Chris Isaak at St. Kate's: cut-up, crooner and dandy

Chris Isaak was supposed to play at the Minnesota Zoo on Wednesday. But many weeks ago the show was moved indoors. Why? Apparently to accommodate Isaak's stage production, specifically a big LED screen set up in a mammoth (faux) Silvertone guitar amplifier at the back of the stage. Isaak was his usual combination of cute cut-up, sad crooner and retro-billy dandy. A few times, he mentioned how he relished the acoustics of The O'Shaughnessy at St. Catherine University. In the middle of Elvis' "Love Me Tender," he even rushed to the balcony to sing a verse and a chorus and then, in mid-line (between "and I" and "always will") he scurried back to the stage to finish the song. Isaak made fun of his band mates (he said drummer Kenny Johnson looked like a young k.d. lang –"and I mean that in a good way") and himself ("the longer we stay here, the longer we get to be rock stars; as soon as we leave the stage, we're guys on a Greyhound bus"). Sweating like a prize fighter (even in an air-conditioned auditorium; can you imagine what it would have been like in his sequined suit at the zoo?), the unstoppably entertaining Isaak and his sharp, fun-loving band played for 1 ¾ hours. Here is the set list: Lonely with a Broken Heart/ Dancin'/ Two Hearts/ Somebody's Crying/ Love Me Tender (Elvis Presley)/ I Want Your Love/ Cheater's Town/ Speak of the Devil/ Wicked Game/ Best I Ever Had/ One Day/ Big Wide Wonderful World/ Worked It Out Wrong/ sit down acoustic set: Take My Heart/ Western Stars/ Yellow Bird/ Dark Moon/ Return to Me (I think that's what it was) / I'll Go Crazy (James Brown)/ full band electric: You Don't Cry Like I Do/ Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing ENCORE Blue Hotel/ San Francisco Days/ Oh, Pretty Woman (Roy Orbison)/ Blue Spanish Sky