The O-town Scene - Oneonta, NY
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/28554
Felice Bros inject energy into folk show Sam Spokony Ian Felice, Christmas Clapton, Greg Farley and Dave Turbeville of The Felice Brothers perform March 25 at the Oneonta Theatre. The Oneonta Theatre, in all its regal, old- fashioned glory, demands a certain effusive- ness of the performers that take its stage. Unlike the foggy, sweaty bars that line Main Street, its high ceilings and curving balus- trades replace intimacy with grandeur; the space is left empty and gaping for the artist to fill. Enter The Felice Brothers, who, at first glance, look more like gas station attendants than indie-folk musicians. Fortunately for them, that works entirely in their favor; as burgeoning, twenty-something artists, there are few things more appropriate to their im- age than a fresh sense of the aloof rebel (with questionable hygiene). The game at that point, post-image and on the big stage, becomes the challenge of living out one’s raw, gristly persona through the instruments, and it would be hard to deny that The Felice Brothers did that quite well last Friday night. Though their upcoming album “Celebra- tion, Florida” (to be released May 10 on Fat Possum Records) represents a distinct step beyond the simpler Americana roots the band was founded upon, the overdriven, electro- tinged new material does not translate much differently in a live setting. It still shakes a room to its floorboards, and the jangles of folk nostalgia are always present in each open chord. It is these feelings of width, of historical depth and emotive rambling, which put The Felice Brothers right at home in that vast hollows of the Oneonta Theatre. As both local college fans and diehards from around the country crowded the stage, some drunkenly chanting “Fe-lice!” in anticipation, the five guests of honor slipped straight into the haunting, straining, twang and clack of “Fire at the Pageant,” which also opens the new album. Upon entering the room, they had already looked haggard, somewhat dusty, perhaps drunk; but as they struck the instruments, which looked just as tired and worn, they shook themselves violent- ly into reality. From then on, it was clear that anything goes for The Felice Brothers. Through tunes new and old, the ensemble stomped and yelped behind the lead of vocalist/guitarist Ian Felice, a shaggy, spry and pasty front- man who fears neither a sprawl across the floor nor a spread-armed Jesus pose as he offers himself to the pulsing hum of the room. Though tempo and musical vigor were taken freely up and down, from sedate on the new tune “Back in the Dancehalls” to a rousing, sing-along closer in “Whiskey in my Whis- key,” the energy never fell anywhere near flat; the stories were always told lively and anew. But the stories of the songs are not just about the chords; The Felice Brothers have big, fat personalities, and that is what has allowed to them to move beyond simple folk adaptation. Whether they are playing ac- cordions and violins or drum machines and synthesizers, they retain a sense of belonging to another time, one of happily dated adven- tures and drinks in dirty glasses, an old-world austerity that carries them through. They are awkward and glorious, and, last Friday night, they filled the Oneonta Theatre with nothing less than dancing and sound. _ Sam Spokony 14 O-Town Scene March 31, 2011 Upon entering the room, they had already looked haggard, somewhat dusty, perhaps drunk; but as they struck the instruments, which looked just as tired and worn, they shook themselves violently into reality.