Prior to heading off to the late September WFNM showcase at Hotel Ziggy, I listened to the music of the various performers for the night. That included opener Adam Wilson. I went to his Instagram page and clicked on his links. There was a Youtube video to his song "Together." The song is a duet with Kia (KIA) Knoester, a WFNM alumni who I had happened to catch a year prior at Bar Lubitsch. I was thinking it would be awesome if that song was on the setlist. But I wasn't holding out much hope. When I arrived, I noticed her in the crowd and my hopes rose ever so slightly, but I was keeping a pessimistic viewpoint -- why get my hopes up too high.
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| Adam Wilson at Hotel Ziggy |
It was the third song into the set and Wilson called up his friend KIA. My cheerful increased dramatically. The song was introduced with the fact that they had won a Hollywood Independent Music award for the song. Additional context for the song is that while they were writing the song, KIA was in month 6 of her marriage while he was about to propose to his now wife. They were obviously in a good space while working together on the song.
It is an R&B duet that had me thinking of that great 1980s Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald duet "On My Own." Of course, "Together" is a far more positive song.
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| Adam Wilson at Hotel Ziggy |
Cuz we go so good together
Nothing else can measure
Wouldn't it be better, if we
Got it together
The song has their backing band almost taking turns on the lead. A series of keyboard chords, drum beats come in, and then the saxophone brings everyone together. The lyrics are all about love, but one had to come away with the thought that the music was also put together with a loving heart.
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| Adam Wilson at Hotel Ziggy |
It should be mentioned that the song "Shine" was dedicated to his mother who had passed away a year ago on this very specific September date. After "Together," the final 5 songs were unreleased material that will be on an upcoming record release. Once again, during many of the songs, the saxophone provided a nice jazz touch to the R&B music. The final song of the night "Til the World Ends" had him going beat box while his band responded with a funky response. The crowd responded with a sea of head bobbing. The crowd demanded an encore (though he did sort of encourage it prior to singing "Til the World Ends"). He obliged with a short half-song that had him going out into the audience and fist bumping various individuals.
Partial Setlist: Shine, Together, Delusional, The Feeling, Diamond in the Rough, Thinner, Til the World Ends.
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