After six years performing with Dispatch, Pete Francis, who performs as Pete Heimbold with Dispatch, released a solo album in March 2002. However, Francis has not entirely deserted the hybrid style of Dispatch. As the Kazaa categories and reviews attest, Francis’ album So They Say includes elements of jazz, reggae, rock and folk. The album’s ten songs are mellow in tone, melding the simple smoothness of bass, guitar, percussion and keyboard. Though the album doesn’t inspire riotous movement, Francis in concert does.
On Tuesday Oct. 22, Francis performed at the House of Blues in Harvard Square. The hall was packed with young college students, excited and anticipating Francis. Francis fed off their enthusiasm, encouraging singing, dancing and taking their requests for “Go Ridin’,” which he lengthened with two choruses sung by the audience. Maintaining the momentum, Francis reworked his songs from relaxing ballads to outrageous musical improvisations.
Francis opened with “Train Window,” a mellow poetic song on the album, but amplified the guitar solos in performance to build excitement. The audience responded by cheering, dancing and singing along. Francis never cut the torrent of music, never allowing a pause for applause.
Francis segued into “Father Rose,” a very slow but beautiful ballad. Subtly, through a repetition of parts of the song and a powerful bass solo by Marty Ballou, he eased into the harder, faster songs from his upcoming record Untold, “Motion Slow” and “Shake the Pain.” The audience enjoyed the preview and the slower moments, as demonstrated by the lighter and lit-up cellphone that blazed above the crowd throughout the songs.
The highlight of the evening was a three-minute drum solo by Richards, “The Little Giant.” Richards quickly veered away from “Dream Untold.” It began slowly and built up momentum, until about a minute into the solo, Francis joined Richards, drumming from the front of the kit. Francis was followed by the rest of the band. At first they all seemed to be taking the spotlight from Richards, but as the solo went on, the erratic beats of the other three were incorporated by Richards, adapting to multiple beats that he did not control. When he finally ended the solo, Richards received steady applause and cheers for almost as long as the solo, the only break in play the entire night.
The concert ended on a high note after an encore of “Hudson Dream.” The audience was disappointed when the exhausted group began to clear the stage after the encore, which capped off two hours of music. People covertly fought over play lists and water and a few fans tried to get backstage as the crowd slowly dissipated, too excited to leave. They had the Dec. 9 concert to anticipate and most would be on the T back to the House of Blues for more Pete Francis.
