Concerts 2014
Ridgefield is such a nice, intimate place with great views and acoustics. This was a freezing cold night, and an especially nice one for an acoustic Hot Tuna set. This had to be the easiest beer run ever during a set, sitting right close to the door.
The Cutting Room is a really nice place. I enjoy seeing Chieli play there with Special EFX.
I caught Chieli early on, playing the local spots in Ithaca in the late 70, and listened to his music throughout the years.
Capitol Theater
With Boyd Tinsley, so this was a rare melding of members of two of my all-time favorite bands, DMB and the Grateful Dead. Us DMB fans just love Boyd without exception and without reservation, so I really enjoyed seeing him that night, and he seemed happy to be there. We saw Boyd by the bus after the show and gave him a hug and told him "see you this summer at SPAC!"
This was a small show in NYC.
I also previously saw Joan perform with the Dead and really liked her contributions to that show, the version of Mr. Charlie for example.
The Cabinet of Wonders is a musical and literary variety show based at New York City’s City Winery hosted by Wesley Stace, aka John Wesley Harding, who I saw play several times with his own bands. Writers and poets join an eclectic group of musicians at these performances. This particular edition featured David Bromberg and Ian McLagen whose work prominently influenced so many people and looms large in my musical world. It was pretty amazing to see all these folks on one small stage. I would include a complete list of performers for this cabinet but Wes’ website no longer includes the archive of all Cabinet events.
I am grateful that I had this chance to see Mac on piano and takes some photos of him shortly before he passed away.
Below: Wesley Stace, Ian McLagen and David Bromberg performing with Cabinet of Wonders.
Slideshow below: Cabinet of Wonders, May 16, 2015
Slideshow Below: Phil Lesh and Friends, Central Park, May 2014
Dave Matthews opening with a solo performance to start the Acoustic Set.
Below: DMB Slideshow, SPAC 5/30/2014
These shows in Camden took place after a week that felt particularly depressing given current affairs and world events. In typical fashion, the Band provided positive vibes and uplifting tunes and on the first night, the rare and unreleased tune “Good, Good Time” was played in the Acoustic set. On the second night they played it in the Electric Set.
Also see my Post with Photos for Night 2 of this weekend. The Photos here suggest a strong Boyd night.
Slideshow below.
Slideshow: End of Show sequence
A good, good time tonight…
Also see my Post with Photos for N1 of this weekend.
These shows in Camden took place after a week that felt particularly depressing given current affairs and world events. In typical fashion, the Band provided positive vibes and uplifting tunes. On the first night, the rare and unreleased tune “Good, Good Time” was played in the Acoustic set; the entire song is sort of a rap by Dave over a repeating guitar riff, with no chorus or bridge. On the second night they played it in the Electric Set and nailed it. The lyrics to this one seemed to vary whenever its played, and had evolved over time.
“He said, she said, I said, you said
Gotta be something more
Cuz sticks and stones will break your bones
But words will start a war
Let's have a good good time tonight
You and me, you and me we’ll make the whole world right
Let’s have a good good time tonight…
Don’t let it be said that we didn’t give it our best
Good good time tonight
To be with you
Shine on your light
Good good time tonight”
Slideshow Below: Clearwater Festival 2014, featuring Norah Jones in this set, more below.
Slideshows Below: David Bromberg, .moe, at Clearwater Festival 2014.
Slideshow: DMB at Blossom Music Center
On this weekend I saw DMB and Phish on back to back nights, after touring several civil war battlefields for a couple of days. One big Civil War buff here, but had not been to Manassas or Antietam before. Of course, Bristow is right by Manassas where two important battles of the Civil War were fought. On the way to Mannassas I saw Gettysburgh, Frederick MD and the Antietam Battlefield. See photos and comments on my main photo /blog site.
Slideshow Below: DMB Manassas, 07/26/14
MPP is a legendary venue built for the Symphony but where many of the rock greats played in the 60s. Photos below of the scene before the show.
Bruce played with Sonny Emory on drums / percussion, then they played together with Pat Methany's group. Watching Methany perform on one of his double neck Manzer guitars like the one shown above is quite a unique experience. Most Hornsby fans know that Pat helped out on some of Bruce’s albums; but I wonder how many fans of Trey Anastasio know what a primary inspiration/influence he has been on Trey. According to Manzer’s website, Pat’s Manzer guitar collection includes 12 different models and is still growing.
This was perhaps my favorite show of 2014, which was a great year for shows. A lovely night at SPAC after the rains finally subsided. Everyone seemed to be dancing and having a great time at this show, and we had excellent seats.
