Photo by Blaine Schultz
Phil Vassar and Sister Hazel
Phil Vassar and Sister Hazel at the Northern Lights Theater
Phil Vassar’s Jingle Jam holiday tour with opening act Sister Hazel was supposed to end Sunday night at Potawatomi Hotel & Casino’s Northern Lights Theater. But ticket demand led to another show being added and the artists had to wait until after Monday’s concert to head home for the Christmas holidays.
Vassar emerged in the late ‘90s writing chart-topping country songs for other artists but the piano player hit his stride as a performer and is no stranger to Milwaukee, having played Summerfest in September.
Monday evening Vassar and his band along with alternative-turned-Country group Sister Hazel took the stage en masse: two drummers, a pair of saxes, a trio of guitars, bass, drums and Vassar on a festively decorated piano. The orchestra opened with seasonal classics “Merry Christmas Baby,” “Please Come Home For Christmas” and a take on “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” that drew on the Phil Spector/Bruce Springsteen template before a brief detour into “Joy to the World”—as in the Three Dog Night hit “Jeremiah was a bullfrog.”
Vassar and band left the stage to Sister Hazel for a set that included their hits “Change Your Mind,” “Happy” and “All for You.” With dancers in the aisles, the packed house seemed to be enjoying them as much as the headliner. Singer Ken Block remarked the band had been playing Northern Lights for so long, he remembered being in the dressing room setting up his Myspace page. To close their set, Block and guitarist Drew Copeland were joined by Vassar for a warmhearted take on Joni Mitchell’s “River.”
Photo by Blaine Schultz
Phil Vassar and Sister Hazel
Vassar and band then returned to the stage and made the theater feel like an amphitheater with singalongs like “Just Another Day in Paradise.” The “dashboard drumming” lyric from “Six-Pack Summer” had fans pounding the tabletops; Pattie Cossentino’s saxophone solo became “Stay” (Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs via Jackson Browne) and for one song at least, winter was at held at bay. With “My Next Thirty Years,” Vassar offered optimism for the future with a new year right around the corner.
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Generously turning the stage over to his band and Sister Hazel’s musicians, the troupe led by Cossentino on flute played a prog-rock version of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” complete with tribal drums and ended with a flourish from lead guitarist Jeff Smith.
A jam on “Run Run Rudolph,” Chuck Berry’s anthem for misfit reindeer everywhere, seemed to be the end of the performance as the band took a selfie form the stage. But Vassar, Block and Copeland returned for a piano lounge version of Billy Joel’s “Piano Man” with the audience serenading the chorus.
