Photos and Review by ALYSON CAMUS
LOS ANGELES – Father John Misty is a showman, a talented performer who commands a stage effortlessly, and obviously a brilliant songwriter. The Fox Theater in Pomona was his last stop in the US before traveling to Europe, and fans had flown in from all over to see Josh Tillman and his band perform in the beautiful Art Deco movie palace dating back to Hollywood’s Golden Age.
The former member of Fleet Foxes has long since surpassed his beginnings as a drummer: he is now a front-and-center frontman in an elegant suit, and he doesn’t let us forget it for a single second during his two-hour show.
Taking the stage to Ferrante and Teicher’s “Midnight Cowboy” theme – a probable allusion to the famous Harry Nilsson song, an obvious inspiration for “Goodbye Mr. Blue” – Josh Tillman and his large band didn’t waste a minute before delighting the crowd with songs spanning his six studio albums, along with a couple of new ones. Behind him stood a large ensemble, performing in the shadows like a well-oiled machine and giving the material remarkable texture, including a fierce saxophone that pierced the symphonic arrangements during “I Guess Time Just Makes Fools of Us All,” “Chateau Lobby #4,” and “Mental Health.”
Despite the full arrangements, Tillman’s voice always remained clear and front and center, as if it were impossible to miss a word of his intimate, provocative, romantic, satirical, and even nihilistic lyrics. From the detached whistle of “Mr. Tillman” to the breezy falsetto melody of “Nancy from Now On,” the audience drank in every note and every syllable like a rare delicacy, even during the discordant arrangements of the slower “Being You.” Whether the song was about the love of his life (“When You’re Smiling and Astride Me”) or a beloved deceased pet (“Goodbye Mr. Blue”), Misty thrived onstage with incomparable stage presence and charisma that made the crowd follow his every move.
“Usually, everybody shows me photos of their dead cat, and nobody shows me pictures of the person they’ve recently broken up with,” Misty said during one of the few moments he addressed the crowd. But there was really no need for more, as his theatricality and expressive delivery of his songs were everything people wanted.
From intimate crooner numbers to grandiose orchestrations that made the songs sound bigger than ever, nobody could lose sight of the lyrics to his wordy, stream-of-consciousness songs, which landed somewhere between cynicism and incurable hope during “Screamland.”
“The sound of hope!” he said, introducing the new song “The Old Law,” a psychedelic, Beatles-esque piece that he performed with full stage abandon. Without pausing for a second, the next song, “She Cleans Up,” arrived with full swagger and transformed the space into a hard-rocking performance. By the end of the show, Father John Misty had given the audience what it wanted and even more; but it wasn’t over yet. Digging deeper into his eclectic catalog, he tore through the clever, rhythm-driven “I’m Writing a Novel” and the beloved “I Love You, Honeybear,” followed by no fewer than five songs in the encore: among them, the cathartic “Pure Comedy,” the brand-new and sweeping “The Payoff,” and the long-anticipated bridge of “Holy Shit.”
After oscillating between the mundane and the sacred (“Mahashmashana”), Misty ended the show with the charming, crowd-pleasing “Real Love Baby,” leaving everyone in a bittersweet state of post-concert euphoria. There’s no doubt that Father John Misty knows how to captivate his audience with songs that range from intimate acoustic guitar pieces to sweeping, grand orchestral arrangements. From complex numbers to simpler ballads, his versatility was on full display all night long, while his loyal fans embraced the deadpan sense of humor of this folk legend turned rock star.
Setlist
I Guess Time Just Makes Fools of Us All
Mr. Tillman
Nancy From Now On
Being You
Goodbye Mr. Blue
When You’re Smiling and Astride Me
Chateau Lobby #4 (in C for Two Virgins)
Mental Health
Josh Tillman and the Accidental Dose
Screamland
God’s Favorite Customer
The Old Law
She Cleans Up
I’m Writing a Novel
I Love You, Honeybear
Encore:
Pure Comedy
The Payoff
Holy Shit
Mahashmashana
Real Love Baby