Tedeschi Trucks in Gilford

 At long last, it was time to go see live music again!  The Covid-19 pandemic that's shut down the world for the last year and a half is lifting, especially in New England where a large number of people are vaccinated.  A huge portion of the world is still struggling with it though, large numbers of people are getting sick and dying.  Hospitals, care workers, and medical infrastructure are all over-taxed, and though vaccines have been developed they haven't been distributed equitably and idiots are often refusing vaccinations when they are available.  I feel very lucky to be located in the Northeast US, but acknowledge that we're still in a worldwide crisis and people are suffering.

When the Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion scheduled Tedeschi Trucks Band for July 17, they announced that the concert would be "limited capacity," and we're very glad it was.  Though I was at a sold-out Red Sox game in Fenway Park a few weeks ago, we three were all nervous about what kind of crowd situations we'd find in Gilford and if people would be vaccinated.  As it turned out it was so mellow and low-key it was kind of spooky!

Dave came over on Friday night and we had a hot Saturday to pack up slowly for our trip up North to Gilford.  Many places have stopped distributing paper tickets to concerts; your only option for some shows is to load the tickets to your phone, and I had to install two apps and change security settings on my phone to do that, another burden on the concert-goer!  The forecast was for probable rain and possible thunderstorms, but we had an easy drive up to the venue under overcast skies.

The "standard" parking lot there is usually packed long before the show, but this time we got there and it was deserted!  Not totally, but there were only about a dozen cars when we pulled in.  We could hear TTB clearly doing their soundcheck on the other side of the trees.  Nothing to do but get out our lawn chairs and hang out, enjoying a few beers and a few sandwiches.  There were a few sprinkles of rain, but nothing serious.  Sooner than you'd think it was time to start on the long walk into the amphitheater, though even by then the parking lot barely held two rows of cars.

I showed my phone tickets at the gate (you had to put all your stuff in a tray and then go through the x-ray gate, like getting on an airplane or something), we found where to fill our water bottles, looked at the Kubota tractor exhibit, and then wandered in and sat down.  And they were great, socially distanced, seats!  We were in a row of 8 seats abutting the soundboard to the right, the third row of the second section.  We had the three right-hand seats in the row, on my left were two empty seats, and then there was a couple on the aisle.  The three seats in front of us were roped off, and so we felt definitely not threatened by proximity, though we all wore our masks for most of the concert because the air got hot and sweaty and there may have been viruses floating around ... it's hard to change your habits after a year and a half of precautions.

But we were unimaginably psyched!  These were great seats in an uncrowded setting on a summer night, and we were about to see one of the best bands in the world ... after seeing none for a year and a half!!  TTB has had a few changes since we first saw them 10 years ago: Gabe Dixon instead of Kofi Burbridge, Brandon Boone instead of Tim Lebfevre (and Oteil Burbridge before him), and recently J.J. Johnson left the band.  And the act we were about to see was the "Fireside" version of the band, as in the shows they've been streaming over the past year.  That is, both Mark Rivers and Alicia Chakour were absent, as well as the horn section of Williams, Owen, and Lea.  Too bad, but they'll still lick (almost) any other band in the world with one hand tied behind their backs.

The band came out a bit past 7:00, lined up, tuned up, and then blasted us with excellent sound.  Here's the first set:

• Don't Let Me Slide
• Part of Me
• When Will I Begin
• Just as Strange
• Life Is Crazy
• Somebody Pick Up My Pieces (Willie Nelson)
• Had to Cry Today (Blind Faith)
• Idle Wind

So how was it?  I don't know, I hadn't been to a concert in way long enough to get out of practice and I was just so engrossed by the experience.  The sound was excellent: they did not have a lot of amps on stage but they sure had some awesome stacks of speakers to the sides and when you looked closely you saw that each amp on stage had a mysterious black rectangle pasted to the front of it instead of a microphone.  This was apparently what was feeding the PA and it worked incredibly well.  Probably also didn't hurt that we were right next to the soundboard.

Tyler Greenwell was playing amazingly and was a technical delight, but the band didn't feature the thundering sound produced by two drummers.  Dixon, Boone, and Mattison were also very good, especially Dixon on vocals.  You couldn't help but think, "Here's where Alicia would take over the stage," or "Here's where the horns would rock you like nobody's business."  So it was mellow and a little disappointing for a TTB concert ... BUT both guitar players were absolutely other-worldly.  Derek was his incredible, make-it-look-easy self and was all over the fretboard.  And Susan was possibly playing better than I've ever seen her, Derek just let her go and go she did.  She was switching guitars all night but her light green one is the best.

OK!  As I say we were all three feeling a bit more paranoid about the crowd and had our masks on.  So we took turns going for bathroom/drinks runs instead of en masse.  I walked all the way back to the entrance to get more water (why don't they have more than one filling station??).  It remained strange how empty the place was compared to other times we've had to struggle to get anywhere.  I don't know if they even sold any of the lawn seats.  Back to our row, and then after a short intermission the band was back.

Here's the second set:

• Gin House Blues (Bessie Smith)
• Laugh About It
• Looking For Answers
• The Feeling Music Brings
• Midnight In Harlem
• Gonna Move (Paul Pena)
• Dreams (Allman Brothers Band)
• That Did It (Bobby “Blue” Bland)
• Bound for Glory

Wow, this was excellent!  Derek and Susan kept up their fine playing and the rest of the band was right with them.  The middle of the set was where it took off: Susan did two songs she'd penned (including The Feeling Music Brings, dedicated to a friend of hers).  They then quietly hit a few notes and you knew that this was the intro to Midnight In Harlem that had been haunting your dreams.  They rose to the heights with that one and spun it down slowly, then stopped and jumped into the swinging Gonna Move ("... away from here, you can find me if you want to go there"), and then wound up in one of my favorite ABB songs, Dreams.  This was an incredible showcase for Derek, and he went on and on, standing right between Gabe and Falcon and egging them on.

They were both kind of short sets, in fitting with the mellow atmosphere.  Susan was as gracious as ever to her New England fans, and then they came back out after a short break to encore with Derek and the Dominos' Keep On Growing.

The walk back to the parking lot was short and not crowded (usually a mob scene), and after splitting another beer the exit line was down to a few cars and we were out of there for a rainy and dark ride back.  Gee, we should go to more concerts!  

Here's a preview from the Union Leader and here's a review of the tour opener from Jacksonville.