Touring solo for the first time after 2009’s release of Joseph Arthur and the Lonely Astronauts’ Temporary People, Arthur’s first album with an acknowledged backing band, Arthur aimed to create a unique concert performance based around his abstract art, on-stage looping techniques, and ability to create interesting soundscapes despite being the only musician on stage. Moreover, each concert was being professionally recorded and offered to fans in DIY brown sleeves after the show’s culmination. While at various times during the show he seemed like Bob Dylan or Samuel Beam, the unpolished performance ultimately fell more into the company of Russell Brand.
Billed as an 8 PM show, the night began with most patrons filing in on time, only to realize that due to some disconnect between Arthur and the venue they would not be hearing the featured musician for some time. There were no opening acts, and Arthur meandered to the stage at 9:26, almost an hour and a half after the “Evening with Joseph Arthur” was scheduled to begin. Evidently, promptness was left off Arthur’s checklist for his two-night stand in San Francisco. That was about all that Arthur didn’t bring on tour, however, as the musician had lined up an armada of various guitars, harmonicas, microphones, and paintings on stage to hype his appearance as a jack of all trades artist. For the first few songs, it looked as if Arthur had accomplished his goals, and the combination of electronically created automatic harmonies and looped drum beats expanded the sound of the event from a single musician with an acoustic guitar to one that often accompanies a much larger group. Unfortunately, the consistency of the performance failed to live up to the standards which Arthur’s talent naturally would have commanded.
Arthur’s most persistent problem of the night was an inability to reign in his usually wistful falsetto. Instead, the song’s which were dominated by this type of singing often fell flat and out of tune, much to both fans’ and Arthur’s frustration. While he owned the problem and talked to both fans and sound technicians about ways to mask it with excessive microphone reverb, Arthur’s vocal efforts found strained until he finally hit his stride in the last song of the night, “She Paints Me Gold.” Despite his difficulties, though, there were enough highlights from the night to make the show enjoyable. A stunning version of his hit, “Honey and the Moon,” which contained drastic vocal melody changes, was one of best received songs of the night. Arthur also managed to touch on the moody brilliance of his recorded work with particularly passionate versions of “A Smile that Explodes” and “Black Lexus.”
The true disappointment regarding the show, though, was how contrived it all felt. An impressive artist, Arthur’s only painting on stage seemed to be more of a gimmick, as all he did was draw red crosses on a white canvas with an already painted woman’s silhouette on it. His set breaks were timed so that the concert could fit on two different burnt CDs, and at the end of the show Arthur grabbed his guitar and played a song at the merch booth to buy time for the CDs to finish finalizing. What could have been a beautiful acoustic experience instead seemed like a desperate reach for recognition and, most importantly, money. Joseph Arthur may be one of the more poetic acoustic artists of this generation, but his lack of business tact and a usable falsetto made his stop in San Francisco a letdown.
