Press

With dreads in a knot and the temperature on hot, blues-rock guitarist Citizen Cope plucked his way through two hours of tunes to a sold-out crowd at the Bottle & Cork in Dewey Beach Tuesday night.

By the time Cope sauntered on stage just before 11 p.m., fans had already been turned on by the opening act, Alicia Smith, a soulful chanteuse whose powerful pipes made the walls of the Cork crack and peel.

Her six-song set was highlighted by a cover of Bonnie Raitt’s “Have A Heart,” an appropriate tune, considering Smith left her heart (and lungs and soul) on the stage for all to see and admire.

Cope, lead by frontman Clarence Greenwood, opened the first of three sets with “Penitentiary,” while fans rubbed elbows and stepped on toes as they jockeyed for a front-and-center view of the chilled-out entertainer.

With “Hurricane Waters,” the crowd really came to life, with ear-piercing screaming and yelling. Clarence came to life a little more with the next ditty, “Bullet and a Target,” to which he clapped along when he wasn’t strumming his six-string.

After telling the crowd it was “a pleasure, thrill and joy to be here,” thanking the Dewey faithful for attending, he and his five-man backing band went into slow-mo for about the next four tunes and 20 minutes.

Couples really enjoyed the diversion, swinging back-and-forth, arm-in-arm and humming along, while the singles mingled a bit, yawned it off and grabbed refreshment at the back bar.

Back with “Brother Lee” off the 2006 album “Every Waking Moment,” the crowd became more interested. Then when Cope invited Alice Smith back on stage to help out with a cover of Radiohead’s “Karma Police,” it was on.

Hundreds of fans bellowed “I lost my-self! I lost my-self!” along with the singers. With that, it seemed like the show got the breath of fresh air it needed, just in time for another Cope fan fave, “Back Together.”

The crowd, eager to provide the backing vocals once again, yelled out, “Hoo! Hoo!” at each chorus. However, one female fan got a little too eager and jumped on stage to join Cope and the band, even though she hadn’t been invited.

Having broken Rule No. 1 at a live show, she was quickly escorted off stage just as the clock approached midnight, and the band busted out, “Let The Drummer Kick,” Cope providing the da-da-da-da-da-da in place of the piano.

Chants of “Cope! Cope! Cope!” ushered the band off stage, before Clarence came back for the first of two solo acoustic encores. The first was capped of by “D’Artagnan’s Theme,” while the second wrapped up the night with “Son’s Gonna Rise.”

The crowd went crazy as he showed off his dance moves, bouncin’ and behavin’ while singing, “Rollin’ down the highway/Like a rocket,” letting the crowd know he had to get moving to his next gig in New Jersey.

The masses bopped their heads back and forth in appreciation of the third set, which took things right up to last call. Chants of “Cope! Cope! Cope!” began to ring out once again as Citizen Cope put a cap on the Cork’s most impressive show of the young summer.