Billy Strings At the Wang

Wunderkind Billy Strings has impressed me, playing with Bill Kreutzmann's band and also on bluegrass tunes I've heard.  He's an incredibly talented young musician who's won a Grammy and who covers a range of music.  So we were psyched to see him at Boston's Wang Theater (whilom Music Hall) on November 17th.

Dave was sick and had to miss it, but friend L came down, and we drove into crowded and under construction Boston in plenty of time for the show.  The scene was what we've come to expect: dentists on every corner, lots of crowds milling around, and when we got into the beautiful Wang, long lines for bad beer.  The place was packed, and we were glad they had a vaccination requirement.

We were in the middle of the balcony but somehow the place seemed more jammed with people than I've ever seen it.  And these people were psyched: they shouted and talked throughout the show, the beer lines featured some people drinking one while they waited to get another (at $15 a pop!), and there was an amazing amount of indoor pot smoking.

Billy came out and they lined up with mandolinist, bassist, Strings on guitar, and banjo on the right ... they all sang, though Strings had the lead on every song.  The band played two hefty sets and thoroughly delighted the crowd.  This was a great concert but I was a little dismayed by the dearth of real bluegrass.  They only played one song that stayed a bluegrass song (which was the least popular of the show, from the crowd's reaction); almost every song started with a good bluegrass riff but then evolved into a jam band frenzy.  I'm totally in favor of crowds being delighted, genre being turned on its head, and long jams, but was not having as good a time as almost all of the people there!

The mandolinist was great and some of the jams between him and Strings especially were astronomical.  The group singing was also very good and the bluegrass fan in me was pleased with the harmonies ... wish they'd done that more often.  But the sound was just wrong for me and Sarah.  It was hard to identify what was wrong and we discussed it a lot afterwards.  I think the best explanation was that it was too loud.  Now, I like volume in a concert and have complained in many blogs about things not being loud enough.  But each instrument seemed to be miked in a narrow range, none of them could achieve a warm feeling.  When one musician soloed it sounded all right but too trebly, but when several jammed together they sounded muddy and almost crackly, like acoustic instruments being turned up as loud as they could get, which in fact was the story.

Enough criticism, as I've said this was a very well received concert.  Here's the setlist:

• Set 1:
• Red Daisy
• I'll Remember You, Love, in My Prayers (William "Billy" Hayes)
• Bronzeback
• Must Be Seven
• Fire Line
• Running the Route
• Peggy-O
• Boston Boy (David Grisman)
• Watch It Fall
• The Likes of Me (Jerry Reed)
• Meet Me at the Creek
• Set 2:
• Fire on My Tongue
• Taking Water
• End of the Rainbow (Frank Wakefield)
• Thirst Mutilator
• Dust in a Baggie
• Love Like Me
• Highway Hypnosis
• John Deere Tractor (Larry Sparks)
• In Hiding (Pearl Jam)
• Hide & Seek
• Encore:
• Big Ball's in Cowtown

The opener, Red Daisy, was great and I also really liked Dust In a Baggie.  Only one Grateful Dead song, and the crowd would have loved more ... GD gear was ubiquitous.  And he did a very good and faithful cover of John Deere Tractor, though as I say this was a sleeper for most of the crowd.  And in the encore he substituted "Boston" for "Cowtown," so everyone got a chance to roar.  This was a lot of fun!  Great musicianship (Strings is an astounding guitar player) and great crowd, though I had a few nits to pick.

The Theater District was just as packed when we got out, and the parking garage was too.  Oh well, got out of there finally and soon home with no problem.  Glad I didn't have to go to work the next day!

 

Phil Returns To the Cap, 2021 part 3

 Slightly better sleep at the Days Inn on Tuesday night, but still not optimal, especially with the light through the windows and the other guests packing up and leaving at 5AM.  Oh well, at least we had soap now!  The coffee was as above average as ever and we tapped some of our cache of PB&B sandwiches instead of the cheap chocolate breakfast.  The WiFi was working as well as ever though, and we downloaded an aud from last night, had a few coffees, and thought about what we'd do that day.

We didn't want an adventurous hike like the one we'd done Tuesday, since we didn't want to get all tired out before a third concert in a row (rock concerts are hard!).  And we were kind of fascinated by the glimpses of the Hudson River and the Tappan Zee bridge we'd seen the day before.  Looking on the map I saw that there was a walkable-but-still-incomplete riverwalk in Tarrytown: the Westchester Riverwalk is planned to extend for 50 miles North from Yonkers but is very incomplete at this point except for stretches in Tarrytown and Croton-on-Hudson.  We weren't sure if it went under the bridge, but decided to check it out and at some point detour into town for lunch.

The Tappan Zee is a section of the Hudson River which abuts Tarrytown on the East and is the widest part of the river, extending up to 3 miles across.  "Tappan Zee" is a weird mashup of American Indian and Dutch words (as are many place names around there) that basically means, "sea where the Tappan tribe lives."  A bridge was built across it in the mid-50s and then replaced in 2017, and this bridge carries a *lot* of traffic.  I've been over it more times than I want to remember, usually through thick traffic.  The bridges have been named after various politicians, but this changes.  Why did they build a bridge across the widest part of the river??  I have no idea.

Anyway, we saddled up and drove the few miles over to Tarrytown, where we wound through downtown and around the train station and parked in Pierson Park, with some helpful advice from a resident about what lots to avoid so we didn't get a ticket.  This was a wonderful place on another beautiful but breezy Fall day.  The temperature was unseasonably warm that day and the timing for seeing the riverside park was fabulous.

We started South first and followed the riverwalk around the yacht clubs and the city recreation building and past Losee Park.  The sun was brilliant in a blue sky, the river was whipped up into whitecaps, and the visibility over to the West side and both North and South were incredible.  After a mile or so we were almost under the bridge but the trail petered out ... it would have had to cross back over the busy railroad tracks to continue to the next section, which they'll figure out someday.  But right there was the large but almost deserted Washington Irving Boat Club, and they had signs out saying that their patio was open for lunch, stop in and have a beer!  So we did.

Another great Tarrytown lunch, this time on a patio at the edge of the river, and with a view that couldn't be beat.  We could see the skyline of Manhattan 30 miles to the South, the cliffs along the Hudson on the other side, and the majestic new bridge towering over us all.  The patio just had a few other parties at the scattered tables (must be mobbed in mid-summer), and the sun and temperature were great, kept bearable by the constant breeze.

After lunch we headed North past Pierson Park and up another mile or so to the Sleepy Hollow Lighthouse in Edge-on-Hudson.  Armies of gardeners were planting flowers, bushes, and grasses along the riverwalk through that section, and this will probably be a fantastic place to visit when they're done, though now it's a bit of a construction site.  There are fancy condos all along there and we fantasized about how nice it would be to live on a beautiful riverwalk  with such great views, in walking distance from the train station that gets you to NYC in an hour.  But then we realized that the constant hum from the traffic on the bridge would drive us crazy and the best condos were going for $2MM.

At one point a bug hopped out of a bush and we saw it was a praying mantis.  We paused to look at it and a woman walking her little white dog stopped too.  We said to her, "Look, it's a praying mantis!"  She gave a shrug and said, "Just watch out for the rats along here!"  Then she walked away and tossed back over her shoulder, "I'm serious!"  She should probably move back to the city.

OK, time to get going and head back to the hotel, where I tried to take another afternoon nap, to no avail.  Soon we were getting ready to go and then we were off, back to Port Chester and the Kiosko.

This time they were slightly less surprised to see us again, but our usual table was taken.  Another FOD joined us for dinner, and it was another great one, though this time I couldn't finish my quesadillas de la casa.  Down to the Cap for the last time on this visit and again, inside and up to our seats with no problem.  We were again in the exact same seat numbers, but two rows farther from the stage.

This night they had the ceiling lit up with some shifting psychedelic patterns and the ambience was as good as ever.  Still not sold out, but perhaps a little more crowded as we got closer to the weekend.  Amy Helm was back in place of Elliott, and the stage setup was the same as always.  The guys soon came out and started up the first set:

• Jack Straw
• When I Paint My Masterpiece
• Ship of Fools
• Peggy-O
• Tennessee Jed
• Touch of Grey

We were sure that they would play some real Phil stuff this evening, perhaps Dark Star or TOO or Caution/Lovelight, or at least Unbroken Chain or Mountains Of the Moon, and so were ready for the best concert of the set, though things didn't work out as we expected.  They started with the classic intro to Jack Straw, which was done very well, with verses traded between all vocalists.  Amy was back as good as ever.

Next up was one of Amy's best vocals of the set, a "The Band" version of Masterpiece that allowed her to emote better than Bobby ever has on this song.  Johnson sang Ship Of Fools and again turned in a decent vocal.  Then they did a great Peggy-O with Amy again dominating.  Next they covered Tennessee Jed in the arrangement that Amy's father had recorded it in (on his Emmy-winning record), with Grahame turning in perhaps *his* best vocal of the set.  The best part of this though was Kaufman just going nuts on the guitar lead, getting weirder and weirder before he threw it back to Grahame.  Last song of the set was a well-done Touch, with Johnson on vocals.

So there we were, a little disappointed that they hadn't played any real extended jams yet, though they had stretched out all these songs.  The setlists may look short, but the sets themselves were all pretty hefty.  We were sure they'd do a Dark Star or a St. Stephen/The Eleven jam in the second set, but here's what we got:

• Truckin'
• So Many Roads
• Caledonia Mission
• Bird Song
• Let It Grow
• Stella Blue
• Rag Mama Rag
• Not Fade Away
• Morning Dew

Can't complain about Truckin', especially when it's followed by a juicy jam, and especially when sung with the enthusiasm Grahame and Amy brought to it.  At the end of Truckin' we thought the jam could go anywhere and we were hoping for TOO.  But instead it was followed by a very good So Many Roads, with Eric Johnson at his best.  Next up was another "The Band" song sung by Amy and Grahame in tight harmony (though they're no Rick and Levon), and another song I thought I'd never hear live: Caledonia Mission.  I've loved this song for years, a nice treat!

