The Mission Ballroom was the place to be last Friday night if you were looking for your fix of Bluegrass. With a fantastic line-up of local heroes featuring The Sweet Lillies opening up for The Infamous Stringdusters the stage was set for a great night.
The Sweet Lillies took the stage a few minutes before 8pm and launched into an eclectic set that featured some beloved originals, new favorites from their recently released album Common Ground, and of course several crowd pleasing, and frankly surprising, covers. I say “surprising” because it isn’t often you hear Cypress Hill’s “Insane In The Brain,” (Listen Here!), The Beastie Boys‘ “She’s Crafty,” Run DMC’s “It’s Tricky,” or MC Hammer’s “Can’t Touch This” covered by a Bluegrass trio. What was probably a little more expected were the group’s takes on the 90’s gem “Closer to Fine” and a track by the late Tony Rice. The Lillies were obviously thrilled to be playing the big stage at The Mission and as they got the crowd warmed up nicely for The Dusters they revealed they will be headlining The Gothic on December 17th with The Lonesome Days and Chain Station rounding out the bill!
It was around 9:30 when Jeremy Garrett, Andy Hall, Chris Pandolfi, Travis Book, and Andy Falco took the stage to a huge roar from the ballroom and kicked into “Rise Sun” from their 2019 album of the same name. From the moment they started playing it was clear that these guys came to throw down and were having a blast doing it as they passed solos and grins around the stage.
The first set featured old favorites like “It’ll Be Alright” and “Fork In the Road” alongside newer tunes including “Wake the Dead,” “Back Home” and the title track of their upcoming release “Toward The Fray.” The energy really cranked up out of “Fork In the Road” and the band didn’t let up until the put the finishing touches on “Toy Heart” to close out the first frame. (Listen Here!)
During set break we collected ourselves, caught up with friends, prepped for a barn-burner of a second set, and the boys didn’t let us down. They lead off with “Truth and Love” and left it unfinished as they moved in “Y2K” before Garrett took a turn at the mic and delivered a great version of “I Think I’ll Just Stay Here and Drink.” “Gravity” and “A Hard Life Makes a Good Song” set the stage for a strong fourth quarter that featured some stellar covers in the form of “Walking On The Moon” by The Police, The Grateful Dead gem “He’s Gone,” and a explosive version of Phish’s “Possum” that had damn near everyone in the room throwing their hands up in the air and hollering along before the band worked their way back into the end of “Truth & Love” to close out the set.
After a brief break they returned with a rousing “Not Fade Away” that stretched out to nearly ten minutes and featured some nice audience participation before the show came to a close with “One More Bridge.” The Dusters proved yet again that they can throw a great party and while it took me a while to get on this bandwagon, I’m glad I’m here.
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