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Bluebird Theater
Bottleneck
Woodward Theatre
Natalie's Grandview
The Magic Bag
Nietzsche's
Unicorn Bar
Unicorn Bar
Unicorn Bar
White Eagle Hall
Jonathan Richman is a singer and songwriter hailing from Natick, Massachusetts, United States who was born on the 16th of May, 1951. He is known for fronting the influential proto-punk band The Modern Lovers, and for his extensive solo career in acoustic folk music.
Y’know the famous statement that The Velvet Underground only sold ten thousand copies of their debut album, but everyone who bought it formed a band? Well, Jonathan Richman was most definitely one of those ten thousand people who bought it. He had already started playing guitar and writing songs by the time he hit his mid-teens, but when he discovered the Velvet Underground he found that he knew what he wanted to do with his life, not just with his spare time. After growing up in Natick, a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts, he moved to New York City after he graduated from High School in 1969 and got to know the band, even sleeping on the sofa of the bands manager as he had nowhere else to go.
He eventually spent nine months in New York City before moving back to Boston. Inspired by the Velvets, he and his childhood friend John Felice formed the band The Modern Lovers in 1970 with Rolfe Anderson on the bass and David Robinson (who would later become a founding member of The Cars) on the drums. Robinson wasn’t the only member of the Lovers who would go on to have major success in other bands, though. After Felice and Anderson departed a year after they formed, they were replaced with Ernie Brooks on Bass and Jerry Harrison on Keyboards, and Harrison would later become a founding member of Art Rock legends Talking Heads.
With their new line-up the band became rising stars in their native Boston, thanks to Richman’s already burgeoning voice as a songwriter and their frantic live shows. The band started to get courted by several major labels and signed to Warner Brothers in 1973, after touring relentlessly and making a national sized name for themselves as a live act. However, the band were already growing tired of each other personally, then the band accepted an offer to play a residency at a venue in Bermuda and Richman became infatuated with the laid-back music he heard the locals playing. He started writing similar music and wanted to change the entire sound of the band to reflect it, but the rest of the group weren’t having any of it.
The Modern Lovers split in February 1974, before they’d officially released any music whatsoever. By the following year, Richman was recording as a solo singer/songwriter in California and released a few solo singles on the local Berkeley label. These didn’t take however, and by 1976 Richman had formed a new version of the Modern Lovers as his backing band, and it was at around this time that he started to see some serious commercial success in Europe. This was especially apparent in the United Kingdom, where his Modern Lovers single “Roadrunner” (a song which a nascent Sex Pistols were covering during their first ever shows and rehearsals) reached number 11 in the singles chart in late 1977, and its follow up “Egyptian Reggae” reached the top five a few months later.
After that, Richman spent the first years of the 1980’s on a self-imposed sabbatical, and then spent the rest of the decade alternating between solo releases and releases under the name of The Modern Lovers. His final release with The Modern Lovers came in 1988 and after that he began his solo career proper with 1990’s “Jonathan Goes Country”. The 1990’s were extremely kind to Richman, as his devout cult following was increased exponentially by a series of high profile appearances on Late Night With Conan O’Brien, and an appearance as one half of the Greek Chorus of the hit romantic comedy There’s Something About Mary.
He was also very prolific during that decade, releasing four albums between 1993 and 1998 and has continued releasing stellar records into the 2000’s. Ever since then, he’s been an artist with absolutely nothing to prove, who keeps playing and releasing records for no other reason than his all-consuming love of music. He remains influential to everyone from Joan Jett and the Sex Pistols to The Violent Femmes, Weezer and They Might Be Giants, so to see this man in action should be on the bucket list of every fan of alternative music in general. Highly Recommended.
