Tim Barry, Jenny Owen Youngs: 3-20-2015, The Casbah, San Diego, CA By Cahnie Galletta
May 07, 2015
Quite a few people know Tim Barry from Avail, but there are still a few who haven’t heard of solo Tim Barry. There’s no way to explain the amount of heart that goes into his music. Seeing Tim Barry live, singing his stories—it made me feel that he asked a bunch of strangers to go camping and sing around a fire. As soon as I saw he was touring here in San Diego, I was happy to grab a couple of friends and go.
I hate to admit I showed up after the opening act and was quickly told I had missed out. I showed up in time for Jenny Owen Youngs. My first thought during the first song was, “This is nice.” It really was! She sings girl-driven lyrics about love and life. It’s not often I come to a punk show and feel like I haven’t emotionally ruined every guy I’ve ever slept with. It’s my turn to vent, dammit! Jenny has songs like “Fuck Was I Thinking,” about just being awkward at love—a subject that’s actually gender-neutral. “Drinking Song” and “Pirates” were probably the songs that drew me in—singing about the anger of having low self –esteem. A cover of “Ring of Fire” rounded out her night. I was immediately wooed by her beauty and presence. A true siren.
“One quick minute got me twenty-eight long years,” is how Tim started off his show and immediately engaged the crowd. Seeing Tim Barry is forty-five minutes of acoustic therapy. He pulled me in and out of every emotion. I think I saw him tear up at one point and say, “It’s okay because if you don’t hurt, you never feel the pain.”
Fast forward a few heartwrenching minutes and Tim decided to get into the music the best way possible, by getting into the crowd. He was up on stage, a bigger-than-life presence, and then, suddenly, he was face-to-face with us. The audience crowded around him and we screamed along with every word: Tim, his guitar, and us. If that doesn’t move you, you’re either dead… or just dead inside.
