We began our once in a lifetime concert experience hopping into Ro and Scotties tour van. We parked close and hit up Rock Bottom Brewery for some pre-show provisions. It was a great dinner with friends and an excellent way to start the night. We went our separate ways at the entrance as we all had seats spread throughout the 2,634 seat Boettcher Concert Hall. The majority of the crowd opted to dress for the occasion. Wooks, hippies and fans that would normally wear tie-dye donned top hats and sports coats. It most definitely felt like an event as the crowd streamed in. The room was a 360-degree experience with the audience surrounding the 60 plus person orchestra. We were warned to restrain from photography, taking video, excessive cheering and to respect the hall prior to Trey coming to the front of the stage. Despite the warnings and the notice that they were recording the show the crowd couldn’t help themselves from whooping it up from time to time. The audience was like a shook up beer can ready to explode. Trey eased into the show with a smooth "First Tube."
SET I: First Tube, Water In The Sky, Divided Sky, Brian and Robert, Goodbye Head, Guyute, Let Me Lie, Stash
SET II: Time Turns Elastic, If I Could, You Enjoy Myself
ENCORE: Golden Slumbers> Carry That Weight> The End, The Inlaw Josie Wales
While Trey focused his setlist on his more orchestrated Phish songs, he did have a microphone and sang a number of songs throughout the evening. The first of which was a beautiful "Water In The Sky." Alternating between his acoustic and electric guitar many times within the same song, Trey was on point all night long. It was obvious that he was restraining himself at times from his solo driven shows with Phish. "The Divided Sky" was a high point in a night chocked full of them. Seeing some of my favorite songs performed with a massive orchestra was simply mesmerizing. I found my head bouncing around the stage, there was just so much to see that I was dizzy by the end of the first set. Trey took to the vocals for "Brian and Robert" and the TAB tune "Goodbye Head." The "Guyute" was simply incredible and taken to a place that I never would have expected to see live. The way that Trey wove his licks into the sound of the symphony was breathtaking. The "Let Me Lie" was a nice touch but the "Stash" was the excuse the crowd needed to explode. Disregarding the caution not to cheer the prerequisite claps made their way into the mix before it became a massive sing along on the, “Maybe So, Maybe Not” section.
During the short intermission the crowd rushed out to the smoking section and makeshift bars set up around the viewer. One bartender commented that they have never had a service like this, ever. After a short twenty-minute break everyone returned to their seats and promptly got TTE’d. This is by far the longest and the best "Time Turns Elastic," which really only seemed off during the vocal parts. It was great to see this song performed as it was truly intended and finally made sense. They moved the second set along with a short but magnificent "If I Could." The show seemed very string heavy with the woodwinds and brass section only chiming in occasionally. They got their chance to truly shine during "You Enjoy Myself." The "YEM" contained a fake out where Trey would usually say "boy," there was a long trombone hit. It was huge punctuation mark on a great night out. The encore consisted of a Beatles Mash Up before he closed with a moving "Inlaw Josie Wales." After the show we left quickly heading back to Fort Collins for Leftover Salmon.
Words by Greg Molitor ( ReMIND Photography ) Ozric Tentacles This British group has proven innovative throughout the years offering a space-rock meets psytrance sound that remains alive to this day. Though never having a major record label, Ozric Tentacles has produced 28 albums of diverse psychedelia throughout its career. The band met at the Stonehenge Free Festival in 1983 and truly fathered livetronica music with its use of sequencers and synthesizers. Simply put, there would be no livetronica without Ozric Tentacles. www.ozrics.com Octopus Nebula Colorado’s Octopus Nebula has certainly hit its stride as of late with its constant touring and increased festival interest. The group expands on the deep sounds of highly regarded acts such as STS9 and Shpongle but also carves a path of its own with its fresh takes on synthesizer tones and sampling in the live setting. Octopus Nebula Live at Cervantes' Masterpiece Ballroom on March 26, 2010. <--- Direct Archive Link www.octopus
Words & Photos By Nicholas Stock ( phatphlogblog.blogspot.com ) At what point does the gimmick overshadow the performance? The obvious answer is Buckethead. The man is an amazing guitarist but something is not right in this world. The idea a performer who dons a KFC chicken bucket on his head for a concert has always intrigued me, and some of his side projects such as Colonel Claypool’s Bernie Bucket of Brains have been huge successes. However his performance last weekend in Fort Collins simply left me perplexed. From his robotic dancing, to his nunchuck display, to the fact the he performed with an iPod rather than a band all added to my confusion. Going into the show I was ready to be blown away, despite rumblings of disgruntled fans from the previous night’s show at The Gothic. Buckethead had had some sound issues and some missed cues in Denver but I was still trying to be positive for the show in Fort Collins. It did go off without a hitch technically but that was the least
Salvage Station Asheville, NC Words by Jason Mebane Photos by J. Scott Shrader Photography When asked to write a review of last week's Billy Strings show at Asheville, North Carolina's Salvage Station I almost passed on it. I just wrote a review of his last Asheville show a few months ago and I thought it may be hard to come up with another set of words to describe to the readers exactly what a Billy Strings show is all about. I am sure there are a plethora of other reviews that other people have written focusing on how well he has mastered his instrument. I suppose I could recycle those thoughts and just sit here typing out a few adjectives describing each note Billy and his superb backing band played this past Thursday night, but that wouldn't be fun for me. Additionally I'd imagine a review like that wouldn't keep your attention either. Instead I have decided to focus on a few random parts of the Billy Strings show that seemed interesting to me. One: B
Cervantes Other Side Denver, CO Words & Photos by Pavel Gábor Kaplan Two weeks ago, Denver locals Shwarma graced the stage at Cervantes’ Other Side for the second time as headliners, with support from other Denver locals Cloud Catcher (stoner metal/power metal) and Kaepora (metal/funk/fusion). Coincidentally, both this year’s Summer Solstice and the Strawberry Full Moon transpired around Shwarma’s Album Release show, with the full moon falling on the night of the show. Certainly strong energy to power up the night of dancing and raging - from appropriately cosmic occurrences for a cosmically cool bill. It’s rare to have a full moon actually fall on the same day as a solstice. However, something not very rare is an unforgettable performance from Shwarma at Cervantes! I totally enjoyed photographing their Otherside shows last February when they opened for Lespecial to perform to a sold-out Ballroom-side, as well as their performance last Halloween at ‘Oogie Boogie’ alongside Dopapod,
Rancho Del Rio Bond, CO Words by J. Picard Photos by Scott Seifert Gratitude and appreciation have been the foundation of our time at Yarmony Music Festival (formerly, YarmonyGrass). Gratitude for the beauty of the space, Rancho Del Rio, and the mighty Colorado River that flows through it. Appreciation for the experiences, friendships and memories created. Over the span of the fourteen years that we've attended, we have seen firsthand a bonding of a core group of people who have become great friends, characters in each others' stories and in some cases, life partners. Following the incredible energy of the 2019 festival it was announced that Yarmony would be put to rest, to the dismay of many pirates. Though times got strange and folks were pushed apart, there was still a low, slow, pulse beating in the background. We did what we could to keep the spirit of the memory alive until one unsuspecting day, a long five years later, promoter Andrew McConathy announced that from its re
Awesome Article!
ReplyDeleteI love that trey does this. It is absolutely beautiful. Hope to see you at Summercamp!