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Waits vs. Westerberg
  Saturday, January 9th, 2010
Featuring:Steve Conte, Bruce Tunkel, Frankie & Kelly McGrath & Dylan Roth

Concert Notes:
It started as a conflict. Vintage Vinyl owner/operator Rob Roth was determined to reunite the original round table gang from BobFest, (Tunkel, McGrath & Dylan Roth) for another festival, but couldn't agree on a songwriter to showcase. Rob's first choice had been Tom Waits, also a favorite of Dylan and Frankie's. Tunkel had never been a Waits fan, and suggested Paul Westerberg of the Replacements. This didn't work for Dylan, who had barely heard of Westerberg. Steve Conte, reknowned studio guitarist and member of the New York Dolls, had recently performed at Vintage Vinyl (photos & video) and was interested in doing a festival show, as well, but preferred Waits.

So a compromise was reached - why not showcase both? It was decided that this festival would be a showdown between the two songwriters, splitting the performers into two teams. Team Waits consisted of Steve Conte & Dylan Roth while Tunkel and Frankie & Kelly McGrath made up Team Westerberg. The McGraths kicked off the show with a rousing "Can't Hardly Wait" and continued to rock out Replacements and Westerberg solo tunes. Tunkel's piano breakdowns of "Alex Chilton" & "Here Comes a Regular" were among the highlights of the show. On the other side of the stage, Dylan Roth performed some early Tom Waits ballads, as well as the later experimental piece "What's He Building?", but Steve Conte stole the show with his soulful vocals and guitar virtuosity on songs like "Jesus Gonna Be Here Soon" and "Jersey Girl."

No winner was actually declared in the contest, but the whole ensemble joined together at the end of the show for a Tom Waits classic, "The Heart of Saturday Night," led by Frankie McGrath.

Setlist