Setlists:
Soundcheck included:
Before You Were Born
“Like The Words to a Little Song”
A one bar tease from Andrew of the drums from Tomorrow Never Knows that set my pulse racing
Set 1:
All I Saw Was You >
Children of December
Lost Man in a Foreign Country
"Like The Words to a Little Song" $
Soft Machine
Life in Disguise
Paper Birds
Just Because
Set 2:
Black Telephone *
Wine and White Soda
Vesuvius Fountains
Poor Boy
Suffocation Keep
Baba O'Riley @
If One of us Should Fall
Encores:
Who's in Control of This Little Boat %
More About Me (Slow That Boat) ^
$ No title yet
# Brad on banjo
*Working Title
** First time played since 3/5/06
@ w/ Sweet Jane verse
% Brad taught this to Marc and Andrew in the hallway as they came back out for the encore
^ "Slow That Boat" is the title Brad used for what we've always called "More About Me"
Review:
Words fail me. Well, not really.
This was my first time at Club Helsinki and the overwhelming vibe is “funky tiny.” Here’s a quote from my review of the Red Square show in March: “Every time I think I’ve seen them cram onto the smallest possible space, the next stage seems even smaller.” Well, the stage at Helsinki makes the stages at Savannah’s or Red Square seem like Madison Square Garden. It’s a good thing these guys like each other. The Kinks’ Davies brothers would never have survived on that stage. Brad sat through the entire show because he and Marc could not both stand with their instruments. Instead, they went for a tiered approach. There wasn’t even room on the stage for the guitar rack. The guitars were down on the floor in front of Brad’s monitors; guarded by crew guys who handed up instruments as requested. Bottom line, though: the club has a great friendly vibe and the food was excellent.
Tour buddy Alan and I got there early enough for a leisurely dinner with time to hang a bit with Clinton, Phrazz, Kyle, Chloe, and Lara and to pick up a copy of EISENHOWER!!! Yes, Ian had several cartons of discs with him, so bring your extra $15 to the show and purchase your disc in the fashion that gives the band the biggest cut. I’ll be posting my thoughts about that little gem later. (I’m only on my 3rd listening since I woke up today. Need to do more studying.)
Also got to chat briefly with Marc and Brad. (Andrew and Sam were already embroiled in soundcheck, so it was just a quick hi from each of them.) The hot topic (for me) was Marc’s new bass. It’s a gorgeous red 1970 Guild Starfire. This is an instrument with special significance for Deadheads such as myself, as Phil Lesh played a red Starfire from ’67 – ’69 or ’70 (if memory serves).
By the time I got done drooling over that and caught up with Brad, he was finishing up the installation of a soundhole pickup on the acoustic and was needed on stage for soundcheck, so we only got a couple of minutes in.
As for Andrew, the most noticeable things were 1) The absence of the beloved BIG calfskin head kick drum and 2) the presence of a dapper red fez perched on his noggin. Regarding the former, that drum is getting on in years and if a head broke on tour, replacing it would be beyond difficult. The folks who made the rest of his kit are making him a new large-diameter kick. This is good news since it’s my belief that Andrew’s right foot is a large part of what drives the Slip train, and the impact of the large kick is a crucial element of that drive. Regarding the headgear, “It seemed like the time was right.”
We found great seats to the right and just out front of the stage, about 10 feet from Andrew’s corner. Our backs were against the wall, we were on raised barstools with backs, and we each had our own little table for our dinner. As I said to Alan at one point, these may be the best seats we ever get for these guys until they play my 75th birthday party. The only compromise was that the PA speakers were out beyond us by about 3 feet, so vocals would be a little weak.
The show started at 10:05 with a delicate solo by Brad on the acoustic, coloring his lines with backwards delays. Marc started out holding his white J-bass but then put it down, stepping up to sing harmony, along with Andrew, on “All I Saw Was You.” This is a lovely, aching song of loss featuring 3-part harmonies, acoustic guitar, and Marc providing some sparse accompaniment on MIDI pedals. I can’t wait to hear the tape so I can really check out those harmonies.
