Willie Nile at City Winery

Willie Nile (born Robert Noonan in Buffalo, NY) came from a musical family -- his grandfather led a local orchestra and was a vaudeville pianist, his uncles played boogie woogie, and two older brothers played piano. The youth learned to play the piano at age eight and took classical music lessons until he was a teenager, when he wrote his first rock and roll song. While in college, he wrote poetry and started to take guitar playing seriously, and during the summers he frequented New York City's hootenanny clubs. After college, Nile took an apartment in Greenwich Village in order to immerse himself in New York City's singer-songwriter circuit, but he also gravitated to the emerging punk rock scene on the east side of town. Inspired by both folk and rock streams, his early albums yielded comparisons to Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. Nile's career soon was abruptly curtailed when contractual complications prevented him from releasing new music for the next nine years. Nile's recordings have become more frequent in recent years, and he released his 12th studio album, Children of Paradise, on July 27, 2018.

Willie Nile is confident about the value of his new album. In a daring move, he started his set at City Winery tonight by performing all 12 tracks, then followed with seven older songs and three covers. Indeed, the risk paid off. Backed by lead guitarist Matt Hogan, bassist Johnny Pisano, and drummer Jon Webber, Nile performed a blistering set that was perhaps his finest New York gig in several years. The new lyrics struggled with a complicated new world: some of the lyrics clearly rattled with unrest, others were more obtuse, but they fueled with a raging fire and guts deluxe. The older songs drew out the essence of Nile's New York-based character, and the Velvet Underground and Ramones covers at the end accentuated that dynamic. Throughout, the band played a muscular and energetic backing, driving the rocking songs to their summit. Willie, come back and do it again.

Visit Willie Nile at www.willienile.com.

Setlist:

1. Seeds of a Revolution
2. All Dressed Up and No Place to Go
3. Don't
4. Earth Blues
5. Children of Paradise
6. Gettin' Ugly Out There
7. I Defy
8. Have I Ever Told You
9. Secret Weapon
10. Lookin' for Someone
11. Rock N' Roll Sister
12. All God’s Children
13. Forever Wild
14. This Is Our Time
15. Heaven Help the Lonely
16. House of a Thousand Guitars
17. Magdalena
18. Sweet Jane (The Velvet Underground cover)
19. One Guitar
20. You Gotta Be a Buddha (In a Place Like This)
21. I Wanna Be Sedated (The Ramones cover)
22. Sheena Is a Punk Rocker (The Ramones cover)