As Amos Lee stood on stage Saturday night at the 9:30 club, he was joined by over 20 other artists, hundreds of fans and people around the world raising money and awareness as a part of MySpace's Rock for Darfur event.
The first chord struck deeply with Lee's audience. It belonged to "Seen It All Before," a favorite off the artist's self-titled album. Lee left the chorus entirely to the audience and even invited a member of the crowd onto the stage to sing the bridge with him. Lee then threatened not to sing another note for the rest of the night because, as he said, the audience did it much better.
Despite playing old favorites, Lee did not neglect songs from his new album, "Supply and Demand," released earlier this month. An obvious new favorite was "Night Train." Lee and his band played through the song twice. The first time the song was played slowly - what Lee termed the "drunk on whiskey version." The second time through, the meter conveyed a more upbeat mood, Lee's "high on crystal meth version" of the song.
The audience sang and swayed to "Black River," a gospel-style ballad, and danced to "Southern Girl" and "Shout Out Loud." The enthusiasm of the audience was noticeable during the songs it knew well and made into sing-alongs, as they did to "Colors," one of the best ballads from his self-titled album.
Lee would be best in a more intimate, coffeehouse-style atmosphere that would facilitate his banter with the audience. As it was, the crowd spoke to one another over the music, played at lower-than-rock-concert levels.
Mutlu, the opening act for the night, made two appearances during Lee's show. The first was a cover of Marvin Gaye's "Ain't No Sunshine," received well by the crowd. Unfortunately, "Caramel," a Mutlu original, cleared the club out fairly quickly, especially as it devolved into what Lee called an American Idol-style "soul-off" between himself and the opening artist. The "soul-off" seemed to end in a draw as it continued back into "Caramel," and the show abruptly ended.
A long list of bands, ranging from Atreyu to Ziggy Marley to Jars of Clay to TV on the Radio, all participated in Rock for Darfur on the same night, and more will participate with the next D.C. concert on Dec. 17.
Rock for Darfur is MySpace's largest humanitarian endeavor to date, with part of the proceeds from each ticket going directly to OXFAM's Sudan Crisis Relief and Rehabilitation Fund, according to its Web site. The concert series also partnered with the Hotel Caf? Tour, sponsored in part by (RED), a line of products that helps raise money to help women and children with HIV/AIDS in Africa.
