Ollabelle Returns!

Ollabelle has embarked on a 20th reunion (of their first record) tour and stopped at the City Winery Boston this January 26th. We immediately got tickets of course, and drove into Boston on a cold Sunday, where we ate dinner at a noisy A&B Kitchen, while watching the end of the Commanders-Eagles playoff game, and then walked up the block to see them.

We've seen many great acts at City Winery in the few years it's been around, but this may have been the last!  They actually had a good sound system this time (they've added a couple of speakers), but in the past it's been underpowered.  But the site still has significant drawbacks, like the odd, long rectangle of a room, the crowded tables that force you to look sideways to see the stage, and the bad stage visibility.  But worst of all is that their menu sucks, you don't have room to eat on their small and crowded tables, they only have a few beers on the menu and are always out of them, and they've recently announced that they will require a minimum expenditure of $25 per person for upcoming shows!  This is ridiculous, if you don't want their overpriced food you will have to order several of their overpriced beers to get up to $25.  On this visit they were out of three of the five (canned) beers they have on the menu.

Anyway, Ollabelle came on not far past 7:30 and were great.  They were accompanied by Daniel Littleton on guitar (we'd seen him with Amy) and Duke Levine sat in for a few songs.  Left to right they lined up as Daniel, Byron Isaacs, Amy Helm, Fiona McBain, Duke Levine, Glenn Patcha, and Tony Leone on drums in the back.  They pretty much stuck to their repertoire from the past, though Fiona says they're working on some new material.  I hope they release a new record and keep touring, because I enjoyed this concert as much as I ever enjoyed them when they were a working band.

As great as all members of the band are, perhaps the best/most important player on the stage was Littleton, whose sonic tapestries and grungy leads are just fantastic.  Having a lead guitar allowed Fiona to concentrate more on her vocals and excellent rhythm (she switched between electric and a big acoustic guitar).  I remember when we saw them in Passim in 2011(!) that Glenn's keyboards were much more up front, and having the lead guitar also allowed him to concentrate more on color and fills.

They opened with Before This Time and got the older crowd riled up ... the room was only maybe a third full, which is criminal.  One of their strengths is their vocal arrangements, and though some of the songs below are associated with their lead vocalist, everybody chimed in, even Daniel.  The setlist may be posted at some point, but here's what I definitely remember:

Before This Time (all)

Get Back Temptation (all)

Soul Of a Man (Amy)

Elijah Rock (Fiona)

John the Revelator (all)

Be Your Woman (Amy)

Brotherly Love (Byron)

Ain't No More Cane (all)

See Line Woman (Amy)

Jesus On the Mainline (Glenn)

Northern Star (Fiona)

I Am Waiting (all)

No More My Lawd (Amy)

The Storms Are On the Ocean (Fiona)

Reach For Love (Tony)

Troubles Of This World (Amy)

Down By the Riverside (Glenn)

All of their songs were pretty short and they did a lot of them, but it was not a really long set.  They came back quickly after the standing ovation and played an encore of the song they're working up a new arrangement of for a memorial service for Garth Hudson, All Is Well, and then their wonderful cover of Brokedown Palace, rotating the verses between the band.

Just as cold when we got outside, but we had parked in a lot a few blocks away and then it was a quick ride over the almost completed Northern Avenue Bridge, through Charlestown, back to the highway and up to home.