Lagunitas Brewing Company presents Robert Randolph; with opener Quinn DeVeaux
LaguMiniAmphitheaterette
1280 N. McDowell Blvd, Petaluma, CA 94954-1113 USA
6:00 PM, Tuesday, August 27, 2024

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promo art for tonight's show!

[5:59 PM] {Welcome; band out}

1. [6:01 PM] Been Too Long
2. [6:05 PM] Bayou
   [6:11 PM] {QD introduces CE; pause for TO amp swap}
3. [6:11 PM] All I Need
   [6:15 PM] {QD introduces TS}
4. [6:16 PM] Very Best Thing
   [6:19 PM] {QD introduces NO}
5. [6:20 PM] Left This Town
   [6:23 PM] {QD introduces TO}
6. [6:23 PM] Tiger in Your Tank
   [6:29 PM] {QD thanks to the crowd‚ Lagunitas‚ RR…}
7. [6:29 PM] Take You Back
   [6:35 PM] {QD thanks again; got a couple more for ya…}
8. [6:35 PM] Good Times Roll
   [6:39 PM] {QD says this last one is for his Grandma}
9. [6:40 PM] One
   [6:45 PM] {final applause; beer break!}

• Quinn DeVeaux: guitar, vox;
• Christian Eck: keyboards, harmony vox;
• Nick Otis: drums;
• Tony Owens: guitar;
• Timmy Stabler: bass.

[7:13 PM] {Welcome & announcements}
[7:19 PM] {band out: noodling}

1. [7:20 PM] I'm So Glad (RR) »
2. [7:29 PM] I Need More Love (RR)
   [7:35 PM] {RR stands up and swaps to a Melobar guitar; introduces TN}
3. [7:35 PM] Outside Woman Blues (TN)
   [7:41 PM] {RR sits back down; RR: “Brother Tash Neal feels wonderful tonight!” RR introduces JW}
4. [7:41 PM] Picture Frame (JW) »
5. [7:47 PM] RR pedal steel solo »
6. [7:50 PM] Hip Shake Thing (RR)
   [7:58 PM] {RR says it's been 23 years since his last visit to Petaluma}
7. [7:59 PM] Baptise Me (RR)
   [8:08 PM] {RR lauds WB}
   [8:09 PM] {RR swaps back to Melobar guitar; tells us about TN touring with Slash}
8. [8:09 PM] Red House (TN)
   [8:15 PM] {RR lauds TN}
   [8:15 PM] {RR swaps back to pedal steel guitar}
9. [8:16 PM] (unidentified instrumental)
   [8:27 PM] {all off; feedback continues}
   
   Encore
   [8:28 PM] {band back out}
10. [8:28 PM] (unidentified tune #2, RR singing, chorus ““Come Back to Me”) »
11. [8:38 PM] Foxy Lady (RR)
12. [8:44 PM] Ain't Nothing Wrong with That (RR)
    [8:49 PM] {final applause}
    [8:50 PM] {show ends}

• Willie B AKA Willie B Barthel III: drums;
• Tash Neal: guitar, lead & harmony vox;
• Robert Randolph: pedal steel guitar, lap slide guitar, lead & harmony vox;
• Jay White: bass, lead & harmony vox.

Not having seen Robert Randolph since pre-pandemic days, I was psyched to see this gig listed on the Lagunitas Brewing Company summer schedule: an outdoor show on a warm summer night? With local favorite Quinn DeVeaux opening? Heck yeah! Let's do it! Turns out that it cooled off pretty darn quick once the sun went down, but fortunately, we were prepared for that possibility, and offered joyful dances under the stars, celebrating the imminent change of summer into fall.

Being well-motivated for this show, we skipped out of work a little early today in order to get to Petaluma in time for the 4:20 PM door call. East bay traffic was a nasty mess, but once we made it to the 80/580 split it was cool running, and we pulled up at the entrance just as the line was compacting to go in. Ting hopped out to get us a spot in the queue, and I parked, wrassled together our lawnchairs and other luggage, and then hustled back to join her moments before entry tagging. I'd expected that arriving early would let us go claim an amphitheatre spot right away, but Robert Randolph was still doing soundcheck, so we had to wait outside for that, and then awhile longer for Quinn DeVeaux to do the same. Ugh! Fortunately, our early arrival gave us priority access to the lawn, and except for the wasted time (could have been eatin' & drinkin' if they'd explained it would be an hour until amphitheatre entry!), everything worked out just fine. We got the spot we wanted, we had time to snarfle poke bowls, and I enjoyed a fresh pour of Coastal Riff – a fine IPA featuring Nectaron hops from New Zealand. Yum! Woulda had a second one if I'd planned better!

Quinn DeVeaux brought an entirely new band compared to the group we saw at TXR in 2021, and while today's gig was fun, I felt like they needed more practice together to really gel.

I hadn't realized until today that Robert Randolph retired 'the Family Band', but poking around the Internet seems to show that aggregation hasn't performed since before the pandemic. I was likewise surprised at the stylistic turn into heavy blues evidenced by tonight's setlist. I dug it, but missed the gospel emphasis of prior performances. Even though we were lined up well with one of the PA stacks, I the sound during the first portion of the show seemed particularly muddy: too much bass and not enough vocals. It's hard to know if this was a conscious stylistic choice – because it certainly fit in with the repertoire choices – or just one of those things that got fixed later as the sound engineer realized “hey, I can't tell what the lyrics are.” Anyways, I was much happier with the blend by the time they got to Baptise Me.

Did I mention that it was really really loud? One friend told me he left early because it was too loud. Yep. That's why I try to bring multiple sets of ear plugs, so I can adjust the volume to my liking instead of being stuck with the sound intensity blasting from the PA system. And for what it's worth, I thought that loud volume was perfectly in keeping with the Cream-style power blues that the band was playing. Am I psyched to go again? Well yeah – I liked it! – but I'll definitely be waiting for another outdoor show: high volume and enclosed spaces tend to interact in ugly ways!

Big thanks to Ting for the photo gallery!

Whoa! This section is incomplete for now, sorry!

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2024 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2024 event list! ☸ On to the next event!