Rowan Brothers at the Plaza, September 17, 2023

Deadheadland presents the Rowan Brothers
the Plaza
Mill Valley, CA 94941 USA
4:00 PM, Sunday, September 17, 2023

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2023 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2023 event list! ☸ On to the next event!

Today's poster…with a photo from Ting!

[4:05 PM] {pre-show announcements from Roger}
[4:11 PM] {performers out; futzing; noodling}

1. [4:13 PM] If I Only Could
   [4:21 PM] {CR back announce; PR yack about Chris Strachwitz; PR intro of next tune; LR comment; pause for PR to tune his mandola}
2. [4:24 PM] All The King's Men
   [4:29 PM] {PR talk about a Rowan Bros trip to TX for the Joshua Ives Festival of Love, then about hanging with Mike Bloomfield in Mill Valley… then eventually circles back to TX and the origin of the next tune}
3. [4:34 PM] Midnight Moonlight
   [4:43 PM] {PR yack and long intro story (Townes van Zandt in London!) for the next tune}
4. [4:47 PM] I'll Be There
   [4:51 PM] {CR story; PR: Let's do an Everly Brothers tune!}
5. [4:52 PM] Wake Up Little Susie
   [4:55 PM] {picking out the next tune; pause while CR puts on his harmonica rig}
6. [4:56 PM] Pathways » Three Little Birds (extended tease) » Pathways finale
   [5:02 PM] {tuning; CR takes off his harmonica; PR story about the FMA}
7. [5:06 PM] Free Mexican Airforce
   [5:14 PM] {PR: “Thank you, Ladies & Gentlemen”}
8. [5:14 PM] Pretty Senorita
   [5:19 PM] {applause and thanks at end of set} [5:20 PM] {set ends}

[5:56 PM] {welcome back from Roger; PR starts off the set playing solo on Lorin's acoustic guitar}

1. [5:58 PM] Panama Red » Freight Train » Panama Red
   [6:03 PM] {PR story about the next tune}
2. [6:05 PM] Mississippi Moon
   [6:09 PM] {PR story about water ecology}
3. [6:12 PM] Waiting for Elijah
   [6:15 PM] {the rest of the band gets back onstage; PR swaps back to mandola; PR story about Owsley's dog Vajra}
4. [6:18 PM] Circle of Friends
   [6:23 PM] {yacking off-mic with Chris Felton about the sound onstage; CR talk about Bolinas; LR swap to mandolin}
5. [6:25 PM] Jonathan
   [6:30 PM] {CR: “Now he's a 40 year old man!”; David Diadem story}
6. [6:31 PM] Lay Me Down
   [6:34 PM] {LR swap back to acoustic guitar; all three talking story about the next tune; CR's quick Barbie joke}
7. [6:36 PM] My Father's Son
   [6:43 PM] {off-mic discussion of what to play next}
8. [6:43 PM] Gather My Brothers
9. [6:50 PM] Don't Pick the Blossom Before the Flower Grows
   [6:58 PM] {PR promo for coming gigs; LR intros next tune}
10. [7:01 PM] Calle Music
11. [7:08 PM] Goodnight Irene
    [7:14 PM] {applause at encore break}
    
    Finale
12. [7:15 PM] Wild Horses
    [7:21 PM] {final applause}
    [7:22 PM] {announcements from Brian Markovitz}
    [7:23 PM] {show ends}

• Dick Bright: violin;
• Eric McCann: 6-string bass guitar;
• Chris Rowan: acoustic guitar, harmonica, lead & harmony vox;
• Lorin Rowan: acoustic guitar, mandolin, lead & harmony vox;
• Peter Rowan: mandola, acoustic guitar, lead & harmony vox.

What a great show! Our hosts Roger & Davi have a sweet thing going with their backyard performance space. With five performers onstage and a regular PA, today's production was a step up compared to the more informal shows of the past few months. Let it grow! I was delighted that the scene was still quite relaxed, with the performers mingling and wise-cracking with the crowd for much of the down time instead of hiding away in the green room.

Although the air temperature was cool today, it was still enough in the back yard that the sun was uncomfortably hot until midway through the first set when the shade of the tall redwood trees finally moved over to give us some respite. Whew! Too bright until then to take off the sunglasses, but then too hard to see my notes once they were off. Yarg!

After starting off the second set with a few solo tunes, Peter reminisced a bit about Owsley's dog Vajra. And while verifying that I had song titles correct, I stumbled onto video of Peter's introduction of Vajra to the crowd at Winterland on YouTube, probably 5/28/76. How cool is that? (As an aside, the following tune on the video, Yabba-Dabba Doo, is worth a listen. Too bad they didn't get to that one tonight!)

While today's show evidenced a few rough spots here and there, I had a darn good time. Let's do it again sometime!!

Whoa! This section is incomplete for now, sorry!

Big thanks to Ting for the photo gallery!

Whoa! This section is incomplete for now, sorry!

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2023 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2023 event list! ☸ On to the next event!