The Big Wu Heats Up a Cold Night

In the past year, I'd caught The Big Wu a few times, but always for just a song or two at festivals when there were other things going on. Because I had liked the little I'd heard, and because it was a slow night for music in Providence and Boston, I decided to make the trip to Northampton Massachusetts to the Iron Horse Tavern for a night with The Big Wu.

Right around 5:00, I ventured out into the cold late afternoon air, to begin my adventure with The Big Wu. The temperature was no more than 15 degrees, and it would be getting colder all night. After getting a cup of coffee to keep me warm in this frigid weather, I headed towards Northampton.

As I listened to some new Disco Biscuit CDs on the way there, I realized the show was from one year ago exactly, 1-22-99. And, it had occurred in Worcester, where I was about to drive through. I took that as a sign that tonight would be a good night for music.

Near the end of my drive, I switched over to the radio to catch a bit of the Knicks game, and I arrived in Northampton and parked my car by 7:00. I met my friend Shannon in front of the mall in town, and we had a great dinner at a Mexican restaurant a few doors down. After a very cold walk to a local bar, we stopped off for a few drinks. Finally, a little before ten, we proceeded to The Iron Horse Tavern.

I'd been to the Iron Horse this past fall, and loved it. The room is a nice size, 300 or so people with about a third of that capacity in an upstairs area which affords a great view of the room. The outside area of the downstairs was set up with tables (for more crowded shows they take those out), leaving plenty of dancing room in the large area in front of the band.

Shannon found a taper he could patch his DAT in off of, and we chatted with a few friends of his. Soon, the show began.

After an instrumental soundcheck/warmup (labeled "The Chicken" in the setlist on The Big Wu Web site, www.thebigwu.com), they paused for a minute before beginning an obvious crowd favorite, Kangaroo. This tune really got the crowd going, including experienced Wu fans and first timers like me, and featured the first of several nice vocal mini-jams of the night. (Some of these may have been more than a mini-jam, others may have been too short to really call a jam. But in general, one of the things that most impressed me about The Big Wu was the quality of their singing. All five members have nice voices, they harmonize well and really have fun with the vocals.)

Next was a nice rendition of Peter Rowan's Midnight Moonlight, popularized by The Jerry Garcia Band, then back to another fun original, Dancing with Lula. I have to assume that their next song, Allgood, is named after the commonly heard "Its All Good" phrase that is everywhere in jamband circles these days (as opposed to the phrase being rooted in this song). Either way, the song was pretty good, and contained another cool vocal segment as it came to a close.

Red Sky contained one of the more interesting jams of the night, and seemed to be another crowd favorite among people who obviously had seen this band a number of times. This was followed by another cover, Cat Stevens' Wild World, before they closed out the set with three last originals: a tribute to their home state in the song Minnesota Moon, and then Gimme a Raise and Angie O' Plasty.

Finally, The Big Wu sent us home with smiles on our faces after giving everyone in the bar one last chance to dance with their encore of Leonard Lee's Let the Good Times Roll. My main memories of this tune were of The Dead playing it as an opener to shows, when it generally felt like a warm-up tune. On this night, the Wu version worked perfectly as an encore.

Overall, I had a great time at this show. I liked the both the original tunes, and the selection of covers that were spread throughout the set. The music was fun and the crowd had a contagious energy. While the show didn't blow me away to the point that I decided to change any plans so I could catch another Wu show this time around (they played a few more shows in the general area over the next week or so), I am definitely psyched to see them again. And I wouldn't be surprise if they keep getting better, so that next time around I am blown away.