Majestic Theatre employees most likely breathed a collective sigh of relief last Thursday as William Fitzsimmons took the stage. After GWAR on Monday and Diplo on Tuesday, Fitzsimmons' subdued, low-key brand of music is just what was needed to recover.
William Fitzsimmons is a soft spoken singer/songwriter originally from Pittsburgh, PA. With 5 studio albums, his quiet, contemplative, and wrenching music has won multiple awards, been featured on numerous television shows, and garnered comparisons to Iron & Wine, Sujfan Stevens, and Elliot Smith. He, along with guitarist Jake Phillips and producer Josh Taylor, stopped in Madison to play an intimate seated show filled with songs spanning his career.
As Fitzsimmons played, his soft vocals hushed the crowd as we at times strained to hear him. The show was quiet, but I can't imagine it being any other way. In between songs, Fitzsimmons would briefly speak, poking fun at himself and the tone of his music. "We're going to slow things down a bit now," he said following likely the slowest, most gloomy song in the set. The humor was defiantly a relief.
Denison Witmer, who opened for Fitzsimmons, joined the others on stage for what was the highlight of the show. The four gathered around one microphone and played a cover of Neil Young's "Heart of Gold". To finish, Fitzsimmons pulled out a Banjolele to play "You Still Hurt Me", and then went off-mic to sing his last song "If You Would Come Back Home."
In the end, it was a great show. The Majestic Theatre made a perfect sitting for such a relaxing an intimate experience.
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Happy birthday to the Cute Beatle, SIr Paul McCartney! He turns 71 today.
One of the rules for Beatles fans is that you must memorize tidbits of Beatle trivia to try and impress other Beatle fans. This is not that easy to do....as things like...
In 1968, Jeannie C. Riley topped both the pop and country charts with "Harper Valley PTA". She was the first female singer to accomplish that feat and it wasn't repeated until Dolly Parton did it in 1981 with the song "9 to 5". The song was...
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