Jose Gonzalez - Sixth & I Synagogue (3/5/2008)

Jose Gonzalez is an amazing musician - hands down. Just listen to his albums and you'll swear there's more than one person playing guitar. And let's not forget his voice, which compliments the music so well. Back in 2006, Metro D saw him at the Black Cat and had issues with crowd noise. Last year homie played the 9:30 Club (available to stream on NPR), which I can't imagine. While not a large venue, it is big enough to dwarf him and does not seem his style at all. I mean it's only Jose on stage and he sits in a chair for the entire concert.

Even more reason why I thought Sixth & I Synagogue would be perfect for him. I'd never been, but how big and overwhelming can a place of worship be? With a capacity of about 500 (best guess) and an atmosphere that almost forces people to just sit down, shut up and listen, he could have owned the place. Instead, he just borrowed it for an hour and 15 minutes. Don't get me wrong the music was great, but the performance was average. Mainly because he didn't interact with the audience... at all. A few hellos, some thank yous and one or two song introductions. Other than that he whipped through the setlist, came back for an encore and got the hell out of Dodge. But again it's only him up there, so if people expected anything more, then they're not the sharpest tools.

On a side note, I made a rather interesting discovery - complimentary copies of the below magazine were available throughout the synagogue. I kid you not. I did at least a double-take (probably a triple) when I first saw it. Get your subscription here.