Karen Ponzio Photos
Mark Mulcahy.
Mark Mulcahy
Space Ballroom
Hamden
June 19, 2025
Between songs at the Space Ballroom, Mark Mulcahy asked me if I was writing about the show. Standing almost directly in front of him with my notebook and pen in hand I smiled and said, “Yes.” He then asked me how he was doing. I told him that I loved it.
“I’m not surprised,” he responded, and the audience responded to that with laughter and cheers. If you are a fan of Mark Mulcahy — whether it be from his time with the ’80s/’90s regional rock sensation band Miracle Legion, Polaris (house band for Nickelodeon’s The Adventures of Pete & Pete), his solo work, or most likely all three — you would not have been surprised either. Few artists can offer up a catalogue of songs as he can, and on Thursday he chose twenty from that catalogue for a ballroom full of his faithful fans, each song as exquisite and exciting as the one before.
Mulcahy was joined by Ken Maiuri on drums, keys, and vocals, sometimes all three at once. He also switched to guitar at the end of the night. Mulcahy called him “Honey” multiple times throughout the night, explaining initially that an earlier text had mistakenly corrected “Kenny” to “Honey” so that was his nickname now, though Maiuri’s performance was sweet enough to have earned such a nickname.
“I’m a little more like maple syrup,” Mulcahy joked at one point, but I don’t think there could have been a human in that room whose sweet spot this set did not hit. Songs were selected from every point in his vast career, beginning with numbers from his solo records including “In Pursuit of Your Happiness”, “Cookie Jar”, and “My Rose-Colored Friend” as well as selections from his time with Polaris (“She is Staggering,” quite staggering itself) — and Miracle Legion (the incredibly touching “Homer” that ended the three-song encore).
From beginning to end Mulcahy demonstrated again and again why his fans are so endeared to his work. His lyrics grab you and get to the heart of the matter, telling stories that could be about any one of us with wit, charm, and an invaluable honesty. The audience sang along throughout. Even this reporter had to put away the notebook for “I Have Patience,” which contains some of my favorite lines to sing out loud: “The things I love don’t bring me joy. The things I want, I wanna destroy.”
Songs from the recently released EP I Got Strangled were also featured. Even though “Put Me In the Window for Sale” and “Skeptical” have been in the world for less than two months, people were already singing along. That is the beauty of Mulcahy’s words: They hit, connect, and continue on.
He also connected frequently with the audience between songs, much to their delight, asking them to sing along with “He’s a Magnet” and telling them to “pay attention” to the song “People: Beware” where he implored: “People beware, don’t be fooled by all the squares.”
The loveliest connection of the evening belonged to Mulcahy and his daughter Clementine, who came to the stage twice to harmonize, once for Mulcahy’s “Wicked World” and during the encore for a cover of Roger Miller’s “Husbands and Wives.” Many teary eyes were seen and felt.
Also on the bill for the evening was The Regal Drug, a trio led by Scott Amore on keys and a multitude of other electronic expressions, Richard Brown on sax, and Ben Heller on trumpet. Yesterday saw a release of their two-song EP The Periphery of a Star and on this evening the audience got a sweeping example of what that and this band has to offer: a deep, dreamy exploration of sound. Amore arrived alone on stage and began, Brown and Heller joining him eventually to layer each instrument upon one another, and for about 30 minutes raised the room’s energy in a most meditative way. You can hear a sample of that in the video, and I highly suggest having a listen to the new release as well. It is the perfect music to listen to when you want to simply chill out and be at one with your place in the world. By the end of the set, we were all grounded, grateful, and ready for what was to come.
It was a gorgeous and gracious night full of music from gorgeous and gracious performers, and though many of the audience members had seen Mulcahy multiple times, the general consensus was that this was one of the best shows they had ever seen. People were so energized by it that they lingered long after to talk about it and simply bask in the glow. Pretty sweet, if you ask me.