Joshua Radin

I saw Joshua Radin, Andrew Belle, and Cary Brothers at Mill City Nights in Minneapolis. I will preface my review with the fact that I have never been to a concert at Mill City Nights, but have seen both Joshua and Andrew before. Mill City Nights is one of, if not, THE WORST venues in which I've seen a concert. There are roughly five places from such you can actually see the stage if you aren't in the first row or in the reserved seating in the middle balcony. I was not in one of those five places. Alas, my wife and I arrived ten minutes before the first opener so we scrambled to find a decent spot. After choosing between being obstructed by a pillar or a speaker, we settled in for the show. The sound system was horrendous (you'd think of you couldn't see they'd want you to hear...). The sound system was the cause of constant frustration for the acts. The monitors were either off or not working, which made the sound very off from our vantage point to the right of the stage. Each artist complained of the sound at least once, as it crackled and popped repeatedly during their performances. Cary Brothers and Andrew Belle made the best of a bad situation and played through. Cary made a couple jokes about the system, but continued to play. Joshua Radin was another story. His entire set seemed to be marred with complaints about the sound system and telling the audience he would be playing First Avenue the next time he was in town. even changed the lyrics to a song to include his frustration with the sound. It started out as amusing, but you could tell he let the frustration get the best of him and really took over his set. After the last song of the main set her left the stage. The audience, as we tend to do, waited for an encore. The staff went back to see of he was coming out and audience members waited over fifteen mines for him to return (myself included). He never came back. I am really disappointed he let his frustration basically ruin his performance. He seemed like a spoiled little kid throwing a tantrum. Both of his openers worked through a bad situation, and Andrew Belle even went down to sign autographs, take pictures, and meet fans after the show. Joshua Radin likely sat in his bus and complained to whoever would listen to him. I will definitely be going to see Andrew Belle again, because he was a pleasure to meet. Joshua Radin? Maybe not if he's going to put himself before his fans.

The acoustic concert by Joshua Radin is beautiful in its simplicity. A black background with a light for him and his helper are the only adornments to the stage.

The floor surrounding them glows an orangey-red making Joshua appear darker and bathed in heat as he happily croons “Rather be with you.” While others rock in time with the music, or sway to his voice Joshua is almost statuesque, his fingers on his guitar, and lips near the microphone the only parts of him moving.

As he ends the song he slowly shakes his head before strumming the chords of the next. It's as if he is clearing his mind to move onto the next part of the set. “I Missed You” Starts out deeper and more intense, he seems more focused and less wistful as he skillfully confesses his humanity for the world to hear.

He finishes with the soulful “Anywhere Your Love goes.” Tiny pops on his guitar punctuating the silky, wistful, almost smoky vocals. The pain in his voice is back and his breath is heavy.

A slight catch in his timbre makes me look at his sad eyes and see the soulful expressions within them. “Anywhere your love goes, you will find me,” he croons almost painfully before hanging his head and allowing the applause to wash over him.

Joshua Radin is best known in the UK for his 2008 album 'Simple Times' which charted within the top 10 and spawned the hit single 'I'd Rather Be With You'. He has amassed a huge following of his melodic acoustic tinged folk pop yet he is rarely playing in the British isles so his elusive shows all have a sense of limitedness and speciality to them.

Stepping onstage with trusty acoustic guitar and a couple of accompanying musicians, the crowd cheer loudly. He promptly begins with a wonderful pairing of the easy listening 'No Envy, No Fear' and 'Everything'll Be Alright' in his recognisable vocal. A humble performer throughout the show, he took time to acknowledge and thank his crowd and attempt to build rapport with various stories of past gigs and song meanings.

Swaying away from the down-tempo melancholic tracks from his discography, he seemed intent on keeping the spirits of the crowd in a high place so plumbed for bright renditions of 'Brand New Day' and 'Closer'. The biggest singalong of the night was reserved for 'I'd Rather Be With You' which left Joshua with a huge grin as he left the stage having been made quite at home in the UK.

Seven years since I first saw Joshua Radin live at The Water Rats in London and he is still impressing audiences with his music and entertaining them with his stories in between. With the talented Rosi Golan opening for him and appearing with him during three songs of the set, the Union Chapel was the perfect venue for an acoustic artist and he made the most of that by unplugging for his cover of a Dylan song. The set list opened with a brand new track from his forthcoming album, and then meandered through tracks from his previously released albums and EP's keeping the tempo light with amusing anecdotes so as not to let the sad songs bring the audience into melancholy and enough upbeat numbers that he was able to get us all up on our feet towards the end of the set. A talented musician and another enjoyable evening out in his musical company.

Josh performed a good show last night, at the Buckhead Theater. He played solo, which did not allow us to get the full JR effect, but it was a great time and the location, logistics with the late change resulted in a nice evening.

I will continue to follow him whenever he is in the area, he is a nice song writer and his message is positive, romantic and fun.

Keep it Up Joshua -

I actually shared this event with my 3
younger children (16, 14, and 12)
which was really cool as JR
is a perfect "Date" concert,
my kids really enjoyed the show.

Thanks again!
Scott

Absolutely terrific. Brothers and Yamagata were great, and then Joshua blew me away. His set list must've been 25 songs long - amazing! But the best thing ever was his work with the girls from Little Kids Rock. A super crowd-pleaser that does just as much for him as it does for them. He's a great, great guy, and to know that he wants to share that with others who are coming up after him will make him ever more a cut above rest!

Joshua radin never disappoints. Terrific performance mixed in with fun stories and humorous relations with the audience.
This is the 3rd time I've seen Joshua and plan to see him again. He is a national treasure.the other performers were fun skilled and terrific. Great show guys thanks so much

Was on my list to, If I ever had the change, go see him live. And it was beautiful!! Live he sounds even better and more pure. Also the way he took the audience in with a couple more up tempo songs and moved away from the lullabies, perfect timing. All and all a very good performance.

Awesome concert, amazing artist. Joshua Radin was funny, friendly and just perfect! So happy to have had the opportunity to meet and greet and participate in the soundcheck. I had asked him if he could sing One and Only during soundcheck and he didn't disappoint!

This was a great show. Lily Kershaw was absolutely fantastic and Josh was entertaining. I don't like the "live" versions of his music sometimes, but he has a great voice and likes to talk to the crowd between songs, which is very enjoyable.