Chris Isaak at Aptos Village Park, May 25, 2014

22nd Annual Santa Cruz Blues Festival

featuring Chris Isaak
2014-05-25
Aptos Village Park
100 Aptos Creek Rd, Aptos, CA
5:00 PM, Sunday, May 25, 2014

Back to the previous event ☸ Back to the 2014 yearbox ☸ Back to the 2014 event list! ☸ On to the next event!

[5:01 PM, introduction by Rory, then Wavy Gravy]

1. [5:03 PM] Best I Ever Had
2. [5:07 PM] Speak of the Devil
3. [5:11 PM] Two Hearts @
4. [5:15 PM] We've Got Tomorrow
5. [5:20 PM] I Want Your Love
6. [5:23 PM] You Don't Cry Like I Do @
7. [5:27 PM] Beautiful Homes
8. [5:31 PM] San Francisco Nights
9. [5:35 PM] Somebody's Cryin'
10. [5:37 PM] Wicked Game
11. [5:42 PM] Go Walking Down There
12. [5:46 PM] Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing »
13. [5:52 PM] (late ID) Bye Bye Baby
    [Rowland swaps to the contrabass for the rest of the set – which contributes an unwanted noisy crackle for a tune or two]
14. [5:54 PM] Only the Lonely @&å
15. [5:58 PM] Ring of Fire @
16. [6:03 PM] I Can't Help Falling in Love With You
17. [6:06 PM] Dancin'
18. [6:09 PM] Life Will Go On @
19. [6:15 PM +Nick Isaac] More and More (Webb Pierce) (NI)
20. [6:18 PM] I've Been Everywhere (Geoff Mack/Hank Snow) (NI)
    [Nick off]
21. [6:21 PM] Blues, Stay Away From Me @
22. [6:25 PM] Dixie Fried @
23. [6:29 PM] Live It Up
24. [6:32 PM] Pretty Woman
25. [6:35 PM] Great Balls of Fire
    [set ends 6:37 PM]
     
    Encore
26. [6:38 PM Rowland back to bass, no Chris just yet] ?surf tune? or maybe just Blue Hotel intro jam »
27. [6:40 PM, CI back, new suit] Blue Hotel
28. [6:42 PM] Big Wide Wonderful World
29. [6:46 PM] Blue Spanish Sky @
    [6:50 band intro, bow, then off, final announcements for the day]

• Chris Isaak: guitar, @ acoustic guitar, lead and harmony vox;
• Kenney Dale Johnson: drums, harmony vox;
• Rafael Padilla: percussion;
• Scott Plunkett: upright piano, keyboards, Hammond B-3 organ, & accordion;
• Rowland Salley: bass, harmony vox;
• Hershel Yatovitz: guitar, å acoustic guitar;
• with special guest -
• Nick Isaak: acoustic guitar, lead vox.

Chris Isaak closed out the festival in high style, starting out in a fabulous baby blue Nudie suit, and laying down the goods for nearly two hours without a stop. Although I was a little disappointed that his relatively recent Sun Sessions release wasn't highlighted all that prominently, he did mix a few rockers off that one in with his other hits.

The boys in the band all seemed to be having good fun, and Chris' teasin' and joking style went over well with the audience. Both Chris and Herschel made wirelessly-assisted forays into the crowd, with Chris even making it back near our spot at the soundboard. Hopefully Ting got a good picture or two then!

Great Balls of Fire was a nice surprise – I don't recall hearing Chris cover that before – but the smoke and pyrotechnics issuing from the upright piano during that tune belie my naivete – a serious prop like that suggests the tune has been in regular rotation with the group for awhile!

Although the crowd had thinned out a bit by the end of the show – down maybe to 60% capacity or so – it still took us a good ten or fifteen minutes to exit. I'd say that represents a public safety hazard, but heck, what do I know about that sort of thing?

After loading up the car, we moved about a block into traffic, then decided that the smart move would be to stop and have dinner while the crowd cleared. So we did! Awhile later we were off on our way, unimpeded except for local traffic until we neared the junction of Hwy 1 and Hwy 17. And it was there that we began the slowest trip back over the hills that I can ever recall. Solidly packed, traffic was a stop-and-go mess pretty much the next 30 miles, easing up only after we passed the 17/85 junction in Campbell. Yech! Good thing we had the foresight to eat before hitting the road…

Back to the previous event ☸ Back to the 2014 yearbox ☸ Back to the 2014 event list! ☸ On to the next event!

Today's sets: Ana Popović ♣ Rich Robinson ♦ Jackie Greene ♥ Vintage Trouble ♠ Chris Isaak