Read moreJonathan Richman is a singer, songwriter and guitar player from America. Part way through the 1970's he started to do a lot of solo work and some backing jobs, but before that he started 'The Modern lovers', which is an influential proto-punk band that he was part of for some time. He said that he was writing music and his own songs since the 1960's and found a huge love for music, which is clear in his facial expressions during performances. His first solo released recordings came out in 1975, with the backing from members of Earth Quake and the Rubinoos. The album Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers was released in 1976 with a new version of the group that he had put together. The album swayed away from the electric rock music that the band had originally used and started using more acoustic things, which it seems Richman has more of an interest in. After the bands final breakup, he returned to recording in 1983 and released a series of singles. He also went on to get involved with two-man Greek chorus with a drummer in the film 'There's Something About Mary', he even went on to appear in a bar scene in a previous Farrelly Brothers film called 'Kingpin', quite an interesting mixture of careers he managed to follow. I can't say I'm a huge fan of him, his performances are a bit too mellow and tame for my liking, but if you wanted something like that then you would probably enjoy seeing him perform on a stage.
THE SHOW STARTED EARLY AND I WAS RUNNING VERY LATE!!! SO LATE THAT WHEN I GOT TO THE DOOR THE DOORMAN INFORMED ME THE SHOW WAS ALREADY OVER!!! I ASKED IF I COULD GO IN TO GET SOME PICTURES SIGNED I HAD TAKEN OF JONATHAN AT THE LAST SHOW,I WAS ALLOWED IN AND SAW THE DRUMMER PACKING UP AND ASKED AND RECIEVED HIS AUTOGRAPHS ON MY PICS OF HIM-I INQUIRED ABOUT JONATHAN AND WHEN THE DRUMMER FINISHED HE TOOK MY PICS TO JONATHAN-A FEW MINUTES LATER THE DRUMMER CAME OUT AND SAID JONATHAN WOULD LIKE TO SEE ME!!!! I WALKED IN HE ASKED MY NAME,SHOOK MY HAND AND SAID HE COULDN'T HAVE ONE OF HIS FANS TRAVEL SO FAR AND NOT GET TO HEAR HIM PLAY-I SAT ON THE COUCH HE PULLED OUT HIS GUITAR AND BEGAN TO PLAY A PRIVATE CONCERT JUST FOR ME!!!!! HE PLAYED MULTIPLE SONGS AS I SAT THERE AND MELTED INTO THE COUCH-A SMILE SO LARGE ON MY FACE AND MOISTURE IN THE CORNERS OF MY EYES-HERE WAS A MAN I'VE BEEN LISTENING TO FOR ALMOST 40 YEARS PLAYING JUST FOR ME-HE SAID HE PLAYED SONGS FOR ME HE DIDN'T PLAY AT THE SHOW!!!!! HE THEN SIGNED ALL MY PICS AND FLATTERED ME EVEN MORE WHEN HE SAID HE REALLY LIKED THEM!!!! WE TALKED FOR A WHILE AND THEN IT WAS TIME FOR THEM TO TRAVEL HALFWAY TO NEW ORLEANS AND FOR ME TO HEAD BACK GALVESTON WAY-I CAN'T SAY ENOUGH ABOUT THE MAN OR THE NIGHT IT WAS PURE MAGIC AND JONATHAN WAS MAGICAL!!!!! THANKS JOJO FOR A NIGHT I WIL NEVER FORGET-----
Wonderful snowy Monday night in Saskatoon with Jonathan last night. A good turnout despite the weather and lots of competing events. Jonathan was in great form, riffing off his own songs and covers, adding in new words to delight the audience, and extending melodies more than once long enough to declare "we shouldn't play this song all night!... next!" Much Spanish flavour, with French, Italian and Ojibway thrown in! Intimate, warm show, with of course the everpresent accompanying drums of Tommy Larkins, often highlighted by Jonathan, in rhythmic solos.
Jonathan declared that he is happy to be in his mid-60s, that he is loving life and feels like a small child fascinated by everything, having to be dragged away by his parents, and many "middle aged" concerns were addressed in his lyrics, from too much discussion about wine (it was made for drinking!) and the need to get out of one's chair and move our bodies, our earthly temples.
It was nice to see Jonathan's sad-dog face lit up with twinkling eyes and beaming smile, with the room party atmosphere. In return, instead of leaving abruptly at the end of his set, a call for an encore brought another set of at least four songs. Too good of a time to stop!
