Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers – August 8th – Denver Botanic Gardens

Photos by Tim Dwenger

The Scene: The Botanic Gardens was beautiful on Monday night.  Though storms swirled nearby, not a drop of rain fell on the gardens and the crowd was linen clad and ready for some great music.  Though there was a smattering of younger faces in the bowl, the vast majority of the audience was over 40 and sat back, wine glass in hand, to enjoy some adult contemporary hits from the late 80’s and early 90’s.  Boy, were they in for a surprise.

Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers: When Bruce Hornsby and his band took the stage on Monday night for his (seemingly) annual show at The Botanic Gardens, the crowd welcomed him with open arms.  Staying away from his trademark piano for the first few songs, Hornsby showed his prowess on the accordion and dulcimer to the delight of the crowd.  The show started with the classic “On The Western Skyline” from his 1986 debut album The Way It Is and the band followed it up with the second track on that record, “Every Little Kiss.”  With a couple of old favorites out of the way for the more casual fans in the crowd, Hornsby dug in deep for a take on his 1988 composition “The Valley Road” which he performed with the Grateful Dead seven times “before we all forgot that we knew how it went.”

As the show moved on it was clear that the band was having a blast as their giant grins lit up the stage and the players almost seemed to toy with each other during jams.  It was most notable at one point when Hornsby signaled to his drummer that they would break it down to just two of them on a jam and the drummer lit into a double time beat which forced Hornsby to pick the pace way up on the piano.  Though Hornsby flashed some glares, it quickly became apparent that this was all part of the show and the relationship that these guys have is dependent on these kinds of moments.  Overall it was very impressive and memorable as the band ran through intricate and (seemingly) improvised versions of hits like “End of the Innocence” (which Hornsby wrote with Eagles legend Don Henley) and “Jacob’s Ladder” which was written by Hornsby, but made famous by Huey Lewis & The News.

As the show drew to a close the band broke into a innovative version of the classic Bluegrass tune “Pretty Polly” that featured Hornsby on the Dulcimer, and then the band returned to 1986 with the title track of his debut The Way It Is.  After a very short break, where the band didn’t even leave the stage, they dropped a stellar, and very playful, take on “Rainbow’s Cadillac” that had the entire crowd on their feet and smiling as the band passed around solos.  This closer proved to the faithful, yet again, that Hornsby and his band deftly walk the line between crowd pleasing hit-makers and jamband in a way that very few other bands are capable of.  It’s always a pleasure to see Mr. Hornsby and I truly look forward to the next time he comes to town.

Energy: A
Musicianship: A+
Sound: B
Stage Presence: B+
Set/Light Show: B

Overall: A-