Bird Song (sung by Phil) and Let It Grow (Grahame) were well done, but we were beginning to realize that our highly-anticipated seamless second set jam was not going to make an appearance.  However, these were followed by another tour de force from Amy, crooning Stella Blue with exquisite accompaniment.  But then why did they do another The Band song sung by Johnson?  He didn't sing Rag Mama Rag with any of the funkiness this song needs, and we were left wondering what he really contributed to this band, except for some nice harmonies.

The set was winding down and we thought we might get away without NFA, but that was next.  This is a great song and some seminal rock 'n' roll, but to my ear the "audience participation" at the end of it is tired and boring.  And one funny thing about this set was that Phil was a little testy.  He had done some glaring at his son and at Joe earlier in the set, like they weren't doing their job of holding the band together, when it was his fucking band!  He later got annoyed when Grahame wanted to go back into the verse in Bird Song before he did, and ended up almost stopping the song and trying to conduct.  And then in NFA he wanted the crowd to sing louder and then wanted them to stop on a dime when he told them to stop.  Crabby old man, but we love him!

And then after NFA we were treated to another great peak of the whole stand: Amy and Grahame duetting on Morning Dew.  We'd seen the two of them do this before with Allison Russell, but this was a pure call and response between them in which Amy repeatedly asked plaintively why she couldn't go out in the morning dew, and Grahame would tell her gently to forget about it.  And the best part was Grahame capping his excellent guitar work with a crescendo worthy of a Garcia, and then a final vocal coda.

Woohoo, that was just the best!  Old Phil came out and did yet another donor rap that couldn't be beat, and then the band came back out and popped off one of the perfect Attics Of My Life that Grahame and Amy can do.  Eric Johnson was the other part of the trio and he again showed what a great voice he can add to the right situation.  Hard not to think of the first time we saw Amy do this, in the *hot* sun at Gathering Of the Vibes 2011, while pregnant fit to bust, with Larry and Teresa and also Bob Weir.

OMG, Phil was still puttering around with his equipment but it was time for us to say fare thee well and get back to reality.  One of our Philcations down to the Cap can be so much fun, with its share of ups and downs but mostly the best ups.  Back to the car and the hotel and perhaps this time a good night's sleep at the Days Inn?  Dream on!

Phil Returns To the Cap, 2021 part 2

 As I say, the one(?) good thing about the Days Inn in Elmsford was it had acceptable free coffee in the lobby.  And there was a very nice morning desk clerk!  Dave brought back coffee while I was in the shower and the cups had a Wyndham Hotel tagline (Days Inn is owned by Wyndham) on them: "You deserve this!"  It cracked us up.  We had all had miserable night's sleep, the bagged breakfast they gave us contained an industrial chocolate chip muffin, a chocolate chip granola bar, a plastic cup of diced peaches, and a water bottle.  And there was still no soap or chairs.

Whatever, we showered with shampoo, had "breakfast," Dave downloaded an aud of last night's concert, and the sun was shining on another beautiful Fall day.  After hanging around for a bit, we started to wonder about an excursion, and Dave noticed Tarrytown Lakes Park was nearby.

This was a great excursion!  They have about 4 miles of trails and we covered most of them.  The day was wonderful as I say, there was some up and down, and there were very few people.  The woods there were fascinating, holding an incredible variety of trees from huge old white oaks to tiny cedars we'd never seen before.  Most of the area was also covered with vines, and we had no idea if these were invasive or not.  There were at least three different varieties of these that we didn't recognize.

The trail started as a wide bike path up on a berm, but there were several different networks of smaller trails that wound and wound through the relatively small park downhill toward the lakes, that used to be the reservoirs for Tarrytown but were retired in 1993.  We saw chipmunks and squirrels, many types of birds, a couple of snakes, and a small deer who thought he had found a cozy hiding place until we walked on an overgrown trail near him.  There were several mysterious stone structures scattered throughout the overgrown woods, and we ended up in a deserted soccer field back close to where we started.

Wonderful couple-of-hours walk, and the next task was to find a CVS!  We were sick of having no soap and the tap water at the Days Inn was not potable (we had finished the water we brought).  A quick internet search led us to detour into downtown Tarrytown, headed for the CVS and also in search of a good place to get lunch.  Loaded with soap and water, we parked and cruised a few restaurants, and then settled on Sweet Grass Grill.  The outdoor tables were full but the inside room was not crowded at all (though it subsequently almost filled up with a late-afternoon lunch crowd) and we got a table near the window, where we had an excellent meal and I had a great local Abbey beer.  We'd already decided we liked Tarrytown a lot, especially since one of the places we passed downtown was the Tarrytown Music Hall, which advertised some excellent acts.

OK, time to go back to the hotel (we deserved it!) and get ready for the concert.  Left at about the same time as we had the day before and went through the same routine: park behind Kiosko and go in for another Mexican dinner that couldn't be beat.  They were surprised to see us back and we got the same table and the same waitress who didn't speak English, though we got by.

Tuesday night was exactly the same band and stage setup as it had been Monday, except Elliott Peck subbed for Amy Helm.  No entry delays again, and we were soon settled back in our balcony seats (exactly a row behind where we'd been Monday) with a beer and one of Dave's Twitter friends.  Great seats and great timing again and the band soon came out for the first set:

• Uncle John's Band
• He's Gone
• It Must Have Been the Roses
• Brown-Eyed Women
• Cassidy
• New Speedway Boogie

Debatable whether this should be Jam > UJB, but it was a great start anyway!  I love the sound of Peck's voice and as much as Helm had done a great job the night before, Peck shone on Tuesday.  Her backup vocals on He's Gone and then her lead vocal on It Must Have Been the Roses were surreal.  This was followed by another great Brown-Eyed Women that unfortunately stayed a little grounded because of Eric Johnson's lead vocal.

Oh well, then Elliott took over again (with Johnson trying to hang on) for a spectacular Cassidy.  And this was followed by a tribal-beat New Speedway on which the rhythm section of Joe and Phil excelled.  Elliott has a great low range and sang this with the dread and power it requires.  One oddity was that Johnson got out his harmonica on the first verse and played a bar or two, then put it away!?!  The mixing problems from Monday were not apparent and Kaufman had apparently been given some more leash and used it to whip up some spacey guitar leads, at times trading off with Grahame.  A great first set in which they really played to their strengths!

Halftime again and this really *was* halftime in our three-concert set.  I'd hoped they'd be showing the baseball game on the TVs at the bar, as they had when the Mets were in the World Series, but they didn't and I had to rely on phone updates to get the Red Sox score.  They'd whipped the Houston Astros in the ALCS on Monday at Fenway Park, but this night the score was closer, Red Sox leading 2-1 (they eventually lost and dropped the series).

Time for the second set, in which we hoped to get some more Phil space like Dark Star and Caution.  Didn't get those but this was perhaps the best set of the stand:

• Help On the Way
• Slipknot!
• China Doll
• Franklin's Tower
• Estimated Prophet
• Eyes Of the World
• Scarlet Begonias
• The Music Never Stopped

Again a nice introduction by Grahame and Stuart to a great song in Help (sung by Grahame), and then a powerful, Russo-led romp into Slipknot! ... fantastic stuff and we were dancing in the balcony.  And after that, a twist: they calmed down and the spotlight landed on Benmont.  He'd done a spectacular China Doll when we'd last seen him with Phil, and this one was almost as good.  The previous one had been basically a duet between him and Phil, but this time the whole band backed him up and he sparkled on piano and the bluesy vocal tones.  They followed that up by sliding into Franklin's Tower (sung by Phil) to close the set-piece.  As mentioned, this was not a turn-on-a-dime band, but Joe did the best he could to glue the songs together and Grahame did the best he could at herding cats.

Another mellow and spooky intro to Phil dropping out the bottom into Estimated, with great backup by Elliott.  This then slid into the expected Eyes, and this one was knocked out of the park.  Bogie was playing great sax and Tench was swirling around on the organ; Grahame was doing his best Bobby impression and Kaufman was off the leash, running through the forest.  Johnson turned in one of his best vocals, and of course Elliott and Grahame supplied excellent choruses.

Next a fantastic Scarlet, with a long intro until Joe convinced them to stop wandering around.  And again this featured some great ensemble singing, between Grahame, Johnson, and Elliott.  Then a full stop, and perhaps the song of the night.  We'd seen P&F featuring Elliott do Music in Bangor a few years ago, and this was just as exciting!  She nails those Donna parts, and Bogie's sax and clarinet gave this the swinging vibe this song deserves.

Yikes, that was a great set!  Time to collapse into our seats again and realize how much our feet were hurting from dancing until daylight se we could greet the morning air with song.  The crowd had actually thinned out a little, as this *was* a work night for some people and there were trains that couldn't be missed.  But soon the old guy came out for another donor rap and we all paid rapt attention.  Who knew how long he'd be doing this?

He announced they had another song, and this was one of my favorites, Cold Rain and Snow.  Phil took the lead vocals again and his voice was still in great shape.  And of course Elliott and Grahame just knocked us dead with their backup.  Yay, a great concert and we still had another left.

Hung out at the seats again for a few minutes until the crowd died down, but this is one of the great things about the Cap, even when it's sold out there isn't much of a problem getting in and out of it.  Back up to Kiosko and then an unimpeded drive up the Expressway to Elmsford.  Again, in bed just before 1:00 after a fun night.

