Colin Lee and Elevator Party served as his special musical guests, and they both gave lackluster and boring opening performances. The only highlight song was when opener Colin Lee performed a piano-driven rendition of Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark.”
Duchovny opened his set with “Let It Rain,” as green and blue lights dimmed from the stage, and it was quite hard to understand the lyrics since the band was overpowering him for the majority of the songs. It was followed by a new song, before he took a sip o a drink. “Cheers. I don’t know what’s in here but it’s good,” he said, prior to singing “Stars,” which was accompanied by some bizarre dance moves by Duchovny.
“Thank you,” he said. “What’s up Long Island? I’m almost home, but let’s call it home tonight,” he added. He allowed his band of musicians to begin his fourth song a cappella and it is safe to say that they all sounded better than he did.
After taking off his black jacket, he told the audience that they sounded good, and went on to perform a new song entitled “Every Third Thought.”
“It’s getting hot,” he said. “Is that steam or smoke coming off me?” he asked, and every female fan in the audience screamed at that moment, in awe of Duchovny.
Duchovny subsequently praised The Paramount. “To be able to play music at a place like this is beautiful,” he said. He continued with “If Less is More, More Is Less” and “3000,” prior to introducing his band members.
He also butchered one of this journalist’s personal favorite David Bowie songs (“Stay”), despite him going into the audience and interacting with them in the beginning of the song. It was followed by “Someone Else’s Girl,” where the stage featured neat orange and green lighting, and “Passenger.”
Duchovny meowed after that song, and picked up the pace with the rocking “Unsaid Undone” as red lights dimmed from the stage, capturing the song’s intensity. It was evident that most of the night, Duchovny was more into himself than the crowd, and the weird dance moves on his part midway through every song didn’t help one bit.
He concluded his set with “When the Time Comes,” and told the fans that he would rock them home with his closing song, prior returning for an encore.
The Verdict
Overall, David Duchovny disappointed at The Paramount. His vocals were weak and forgettable. He had a lot of potential, but the performance just never got there, and one could not argue about his energy level. Over the years, there have been so many great actors who have performed music at The Paramount with their bands, including Jeff Bridges, Kevin Costner, Hugh Laurie, and more recently, Kiefer Sutherland, and they all rocked. The same could not be said for Duchovny. His show garnered two out of five stars.