On a chilly Friday night, Low Cut Connie rolled into Towson to heat things up at The Recher. Adam Weiner – band leader and driving force behind the Philly based band – is one heck of a showman, only matched by his boogie-woogie howl and that Jerry Lee Lewis meets Rolling Stones swagger. His energy is hard to shake, but who would want to shake that anyway?
As The Recher started filling up, it was clear many of those attending were diehard fans, many talking about previous stops, including the brilliant show there last year. And I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Adam and company chose to kick off their tour in Towson – as Adam told the crowd about the local radio station, WTMD championing his music when few others in the country were playing his music 10 years ago. “I started this band 12 years ago, and for the first six years I said, ‘this shit’s not gonna work out,’ and then right at a crucial moment while I was ready to give up there were people around the country, and TMD was one who gave me that little nudge to keep it going. So I want to thank all of you for makin’ my dreams come true.”
Low Cut Connie, for the uninitiated, played a fast-paced, high on that old rock ‘n roll that’s built from the DNA up to get you moving. And moving this crowd did. From the opening notes of “Me n Annie” it was pretty non-stop with no lag to stop you from groovin’.
Throwing up one tune after another, Adam and this band was on fire, but the band did take a moment to recognize great Philly DJ Jerry Blavat (the Geater with the Heater) who passed away in January and, as Adam said, was the only person in Philadelphia “who believed in Low Cut Connie” and who “used to leave [Weiner] messages saying ‘Don’t get discouraged'” before jumping into a new song he called “The Low Cut Strut aka Strut That Ass Back to Class.”
Watch a video for “Charyse” on YouTube by Low Cut Connie:
If this was the kick off to a tour with all the nervousness that usually comes with the territory, you’d never know it as Low Cut Connie kept that pedal to the metal, only breaking for a few solo songs – just Adam Weiner and his piano. There was even a Television cover – “Venus” – the band played in memory of the recently department Tom Verlaine.
As Adam told the crowd after the rest of the band stepped off the stage, “Over the pandemic me and Willy played over 600 songs on a show called ‘Tough Cookies’.” Certainly a lot of them were covers that spanned, what seemed like, the history of popular music. As he stretched his fingers at the keys, he told the audience he would only play this one song “if you sing along.” That song was a great version of Prince’s “Little Red Corvette.”
As the band rejoined Adam on stage, well, if the crowd thought things were heated up by then we were sorely mistaken as the band went from “Now You Know” and “Charyse” to “Beverly” and “Rio” before Adam Weiner, in pure rock ‘n roll fashion, tore off his jacket and then his shirt, singing at the top of his lungs.
Low Cut Connie continues on this tour with several stops for some solo shows for Adam. It probably goes without saying, but this is definitely a show not to miss.
Take a look at more photos of Low Cut Connie here by David LaMason.
