by Allen Rich of North Texas e-News

It isn't often music fans get to see a contemporary artist of the stature of Duncan Sheik in an intimate setting that McKinney Performing Arts Center provides.

Allen Rich/North Texas E-news

Duncan Sheik

How much would you pay for a night you will always remember?

About $25 seems more than reasonable and that is exactly what well over 300 people thought, too, as the crowd eased into their seats in the restored historic courtroom in downtown McKinney for a very memorable Valentines Day treat. It isn't often music fans get to see a contemporary artist of the stature of Duncan Sheik in an intimate setting that McKinney Performing Arts Center provides.

Almost everyone in the country that listens to pop music was singing along with Sheik's "Barely Breathing" a few years back. And for open-minded music aficionados with the ability to appreciate music straight from Broadway, melodies straight from the heart and then sit wide-eyed through a hammering encore of Radiohead's "Big Plastic Trees," there wasn't anyplace in the country better to be than downtown McKinney Saturday night. Sheik and his bedouin band of wandering musicians were a rare breath of fresh air.

They were musicians in the truest sense; with perhaps a bit of an avant-garde approach to traditional Broadway scores, while displaying old-school discipline to the mastery of their instruments.

Allen Rich/North Texas E-news

Sheik and his band

It would have been easy to sit and study the technique of every single musician on the stage--they were just that good--if not for the mesmerizing talent of the soft-spoken Sheik standing center stage. When was the last time you looked for the rhythm guitarist only to find those gritty notes were emanating from a cello? Or listened to a bass clarinet and French horn weave a background tapestry to a pop/rock tune. But these guys and gals--Lauren Pritchard and Holly Brook were an important part of the show--can pound it out, too.

The bass guitarist underscored the entire performance with his own melody and one that even rivaled Sheik's gift for composition.

The drumming was crisp; restrained, but with powerful glimpses as the music climaxed. And you just have to watch Jerry Leonard on electric guitar to appreciate how much he contributes to the sound Sheik has captured.

Sheik is a Grammy and Tony Award-winning composer and songwriter, but even that lead-in is, as we say in Texas, flat-out sellin' the man short. He can write, sing, play guitar with dexterity and he seems to demand the same of everyone around him. It was a lesson in musicianship for the audience, although maybe a lesson in political geography at the same time for the Montclair, New Jersey native.

(l-r) Holly Brooke and Lauren Pritchard

He described "The Tale of Solomon Snell" as a story about telling an 11-year-old boy that, whatever you do, you can never be safe.

"Which we all know is the worst thing you can tell an 11-year-old boy," Sheik remarked, before pausing for emphasis and adding, "or a country."

To a mostly silent crowd, Sheik said, "Maybe I'm in the wrong part of the country to say that, but, hey...we're all friends."

Like so many other first-time visitors to historic downtown McKinney, Sheik fell under the spell of its charm. The explosive growth experienced by McKinney has attracted almost every imaginable business to different parts of the Collin County seat, but the downtown area remains a menagerie of fascinating shopping and dining experiences unique to McKinney.

"I've never been to McKinney before," Sheik told the audience. "I very much enjoyed my tour around the square. None of those dastardly corporations have come to invade you."

Maybe the only drawback to the show is that this will be a difficult performance to describe.

But then maybe all the best experiences don't easily fit into words.

Unless you're Duncan Sheik, that is.

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