Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Bob Weir Brooklyn Bowl

Here is a snippet of what I sent to Jambase today. It was nice to meet you Mark as always awesome chilling with you Jayne and Robert. Peter truly made everyone feel at home.

The Roots Jam article that me and Jim Cunningham worked on is released on Jambase. Congrats on the awesome piece!

The shirts on the security guards read “welcome,” and the acoustics are exceptional. The sound is loud and clear, while it is still possible to hear the person next to you speak. The venue is directly next door to Brooklyn Brewery and has all of their beer on tap. I had their Belgian wheat beer which was so good I will never be able to drink Blue Moon again. As The Dead fans descended upon the posh neighborhood of Williamsburg, the locals were certainly in the minority. Shady behavior was kept to a minimum, partly due to proper planning in the venue's layout. There is an outside area were the community can meet up, talk and share but no reentry once someone leaves. This lets people enjoy being outside in front of the venue, while limiting certain forms of questionable profiteering that can go on in the street.

The trio took the stage a little late due to the Yankees game. Weir came out with an acoustic and Wasserman, his upright bass They opened with Bob Dylan's “Maggies Farm,” and then nailed The Beatles' “Blackbird.” “Desolation Row” was the secondDylan song of the night and lent itself well to Weir's dramatic vocals. Weir then switched from his acoustic to a hollow body, tobbacco sunburst and sang Dylan classic “When I Paint My Masterpiece.” Though this is an old favorite, this version seemed special and sent a strong emotional feeling throughout the crowd.

The second set included another Beatles cover and the trio was joined by Joe Russo on the drums for the rest of the night. Russo is a Brooklyn local and the man behind some of the best collaborations in live music right now. An energetic, jazz powerhouse, Russo is the back beat of Weir's current project Furthur, in which he plays with Grateful Dead Bassist Phil Lesh. The musicians closed with The Dead's rocking version of the traditional “Going Down the Road Feeling Bad.” This is my all time favorite Grateful Dead song and also my favorite to play when jamming. “GDTRFB” was high energy, as usual and had the entire crowd singing along, Weir played his signature bluesy licks and pulled off a solid solo during the climax. Taking a full throttle solo is rare for rhythm guitarist Bob Weir but he nailed it on this occasion.



4 comments:

Jeffrey Greenblatt said...

Great night of music, really dug the show. Just an FYI - Masterpiece is actually a Dylan song.

one step ahead said...

oh shit. thanks for correcting me in such a non a-hole way. but damn that sucks.

Jeffrey Greenblatt said...

Easy mistake to make, it was never put out on any of his studio albums and is probably better known from The Band's version from Cahoots, but I've always dug The Dead's version of song.

Live Music Adventure said...

great review...wish i was there,brooklyn bowl sounds dope, they should have one in every big city!