Stu Allen and Mars Hotel at Ashkenaz
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Last night I waited till 9 pm and then braved the Bay Bridge.
Much to my surprise I made it to the Ashkenaz in Berkeley with just enough time to puff a fatty outfront before the last night of a three night run of Stu Allen shows.
The first night of the run was allegedly an acoustic trio doing Almost acoustic and Garcia/ Grisman stuff.
Night 2 was all Garcia Band and last night was a GD review that covered many eras of music.
Stu always makes me happy to have made the effort to go and see him. He elevates any music he plays and shreds the fuck out of every nuance in the repertoire. He's broad and comprehensive and owns this music and honestly I never thought I'd cop to that perspective but it's become self evident.
The band last night was Stu w Matt Cohen, - an able Bobby stylist who could play slide slot better then the man he emulates, along w Scott Guberman on Nord and B3 w Robin Sylvester on bass and the excellent Pete Lavazolli on drums.
Pete in particular killed delivering Pig Pen vocals on Easy Wind and Midnight Hour and was definitely the best singer on stage.
The jams were extensive and the band was stretching from the get go with wild and crescendoed Jack Straw.
The ancient '66 era Mindbender followed and it became clear quickly that the setlist would be unorthodox and varied.
The band didn't disappoint and the near capacity crowd ate it up.
The jam between China Cat and rider was more than 10 minutes which was emblematic of the whole night.
So glad to be witness to this local shining stars mojo....
(F the haters. Nobody in that room was complaining.)
Set I
Jack Straw
Mindbender
Race is On
Good Times
Big RR Blues
Looks Like Rain
She Belongs to Me
Easy Wind
Prelude>
Let It Grow
Set II
In the Midnight Hour
China Cat Sunflower>
I Know You Rider
Just a Little Light
Playin in the Band >
Terrapin Station >
Truckin' >
Wharf Rat
Good Lovin'
E:
Tomorrow Never Knows > Baba O'Reilly
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Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Yukon Cornelius got,
That's a great little venue
That's a great little venue for stu.
Was bummed i didn't make it over there earlier after that Bobby show in Marin in early oct.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: I rang a silent bell
It sounds like a good show.
It sounds like a good show. GD used to do Baba O’Riley > Tomorrow Never Knows, it's weird that they played the encore in reverse order. I hope a recording was made, I would like to hear that 10 minute transition in China>Rider.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: It's me Dave open up!
It was a fine show! Stu's
It was a fine show! Stu's last of the year, and it felt like NYE, very festive. And you're right, the encore was a short Baba O'Reilly (maybe 2-3 minutes) then 8 minutes or so of Tomorrow Never Knows, which was great.
The festiveness was marred somewhat by car break-ins in the REI parking lot. Towards the end of the 1st set, as many as 14 cars had windows broken. Seemed to be a combination of smash-and-grab and pure vandalism, as one car had 3 windows broken out.
As Stu said "It's been a weird year, and it's gonna get weirder."