JOHN CAVANAUGH
Fantastic Cat (from left, Brian Dunne, Anthony D’Amato, Mike Montali) performs at The Wonder Bar in Asbury Park, Jan. 16.
When I interviewed Reagan Richards of the group Williams Honor about the annual Light of Day WinterFest last year, she talked about the “unbelievable togetherness feeling” that the festival — which raises money for the fight against Parkinson’s Disease and related disorders, and is now in its 25th year — creates among its performers and attendees. At this year’s Light of Day “Kick Off” concert at The Wonder Bar in Asbury Park, Jan. 16, that feeling was very much in the air. (The festival continues with events in Asbury Park, Red Bank and Montclair through Jan. 25; for information, visit lightofday.org.)
The club was packed, first of all, to see Williams Honor, Fantastic Cat, James Maddock, The Matt O’Ree Band and others. And all the musicians seemed genuinely excited to be there, and projected a sense of camaraderie. Richards and her Williams Honor co-leader Gordon Brown performed with Maddock (on the breezily melodic “Runaway”) and with The Jake Thistle Band (on a stirring cover of Don Henley’s “The Heart of the Matter”), and Williams Honor backing vocalist Emily Grove presented one of the short acoustic set that took place between the band sets (and made for a rare example of a four-hour show with no down time). Maddock capped his set with his joyful “When the Sun’s Out. Williams Honor’s set included, among other songs, a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s rousing “Ghosts.” And The Matt O’Ree Band — featuring virtuoso rock guitarist O’Ree and two soul-stirring vocalists in Eryn and Layonne Holmes — proved it could make even Toto’s “Rosanna” into a showstopper.
Speaking of camaraderie, and teamwork … Fantastic Cat, who headlined, embodies that as well as anyone. The group was formed about five years ago as an alliance of four singer-songwriters — Brian Dunne, Don DiLego, Anthony D’Amato and Hollis Brown frontman Mike Montali — who have individual followings (and who, in all or most cases, had played Light of Day on their own, previously). At The Wonder Bar, they wore matching suits, traded instruments (including drums) from song to song, and took turns with lead vocals as well. Even within songs like “Fiona,” “C’Mon Armageddon” and the explosive set-closing “Oh Man!” (see video below), different group members sang lead on different verses.
There isn’t really a distinctive Fantastic Cat sound. But they do a variety of things — bouncy power-pop, driving Chuck Berryesque rock, and songs with Dylanesque streams of lyrics — well, and have an appealingly loose stage show, with lots of joking around between songs. Though they said they were running out of time after “Oh Man!,” they stretched out their encore, the honky-tonk ballad “Goodnight My Darling,” with a series of faux-dramatic false endings.
JOHN CAVANAUGH
Emily Grove, on the Light of Day acoustic stage.
As mentioned above … like the main Light of Day concert always does, this show alternated between band sets and acoustic mini-sets while the next band was setting up. That approach works well at the main concerts, which usually take place at a theater, and it worked reasonably well as last year’s “Kick Off” concert, which was held at Asbury Lanes. But at the smaller Wonder Bar — packed shoulder-to-shoulder with people who, in many cases, were eager to talk to each other — the acoustic acts didn’t stand a chance. It was, to put it bluntly, nearly impossible to hear their music over the roar of the crowd.
I’m all for showcasing as many people as possible at a show like this. But on this night, that good intention was almost totally in vain.
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Light of Day continued with shows at six different Asbury Park venues, yesterday, and should peak, tonight, with its sold-out centerpiece concert, which will begin at 6:30 p.m. at The Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank. Several “Kick Off” artists (Maddock, Williams Honor, Fantastic Cat, SONiA) will be there, as will John Rzeznik of The Goo Goo Dolls, Willie Nile, Brian Fallon of The Gaslight Anthem, Joe Grushecky and others.
One of the show’s sets is as eagerly anticipated as any in Light of Day history: Jesse Malin’s first New Jersey concert appearance since suffering a spinal stroke in 2023. Malin was a Light of Day mainstay for many years before having to miss last year’s festival, and has generated highlights of many past Light of Day shows. It is perfectly fitting that tonight’s show will represent just the third one of his comeback (after two triumphant benefits that raised money to be used in his ongoing recovery, in December at The Beacon Theatre in New York), and it is hard to imagine a Light of Day moment that will produce a bigger outpouring of love, from audience to performer.
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Here is a photo gallery and some videos from the Kick Off concert:
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