Phil Returns To the Cap, 2021 part 1

 As some of you know, we've been having a pandemic and that's put the kibosh on a lot of shows.  We'd hoped to see Phil Lesh and Friends at the Cap in Port Chester for his 80th birthday back in March 2020.  But that and then any hope of his doing a Halloween run there vanished.  Again in March 2021, the pandemic was still raging (though vaccines were becoming available) and there was no show.  At last he announced, back in the later Spring when an end to the pandemic seemed possible, that he'd be playing three sets of three shows each over two weeks in October!

We strategized and settled on going down there for the middle set of three, for which there was the usual mad ticket rush, but for which we snagged center balcony seats.  They eventually announced who'd be with him for the three sets and we mentally high-fived our decision.  The first set would be "The Q," whom we'd seen with him and liked but weren't our ideal band.  The second set would be his son Grahame, Benmont Tench, Amy Helm/Eliot Peck alternating, Joe F. Russo(!), Stuart Bogie on woodwinds, and the pair of Eric D. Johnson and Josh Kaufman, whom we'd seen with Bonnie Light Horseman at the Green River Festival.  The third set is going to be basically Dawes, Nicki Bluhm, and Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams ... a mixed bag because Dawes (Taylor Goldsmith et al.) doesn't seem entirely to click with him from what we've heard, but we'd love to see the latter three again.

Anyway, excitement built and the pandemic kept hanging on because of stupidity and misinformation, as well as epidemiology.  Not my role to explain the 21st century here, thank dog, but we might have cancelled out except for the fact that they announced proof of vaccination would be required at the Cap.  We decided to take the risk, though I had what might have been the virus in the week before it, thankfully in time to get a negative test.  Dreamflower was going to join us but had to cancel out because of a virus scare in her family, but we were lucky enough to find Twitter friends of Dave's for the Tuesday and Wednesday tickets.

Another twist was that the hotel we've settled on for Port Chester excursions, the La Quinta in Armonk NY, has apparently closed!?!  We looked around and found relatively good prices at a Days Inn in Elmsford NY, though that proved to be a bad decision.

OK, enough background?  Dave drove up on Sunday and we packed up and headed Southwest around 1PM on a beautiful Fall Monday, October 18th.  Dave was driving and I was napping until we got to Connecticut.  Traffic was manic but quick, until we got to Waterville, where it backed up due to major construction.  We took route 8 South at that point and switched over to the Merritt Parkway, the Hutchinson River Parkway in NY, and then the Cross-Westchester Expressway to Elmsford, which slowed to a crawl as we approached the Tappan Zee bridge.

Friendly people with masks at the Days Inn when we got there, and they had decent coffee in the lobby.  But there was not much else good about it.  They seemed to be in the business of housing people doing construction on the roads around there, and they all got up and went to work (noisily) early.  And there was no soap in the bathroom!?!  We asked at the desk and were told that it was a supply chain problem, they had more on order.  WTF??  Why didn't they take the responsibility of going to the local store and spending some petty cash to get bar soap for their guests?  There were also no chairs in the room!?!  Sarah eventually asked why there weren't any and was told that there was at least a desk chair.  She said no there wasn't.  So they brought one up.  The curtains wouldn't close unless we rigged up a hanger to pinch them shut.  Oh well, at least there was a working mini-fridge and we were able to convince the heater to pump up the temperature a bit.

So we arranged our stuff for a three-night stay and hung out a bit.  Then jumped in the car and boogied down 287 to Port Chester, where we parked behind our favorite local Mexican restaurant, Kiosko, and went in to eat.  We were about the only ones there when we arrived and they were kind of surprised at having to deal with people who didn't speak Spanish.  Smiles all around however and we got another great meal that couldn't be beat, and then trundled down Westchester Ave. to the Cap about a half hour before showtime.

No lines for vaxx proof and admittance, and we were back!  The merch table had a couple of great shirts (and a lot of so-so ones) but they didn't have any in the right sizes, except for one Sarah got.  Supply chain problems I suppose.  Went up to our seats in the balcony, got a beer, and settled down while the crowd streamed in.  None of the three shows we saw were totally sold out, though the balcony was about three quarters full and I'm sure the floor was packed.

Then Phil F. Lesh and the guys came out, tuned up, and got at it.  From left to right they were Tench, Grahame, Johnson, Amy Helm (who was not out for the first song), Joe in the back on a small kit, Phil, Kaufman, and then Bogie way over on the right with a pile of woodwinds.  Besides Bogie there wasn't much switching of instruments.  Grahame stuck to his big Rickenbacker for the whole set and Phil to his Modulus of course.  Amy only played the mandolin on Atlantic City and besides that stuck to vocals.  Here's the first set:

• Althea
• Alice D. Millionaire
• Crazy Fingers
• Greatest Story Ever Told
• Atlantic City
• Deal
• Brokedown Palace

We were delighted!  The most significant person on stage was the old man, and I'm pleased to report that Phil was playing as well as ever, with the depth, power, delicacy, nimbleness, and variety of tone I've been listening to for years.  There were some problems with the sound to my ear, which were partly fixed by the end of first set.  The sounded a little muddy but became crisper as the set went along.  Unfortunately, we still had a hard time hearing Tench when he played the piano (as opposed to the organ) and to Bogie when we was on the sax, though his clarinet and flute were mixed well.

From the beginning, Grahame Lesh was a monster.  It's so great to hear him come out of the shadow of his legacy.  And this time he not only took the role of bandleader/cat herder most of the time (except when his father scowled), as he had when we'd seen him before, but he also showed some serious chops on guitar, ripping off some long, excellent leads and filling in with some fantastic "Bobby" stuff when it was needed.

Amy was singing as well as ever and had no problem meshing with Grahame and Phil like she'd been playing with them for years (in fact, she has).  And Joe Russo is never *not* in the running for best musician on whatever stage he's on, though his trap set was limited and he barely sang at all.

The guys from Bonny Light Horseman were not a great addition however.  Eric D. Johnson definitely has a good harmony voice and there were some periods of magic with Grahame, Amy, and him.  But they had him do too many vocal leads, most of which he did not excel on, and he contributed next to nothing on guitar.  Kaufman definitely had his moments.  He brought the space and played some extraordinary leads, including some great pairings with Grahame.  But he was a bit confused by some of the arrangements and was not always a solid contributor.  Bogie also had some great moments, but had to pick his spots ... and the right instrument.  In all, these guys were not tight and perhaps showed the perils of Phil's "Friends" approach.  A very different approach than Dead & Company or JRAD, to name a couple of well-rehearsed bands.

But anyway, as I say, we were delighted!  LSD Millionaire was such a treat, and Amy killed it, as she did to Atlantic City.  Crazy Fingers was a great Grahame vocal, and Brokedown featured some of that great harmony I mentioned.

Wow, the first of the six Phil sets we had waited to see for months was over, but we'd seen and heard enough already to make us forget the hassles and expense of going down there.  Time to hit the funky old Capitol Theatre bathrooms and to get another beer for the second set.  They had some nice patterns on the walls as always, but we were a little disappointed that they weren't playing one of the old-time film reels they have, varying the wallpaper, or light-painting the ceiling.  Oh well, it was a mellow environment as it often is at the Cap, and soon it was time for the second set:

• China Cat Sunflower
• I Know You Rider
• The Wheel
• New Potato Caboose
• The Stranger (Two Souls in Communion)
• Wharf Rat
• Box of Rain
• Sugar Magnolia

OMG, this was more like it, and more!  Grahame started us off with a great intro to China Cat and followed up with a great Rider (though this wasn't as good as the one we saw DeadCo do this summer).  The Wheel was good, but Johnson was starting to grate a bit.  But then they started up the next song and Dave grabbed me.  He's never heard New Potato live and had been complaining that he'd miss it again since Phil had done it with the Q a few nights before.  But here it was in all its glory, with Phil dropping the bombs and Grahame singing the psychedelic lyrics like a folk song.

And then it was my turn to grab him.  I couldn't believe what they were playing at first, and then realized that I was about to hear the song I thought I'd never hear a Dead band play live, Two Souls In Communion.  Back in the day, this was only available on scratchy bootlegs, but I and all my friends who heard it were enthralled by the soul, funk, and humanity Pigpen brought to it.  Amy sang it, and boy, did she get it right.  She's got the perfect voice for it, and the Cap stood still while she shouted at the top of her lungs, "I'm a woman, I'm a woman, I'm not made out of stone!"

This was followed by what could have been a great Wharf Rat if the band had played together for another ten years or so.  But then Phil sang Box Of Rain and Grahame sang Sugar Magnolia and everything was right with the world.  Two of the best songs from American Beauty done perfectly and back to back!

Wow, time to slump back into the seat and try to recap what we'd just seen.  Phil came out soon (he had his own route through the amps marked with tape, don't want the old man to stumble) and gave us the donor rap.  He ended this one (as he also did the next two nights) by saying, "I'm glad everyone in the house is vaccinated, and if you know anyone who isn't, tell them to get the fucking vaccine!!!"  And he had more music left.

This was a great encore.  They did "The Band" arrangements for some of their songs because of Amy's presence, and they did a great rollicking Ophelia like her Dad used to do it.  And they followed this up with another beauty from Beauty, a crackerjack, rock 'n' roll version of Ripple.  None of this slow dreamy stuff ... "There is a road, no simple highway," and we were cruising down it.

Woohoo!  First of three nights in the books and it had been a good one.  Not a long walk back to the parking lot (which has apparently been adopted by a lot of concert goers), and then not much traffic back to Elmsford, where we still didn't have any soap.  Oh well, Dave had brought some luckily, and there was shampoo.  Got to bed a bit before 1:00.

