Yoshi's presents Brian Auger & Oblivion Express with Alex Ligertwood
2014-09-03
Yoshi's
Jack London Square, 510 Embarcadero West, Oakland, CA
8:00 PM, Wednesday, September 3, 2014

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

[8:04 PM lights down, announcements, banter from Brian]

1. [8:08 PM] Freedom Jazz Dance
2. [8:14 PM] Happiness Is Just Around the Bend
3. [8:22 PM] Straight Ahead
4. [8:32 PM] Bumpin' on Sunset
5. [8:45 PM] Truth
6. [8:54 PM] Future Pilot
7. [9:04 PM] Don't Look Away, Look Around
8. [9:15 PM] I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know
9. [9:25 PM] ? “I'll Be Around” / “get up on your feet now and get it together”
10. [9:34 PM] Compared to What
    [set ends 9:46 PM]
     
    Encore
11. [9:49 PM] Brain Damage
    [show ends 9:59 PM]

• Brian Auger: electric piano, Hammond B-3 organ;
• Karma Auger: drums;
• Derek Frank: bass;

• Alex Ligertwood: guitar, percussion, vox.

I'd been looking forward to this show for awhile, having consistently missed Auger on his last decade's worth of visits to the bay area, and hearing that Alex Ligertwood was onboard for this tour served only to psych me up even more. What with work and other scheduling issues, we didn't have enough time to eat in the restaurant and secure reserved seating, so instead we hustled to be there when the doors opened, then found that nearly the entire front section had been yellow tagged by diners and VIPs anyways. Oh well! We made the best of things by grabbing the center table in the third tier, then used our early arrival to order some pre-show sushi. Gobble, gobble, yum! Fresh fish is always a tasty idea!

Anyways, the show was excellent. I was pleased to note that I could ID a few of the tunes withbout help from the Internet, and glad that all but one has been named – the librarian in me hates to put up with uncertainty in song titles, performance personnel and other miscellany that most folks seem to overlook. Plus, it was a generous helping of music – almost two hours? Oh yeah, I'll take that!

After the show ended, we cleared out to the lobby to buy merch and collect autographs. All of the guys were friendly and sociable, but it was tough getting to Brian, naturally, and while we got him to add his mark to our memorabilia, it was clearly a multitasking effort as he juggled conversations, photo ops, sweaty hugs and signatures. Alex took awhile to come out, entering just as we were about to leave, but that timing made it easier to jump in and grab his attention for a moment before he slipped on to other folks.

So all in all, a fine evening's entertainment. Gotta be sure to keep an eye on Brian's tour schedule so another decade doesn't slip by before we can see him again.

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