04.06.2002
Blue Star
Lancaster
PA
Forbidden Fruit
Jungle of
my Heart
Same thing
Calling
Positively
4th Street
Restless
Steppin
off a Star
Gates of
Heaven
Open Road
Zero
Zero Eight
Laced in
Silver
One More
Time
Coast
Festival
Hungry
Moon
Tomorrow
Never Knows
All Here
Together
Wading in
the Velvet Sea
Spin Song
Into
Tomorrow
Saw Her Standing There
- Originally posted by Sman
Really great show last night. Some of the hot moments for me included:
Forbidden Fruit - weird opener and definitely and omen when this type of thing occurs.
Calling - great song.
The First Set - it was so damn good I started to get nervous that they wouldn't be able to keep it going for the second set.
Laced in Silver - Once again this song totally delivered. I think this will sound great on CD.
One More Time - Jim Dog is saying that this was just the ending verse - a completion from the prior evening at the Stone Pony. I didn't realize this at the time, but it was pretty cool.
Into Tomorrow - this is becoming a crowd favorite with the "Wooo" chants.
- Gump
LAST
NIGHT WAS THE BEST DAMN JUGGLING SUNS SHOW I EVER DONE SEEN!!!
Posted on
4/7/2002 at 08:46:31 PM by shaggy
Criteria
for a perfect Suns show:
1)Enthusiastic
and participatory crowd
2)An
unbridled willingness on the part of the band to experiment and take risks
3)Emphasis
on original compositions
4)Bob and
Pattie Boyd
Last night, all four criteria were met - and then some!
Okay, I'm obviously a little biased. Perhaps the subject heading will strike some as a stretch. The best I've seen in recent memory? Maybe there was some life-altering show I witnessed during the Tank/Kevin era that I'm forgetting right now, but I can say without reservation that last night's show was the best I'd ever seen with the current lineup - bar none.
First off, as I ambled up to the top of the steps to the dancefloor at about 10:15, who do I see by Uncle Bob and Aunt Pattie! Our very own Lewis and Clark, fresh from their expeditions into the wilds of Denver's Fillmore Auditorium. Gump spoke of omens last night. To see their familiar smiling faces before the show began was most certainly a very good omen.
Transitions - this was the catch word of the night. It started with the first song. I don't normally associate Forbidden Fruit as an opener in either set, particularly the first. But this is what I mean when I speak of risk. Not the same old faithful Suns, but a different and chancy opener. It worked, and not only that, but on a dime - and I mean a DIME - the band made a 90 degree turn left in the middle of "Forbidden"'s final jam and dropped the "Jungle" bomb with hair-splitting precision. The crowd was floored and responded in kind.
It happened again at the end of "Calling", when the closing jam seamlessly morphed into "Positively 4th Street". By now, it became obvious that this wasn't going to be just any set. And then: "Restless">"Steppin Off A Star">"Gates of Heaven">"Open Road". Well, I mean, hell. At this point, why not whip out Korsikov's "Flight of the Bumble Bee"? And no, it didn't sound as good as it looks on paper. It sounded BETTER! The harmonies on "Restless" were as crisp as the Lancaster morning air, Gus's piano on "Steppin'" could put Van Cliburn to shame, and the multi-tempoed and echo-filled guitar solo Mark laid down on "Gates of Heaven" had even the most jaded in the crowd utterly mesmerizd.
The intermission coversation centered around the transitions. There was an air of uncertainty. Are they really playing this well? Is this a fluke and the second set will be a letdown?
If there was ever any doubt that the Suns could maintain the intensity of a killer first set, it was erased like so much chalkdust with the second set - the finest I'd ever witnessed. First of all - starting the set off with "008"???!!! That's a set CLOSER! No? Well, again, I like risk. I live for risk. Better to see musicians walk the high wire without a net and stumble than to rest on their laurels and descend into the pits of Steve Miller hell. No chance of the latter here. "008" simply exploded out of the gate like Secretariat at the Derby, burning so fast and so furious that Gus couldn't help but abandon his seat and pound away at the keys Jerry Lee Lewis style. You'd think they'd want to stop and catch their breath after such a aerobic rocker, right? Pish-posh. Like a thief in the night, the melody of "Laced in Silver" slipped out from under the opener and into the aural consciousness of the crowd, holding them prisoner with no resistance. After the usual first choruses, Gus stepped out on synthesized trumpet. Talk about something completely different! This was followed by another jaw-dropper of a solo by Mark, heavy on the wah-wah. Okay, boys, you can take a break now. Nope, apparently they had some unfinished business from the Stone Pony - the second chorus of "One More Time". The solos on all the songs seemed different somehow last night - but it became very noticeable on this one. Gus was going nuts with his laser gun jamming, and Mark followed that up with a real howler of a jam. His guitar was literally hollering at the top of its stringed lungs. Then Gus, Mark and Bruce went into what I call a "staircase jam". This is where the notes start out high, then progressively cascade downward, like a person descending a staircase. Then Mark slowed things down with what almost sounded like the end of an Allman Brothers tune (whose title esapes my brain at the moment), but just as you think it's over - BOOM - Ivan starts to pound out a rumbling tom tom beat, over which Mark plucks out a stinging solo that sounds as if Albert Collins had spent a year with Pink Floyd and this is what they came up with.