This opener lead directly into a smooth version of Children of December, not as rocked out as many I’ve seen. I’m realizing today that what we heard owes a lot to the album version (how nice to be able to type that) – very smooth and polished. Not to worry, though - we did still get a great fuzzed-out solo from Marc on the J-bass. (BTW, here’s an answer to the question “What do we call this decade?” An old-timey word for zero is “naught.” So that would make this decade “the naughties.”)
There was no segue, but BAM barely paused for a second before sliding into the oh, so suave (no I’m not being facetious) Lost Man in a Foreign Land. You’ll recognize this because it’s a bossa nova and there are some lyrics in French. We were treated to some nice jazz soloing from Brad on the acoustic, but the sweet sound of this tune might distract from the realization that this is another song of longing. Love lost? Opportunity missed? Between All I Saw Was You and this one, it’s hard not to feel that there’s some stuff that’s been going on. It’s not our place to know any more than what Brad chooses to share (in his songs or otherwise) but listening to these songs at that moment, it felt to me like he’s writing what he knows rather than creating a third-person narrative. Powerful stuff. Can’t wait to hear these songs mature.
A pause in the action allowed Brad to request his Danelectro and for Marc to strap on the Starfire for the second ever “New Vocal #1” containing the lyric “Like Words to a Little Song.” This one’s got no title. In fact, Brad’s still working on the lyric. Can’t tell you much about this one other than it reinforced the feeling I described above. Lovely song with heavy stuff inside.
[Oh man, I’ve only described 4 songs and I’m already on page 3?!?!?]
Next came what was definitely a highlight of the night for me. It started out with Brad ringing a small bell by the acoustic’s soundhole pickup, then playing some snippets off his Dictaphone into the pickup and looping them with the Boomerang. Meanwhile, Andrew picked out “small” notes on a toy xylophone and Marc scraped and worried at the strings of the black Dano tictac bass, which was capo-ed high on the neck. This passage had a very delicate yet mysterious air. It reminded me of Garcia’s “An Odd Little Place” from the second side of his first solo album.
This moved into something that reminded me of meditative Frisell stuff in its tone. Marc started filling in some low end with his MIDI pedals while continuing to provide light filigrees on the Dano. At this point I started to pick up on some riffs/hints and understanding of what they were doing dawned, causing me to laugh out loud. They were building a soft machine!! Brilliant!!! This machine is not as discordant as the one you’ll hear in “First Panda in Space” on EISENHOWER. It truly was a Soft machine. I’m sure if I went back, I could find other times they’ve done this, but none ever felt so deliberate and perfectly executed to me. As for the tune itself, here was another version that owes a lot to the album. Like the earlier Children of December, this was smoother rather than rocked out. Other versions could feel like they were about to burst with energy, this one was relaxed, confident, and strong. The song finished with Andrew taking us to a tribal gathering somewhere near the equator while Brad added nicely syncopated yelps. From beginning to end, I had a great time with this one.
Next up was Life in Disguise, co-written with Isaac Taylor. Here’s a song I can already tell I’m going to grow to love. For this one, Andrew played the Black Strat and hi-hat tambourine. Towards the end, he played the Strat (along with his kit) with a drumstick. Tony Levin got nothin’ on our Andrew!
Paper Birds was next, complete with a real live pharmacist with wings, courtesy of Kyle, who won the unofficial costume contest. Well done, sir! Brad was on acoustic for this one, Marc was on the Starfire, and Andrew started off playing the wheels of a rolling toy and twirling a plastic tube before picking up his sticks. The middle break was quite fractured and strayed farther from the main theme than usual. We got some great Barr brother harmonies after Marc’s solo towards the end, after which Brad took a great, extended solo. And here was another highlight for me because the spirit of the Starfire seemed to meld with Marc’s talent. Much to my delight, Marc was sounding much like Phil Lesh, twining his own solo runs around Brad’s solo, dropping bass-foundation bombs, and then returning to dance a duet with Brad. Of course, this isn’t the first time I’ve heard Marc do this, but oh, that Starfire tone! The bass handled both chores perfectly, just as Phil’s did back in the day.
