Sweetwater Music Hall presents New Riders of the Purple Sage with special guest, Steve Kimock
2015-10-31
Sweetwater Music Hall
19 Corte Madera Ave, Mill Valley, CA 94941
9:00 PM, Saturday, October 31, 2015

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2015 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2015 event list! ☸ On to the next event!

[9:17 PM lights down, no banter from Wavy Gravy, noodling, ?WHO? whoops us up; Wavy says “let's go!”]

1. [9:27 PM] Panama Red (DN)
2. [9:31 PM] Rainbow (MF)
   (Pause for Nelson to fix a broken string]
3. [9:37 PM] ? “Killing Time / Drinking Wine / Smoking Grass / Wasted”(MF)
4. [9:48 PM] Fair Chance to Know (RP)
5. [9:53 PM] Big Six (DN)
6. [9:59 PM] Maggie's Farm (MF)
   [Kimock off to fix a broken string on the Explorer; back out mid tune with the Gibson instead]
7. [10:07 PM] Oh Babe, It Ain't No Lie (DN)
8. [10:14 PM] Garden of Eden (DN) » [10:21 PM] the Last Time (DN) » [10:23 PM] (Wavy Gravy rant about the sun) » [10:25 PM] Garden of Eden (DN)
9. [10:32 PM] Rainy Day Woman No. 12 and 35 (DN)
   [set ends 10:39 PM; costume contest announcements and then off]

[11:15 PM Buddy out to noodle]
[11:23 PM lights down, announcements]

1. [11:25 PM] Deep Elem Blues (DN)
2. [11:33 PM] Werewolves of London (JM)
3. [11:41 PM] Bank Robber (MF)
4. [11:48 PM] Wookie Kids (RP)
5. [11:57 PM] Barracuda Moon (DN)
6. [12:14 AM] Big Railroad Blues (MF)
7. [12:20 AM] Higher (JM)
8. [12:27 AM] Six of One (DN)
   [set ends 12:38 AM back onstage after a minute or two]
    
   Encore
9. [12:40 AM] Suite at the Mission (DN)
10. [12:47 AM] Glendale Train (DN)
    [show ends 12:53 AM]

New Riders of the Purple Sage

• Buddy Cage: pedal steel guitar;
• Michael Falzarano: guitar, mandolin, vox;
• Johnny Markowski: drums;
• David Nelson: guitar, vox;
• Ronnie Penque: bass.

• Steve Kimock: guitar, harmony vox.

Lots of great costumes tonight – there were easily a dozen friends present that I completely failed to recognize behind their Halloween costumes. Gotta lend major props to folks who put out that much effort!

And happily, despite the reported sellout, there seemed to be relatively plenty of room for dancing. I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that it might have something to do with a tighter than usual control on the unticketed guest list, as I saw not one, but two such folks get turned down at the front desk where wrist bands were being dispensed. Whatever the reason, I'm all for the change. Unencumbered dancing space is a welcome property!

Unlike the enthusiastic crowd, the band didn't take to the Halloween theme at all, unless you care to believe David's nonsense that they'd garbed as one another. Still, that aspect is entirely secondary to the delivery of tunage, and in that respect, the four guitar lineup delivered in spades. Standing up front, the sound was shockingly loud – a “thump ya right in the chest” sort of impact – fun for awhile, but fatiguing by the end of the night. Another challenge with this configuration was keeping track of who held the lead during any particular break. More than once I had to take two or three looks to figure out who was laying out the killer licks. A fun game, to be sure!

With multiple singers in the band, I was happy to note that David passed the lead vocal duties about nearly as much as the lead guitar lines. It makes for a better stew to hear a variety of voices, and I assume at least a few of the less familiar song choices arose from the singer's inspiration. Good work!

And what Halloween show would be complete without Werewolves of London? Certainly not this one! Kimock cracked me up with his solo turn here – his part consisted entirely of glissando runs up the guitar neck, mimicking the repeated “woo, woo, woo” of the harmony vocal line. The very opposite of a typical guitar solo, it showed off Steve in very humorous fashion.

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2015 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2015 event list! ☸ On to the next event!