Ask and you shall receive. Here’s what night two felt like. There’s an expanded version of this on my blog.
Jesus Christ.
Nearly 12 hours after the music began for me with a really amazing acoustic set by Patterson Hood of the Drive-By Truckers at Jack of the Woods it ended with a furious, heavy and righteous one-two combination of “The Ocean” and “When the Levee Breaks” done by Gov’t Mule featuring John Paul Jones on bass and some additional help from local guitar whiz Mike Barnes and Ben Harper. It was a pretty damn good time. Once again, same format as yesterday- random thoughts strung together, I’m far too tired to make this coherent and pretty. Plus you aren’t paying me.
Warren Haynes’ opening a cappella duet with Ruthie Foster set the tone for the night it was stripped down, raw and incredibly naked. It was also in parts challenging and almost a dare to the audience- stick with us to see what we are going to do. They traded vocal licks like Haynes trades guitar licks, and I think Foster won, but then again I have a thing for husky voiced black women.
The night began in full with an All Star band featuring rotating vocal spots from Joan Osbourne, Ruthie Foster, Patterson Hood, Kevin Kinney and Edwin McCain. It was rather nice, just listening to them throw down on some Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Aretha Franklin and Rolling Stones songs. The crowd responded and it seemed like at that point the gauntlet was thrown for the night- this wasn’t a chance to plug the latest record, this night was a celebration of music and a chance for performers to try to one up each other.
Steve Earle played next and was just too Steve Earle for the night. At times alone with just his acoustic guitar, Earle played the part of the earnest folksinger- he seemed unwilling to collaborate, but looking back it made sense. Earle’s voice as a musician and songwriter has become so singular that it just made no sense for him to try to pretend to be something else.
A seemingly impromptu gathering of Earle, Haynes, Joan Osbourne, Travis Tritt and Ruthie Foster performing “Gotta Serve Somebody” was next, and it seemed heartfelt-especially Tritt’s performance. Say what you will about the guy’s career, live he can cook.
One of the more emotional moments was next in the form of Johnny Winter- Haynes introduced him as an idol, and with that his band tore into the raunchiest Texas blues I’ve ever heard. Winter’s health isn’t the best, but from a seated position the dude played the hottest light speed blues guitar runs I’ve heard. The guy didn’t look down at all, just sat there like a coma victim but played some amazing stuff. Jessica remarked that his body had slowed down and withered, except for his hands and fingers. He just didn’t stop. It was pretty amazing to see and the ovation Winter recieved afterwards showed that he was appreciated.
Coheed and Cambria seemed like the odd men out- their challenging prog metal was destined to be out of place on the bill and it was, but while the younger more open minded hippie crowd ran to the beer line covering their ears and ironically headbanging, an old dude beside me looked at me and said “It’s ######’ Rush”. It made total sense. So much for the dreadlocked set and their cries of diversity. I thought the stuff they played was rather brilliant- it kept the conceptual strain of the evening going and offered the crowd a view of hot guitar playing that wasn’t in the blues rock or country flat picking genre.
Perhaps the biggest surprise for me was Michael Franti and Jay Bowman’s acoustic performance. Instead of going the Steve Earle route and playing uncompromising folk Franti went the Peter Paul and Mary way of folk- the all inclusive singalong. I knew none of the man’s songs but sang every song, clapping like a loon and dancing in my seat. By the end of the performance (which was accompanied by a mandolin wielding John Paul Jones) Franti was the leader of the Xmas Jam army, and could have mobilized us to do anything he wished. Instead he told the crowd to have a good time. Pretty amazing stuff.
Ben Harper and Relentless 7 appeared next and played the hardest rocking R&B;set I’ve heard in a while. I’ve never seen Harper live, but expected the mellow “Steal my Kisses” dude. Instead I got a breathless and crazily energetic performance. I loved it.
The Mule was next, and they answered the night’s challenges with a bluesy and Zepp-ified set. I guess it’s one of those things that Haynes and company couldn’t resist- I mean, they had JOHN PAUL JONES there, why not play a few Zepplin songs. The amazing “Since I’ve Been Loving You” was for me the emotional zenith of the show: the huge backbeat, the blistering guitar and the plaintive wail of the vocals. It was pretty amazing stuff.
All in all it was an awesome show. I’m still processing it all. More to come later.