Rodney Crowell On a Sunday Afternoon

We haven't seen Rodney Crowell anywhere near as often as we would have liked to, so we snapped up tickets to see him at the City Winery in Boston on October 10th as soon as they were available.  Apparently so did a lot of other people, as most of the room was packed, though they had some open tables in the back.

Set time was 4:00, so we headed into Boston at about 3:15, thinking it would be a mellow afternoon with the Garden dark.  BUT ... it was a nice Fall weekend with the Marathon scheduled for the next day and the area was packed with tourists, and they had shut down Congress Street at Haymarket for construction.  We were finally able to get to a parking garage and then dashed over to City Winery, where we were slowed by them checking for vaccination, which we approved of heartily.

So we aren't sure if we missed a song, they were playing Earthbound as we were ushered to our great seats about 20 feet from the stage, center.  And Rodney had a fantastic band with him: Zachariah Hickman on bass and harmonica, Catherine Marx on keyboards, Eamon McLoughlin on mandolin and bouzouki, and Glen Caruba on percussion.  They all sang except for Glen and the arrangements of some of Rodney's best songs were fantastic, including great leads by Marx and McLoughlin.  Rodney mentioned that Zach had done some of the arranging, and he also took the Johnny Cash parts on I Walk the Line (Revisited), which requires some cojones.

Another great thing about the concert was that the sound was unusually good for City Winery.  For once they had it turned up loud enough and the fidelity and balance (we *were* in great seats for this) were fantastic.  Here's what I remember of the setlist, again, perhaps missing a first song:

• Earthbound
• Still Learning How to Fly
• The Weight of the World
• Ashes by Now
• Frankie Please
• Reckless
• East Houston Blues
• It Ain't Over Yet
• I Walk The Line (Revisited)
• Don’t Leave Me Now
• Something Has to Change
• This Body Isn’t All There Is to Who I Am
• I Ain't Livin' Long Like This
• 'Til I Gain Control Again

Because this was an early show he told us up front that he had to be off the stage by 5:30, and so he cut short his setlist.  But he said that we probably wanted to get home and watch the baseball game anyway.  I could have watched him and that great band for hours, he's written so many amazing songs.  He only did two from his new record, but that's fine with me.

Back to the car and got right on 93, leaving the tourist ferment behind.  And the Red Sox beat Tampa Bay in extra innings in the ALDS!

Willie's Outlaw Festival 2021 in NH

 Back in the Spring, going to Willie's Outlaw Festival in the amphitheater in New Hampshire seemed like a great idea.  Live music was back!  But as mentioned in the previous posts, being around crowds of people has become dangerous and scary again.  We went anyway.  It would be outside, we'd wear masks, and hopefully others would be too.  As it turned out there were very few people wearing masks, but we survived and had a great time, what a show!

This year's tour has a changing cast, but on September 10th they were going to open with Margo Price, then Government Mule, then Sturgill Simpson, and then Willie.  Good enough, to put it mildly!  Sarah and I loaded up the chairs, sandwiches, and our summer concert tailgating stuff and headed North at around 2:00 for a 5:00 show.

Wonderful weather and lots of fun sitting around the parking lot and talking to the other concert-goers, some of whom had seen DeadCo recently like us, and some of whom were planning to see Phil Lesh in the Fall, like us (we hope).  Government Mule t-shirts/gear predominated, surprisingly, though a good number of people were dressed in Western regalia, as was Sarah.  Soon it was time to go in.  We passed the three checkpoints (vaccine proof, metal detector, and then tickets), got our water bottles filled, and headed to our seats, which were exactly three rows behind where we'd been for TTB, next to the soundboard.

Margo came on first and from the start this was such a well-produced show!  She had a lead guitarist, a bassist, a drummer, and a rotating cast of backup guitarists who filled in very professionally, picking up her guitar part when she was singing, swapping instruments with not a wasted motion, and disappearing when they were not needed.  Margo concentrated on newer songs but did the great Four Years Of Chances, Tennessee Song, and Don't Say It.  Great opening act and nice split-to-here dress and boots.

Government Mule was on next and I'd never seen the band, though of course I'd seen Warren Haynes in other combos.  They also were very professional and in control of their sound.  Haynes stood in the middle of the stage and was the man, lead guitar and all vocals.  He was surrounded by a simple but rocking combo of bass, drums, and keys, though the keyboard player switched to a second guitar for some songs.  Here's their setlist:

• Traveling Tune
• Banks of the Deep End
• Stoop So Low
• I'll Be the One
• Dreams
• Revolution Come, Revolution Go
• Broke Down on the Brazos
• Tributary Jam
• Soulshine

The stage crew were working feverishly, but I was a little confused by their setup for Sturgill Simpson.  Here was this cosmic country guy (whom I'd never seen before) who favored lots of guitars, horns, and effects, and they were setting up for a bluegrass band.  He had put out a few bluegrass-tinted covers of his own songs lately, but I was not prepared for the amazing, full bluegrass band he came out with.  He announced this was their first show together.  They're incredible and will be more so with some practice.  Mark Howard on guitar, Miles Miller on drums, and (wait for it) ... Sierra Hull on mandolin, Mike Bub on bass, Tim O'Brien on guitar, and Stuart Duncan on fiddle!!!

They were great, and Hull's mandolin was the lead instrument.  She was wearing a white pantsuit and silver boots and playing like she was dueling the devil.  O'Brien, Duncan, and Bub are also some of the greatest bluegrass players around and showed it when they got a chance.  But the main attraction was that Simpson guy in the middle with an acoustic guitar and that great, sonorous voice.  He was the most riveting player of all on stage and he made that amphitheater ring.  Here's his list:

• Brace for Impact (Live a Little)
• Long White Line
• I Don't Mind
• Life of Sin
• All Around You
• Living the Dream
• Shamrock
• Sometimes Wine
• Juanita
• Railroad of Sin
• Oh Sarah
• Breakers Roar
• Sam
• Call to Arms

Whew, that was three great acts, especially Sturgill!  Time for another quick bathroom and beer break (and trying to avoid the unmasked minions).

When we last saw Willie in Bangor (back in 2019 when the world was young) they had taken a long time to get him set up, but this time he had a very basic show and he came out pretty soon.  He *is* 88 years old and in the middle of what must be a grueling tour.  He had the family with him, his sister Bobby on grand piano, a drummer, his son Micah sitting right next to him and trading licks, a bassist, and Mickey Raphael on harmonica.  Here's an incomplete setlist:

• Whiskey River
• Still Is Still Moving to Me
• If I Die When I'm High I'll Be Halfway to Heaven
• Everything Is Bullshit (Particle Kid)
• On the Road Again
• Keep on the Sunny Side
• Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys
• Good Hearted Woman
• Will the Circle Be Unbroken? / I'll Fly Away
• It's Hard to Be Humble

A very enjoyable set, not leaning as much toward a "greatest hits" setlist as when we'd seen him last, but still including a bunch of his most popular songs.  And his guitar work was as great as ever, he gets such a unique, warm but edgy sound from the acoustic he's played for years.  And speaking of sound, Bobby tinkling the grand piano and Mickey blowing the harp was timeless, the band could have played anything!

And speaking of playing anything, Willie the dad had apparently made up his mind that he needed to teach son Micah how to be a bandleader.  He had Micah sing a few songs, including his "Bullshit" song, which Willie played with a straight face.  Micah was great and filled in some guitar licks that Willie didn't get around to.  BUT ... we were there to see Willie and so the concentration on Micah was a little much.

Anyway, great set and I think everyone in the crowd was totally satisfied.  I know we were.  To see four fantastic acts like that from great seats, produced seamlessly, was a lot of fun.  And I've decided I like the small (8K seats, including a tiny lawn) amphitheater in Gilford NH (currently named the Bank of NH Pavilion).  There's such a mellow vibe, beautiful scenery, and it's not a crowded madhouse like others we've been to, particularly in Hartford.

Easy stroll back to the car and we had another sandwich and beer while the parking lot thinned out.  Very soon we got packed up too and got out of there and back home with no problem.  What a show I say again!

Dead & Company Back In Hartford: 2021 part 3

One of the most amazing things about the concert in Hartford that Sunday was that it was a "part 3" of the shows we saw in Mansfield.  As mentioned, they do not stray far from their repertoire, but they arrange it with such care, and what we saw on Sunday closed out thematically what we'd seen on Thursday and Friday.  Did they do this consciously, or was it just us who perceived it?  Does it make any difference?

Day off from touring on Saturday, but back to it on Sunday September 5th, and we with our ice chest full of goodies were off to the Xfinity Theatre in Hartford in good time, after picking up Dave.  The sky threatened rain all day and there were a few showers on the way down to Connecticut.  It wasn't a bad trip, but the traffic got worse and worse as we traveled along, though it was moving.

And then we got to exit 50 in Hartford at about 4:20, about a mile from the venue, and stopped!  And I mean we stopped.  We were barely off the highway and then advanced only a hundred yards or so in the next hour.  The line must have been backed up on the highway back to Massachusetts by then!  And the only reason we advanced at all was because some of the cars in line bailed out and went searching for parking in downtown Hartford, the people planning to walk in.

I think that this was just a huge fuckup on the part of the concert organizers and the police, they did not anticipate the number of cars.  We'd been to sold out concerts at this venue before and they always managed to squeeze us into the existing lots, but this time they could/did not.  The time we spent waiting was apparently spent turning around the cars that were waiting for the regular lot and finding another place to put them.  Then they finally let us into that lot, 0.8 adventurous miles from the venue (not handicap-accessible to say the least).  And of top of everything, the heavens had opened and we were treated to a steady, pouring rain.

