Over the Rhine at Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse, December 4, 2018

Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse presents Over the Rhine
2020 Addison Street, Berkeley, CA 94704-1104 USA
8:00 PM, Tuesday, December 4, 2018

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2018 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2018 event list! ☸ On to the next event!

[8:00 PM lights down, greeting and announcements from Andrea Hirsig, dead air]
[8:07 PM band out: LD to piano; KB: acoustic guitar; BM: guitar]

1. [8:07 PM] Broken Angels
2. [8:12 PM] Born
   [KB takes off her guitar; BM adds harmonica]
3. [8:19 PM] Let It Fall
   [8:24 PM KB yack while she puts on the guitar; BM swaps to mandolin]
4. [8:26 PM] Trouble
   [drop BM; KB takes off her guitar]
5. [8:30 PM] All I Ever Get for Christmas Is Blue
   [long yack from LD as he switches to acoustic guitar; KB: hand percussion; BM guitar and harmonica]
6. [8:39 PM] Blood Oranges in the Snow
   [KB sets down the percussion; BM swaps to mandolin]
7. [8:44 PM] My Father's Body
   [more storytelling; BM swaps to acoustic guitar]
8. [8:53 PM] First Snowfall
   [KB yack about BM]
9. [9:00 PM] (unidentified solo instrumental from BM)
10. [9:02 PM] Suitcase
    [BM swaps back to electric guitar]
11. [9:09 PM] Let You Down
    [KB picks up the 4-string tenor guitar]
12. [9:16 PM] I'd Want You
    [KB takes the acoustic guitar from LD; LD swaps back to piano]
    [Poughkeepsie story]
13. [9:23 PM] Poughkeepsie
    [drop BM; KB takes off the guitar]
14. [9:28 PM] Latter Days
    [BM back to play guitar; LD swaps back to acoustic guitar]
15. [9:36 PM] We're Gonna Pull Through
    [set ends 9:40 PM]
    
    Encore
    [same config as before: KB: vox; LD: acoustic guitar; BM: guitar]
16. [9:42 PM] North Pole Man
    [drop BM]
17. [9:45 PM] May God Love You
    [show ends 9:49 PM; off after another minute]

Over the Rhine

• Karin Bergquist: acoustic guitar, 4-string tenor guitar, percussion, lead and harmony vox;
• Linford Detweiler: piano, acoustic guitar, lead and harmony vox;
• Brad Meinerding: guitar, slide guitar, acoustic guitar, mandolin, harmonica, harmony vox.

Over the Rhine on winter tour? Seems appropriate given the leaning inherent in their recorded output (three winter-themed albums out of twelve? Yeah, that's a trend!). I was a little bummed that the touring group lacked a rhythm section – makes it that much harder to get into a rock and roll groove – but I can respect the economics that might have pushed for that choice. It certainly tilted the emphasis of the show towards the poetic lyrics, amply supported by the beautiful harmonies that they crafted together tonight.

Linford sounded great on the big grand piano, offering a variety of styles over the night, from barrelhouse, stride and ragtime teases to impressionistic jazz runs. On several occasions he began noodling immediately after the end of a tune, with the others waiting to chime in for a minute or more. Just listening themselves, I think!

Lots of folks are out there on the road, doing the best they can with vocals; few can match up to Karin, whose voice sounded great, and reminded me how much I appreciate hearing a clear, full-bodied singer.

This was my first time hearing/seeing Brad Meinerding, though he's probably been playing at least twenty years. Music can be funny like that: there's plenty of opportunities for performers to work at their craft out of the spotlight. It shouldn't be much surprise that those who stick with it become experts. Ten thousand hours? Meh, that's a folkish trope, like “8 glasses of water per day”, but accumlated practice counts for a lot, and Brad's playing was fluid, natural, and exciting to listen to, no matter whether he was laying down atmospheric tones with the electric slide guitar or picking fast lines with the old Martin acoustic or mandolin.

Overall, this was another one of the shows where you get to the end and say “hey? what happened? how did the time run by so fast?” It was super good. Got me thinking that I better keep my out for their next visit west!

Big thanks to Ting for the photo gallery!

Whoa! This section is incomplete for now, sorry!

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2018 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2018 event list! ☸ On to the next event!