Wow. It was the first time I have seen Keith Caputo live, and I was very impressed. I am a fan of his Life of Agony work, but only have his latest album, A Fondness for Hometown Scars. Would we get an eclectic treat? Maybe some LOA numbers? Well, Keith put those requests to bed after 3 songs with someone from that back shouting “Heroin Dreams! C’mon Keith! Heroin Dreams!”. He was having none of it with the quip “I might have fronted that band for many years, but that doesn’t mean I am going to do it”. That kind of shut the rest of the crowd up (barring the two extremely inebriated women dancing/moshing in  the front.

In many ways, I am glad he stuck to his solo work, as the gig really displayed the range and power of his material. From that fragility of “Always” and “Selfish” right through to the power of “Crawling” and “Monkey”. This was topped off by a raucous rendition of “Troubles Down” from the latest CD (and hence the source of the rumors of Keith fronting Velvet Revolver – it’s a classic). 

Keith’s music is quite varied, and from listening to both “A Fondness…” and the previous CD “Hearts Blood on your Dawn” (which I picked up during the gig) there is something for everyone to love. The predominantly dark themes surrounding his music might put off some, there is an undeniable passion about his music as a songwriter, and how he expresses himself on stage.

The band were pretty tight, and you could tell there was a strong camaraderie between them. The one thing that surprised me was the lack of people at the gig though. Considering Keith’s background, I was expecting the Barfly to be rammed, but there was plenty of space. This gave a pretty laidback vibe, which suits a lot of Caputo’s music, and there was a nice atmosphere all round.

To cap it all, I managed to get Keith to pose for a picture, and sign my copy of “Hearts Blood…” which was kind of him. He seemed to be a real genuine bloke, and very approachable. I’d urge everyone to check out his latest CD. You can get it for free by joining eMusic (which is a bargain for sure), and support a guy who is out there doing it on his own, who has a damn sight more integrity than most bands you see around these days. Thanks Keith – it was a great night.

Check Keith out @ http://www.keithcaputo.com. Read on for my image gallery of the gig.

Keith Caputo @ the Cardiff Barfly, September 13th, 2008 Image Gallery

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