Oh well, as before that's enough bitching about the audience experience.  We got out our chairs and hung out in the rain while others tried to barbecue, play cornhole, and do the usual things you see in a Grateful Dead crowd.  But this fuckup will make me think twice before ever going to the Xfinity Theatre again.  They really did not do right by their audience.

Finally it was time to follow the crowd into the venue, a long walk.  The entrance was crowded with high people trying to stay out of the rain, but we got in and got to our seats, and they were very good!  We were under the overhang so no problem with the rain (which soon stopped, fortunately).  And again, the sight lines were great and the sound was even better, significantly better than it had been in Mansfield to my ear.  The screens were not working and this must have been a pain for people on the lawn, though it was ok for us since we could see the stage well.

The start was delayed while the huge crush of people finally filled the place.  The Xfinity Theatre holds 30,000 people, it's a very large amphitheater.  For comparison, the one in Mansfield holds 19,900.  Anyway, we were in, we were soggy, and it was time for the first set!

• Shakedown Street
• Samson and Delilah
• He's Gone
• Big Railroad Blues
• Lost Sailor
• Saint of Circumstance
• Franklin's Tower

This was more beautiful, well-arranged, excellence.  Shakedown was the perfect cure for the hassles of getting in and the ensemble singing on it was great, as inventive as anything we'd seen in Mansfield.  Samson was a given, as it was a Sunday.  But He's Gone was as majestic as Dew had been on Friday, and they followed it up with a rollicking Big RR Blues, again exploiting the blues edge they can get down so well.

Sailor/Saint has always been a mixed bag for me, I find a lot to criticize in Sailor but Saint can be fine, and this one was great too.  And then they ended the first set with a fantastic Franklin's, stretching it out to a long song on which everyone in the band had a chance to solo and shine.

My halftime experience is worth noting.  The concourses were jammed with people and so I went up to the lawn (not far from us) to hit the porta-potties up there and the beer stands.  This was a good decision, but the macadam walkway going up the lawn was barely visible through the people when I started, and after I got my beer it was not visible at all for the trek back down.  We've had a very rainy summer and the lawn section was a muddy horror-show.  But I'd been to Hartford before and was not thrown by this.  The only thing to do was to walk all the way around the lawn and then through the concourses back to our seats, which I finally accomplished.  In time for the second set!

• China Cat Sunflower
• I Know You Rider
• St. Stephen
• The Eleven
• Drums
• Space
• All Along the Watchtower
• Wharf Rat
• Playing In the Band

Again, this was an exquisite second set, satisfied us immensely, and was a great cap to their three-show New England loop.  They started off with China Cat and your first reaction was, "I've heard this before," but then you realized how excellent it was.  The wonderful sound in Hartford didn't hurt, and then they went into Rider.  I'm not kidding you, this was one of the best Rider's I've ever heard.  Bobby's playing was incredible and the sound was so well balanced.  I was trying to listen to Oteil, to Billy, to Bobby, and then John would crack off a run or Jeff would take it up to another level.

The Eleven is one of my favorite songs and St. Stephen is way up on my list too.  We'd speculated that *maybe* they'd play the pair, and then we heard a rumor that in sound check they'd done the William Tell Bridge, which holds the two together.  Well, it was as good as I could have imagined, what can I say?

Drums/Space and then Watchtower.  We knew we were winding down and this was a great, "Dylan," bookend to Masterpiece the other day.  And then they went into a wonderful, perfectly paced, perfectly sung Wharf Rat.  You can get into this song and totally lose track of time and space, listening to August West's song and then zooming out and thinking, "Yeah, but how threatened should this make me feel?"  Everyone in the crowd was entranced.

And then those notes rang out from Bobby's guitar and we knew that the world and we were one.  We had forgotten that we were due a Playing reprise and here it was, suddenly upon us.  No Donna (or John doing a Donna Scream), but again, the sound was great and the playing was spot on.  This is one of the most important songs ever and we were so glad that they did not abandon it, they book-ended our New England tour experience with it.

Short encore break again, and then they delighted us some more with Werewolves of London.  In other situations I've seen this song (written by Warren Zevon) as an outlier, but in this case it fit in perfectly.  People were laughing and singing along and dancing and we were not the least of them.

Amazing, amazing show and we had just experienced an amazing three-show window into their tour!  It was a long walk back to the car and a long wait until we finally could get out of the parking lot (which we filled with lawn chairs, beers, and sandwiches).  We got out of there but the line of cars from the closer lots was still creeping along.  Got back home after a not bad drive on 84 and 90 (and dropping off Dave), and I took some time to wind down and got to bed by 3:30.  Long day.

So was it worth it?  You betcha, the traffic sucked all weekend but the shows were the best.  Will I do it again?  Yes, but with a grain of salt.  We were so psyched this time after the last year and a half of Covid.  But I hope that for the next tour in New England they play closer venues with better parking experiences, like Fenway or Gillette (or Gilford NH??).  Of course, I'd love to see them in a theater like the Boston Music Hall (now known as the Wang Center).  But whatever, I'll be there!

Dead & Company Back In Mansfield, 2021 ... part 2

Thursday's concert was available quickly, and we listened to it Friday morning and early afternoon before we left.  In review, it was as excellent as we had thought, but it left a few open questions.  Would they do the Jam > Jack Straw we thought they were overdue for?  Would they reprise PITB after leaving Dave hanging time and again?  And would they finish Dark Star with the second verse or would they figure one was enough?  Would they play the Morning Dew and TOO we anticipated?   And would they "treat" Dave and me to Sugaree and Black Peter, which respectively are our bête noires for reasons too painful to get into?

Time to get on the road and go see, but the traffic did not cooperate.  128 South of the Pike was excruciatingly slow, and 95 was as well.  We finally made it to the shopping center in Mansfield to meet L, and she'd been delayed also so we didn't have to wait that long.  A bit of serendipity was that we discovered I'd left Sarah's tequila behind, but we were at a TGI Friday's and the bartender pulled into the parking lot for work, spied us, and talked some Dead and then told us that he could make margaritas to go!  Sarah and L took advantage of this, for sure.

Got in line for the venue and it took even longer than it had the day before.  By the time we got there we felt like we'd been in traffic all day, and we were almost through listening to the tape of Thursday's concert a second time!

Oh well, beers and sandwiches and then again, no line to get in.  This time we knew where the water bottle filling station was and what stands had the best beer.  Dave was tempted by the t-shirts on sale but didn't get one, though L got the excellent Mansfield poster.  This was a beautiful, breezy, late summer day.  Time for set one:

• Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo
• Cold Rain and Snow
• New Minglewood Blues
• When I Paint My Masterpiece
• Dire Wolf
• Jack Straw
• Sugaree

This was delightful!  You can never complain about an opening Half-Step, and CR&S is one of my all-time favorite songs, which they played with the dark, bluesy seriousness you want.  Minglewood is always a treat, and Masterpiece was also done with gravitas, Bobby's singing was great.

A jaunty Dire Wolf, and then finally they started into the jam into Jack Straw that I'd been hoping for.  And of course, what was the set closer?  Both Dave and I went for a bathroom break during Sugaree (though the tape reveals it was a fantastic version, with John and Jeff going nuts).  And it's a good thing too!  The crowds were twice as bad as they had been the day before and this wasn't even set break.  People were sprawled all over the venue, then suddenly lurching in one direction, taking a few dance steps, and then lurching the other way.  It was a Friday and everyone was very high.

Back to the seats for some peace and quiet finally, and soon after that it was time for the second set:

• New Speedway Boogie
• Bertha
• Truckin'
• Dark Star
• Terrapin Station
• Drums
• Space
• The Other One
• Morning Dew

OMG!  After this second set I was saying that we'd remember this concert for a long time.  They opened with perhaps the best Speedway I'd ever heard, balanced perfectly between its darkness and depression and the incredible beat and groove.  Bertha was a pleasant surprise and Truckin' was done well.

And then they reprised Dark Star.  The jam started off well-disguised, but soon there was no question what it was.  And this was a fitting reprise to the amazing performance of the day before.  Again, they jammed forever and then finally came back into the Solar System and found themselves at the second verse.  Someone should take these two halves of Dark Star and put them together (over 30 minutes between them), and then loop them over and over.

We'd all predicted Terrapin and this was a fine one, perhaps a little short, so they could get back on schedule.  Drums and Space were also a bit short, but that was because they had to leave room for another of their masterpieces, TOO with a ripping, booming performance from Oteil!  This could also have been predicted based on the frequency of what songs they'd played when on the tour, but again, though the setlists were not unusual, there was still inventiveness in what was introduced how and all of the playing was top notch.

And speaking of top notch playing, it was now time for the majestic, apocalyptic, searing Morning Dew of death.  What a set this was!

OK, the band barely left the stage again and then came back for a sing-songy  encore of U.S. Blues.  My feet were not touching the ground as we left, this had been a fantastic experience.  We ran into our friends P&D on the way out and they were just as unattached from Massachusetts as we were.

Jeez, that had been fun.  We got out the lawn chairs again when we got back to the car and had a few beers and sandwiches.  Then we were able to get out of there through the same back exit and looped back up to return  L  to her car, then up to Quincy to drop off Dave.  Back home soon and time for sleep!

