As singer-songwriter Frank Critelli tuned his guitar at Best Video on Friday, he joked that “one big problem with a Furors show is the face cramps you get from smiling so much.” The audience laughed, but it turns out this was no joke. On a snowy night, a fairly large crowd gathered to help local legends The Furors celebrate the release of the band’s first album in 11 years, Psychozoic.
Critelli opened the night standing two rows in to the audience rather than at the stage.
“I like it here, are you guys OK with that?” he asked those sitting nearest to him, and OK they were. He offered such songs as “The Ghost in My House” and “Frank Critelli’s Dreams Number One Through Three,” that, while joyful enough to be singalongs, also gave a glimpse into some of the fears and concerns of the collective consciousness, such as loneliness and isolation. Though one feels anything but lonely when Critelli is performing. Quite often, it feels as though he is speaking and singing to you directly. He even offered a song that he noted he liked “because it’s not a song, it’s a story.” It included a yodel-along instead of a singalong, and the crowd joined in lovingly. By the end of the set, which he closed by saying “stay out of trouble, fight the power, and be kind to one another,” one could argue that face cramps from smiling might be the result of a Frank Critelli show as well.
“I first saw The Furors during the Carter administration,” Best Video proprietor Hank Hoffman said to introduce the band. It garnered laughs but was steeped in truth. The duo, consisting of Derek Holcomb on guitar and Tom Dans on drums, is so well known and loved in the New Haven music community that a few years back, a group of local musicians made an album covering their music called Let’s Get Furious: A Tribute to the Furors!!! (an album that includes selections by both Critelli and Hoffman). The fun began immediately as the band launched right into their new CD’s opening number, “Happy Happy Happy,” which begins with a train whistle and the lyrics “If I knew then what I know now / I wouldn’t have been so happy. / Silly boy, so happy, happy anyhow.”
Thus continued song after song of the best kind of rock ‘n’ roll: straightforward but not simple, darkly humorous at times, both lyrically and musically catchy and difficult to stay still to. (This reporter did not get to dance this time; she is already looking forward to attending their next show as purely an audience member in order to do just that.) The Furors mixed new songs, such as “Give Me a Minute” — with Holcomb pleading “give me a minute to get over being selfish, then I’ll tell you what I’m gonna do. / Give me a minute to get over being selfish, and I’ll be good to you” — as well as numerous old favorites that garnered cries of “Yes!” and other sounds of elation from audience members familiar with the duo’s large catalog of music.
After the last song was played and the band thanked the audience, a cry of “one more!” was heard.
“As it happens we do know one more,” Holcomb responded.
“Yeah, one hundred more,” Dans added with a laugh.
The duo’s enthusiasm and vibrancy never let up. Holcomb smiled and added a kick and a few dance moves to each song, both his guitar and vocals and Dans’s vocals and beats sweet and strong. They married their sounds to create rock ‘n’ roll that stays with a person long after it is played. They even played two songs that were newer than their new album. Holcomb said they would be on the next record, but he jokingly wouldn’t commit to when that would be released. The final number, “A Thing for Blondes,” ended with Holcomb landing on the floor in a split. The crowd went wild, and the energy remained high after the show as many stayed to talk and reminisce with the performers and each other.
Critelli was right: It was hard to stop smiling.
