(((folkYEAH!))) presents David Crosby & Friends featuring Michael League, Becca Stevens, and Michelle Willis
Castro Theatre
429 Castro St, San Francisco, CA 94612-2309 USA
7:30 PM, Tuesday, November 6, 2018

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[7:38 PM lights down, announcements, band out]
[instrumentation below consistently maps to ML.BS.DC.MW; “º” denotes “no instrument, only vox”]

1. [7:40 PM] The Us Below @.‡.º.%
   [the crowd sings Happy Birthday to MW]
2. [7:46 PM] Things We Do for Love &.@.@.%
   [messing around with lighting & David's acoustic guitar]
3. [7:52 PM] 1974 @.@.º.%
   [DC talks about his sci-fi vision of a future Venice]
4. [7:56 PM] Vagrants of Venice κ.7.º.κ
5. [8:01 PM] Regina (BS) &.υ.º.%
   [all off but DC, with acoustic guitar]
   [8:06 PM DC yacks awhile about the next tune]
6. [8:09 PM] Naked in the Rain ..@.
   [more DC yack]
7. [8:14 PM] What Are Their Names (a capella) ..º.
   [others back, DC takes off his guitar]
8. [8:16 PM] Other Half Rule @.†.º.%
   [more DC yack]
9. [8:21 PM] By the Light of Common Day @.&.º.%
   [set ends 8:28 PM]

[8:51 PM lights down, band out]

1. [8:52 PM] Glory @.‡.º.%
2. [8:58 PM] The City @.&.º.%
3. [9:02 PM] Look in Their Eyes @.&.º.%
4. [9:08 PM] Guinnevere @.†.@.%
   [David introduces the band; MW talks a bit about the next tune]
5. [9:17 PM] Janet (MW) β.†.º.%
6. [9:21 PM] Carry Me º.º.@.º
7. [9:25 PM] Déjà Vu β.@.@.%
   [set ends 9:33 PM]
   
   Encore
8. [9:35 PM] Woodstock @.@.@.%
9. [9:40 PM] Ohio @.@.@.%
   [show ends 9:43 PM]

• David Crosby: @ acoustic guitar, lead and harmony vox;
• Michael League: @ acoustic guitar, & guitar, β bass, κ hand claps, lead and harmony vox;
• Becca Stevens: ‡ Hammertone 12-string electric guitar/mandolin hybrid, @ acoustic guitar, Pre-War 7-string guitar, υ Taropatch ukulele, † 10-string charango, & guitar, lead and harmony vox;
• Michelle Willis: % keyboards, κ hand claps, lead and harmony vox.

It had been a long time since my last visit to the Castro Theatre … about 10.5 years, in fact. Funny how time flies! Came in from the East Bay on BART, then transferred to Muni for the ride out to Castro station: located across the street from the theatre, it seemed silly to even consider driving over and looking for parking. As the show was billed as “Optimum Seating” and GA, we opted for the upgrade, then found out it meant GA with early admission and a sparkly wristband for access to the front 10 or 12 rows. Right then, so getting there early would be a necessity! I rolled in around 5:30 or so, and got a spot about 20 people back in the queue, and Ting showed up about 20 minutes later, just in time to scanned and banded like the rest of us. After another 10 or 20 minutes wait (by which time we'd been pushed back to 30th or 40th in line at best), they opened the house, and we raced in to secure our seats, ending up with a very fine choice: fourth row center. Yay! All's well that ends well, right?

Time seems to have treated the grand old venue alright, but it's clearly not set up for music – while the stage lighting was totally inadequate, at least the rented PA was up to the task, sounded pretty darn good, in fact! Back in the complaint department: the lobby and support areas are far too small too accomodate a full house ready to roam about before a gig or during setbreak. Seems like the general idea back when they constructed her in the 1920's must have been “All patrons will plant themselves in their seats for the movie” and that's about it! Oh well. At least we were surrounded by friends and friendly strangers!

Somehow I hadn't got the memo that David's current outfit was a drummerless ensemble, but that was pretty obvious once we had a chance to look at the stage setup. Michael League was set up to Stage Right, then moving towards the center, a circle of stringed instruments indicated Becca's zone. Just to Stage Left of center, a single mic and stool was set up from Croz (though I don't recall that he sat at all), and to far Stage Left, a keyboard rig for Michelle Willis (looked to be a Fender-Rhodes, a Nord Stage Two, and an older analog synth – maybe a MiniMoog?, but it was all draped with batik cloth, so nearly impossible to ID with surety).

The show got started nearly on time, and from the glorious harmony of the first tune, I knew that this had been a good choice. It's a shame that fine harmony singing seems to be a rare offering these days. Just because anyone can make noise when they open their mouth doesn't mean they should be singing!

As I've been rather slack about keeping up with the latest commerical releases from Croz, the first set consisted of tunes that were entirely new to me – most of them coming from his newly released album (with this band), Here If You Listen, though a few came from Lighthouse, the album he released with Michael League in 2016. I found the tunes to be interesting – with plenty of odd, unpredictable turns – but it's hard at first listen to know which ones will live onward while others fall to the wayside.

What Are Their Names was probably the oldest tune from the first set – a choice pick off of David's solo album, If I Could Only Remember My Name, and a fitting choice for throwing a bit of sand at the powers that be. If only songs were more powerful at stimulating collective change in our society!

As you might guess from that commentary, my favorites of the night were the stone classics delivered in the second set, Guinnevere and Déjà Vu. The former has been near and dear to me since I was gifted Crosby, Stills & Nash (their first album) by my girlfriend in 1978. You see, she had strawberry-golden hair and green eyes… and well, young love can make a deep impression!

While Guinnevere was played relatively straight, Déjà Vu was delivered in a deliciously rearranged form, beginning with a circuitous jam led by Michael League that slowly spiraled in to the repetitve riff that leads off the canonical form established by version on the 1970 CSNY album of the same title. Whew! Great fun just thinking about that one again!

I was a little miffed that the second set was hardly more than 40 minutes long, but the double encore cheered me up a little. Like Déjà Vu, Woodstock was also delivered in a somewhat rearranged version – heavier on the vocal harmony than the original, and flavored differently, what with the “substitution” of two female voices for the all-male original.

Given that tonight was election night, Ohio was an interesting choice for a show-closer, and David turned it into an audience sing-along. Good thing everyone seemed ready to participate!

Big thanks to Ting for the photo gallery!

Whoa! This section is incomplete for now, sorry!

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2018 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2018 event list! ☸ On to the next event!