Dead & Company Back In Mansfield, 2021 ... part 1

 Back when life was a bit less inexplicable, Dead & Company had scheduled a stop in Fenway Park on their 2020 tour.  We all know how that turned out: the world stopped in the Covid-19 pandemic and the concert was cancelled.  With DeadCo, as with any band, there's always the possibility that they'll call it a day at any point and dis-band.  John Mayer had put out a solo album in the meantime, and we wouldn't have been surprised if he continued his solo career, and Bob Weir pursued his jazzier stuff.  An ending to this band would have been another cruel twist, and so we were very excited when instead they announced an *extensive* Summer and Fall tour for 2021, and that it would include two dates at the Xfinity Center in Mansfield MA, and one at the Xfinity Theatre in Hartford.  And we realized we'd be retired at the time, so there was no worry about making it to work the next day!

Well, apparently a lot of people were also very psyched for the concerts and the ticket rush was fierce, but we were able to get decent seats for all three of them with much clicking and recalculating, and waiting for spinny wheels.  We also got parking tickets for Mansfield.

We'd been to the GRF the weekend before, and had tickets to the Willie Nelson show the next week, so this would be a great peak in a late-summer of music.  Unfortunately, Covid-19 has stuck around, people have not been getting vaccinated, and variants of the virus are prowling around, even infecting vaccinated people.  They announced that all concert-goers would have to show proof of vaccination or a recent negative test, but this did not calm our fears totally, and we spent most of the concerts masked.  Some other people did too, but most of the attendees were unmasked and who knows if their "proof of vaccination" was real?

Oh well, on Thursday the 2nd of September we got ice, beer, orange juice, water, sandwiches, chips, gummies, chairs, and vaccination cards ready and hit the road for the South!  Picked up Dave in Quincy and then headed down to a shopping center in Mansfield to rendezvous with friend L.  We had had torrential rain from the latest tropical storm the night before, but the weather was great and the sky was maybe going to clear.

Then we got in the traffic jam.  Don't know if you've ever been to the Xfinity Center (previously called Great Woods and the Tweeter Center), but they don't know how to let cars into their lots quickly and pre-concerts become a clusterfuck of cars backed up on 495, on 140, and all local roads.  Whatever, we got in to the Red Lot after spending 30-45 minutes creeping along at slower than a walking pace.  The Tour advertised that they were carbon-neutral, but they must not have been counting all the cars sitting in traffic.

But plenty of time for some beers and sandwiches and then there was no line to get in!  We showed pictures of our vaccination cards, got right through the metal detectors, and then each called up his/her ticket on his/her phone to get scanned.  It would be even easier if they had paper tickets, but no one misses a chance to say, "You have to install our app," these days.

OK, time to stop bitching about the audience experience and to start gushing.  Our seats were pretty far away but the sightlines were great and we could see everything happening on stage, though we sometimes had to look at the big screens for detail.  This was essentially the start of the middle third of the tour, after a break of about a week.  They have a 31-date tour scheduled which started in North Carolina on August 23rd and after another break later this month, will continue on the West coast until Halloween!  The shows so far had been excellent and this one was excellent too:

First Set

• Playing In the Band
• The Wheel
• Iko Iko
• It Hurts Me Too
• Ramble On Rose
• Brown-Eyed Women
• Let It Grow

The opening jam threatened to lurch into The Wheel but instead resolved in PITB, and we were already impressed.  Though they stick to a repetitive repertoire, they mix this up well and still manage to show inventiveness as well as incredible talent.  For me, It Hurts Me Too and Ramble On Rose featured incredibly infective blues playing from the whole ensemble.  Brown-Eyed Women is always great as well, though their long jam on Let It Grow left a little to be desired.

Mobs of people at halftime, but everyone was mellow and eager for the second set.  Bathroom and beer and then I was back in my seat in plenty of time for:

Second Set

• Deal
• Dark Star
• El Paso
• Uncle John's Band
• Drums
• Space
• Casey Jones
• Stella Blue
• Sugar Magnolia

Deal was a bit of a surprise to open the second set, but thankfully this didn't go into Estimated or Sugaree (though Eyes would have been fine).  But when they finished Deal (which was excellent itself), they started into a jam of death that eventually became Dark Star but still was way out in space, parsecs from the lyrics.  How fine is it to hear a Dead band spin out the Dark Star net and catch our minds and souls in it, and then go on and on for 15+ minutes?  Well, we enjoyed it.  They finally did get to the first verse, but after that jammed some more and suddenly found themselves in a soulful El Paso.

Time to bring it back to a beautiful, dainty, UJB.  And after Drums/Space they lit into a riotous Casey Jones!  Again, though the setlist was not daring, the playing was amazingly excellent (especially for a band that must have had very little time to practice during the pandemic), and the range of emotion in the songs was incredible.  And speaking of emotion, Bobby then sang one of the best Stella Blues I've ever heard, one of the Dead's most heartfelt songs.

The closing Sugar Magnolia was a little perfunctory after that, and the encore break was very short (they didn't really leave the stage).  And they got out the acoustics for a lovely Ripple.  Time for curfew in Mansfield!

Whoah, that was good!  There were a few down spots as always in a Dead concert, but the musicianship was incredible and they wound up those songs like a Swiss watch.

Back to the parking lot and set up the chairs again while the exiting traffic clusterfuck slowly died down, and then we were out of there.  Not really any trouble leaving the lot by the back exit, turning back up to where L had left her car, and then cruising up 95 and 128 back home.  Same tomorrow!

Green River Festival 2021, Sunday

Well it was time for Sunday at the GRF, and it was probably about time for a more mellow day.  I'd seen 10 bands Friday and 15 on Saturday, so perhaps this was the day to just stay at our seats at the main stage and let the music come to me instead of me going to it.  Maybe.

Sarah got me up at 8:00 rather than at 7:00, but we got our stuff together in record time and were out of there by 9:20 or so.  We were checking out that morning, and so the car was packed with all kinds of disorganized stuff (including the table, which had been excellent), but we had it together.

Got to the parking lot and in line by about 15 minutes before they opened the gates, which was pretty impressive.  We were farther back in the FF line, with about 50 people in front of us, but when we got in we hustled to the sound tent and got our best seats of the weekend, go figure!

We had run into our old friend, EJ, at the GRF a few years before and had been trying to get together at the Festival ever since.  He's a long-time Western MA resident at this point and had been to many Festivals, including being a vendor at them back before we started going.  He'd been at Friday's and Saturday's shows but we hadn't been able to get together.  It's strange that sometimes you run into the same people over and over at these things and sometimes you just never meet up with your friends.

This morning was different (we hoped) and he showed up early himself.  Again, we almost missed each other as we were not at our seats when he first showed up there, but we got it together soon after that and had a great visit.  The music hadn't started yet and we were talking a while in our seats, and then slowly walked over to the Dean's Beans coffee truck and got some caffeine and a picnic table.  I got a plate of beans, rice, and guacamole at La Veracruzana, Sarah got some dumplings, and EJ got some bananas Foster bread and we talked and talked right through the first musical acts.  What a treat it was to see EJ again and what a great setting for it!

OK, time to screw around and see different stuff.  We missed most of Rachel Baiman, Soul Magnets, and Ali McGuirk but for a good reason!

Rachel Baiman at the main stage - She was there and singing, but we were talking with EJ and walking over to get coffee.  So Sarah says we should count her as "seen," even though it wasn't for long.

Bonny Light Horseman at the main stage - This was my "most anticipated" band of the weekend.  They're an all-star band of Anaïs Mitchell, Josh Kaufman, and Eric D. Johnson, each playing guitars and singing, and they do original English folk.  Are you blown away yet?  Well maybe not (most of the people I tried to build them up for were not), but they did not let me down.  What is original English folk you ask?  That's a valid question.  Just listen to these guys and open your ears to them, they are amazing.  I first saw Mitchell at the Boston Folk Festival maybe 15 years ago, and Kaufman (who played an incredible resonator guitar for most songs) has played with Bob Weir and many other bands.  They were one of the bands of the weekend for me and I stayed for their whole set.

Beau Sasser Trio at the medium stage - But then I toddled over to the other stage, meeting Tristan, DaveL, and Jack on the way, and settled in at the front of the stage with DaveB and Scott for some loud, rocking funk.  They were led (driven?) by an incredible organ sound, had a great drummer who rocked our souls, and had a great guitarist who played a peach Strat like a wild man.  They were incredible and I would have stayed for the whole set but I had to go see...

Ani DiFranco at the main stage - Ani was way up on my list of, "I can't believe I've never seen her/him!"  She has been around for a while and plays the kind of unique, multi-faceted folk I love.  She had two accompanists but who cares, she was dominating the stage.  She never plays two songs in a row in the same tuning, and everything she plays starts off edgy but then gets into a wild groove that takes on a life of its own.  I was so glad I saw her, and I enjoyed her act immensely.

Sierra Ferrell at the medium stage - Another OMG!  I had listened to a few of her YouTubes but didn't know what to make of her.  When I saw her live with a fiddler and a mandolinist I was blown away.  She played original songs in a traditional country and bluegrass style, in a way that took you back to a front porch in Appalachia, though you had no idea if it was a hundred years ago or a hundred years in the future.  Again, no others in our group saw her (as far as I know), but she and her small trio were one of the highlights of the weekend.

Watchhouse at the main stage - This is the duo formerly known as Mandolin Orange, who has done some great stuff over the years.  They've been at GRF before (several times?) but I had never sat down to watch them, and they surprised me by playing with a full band.  This was another excellent act, though they might have been even better in a more intimate setting.

Son Little at the medium stage - An R&B guitarist with a small band who didn't really shine for me.  He was trying to project a mellow groove and it didn't work quite as well as it might have earlier in the day.

Drive-By Truckers at the main stage - I was so psyched to see these guys, but you know how it is on Sunday at the GRF.  Sometimes you're exhausted and it's just time to leave.  We stuck around for a few tunes and their sound was great, but the scene was chaotic with everybody packing up (or trying to) and saying goodbyes to their friends so it was hard to listen to the band.

