Miss Tess at The Burren

The latest record by Miss Tess and the Talkbacks is on my best of 2016 list, and she was finally playing back in the Boston area, at The Burren in Somerville on December 15th.  Met Sarah at Redbones on a very cold and windy almost Winter day, had a couple of beers and then filed into the back room at The Burren where we had a quick dinner.

The room filled up quickly and may have been sold out.  This was a WUMB “Third Thursday” concert and so was hosted by their DJ, Jess Phaneuf, who strangely looked exactly like she sounds.  Most DJs don’t and you’re surprised when you meet them.

Miss Tess was playing with different people than the last time we saw her, which was two and a half years ago, so that’s no surprise.  But it was the same instrumentation: Thomas Bryan Eaton on lead guitarist, a (very tall) bass player, and a drummer with a small but effective kit.  She was not playing the big guitar I’ve always seen her with before and love, but the one she had last night was possibly even better.  Her guitar sound is so rich and chewy it’s phenomenal.  I spent most of the concert just concentrating on her guitar work.

And she’s a great song writer too.  They opened with the whirlwind Ride That Train, the opening track on her 2016 record, and later did a few of the other great songs from that, Little Lola (which she said is about her neighbor’s cat, I should have guessed!), I Can’t Help Myself, Take You Break You Shake You, and Going Downtown.  She also did several brand new songs, including one that could have been written by Hank himself, it’s got the laconic true life blues set to a deadly melody that he specialized in.  I complimented her on that one, and she smiled in her Miss Tess way (we were at the front table of course).

Another thing worth noting is the vocal arrangements were very good.  All of the guys filled in at various points and didn't slow her down at all, they just egged her on.  She's more of a bandleader than she seemed previously and had the whole sound working and pulling in the right direction.

Had a nice conversation with our neighbors at the table before and after the set, and then bundled up and braved the cold Davis Square air.  Luckily the car was not far away and we got home in fine time.

JRAD ROCK HOB

Well ... in yesterday's post I said that we'd decided to go to just one of the three TTB shows.  And it's a great thing we did because soon after we made that commitment, JRAD announced that they'd be playing the House Of Blues the second night of the TTB stand!  Geez, we would have been in a panic if we'd committed for the second night instead.  But this meant that we were going to see two consecutive nights of some of the best music around at this time in history.  We are very lucky.

And JRAD in the House of Blues instead of the Paradise again?!?  I love the sound at the HOB and was very excited to think of JRAD playing there.  They've been doing acoustic mini-sets at the end of their first sets lately (Bob Weir sat in on a recent one, and John Mayer did a couple of months ago), and I was hoping they'd do that.

Sarah and I were at home for various reasons, but took off for the Fens at the end of the afternoon, making it to the parking lot on Van Ness eventually through thick traffic.  The HOB restaurant was closed for a special event, so we met Dave at Yardhouse and had another excellent Yardhouse dinner and raft of beers.  Headed over to Lansdowne Street (after a detour by the car) and took our places about 20th in line about 45 minutes before the doors opened.  And it's a good thing we were that early, the line was soon around the block!  Needless to say, this show was sold out and almost everyone there was there to see one of the best bands around, not just out for a night at a rock club.

Met some nice people in line and the time flew by, and before we knew it we were filing in.  Dave and I got quite searched and they ended up denying him access temporarily.  I saw he wasn't behind me and so turned around; was able to hand him the keys so he could go back to the car and then try again.  In the meantime, Sarah had secured our spot so everything was ok, except Dave now had to go to the back of that long line and it took him basically a whole hour to get in.

Met some nice people inside and that hour flew by while the hall filled in; it was eventually as packed as it gets.  The guy next to me got in with a whole baggie of stuff and must have smoked it all (discreetly??) by the end of the night.

Dave showed up eventually and we critiqued the stage setup.  Marco did not have his stand-up piano and Joe's drum kit was a little smaller than when we'd seen them before.  And it didn't look like they were geared up for the switch to an acoustic setup that we were hoping for.  Oh well.

Soon the boys came out, tuned up a bit, and launched right into the good stuff.  Dave called the first song from the intro ... here are Costello's notes:

Show #87
House of Blues,
Boston, MA
2016.12.02
(SOLD OUT - THANK YOU!!!)

