Concert review: Joshua Radin at The Loft in Dallas (February 11)

by Alex Bentley

Joshua Radin must have a thing for Dallas, as his concert Wednesday night at The Loft was his third stop in Big D in less than a year. And Dallas fans obviously feel the same way about him, with a sell-out crowd packing the room where he put on a show just seven months ago.

Radin has always come off as a musician who’s loyal to his friends to the end, and his choice in tourmates backs up this idea. Opener Jesse Harris, best known for writing Norah Jones’ “Don’t Know Why” (along with four other songs on her debut album), is a good friend of Radin’s, and he played backup guitar for Radin when he came out. Harris displayed a unique style in his 8- to 9-song set, playing the banjo for every song. However, as another concert-goer pointed out, one rarely hears the banjo played as Harris played it. There was nary a country twang to be heard from the instrument throughout, and when Harris broke out “Don’t Know Why” for himself, he completely owned it like only the man who wrote the song could.

26-year-old Meiko, who, in the words of Radin, “used to sling drinks” at the Hotel Café bar in Los Angeles where Radin got his start, was up next, and her set represented the high point of the night. That’s not to say that she was that much better than Harris or Radin, but rather that her music was of the much more upbeat variety than those two (not that there’s anything wrong with singing sad songs, as Radin would soon prove). Meiko had more than a few crowd-pleasers, with the bouncy “Boys with Girlfriends” and “Under My Bed” being the highlights. She ended her night with “Real Real Sweet,” a song designed to stick it to the ex-girlfriend of a good (male) friend of hers; the pointed lyrics gave the audience a good feel as to exactly what kind of girl Meiko is.

Radin finally took the stage just before 10:30, and despite his low-key nature, the crowd gave him their undivided attention. The Loft is not exactly conducive to someone who sings soft songs like Radin, as the crowd is usually at a dull roar, but during his breakout song, “Winter,” you could’ve heard a pin drop. Radin mostly sang songs off his latest album, Simple Times, but, along with “Winter,” mixed in a few of his better-known songs like “Today” (with Meiko singing backup) and “The Fear You Won’t Fall.” He also introduced a new song called “She’s So Right” that’s as close to pop rock as Radin has ever gotten, and yet it mixed with the rest of his set like he’d been singing it forever. Eschewing the standard encore, Radin instead just kept playing, wrapping up with Sam Cooke’s soul classic “Bring It On Home to Me.”