HURRAY FOR THE RIFF RAFF
@ THE PINK ROOM (YES), MANCHESTER
AUGUST 15, 2023
βYou might notice that weβre sitting down. Thatβs because we sound better sitting down.β ~Howe Pearson
At a few minutes past 9:00 PM, and after the opening act performed by Katie Malco, Alynda Segarra of Hurray For The Riff Raff and Howe Pearson, their acoustic support for the show, came on stage. If there was ever an intimacy and a vulnerability to a concert, it was there in that dimly lit pink room.
No time was wasted in breaking down the barrier between the artist and their fans. Segarra interacted with the crowd between each song, providing meaning behind what was being played, from tracks like βThe Body Electricβ which Segarra noted to be a song that never stops being horribly relevant, to another off their very first album, It Donβt Mean I Donβt Love You.
Segarra took us back in time with them, when they were 18 or 19 and in the backyard of a close friend back in New Orleans. They spoke about picking up a fiddle, playing it to various degrees of success, and thinking, βMaybe I should do… this.β That was when the song βJunebug Waltzβ was first written. By then few people had their cameras out, in fact it felt like the room held its breath for every word Segarra sang.
There was a sensation that a photo album was being flipped in that moment, each page examined for its most intricate parts. There was one about heartbreak, the words βCold feet/I was a kid/I was lonelyβ from βSAGAβ that spoke of a misplaced love, and the desire to be bigger than your pain.
Despite every song being so deeply personal to Segarra, they also covered βOne Of Usβ, first performed by Joan Osborne in 1995. The words, βWhat if God was one of us/Just a slob like one of us/Just a stranger on the busβ seemed to carry even more weight when paired with Segarraβs intentional pacing, and the room grew more attentive with each verse.
At the successful request of an encore the crowd became more unified. Strangers exchanged smiles, then immediately cast their gaze back to the front of the stage where Segarra performed βPaβLanteβ as their final song. The beautifully devastating lyricism captured the essence of the show, where each verse of every song touched on the most human parts of life. The heartaches, the loneliness, the hope, the yearning, and everything wonderful in between.
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