The Preservation Hall Jazz Band made a rare visit to Cambridge last week, making their first appearance at the Sinclair in Harvard Square. For an extra treat, the show was mercifully inexpensive, a fraction of the ticket price of the other two times I’ve seen them in the Boston area: just $10 including all taxes and fees. Awesome! They had no trouble selling out the 500+ capacity venue at that price. The Sinclair’s standing-room-only setup is also a huge improvement on the other Boston shows I saw, which were both seated at extremely sedate venues which allowed no dancing whatsoever. There was no shortage of dancing at the Sinclair! It’s really becoming one of my favorite mid-size venues in the area.
The Sinclair’s habit of shining lights directly into the front rows of the audience made my camera pretty worthless for most of the show (“Enjoy this five minute video of BLINDING LENS FLARE!“) but I did manage to get one pretty cool shot of Clint Maedgen chilling out with his gorgeous white saxophone while listening to a piano solo.
PHJB always puts on a fun show, classic New Orleans jazz that makes you want to get up and dance every time. Highlights of this particular set for me included “St. James Infirmary,” which they did a sort of double take on, with (more…)