Post by Ryan on Jan 3, 2007 0:12:46 GMT -5
A few nights ago, I went to see Yonder Mountain String Band at the Fillmore Auditorium in Denver. I was unsure that I would make it because it was still snowing most of the day on Friday. The snow finally let up, and I decided to try to make it to the show.
I was amazed at how many people made it there. The place was packed! I saw an interesting mix of people at this show. Lots of hippies and dreadies like a jamband show. But I also saw people in overalls and cowboy hats. I even saw one dude who had on a wide-brimmed hat, giant boots, and those old-school red pajamas with the flap on the rear-side. hahaha!
Keller Williams opened for YMSB, and it was the first time I had the chance to see/hear him live. His set was extremely interesting. He kind of blurred the lines between a live performance and a studio performance because he uses all sorts of looping and effects to play several different instruments at the same time. He is quite talented at layering his own music ontop of itself. He also reminded me of that dude from the Police Academy movies that was so good at making the different noises with his mouth. Keller’s voice-trumpet was quite impressive! Occasionally a member from YMSB would come out and jam with him for a song or two. One of those was a cover of Willie Nelson’s and Merle Haggard’s “Pancho & Lefty”. I love that song, and I was stoked to hear it. Keller also played a great medley of Tom Petty songs.
One thing that just plain kicked ass about this show was that there was no setbreak between Keller and YMSB. They walked out onstage and started jamming as Keller left. I am of the opinion that more concerts need to be like this. Of course, it helps when it’s bluegrass, and there’s no drum set to break down or set up.
Sonya knew that I wasn’t sure if I would make it to the show because of the snow and bad road conditions, so she wrote me and said:
Greg and I REALLY hope you make it to that show! Greg just said he hopes that you all get stuck at the venue together and they have to play for you all night...that would be f***in awesome. We hope you get there and back safely and have a great time! Let me know when you get back and how it all went. I'm sure it will be an adventure.
~S~
~S~
Well guess what Sonya and Greg? The mandolin player, Jeff Austin, told everyone at the show that he had a dream about that night’s show the previous night. Check out the audio clip (right-click-save-as):
greenmidget.net/Dream_12-29-2006.mp3
Another highlight of the show was when they played a cover of Pink Floyd’s “Goodbye Blue Sky”. I had no idea that a bluegrass version of Pink Floyd would sound so good, but it surprised me and it was a great rendition.
One thing that was kind of strange was that there was a super strong pizza smell wafting out from the concession stand. I even commented to my friend that this place smells like a huge pepperoni. Then after that song, Jeff Austin commented on how bad he wanted a pizza because of the pizza smell. Here’s another audio clip. In this clip they cover a “Sean Camp” song (I’m not sure of the name). But anyways, if you listen to the end of the mp3, Jeff comments on the pizza smell at the end of that song (right-click-save-as):
greenmidget.net/SeanCamp_song.mp3
This show was also cool because I met up with a friend from high school that I had not seen in a long time. He lives up in Anchorage now, so he doesn’t come down to Colorado as often these days. I ended up hanging out at the concert with him, and then we hung out for awhile after the show and partied with some of his friends! It’s always good to see an old friend like that!
YMSB allows recording so I took a MiniDisc recorder to the show, and got the Yonder Mtn sets (Unfortunately I didn’t have enough discs to get Keller’s set). But hopefully in the next week or so, I will have the whole YMSB show converted to CD.
All in all, it was a great evening! The fact that it was my birthday was the cherry on top.
P.S. I have one question for the Fillmore: Does a bluegrass concert really require fog machines? I know Yonder Mtn doesn’t haul those things around with them. . .