BP Fallon makes surprise appearance at Greenhornes show at New York’s Bowery Ballroom

In his fashion of popping up to perform unannounced, BP Fallon surprised the audience at The Greenhorne’s show at New York’s Bowery Ballroom last night by taking the stage just before the legendary headliners.

The Greenhornes plus 1: Jack Lawrence & BP Fallon & Craig Fox & Patrick Keeler. Photography by Bruce Alexander.

Solo, BP performed an excerpt from his spoken word piece ‘Fame #9’ that led into ‘I Believe In Elvis Presley’ done rock’n’roll poet style.

Fallon was literally unannounced – simply walking out onto the stage as fans recognised him and called out his name. That the famous venue was jammed by lovers of Third Man Records – Jack White’s label for which both BP and The Greenhornes record – did no harm.

One heckler who was shouting “Fuck!” was put to the sword with a pithy “Madam, your intellect amazes me” from Mr Fallon as he quieted the ballroom and the full house listened intently to his mellifluous words, under the spell of this strange man, this ancient voice for the modern times.

Finished speaking, he bows. Audience clap and shout and scream and whistle like lunatics. BP grins, says “God Bless”, walks off as The Greenhornes walk on and already it’s a night for the rock’n’roll annals. Excellent.

Charles Poladian writes in The Music.FM: “Now, on to The Greenhornes. Before the band started, we were greeted by a small man who did not introduce himself. Turned out it was BP Fallon, rock cult iconic figure, having worked with the likes of T.Rex and Led Zeppelin. Unannounced,
he came on, spoke softly, and shared ‘Fame #9’ and ‘I Believe in Elvis Presley’. It was beautiful anddifferent. A great way to segue into The Greenhornes.”

And Electric Comic Book reports: “Then comes the Greenhornes. BUT FIRST! Prior to opening, we were treated to a surprise appearance by BP Fallon, rock photographer, writer, DJ and soon to be rock star in his own right. We were treated to a recitation of his ‘Fame #9’, a spoken word piece meditating on the quality of fame, and its place in rock and roll. A dour note to begin on? Not at all! It was actually a surprisingly humorous, optimistic, and mystical-in-its-own-folky way that, maybe, one would expect before a Raconteurs performance, given their tendencies for romantic folk storytelling. It perhaps went over the crowd’s head given the near obscurity from which Mr. Fallon came, but it was a very moving moment”.

Fab fact fans: The Greenhorne’s Patrick Keeler drums on the Jack White-produced BP Fallon track ‘I Believe In Elvis Presley’ alongside Jack White (guitar) and the mysterious Society Red (bass and guitar).

Mr Fallon mysteriously dedicated his performance to “Patrick Keeler, Society Red, Craig and The Third Man”.