Saturday, July 21, 2018

JRAD On the Harbor

OMG, it had been over 6 months since we last saw JRAD and we were suffering serious withdrawal!  In the meantime of course we’d seen Tommy’s band, Ghost Light, back in April and or course Marco a few days ago.  But there’s nothing like Joe Russo’s drumming and they were coming back to Boston on Friday, July 20th.

The perhaps bad news was that they were going to play the Blue Hills Bank Pavilion.  There are a lot of things wrong with this venue, like getting there, steep prices, a lousy sound system, airplanes taking off overhead, cold rain and snow, etc.  But as it turns out the 20th was a beautiful summer day and everything turned out right (except for prices) to say the least.

Picked up Dave on Bowdoin Street (after a quick beer at the Red Hat) and we really had a remarkably easy ride down to the Seaport, where we parked in the public garage right across from the venue for only(!) $40.  Sarah had made reservations (for 5:15, only time available) at a pricy Mexican restaurant right next to the pavilion, in the same block with Legal Seafoods.  And she walked down there after work to claim our table in case Dave and I were late.  It’s a good thing she did, it got very packed very soon.  But it was a lovely setting, we were just inside the open doors looking out over the harbor and the fish pier.  Boats came and went from the docks right off the restaurant with confusing tumult.  The water was incredibly choppy and the docks apparently charged a steep price by the minute.

Anyway, had a very good meal and a few beers, and then moseyed on out onto the harbor walk to gawk at the large crowd some more, and at a dead fish floating by.  Then walked over to the pavilion and were some of the first few in about 45 minutes before the concert was going to start.

We had great seats in row 12, just left of center.  We cruised around some, got a couple of beers after we arranged loans with our bank, and then hung out right at harborside.  Can’t overstate what a lovely evening it was, with a very gentle breeze, great temperature and humidity, a clear blue sky, and lovely Boston Harbor rife with activity.  Fortunately the wind was apparently from the right direction and there were no planes taking off overhead, they were heading out to sea.  Time to get to our seats and then the guys came out right on schedule, though the venue was not at all full yet.  It did fill in and must have been close to a sellout eventually (people had been waiting in line for tickets when we entered).

There was plenty of tuning, but there were no false starts.  Joe was in charge and finally he lifted his sticks, looked at everyone in turn, and then hammered his kit and suddenly they were doing Good Lovin’ on a summer night in the city.

Joe was playing a slightly bigger kit than when we’d seen him in December and wasn’t as far forward on the stage.  Marco was over to the left with his grand and organ, powered by a massive Leslie in back of him.  Tommy was playing Wolf again and had no scarf on … he even took off his jacket after a while but of course still wore his cap.  Dave was on the other side of Joe and from the start was playing like a demon, he was not delicate all night long and that’s a good thing.  And on the far side was Scott, singing and playing as well as ever.

Here’s Costello’s notes:

Show #157
Blue Hill Bank Pavilion
Boston, MA
2018-07-20

Set One (7:38PM - 8:56PM)
Good Lovin’
Iko Iko @
Cumberland Blues >
Shakedown Street # ->
The Wheel Jam -> Jam ->
I Need a Miracle $ >
Ramble On Rose

Set Two (9:22PM - 10:52AM)
Althea
Gonesville
Uncle John’s Band % ->
Space ->
Morning Dew
China Cat Sunflower ^ ->
I Know You Rider

ENC:
Sugar Magnolia/Sunshine Daydream &

Entire Show with Tommy playing Wolf.
@ - With a Man Smart Woman Smarter Tease (MB)
# - Unfinished
* - Not played since 2017-01-13 Music Farm, Charleston, SC, a gap of 60 shows
$ - With an Unknown Tease (TH)
% - Unfinished
^ - With a DD Bass Solo & The Wheel Teases (TH & Band)
& - Not Played since 2017-10-05 Brooklyn Bowl, Brooklyn, NY, a gap of 36 Shows

It was a wonderfully long Good Lovin’ and the crowd filled in fast with spasmodically dancing people.  And then they went on from there in their adventurous JRAD ways.  I called Iko Iko and they soon came out of space and were feeding us that NOLA beat.  Dave called Cumberland next, and after a long, spacey outro from that they then picked us up and shook us with the opening of Shakedown.  Joe had his band cracking.

And the sound was really fantastic for that venue.  We were up close and it probably could be criticized by the people in the back.  But as I say there was no wind and we had a huge stack of speakers right in front of us.  It wasn’t like being in a HOB where the room gets filled with the sound … we were in a big tent.  But no complaints on that score.

Another thing to mention is that it was your typical Friday night crowd.  Not sure what it is about Friday nights, but that's when all kinds of things happen and crowds get rowdy.  Date night?  End of week??  Anyway, there was a constant murmur (at least) of conversation all during the show, some of it loud.  When you looked around you realized that the great majority of concert-goers were there to listen to JRAD and were distressed by the sound.  But there was a loud minority of people there who thought it right to shout at each other during the show ... probably much worse in the back of the amphitheater.

Great first set, though perhaps a little confusing.  They never finished Shakedown and then took a long time to finally end up in The Wheel and then didn’t really play that once they got there.  They ended it with a neat, wonderful Ramble On Rose, though of course we had to boo the line about New York City, being baseball season.

The place had gotten packed but the lines at the bathrooms and the beer stands were still pretty non-existent.  I managed to elbow back up to the harborside with my fancy beer and had some nice conversation with other delighted JRAD attendees.  The tide had been very high before and now was a couple of feet lower, but it was a nice night on the seaside and there was no marine smell.

OK, back to the seats and then they came right out and lit into the second set … many people had to scramble back to their seats when the music started.  I think the band was conscious of the venue curfew and probably of the start of a challenging tour.  They had played in Brooklyn the night before and would be playing the Peach Festival in Pennsylvania the next day.

Althea was perhaps the song of the show, it was done with a rollicking panache that Dead & Company can’t approach.  Perhaps not as soulful as DeadCo does it, but composed in a balls-out, all-play style that really made you feel like you were listening to a spicy woman telling us to cool down Jim and then all right, that’s fine … I’ll go on with life and you’re the one who’s going to be blue.

Dave had predicted their cover of Bobby’s Gonesville, and that was done with the same rollicking beat.  If you’ve never seen Joe Russo … well, I don’t know what to tell you.  And they kept up that spirit and that aggression through the second set, ending with a great China Cat morphing into the acid-country roll of Rider.

Not too long a break and then they filled in the remaining time with an encore of a long, full Sugar Magnolia with Scott singing his tail off.  This was really a fantastic show.  We’ve seen some top-notch concerts from JRAD but this was a very memorable one, with the great weather, the great seats, and the adventurous setlist, though we would have loved to get a Dark Star!

Back to the garage quickly when they finished and we got out of there with not much problem.  Took Dave down to Quincy and then back home not too late.

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