Adyn
12-11-2003, 12:39 PM
They're at it again, folks :D Saw Chris and Mike play night before last at the little fox theatre in Redwood City (CA). First of, what a sweet little venue!! Capacity is like 240, it's very cozy and still lots of great seats, including a wrap around balcony. The acoustics were surprisingly very good.
The set was, as to be expected with these two, wonderfully diverse and rich. They had, I think the final tally was, 4 new songs. 2 that were unnamed, Carpathian Mountain Breakdown, and something about Jesse Meets a Sea Urchin. The opening unnamed one was awesome, and set the mood perfectly. The rest of the set was mostly from into the cauldron, with a few additional songs that they played on the last tour as well, including the lament, the 50's love song, Gator strut, Goldberg Variations #19... there are more, I’m sure… but I was too busy listening to make any sort of serious commitment to memory of the set list.
The highlight of the set, for me was hands down, Gator Strut. It's one of my favorite Mike Marshall tunes in the first place, and Chris just went OFF. Wow. I need a better word than wow. I hope hope hope that one makes it on the live CD. Mike was in agreement, he said he was just hanging on for dear life Which is silly cause Mike was equally kicking bum It was just amazing, that's all there is to it
The Sea Urchin song (something like In Which Jessi goes to someplace and meets a Sea Urchin) was also a favorite... very beautiful piece. I’d love to give that one another listen (or 20 ) I forgot to ask Chris for the whole story later on, but he did say she had the sea urchin removed and the vacation went on just fine hehe.
The Carpathian Mountain Breakdown is… well, it’s nuts. Hahaha. Really, really funky song… I had to ask Mike after the show just why it’s so odd, and I guess it goes from Ab maj to D maj to F# min to E min? (Something like that) And uses some really unusual scales… I’ll say! It gets really kinda bluesy in the middle, which the crowd just loved, myself included.
I was once again totally enthralled by the Lament… Chris fingerpicks that on the mandola (which is one sweet instrument). It is such a touching piece, truly a superb example of Chris’s ability to convey emotion through his composition and playing, the whole room was fixated.
It was also great to get to see Chris play Kodiak… since I’ve been working so hard at that one… can’t tell you how stoked I was to see this one section especially which I play EXACTLY the same (ok well, minus the amazing technique but you get the idea) Still stands out as my favorite Thile tune.
Chris and Mike seemed to be, as usual, having a great time. Seeing them go from a very intense serious piece to something really playful like Harvest Time or Fishers… just a really neat experience, that you can only get from seeing them interact together onstage. Overall, an excellent show, living up to my own expectations (and I suspect those of everyone else there). If there’s any way you can catch these two as they tour, do whatever you need to to get there, it’s worth it, you have my word on that one !
The set was, as to be expected with these two, wonderfully diverse and rich. They had, I think the final tally was, 4 new songs. 2 that were unnamed, Carpathian Mountain Breakdown, and something about Jesse Meets a Sea Urchin. The opening unnamed one was awesome, and set the mood perfectly. The rest of the set was mostly from into the cauldron, with a few additional songs that they played on the last tour as well, including the lament, the 50's love song, Gator strut, Goldberg Variations #19... there are more, I’m sure… but I was too busy listening to make any sort of serious commitment to memory of the set list.
The highlight of the set, for me was hands down, Gator Strut. It's one of my favorite Mike Marshall tunes in the first place, and Chris just went OFF. Wow. I need a better word than wow. I hope hope hope that one makes it on the live CD. Mike was in agreement, he said he was just hanging on for dear life Which is silly cause Mike was equally kicking bum It was just amazing, that's all there is to it
The Sea Urchin song (something like In Which Jessi goes to someplace and meets a Sea Urchin) was also a favorite... very beautiful piece. I’d love to give that one another listen (or 20 ) I forgot to ask Chris for the whole story later on, but he did say she had the sea urchin removed and the vacation went on just fine hehe.
The Carpathian Mountain Breakdown is… well, it’s nuts. Hahaha. Really, really funky song… I had to ask Mike after the show just why it’s so odd, and I guess it goes from Ab maj to D maj to F# min to E min? (Something like that) And uses some really unusual scales… I’ll say! It gets really kinda bluesy in the middle, which the crowd just loved, myself included.
I was once again totally enthralled by the Lament… Chris fingerpicks that on the mandola (which is one sweet instrument). It is such a touching piece, truly a superb example of Chris’s ability to convey emotion through his composition and playing, the whole room was fixated.
It was also great to get to see Chris play Kodiak… since I’ve been working so hard at that one… can’t tell you how stoked I was to see this one section especially which I play EXACTLY the same (ok well, minus the amazing technique but you get the idea) Still stands out as my favorite Thile tune.
Chris and Mike seemed to be, as usual, having a great time. Seeing them go from a very intense serious piece to something really playful like Harvest Time or Fishers… just a really neat experience, that you can only get from seeing them interact together onstage. Overall, an excellent show, living up to my own expectations (and I suspect those of everyone else there). If there’s any way you can catch these two as they tour, do whatever you need to to get there, it’s worth it, you have my word on that one !