To close the set, Brad passed Marc the acoustic and called for his banjo. Marc passed the Starfire to Andrew, who did his bass thing while his left foot once again handled the hi-hat tambourine chores. Just Because is a jaunty little ditty, summoning an atmosphere of days gone by in the same vein as Hunny. Marc and Brad each took excellent period-authentic solos and then the first set ended 70 minutes after it started.
While we wait for the second set to start, I’ll mention a couple of things. First, it sure was fun to see the three of them trading instruments so freely throughout the set. It brings home (as if we needed the reminder) of just how much music these three men have inside of them. It’s also fun to see Marc using his pedals more. This adds another layer of flexibility to the sound, much in the way that Brad’s use of the Boomerang or Andrew’s Roland drumpads do.
I lost track of time, but can say with 100% certainty that the second set started some time after the first one ended. The first order of business was for Brad to play a toy telephone into his pickup and sample the sound of an old-style telephone ringer into the Boomerang; a pretty solid hint that we were in for another new tune: Black Telephone. Brad once again had the acoustic, Marc once again had the Starfire in hand, and Andrew’s hands were on fire. More accurately, this tune started out with Andrew’s hand-clapping as our time-keeper. The sampled ringer punctuated choruses, Marc’s basslines reminded me at times of Lennon’s Ballad of John and Yoko, and the tune built to a rockin’ rave-up of a finish. Fun!
Wine and White Soda is a song that hooked me from the first time I heard it, but this was the first time I was in the room when they played it. Brad picked up his white Dano for this one and Marc added some organ stabs with his MIDI pedals. The guitar hook in this tune is irresistible and Andrew’s drumming drives it home. I honestly can’t give you any details here. I was having too much fun just listening and watching the dancers to take notes.
For the next tune, Marc picked up the black Strat and Andrew picked up….a piece of paper. Brad started off on a solo that at times showed touches of Hawaiian slack key playing. Andrew accompanied him on paper, slowly crumpling and tearing the paper on mic to create atmosphere. No treatments, reverbs or effects that I could make out - just the quietly intriguing sound of Andrew manipulating paper. Fascinating. Vesuvius Fountains is a tune that was last played in early March at Red Square in Albany and the next night in Syracuse. So I’ve seen this tune 2 of the 3 times it’s been played. Of course, having only seen it once and never hearing it since, I didn’t remember it, but Brad remembered that I’d seen it. (Good thing one of us pays attention ;^) This is another tune from the quiet side of the spectrum and Marc added some pretty ornamentation with the Strat.
Time to ROCK again!! Brad grabbed his metal slide, Marc called for the Starfire, and Brad introduced Poor Boy with something to the effect of “here’s one we first played last time we were here.” The now oh so familiar opening riff picked everyone up and shook them by the scruff of the neck. From the first, this tune has always brought Led Zeppelin to mind and it still does, no matter how BAM approach it. Whether it’s the amped up rawk’n’roll version from 4/15 at Fall River or the primal, swampy mojo of countless other versions, this tune charts musical history in a direct line from the moaning blues of Son House and Robert Johnson to the fabled pre-bloat days of Zep’s early glory. My notes for this one include “we’ve come a loooong way from that breakout version.” One thing I always enjoy about Poor Boy is the little coda at the end where Andrew and Marc find a new way to goose the rhythm with an old-time feel and this one was no exception.
