Monday, 19 April 2010
Wanee Festival Day Two
2:58 Having decided to give the chance of catching Dr John and The Word a go, Saturday night was a case of a little bit earlier to bed and see what time we rise and it worked.
Logged in to find a piano on stage, while the stage crew go about their business. Just in time, folks! Out to the kitchen, make a cup of coffee, check Madam's sleep situation and decide against waking Sleeping Beauty. Coffee in hand I'm back in the office, closing the door as I hear the Jockomo fee nah hey... lead in to
3:02 Iko Iko
Again, once I've gone to full screen mode I'm missing the handy clock, so no time references for the rest of the set.
St James Infirmary. What's with the shades? I know what's with the shades themselves, but it's the bit you'd think goes behind the ear going over the ear that's intriguing. Ah, there's a lead there. In-ear monitor? Figures. Ain't seen anyone in previous webcasts wearing shades because it's usually night time...
Also noted what looked like someone's tour bus pulling in behind the stage.
Dr John changes to organ for Mama Roux (She was the queen of the Little Red White and Blue)
Back to piano for Make A Better World.
Something from The City That Care Forgot. Keep On Goin'? If you don't know where you're goin'/ Gonna find out when you get there reminds me of a mate whose favourite saying was Dunno where we're going, but when we get there we'll know we've arrived.
Little dance shuffle routine towards the end with humorous commentary from the drummer (or the bass player? Can't see, but they've both been doing backing vox. Hell, could be the guitarist but whoever it is sounds black, man.
Dr John to guitar for Come On/Let The Good Times Roll or whatever other name they're calling it this week. Back to piano (actually split keys one hand piano t'other organ) for I Been Hoodoo'd, which features a nice reed/percussion thing towards the end, which comes in the form of a guitar solo (slide, not bad) which then takes us into They call me John Gris (might be part of I Been Hoodoo'd, might be something else entirely).
Then, in rapid succession:
In the Right Place
Goin' Back To New Orleans
Big Chief > Band intros > Dr John leaves while the Lower 911 carry the groove on for a minute or two.
Nice set, well worth the early rise. Now it’s a question of lasting the distance.
4:00 (more or less) Out of full screen mode and into typing.
4:28 Having spent the last half hour or so typing the above, and preparing about half of yesterday's review for publication, it must be getting close to starting time for The Word.
Save what I've typed, revert to full screen and a quick bathroom break brings me back in time to catch the ensemble in the process of settling one of those sanctified grooves from the album (at least I think it's from the album). Having started like they're still tuning up with instruments gradually meshing in, suddenly we're away in full flight.
Listening (and more importantly watching the nods and hand gestures) there's a definite feeling that The Word works through the rest of the band interacting with Mr Randolph.
They mightn't necessarily see it that way, but to me Randolph's pedal steel is the thread that holds it all together (along with the rhythm section, of course) as Randolph, Luther Dickinson and John Medeski play off each other.
The band is the North Mississippi Allstars (Luther Dickinson on guitar, Cody Dickinson drums and Chris Chew, a huge man, on bass) with added solo input through Randolph and John Medeski's keyboards, mainly B3 but there are a few others there as well.
But in most senses Randolph's the star of the show. Dickinson's no slouch and Medeski contributes some very fine playing, but I don't think I've ever seen someone with the sheer joie de vivre that Randolph pumps out in spades.
While I haven't seen all that much of him, Randolph almost invariably seems to be having the time of his life, and it's fascinating to watch him in action while someone else is soloing. He's there sniffing around the edges, looking for a little space to sneak in a lick here, a punctuating note there.
Around half way through the set Randolph switches to a Les Paul, and, interestingly, there isn't much difference in the overall sound, though some of the distinctive pedal steel licks are missing. Towards the end Chris Chew comes to the microphone to sing When I Lay My Burden Down, and the set concludes with Joyous Sounds. Title says it all, really.
