Friday Night Live with The Swansons at Swansonville USA – Live Review
Friday Night Live with The Swansons, Swansonville USA, July 10th, 2020
Friday Night Live with The Swansons, Swansonville USA, July 10th, 2020The Swansons have opened for everyone from Missing Persons, The Motels, Gallagher, Cherrie Currie and even the legendary Wayne Newton! Consisting of husband and wife duo Joe & Angie Finley, The Swansons have garnered multiple awards for their albums Country This and BAM! Prior to these pandemic days, The Swansons would perform live nearly every weekend at clubs throughout Southern California, their concerts and supremely catchy tunes bringing smiles and joy to their audiences.
On Friday, March 20th, The Swansons were due to open for Joe Esposito at the Whisky A Go Go on the Sunset Strip. With Covid-19 becoming even more rampant, Esposito would cancel, but The Swansons vowed to remain on the bill. And right before the date of the show, Los Angeles was placed on lockdown and all venues were closed throughout the entire state of California. Being firm believers in “The Show Must Go On” mantra and eager to keep us all entertained, Friday Night Live with The Swansons would be established, with the first episode airing on the night of their cancelled Whisky appearance. A few technical problems were experienced on that first live stream, but The Swansons placed their big hearts and memorable songs into the show, delivering the ultimate feel good performance when it was needed the most in a time of national crisis.
The Swansons have performed every Friday night at 7PM PT, streaming on Facebook Live ever since that fateful date. With improved sounds and visuals, Friday Night Live with The Swansons has become a much appreciated and vastly entertaining extravaganza.
The latest show before our Highwire Daze deadline took place on July 10th, and what a fun and lively set Joe and Angie Finley delivered to help us forget about these otherwise dark and turbulent times. Opening with the two Swansons mascots Swany Swansons and DJ Dawg holding up signs and waving, a few minutes of introduction and background music would follow – just to make sure y’all were in the right place.
Kicking off their set with a rousing rendition of I Can’t Wait from their Country This album, The Swansons launched into an hour of country pop rocking goodness. Next up was No Pain from their recently unveiled BAM! release, a free-wheeling and wonderfully liberating tune that feels vibrantly refreshing.
Throughout the show, The Swansons would greet listeners live including Diane Adams from Diane & The Deductibles who happened to be watching. – as well as friends, family, and more! There was also a contest running featuring a Secret Word from the previous week and a fishbowl full of prizes. After the swinging Push My Luck and the anthem-like refrains of BAM!, the Secret Word of “elephant” was revealed and a trip to the magic fishbowl would soon take place – and the unveiling of a new secret word for next week. A Swansons trivia questions was also issued with swag being sent out to a fan who knew the answer.
And the glorious selections kept on arriving including the super infectious Country This, the witty and wonderful Let’s Talk, and the swirling refrains of Let It Go. Closing their set was a countrified funky rendition of The Outsider – a brilliant grand finale song that surely remained with the listener long after the show left the Internet airwaves.
You can view all of the episodes of Friday Night Live with The Swansons by going to their Facebook page and checking out their video section. And be sure to buy some merch or leave a tip for this hard working, tremendously talented and resourceful duo!
(Review by Ken Morton – Photo by Vic Mendoza of Vicscover Art)