Set 1 (9:16PM - 10:21PM)
Music Never Stopped @ (SM) ->
China Cat Sunflower (TH) ->
Touch of Grey (TH)
Black Throated Wind # (SM) >
Jack Straw (SM & TH)
Ruben & Cherise $ (TH) ->
I Know You Rider (All)

Set 2 (10:53PM - ~1:00AM)
Althea % (TH) ->
Duo Jam ->
Good Lovin (SM) ->
Terrapin Station Jam ++ ->
My Pet Goat Jam ^ ->
Terrapin Suite & (TH) >
Uncle Johns Band (All) ->
9x9 Jam * ->
Uncle Johns Band Reprise + (All)
He’s Gone (TH/All) ->
Saint Of Circumstance @@ (SM)

E: Ophelia (SM) >
Not Fade Away ## (All) ->
Brown Eyed Women %% ->
Not Fade Away Reprise $$ (All)

@ - With The Eleven Tease (SM), unfinished
# - With a Jack Straw Jam (Band)
$ - With China->Rider Transition Teases (TH) & a “Waltz #1” (Elliot Smith) Tease (MB)
% - With an “All of My Love” (Led Zeppelin) Tease (MB)
++ - First Time Played by Almost Dead (I think?)
^ - First Time Played by Almost Dead, Benevento Russo Duo Original, not the complete song
& - With Ruben & Cherise Teases (Band)
* - First Time Played by Almost Dead, Benevento Russo Duo Original, not the complete song
+ - First Time Played by Almost Dead
@@ - With Ruben & Cherise and Terrapin Station Teases (Band)
## - With GDTRFB Teases (SM) and “Shortnin’ Bread” (James Whitcomb Riley) Teases (Band)
%% - With a “Come On Feel The Noize” (Quiet Riot) Tease (JR)
$$ - First time played since 2015-02-16 Boulder, CO, a gap of 66 shows, With a “Hey Bulldog” Jam (Band) - that may end up being a track, not sure if it was long enough.

• They were firing on all cylinders right off the line.  Music was big and beefy and featured an excellent outro jam, which sounded like it was going to morph into The Eleven.  Instead they turned a quick corner and bam! ... were playing the China Cat intro ... Dave had called this too.
• The sing-songy Touch, as you might imagine, was a bit of a weird thing for this band to play, but they aren't afraid to be weird.
• Black-Throated Wind was awesome; Scott was singing incredibly last night.  And that went into a short and sweet Jack Straw.
• Then Tommy took over the mike with a crackling Reuben and Cherise, which morphed into a sing-along I Know You Rider to end the set.

Wow!  The were all on fire and, it seems strange to say, but if you had to pick a slightly less then incredible performance it might have been Joe (he cured this in the second set).  He was really singing and playing fantastically and did not turn in a weak performance at all, but everyone else on the stage was beyond the top of his game!  Marco was just spectacular on his organ, Rhodes, and piano ... his piano sounded incredible.  Tom was coming out with aggressive, stand-on-your-head lead after lead, the singing was excellent, and Dave was amazingly amazing.

At times I got the feeling I've mentioned when seeing Phil and Stanley Jordan, that I could see the music.  Dave was laying down a popping bass line and looking at Joe; Joe was slamming his toms and cymbals and looking over at Marco; Marco had one hand on his organ and one hand on his Rhodes and was bouncing the energy from the rhythm guys to the guitarists.  You could see the electricity crackling back and forth among them.

And the room was great for this band.  I think that may have been part of why they were playing so well: the House Of Blues can ring in time with a loud band, the space fills with the sound and reverberates with the beat.  As I say, everyone there was [Almost] Deadicated and when you looked out over the floor, it was a sea of wildly dancing people.

Our place was being threatened of course, but we were able to take turns at the bathrooms and smoke area, and then get back together before the second set started.  Joe had said the break would be short, but it was average length.  It was already getting late, but we were about to see JRAD do a second set ... "late" was not an issue.

What can you say about that second set?  It was a little weird because it basically had only 7 songs.  But these were epic versions filled in with jams that left you drooling.  There is never a down second with these guys, it's rare to find a time when there isn't something unique and remarkable going on on stage, and usually there are many remarkable things happening at once.

I have to say something about the Terrapin, because it was one of the most epic versions ever.  It seemed to go on for a hour with the transitions and the jams and the choruses.  It built and climaxed and built and climaxed over and over.  You would have thought it would have been exhausting but it wasn't, it was exhilarating.

And when they were finally done they fell into a crunchy, rocky UJB that was driven by its beat, and then one of the best He's Gones I've ever heard ... soulful and yearning.  And then they finished the set with another left turn into a rocking Saint, which had the entirety of the Fenway area jumping.  We were going for it for sure.  And to top his excellent vocal night, at the end, right before the last chords, Scott switched into his best falsetto and capped the song with an emphatic, "Going on a feeling!!!"

