Photos by Kimberly Wessels | Words by Audra Tracy
Keller Williams is like Jack Black…but for hippies. He’s got talent, he’s got charisma, and he’s just strange enough to hold your attention for two hours straight. The ‘one man band’ joined the jam scene back in 1994, and his unconventional style, and quirky on-stage antics continue to draw a crowd. On Friday night at Asbury Lanes, a bare-footed Williams treated St. Patrick’s Day revelers to two sets of ‘acoustic dance music’, or as he calls it, ‘ADM’.
Keller took the stage just after 9:00, armed with a tie-dye tee, acoustic guitar, bass, drum machine, and a pile of intricately connected pedals and wires. What makes a Keller show so unique is how he builds his rhythms one instrument at a time, playfully layering loops and vocals to create his signature brand of DIY musical magic.
Originals like ‘Breathe’, ‘Bob Rules’, and ‘Kidney in a Cooler’ made the setlist, in addition to a mix of covers by Presidents of the United States of America (‘Peaches’), Phish (‘Run Like An Antelope’ > ‘Runaway Jim’), and Ani DiFranco (‘Freak Show’). As most artists playing Asbury Park tend to do, Keller couldn’t resist performing a Springsteen song too, dedicating ‘Born to Run’ to Snooki from Jersey Shore.
The party lasted til midnight, and Keller closed out the show with ‘Celebrate Your Youth’, sending a sea of green shirts out to the streets, on the hunt for their next pint…
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TheWaster.com | Asbury Park
3.19.23
