In Concert: Lars Kohlman

Monday evening, local musician Lars Kohlman took the stage at Evanston's Little Theater; here are a few photos from the evening's performance:

The crowd watches in Shock and Awe as Kohlman performs

Kohlman's set contained a mix of original folk tunes and cover songs ranging from Bob Dylan to Neil Young. After entering to the dramatic Ennio Morricone anthem The Ecstasy of Gold, Kohlman immediately launched into a brilliant rendition of Neil Young's On the Way Home. Following One the Way Home, which ironically was the same song Neil Young opened with on his 1971 solo tour, was an original Lars Kohlman track entitled The Sheep. The lyrical flow in The Sheep is heavily influenced by another Neil Young track: Cowgirl in the Sand. However, the lyrics in The Sheep have an intense political connotation. In The Sheep's second verse Kohlman sings about the realities of false patriotism in America.

Hello lonesome hearted bride
Do you fly your flag with pride?
The picture you sent me of our son
It makes me proud to hold a gun

While The Sheep was heavily laced with political content, the criticisms of American culture and foreign policy were not limited to the concert’s second track. In the hard-hitting anti war anthem Shock and Awe, Kohlman compared the faults of past American generations to the atrocities being committed by our nation's leaders today, arguing that perhaps America has not learned from its own history. For me, Shock and Awe was Kohlman's best song of the evening in large part because of the vivid and intense lyrics.
In addition to the opening song, On the Way Home, Kohlman also belted out Neil Young's Down by the River, which like Kohlman's original work, contains chilling lyrics.

Overall, the evening was an enjoyable musical experience for all in attendance. At the show's conclusion, Kohlman remained on the stage and held a brief question and answer session with his audience. In the discussion, one attendee commented that he felt the music that evening leaned, at times, too heavily on Kohlman's folk-rock predecessors Bob Dylan and Neil Young. While I agree with this statement as a music critic, it should be noted that Bob Dylan, who ironically has made a huge impact on influencing the music of Mr. Kohlman, released his debut self-titled album containing multiple cover songs. In other words, folk musicians usually become successful only after building on a musical foundation constructed by the artists who came before them.

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One final thing:

It should be noted that Lars Kohlman is a close friend of mine, and while I promised him I would try to write an objective review, it’s obviously very hard to find anything wrong with a performance when it happens to be one of your best friends on stage. That being said, I still sincerely believe that the concert, which was his first, was phenomenal. While talking with other concert-goers after the show, it became quickly apparent to me that we had all reached a similar conclusion: something truly special had occurred in The Little Theater that evening.

Throughout the past four months, I have witnessed personally Lars Kohlman’s growth as both a musician and a poet. Seeing someone literally morph from an amateur guitar player to a full-fledged performing artist has truly been amazing in itself. Monday night felt like the perfect culmination of that phenomenon. But somewhere between Kohlman’s fast-paced rendition of Bob Dylan’s Mr. Tambourine Man and the vivid and heartfelt lyrics of Shock and Awe it hit me; Monday evening’s show was not a culmination of anything, rather, it was the beginning of what appears to be a fruitful and rewarding musical journey for Mr. Kohlman.

As a friend of Lars, I’m telling you to watch the video above and later listen to his full length album which he says will be recorded and released in the months to come.

As a music critic, I’m telling you one thing: This kid is the real deal.