So we packed up and left too.  Soon got out to the car and took off, back on the highway pointed East this time.  What a great experience!

• The sound was as good as ever.  A lot of bleed from one stage to another but I'm sure they (Kodiak Sound??) could address this with experience in that venue.  Some feedback problems but again, it was a new venue.
• The instrument of the weekend was ... the saxophone of course!  If you lined up all the saxophones we saw they would stretch to Shelburne Falls.  Well, maybe you'd have to include the trombones too.
• Great seeing our friends and hanging out at the concert and at the hotel.  We're blessed!
• Great beer from Berkshire Brewing Company and I thank Gary for getting me a free one.
• Saw 8 acts on Sunday so that brings my total to 32 different bands.  My head is spinning.
• Many kudos to the GRF production people, volunteers, and staff for moving the Festival to a different place, dealing with an apocalyptic thunderstorm, and pulling everything off so well, what pros!
• I hope they have a better lineup next year, but I'm going to be there no matter what.

Great drive back and the kitties (who had been catered to by Uncle Andrew), recovered fine from us being away.  Nice to sleep in my own bed again, but the GRF experience is not to be missed.

Green River Festival 2021, Saturday

I was sound asleep, but Sarah woke me up at 7:00 and I was soon getting ready for the day.  The schedule had been pushed forward again and the gates opened at 10:00 for a noon start.  We wanted to get there on time to get a good place at the main stage, which meant we had to hustle.

And it was Dave's 30th birthday!  Our messaging apps were full of birthday wishes for him, as were our Festival friends.  And in the course of the day I overheard 4 other people getting Happy Birthday's from their friends.  I guess August 28th is one of those days.

Showered, stretched, and ate a bit of breakfast (not necessarily in that order).  We had brought eggs, peanut butter sandwiches, and iced tea and coffee, and this was at least as good as the average American hotel breakfast.  We were packed for the day and in the car by a little before 9:00 and beelined for the Fairgrounds, parking a bit back from where we'd been on Friday, behind 20 or 25 other cars.  But we got a good spot in line, many of the people there early weren't Festival Faithful and had their own line, which was coming in after us.  Soon both lines stretched down the street farther than we could see.

The weather was delightfully overcast and late-summer temperature, as opposed to the heat spell we'd been having.  And they let us in right at 10.  The FF line did not have a "no bags" option, but a volunteer soon waved a few of us who didn't have bags out of line and told us to go right through another entrance.  But the people at the gate didn't know he'd done this and weren't going to let us in when we got there!  The guy next to me objected in a slightly strident voice, and one of the officials at the gate exploded at him, yelling right in his face to not raise his voice at him unless he wanted a really bad day.  Whoah, chill guy!  They let us in but I and my neighbor's friends had to calm him down, not the most mellow start to your day.

Anyway, same as you might expect.  We got seats in front of the soundboard (not quite as good as Friday but fine), set up our chairs and got some more iced coffee, read magazines, and toured around the vendors.  I was afraid I might regret not having a sweatshirt, but the sun behind the clouds soon warmed everything up and there was a nice wind to keep us from getting too hot.

Another day of trying to see everything:

Liam Hurley at the small stage - Though music didn't officially start until noon, a couple of artists were doing small "family" shows for the campers.  I saw a couple of songs from Hurley and the best part was watching toddlers dance and hearing him sing the ABC's song backwards!

Zara Bode at the small stage - Zara from the Sweetback Sisters did a family show next and on my touring around I managed to catch a bit of her act too.  She was aimed at the slightly older kids and tried to get a sing-along going with some songs that everyone knows but that I can't name.

Kimaya Diggs at the medium stage - She was the first on at just a few minutes after noon and she was a wonderful way to start the day.  Kimaya says she's a mix of Joni Mitchell and Ella Fitzgerald, but to my ear it was pure enlightening soul music.  She has an amazing voice and could fill a concert hall with her dulcet tones.  And she was wearing a nice home-sewn dress, perhaps from her mother, whom she eulogized.

Bella White at the main stage - Bella was first up at the main stage with a wonderful small country/bluegrass combo.  I stayed until the end of her set and was charmed, great originals that were old-timey at the same time.

Appalachian Still at the medium stage - Now you're talking!  This is a four-piece electric rockabilly band made up of people who aren't really professional musicians but who really like music (some of them are permanent staff at the Festival).  They opened with The Race Is On (which of course, is a Grateful Dead song) and did a number of great covers and originals, including the Band's Get Up Jake.  This was the good stuff.

Kris Delmhorst at the small stage - Kris is one of my all-time favorite folk musicians and has not slowed down at all over the past few years, writing and singing some of her best material.  She was accompanied by her husband Jeffrey Foucault and a stand-up bass player who could make the bass sound like he was bowing it when he was actually plucking it.  Kris was being drowned out by the main stage when she talked, but when she sang her voice resonated like an angel's.

Ghost Of Paul Revere at the main stage - Though they were being a little rude (unknowingly) to Kris at the small stage, I next had to go back to the main stage to see this trio, who do some great loud, funky, and rambunctious music.  I was fading by this point, as I knew I'd be by mid-afternoon, so it was time to head for the car and try to sneak in a nap in the shade.

Zara Bode's Little Big Band at the small stage - But on the way out I had to stop by the small stage again and see Zara's official band, who were all dressed up in matching suits and straw hats (except for Zara, who wore a gown).  They were fun but were bothered by sound from the other two stages.

OK, time to go out to the car and try to not wake up the people in the next car over who were doing exactly what I wanted to do: take a nap in the shade and the gentle breeze.  I got a good one in, had a beer from the cooler in the back to help me wake up, and then was back in the fray.

But, in the meantime other people had arrived.  Our friend Dreamflower had never been to the GRF before but showed up this year and was enjoying it immensely.  And Dave's friends Leen, Drew, and Cathy had decided to give him a birthday surprise and had secretly bought Saturday tickets and showed up suddenly.  He was not just surprised, he was discombobulated!

And, I thought others had missed out by not seeing Soggy Po' Boys, but I was the one who'd missed out.  While I was asleep the Underground System had played at the medium stage and were one of the best bands of the weekend according to everyone I talked to.  Oh well, you can't see everything.

So here's what I saw in the second half.

Whiskey Treaty Roadshow at the medium stage - This is another band of talented players who all sing, and they play every style around.  They can only be called Americana because they bring such an assortment of influences to the stage.  I stuck around for most of their set.

Jeffrey Foucault at the small stage - Accompanying him were his wife, Kris Delmhorst, and a bass player who could make the bass sound like ... wait a minute!  Hadn't I seen this band before?  Oh yeah, it was exactly the same band as "Kris Delmhorst" but they were doing Jeffrey's songs instead of Kris's and the two had switched places.  Almost as excellent though.

JD McPherson at the main stage - Here's another guy who played the good stuff and had the crowd dancing and dancing.  He's been around for a while now and is a multiple GRF performer.  But this time was the best I've seen him, mostly because his sound was pared down to just his great guitar (and voice), bass, keys, and drums.  He did some of his older songs like Dimes For Nickels and North Side Gal and was rocking!

Rebirth Brass Band at the medium stage - These guys had just led the kids' parade and when they took the stage they were hot.  What a great classic brass sound, spread across the front of the stage and with a honking tuba (the only one of the weekend!), a guy with a snare around his neck, and a guy with a bass drum and a huge cymbal standing across the back.

Valerie June at the main stage - A critic has called her "cosmic country" and I'd have to agree, though she was nothing like Gram Parsons.  She just holds down the stage herself with a guitar, and she played everything from Hank Williams to rap but in a style that was distinctly her own.  I was riveted, what an original musician!

Vapors Of Morphine at the medium stage - These three guys are a spinoff from the band Morphine, and we'd been told by our friend Scott that we'd better not miss them.  And he was right!  They consisted of a conventional drum kit, a guy playing the biggest baritone sax I'd ever seen through a MIDI (so he could make his sax sound like a banjo), and a guy playing the weirdest assortment of guitar-like instruments that exists, including a six-string electric bouzouki with the lowest two strings tuned deeper than any bass.  This band hollowed out your brain painlessly and replaced it with something else.

Jon Batiste at the main stage - I can't say enough good things about Jon Batiste.  It had been a long day and we were exhausted and another loud popular band was coming on and this might have been the time we snuck out of there and went back to the hotel to wind down.  But I'd seen Jon on video and was captivated by him and I think everybody else who saw his act live was captivated too.  He played grand piano (excellently), guitar (poorly), saxophone (meh), and melodica (pretty well, but who can tell with a melodica?) and sang, rapped, and danced.  And he was fantastic, what an entertainer and a band leader!  He was so in synch with his three backup singers and it's a cliché but he had the whole crowd in the palm of his hand, waving their arms, dancing, responding to his calls, and grooving on the great sounds he made.  Dave and his friends were all at our seats for this, and we stayed until the very end, how could you walk away from that guy?  And I've heard that he's just as good a person as he is a musician, incredible fun!

OK, Saturday at the GRF was over and we picked up our stuff and screwed out of there as fast as we could, expecting a traffic clusterfuck *this* time since we were leaving with everyone else.  But again, this place was laid out so well there was no problem.  The parking had a well-placed exit and the line of traffic was moving well, out through the neighborhood and back to the highway, where we climbed West on route 2 into the late summer sky.

Back at the Rose and again we gathered our stuff and went out to the picnic table for some late night revelry, even though it was already pretty late and we were exhausted.  We all gushed about the great bands we'd seen that day but pretty soon had to get to bed ... probably around 12:30 when we went to sleep with the air conditioner off and the windows open to the starry Western Massachusetts night.

