Re-Viewed: Mike Doughty at Park West
By Julene McCoy in Arts & Entertainment on Oct 17, 2005 3:29PM
Saturday night at the Park West, Chicagoist was entertained by Mike Doughty and his band of the same name. Trying hard not to pummel one another with our actual glass bottles (how nice to be treated like an adult at a concert), we settled into an evening of Mike creating a very intimate experience for the 900-person capacity venue.
Jumping right into “Tremendous Brunettes” from his latest CD Haughty Melodic, the former Soul Coughing lead singer brought his acousto-roots stylings to life. Mike introduced the rest of the band between songs, but created a mystery surrounding the drummer who was not “Jorge Lipschitz McCluskey III of Saxony”, but was Pete McNeal formerly of Cake. The band played “True Dreams of Wichita” and then Mike asked the crowd what they wanted to hear – when inevitably someone yelled out “True Dreams” he joked that he would change the set list to only play that song until they would end it all with “Circles”. Luckily, that did not happen.
Doughty and band continued with “Madeline and Nine” and “American Car” before sending the fellas away and going it solo on stage. The solo set included “Grey Ghost”, “Fire Truck” and “I Hear The Bells” which seemed like a down-home picking jam even though Mike was alone. Bringing the fellas back they created a sampling dance song before “Busting Up A Starbucks” which got the crowd singing. Another song that all seemed to love and shout out was “Sunken Eyed Girl”. Once “Looking at The World From the Bottom of a Well”, the single, was finished Doughty kept his promise and broke into his version of “It’s Raining Men”.
The last song of the set began with Guns ‘n Roses’ “Paradise City” and morphed into the “Gambler” by Kenny Rogers showing Mike Doughty’s sense of humor. A very short walk off stage and he was back for the encore. “Your Misfortune” ended it all with audience participation where Mike wanted us to whisper the chorus and then admonished everyone by saying “Okay, that was loud”. And ending out the song with his guitar on the ground messing around with the pedals to create unique sounds.
The whole evening felt more like watching a friend play at a party rather than at a venue with almost a thousand people around. Mike may not have the best voice, but he makes up for it with his informality and humor. The show was taped for an XRT Sunday Night Concert and is definitely worth checking out.