By Lyndsey Gilpin
I have to admit: Clarence Greenwood has a special place in my heart. I have seen him three times since high school. When I found out that his band, Citizen Cope, was coming to Headliner’s Music Hall, I immediately bought my tickets.
Greenwood has a trademark look and sound. His dreadlocks are always wrapped up in a ponytail, he dresses like he’s just another guy in the crowd, and he has a haunting, raspy voice that draws in many fans, both men and women alike.
The doors to the show opened at 8 p.m., but the show didn’t start until 9:30 p.m. Citizen Cope never has an opening act, so the audience listened to a premade mix overhead until the show began. My friend and I pushed our way as far as we could towards the front.
The band came on stage to hundreds of screaming fans, who were so loud I wasn’t sure the small venue of Headliner’s could handle them. But Greenwood’s face was expressionless. This was not a surprise to me, considering every time I have seen him he has come on stage with his eyes barely open and only said two words to the crowd. It has never offended me though, because I just see it as the way he performs.
He immediately began playing songs from his older albums, songs that most fans in the crowd knew by heart. Requests were constantly being shouted out from the crowd and Greenwood seemed to answer all of them at some point throughout the concert. He played for about an hour, ending with one of my favorites, “Sun’s Gonna Rise.” He changed up several of his songs, which I appreciated because it allowed me to hear many of the same songs from previous concerts, but in different forms.
The band left the stage after this song, resulting in ear-splitting “Cope!” chants from the crowd. It was pretty obvious that the band would come out for an encore because they hadn’t yet played several crowd favorites.
After about 10 minutes, Citizen Cope came back out and Greenwood seemed to have a new energy. He kept thanking the audience, telling us about his new album, “The Rainwater LP.” With this announcement, he played several songs from the album. These sounded somewhat reggae. It was an amazing, interesting twist on Citizen Cope’s usual sound. Many of his songs sound very much alike, but the newer tracks were a breath of fresh air. The steel drums keyboard seemed to feed Greenwood’s energy on stage.
Greenwood played about five songs, old and new, back to back, without saying a word to the crowd. This led to the most requested song of the encore: “Sideways.”
The concert ended with Greenwood declaring his love for Louisville and his hopes to see us again, which I am already excited about.
Although he gets a reputation of having songs that are too similar to one another, I have always appreciated Citizen Cope’s, and especially Clarence Greenwood’s, unique sound. He always puts on an amazing show for his loyal fans. Although sometimes I forget about his music on my iTunes, I always jump at the chance to hear him live. His sound is easy to like and very laid-back. I will continue to look for his tour dates in Louisville for years to come.