He says he'll be back, that he really loves Saskatoon. And Saskatoon loves him back. A wonderful night.
Founder of The Modern Lovers and multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Richman has had a long and intriguing career as he crosses the borders of rock and world music with a free spirited nature. Now in his 60s, he has a really fun sense of humour and does not seem to acknowledge his growing age as he performs like an artist who seems to totally grateful to be there.
Whereas in reality, Jonathan has been working for over 35 years to get to the place he now finds himself comfortably in. The room is a total sell out and fans old and new have gathered to hear the music from across the entirety of his career. He treats them to a cover of 'Old World' from his days with the Modern Lovers which goes down really well with the enthusiastic audience. His broad smile shows he is having a brilliant time too yet just to emphasise he thanks them time and time again. By the time the finale of 'As My Mother Lay Lying' comes to a close, it is difficult to see who is more reluctant to leave.
Any performer could learn a lot from Jonathan. Half the time he is playing guitar so softly that it is barely audible. He communicates entire narratives with the arch of an eyebrow. People laugh throughout more out of shared joy than anything else. If you go hoping to hear songs from JR’s impressive back catalogue you will be mostly disappointed. He is always evolving, always playing new numbers, and now sings approximately half the show in a language other than English. He did two or three numbers in a row in Italian, translating just enough to everyone got the idea. Also sang extensively in French, Spanish and others. Jonathan is an under appreciated guitar player. He uses a single acoustic (“so I don’t get confused”). In his hands the guitar is a communicative instrument filled with references to the past but constantly expressing new emotions. There is really no player like him.
Seeing Jonathan Richman is like... signing up for 2 hours of dancing and grinning from ear to ear. He tells wonderful stories and sings about lessons in life and love. If you want a relaxed, happy evening of beautiful acoustic guitar with drum accompaniment, look no further. He speaks affectionately of his younger years in New England, sings about his favorite painters (Van Gogh, Jan Vermeer), and loves to spice things up with songs in the "Love Languages" of Spanish, French and Italian... although this last show I think he even included some Arabic!
Regardless of what you're into... I'm not sure you could ever be disappointed spending 15 bucks to see J-Rich. He's a wonderful human being that puts on a terrific show sure to leave you smiling for hours.
I highly recommend seeing him if you've ever got the chance. He's absolutely a can't miss.
Jonathan Richman is mesmerizing. He is captivating. He treats music as a way to express his simple and beautiful poetry. More than anything, he is a character who makes himself known. Witnessing him is a privilege.
He plays a classical guitar, holding it without straps, which allows him to dance more freely. With Tommy Larkins on drums, they feel each other out for rhythms and play on each other's strengths.
Jonathan tells stories. He shares parts of his life, sometimes through song, sometimes through anecdotes between tunes.
He is entertaining and emotionally powerful. He will make you feel his words, his music.
If you prefer that performers simply regurgitate their recorded material verbatim, then Jonathan Richman is not for you. He expands his songs, he breaks them down and reassembles them. And he does it with high energy and wit.
With just a guitar and a small drum kit (both beautifully played) Jonathan and his drummer were able to create an infectious rhythm that dares you to be still.
This will be something I'll look back on with fondness and delight when I'm dignified and old.
Jonathan Richman has brass balls as a performance artist. He has only gained in greatness over the years. His songs are witty and stunning by turns, his guitar playing magnificent. You don't even have to know all the songs because you can always understand what he is saying. I was glad to see so many people still have the sense to come out and see this rare bird of paradise.
His usual charming self last night. Had everyone dancing and singing to Lesbian bar. Art students loved Vemeer. Awesome as always! He was very approachable after the show. I took some great pics. I could have listened to him all night. I wish he took requests but he doesn't. So many songs I love but so little time even with 2 hours on stage.
Want to see Jonathan Richman in concert? Find information on all of Jonathan Richman’s upcoming concerts, tour dates and ticket information for 2024-2025.
Jonathan Richman is not due to play near your location currently - but they are scheduled to play 21 concerts across 1 country in 2024-2025. View all concerts.
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