“Haunting” is one way to describe Suffocation Keep. Another way is “that tune where Marc played some really cool shit.” He provided cello accompaniment with his MIDI pedals, supplied the “haunting” stuff with a solo using that shaker/slidey thing, and later on gave us some lovely bass chording for texture. The song built to an anthem-like finish - not over the top, but quietly powerful.
Speaking of powerful anthems, next up was another of the evening’s highlights: Baba O’Riley. It was about a month before they broke this out that I mentioned to Andrew (at Red Square) that his drumming that night made me think of Keith Moon. I wonder if I get to take any credit for this tune making it into the repertoire. Anyway, for this version, Brad finally called for the Gibson 175 and Marc strapped on the acoustic. Now everyone knows it makes no sense to try and out-Who the Who (although if anyone can approach Moonie, it’s Andrew) and BAM don’t even try. This one was slowed waaaay down, making every note count. Marc played the opening synth riff on the acoustic and supplied the bass via MIDI, Andrew showed us what it might have been like if Keith Moon was capable of restraint, and Brad sang for all he was worth on a song that approaches the National Anthem in difficulty. Just before we reached the “teenage wasteland,” Brad dragged us all on a sharp left turn and threw in a verse of the VU’s Sweet Jane. He then nailed Townshend’s last solo before the super-fast “jig” at the end. Then he and Marc proceeded to blow us away by playing the leads in the jig in unison! And then there was much rejoicing.
So what set/show-closer do you follow that with? How about a sing-along? Something of a Helsinki tradition, eh? If One of Us Should Fall featured a great ringing, chimey solo by Brad, which Marc supported with some lovely bass figures. BAM took everything way down at the end and got everyone singing “If one of us should fall” accompanied only by Brad’s unamplified guitar. With everyone in sync, the instruments came quietly back in and Brad sang along with, over, and around his dozens of backup singers. A wonderful way to end the set.
After a brief catching of BAM’s breath, during which the rest of us did a lot more of that rejoicing stuff, they retook the stage for a, shall we say, idiosyncratic double encore. First up was “Who’s in Control of This Little Boat,” a sprightly little ditty that Brad apparently taught to Marc and Andrew on their way back up on stage. Andrew confessed that he had some difficulty following directions because he was supposed to echo everything Brad sang but he couldn’t hear Brad. Anyway, the tune sounded a lot like a young garage band reveling in the joy of (and discovering the power in) being able to play a song together from beginning to end. Fun in a “we may never hear this again” sort of way.
This was followed by “More About Me” – a choice that makes perfect sense once I found out that an alternate title for this is “Slow That Boat.” A couple of boat tunes for a rainy weekend. This closer was distinguished by a beautiful solo by Marc and some sweet, soulful air vocals from Sam back at the soundboard. The man sure knows how to handle a microphone with the fader down.
More rejoicing and then it was over. It was a wonderful evening with much of the musical magic and highlights we expect when BAM take the stage. Truth be told, this was not the most mind-blowing religious experience of a Slip show I’ve ever attended, but then, not every show can be. Rather than spending every moment lost in the musical now, I found myself doing a lot of reflecting about how far BAM has come and feeling that we (the band and our community of Slip lovers) are on the brink of a momentous new chapter in our journey. These feelings have been reinforced in a very big way as I listen to EISENHOWER over and over. But that’s a topic for another post.
Bottom line: Great show from a great band, great venue with great food, great to see great folks face-to-face rather than via this great forum, and most of all, GREAT MOOGELDY-BOOGELDY!!!
peace,
hoby
If only it were possible. My life is not currently structured to allow for touring. That's the tradeoff for the wonderful things and people that are currently filling my days. Perhaps at some point in the future. (Actually, I'm just holding out until BAM hit the big time and are travelling by jet and limo. THEN I'll start tagging along. 
Now, see! This is what I'm saying. Without pen and paper my memory is like a Hoover: sucks big time and is full of dustballs. Zach/Nigel, if you're reading this, you have my deepest apologies. 
