Concert Review: Friday, October 24th at One Longfellow Square

by Bob McKillop

It was the young people that I noticed – the twenty-somethings and thirty-somethings in the audience who were children, or who had not yet been born, when Aztec Two-Step hit the charts back in the seventies.  It wasn’t nostalgia, or a longing for a lost youth, or any of that sentimental stuff, that brought these folks to this show.  They were there for the music, the performance, and the infectious joy and fun that Rex Fowler and Neal Shulman radiate from the stage.

Aztec Two-Step drew about a hundred fans to One Longfellow Square on Friday night, October 24, and the crowd loved the show.  Two sets and an extended encore later, they were still asking for more as the veteran folk duo left the stage for the evening.  The show had included a well-structured set list of new songs, legacy hits, and this duo’s nicely executed Simon and Garfunkel covers.

They opened the show with “Rabbit in the Moon”, and immediately captivated the crowd with their signature harmonies, lively stage presence, and lyrics laden with symbolism, optimism, and mysticism.  These guys are grey-haired, balding, and a little wrinkled, but they have never lost the liberal cool that has infused their career from the beginning.  They define middle-aged hip.

Early in the show, we heard “Dad Came Home”, the second cut from their most recent album, “Days of Horses”. Fowler was the primary songwriter in the duo’s early days, and this song, written by Shulman, reveals that he should have been contributing more back then.  Shulman’s style is simpler musically, more pragmatic lyrically, and full of experiential images that tell the story in an implicit way.   This song is a tour of the cultural and family influences that peppered Shulman’s youth, and brought him to where he is today.  He begins and ends the song with a reference to his dad coming home from the war, and makes a nice connection with his coming home from touring as a musician.

Next came “Better These Days”, Shulman’s acknowledgement of two things – his current dependence on prescription drugs to stay active, and his earlier experiences with controlled substances that didn’t do him much good.  A great blues tune with clever lines and rhymes, it resonates well with us middle-agers.  Shulman did a great job on solo vocals, with a nice range, lots of texture and heart.  He threw in some great blues guitar lead work to boot.

Lots of us in the audience had been waiting for a few of the older tunes from the seventies, and Fowler and Shulman did not disappoint us.  We heard “Going on Saturday”, “Our Lives”, and “Faster Gun” in the middle of the first set.  These songs were so fresh back in the day: upbeat, expressive, and evocative of just the things we were all doing back then.  They haven’t lost any of that.  Later in the second set, the duo treated us to the melancholy and creative “Humpty Dumpty”, plus, “Walkin’ on Air”, and “Cosmos Lady”.  These are all off the 1975 sophomore release “Second Step”, which is the album where this duo first really hit their stride.

They closed the second set with “Living in America”, the title track from their 1986 release of the same name.  This is a great song for a live performance; Fowler and Shulman got deep into the beat and the thrum of the tune, and the audience responded.  This song helps us understand the true nature of deep patriotism.  It is a love for the people, the culture, and the land, but with an acceptance of the problems we face and the human nature that makes all of that so complex and, at times difficult.  In confusing and troubled times like the present, this type of song helps ground us and get some perspective on our own fears.

This is the perfect folk duo – Fowler is a great songwriter, Shulman is an amazing guitarist, and the two of them together provide vocal harmonies that infuse the music with spirituality and depth.  Fowler is a bundle of positive energy and humor on stage, telling stories, laughing and dancing around, interacting with the audience as if they were his closest family and friends.  (Actually, there did seem to be a large contingent of friends at the show from Pittsfield, Maine, where Fowler grew up.)  Shulman’s lead guitar breaks embellished every song the duo performed, and elicited repeated ovations from the crowd.  His strong flat-picking, intuitive fretwork, and the utter concentration and joy on his face made his musicianship unforgettable.

Aztec Two-Step is on the verge of releasing a new CD, which is an album of their interpretations of Simon and Garfunkel hits.  They have been offering a Simon and Garfunkel show for some time now, and the popular demand for a recorded version brought this record to life.  The several S&G tunes they performed at this show were done with a deep respect for the songwriting and the legacy of the original artists, but with integrity toward Aztec Two-Step’s own musical identity.  Look for the new release before the end of the year.

Kudos to Tom Rota and Chris Stevens at One Longfellow Square, for their continued success in bringing top-flight entertainment to their venue and to Portland.  This venue really is a great place to see a show.