Dr. John & the Nite Trippers at Miner Auditorium, July 27, 2016

SFJAZZ presents Dr. John & the Nite Trippers
2016-07-27
Robert M. Miner Auditorium
SFJAZZ Center, 205 Franklin St, San Francisco, CA 94102 USA
7:30 PM, Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2016 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2016 event list! ☸ On to the next event!

[7:35 PM lights down, house announcements]

1. [7:36 PM] (unidentified instrumental)
2. [7:40 PM] Life
3. [7:44 PM] Life's a One Way Ticket
4. [7:51 PM] Love for Sale
5. [7:58 PM] Big Shot
6. [8:04 PM] How Come My Dog Don't Bark (When You Come Around)
7. [8:10 PM] Qualified
8. [8:16 PM] Rain
9. [8:22 PM] I Walk on Guilded Splinters
10. [8:27 PM] Gris-Gris Gumbo Ya Ya
11. [8:31 PM] Right Place, Wrong Time
12. [8:35 PM] Come On, Pt. 2 &
13. [8:42 PM] Go Tell the People
14. [8:45 PM] (unidentified tune) “Gimme Some Good Ole Lovin' and Some Good Ole Money Too” “my woman's 88 she thinks i'm 43”
15. [8:52 PM] Goodnight Irene
16. [8:59 PM] Black Widow Spider
17. [9:10 PM] Big Chief
18. [9:17 PM] Such a Night
    [show ends 9:28 PM, no encore]

Dr. John & the Nite Trippers

• Dr. John AKA Mac Rebbenac: piano, keyboards, & guitar, lead vox;
• Brian Braziel: drums;
• Roland Guerin: 6-string electric bass, harmony vox;
• Jaime Kime: guitar, harmony vox;
• Sarah Morrow: musical director, trombone, percussion, harmony vox.

The good Doctor took his time getting down to dispensing his remedies tonight, but once he had that natural ball rolling he jus' kept on spinning it round and round. Black Widow Spider was undoubtedly the musical highlight of the night for my money… coulda woulda been audacious to hear a few more like that, but ya gotta let the Doctor slide a little these days. For a guy of his vintage (75 years at the moment), he's doing alright!

I think he did a great job mixing things between the solid hits and less well known numbers. It appeared that he was leafing through a notebook while the show ran on: I assume that it's this tour's songbook. Looked like he only went forward, and sometimes skipped up, suggesting that there might be some variation in the setlists from night to night: might need to investigate that point! Anyways, I'm glad I made it to tonight's gig, it was a good time.

And the band seemed alright – not nearly as rough as nasty reviews from the past couple years seemed to indicate. Jamie let it rip whenever they gave him the nod, and with the exception of two minor slips, Sarah's solos were good enough to satisfy me. I'm guessing some of the bad press is just haters with an axe to grind. Oakland native Brian Braziel kept things nailed down pretty good, and Roland Guerin kept the bottom end bouncing along nicely. Assuming that the Doctor is still playin', I'd definitely catch these folks again on a return trip in a year or two.

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2016 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2016 event list! ☸ On to the next event!