Photos + Review | Elizabeth and The Catapult + Dinty Child and Zachariah Hickman @ Club Passim

Twas the week before Christmas, when all thro’ Club Passim. All the concert attendees were stirring, in the packed house; The guitars were set on the stage with care, In hopes that Elizabeth and the Catapult soon would be there; The audience was nestled all snug in their chairs, While sweet sounds of music danced in their heads.

On Thursday, December 21st Brooklyn musician Elizabeth Ziman, who performs as Elizabeth and the Catapult, took to the stage to thunderous applause from a crowd eager to shake off the cold and forget the hustle and bustle of the coming holiday weekend. Elizabeth and her fantastic band were celebrating the release of the outstanding new album, Keepsake, and this show was last stop of the tour.

Elizabeth kicked the evening off solo with a beautiful cover of Joni Mitchell’s, “A Case of You,” which blended perfectly into, “Thank You for Nothing,” from the 2010 album, The Other Side of Zero, which was followed by a great story on how Lou Reed paid for her ticket to see Philip Glass and how that subsequently led to her opening for Glass on his tour. The setlist contained songs from all four of Ziman’s albums so we had the pleasure of hearing the title-track from 2009’s Taller Children, and the hand-clapping goodness that is the song, “Salt of the Earth,” from 2014’s Like It Never Happened.

Every song of the set was played with such joy that it was impossible to not be in a good mood. When the band was introduced for the (winter) boot-stomping number, “Go Away My Lover,” from, Like It Never Happened, the audience became part of the band as we clapped and stomped along to the back and forth vocals from Ziman and guitarist/vocalist Jeff Taylor. As this was a celebration of Keepsake the band made sure to highlight the album throughout the set. From the piano driven fun of, “Mea Culpa,” to the beautiful storytelling of finding hope in loss found in the song, “Ambrosia,” right to the song that should become a hit (if there is any justice in the world) “Underwater,” it was hard to say if the audience or the band was having more fun. Needless to say you should have been there! Everyone packed into the intimate venue was reminded that beautiful music keeps a cold night at bay.

Along for the ride were super-talented and super-fun Boston musicians Dinty Child and Zachariah Hickman, who appear at Club Passim regularly and are clearly loved by their hometown fans. They opened up the show with a rousing set featuring songs from each of their many musical bouts in the ring. Child has worked with Laurie Sargent and is a member of Chandler Travis’ many bands. including Chandler Travis Philharmonic and Catbirds. Hickman is a multi-instrumentalist and producer has toured with Ray Lamontagne and is a member ofJosh Ritter’s band. The mustachioed fella even created his own line of mustache wax! How these two find the time to collaborate together is anyone’s guess, but thankfully they do because the music they create on stage is exhilaratingly fun.

This night was Elizabeth’s last show of the year and she made damn sure everyone had a helluva time…

..and holy smokes did we ever!

When she tours again you need to cancel any other plans you had that evening and go to the show. You can thank us later.

So dear readers, you see the theme of the night in this review right? Friends and Fun with a capital F! I mean just look at the photos our very own Steve Benoit (he of Boston Concert Photography fame) took of the festivities. When both bands got on stage together to sing, the commraoditry and friendship between the bands could be seen from outer space.