Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers

All text and images ©2017 David Hill Photography

M/V Freedom
Boston Harbor
Boston, MA 7/23/2017

4.5/5
A beautiful late afternoon summer Sunday on Boston Harbor was the setting for Roger Clyne and The Peacemakers' latest trip to the northeast. This was the smallest venue I've ever experienced a national act perform. Less a concert hall, and more of your friend's basement, The M/V Freedom was small, but the crowd and band were rocking; from more than just the waves of the harbor.
The band had released their latest album, Native Heart, less than a month before, and they sprinkled songs from the record throughout the set. They kicked off the show with "Hello New Day" from No More Beautiful World, then moved on to a Refreshments staple, "Down Together", followed by songs from three more albums, including "Hello Tiger", from Native Heart. Roger went off set list to take a request for "Interstate" from his first record Fizzy, Fuzzy, Big and Buzzy, before launching into crowd favorite "Mexico".
The crowd was singing along to every song, whether the new "Shadyside", the bands biggest hit from The Refreshments days, "Banditos", or the second deviation from the set, when "Beautiful Disaster" was requested, in Spanish.
Just as pumped up as the crowd was, the band may have been having even more fun at the end of a long tour. P.H. Naffah  was putting down a great beat, as he always does. Jim Dalton seemed to enjoy watching the boats pass by, and the city views as he made his Les Paul guitar practically sing. Roger was having a great time interacting with the crowd, sometimes even making his way into the crowd, but no one was having more fun then Nick Scropos. A number of times he wandered into the fans, even having some help him play his bass, and downing the shot of smuggled in whiskey. The fun with Nick truly began when he discovered there was way too much Mayflower Summer Ale in the band's cooler, and began handing them out the the audience.
The show ended with the first single from Native Heart, a very catchy tune called "Flowerin'", before the band went into their encore, a pair of covers, "Sweet Caroline", and Rupert Holmes' "Escape", with Chris Cantor on vocals.
Once the band was done, we were still twenty minutes or so from shore, and the band used that time to hang out with the fans, sign autographs, and pose for photos.
Hopefully the band will return to the area again soon, keep an eye out; this is one of those bands that has to be seen live. They are high energy, their songs are fun to sing along to, the band truly appreciates their fans, and a good time is always easy to have.
For more on Roger Clyne and The Peacemakers, check out my review of Native Heart, and take a trip to their website.
Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers in tight quarters on a harbor cruise in Boston