Leo Kottke and Mike Gordon brought their acoustic duo tour to Troy Savings Bank Music Hall on Wednesday December 15. The venue has been a sought after performance destination by various artists since the 20th century. The original padded wooden seats help absorb a layer of sound. Listeners in even the deepest seats hear the effect of the entire room. Leo & Mikes acoustic bass and guitars resonated just right into acoustic ear candy at the performance on the Hudson.
The visual and historic appeal of the Hall must not be overlooked in any discussion of its acoustic character. The ear and the eye are inseparable in the concert-going experience in Troy. The room with equivalent acoustics could not sound as good without also being visually vibrant.
Mike Gordon took note of the Hall’s history on his Instagram by saying
Classical performers consider this room to have the best acoustics in the country. I can’t believe I get to share a chair with Leo Kottke to play in it tonight. Heavenly.
Mike Gordon
There is even a black and white shot of Leo on the Halls walls from 1996 along side all the other great performers to grace the stage. Leo took lead on alot of the numbers through out the evening. Mike had the best seat in the house next to Kottke as he listened with audience to his various tales coming off the band stand. Mike did jump in front for a cover of Hank Williams Jr “Old Habits”.
I hope you don’t mind how lost I am. I’m just having a real good time up here.
Leo Kottke
Leo told the crowd of American modernist composer Charles Ives and his struggles to get his work out. Overtime he hired Burlesque dancers to enhance attention on his Concord Sinata 2. After becoming acknowledged for his work someone told Ives over time… “I can tell it’s good music but it doesn’t sound very good” Ive’s reply:
Whats sound got to do with music?
Charles Ives
Leo also read a passage of Sunday Morning by Wallace Stevens to the Troy Music Hall crowd.
All Pleasures and all Pains, remembering the bough of summer and the winter branch. These are the measures destined for her soul
Wallace Stevens
The duo covered a lot of material from their 2020 Album Noon. They also brought the crowd back to their first album collaboration Clone by performing “From Pizza Towers To Defeat” In true Leo fashion the duo sat through the encore so that “we could all leave the room at the same time” They finished with “Invisible” off their Sixty Six Steps album.
The duo truly gave a history lesson on the shores of the Hudson. They split the bill down the middle in Troy for an evening of composition, and improvisation. The live performance that unfolds in front of you is credited it to the moment that we all can share in before leaving the room at the same time. The tour concludes in Plattsburgh’s Strand Theater on Sunday December 18 2021. The venue is 2.5 miles from where Mike performed at the Cilfford Ball in 1996.
Leo Kottke & Mike Gordon, Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, December 15 2021:
Set List: Rings, Living in the Country, Tiny Island, Old Habits, The Last Steam Engine Train, Airproofing, Ojo, You are My Flower, Twice, Flat Top, From Pizza Towers to Defeat, Invisible
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