Do I miss live music? Simple answer, yes. More complex answer, it’s definitely in the top 3 things about my pre-pandemic life that I miss the most, but I have to admit that I’m not missing that feeling of F.O.M.O. (Fear of Missing Out) that the Denver music scene can cause – you know what I’m talking about. That ache in the pit of your stomach when you have to choose between Oysterhead and Marcus King Band, or ringing in the New Year with friends over a nice dinner and My Morning Jacket (I chose The Jacket and I’m not sorry), or a long weekend with the family in New York City and a pair of intimate Hiss Golden Messenger shows. These are dilemmas all of us music lovers have faced for years and then, all of a sudden on March 13th, those decisions went away and for many the biggest choice they have had to make regarding live music was whether they would stream String Cheese Incident or The Grateful Dead on Friday nights – a choice I only find difficult when SCI airs a pre-2002 show. Now debates rage around whether Dave Bruzza’s live stream was better than Paul Hoffman’s, or whether Nugs is better than LiveXLive. There’s no doubt that it’s a strange time, but things came into focus for me a little bit this past week as I sat on a deck on the northern shores of Lake George in Upstate New York and enjoyed an entire two set Billy Strings show without having to worry about paying a babysitter or catching an Uber and, perhaps most importantly, not wishing I was in the crowd rubbing shoulders with like-minded souls – mostly because that crowd didn’t exist this time around.
The show must go on, with or without fans and, from the stage of an empty Brooklyn Bowl in Nashville, Billy Strings proved that even without fans he’s got one of the most energetic shows around. Despite the fact that I missed the free “soundcheck set” that was announced earlier in the day because I wasn’t tied to my phone and was out on the water, I caught the first notes of “Watch It Fall” from the stellar 2019 album Home and I was glued. The song seems particularly appropriate during these dystopian times with it’s images of a nation in tatters.
“Well it’s not so easy now
Though it never was back then
We still can’t seem to work this out
But you can still pretend
And these tattered walls and burning bridges
Quickly start to fall
How long until there’s nothing left at all?”
After a quick take on “Slow Train,” Billy and the boys dropped into one of my (and Billy’s if I recall from a recent interview) favorite songs in his great catalog of original material, “While I’m Waiting Here.” It was clear that Billy, Billy (Failing – Banjo), Royal (Masat – Bass), and Jarrod (Walker – Mandolin) were having a blast together as they settled back into the familiar space of being on stage and went back to their roots with a pair of covers written by true legends of Bluegrass – Flatt & Scruggs “Doin’ My Time” and Doc Watson’s “I’m Going Fishing.” Billy introduced the latter tune with a nod to the time he’s spent Bass fishing over the past couple of months off the road (check out his Instagram).
From there the band dusted off their mesmerizing cover of The Grateful Dead’s “China Doll,” a tune I first remember them covering during their late night show at WinterWonderGrass 2019 and it gave me goosebumps all over again. The band then turned back to originals with a version of Billy Failing’s “So Many Miles” that built into a huge jam before morphing into “Dealing Despair” which yielded to “Enough to Leave,” and a typically gorgeous “Away From The Mire” to close out the first set of the evening as darkness enveloped our lakefront cabin.
After a strict 20 minute set break that allowed enough time to tuck the kids into bed and get a fresh drink, the band returned to the stage with a vengeance as they opened with “Dust In a Baggie” followed by the always powerful “Pyramid Country” and a blistering take on J.J. Cale’s “Ride Me High.” They could have left the stage right then and I would have been happy but we still had some stellar music to go.
“Must Be Seven” gave me another one of my favorites, and then it was time to invite the evening’s special guest, Marcus King, to the stage for a take on George Gershwin’s “Summertime.” While this version didn’t quite live up to this one, it was awesome to hear these two play the song in a live setting. Marcus then took over lead vocals on “Big Boss Man” and the band got little bluesy for a while before Marcus retreated to the wings and Billy turned things back to Bluegrass with “Ernest T. Grass” and a rousing “Little Maggie” to close out the encoreless evening.
Did this experience live up to The Ogden run last December, or the Red Rocks opening set in September? No, no it didn’t. But, in these times, this was pretty damn good and it was great to see the band together and playing the music they love and we love to see them play. Do yourself a favor and toss the band $10 to catch at least one of these shows before the tour is over on Sunday.
STREAMING STRINGS – JULY 2020
July 22 and 23 at City Winery
July 24 and 25 at Exit/In
July 26 at 3rd & Lindsley
+ There are no comments
Add yours