We're sequestered up in Maine this end of Summer/beginning of Fall, and loving it. But the outside world has a way of creeping in, and one good way it did was that we realized that Oteil Burbridge with a "and friends" band was scheduled for the Waterville Opera House on October 1st. So we got GA Orchestra tickets and got ready.
Drove over there on a beautiful Wednesday after a stop at the Penobscot Narrows Bridge Observatory and a couple of errands in Searsport and Belfast. Checked into the room we'd decided to go for (it's a long drive back after a concert, and he went until almost midnight!) at the Holiday Inn in Waterville and after relaxing a bit, drove downtown where we got a great parking space on Main Street right across from the Opera House/City Hall/arts complex and moseyed over to the Proper Pig for dinner. They're a very brand-conscious and popular restaurant that we found ok, had to try it once. Then climbed up the stairs in the arts complex and were around numbers 25 and 26 in line, about 10 minutes before the doors opened.
Oteil had assembled a great band for a short East coast tour: Steve Kimock on guitar and son Johnny on drums, the estimable Melvin Seals on organ, Lamar Williams, Jr. on vocals, Tom Guarna on guitar, and Jason Crosby on piano. We were psyched and so was the Waterville crowd. When the doors opened there was a rush for standing room in the orchestra pit and for the first few rows. We grabbed seats exactly where we hoped (I think exactly where we'd been for Molly Tuttle last year), third row just to the right of the center aisle. And it's a good thing we strategically hung back a few rows. They're very liberal about "general admission" in the Opera House and not only let people crush into the pit, for this concert they let people fill the aisles and walkways, many of them dancing very vigorously. Sarah and I eventually traded seats because she was getting crowded by dancers in the aisle, but in all we were in a great spot, fantastic sound and we could see everything on stage, to say the least.
Here's the first set:
- Hillbillies on PCP (Steve Kimock, though I called it a Mystery Train jam)
- My Brothers and Sisters
- Way We Rise (I called it, It's Always Something)
- Sitting In Limbo
- Reuben and Cherise
- Mother's Song (Johnny Kimock)
- That's What Love Will Make You Do
Lamar Williams with his smooth baritone was the lead singer, but Oteil sang harmony and took a few leads. Seals sang That's What Love and brought the house down, great stuff. Besides that the highlights of the set were the vocals and funky bass on B&S, and group dynamics on R&C. They were a very tight band. We hadn't seen Guarna, and he was a fresh delight. He mostly stuck to guitar but did a couple of numbers on a five-string banjo that had a body kind of like a strat, I called it a banjocaster. He didn't seem overly familiar with some of the songs but seemed to realize, "wow, this is a great song, listen to my take on it." His leads on Limbo and R&C were fantastic.
At set break we realized what a long first set it had been, 1:45 or so. The intermission wasn't that long and they were soon back out. Steve Kimock is such an understated but excellent guitar player, I wondered again why he wasn't more prominent in post-Jerry bands. Oteil was very much the band leader and was taking everything entirely seriously, as opposed to his joker role with DeadCo. He wanted everything just exactly perfect and the rest of the band had a lot of waiting to do while he fussed with details of the setup. And I have to say, everything about the sound *was* perfect, though he perhaps didn't let it all hang out the way he can. First night of the tour, got to give him a break.
Here's the second set:
- Cats Under the Stars
- Love and War (Lamar Williams)
- untitled original (I called it Hush)
- Run For the Roses
- Turn On Your Lovelight
- Gambler's Conceit (Jason Crosby)
- Every Hungry Woman
- Standing On the Moon
- Ride Mighty High
They've recently recorded an album, and mixed in a number of originals that presumably are on it. The set started out at a very high level with a JGB song, and just kept getting better and better. I was ecstatic when they finally did an ABB song, and it was as tight and growly as the Brothers at their best. At one point Kimock walked over right in front of Guarna and tried to get a guitar duel going. Guarna looked at him like, "This is fun, tell me when it's my lead." Kimock looked back at him sternly like, "It's twin guitar time man, we're Duane and Dickey." Guarna looked at him like, "We're *what* and dickey??"
I was hoping for Stella Blue as a late-set ballad, but instead Oteil walked up to the mike and did Standing On the Moon, which Molly Tuttle had done for us last year. His bass playing all night really was incredible, leading the sound with an almost guitar-like tone at times. And then Ride Mighty High was a great ending sing-along, with the Waterville crowd going nuts and dancers in the aisles swinging elbows left and right.
That was the end of the setlist, and after fumbling with a few ideas for an encore, Oteil just mumbled into the mike, "That's the best we can do." And they all trickled off, Melvin Seals with a portable oxygen tank last. Disappointing that there was no encore, but we all had to agree that we'd just seen a great concert.
I checked the time as we left and it was 11:50, the car was right outside, and we were back in our hotel room by 12:00. Wish every post-concert trek was as short!
