Walter Schreifels - Walter Sings The Hits Live: 03-22-06

Label: Bootleg
Year: 2006

My unquestioning and unwavering love for Walter Schreifels has been well documented on this blog over the years, and I really needn't explain it, but in the off chance you're 12 years old or from some former Eastern Bloc country that missed the late 80's and early 90's, then just read this and catch up real quick.
For the initiated, may we present this live recording made at the Nighttime Theater in Rotterdam during the "Walter Sings The Hits Tour", which was a short run of shows in Europe at the end of a Walking Concert tour whereupon he...wait for it...sang the hits spanning his career from Gorilla Biscuits to Quicksand to Rival Schools to solo material in a solo acoustic format. Which, isn't as surprising as it may have sounded, as Walter has been known to pop up here and there to do these intimate acoustic shows playing NYHC classics and his own material. The format highlights Walter's ability to entertain as both a musician and a performer. He seems very well aware of his position "in the scene" and the credibility he's banked over the years in writing and performing some of the best music of the past decades, but there's an overriding self deprecating humor to everything he does which keeps his stories and anecdotes dare I say..."sweet". He controls the crowd very well, but he's the type of artist that draws a loyal (if not huge) fan base to his shows, so everyone there is stoked to be there.
This is a guy who could sing the fucking phonebook and I'd go see him. He's earned all the praise he could ever be given, and he continues making music true to his heart, which is really all you (we, us) can ask for. Love it.

DL