The second and final New York show on this mini-tour was staged at Brooklyn's spacious Bell House venue. It's a wider room than it is deep, which helped make it seem really intimate during tonight's show. The sold-out crowd was respectfully quiet during the show, which allowed the sound man to work some serious magic. Many commented on the sound's clarity, what one might expect from a much smaller setting.

Sam Amidon took the stage about 9pm, starting off solo on his banjo and switching between that and an acoustic guitar. For his third song, he introduced "Thomas the Doveman" to the audience. Thomas played an electric piano on that song and electric piano *and* drums on the next. Sam incorporated some audience participation into his set; he asked us to sing the word "sometimes" throughout one of his songs and complimented us at the end. Stefan Amidon, Sam's brother came out and joined in playing drums for the rest of the set, using both soft mallets and brushes on the snare and tom set up right by Thomas's electric piano.

We were treated to Beth coming out and sing a couple of songs with Sam that will appear on his album coming out in March. The first was a singing game from the Georgia Sea Islands (I heard his intro to this better tonight) called "Row the Boat, Child", the second song "You Better Mind" also is a traditional song. I enjoyed the set, with a mix of Sam's own songs with their clever lyrics as well as his unique versions of the traditional songs. This is really what folk music has been historically and what more "new folk" artists should be striving to accomplish. I bought the two cds he had for sale and look forward to exploring those until we can hear the new material in March.

Beth came out just after 10pm and kicked things off with a solo rendition of (1) Someone's Daughter. Afterwards, she noted, "I'm shy. I am. Hi." The crowd cheered in sympathy. Everyone was on board. She quickly went into (2) Stolen Car. This ended in coughs, with Beth telling us, "I'm at the end of it, you'll be glad to know. It is my special gift." She broke into (3) Conceived. This was followed by (4) a new song she sang for us at City Winery on Sunday- the lovely one with the light imagery. I'd tell you more about the lyrics, but I think it'd be better if you heard them from Beth first.

Beth spoke briefly about being rusty after spending time with her 3-year old daughter. (Time well-spent, of course.) She gave a nice spoken-word intro, "...This dream was short...but this dream was happy" that led into (5) Touch Me With Your Love. Thomas Bartlett came out and played electric piano with Beth on guitar for (6) Sweetest Decline. There was a restart on this one as Beth had a wee coughing fit. She said she hoped it wasn't the start of an unfortunate nervous tic.  This is one of my favorites to hear live and she really nailed it tonight. Same lineup for (7) Sugar Boy and (8) Central Reservation.

Beth mentioned that she'd be flying back to England tomorrow and the crowd gave up a disappointed "Awww!!!" When she returned with an intention to come back soon (though not to tour initially), we gave her a big cheer. Perhaps we can arrange another big New York snowstorm for her next visit, since she enjoyed this last one so much. Beth played guitar solo for (9) Safe in Your Arms before launching into a whopper of a joke. Ready? "What does an elephant do on the motorway?" "About 3 miles an hour." Oof. Some things never change, thankfully.

Beth went solo on (10) A Place Aside (which always makes me well up a bit when I hear it live) before bringing Sam out to play guitar along with hers on (11) Shopping Trolley. Thomas trotted back out to join Sam in accompanying Beth on the John Martyn song (12) Go Down Easy, which Beth mentioned they'd just recorded for a tribute album. She also mentioned John's passing last year and it was clear that many in the audience weren't sure who he was. Hopefully they'll make a point to check him out! Beth and Sam played guitar and sang as Thomas played the electric piano for (13) Whenever. This led into (14) another new song which had been played on Sunday. Beth pointed out tonight that it was about the sea. The three left the stage before returning for an

Encore.
Beth came out alone and started strumming the introduction to (E1) Ooh Child, when a lady in the audience complimented her shoes. Beth heartily agreed "Fucking great, aren't they?" and without missing a beat, went right into her rendition of this classic. Her voice on this song ranges from throaty to breathy (in all the right places.) An audience request made for a spotaneous change in plans and we were treated to (E2) It's Not the Spotlight. (E3) She Cries Your Name rounded out the first encore, but that wasn't it, because we got...

Encore II.
Beth seemed happy to give us one last song and played (E4) I Wish I Never Saw the Sunshine for us.

There were lots of smiles on stage tonight. Was she happy it was going so well? Happy this was the last night of the tour? Happy to be heading home? Or was she just having a great time with some terrific musicians? If those smiles are any indication of how New York has been treating her for the past couple of weeks, perhaps her next album will be created here, too. Only time will tell.

Sorry this was so late and so short. I had to take the 3am train home and then the cat wanted to sleep in my arms, the spoiled thing.

- Elizabeth Hahn