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Big Sky Regional Report
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Edited by David
Shulman
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January 2001
Upcoming Regional Shows Mon. Jan. 15th Sunny Daze / Rob Garland & The Blue Monks Cicero's Supplied courtesy of: KDHX FM 88.1 St. Louis Community Radio Stumble In The Dark home office
12-31-00, NYE, Cicero's Hey all, had a great time @ Cicero's last
night!! A great time was had by all. The party started when the
doors were open @ 7 and didn't stop until 1 AM. I also got the chance
to meet a few more MO Heads that I hadn't met before, actually ended
up having 3 of us on the venue side taping the Schwag sets. I myself
ended up staying on the venue side most of the night, probably mostly
out of habit, but did jump over to the restaurant area to grab a
few shots with my camera and see what was happening. Not sure of
a head count, but the venue side was totally jam packed by the end
of the night. The Schwag put on a GREAT 3 set show, one acoustic
and 2 electric sets. I have all three and the sound so far is excellent.
I'm sure the setlists will be posted on the Schwag site before too
long. Hopefully someone on here caught most of the action in the
restaurant area and can give a review of their own. Dylan? Anyone?
James Mullins
Medeski, Martin & Wood -- 12.9.2000 @ The Pageant
When you see a security guy bouncing around playing air guitar,
its probably safe to say it was a good show. I know I enjoyed it.
Maybe it was just me but the sound seemed a lot better at the Pageant
Friday night than it did for moe.MMW had a guest guitar player sitting
in with them for most of the show. Did anyone catch his name? Someone
said it was Marc Ribot, which would make sense, but I don't think
that's correct. Can't seem to find a setlist online anywhere that
would confirm this.I can't tell you anything else that was played
since I've never taken the time to actually learn the names of their
songs (they do have names, right?). I do know they played Hendrix's
Third Stone >From The Sun during the first set and it sounded amazing.
Nooch
Derek Trucks Band, 12-6-00, Cicero's
The Derek show was awesome. He is a great guitarist and the progressive
jazz-blues setlist was a real treat.... covered Bill Wither's "Use
Me Up"... Lovelight closer... Back at the Chicken Shack opener...
and I think all originals besides that.... sound was very good....
guitar leads were clear and powerful.... new lead singer, Javier
Colon was excellent... I believe his voice and style fit the Derek
Trucks Band so much better than the previous guy (who left about
2 months ago).... Yonrico Scott on drums was energetic... Kofi Burbridge
on flute (Oteil's brother) and local Todd Smallie on bass rounded
out the band. The crowd was shoulder to shoulder (too many!?) but
very appreciative of the fine music as evidenced by Derek's smiles
and Yonrico's comment at the end of the show that this was the best
St. Louis crowd they had ever played in front of...
Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey/Ominous Seapods -- 12.4.2000 @ Cicero's
Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey opened (an hour late, might I add). A
quick note about JFJO, these guys are weird. When I came into the
venue, the keyboard player was banging on his keys... while the
thing was turned off. I'm pretty sure he was doing this on purpose.
Their bass player is amazing. His fingers dance across the fret
board and he gets the greatest tones out of that thing. It sounds
like a damn electric guitar. Anyway, JFJO isn't my bag, but I know
others enjoyed it, so I'm not gonna rain on that parade.The Seapods
hit the stage *very* late and only had time for a single set. It
should be noted that they said that this was the first time they
played a venue twice in a single tour. This strikes me a funny because
they haven't really had a good crowd at Cicero's since they did
the double-header with Day By The River almost 2 years ago. Anyway,
the band seemed really jazzed to play even though there wasn't really
anyone there (~30 people maybe?). The Seapods sound has changed
a bit since I last saw them a little over a year ago. There are
much more textural jams and less wanking. Also, Dana seems to be
stepping up a bit more as a guitar player, which is nice because
he had a totally different sound than Todd, the Seapods lead guitar.
Anyway, I had a good time... but man, I was so damn tired when the
show was over and I was just dreading going to work the next morning.
The show *has* to start earlier. Both Nooch and I showed up late
in an effort to miss the opening band and realized that JFJO hadn't
even gotten on stage yet. I have no setlist, but the single set
included $$ To Burn, Tortured Mind, Take Me To The River, Bong Hits
& Porn and Guide to Roadside Ecology.I was also thinking about how
about 3 years ago moe. and the Seapods were at about the same level
of popularity (maybe moe. was doing a *little* better) and they
were touring together. Now, moe. has jumped *way* ahead of these
guys. I can see why, but you gotta feel for the Seapods. These guys
are a good band -- I just hope they can at least fill up Cicero's
next time.brooks[Actually, I didn't. I got there early enough so
I could check them out, then ended up playing pinball for an hour.
When Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey finally did take the stage I thought
they were pretty damn good. Very MMWish. I'd go back to see them
again.OSP was damn good too. I always feel bad that nobody in St.
Louis comes out to see them but they still put on a hell of a show
for those of us willing to go out on a Monday night. The first jam
of the set was insane, and not a taper in site to capture it. Oh
well.] Nooch
Widespread Panic -- 12.1.2000 @ SIU Arena
For those that were there, know, this show was the HEAT. I got
there a little later then I would have liked, so I cannot comment
on the lot scene or the likes. I usually don't spend much time in
the lot anyway (glad I found those Redbird/Rebertha T's post show
though!), so this was no heart breaker for me. I walked up to the
door and found my place in line. As my ticket stub was being torn,
I heard Nance already banging on the drums, getting warmed up. Just
in time. I hustled to find a seat, I didn't have time to be picky,
but luckily the sound was nice no matter where you where. The Arena
was nothing special. On to the show...1: Let's Get Down To Business,
Tall Boy, Rock, Jack, Stop Breakin' Down Blues, Party At Your Mama's
House, Impossible, Genesis, Give LGDTB opener is a sure sign that
things are going to get nasty, was loving it. Tall Boy is one of
those "eh" songs for me. Though, I liked where this one was placed
in the set. Rock was great to hear again, I'm always happy to hear
this tune. Jack kind of surprised me, since they just busted it
out in Memphis. Again, no complaints, I like catchin' peanuts 'tween
my teeth. :-) The second time I've heard Stop Breakin' Down (first
in Memphis). This song is just awesome. I love the bluesy feel it
has to it and JB is really working it with that slide, this song
really lets him shine both vocally and on the geetar! PAYMH is always
great to hear and this one seemed a bit spacier then usual. IMPOSSIBLE!
Much better then the one we heard in Madison, DAS was thundering
through this one. Genesis. :-) JB flubbed the first few lines...but....Genesis.
:-) Give was a great closer for this smokin' set, this song is right
up there on my list of "Fav. New Tunes". Killer first set, IMO.2:
One Arm Steve, Walk On, Thought Sausage, Airplane > Low Spark Of
High Heeled Boys > Drums > Maggot Brain > Chilly Water, Papa's Home,
Ain't Life Grand E: Let's Get The Show On The Road, Climb To Safety
Sort of saw OAS coming, they seemed to nearly rush through it. They
were ready to get to the meat of the set. WALK ON!! Now that's what
I'm talkin' about! Thoussage was mean as usual, still curious as
to why JB as gone from saying Sauce ain't ready yet to Stuff ain't
ready yet. Personally, I'll take sauce over stuff any day, but it's
just one word. I love Airplane and the jam at the end was very nice,
though towards the very end I was thinking "this jam seems to be
falling apart". Little did I know, that the "falling apart" would
soon "fall" into LSOHHB. Jojo kicked into LSOHHB with the keys and
I nearly hit the ceiling. I've been waiting a long time to hear
them play this, and it had to have been the happiest WSP moment
I've ever had. This single song made the trip there and back through
snow and ice completely worth it (for me). LSOHHB was great, I forgot
to look at my watch, but I'm sure it pushed the 10 (maybe 15???)
minute mark. Beautiful. As they were coming out of drums, I thought
I heard DAS teasing LSOHHB again. Speaking of drums, for those that
were there, did Sunny seem a bit worn out to anyone else? I'm well
aware that time on the road is rough and I have no doubt in my mind
that he was exhausted, but there were moments during drums were
he just seemed to let the bottom fall completely out. I'm not sure
if I will ever look at drums the same way again after that electric
washboard in Memphis. I thought to myself, "If they bring it back
to LSOHHB out of drums, I'm going to mess all over myself." Luckily,
for the people around me, they didn't. Instead they brought the
SICK level up a few hundred notches with MAGGOT BRAIN. Once JB,
Jojo and Houser were back in their battle stations they just kicked
into a killer version of Maggot which slid right into Chilly Water.
Classic Panic. JB had the knees shakin' during Chilly, feelin' it.
Woah!!! They played straight through Chilly!! I like it better when
they play straight through instead of wrapping it around a song
(i.e. Jack in Memphis). Papa's coming home!!! Nice JBism "It'll
be like Christmas tomorrow, Papa's coming home!!!" In reference
to the fact that Carbondale was their last stop for Fall Tour 2000.
Again, they played straight through Papa's, nice. Ain't Life Grand.
JB picked up the mandolin for this one, but apparently there were
some technical difficulties, so we got the electric instead.They
could have just called it a night after ALG. I thought to myself
again, "This show will DEFINITELY hold me over until NYE." But,
what do they bust out for the first encore? Let's Get The Show On
The Road. Ahhhhh, JB just let his soul ooze out into the SIU Arena
one last time before shakin' us all loose with a fierce CTS.It was
just a good show all around. |
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