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Low Cut Connie, Recher Theater, Baltimore

January 29, 2022

2201-MU-Low_Cut_Connie-Recher Rode out a snowstorm last weekend to see this band and it was so worth it. The Philadelphia-based Low Cut Connie has my vote for best Rock n Roll band in America, a rightful heir to the gritty likes of the Iron City Houserockers or the J. Geils Band. Front man Adam Weiner is a hyperactive force of nature, a barroom Elton John and a friend to no piano. Go see ‘em while they’re still young, and unknown.

Weiner’s piano is placed front center stage, and he is forever bumping around the piano chair restlessly. He plops his feet on the keys, then jumps on top of the instrument to vogue and vamp, before jumping back down to hammer the keys some more with percussive wallop. You get the idea what Jerry Lee Lewis was up to all those years ago.

Or what glam-era Elton John must have sounded like playing in a club, assuming Sir John would wear a self-torn wifebeater. Weiner has offhand talent to burn. Giving the band a break, he sat solo at his piano and ran through a lighthearted version of Barry Manilow’s “Mandy” as a request. (The band also did a tribute to the recently-passed Ronnie Spector, with a heartfelt “Be My Baby.”)

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Weiner could easily make a name for himself as a solo vocal pianist. But this band is fierce, with a sharp, big beat from two drummers, and some great gnarly guitar from Will Donnelly. It’s the furthest reaches of rock n roll just before it was succeeded by hard rock.

“All they want is to be rock and roll's most basic bar band and rock and roll's most sophisticated bar band at the same time,” is how dean of rock critics Robert Christgau once summarized them.

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