On Saturday, October 26th country artist Lee Brice was in town and my wife wanted to see him. Godsmack was also in town. While I’m not a fan of Godsmack, they had Nothing More as their opener and I really like that band. So naturally, we went to New Haven, CT to see David Kushner with our daughter.
A dude named Henrik was his opener. He’s from NJ and given the proximity, many of friends and family of Henrik and his band were there in support. It’s his first ever tour, so he still seemed a bit nervous interacting with the crowd, but the music wasn’t bad. Certainly not my preferred genre as I like it heavy, but he was pretty good. Introducing himself as Ed Sheeran got a laugh, and then later on he did a “ladies and gentlemen, please welcome….NOAH KAHAN!” He didn’t really have anyone fooled, but swears it worked at other shows outside of New England. Then they covered Noah Kahan’s Stick Season. The crowd loved it and sang along. He only did 5 or 6 songs and was out of there.
Kushner was next. This is the 2nd time I’ve seen this dude now. He’s more comfortable on stage this time around from what I see. A little more interaction with the crowd and a lot more moving around.
When the band started up, their intro had a good tempo and was kind of heavy. I was thinking Kushy was going through a transformation with his new album. But no. As soon as he came out started singing, the tempo and intensity came down. See for yourself.
I would say his voice is “soulful” which makes him fall into the soul-pop genre? I do think he could easily pull off some heavier rock, or at least carry on a faster tempo. But he sticks with slow, sad, soft music. All the girls there who love him tried to dance while the band played, but the best they could do was sway to the slow beats. He has a solid voice, which is very deep. If you’re old(er) think “Crash Test Dummies” for vocals. But…he also can hit the high range like a rocker. He could do more!
The keyboardist has the heaviest lift as far as the band goes if you ask me. She did all the piano, orchestral sounds, various synth sounds and bass. No actual bass player to be seen. The guitarist (just one) had a few good moments but mostly slow strums, and the drummer never broke a sweat. Overall, Kushner is very mellow. I love rock and metal, but that’s fine. His fans enjoy it and I really do appreciate live music. I don’t need to be a fan of the artist to soak up the concert experience.
Kushy has a couple tunes on the radio (or satellite or featured streaming?) and with my daughter listening to him often I knew a few of the tunes, but he needs a real banger! If Kushy or anyone in his circle happen to see this, try a heavy rock song man! You can pull it off.
As far as songs go, I’ll try my best but I know I’m missing some.
- Darkside
- Humankind
- Poison
- Mr. Forgettable
- Dead Man
- No High
- Flesh x Blood
- Elk Grove
- Burn
- Cigarettes
- You and Me
For the encore he did:
- Miserable Man
- Daylight (the song you’re most likely to know. If you don’t know this one, you don’t know Kushy)
There were definitely more songs than that but still a pretty short show. He came on at 9pm and the show was over before 10:15.
I’ll hopefully squeeze in a few more shows before year end and I’m already working on the 2025 schedule. So plenty more posts to come!
There are still a lot of good bands out there; go see some and support live music. I’m hosting a giveaway to help you get to a show, and it ends 11/30/24 so enter now.
Leave a Reply