Again, Wow!!!  The floor was a mess of empty cans and cups, and we were all a satisfied mess as well.  They came back out after a little bit and launched into Ophelia, a drummer's special.  That's so perfect we thought, open the second set with Althea and end the night with Ophelia.  But they were not ending!!  They teased us a bit at the end of it and then before we knew it they were playing the ultimate rocker, Holly's Not Fade Away.  My buddy to my left went nuts, having predicted that they'd close with this (he was about done with his baggie by this point).

But then the music didn't stop!  They burst through another door in unison and whacked us over the heads with Brown-Eyed Women.  Again, a crunchy, rocky version in which they hit all the emotional phrasings but did it fast, with an incredible beat and Joe playing every possible part of it.  And then they were back into NFA!  They stopped while everyone was chanting, waved at us all, and then walked away.  What a night and what a performance!

Actually, the last on the stage was Tom.  He'd taken off his jacket in the middle of a song, but was still as stylish as ever in a long scarf and his ever-present scally cap.  And then someone threw a number of scally caps on stage at him!  He was a little surprised but then realized the story, that a fan wanted him to autograph the caps, so he went over to the side of the stage, sat down and hung out while signing.  Nice music and nice guys.

Got it together and started out pretty soon after that.  It was already just after 1.  Got to the car and it would have been an easy ride home, but the staties had blocked off the entrances to 93 from Storrow Drive and Leverett Circle, so had to wend our way though Charlestown before we could get on the highway.  It was well after 2 by the time I got to bed.

Tedeschi Trucks Band in the Orpheum

Tedeschi Trucks Band is blessing Boston with three consecutive nights, though they're at the stinky old Orpheum.  The first night (12/1) was with Jorma Kaukonen opening, tonight's is with Amy Ray (of Indigo Girls), and the third night is just them doing two sets.  All three shows sold out and TTB is sure indicating that they'll only get better and more popular over the coming years.  We debated for a minute and then decided to go to just one of the shows though, the one with Jorma, even though that was a Thursday night.

In recent interviews, Derek has said that he anticipates a significant number of fans will go to multiple nights, and so they planned to play unique sets each night.  Glad to see they take their music seriously!  And I was astounded to see that when I grabbed tickets for the Thursday show as soon as they went on sale, that I had gotten first row center tickets in the Orpheum!?!  I've been there many times and never sat in good seats.  We were very psyched.

Met Sarah and Dave after work, parked in their building, and then we headed over to the 21st Amendment for a nice bar dinner (noisy and funky as always in there), and then mosied on down to the Common.  What was happening that evening was the unveiling/lighting of Boston's annual Christmas present from Nova Scotia, a huge spruce tree.  For those not familiar with this tradition, please read about it here.

After touring around the Common, the tree with festivities going on around it, and the Frog Pond skating rink, we made our way back uphill on Tremont and slid down Hamilton Place towards the maw of the Orpheum, old Boston all over.  The place has been cleaned up some since when I spent the night in that alley waiting for tickets to Garcia Saunders in 1975, but there are probably still rats lurking in the shadows.

Grabbed a beer and headed to our front row center seats, which we found in as good shape as the rest of the theater.  Not much leg room, a speaker was right in front of us and cut off a bit of our view when we were sitting down, and there were signs of decay everywhere.  But what was I complaining about, we were almost as close to Jorma when he came out as when we'd seen him recently at the Bull Run, and when TTB came out, it was like having our own Tiny Desk Concert in their living room.

Jorma came out in a stylish sport coat, black jeans, and t-shirt, and was as stellar as ever.  Here's his set:

True Religion
Come Back Baby
Hesitation Blues
Watch the North Wind Rise
Sea Child
Death Don't Have No Mercy
San Francisco Bay Blues
How Long Blues
River Of Time
I Am the Light Of This World
Good Shepherd
Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning
Water Song

Wow, long first set!  And this was transcendent stuff.  As stated previously, I feel that listening to Jorma play Come Back Baby is one of the keys to civilization, and his fingering was exceptional.  He's been working on that song for a while and pretty much has it down.

Another very high highlight was Sea Child.  At some times in his set he sounded like a symphony with just his guitar, and you could feel Jack pounding away on the bottom end, though he was just one of the ghosts flying around Jorma on his small metal chair.  San Francisco Bay Blues was another fantastic cover, with Jorma growling out the lines in funky syncopation like some old blues guitarist.  I wonder when he realized that he'd spent his whole life admiring the old blues musicians and now he was one so he'd better start acting like it?