6:00 Faced with a half hour setup for The Black Keys and the prospect of Mr Randolph sitting in with the Allmans, I decide to give the next bit a miss and retreat to the cot for a bit more sleep.
As it turns out, The Black Keys are one of three acts that aren’t participating in the webcast. The others are Govt Mule (sound man refuses access to an audio feed, and pictures won’t be much good without sound) and Derek and Susan’s new band (record company apparently causing the difficulty there).
Rising about seven-thirty I'm feeling good, and once I've had a shower and Madam has relinquished the laptop and we've finished the setup. Whoever they used to fill in for The Black Keys are into their last number and I'm into rustling up the regular Sunday morning Pasta Carbonara. I'd just about finished eating at 8:39 when the audience noise level surged and the various Panic merchants wandered onto the stage.
Starting off with Bell on mandolin, the next two and a quarter hours are a pleasant continuation of yesterday's groove. Over the space of about four and a half hours I've gone from a mild awareness of WSP, to a recognition that they're a fine little ensemble to the point of making them down as needing to be investigated to heading over to iTunes to check how much stuff is available there. As expected there's a swag, so further research will definitely be needed so I can figure out where to start.
Guest spots from Luther Dickinson and Warren Haynes towards the end were rather spectacular, but throughout the set I found myself reflecting on the weight that goes onto Mr Herring's shoulders. He handles it well, but it'd be interesting to see what would happen if he had another player to spark off.
Ain't Life Grand
Pigeons
All Time Low > jam > City of Dreams
Fishwater
Angels On High > Papa's Home > Drums > Papa's Home
Jack
Bust It Big
Driving Song > Love Tractor > Driving Song > Slippin’ Into Darkness (Luther Dickinson guitar) > North (Warren Haynes guitar)
WSP finished around 10:44, which gave the opportunity to resume typing, and half an hour later I was back in front of the screen, note pad and pen close at hand.
11:20 With definite signs of an approaching start I settle down for the ABB set having spent a while during WSP compiling a list of likely suspects. It wasn't something I set out to do any conscious research for, just a list of titles jotted down as I thought of them.
Figuring that it's a festival-type gig, and that most of tonight's crowd would have been on site yesterday I felt it was safe to assume that there'll be no repetition in the set list. I figure that we'll see a tendency towards classics rather than interesting rarely played tracks.
On that basis I'm tipping an opening salvo of either Don’t Want You No More > Not My Cross To Bear or Hot Lanta, with whichever one doesn't get used turning up later in the set. I'm also inclined to tip Jessica or Liz Reed to fill the long instrumental spot ahead of Bag End, Egypt or Kind of Bird.
So it'll be interesting to see how many out of
Ain't Wasting Time No More
Anyday (with Susan)
Done Somebody Wrong
Dreams
Southbound
Stand Back
Stormy Monday
Whipping Post
Woman Across The River
end up getting a guernsey.
I know there are a couple I've missed, and something unexpected is likely to emerge, but I was watching and enjoying WSP as I jotted that list down, and I'm waiting impatiently for the show to start, so I'm not going to head off and check CDs and playlists to see what I’ve missed.
11:28 Slide show for merch suggests that the Moogis side of things is getting its act together. Unlike yesterday's talking heads in the run up to show time, this slide show fills all the screen (no row of Dock icons along the bottom of the screen). The range of stuff on offer underlines the commercial importance of the merch business in a way that a casual visit to the Hittin' The Note website doesn't.
11:34 ABB logo. Flashes of light. Hints of shadowy movement.
11:36 Blast of B3, piano notes, drums. On screen view looking over Butch's shoulder.
11:38 Don't Want You No More
11:41 > Not My Cross To Bear
11:46 Gregg changes to piano for Ain't Wasting Time No More.
11:55 Gregg: All right. Good to see you out there. Bunch of you too.
11:56 Leave My Blues At Home. Well there's one that wasn't on the list. How could I have missed it? Still, three Gregg vocals in a row, which should indicate either an instrumental or a Warren vocal up next.
