From The Fireplace Lounge…

This year PACE has added a new event to their monthly rendition of shows they put on: the Acoustic Café. This, of course, is where they put the red light on, people show up in fancy clothing, and talk about how much better they are than everyone else… Well, no, but they did have a red light and a very talented artist by the name of Adam Payne. The atmosphere was very chill as students relaxed and listened to the soft music playing. Adam Payne comes from Boston, Mass. where he works full time at Bentley College. He plays many shows in the surrounding area and he just put out a new album entitled “The Quelling.” He is also in a full band called Two Adam Twelve. All info about tours, discography and much more can be found on his website Adampayne.biz. The show started off a bit iffy. It had nothing to do with musician or sound crew: there was just no one to play to. But as it usually happens in Plymouth State University kids started showing up as soon as the music started to happen. Payne started off with a little intro to give his audience a taste of how he plays. He has recorder/playback box setup so that he can string multiple guitar tracks and voice tracks up and then play something different. Then he went off on his two-hour show. Payne had a whole bag full of tricks and Tuesday night he pulled them all out for his performance. He played a lot of his own music and a lot of covers as well. He started out with a couple of his own and then went into the song “Mad World” from the band Tears For Fears and also heard on the Donnie Darko soundtrack. More covers were to come as the show went on and people walked in and out. It seemed to fill up more and more, but something lost the attention of some of the members of the audience, who left. Maybe it wasn’t their style or maybe it went on a little too long, but whatever it was it couldn’t have been Payne. The man played with perfection. He played quite a few off his new album including “Over and On Again,” the video of which is up on his website. He also played a love song and a break-up song in which he woefully sung, “I think your reasons are all unjustified.” Along with this he had some fun with the crowd when he asked for a song to play. Some guy yelled out “Freebird” and Payne went along with it. He also did a thing that he calls the two-word improv where two kids picked words and he improved about it. This time it was “Kitten Kaleidoscope” and he used his time a PSU as the back-story. When he finished the crowed applauded in sheer amazement. He played a few more covers like “Superstar” by Lupe Fiasco and “Dead and Gone” by TI. Payne has this perfect mix of jazz/blues mixed with reggae/jam band kind of feel. The best part of the show by far is his voice and how he uses it for an instrument. He has this tone that hurts. He is a very talented artist and one can tell that he loves what he does and plays his heart out every time.