Sweetwater Music Hall presents Jorma Kaukonen
2016-02-11
Sweetwater Music Hall
19 Corte Madera Ave, Mill Valley, CA 94941
8:00 PM, Thursday, February 11, 2016

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2016 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2016 event list! ☸ On to the next event!

[8:01 PM lights down, waitin' for Jorma]

1. [8:01 PM] True Religion
2. [8:07 PM] Ain't in No Hurry
3. [8:12 PM] Hesitation Blues
4. [8:17 PM] I See the Light
5. [8:27 PM] Watch the North Wind Rise
6. [8:32 PM] Living in the Moment
7. [8:37 PM] Barbeque King
8. [8:43 PM] I Am the Light of This World
9. [8:48 PM] River of Time
10. [8:52 PM] Where There's Two There's Trouble
11. [8:55 PM] How Long Blues
12. [9:02 PM] Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning
    [set ends 9:07 PM]

1. [9:34 PM] Don't You Leave Me Here AKA Dime for Beer
2. [9:38 PM] Serpent of Dreams
3. [9:46 PM] In My Dreams
4. [9:49 PM] Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out
5. [9:54 PM] Brother Can You Spare a Dime?
6. [9:58 PM] Come Back Baby
7. [10:04 PM] San Francisco Bay Blues
8. [10:08 PM] Death Don't Have No Mercy
9. [10:15 PM] Good Shepherd
10. [10:25 PM] Let Us Get Together Right Down Here
11. [10:29 PM] I Know You Rider
12. [10:36 PM] Water Song
    [set ends 10:43 PM]
     
    Encore
13. [10:45 PM] Bar Room Crystal Ball
    [show ends 10:51 PM]

• Jorma Kaukonen: acoustic guitar, vox.

After a long intro speech from the management telling us to behave (be quiet, don't use flash cameras, et cetera), Jorma walked out and graced us with a fine set of tunes. Most all of them were familiar to me, but he also tossed in a few curve balls to keep things interesting. Gotta love that!

As we had standing room tickets, the floor seats weren't open to us, but I managed to find a bit of open space dead center in the back of the room, at the top of the steps that lead to the bar. A perfect spot for watching and listening as long as things are mellow. And for the first set, the room was remarkably quiet. During set break I took a load off and stretched out in an unused chair at the back of the floor, and my guess is that most folks either loaded up on drinks or other mood elevators, because the vibe was considerably roudier when Jorma returned for the second set about a half hour later.

By the second tune, I knew I had to move … the loud drunk on my rear left corner was screaming and hollering both during and after the songs, and the guy who'd pressed in at the very back of the floor (in front of me) was also way too enthusiastic. Dang! So much for enjoying my perfect spot! Happily, there were at least a dozen open seats on the floor, so I threaded my way through the crowd and sat as far up as I could on the center aisle. Couldn't really see much most of the time, but the sound was significantly better with the boozy riff-raff well behind me! Thanks also to the house staff, who apparently kicked out my hollering nemesis. It's true that Jorma kicks ass, but we don't need to hear about it every three or four minutes.

Bob Weir (and Rob Wasserman?) were in the audience for tonight's first set; I'd hoped they would be onstage for a duo or trio segment after break, but I guess they were just enjoying a Friday night off like the rest of us.

Thanks to Jorma for posting the setlist on his blog … makes it easier for me to make sure that part of the page is correct!

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2016 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2016 event list! ☸ On to the next event!