REVIEW | Joanne Shaw Taylor and Kris Lager showcase blues at the Levitt
Opener, headliner explore different flavors of music but stay true to fundamentals of genre
The evening first appeared in one enormous frame: the curved wooden shell glowing at the edge of downtown Sioux Falls, hundreds of folding chairs planted across the grass and a pale blue sky broken into long strokes of cloud. The large video screen carried the performance to the back rows, where the stage itself had become a small rectangle beyond a congregation of lawn chairs.
It was Friday night at Levitt, but the view contained more than a concert. Food trucks lined the perimeter. People settled into chairs brought from home or bought right there at the Levitt. A child rode higher than the heads around them. Near the front, standing bodies had begun to gather against the rail. Farther back, a curly-haired dog named Barry Boy rested between pairs of shoes, watching the evening with the solemn patience of someone who had not been consulted about the lineup.
The free July 31 concert paired Omaha-rooted troubadour Kris Lager with British blues-rock guitarist Joanne Shaw Taylor. Levitt listed Lager as the opening act before Taylor’s headlining performance, placing two artists under the blues banner who have spent much of their careers finding ways around its borders.
