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Béla Fleck & the Gang of Twang at Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse, October 3, 2022

Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse presents Béla Fleck & the Gang of Twang featuring Stuart Duncan, Jacob Jolliff, Justin Moses, Mark Schatz, & Bryan Sutton
Littlefield Room, Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse
2020 Addison Street, Berkeley, CA 94704-1104 USA
8:00 PM, Monday, October 3, 2022

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Set One

[8:01 PM] {lights down; new F&S promo video: come take music lessons!}
[8:04 PM] {Tim McGraw makes house announcements}
[8:06 PM] {dead air…}
[8:07 PM] {MS out to mess with us (and his contrabass)…}
[8:08 PM] {JJ out alone to start the show}

  1. [8:09 PM] Blue Mountain Hop
    [8:15 PM] {drop JM next tune; Béla swap to white-headed banjo}
  2. [8:16 PM] Hug Point
    [8:21 PM] {add JM back on resonator guitar; greetings from Béla}
  3. [8:22 PM] Vertigo
    [8:27 PM] {BF introduces the band; “were gonna chill it just a little after that last tune”}
  4. [8:29 PM] Bound to Ride (JM)
    [8:31 PM] {BF banter}
  5. [8:32 PM] Round Rock
    [8:38 PM] {very brief pause for BF to towel the sweat off his brow}
  6. [8:39 PM] Our Little Secret
    [8:44 PM] {BS accolades for BF; BF asks if we're up for some polk-ass music}
  7. [8:47 PM] Polka on the Old Banjo (SD)
    [8:51 PM] {JM swaps to banjo; BF: I think we need more banjo tonight…}
  8. [8:52 PM] Boulderdash
    [8:57 PM] {JM swaps back to resonator guitar; BF yack: “As I understand it, there are two kinds of bluegrass, traditional and the other kind…”}
  9. [8:58 PM] Charm School
    [9:06 PM] {applause, waves}
    [9:07 PM] {all off for set break}

Set Two

[9:34 PM] {lights down; band out without introduction; Béla on black-headed banjo to start the set}

  1. [9:35 PM] Strider
    [9:43 PM] {Béla swaps to a white-headed banjo}
  2. [9:44 PM] Big Country » [9:48 PM] Down in the Swamp » [9:51 PM] Big Country
    [9:53 PM] {tuning break; BF swaps to a 2nd white-headed banjo; BF: How about if we just start the song and I don't say anything?}
  3. [9:55 PM] The Over Grown Waltz
    [9:58 PM] {JM swaps from resonator guitar to violin; BS back-announcement of the first few tunes and continues to outline the next one}
  4. [10:01 PM] The Time Has Come (BS)
    [10:03 PM] {Both JJ & JM sang harmony on the previous tune}
  5. [10:04 PM] Hunter's Moon
    [10:10 PM] {JM swaps back to resonator guitar; BF mumble; long comic set-up for the next tune: BS sitting out; MS not on contrabass until the last few seconds of the tune}
  6. [10:13 PM] Hunky Dory
    [10:17 PM] {drop JM; BF: let's play this next one before we get scared}
  7. [10:18 PM] Slippery Eel
    [10:22 PM] {add JM on violin}
  8. [10:22 PM] Baptist Pumpkin Farm
    [10:28 PM] {JM swaps back to resonator guitar; BF re-introduces the band}
  9. [10:30 PM] I'm on My Way Back to the Old Home (JM/JJ) » [10:31 PM] {BF teases The Ballad of Jed Clampett very briefly} »
  10. [10:32 PM] Whitewater
    [10:35 PM] {bows and then off; encore break!}

    Encore
  11. [10:37 PM] Stomping Grounds »
  12. [10:44 PM] Dear Old Dixie » [10:46 PM] {false ending + Dear Old Dixie coda}
    [10:46 PM] {final applause and bows; all off after a minute or so}

Performers

Despite the stellar lineup, tonight's show wasn't quite sold out: no doubt ticket pricing at $156 for regular GA, and a bit more for VIP GA was a steep obstacle to many fans, especially by comparison to a short-but-free set at HSB on 10/2!

I suspect that the dead air of the opening minutes was a bit of wry humor from Béla: tweaking expectations and making the fans wait for the big show to start. Once Jacob Jolliff entered and began to play, he was joined over the next few minutes by Byron Sutton, then Stuart Duncan, then Justin Moses, then Mark Schatz, and finally Béla – the same schtick used at the U.C. Theatre show back in December 2021. Béla played the first tune of both sets on a black body, black-headed acoustic banjo, then swapped to a more traditional white-headed acoustic for later tunes.

Second set saw the same banjo swaps, although this time around, Béla added a lot of gee-whiz note bends to his playing during Strider by selectively turning the tuning pegs tighter or looser at the end of each riff. That was cool to watch!

Hunky Dory was the set's big comedy number, with a long set-up between Byron, Béla and Mark about the consequences for Byron being late to band practice. Mark started the tune with a fine bit of percussive clogging at Stage Left, then various joking bits of calisthenics (jumping jacks, stretches, running in place, etc), followed by a hambone segment at Byron's front center spot on stage, more calisthenics, and then he finally picked up the bass to bow a few notes at the very conclusion of the tune, just before Béla gave Byron the nod to add his part: the closing flourish.

Slippery Eel, a newish tune co-written by Béla with Bill Strings and Chris Thile, was taken at a positively blistering pace: surely well in excess of 200 bpm! Very exciting!!

All in all, it was a fine show, and I'm really happy that we made time to attend it. Going in, I was a little worried that the set would be too close to last December's show, but as it turned out, there was less than half overlap (8 tunes of 20-21): good enough for a variety-lover like me!

Photos

Big thanks to Ting for the photo gallery!

Whoa! This section is incomplete for now, sorry!

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Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2022 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2022 event list! ☸ On to the next event!