12:04 Hot Lanta
12:09 Butch to the tympani to finish. Will he stay there? Doesn't look like it.
12:10 Sound and video freeze necessitates an out and back in and I return to find Johnny Winter on stage. The Sky Is Crying (Warren vocal). Tasty solo from Mr Winter, screaming one from Derek.
12:19 Momentary freeze as a frail Johnny Winter leaves the stage.
12:20 Ain't No Love In The Heart Of The City. Slight misunderstanding a minute later as Gregg starts on a Warren-designated verse. Wave of the hand to acknowledge the stuff-up.
12:26 No One Left To Run With. There's another one I'd rather carelessly forgotten. Start to suspect that Derek likes this one (seems to be having fun on his solo).
12:38 Thank you. Put your hands together for John (Somebody, didn't quite catch it) Mayall? Mayer? Neither seems likely. Lengthy set up. Too dark to tell. No it's John Bell, obviously pronounced something like Bay-ell)
12:41 And It Stoned Me. First verse Warren, second verse Bell. Derek solo, Warren solo then third verse shared. I'm rapidly becoming a fan of Mr Bell's vocal style and general demeanour.
12:47 Good Morning Little Schoolgirl riff. Another one that should have been obvious. Please welcome to the stage Jimmy Herring and JoJo Herman. You heard Johnny Winter do this earlier. We do it differently. Great solo from Herring, tasty keys from Herman, then slowed down through another verse, after which Derek embarks on a solo with Warren moaning in the background. It's a solo that would be jaw-dropping if we hadn't become accustomed to seeing something approaching this on a regular basis.
No sooner have I finished scribbling that than my jaw takes leave of its upper colleague.
At this point I'm guessing we can rule out Woman Across The River.
1:03 Dave Schools to the stage please.
1:04 Dreams (No Oteil). Had to get one right eventually.
1:18 Guitar over rolling drums. Liz Reed? Yep. Which now presumably means no Jessica.
1:30 > Oteil. Looks like we're going to get a long Liz Reed with JaBuMa, which I hadn't expected. Still I guess Derek deserves a break since he's got an hour and a half on the other stage after this.
1:35 Hang on, Oteil's gone berserk. What've they put in the water tonight? Or has he been at the red cordial while nobody's looking?
1:36 > the percussive switcheroo and JaBuMa.
1:44 As everyone moves back into place, rather than returning to the Liz Reed theme it's off into Whipping Post.
1:58 Thank you so much. Y'all great, et cetera as they file off for the encore break. Something short to finish off? Done Somebody Wrong? Maybe with Robert Randolph? Guess it'd be too late for Anyday with Susan. Or a trademark Statesboro Blues?
2:01 Various complimentary remarks from Gregg. Midnight Rider. Another one I should have thought of. Well it's just about right on midnight after all.
2:06 A little riff that starts from Derek. Mountain Jam to finish off? Two night Mountain Jamwich, perhaps?
2:09 That question hasn't quite resolved itself yet. Hang on, that's going into Dazed and Confused. A remarkably accurate summary of my mental state at the moment, having assumed the set would've been put to bed around ten minutes ago.
2:15 Mountain Jam
2:18 That's all, folks. Thank y'all so much. et cetera. You've heard it all many times before...
Little Martha
Full set list:
Don't Want You No More > It's Not My Cross To Bear
Ain't Wastin' Time No More
Leave My Blues at Home
Hot 'Lanta
The Sky Is Crying (Johnny Winter, guitar)
Ain't No Love In The Heart Of The City
No One To Run With
And It Stoned Me (John Bell, guitar & vocals)
Good Morning Little School Girl (JoJo Hermann, keys; Jimmy Herring, guitar)
Dreams (Dave Schools, bass)
In Memory of Elizabeth Reed
Whipping Post
Encore
Midnight Rider
Mountain Jam> Dazed And Confused> Mountain Jam
