Eva And The Vagabond Tales at Brand Library & Art Center, 8-25-23 Concert Review

Eva And The Vagabond Tales

There are many summer concert series in Los Angeles, something that I love about this city. One that I only just learned about takes place at the Brand Library & Art Center in Glendale. And the first show that I caught there happened to be the final in the series for this year. Eva And The Vagabond Tales put on a wonderful set last night at a pleasant picnic spot behind the building, playing a mix of covers and original songs. Apparently, they were scheduled to play the series last year, but got rained out. There are a couple of picnic tables in front of where the stage was set up, but most folks brought their own blankets and chairs.

The band kicked off the set with a cover of “Bei Mir Bistu Shein” (which is also sometimes written as “Bei Mir Bist Du Shein” and “Bei Mir Bist Du Schön“), getting the crowd clapping along at the beginning, and putting folks in a good mood. There was a tiny lantern hanging from the neck of Eva Mikhailovna’s guitar. It was my first time at this venue, as I mentioned, but when I was looking up information about it, I saw that there are hiking trails in the park as well. We didn’t have enough time before the show to go exploring, but during that first song Eva noticed some folks emerging from the trails. “I keep seeing people running out of the bushes,” she said before introducing the next song. That next song was an original, “Thieves,” which was included on the band’s Letters From The Moon album. Kully Stiles switched from clarinet to pedal steel for this one. This song also featured some nice work by Jasmine Capitulo on accordion. They followed that with a cover of The Beatles’ “I’ve Just Seen A Face” and then “Falling Off This Earth.” Kully started “Falling Off This Earth” on clarinet, but then switched to bass clarinet partway through. He then went back to pedal steel for the band’s cover of Harry Styles’ “As It Was.”

If you live outside of Los Angeles, you might be aware that we recently had a hurricane, but you might not be aware that during the storm we also had an earthquake. Eva mentioned that the band had decided to rehearse that day for this gig, and so some of them spent some time on the road during the storm, which she did not recommend doing. They then played “Mirage,” another song from Letters From The Moon, and followed that with a cover of “I’m Not Okay (I Promise).” Eva introduced it as a pop song that came out when they were in their teens, and my brain stupidly got prepared for a fun song from the 1980s, thinking of my teens and forgetting that I am oh so much older. After the song, she asked the crowd if they knew what band did the song originally. No one knew. We were all older, I guess. The band was My Chemical Romance, a group I knew nothing about. I listened to a little of the original song today, and I can say that the version by Eva And The Vagabond Tales was much, much better.

They played “Please Keep Me,” which was included on the band’s 2019 release, Uncharted Ocean. And then Eva asked the crowd to howl like wolves in preparation for the audience participation part in their cover of “Li’l Red Riding Hood,” a song by Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs.  That was followed by another cover, this one from the Disney movie The Jungle Book. Apparently, the band has a regular gig at Downtown Disney, and Eva said the song, “I Wanna Be Like You,” was one of their favorites to play. It was a fun one to revisit, particularly the way they delivered it. Kully was on clarinet, and switched to bass clarinet during the drum solo. Yes, there was a drum solo. And the song also featured a seriously cool lead on bass. Who would have guessed that a Disney song would be a highlight of the set? Another highlight for me was the song that followed it, “Sea Will Return You,” another song from Uncharted Ocean. The set then concluded with “Goodnight My Darling.” As the song progressed, Kully and then Eva switched to accordions, so there were three accordions on stage. Mark San Filippo on drums kept the beat while adding melodica, and Max on bass also played melodica. The encore was “Keep Me In Your Shadows.”

Set List

1. Bei Mir Bistu Shein
2. Thieves
3. I’ve Just Seen A Face
4. Falling Off This Earth
5. As It Was
6. Mirage
7. I’m Not Okay (I Promise)
8. Please Keep Me
9. Li’l Red Riding Hood
10. I Wanna Be Like You
11. Sea Will Return You
12. Goodnight My Darling

Encore

1. Keep Me In Your Shadows

Here are some photos from the show:

"Bei Mir Bistu Shein"

"Bei Mir Bistu Shein"

"I've Just Seen A Face"

"Falling Off This Earth"

 

"Falling Off This Earth"

"I Wanna Be Like You"

 

"Goodnight My Darling"

"Goodnight My Darling"

"Goodnight My Darling"

Brand Library & Art Center is located at 1601 W. Mountain St. in Glendale, California. By the way, there is a parking lot there, so no worries about finding a spot on the street.