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Oteil & Friends at UC Theatre, September 14, 2024

Berkeley Music Group presents Oteil & Friends
UC Theatre
2030 University Ave, Berkeley, CA 94704-1006 USA
8:00 PM, Saturday, September 14, 2024

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promo poster for tonight's show

Set One

[8:20 PM] {lights down, performers out, mostly wearing blue clown noses from Marc Margolis}
[8:23 PM] {intro by Wavy Gravy}

  1. [8:24 PM] My Sisters & Brothers (LW)
  2. [8:32 PM] No More Doubt (OB)
  3. [8:mm PM] Fixin' to Die (OB)
    [8:54 PM] {OB mentions the Wolf & Alligator guitars onstage tonight}
  4. [8:55 PM] Cats Under the Stars (LW)
  5. [9:07 PM] Stella Blue (OB)
    [9:17 PM] {OB teases “I'm seeing double” after noticing that both Steve & Tom were playing Wolf guitars; OB sends love & healing vibes to Melvin; TG swaps to electric banjo for the next tune}
  6. [9:19 PM] Love and War (OB)
    [9:29 PM] {OB talks about LW's ABB connection}
  7. [9:31 PM] Every Hungry Woman (LW)
    [9:44 PM] {set ends}

Set Two

[10:19 PM] {lights down, performers out}

  1. [10:21 PM] Rooster (OB)
    [10:27 PM] {pause}
  2. [10:29 PM] Mother's Song
    [10:38 PM] {pause}
  3. [10:39 PM] Friend of the Lithium (JC) »
  4. [10:45 PM] New River Train (OB)
    [10:52 PM] {OB introduces the band; SK sits out the next tune}
  5. [10:54 PM] Time for the Sun to Rise (LW)
  6. [11:03 PM] Mighty High (LW)
    [11:13 PM] {Blue clown noses back on for almost everyone!}
  7. [11:14 PM] Dreams (LW)
    [11:30 PM] {pause}
  8. [11:31 PM] (Turn On Your) Lovelight (OB)
    [11:43 PM] {set ends}
    [11:44 PM] {all off}

    Encore
    [11:47 PM] {everyone back out}
  9. [11:48 PM] Tore Up Over You (LW)
    [11:56 PM] {show ends}

Performers

Oteil & Friends

Notes

Steve Kimock doesn't play in Norcal nearly as often as when he lived here (well duh!), so I was really happy to see him included in the announcement of this show by Oteil & Friends. Two shows were originally put on sale, and as we were already booked to see BEAT on Friday the 13th, we bought tickets to the second show. Surprisingly, ticket sales must have been pretty soft, as yesterday's show was cancelled and consolidated into this one. The house seemed fairly full tonight but not packed to overflowing: I wonder how many F tix were refunded instead of being redeemed tonight?

Although we'd gotten email and text reminders that “tonight's show will start promptly at 8 PM”, some sort of time distortion field must have been rolling through Berkeley, since the band didn't begin to play until 8:25 PM – rock-n-roll standard time?

Allthough I enjoyed the opening, I thought the band sounded a bit stiff through the first few numbers, and they didn't really hit their stride until twenty minutes in when they ripped through a rollicking version of Cats Under the Stars.

It was more than a little weird to see two versions of the Wolf guitar onstage, and as I missed hearing whether anyone commented about either being Jerry's original, I'm inclined to think that both were clones. That also planted doubt in my mind as to whether the Alligator onstage was a copy or the original. I like the idea that the originals are out and being played, but the notion that it's a good idea to clone them seems creepy to me. And for what it's worth, I didn't hear anything reminiscent of the Europe '72 twang that I expected from Alligator: instead, Kimock sounded like himself, and likewise Tom sounded like the fleet-fingered player that he is. Weird!

Set two was really fun, and John Morgan Kimock's tune Mother's Song was particularly amazing! I loved the classic slow-build solo that Steve played!! Tore Up surprised me as the show closer, but man, I was ready to boogie through that one, and happily, we had lots of dancing space by the time the encore rolled around!

All in all, it was a generous night of music: I hope Oteil & Friends come back soon!

Photos

Big thanks to Ting for the photo gallery!

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Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2024 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2024 event list! ☸ On to the next event!