Green River Festival 2021, Friday

When the world was stopping last Spring, the Green River Festival did the right thing (as did other music venues) of postponing the Festival.  This was a big disappointment, but in respect to all the other sudden changes due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it was but a drop in the bucket.  We opted not to ask for a refund for our tickets, in hopes of supporting the Festival and helping it last out a year off.

They did last, and announced this Spring that they would be holding the 2021 Festival, but a month later in August, and at the Franklin County Fairgrounds (on the National Register Of Historic Places!) instead of the long-term site at the Greenfield Community College.  Over the last few months the pandemic has re-surged, but they opted to go ahead with the Festival.  They announced that they'd be requiring masks in lines, in restrooms and porta-potties, and in crowded situations, but many people did not wear masks at all.

So we were, again, more than psyched for the concert and a return to normalcy, but a little nervous about disease transmittal with so many people.  We and our GRF friends booked rooms at our customary spot, the Red Rose Motel in Shelburne Falls.  We slowly got together everything we'd need for the weekend, including a small table for the bathroom.  The forecast was for another day of extreme heat on Friday but then overcast and much cooler with a small possibility of showers for the rest of the weekend.  Can't ask for better than that!

Dave came over Thursday night and we got on the road by a little after 9 on Friday, August 27 for a mellow drive out West.  We swung by the Fairgrounds to check out where the parking and entrance line would be in case it helped us strategize.  We also stopped for lunch at a nice overlook of the Deerfield River.  Next was the Red Rose, and Rihanna checked us in early with commensurate merriment.  We unloaded all our stuff in no time flat, I took a dip in the pool, and then we packed up for the Festival.  The gates would opening at 2:00 for a 4:00 music start, an hour earlier than the traditional time.

Drove back to Greenfield, got into the parking lot behind a dozen other cars, and then got in the "Festival Faithful" line behind a couple of dozen other people.  Those of us who kept our 2020 tickets were the Festival Faithful, and we were allowed in first when the gates opened and got a 20% discount on Festival gear.

Not too long a wait and we were in.  Surprised to see other people in already and realized that the people camping on the grounds were of course set up already, if they were that eager.  Whatever, we got more or less our preferred spot a couple of rows in front of the soundboard tent and dead center.  Now it was time to wander around and kill two hours, which we did while the Fairgrounds swelled with frantic and joyous people.

All of us agreed after evaluation, that we hoped the GRF will return to Greenfield Community College next year, but we all could cite things we really liked about the Fairgrounds site.  It was much more walk-able to get to the porta-potties, from one stage to the other, and out to the parking lot when we needed a break.  The food vendors were more spread out so they were there when you wanted them, instead of crowding them all in together.  And the other vendors were arranged in a crescent around the main stage so it was easier to browse them all while still listening to the music.

It was also charming!  They have a classic grandstand on the cinder horse-racing track, an interesting circular central building, and lots of barns to hold the produce and livestock exhibits.  Several were rows of stables, and some of the campers had set up in them, each having their own private cubicle!  They set up the intimate, small stage in one of the barns and it was an excellent space, much more airy than the tent they set up at Greenfield CC for the small stage.

But in all we decided it did not work quite as well for the size music festival they try to hold.  The sound from the main stage or the medium stage would bleed over badly to the others.  In some cases it was so bad at the small stage that you couldn't hear the performers introducing the songs.  And though it never seemed very crowded, it didn't have the wide-open spaces that they have at the CC.  Some people tried to play frisbee or soccer but there wasn't enough room.  And for the people who need shade (who doesn't from time to time?) there were many fewer options, basically the shadows cast by barns which often were far from the stages.

Anywhere, where was I?  Oh yeah, in front of the main stage full of excitement, waiting for the music to start.  It was goddam sunny and hot and I had slathered up with sunscreen (Dave didn't and paid the price).  I asked one of the volunteers if he could arrange it to bring those clouds over there, over here so they'd block the sun.  He said, "I could do that but then we'd have a thunderstorm."  And he was right!

I was in the beer tent at the main stage and the clouds had gotten very close and then big raindrops started slowly spotting the dust.  Then there was a thunderclap and a flash of lightning.  I hustled down to our seats at the main stage and Sarah and Dave were gone as well as the stuff we wanted to keep dry.  I was about to text them to ask where they were and then I realized that they'd probably texted me!  And then the heavens opened.  They *had* texted me and were over in the grandstand keeping dry.  I hustled over there but the rain was coming down hard and I was drenched already.  I had to cover my beer with a CD I'd just bought to keep it from being polluted!

We sat in the grandstand while there was a Biblical downpour for 20 minutes or so, just an incredible hard, thick rain with whipping wind, which eventually stopped as the sun came out and the clouds moved away to the East.  Some people had tried to stick it out at the main stage with umbrellas, but they were eventually convinced to leave by the staff, as were all the vendors in the lightning-vulnerable tents.

The destruction was amazing.  Most people were soaked and most of the poor vendors' tents had blown over, dumping all the clothes or jewelry or carvings they were trying to sell into mud puddles.  Probably a few months worth of profits gone in a few minutes.  The cinder track was amazingly dry, great drainage there, but there were rivers of mud on either side.  The sun came out again and the Festival tried to get back to normal, but the storm slowed everything down by a half hour or so.  On the main stage they actually had to squeegee the water off the stage and do sound check all over again.

Oh well, that was unexpected!  Our friends P&D showed up and squeezed in, and soon the first act started.  The lineup was definitely not as good as most other years we've been at the GRF, but I wasn't complaining after being shut inside for 18 months, and it was as enjoyable as ever.  I made up my mind to see as many of the acts as I could, especially when it was so walk-able.  Here's what I saw:

Sammy Rae & The Friends at the main stage (the Greenfield Savings Bank stage) - This was a great start!  Sammy Rae is a dynamic singer and bandleader who reminded me of an R&B Brandi Carlile.  She was all over the stage egging on her big band, which featured two great backup singers, two trombones, a trumpet, and a pair of saxophonists (baritone and tenor) who just made a rocking sound together.

Misty Blues at the small stage (the Artifact Cider stage) - This was next in a long weekend of musical treats.  Misty Blues plays original, contemporary blues, and their singer and leader Gina Coleman has a unique voice.  Her register is very low and this works great with the keys and brass-driven sound.  This was the first time in the weekend that I thought, "I could sit right here and see this whole set and then go home and be satisfied."

Combo Lulo at the medium stage (the Dean's Beans stage) - These guys were fantastic!  They had a great horns/woodwinds section as well (that made 5 saxes in three bands).  And they bounced around between all kinds of reggae and cumbia sounds so fast you wanted to fasten your seatbelt.

Twisted Pine at the main stage - But soon back to the main stage to see the latest incarnation of Twisted Pine.  I've seen this band many times and they've never had the same lineup twice, though they've always been excellent.  The only holdovers from the original band are Dan Bui on excellent mandolin and Kathleen Parks on fiddle and vocals.  The highlights of their set were their excellent covers of Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds, and Dead Flowers as a tribute to Charley Watts (who died a few days ago), though they don't have a drummer.  They've always been so eclectic.

Soggy Po' Boys at the small stage - OMG!!!  I meant to just swing by this stage for a short time, but ended up sitting down up front and enjoying the heck out of them.  These guys play traditional blues but with lots of twists and turns.  They would start a song and then morph into a New Orleans band with their excellent section of clarinet, trumpet, and tenor sax, and then morph into somethings else.  They were led by Stu Dias on vocals and guitar, who was a force of nature.  At one point after he sang the most low-down blues you've ever heard, the clarinetist leaned over and gaped at him in astonishment.  Stu didn't see.  They were perhaps my favorite band of the Festival but no one else among our friends caught them.  They were fantastic!

The Big Takeover at the medium stage - This is another reggae/ska/pop band fronted by Jamaican NeeNee Rushie, who has quite the voice.  Another band, another saxophone!

Deer Tick at the main stage - This was one of the bands I was most looking forward to.  They've been around for a long time, but I'd never seen them.  They've got a solid guitar/bass/keys/drums rock sound and blew up the Festival, people were raving.

Pine Leaf Boys at the small stage - Just stopped by for a few tunes from these guys, who play traditional cajun.  They were drowned out by Deer Tick's finish, but managed to entertain a lot of people who loved their style.  I left during a traditional waltz and couples were dancing all around the barn and the stables.

Antibalas at the medium stage - I was beginning to reach the end of my rope by this point, but Antibalas was another excellent set of musicians.  They played infectious afrobeat music patterned after Fela Kuti, led by a strong singer, and of course they featured another saxophone and a brass section.

Shakey Graves at the main stage - The only reason I saw Graves was to go back to meet Sarah and Dave and leave.  There are a lot of people who like his music, but I'd seen at GRF a few years ago and he just doesn't do it for me ... a solo guitarist who plays incredibly loud with lots of reverb and dark songs.

Oh well, it was time for us to take off and we were anticipating a long wait to get out of the parking lot and on the road.  But this turned out not to be true at all, a quick exit and then a mellow trek through the residential neighborhood back to 2A and then to route 2 West.

Back at the Rose we settled down, washed off the sunscreen and the mud, and then grabbed a few beers and snacks and headed down to the picnic table.  Our friends soon arrived and joined us, having fun and talking into the night.  Tristan figured out how to turn on the lights so we could see each other.  And the atmosphere was deliciously temperate and silent.  A car would go by on route 2 every once in a while, but we could hear the night.  A train came by on the other side of the Deerfield River and long after the locomotive had gone around the next hill we could hear the boxcars, creaking by.

At midnight or so it was time for bed and we all fell asleep quickly after a long day!