Here at We Heart Music, we’ve (ok, I) have reviewed (and interviewed!) Willie Wisely a number of times recently. If you read any of those other events, you’ll notice that while there is some mention of his original music, much of the performances we’ve attended have been covers (he addressed this in the interview). Which is interesting as Wisely has a multi-decade history of original music, with eight studio albums and lots of other releases. After his early 90’s group The Willie Wisely Trio ended, Wisely went solo and created a masterpiece solo album in She in 1996. Celebrating the 30th anniversary at Icehouse in Minneapolis, it came with the first vinyl pressing of the album all these decades later.

Starting on stage solo with acoustic guitar, Wisely warmed things up with a few songs from other albums or even unreleased numbers, such as the hopeful There’s One in Every Generation. Followed by the much bleaker Erase Me from his brilliant album Parador gave Wisely the chance to show some different aspects of his great vocal style. It was a nice tour of his work and when Through Any Window hit, it was a perfect venue acoustically and Wisely killed it with his great charm and musicality. Ending the opening set with the newer Kiss the Morning, Wisely had effectively whetted the appetite of the crowd for the full band.

After a short break, and a change of clothes for Wisely, it was time to roll. The sextet (Willie Wisely on vocals/guitar, Geoff LaCrone on guitar, John Fields on bass, Tommy Barbarella on keyboards, Ken Chastain on percussion/back up vocals, and Peter Anderson on drums) were ready for the high energy front end of the album and Go! and Ready to Wear were bangers, but when back up singer Karen Paurus came on stage for Love Is Wrong, things had gone off the hook superbly. A bit of banter “I’m going to talk now” was all gratitude for the band members on stage (and a few who couldn’t make it to town) and it was a sweet moment. Vagabond was the first song they recorded for the album, and Wisely led that slow musical build up so well. Those back up vocals were clutch at multiple points, maybe no more so than on Blues (All the Rage), while Barbarella’s synth keys leveled things up even more. Sleeping With Girls was as hilarious live as you would hope for and we were nearly through the first side of She.

A cute video of the new record being turned over was both good advertising for merch and also gave the band a minute to catch their breath. Back to it, Barbarella’s keyboard work was fantastic for His Eye, It’s Wandering and Chastain pulled out the harmonica and the melodica at different points (the number of instruments he used across the evening was ridiculous). But the crowd was ready for Loander My Guitar, a most brilliant satire and with the refrain heavy “hey”, the audience was vociferous. Paurus was back on stage and wonderful for the out of album order Lady of Love, but the transition to Please Don’t Talk About Me (When I’m Gone) was spot on and Wisely was in full strut mode and that extended musical ending was rocking. Go Faster! actually had the cheap bullhorn and Chastain hit that silly interlude exactly right. A short reprise of Go! finished the album, but the band settled in for the quick encore and the wonderful Raincan was a peppy number to end a fantastic night. Willie Wisely had recreated the joy of She, and an evening of his original music was just what the doctor ordered.