The temp was ridiculously cold outside (heading towards -10 F), but it was warm and cozy inside the 400 Bar as a nice crowd enjoyed the ambient body heat as well as the warm sounds emanating from the stage. Openers Janey & Marc turned in one of their finest sets to date while Mark Olson and his new crew (Ingunn Ringvold – vocals, guitar, piano, djembe and Michele Gazich – violin) just keep sounding better and better after several months on the road. Highlights of the main Olson set included “Clifton Bridge,” “Sandy Denny,” “Still We Have a Friend in You,” “Poor Michaels Boat” and a soaring version of the Jayhawk’s “Over My Shoulder.” Longtime friend/Creekdipper Mike "Raz" Russell joined in on violin half way through the set, reprising the "twin fiddle" magic that electrified much of the proceedings when Olson played the 400 last August.
The two beautiful sets of music were then capped off with 3 encores featuring Gary Louris joining Mark and his band. This earthquake resulted in several subsequent spine-tingling moments as the back pages of the Jayhawks came to life once again. The dirty details on the encore:
- "Sister Cry," "Blue" (Ingunn chipped in on the chorus so the "univoice" gained a third component on this occasion) and "Pray For Me" (second time i've heard that song played live this week...and both times featured members of the Jayhawks)
- short break
- then everybody back up for a gorgeous version of "Decembers Child" (featuring some fine finger pickin' by Gary) followed by "Two Angels" (the crowd ecstacy went into the heavens at this point; i turned around and saw numerous smiles, stunned faces and people singing along)
- farewells and thanks/lights up/house music comes on
- crowd goes apesh*t
- lights back down
- everybody stumbles back on stage for a spontaneous encore -- a snazzy version of Johnny's "I Still Miss Someone"… a perfect ending to a thrilling encore
Gary also sat in with Olson last August at the 400 – and they sang most of the same songs – but this time things were even more intense even though the setting was “acoustic” this time. Go figure. Notably different this time, though, was the two of them singing “Blue” together. Last August Mark and Ingunn sang it (he evidently planned it that way since Gary had already appeared on stage by then) while Gary was outside having a smoke! As startling as it was to hear “Blue” without the trademark harmonies, it was positively bizarre to think that both Olson and Louris were in the same place at the same time and didn’t sing together on perhaps their most famous song. Talk about putting the past behind you!
Olson and company reportedly had a hellacious drive coming from the Pacific Northwest for this gig, but they were in exceedingly good spirits for the show. And it showed – this was one of the most enjoyable local Olson appearances in a long time.
Gary Louris is about to go on tour to celebrate the release of his fine new album Vagabonds and Olson and Louris will hopefully be on the road together later in the year to support the record they recorded last year in California with Chris Robinson. And Marc Perlman is definitely heading in the right direction with his wonderful Janey & Marc project. It’s not even Valentines Day and this already looks like it will be a very good year for Jayhawks fans.
No comments:
Post a Comment