If you are already a fan of Mr. Richman's songs and lyrics, you will probably love seeing him perform. If you are on the fence about him and have listened to a few rocking songs in The Modern Lovers but really never listened to the lyrics then you may come away confused after seeing him live. Mr. Richman is exactly as humble, true and honest as his lyrics suggest and this quality about him makes him a truly unique performer. He is never posing as something he is not which gives the audience a truly authentic experience of an artist performing and connecting with us instead of kind of singing songs above our head somewhere.
When I saw him perform at the Roseland, it was a hot, stuffy day in New York and the humidity was high. Mr. Richman performs with a truly spared down set of an acoustic guitar and a jazzy drummer and he insisted on the air conditioning being turned off for the show. The result was the audience members suffered and he suffered probably even more but we could hear him play even as he turned away from the mic with his guitar and moved around the stage, which was a decision that in my mind was well worth the heat. When the fans were turned on towards the end "just the little fans", it was a moment we all shared of relief from a struggle, as an artist I think it was wise to place us all in peril and then release us en masse
