AXS presents Steve Winwood
  with Cris Jacobs
2014-06-25
Mountain Winery
14831 Pierce Road, Saratoga, CA
7:30 PM, Wednesday, June 25, 2014

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[7:30 PM lights down]

1. [7:32 PM] ?
2. [7:37 PM] ? “keep diggin in the cold ground”
3. [7:43 PM] Lord, I Just Can't Keep From Crying Sometimes ç
4. [7:46 PM] Samson & Delilah ç
5. [7:51 PM] Be My Stars
6. [7:58 PM] the Devil & Jesse James
   [set ends 8:03 PM]

[8:31 PM lights down, band out]

1. [8:32 PM] Rainmaker
2. [8:39 PM] I'm a Man
3. [8:46 PM] the Morning Side
4. [8:55 PM] Can't Find My Way Home &
5. [9:01 PM] Medicated Goo &
6. [9:07 PM] the Low Spark of High Heeled Boys »
7. [9:15 PM] Empty Pages
8. [9:21 PM] Them Changes
9. [9:27 PM] Light Up or Leave Me Alone
10. [9:45 PM] Higher Love
    [set ends 9:53 PM, all off]
     
    Encore
11. [9:54 PM] Dear Mr. Fantasy
12. [10:03 PM] Gimme Some Lovin'
    [show ends 10:09 PM with bows, then all off, lights up!]

• Richard Bailey: drums;
• Paul Booth: tenor saxophone, flute;
• Edson "Café" Da Silva: percussion;
• José Neto: guitar;
• Steve Winwood: Hammond B-3 organ, piano, keyboards, guitar, vox.

• Cris Jacobs: acoustic guitar, cigar box guitar, vox.

What with the rush of attendees and the subsequent crush trying to get parked, we end up in the uppermost parking lot tonight. Good for uber-fans who plan on hanging out with the band at their tour bus after the show, bad for folks like us who will be stuck in the longest possible queue. Anyways, we hustle on down to the entrance, snake our way through the search and scan, then race-walk to our seats in the bleachers immediately behind the soundboard, arriving a moment or two after the start of the opening set from Cris Jacobs.

The opener, Cris Jacobs, is a very bluesy guitar player and a fine singer. I like his set, but the constant chatter of folks around us bodes ill for the night ahead. Seems to me like we're the only ones in our section trying to listen to the music … EVERYBODY else is either talking, listening to a friend talk, or messing with a smartphone. Aiyah! What a sad situation! It's evident by the end of Cris' set that there's nothing much I can do but suffer, so I counsel myself patience and pray that all will be well once the headliner takes the stage…

So it's setbreak, and the crowd is even more talkative than earlier in the night, drat! Ting thinks it's the location – that the Mountain Winery draws a more self-absorbed crowd than other venues. I think that's partly correct, but I think it's also an older crowd that isn't so hard core about going to shows, and so doesn't realize how obnoxious it is to be ignoring the show while they socialize. Plus: alcohol and the budget to afford it! Pile on the fact that we're sitting in the cheaper seats, so the hard core fans are up close, and we're likely to be surrounded by more casual concert-goers. Nothing good there in that list!! Probably a bad choice on my part to think I might be able to enjoy the show from this location.

Anyways, we sit tight until it's time for the main event, then suffer the idiots around us who howl in recognition of Rainmaker, but then yammer about what a great tune it is instead of actually listening to it as it unfolds. I try hard to be still and listen, but before the tune is half done, I've had enough, so I get up and walk over to stand in the center aisle where I can dance (yeah! an unexpected blessing) and listen to the show with slightly less distraction than at my assigned seat in the stands.

No doubt this unhappy start lends a vinegary taste to my impression of tonights show – seems to me to be a casual toss-off … just another whistle stop on the road for Stevie and the boys – but without a contrasting opinion from someone up front, it's hard to decide this point. The setlist looks OK – nothing really to whine or moan about besides the fact that it was barely 90 minutes long, and like all hard core music junkies, that's only enough to wet the whistle of my desire.

Overall, I think I'd have better served attending the Oakland Fox show later in the week, but scheduling conflicts kept us out of that one, and how was I to know that Winwood would be touring CA again in the fall?

Back to the previous event ☸ Back to the 2014 yearbox ☸ Back to the 2014 event list! ☸ On to the next event!