills, Kevin and the Band quickly grabbed the attention of the good-sized audience who had come out to see headliners The Get Up Kids nostalgia tour; no small feat.

After “Another Bag of Bones,” off his latest disc Brother’s Blood, Devine took a moment for a short PSA on the dangers of cocaine. Apparently missing the lesson, one audience member took the opportunity to “woo-hoo” blow. Devine tried to highlight the moral of his story, and drop a pretty amusing Nancy Reagan reference. The audience didn’t bite. Either they were really excited about cocaine, and didn’t welcome Devine trying to warn them off of it, or maybe they were just too young to properly appreciate a good Nancy Reagan joke when they heard it. Regardless, fail, audience. Fail.

Coming back from the bizarre interaction with “Go Haunt Someone Else,” Devine and Co. built up to a strong finish. After the upbeat and popular “I Could Be With Anyone,” the crowd was hooked for their finale, “Brother’s Blood.” This long, jamming song was a somewhat dramatic choice for a closer, but the 8 minute guitar filled tune shows off the incredible musicianship of the Band and Devine. Long musical interludes left a hard rock impression on the set and the entire performance seemed to have been leading to this one specific crescendo. And it was executed perfectly.

Despite something of a disconnect with the inter-song banter, Kevin Devine and the Goddamn Band delivered a strong show and managed to grab the tepid crowd out of their lukewarm waiting-for-Get-Up-Kids mode. Hopefully next time they’re in Chicago, they’ll attract the audience they deserve.

*By Jesy, who, after an accidental hour and a half nap at noon, is wondering why she wants to go back to banking hours.

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