Thoughts on: Big Cats For My Mother Release Show

It felt like a memorial.  Not a funeral, where the air can be sucked from your lungs, your feet and heart heavy with loss, but a memorial.  An event where there was palatable sadness, but something where there was spirit of love and perseverance, tears both for the loss but also thankful for the joy over what had been.  Losing your mother is never easy, and if often an ordeal dealt with in solace and privacy, but there can be an uplifting aspect of community and music, two things that came together beautifully Thursday night at the Cedar, as Big Cats (Spencer Wirth-Davis) celebrated the release of his amazing opus For My Mother.

The record (Reviler review HERE) has an amazing back story that adds to the gravitas of the record, but the music stands on its own two feet.  Hearing live versions of these vintage soul songs, cut and pasted with the deft production talents of Wirth-Davis, was a testament to powerful strength of music.  The show was straight and to the point, playing through the songs on the album with little fanfare outside of a few comments from Wirth-Davis.  From the musicians who seemed truly honored to be part of the band to the large, receptive crowd (who gave a standing ovation at the end) to Wirth-Davis’s father, who was in the crowd and was pointed out as a driving force behind the record, the evening felt bigger than a “concert,” more meaningful than just notes and beats and merch tables.  It was a memorial.

-Josh