St. Vincent (dressed like a toilet), Father John Misty, Rufus Wainwright & more played a benefit for Jasper Johnson at LPR (pics, videos, setlist)

June 29, 2016

A bunch of very talented musicians got together at NYC’s Le Poisson Rouge last night (6/28) for a very good cause. Drummer Matt Johnson’s (not to be confused with The The’s Matt Johnson) son Jasper is sadly recovering from a seizure, and people Matt has played in the past, including St. Vincent, Rufus Wainwright (a last-minute replacement for Martha) and Elysian Fields, got together for a benefit show in his honor. The lineup also included Joan As Police Woman (Matt used to play with the late Jeff Buckley, who Joan was in a relationship with). The unannounced special guest ended up being Father John Misty, who (like other people on the bill) performed with Doveman.

The show was in two halves; the first functioned sort of like Doveman’s Burgundy Stain Sessions with he and guests playing, and the second half was a short St. Vincent set. Rufus Wainwright went first. He played a Leonard Cohen song (but not “Hallelujah,” he said he’d been learning another one so people would stop asking him to play that), one of his mother’s songs, and one or two others. Joan as Police Woman was next, then Father John Misty who played solo with his guitar and accompanied by Doveman, and his set included “I Love You, Honeybear,” “Bored in the USA,” and more.

St. Vincent was dressed like a toilet (and she did not say why, or why her band was also dressed up, or why there were dancers, or why at one point someone kept bringing her things: toilet paper, a drink, a phone, a book on public sex). She did say Matt Johnson was a special person, like a unicorn, which he came out dressed as. She played “Marry Me,” “Cheerleader,” and a new song called “New York.” Her full setlist, and two fake setlists she had on the stage, are pictured below.

Finally at the end of the night, Matt Johnson came out and thanked the performers, the crew, the venue for donating the room, and explained what the benefit was about. He mentioned Jasper hasn’t been able to speak since the seizure, but that he can laugh, recognize people, and respond in other ways.

More pictures and a video from St. Vincent’s set below…