The intesnity of the crowd is reaching a fever pitch. Even the walls are starting to sweat (God bless the staff of the Blue Star for finally mastering the art of ventilation.) As the song drwas to a close, we're thinking, "What now?" We're out on "The Coast", that's what! But just as we're getting ready to dine upon a "Hungry Moon", the boys take a detour and bring us to a "Festival". "What the hell are they on?", I scribble to myself on the paper I'm keeping the setlist on. The "Hungry Moon" finally rises, and the crowd is simply breathless at this point. Even cynical me, grown weary of predictable setlists and stagnant venue itineraries - even I feel like I am seeing the Suns all over again for the very first time. The transitions are impossibly seamless. Nothing could top this. And then....
SWEET MOTHER OF THE MONONGAHELA! THEY"RE GOING INTO "TOMORROW NEVER KNOWS"!!!!
Is there nothing they won't try? Again, the transition is just perfect. How appropriate that they should choose what arguably was the Beatles most risky composition (in '66, the public still expected mop-topped Merseybeat, not that trippy flower power crap), on a night of such experimentation and new direction. Suns: if this is what rehearsal produces, for heaven's sake, sleep in the studio! We'll buy the cots!
Even "Wading in the Velvet Sea" sounded great tonight. (I say even because it was never my favorite Phish composition. I'm a "Guelah Papyrus" kind of guy.) Mark and Gus really stretched the jam out in the middle of this one, with another grand staircase of a jam.
The middle of "Spin Song" was punctuated by a truly insane jam, but the award for most mind-blowing, hip-shaking, jaw-dropping, consciousness-expanding, tripped out piece of imrovisational gloriousness could very well go to the jam in the middle of "Into Tomorrow". Listen to the tapes! I don't imagine I'm the only one whose mind left their body at that point.
The crowd was simply electric last night, and they shared that with band. When the band and the crowd are both ON, there's nothing the Suns can't do.
And only 5 of the 21 songs were covers, another mark of a great show. The Suns are really coming into their own and should focus on their own work. The creative enrgy coming out of these guys of late is just phenomenal and will only increase once they get the album out and start hitting more shows outside of the NJ/PA area.
On JuglingBones, Gump spoke of the possibility that the band is finally hitting that NEXT LEVEL we've been speaking about for a few years now. I would heartily concur. I really think we witnessed them turn a corner last night, and I cannot wait to see what the summer has in store.
To the Suns: Thank you, thank you, thank you for reminding me so pointedly why I have gone to the lengths I have to see you again and again on stage.
To John: Thank you again for the incredibly kind hospitality. I will send you some Robert Randolph discs soon and open your consciousness to the other great musical genius of NJ.
To Rocco: It was awesome speaking with you last night and this morning. But I still don't believe I am who you say I am. ;)
To Tom: Those tapes sounded awesome. Can I send you a B&P for them?
To Emily: I may be goin' to hell in a bukket, but at least I'm enjoyin' the ride! :)
That's all for now. I'm off to watch the rest of Shackleton.
Three shows
in three nights
Posted on
4/7/2002 at 10:07:25 PM by WillDawg
NYC, Asbury Park and Lancaster.
Synopsis: Hot, Hotter, Hottest!
I need the discs of the Stone Pony and the Blue Star to make the ultimate call, but after that smokin' Stone Pony show, I thought that the Blue Star show would have a hard time getting to the same level... But in my opinion, it was the hottest show of the three I saw... The vibe in that room was incredible! (And the vibe at the Pony was gonna be hard to beat... so many friends in one room!) Of course, the surprise Bob and Pattie appearance had alot to do with it... I remember scanning the crowd during the first song, all the familiar smiling faces, and then it was like -- WHOA! There's Bob and Pattie! HOLY SHIT! :) And the dance floor was packed from the get-go... Juggs may indeed be one the rise... We can only hope, it would be so nice to see all the hard work and talent pay off! And we'll all have the best stories of "the old days when they used to play in bars" :)
So anyways, thanks to Grandfunk for inviting me to the pre-show and the hospitality, and it's also cool that I'm getting to know all of the "old-timers" better -- it seems like I'm truly becoming part of the family :) I like it!
Oh, and Corrin -- you gotta get your friend who came last night to more Juggs shows... She's a sweetie, just like you! Of course, she's got nothin' on your dance moves yet ;)
See y'all in my hometown of Reading next weekend!
Photos by Pat Sellers
