Pete Yorn
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It would be easy to begrudge Pete Yorn all his success. After all, there are plenty of similarly talented singer-songwriters out there plugging away who don’t have brothers who are agents and entertainment lawyers and who don’t have a record company with the marketing muscle of Columbia behind them. But you’d be missing the fact that Yorn’s 2001 album musicforthemorningafter with its Eighties jangle and infectious combination of Brit-pop and heartland rock is one pretty terrific record with a lot of staying power. And for well over a year, Yorn has been touring his ass off to promote the thing.

Yorn’s voice may have sounded a little road-worn during his recent Friday night sold-out set at the 9:30 Club. Of course, he’s got one of those just rolled out of bed, slacker, Stephen Malkmus by way of Eddie Vedder voices to begin with. The fired up crowd didn’t seem to mind that their hero was perhaps a little more gravelly than normal. Especially since Yorn’s set was heavily front-loaded with up-tempo crowd pleasers.

Opening with “Black,” on which he relates his early love of the band Kiss among other things, Yorn quickly won the crowd over. He dedicated radio hit “Life On A Chain” to the 2002 NCAA basketball champion Maryland Terrapins, which of course drew loud cheers. In the middle of the song he paid tribute to REM with a bit of a quote from Reckoning’s “Harborcoat.” As it turned out, it was the first of many Eighties references during Yorn’s hour and fifteen minute show. Early favorites also included a rocking “Closet,” “Sense” which brought on an audience sing-along, and “For Nancy (‘Cos It Already Is)” on which Yorn uses a nice higher register.

In addition to the bulk of musicforthemorningafter, Yorn also pulled out a couple of new songs including “Undercover” from the Spider-Man soundtrack, which featured a bit more vocal variety.

The set’s ballad-heavy midsection was the weakest part of the show with Yorn’s voice lacking the nuances to keep things interesting on the piano-led “Lose You” and “On Your Side.”

But for the most part, Yorn kept the hits coming, ending his main set strongly with “Strange Condition” and “Simonize” as well as two covers: a slowed-down take on fellow New Jersey-ite Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing In the Dark” (long a Yorn concert staple) and a rocking version of David Bowie’s “China Doll” which featured a great guitar jam. Yorn was ably backed by a four-piece band throughout his set.

A three-song encore included a solo acoustic “EZ” and full band versions of the Smiths’ “Panic” and perhaps music’s best track “Murray,” a song inspired by Heroes And Villains, a book about The Beach Boys and their overbearing father, Murray Wilson.

Openers Sloan provided a tough act to follow right from the start of their forty-five minute set. “If It Feels Good Do It” was all glam-rock guitars, killer harmonies and kick ass drums. “The Other Man” was smart, mature pop. And “So Beyond Me” was complex and wonderful. There was also the McCartney-esque “I Love A Long Goodbye.” And even a few tunes from older Sloan efforts like One Chord To Another.

And the evening began with a nice set by Jukebox Junkies, or more specifically Junkies singer Marc Dauer backed by some guys that looked like ringers. That long-haired guy behind the drum kit sure did look awfully familiar. Yes, the new hardest-working man in show business was providing the backbeat for Dauer’s Cracker-meets-Counting Crows tunes including the catchy, riff driven set closer “Uptown Train.”

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