Low Cut Connie shows Wilkes-Barre what it missed
At a raucous show in King of Prussia, Adam Weiner said he had received threatening messages since the band’s July show in Luzerne County was canceled.
Low Cut Connie is back on its home turf.
Last month, the Philly rock and roll band made headlines after a show scheduled as part of Wilkes-Barre’s Rockin’ the River music series was canceled due to what piano-playing front man Adam Weiner said in a social media post were “political reasons.”
Earlier this year, Low Cut Connie — one of Barack Obama’s favorite bands — pulled out of a Kennedy Center gig after Donald Trump’s takeover of the Washington arts center, and in the spring the band released “Livin’ in the U.S.A.,” a protest song about Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportations.
Luzerne County Manager Romilda Crocamo said she canceled the show to ensure the Wilkes-Barre concert “was free of politics and propaganda.” Low Cut Connie was replaced by an AC/DC cover band, who then were subsequently replaced by a different AC/DC cover band after the criminal record of the first band’s singer came to light.
So Friday night’s show at Concerts Under the Stars in King of Prussia was the first opportunity for the Cherry Hill-raised, South Philly-based Weiner and bandmates to strut their stuff before a hometown crowd since the Wilkes-Barre brouhaha.
It was a typically raucous rock and soul evening for the locked-in sextet, who have recently returned from a tour of the western U.S. and are working on a new album, which they offered a sample of in a boogie-woogie blast called “It Can’t Be Wrong.”
Weiner and crew paid tribute to Ozzy Osbourne with “Changes” and Sly Stone on “Family Affair.” And he brought out members of terrific opening act Fantastic Cat for a cover of Bob Dylan and the Band’s “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere.”
And as usual the stage patter was inspired, with Weiner introducing “Stay as Long as You Like,” a lovely duet with vocalist Amanda “Rocky” Bullwinkel, with a live-in-the-moment transcendentalist quip: “Was it Emerson, Thoreau, or Bob Seger who said: ‘We’ve got tonight?’”
A political message and hugs
But on the venue’s stage under a gazebo, Weiner also got serious about the cultural war his band finds itself in the middle of. “There were some people over the last couple of weeks who sent me really horrible, threatening messages,” he said. “Very scary.”
Before “Help Me,” from LCC’s 2020 album Private Lives, Weiner said: “Boys and girls, some people say I should never say certain words on stage,” joking that two of those words are schmuck and a certain 12-letter expletive.
But he was really talking about two other words.
“Diversity is beautiful,” Weiner said. “It’s the core of who we are. It’s the core of Low Cut Connie. It’s the core of art. It’s the core of America.”
He added: “The other word I will never, ever, ever stop on stage using is inclusion. Everyone is welcome at the Low Cut Connie show. We got parents bringing their kids. We got kids bringing their parents. We got grandparents out on a date night.
“We got people from South Philly, we got people from North Philly. We even got some people here from Luzerne County. … And you all have one thing in common, babies. You all have souls, each and every one of you has soul. That’s why I love you. That’s why I love Philadelphia.”
He then talked those in the crowd into hugging the person next to them, while the band — whose members include drummer Jarae Lewis, guitarist and saxophone player Kelsey Cork, bassist Nick Perri, and guitarist Rich Stanley — went in for a group hug.
The King of Prussia show was also a chance for Weiner to take care of business. It marked the launch of Connie Classic, a 4.0% ABV Kolsch beer brewed by Our Town Brewery in Lancaster and named after the band. The can reads: “A Little Taste of Low Cut Connie.”
And Weiner also told Low Cut Connie fans what they’re doing New Year’s Eve: He announced the band will play Ardmore Music Hall on Dec. 30 and 31.