Austin Fine Arts Festival, Republic Square, Austin, Texas

It may have been April Fool’s Day but the real fools were the ones wandering around on the outskirts of Marcia Ball’s open air concert at Austin's Art After Dark (Austin Fine Arts Festival). Ball who makes the energizer bunny look lazy never stopped bobbing her head and swinging her legs to the music as she electrified the audience with a twenty-two song set. Springsteen may have sung “Dancing In The Dark” but Marcia Ball sang to dancers in the dark as her fans grabbed a partner and enjoyed the moonlit night in the park.

“Come On Everybody Let’s Rock” and “Red Beans" demonstrated immediately why Ball is considered a superb keyboardist. The lightening fast fingers stroking the keys were a blur. “Big Shot" (2005 "Live! Down The Road" CD) highlighted the unbelievable sweet notes that sax man Thad Scott coaxed from his horn. Throughout the concert several songs gave the tenor player an opportunity to blow solo performances.

As she performed the long lazy ballad “Louisiana 1927” you would have been hard pressed to find a dry eye in the audience. Although the cover of Randy Newman's tune is about a flood decades ago your heart broke once again for the victims of the recent Hurricane Katrina disaster. Ball's passionate vocals lamented;

"Some people got lost in the flood, some people got away alright

The river had busted clear through down to Plackermine

Six feet of water in the streets of Evangeline

Louisiana, Louisiana

They're trying to wash us away, they're trying to wash us away"

A good accompaniment to this tune came earlier in the set when Ball and her band performed Chip Dolan’s “Bucktown”. Silhouetted in pale blue light the words chronicled the devastation of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina. As Scotts’ saxophone mourned Ball crooned, “In Bucktown saints will march again will rise again...” The song pays tribute to some of Jazz music’s best including Jelly Roll Morton.

Ball made this an eclectic evening with songs of lost love, “Scene Of The Crime” and the 2003 tune "Foreclose On The House of Love".  There were also love songs such as fan favorite “Honeypie" from her So Many Rivers album. Other popular tunes included "Let Me Play With Your Poodle" (from the 1997 album of the same name) and "La Ti Da" (2005).

Austin's own Pat Boyack got down and funky as the lead guitarist playing some of the best blues riffs heard west of the Mississippi River. He demonstrated the same creativity that led to the high marks he received from reviewers for his 2004 solo effort Voices From The Street.

He was complimented well by bassist Don Bennett. Corey Keller laid down the beats.

Reviewed April 1, 2006

Reviewed by Joe Montague for Riveting Riffs (www.rivetingriffs.com)

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