Béla Fleck at UC Theatre, December 12, 2021

Berkeley Music Group presents Béla Fleck's My Bluegrass Heart featuring Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer, and Bryan Sutton
UC Theatre
2030 University Ave, Berkeley, CA 94704-1006 USA
8:00 PM, Sunday, December 12, 2021

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[7:59 PM] {welcome yack from house staff; dead air awhile}
[8:15 PM] lights down, announcements, Sam out alone to start the night, then Bryan, then Stuart, etc}

1. [8:15 PM] Blue Mountain Hop » {add Bryan after ~30 sec} » {add Stuart after ~20 sec} » {add Jerry after ~20 sec} » {add Edgar after ~20 sec} » {add Béla after ~30 sec: now let 'er really rip!}
2. [8:22 PM] This Old Road
3. [8:28 PM] Unfolding
   [8:36 PM] {greetings from Béla}
4. [8:37 PM] Up on the Hill Where They Do the Boogie (SB)
   {Béla introduces the next tune}
5. [8:44 PM] Round Rock
   {Béla introduces the next tune with a story about square eggs}
6. [8:51 PM] Us Chickens
   [8:55 PM] {Bryan jokes about Baahkeley (clucked!); Béla tells us the next song is for Tony Rice}
7. [8:57 PM] Cold on the Shoulder (BS)
   {Who's doing the intro? BS BF BS JD BF SB}
8. [9:00 PM] Our Little Secret
   {Back to you Béla, says Béla, starting the intro to Vertigo}
9. [9:08 PM] Vertigo
   [9:15 PM] {set ends}

[9:38 PM] {quorum behind the curtain} [9:39 PM] {performers out}

1. [9:39 PM] Strider
2. [9:48 PM] Bum's Rush
   {banter from Bryan + Sam}
3. [9:54 PM] Backwater Blues (BS)
   {Sam introduces next tune}
4. [10:00 PM] Hunter's Moon
   {Edgar & Sam yack}
   {Sam makes a long pitch for the Bluegrass Heart Fleck tuner (shades of Red Knuckles!)}
   {Béla says the next tune is harmonically based, and drawn from his study of Bill Monroe albums}
5. [10:10 PM] Charm School
   {Yack from Sam}
6. [10:20 PM] the White House Blues (SB)
   {Sam swaps to violin, everyone rearranges to new spots on stage for comic effect}
   {Béla pokes fun at the violinists and introduces the next tune}
7. [10:27 PM] Baptist Pumpkin Farm
   {Béla: We only have one song left… (crowd mutters booo!)}
   {Béla continues: …but it will be six and a half hours long! (the crowd hoots happily over that prospect}
   {Béla introduces the next tune}
8. [10:35 PM] Tentacle Dragon (Revenge of the)
   [10:46 PM] {set ends}
   
   Encore
   {Béla talks about joining New Grass Revival in 1989 and then introduces the next tune as one from that band}
9. [10:47 PM] When the Storm Is Over (SB)
10. [10:51 PM] Whitewater
    [10:55 PM] {show ends}

• Sam Bush: mandolin, violin, lead and harmony vox;
• Jerry Douglas: resonator guitar, harmony vox;
• Stuart Duncan: violin;
• Béla Fleck: banjo;
• Edgar Meyer: contrabass;
• Bryan Sutton: acoustic guitar, lead and harmony vox.

I was darn glad to win tickets to tonight's show from KALW: thanks folks!

Ting and I arrived just after doors opened to find nearly all of the mid-level GA chairs taken already, so we headed down to the front and joined friends Brian and Shanna who had secured rail spots right in the middle. Hard to beat that if you want to watch the fingers flyin'! The down side of this approach is that we endured an extra hour of standing around – ain't no way was I going to sit on that sticky floor!

It was fun being close enough to make eye contact with the musicians – and to note their reactions as the folks around us whooped and hollered throughout the night. I was really happy how little chit-chat there was behind us: it's always more fun to be part of a crowd that's listening to the music and contributing to the festive vibe! There were definitely a few times where I felt like I was being lifted off the ground by Sam's insanely manic mandolin chop or the snaky roll of Béla's banjo. Béla may feel like old age is starting to slow him down, but I didn't hear anything last night to make me think he was having any trouble.

And the band, boy howdy! What can you say except to trod out the over-worn all star appelation once more. Together, these guys made magic all night!

While just over half of the tunes were drawn from Béla's new double-album, My Bluegrass Heart, they started off with an older tune, Blue Mountain Hop from the Flecktone's Bluegrass Sessions, and other choice tracks from various albums got sprinkled in here and there, leaving about half of My Bluegrass Heart unplayed: something to sample from on the next tour, eh? I'll be there if I can!!

Andrew Gilbert posted a nifty promo article with SFCV.

Big thanks to Ting for the photo gallery!

Whoa! This section is incomplete for now, sorry!

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2021 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2021 event list! ☸ On to the next event!