Michael Doherty's Music Log: I See Hawks In L.A. at McCabe’s, 8-23-25 Concert Review

"Good And Foolish Times"

I See Hawks In L.A. returned to McCabe’s last night, delivering an excellent set and delighting an appreciative crowd at the sold-out show. This was the first time the Hawks had played that venue since the special celebration of Paul Lacques’ life back in April of 2024. That show was at a time when the band’s future was uncertain. Now the band is going strong again, with Dan Wistrom on guitar and pedal steel (though last night he played Weissenborn guitar instead of pedal steel). Interestingly, and fittingly, this show was also in honor of Paul Lacques, held to celebrate his birthday, which was the 20th.

Mike Stinson

Mike Stinson opened the show, joined by Jesse Harris on electric guitar and backing vocals. He opened the set with “Something Right About You And Me,” which contains the line “You’re my kind of crazy.” That’s a line, or at least a sentiment, that most guys are in touch with. A perfectly sane partner is not to be found (and perhaps not to be desired, even if she did exist), so the trick is to find someone who is your kind of crazy. His set also included “Late For My Funeral,” “The City I Love,” “Out Of The Rain,” “Draw The Line” (which he introduced by saying it “started as me lamenting the death of customer service in America”), “Forever Is Too Long” and “Box I Take To Work” (which was a crowd favorite). He wrapped up his set with a cover of Eliza Gilkyson’s “Beauty Way.”

"Dancing Like A Feather"

Less than fifteen minutes later, Victoria Jacobs and Dan Wistrom took the stage and began the set with one of Victoria’s new songs, “Dancing Like A Feather.” “This has been a really weird year,” Victoria said. She mentioned how a lot of stuff had been happening, then added, “Too much stuff.” Indeed. “Dancing Like A Feather” is a beautiful song, and its line “There’s no place I can go to where you are” is heartbreaking. Rob Waller and Paul Marshall then joined Victoria and Dan on stage, along with Richie Lawrence on accordion, and the entire band played another of Victoria’s new songs, “Forever Shine.” She has a solo album in the works, and it might be out around the end of the year, so keep an eye out for that, friends.

"Slash From Guns N' Roses"

“Okay, going back to my job now,” Victoria then said, putting down her acoustic guitar and moving to her spot behind the drum kit. “She can do it all, folks,” Rob told the crowd. And the Hawks went into “Hitchhiker,” such a good song, and one I hadn’t heard them do in a while. It was included on the Grapevine album. Richie Lawrence remained on accordion for the rest of the set, adding a special flavor to the songs. That was followed by “On Our Way,” the title track from the band’s 2021 album, and then another song the band hadn’t done in quite some time, “Slash From Guns N' Roses” from the California Country album. The audience recognized it immediately, and responded with appreciation and joy. One of my favorite elements of this song is that cool bass part. “It was Slash. That’s a true story,” Rob said after the song. “But you guys knew that already.” Yeah, I got the feeling that probably everyone in the room had seen the band numerous times. It was that kind of crowd, and the band was able to feed off that energy. Rob then told the tale of the shirt he was wearing, how he’d lost it after a gig at McCabe’s six or seven years ago and then found it again for sale online. The very same shirt, his shirt. I wonder just how winding was the path that shirt took in getting back to Rob.

"Carbon Dated Love"

The band delivered a really sweet rendition of “I See Hawks In L.A.,” featuring some great vocal work. Dan played Weissenborn guitar on this one. Rob gave him a pat on the back at the end of the song, and the audience responded too. I can’t imagine it would be all that easy to step into the role that Paul Lacques played in this band, and Dan is doing a fantastic job, fully embraced by the group’s fans. Richie introduced “The Wonderful Waltz,” a song that he wrote with Paul Lacques. For this one, Richie was on both vocals and accordion. It was so good to hear this excellent song performed live again. “I love you, Paul,” Richie said as they ended the song. Everyone in the room felt the same way. “The Wonderful Waltz” was followed by “Carbon Dated Love,” which, by the way, the band listed as “Fern” on the set list. The band delivered a particularly good rendition last night, featuring some cool guitar work by Dan.

"Songbird"

In addition to Victoria Jacobs’ upcoming solo album, there is a new I See Hawks In L.A. album to look forward to. When Victoria introduced “Skipping Stones,” a song she wrote with Paul Lacques, she said it’s going to be on that new album. It’s a fun song, with something of a Bo Diddley beat, and it featured some great stuff on accordion. Afterward, the band mentioned that Paul’s band Bonedaddys had toured with Bo Diddley. Crazy. “Skipping Stones” was followed by “California Country,” always a crowd-pleaser. I’ve said this before, but one way you can be sure a band is going to be good is if you notice there are musicians in the audience. There are always respected and talented musicians in the audience at Hawks shows, and last night after “California County,” Rob Waller gave a shout-out to members of The Firkins, mentioning how they do a great version of that song. And speaking of talented musicians, Gwendolyn Sanford joined the band on vocals and guitar for “Songbird.” In introducing the song, she told the crowd how she saw a hawk on her porch. The song’s first line is “I saw a hawk in L.A. outside my window.”

"Hope Against Hope"

“This is the one song I need a chart for,” Dan said before playing “I Fell In Love With The Grateful Dead.” Rob added that it’s the one Hawks song that uses all the chords available to them. There was an incredible energy to the song last night. Paul Marshall then sang lead on “Salvation,” a song that has become a highlight of the band’s sets. That was followed by another crowd favorite, “Good And Foolish Times,” which sounded even better than usual because of the presence of accordion. And the band included that little jam at the end. They wrapped up the set with “Hope Against Hope,” which seemed perfect, a beautiful ending to a great set of music. The encore was a rousing rendition of “Ride My Soul,” with the audience singing along. The show ended at 10:28 p.m.

Set List