This guy is a living legend on the guitar and I had the pleasure of seeing him tear it up for about 3 hours straight with about 50 other people at the Fox last week. Another last minute, “I’ll just check it out for a bit” show that was so good I stayed until the end.
Jordan was the innovator of the “tapping” style of playing guitar and uses both of his hands simultaniously on the neck of the guitar so he can play both the rhythm and the bass parts at the same time. It’s pretty incredible to see and hear.
Some random thoughts:
He’s a weird dude - really gets into his playing while he’s up on stage - and I would imagine him to be on the shy side. You can see how he got so good at guitar - probably played constantly as a kid.
Show was really empty - Tuesday night after a big week of music but still, this guy is a legend. For $9 I would have expected a bigger crowd.
This was a last minute, Friday night call to head down to the Fox and check out the funky Meters - Art Neville (keys) and George Porter Jr. (bass) from the original Meters with Russell Baptiste (drums) , Ian Neville (guitar) and Skerik (sax).
Packed house but plenty of room in our now “usual spot” on the left side of the stage. The band played one long set plus an encore and had the place rocking the entire time with a nice selection of classic Meter’s tunes.
Some random thoughts:
Skerik, a last minute fill-in as Brian Stoltz had quit the band about a week before the show, fit in nicely and it was fun to see him play in a more “normal / traditional” style than his usual craziness. He did have a few moments where he got pretty out there going back and forth with GPjr.
A woman in the front row, apparently overcome with the funk (and maybe a little bit too much to drink) hopped on the stage and danced around for a while. The security at the Fox gently pulled her off the stage and then (and here’s why I love the Fox) escorted her back to her spot in the front row.
George Porter Jr. sure can play the bass - a true master.
Overheard in the bathroom: “Dude, this band is awesome - I think that they just played a Galactic song!” Ah, yeah, pretty sure that Galactic might have grabbed that one from the Meters a while back… Kids these days…
Prog-jazz meets Zeppelin - can’t beat that. The Duo (Marco Benevento on keys, Joe Russo on drums) teamed up with guitarist Scott Metzger (Particle) and bassist Dave Dreiwitz (Ween) for a full night of Led Zeppelin covers.
Favorite-Song-Of-The-Night MP3 Download:
Some random thoughts:
Joe Russo is amazing – it looks like he has 4 arms sometimes and he was the highlight of the show. Guy gets better each time that I see him.
The bass player from Ween was solid as well, he had a Billy Talbot from Crazy Horse thing going on and looked to be having a blast up on stage.
Marco B’s, “singing†tone, where he was playing the vocal parts of the tunes got pretty old - I would have like to have seen a vocalist for a number of the songs.
Everyone in the crowd knew every note to every song but it was hard to come up with the names of each tune - a credit to how deep a catalog of great songs Zeppelin has.
Overall a fun night out - worth catching these guys if they come your way.
Bustle In Your Hedgerow - 2/28/07 - Fox Theatre - Boulder, CO
Set I: In the Evening, Ramble On, Out on the Tiles, Communication Breakdown, Song Remains the Same, Kashmir, Over the Hills…, You Shook Me
Set II: Wanton Song, For Your Life, What is, What should never be, Thank You, The Ocean, Moby Dick
Fun night out on Saturday to catch Assembly of Dust with Honkeytonk Homeslice, which is Bill Nershi’s (the lead singer of SCI) current side-project. The format was Nershi’s Band for an hour or so, AOD for a full set, and then both bands together for 5 or 6 songs to end the night.
First, the Homeslice solo set:
Terrible, terrible band name. They would have sold 250 more tickets if it was the “Bill Nershi Bluegrass Band.”
Terrible, terrible song selections. This is “two guys with guitars around a campfire ” music: wrong time, wrong place. The set was easily the least engaging music that I have seen in a while.
Terrible, terrible idea letting your wife sing in the band. I get it, Nershi is is an elderly overgrown elf, his wife is much younger and better looking - I’d let her sing in the band too if I was in his shoes but the show would have been better with just the two guys on guitar.
Opened with “Hey Hey What Can I Do,” a great Zeppelin tune, that’s really all you need to know right there.
Followed that up with “Roads” - their biggest hit - in an attempt to shake off the cobwebs from the HTHS snoozer set and get the crowd going.
4th time seeing these guys and the band has never sounded better.
A couple of funny moments watching Reid’s Cornell B-school buddies fight their way up to the stage to say hi at the set-break dressed like they were coming directly from doing MBA type stuff. It’s Saturday night in Boulder guys, let’s leave the slacks and the pressed shirts at home.
The “Joint” Set:
Really, really good. Everyone did a nice job sharing the stage and the song selection was excellent.
Setlist: Up on Cripple Creek (The Band), Ms. Brown’s Teahouse (SCI), Lay Down Sally (Clapton), Ain’t Gonna Worry (?), Dear Prudence (Beatles), Get Back (Beatles), Tavern Walker (AOD Original)
They played till the venue pulled the plug (literally) at 1:30 AM. Solid effort and sent the crowd home happy.
I’ll say it again: there is no better live band right now than Tea Leaf Green.
Fantastic show all around last Friday night - the second night of a 4 night SOLD OUT run in Colorado for the boys. By chance, Jennie and I met up with the same crowd from the moe. show last month in the front left corner of the Fox and had a great time once again.
The much worried about “Trevor Effect” seems to be diminishing. This show was all “turned up to 11 rock-and-roll” the entire time. The slow tunes were great, well placed and played, and appreciated as a break.
Invasion opener? Sex in the 70’s > Mr. Brownstone > Planet of Green Love > Criminal Intent to begin the second set? Franz encore? Unreal - I couldn’t have written a better set-list if I had wanted to.
A true “fans” band. They took the stage immediately after the opener was done and played until 1:29 AM. I’m willing to spot them the extra minute.
The opener was a Boulder based power-trio that had a great, raw sound. I thought that they could use a tougher name than “Storytyme” though to better reflect their sound. Lead singer had sort of a David Byrne meets Punk Rock meets Metal thing going on and the drummer was a monster.
Fox Theatre, Boulder, CO
02-09-07
Set I: Invasion, One Reason, Incandescent Devil, Las Vegas > Country Seduction, Garden iii, No Blanket, Panspermic Devolution, I’ve Been Seekin, Gasohlic
Set II: Sex in the 70’s > Mr Brownstone > Planet of Green Love, Criminal Intent, Seventh Story, Without a Broom, Professors Blues, Emma Lee, Taught to be Proud