Just ridiculous that there was the standard amount of first-set chatter going on in the theater, but a good number of us there were enthralled even so.  There were shouts of delight from all over the theater at his phrasing and skill, hopefully startling the fuck out of the chattering idiots.  Between sets I actually heard several people ask, "Who was that opening?"

After Good Shepherd we all stood up (those who were listening that is) and applauded, but Jorma apologetically told us, "Two more!"  He could have played a lot longer as far as I was concerned.  As usual, Jorma was out there with two guitars and spent most of the time on his gut-string wonder, but when he picked up the steel-string beauty for the last song, no question but that we were about to be blown away with Water Song.  I think that means he's done Come Back Baby and Water Song every time I've seen him, and that's fine with me.

Ran into famous Jorma fan, PeterP, at the break and we gushed about what we'd just seen.  Talk about playing with the old powers!

As mentioned, the Orpheum is ridiculously dirty, small, and cramped.  The lobby between sets was scary it was so packed.  A guy in the beer line in front of me was freaking out because of the high-strung crowd, and needed a little encouragement from those of us around him, especially when a lazy beer vendor snarled at him that he was in the wrong line.  He was about to explode but we talked him down and he got his beer.  I got mine and made it back to our seats, and soon all 12 of the Tedeschi Trucks Band came out on stage and lined up right in front of me!

Hopefully I can restrict describing this next incident to one paragraph.  Dave and I wanted to stand because a) it was a rock concert, b) the speaker was right in our faces and if we stood up the sound was much better, and c) sitting down we couldn't see Kofi Burbridge, who was as excellent as always that night.  Everyone in the theater was standing except for some people in the row behind us, and they felt they could demand that we sit down.  One person asked Dave with a "please" that he sit down, so he did.  But one guy six seats to my left (that is, I wasn't even in his sight line) poked me firmly in the butt with his cane to get me to sit!  I sure let the people around us know at the next song break that he had done that, and he was later confronted by security.

OK, another paragraph on this topic.  I was heartened to get a lot of support from many people around us who had seen the incident, and who came up to me afterwards and told me they couldn't believe the guy had done that.  "Has he ever BEEN to a rock concert before??" was the sentiment from person after person.  The security guy who'd confronted him actually came up to me also at the end of the concert and said, "I told that senile old guy to stop poking people with his cane and he just glared at me!"  One person told me he had heard him say, "I didn't jab him, I just poked him!"  Oh well, I was steamed up and embarrassed pretty good and I sat for about half the concert, but then I stood up again and loved it.  Everybody in the second row left sometime during the set and now everyone was standing ... good riddance to them.

Anyway ... again, there I was with the whole fucking Tedeschi Trucks Band playing and singing their hearts out right on front of me.  They opened with an incendiary vocal by Mike Mattison, who came down off his riser for that.  Susan took most of the leads from there, though Mark Rivers got one late in the set and one was a duet between Mike and Alecia Chakour.  As mentioned, Kofi Burbridge was just excellent, stamping every song with his powerful organ fills.  I could mention everybody in the band, they were all playing fantastically.

But as you might imagine, this was another transcendent experience in a large part because of Derek Fucking Trucks.  I'd seen him play many times, but this time he was just 20 feet in front of us and his powerful technique and volume were dominating our world.  He's a bit of a stone face when he performs, but on this night we were close enough to see the glances he shot around the stage to keep his band together, everyone on the stage was hanging on his little winks, nods, and quick smiles.

As mentioned before, they were determined to play three nights of non-repeats, and so did a few songs that perhaps could have been rehearsed a bit more.  But we loved it, and Susan was delightfully embarrassed when she forgot some words.  Dave got a setlist from a roadie at the end, and here's what it says:

Get What You Deserve
Laugh About It
Don't Drift Away
Within You Without You
Just As Strange
Bird On a Wire
The Storm
Color Of the Blues
Key To the Highway
I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free
Leavin' Trunk
Volunteered Slavery
How Blue Can You Get?
Ali
Let Me Get By

Encore:
It Ain't Easy
Space Captain/Delta Lady

The Beatles song Within You Without You was the surprise of the set, but soon segued into the powerful Just As Strange.  Susan just killed Leonard Cohen's Bird On a Wire, and later did the song she does as a duet with John Prine on his latest album, George Jones' Color Of the Blues.  Jorma came out and joined the band for Key To the Highway, playing a vintage Thunderbird electric.

Here's an excellent review of the show, and I think that's my profile blocking the camera in his pictures.  Good!

Confabbed with people who wanted to tell me what a jerk that guy had been, got the setlist, and finally pushed our way out through the cramped lobby and up Hamilton Place.  Not far back to the garage, and got home and in bed by midnight.