I Do Stuff…

First show of the year!  It is a shame that it took 4 months for this to happen, but it finally did.

Not long ago I got an email update from the State Theatre about the Soulive show in late April and got excited.  Way back in 2004 was the last time I saw them at this great local venue.  Over the last few years the band lineup has gone through many changes, most notable with vocals provided by Reggie Watts and Toussaint on vocals.  They also had a rotating horn section which sometimes included Sam Kininger on sax.  I was excited to find out that it was going to be only the three piece for the evening.  Even the opening act was Eric Krasno spinning records for the crowd.  Often they would bring up members from the opening act to sit in for a few songs.

Soulive, copyright Alex Leary

Jeremy and I got a late start and didn’t arrive at the club till almost a quarter to 10, parking proved to be the biggest issue for us arriving late.  Once that was squared away we meet up with a friend of Jeremy, Ben, and talked with a few other concert goers before the show started.  Now and again I would turn my attention to Eric on stage doing his thing and just couldn’t get into it.  He released a mixtape a few months ago that I got and it was alright.  I found his flow on stage to be a little lacking, he didn’t seem to know where the crowd was going and didn’t want to lead them either.  As a result the song selection was all over the place and I couldn’t make sense of it.

The pre-show conversation in our group quickly fell apart and just as we broke the house lights went dark and Soulive walked on stage.  They opened with a few classic hits and jammed out for a while.  In support of their new album Rubber Soul they covered several Beatles songs including Come Together and I Want You (She’s So Heavy).  Eric really took the lead on all the covers and made them very dark and twisted.  If you ever saw the movie Across the Universe I thought he would have been perfect to play some of the parts, just that weird dark feeling throughout the songs.  Neal and Alan tried to breath life into them but the weight of the guitar was to heavy for them to overcome.  Eric certainly nailed the cover of She’s So Heavy.

Near the end of the set they played Lenny and Tuesday Night which are always good and brought the funk back something fierce, getting the crowd going again after the Beatles.  For an encore Do It Again made its appearance in proper form, when you have an energetic crowd this can be a good song to end with.  Even though it was a Saturday night about half the crowd was already gone and most of the energy for Do It Again walked out with them.

Eric Krasno, copyright Alex Leary

I thought the shows was good but not spectacular.  I loved the three piece from yesteryear but I thought their playing was a little lacking.  Each member is a great musician in their own right with side projects they focuses on.  Collectively they needed more practice as a group before the tour started which was evident.  Eric wants to take things down a dark path.  Alan looks like he is desperate to break out and do some solos but his fingers can’t keep up while Neal is just sitting there at the drums.  He has his moments of brilliance but it was like he was waiting for the others to catch up to him and they never did.  He would take control at times but it is hard for one man to carry this group.

After the show Jeremy and I hanged around to get a soundboard recording from the show.  For years they have offered these CDs to those willing to fork over $20 and wait about 30 minutes.  For once we decided to do it and plopped down $20 each for the recording.  Popping the CD in to listen on the way home we were shocked by what we heard, garbage.  It sounds like an analog signal coming off the board into their CDR machine was way to hot.  The show was completely overloaded and un-listenable.  I am not upset at the price so much as the quality.  The recording is amateur hour at the Apollo and I expected better from the band.  One of the tapers released his recording and it is a million times better than the “official” recording.  Needless to say I will never be buying one of their live recordings and in the future will tell everyone to stay away, its a waste of your money.

Only other thing of note all night were the bitches.  You know who you two are…..

Show Starts at 10:20 pm
01. Hat Trick
02. El Ron
03. Turn It Out
04. I Know You Got Soul
05. Come Together
06. Something
07. Eleanor Rigby
08. I Want You (She’s So Heavy)
09. Lenny
10. Flurries
11. Bubble
12. Tuesday Night’s Squad Part 1 >
13. Tuesday Night’s Squad Part 2
Encore starts at 12:00 am:
14. Do It Again

House Lights on at 12:12 am

One of my favorite bands, Soulive, was coming to the area.  These guys are one of the best soul/funk bands around and I have been seeing them since December 2001.  Not only were they playing a Saturday show, but it was at Rams Head Live! which is one of the best places around to see live music.  The venue itself is very spacious with many bars.  If you want to just chill and not be bothers you can, want a seat, they are available, you can get a good view from the balcony, or get down to it on the floors right in front.

Since the show was on a Saturday August 16th I decided to make a day of it in Baltimore.  I got there early in the afternoon to eat some food, do some shopping, reading and walking around.  When I arrived I got a parking spot in a garage near little Italy.  I was hungry so I got some food at Sabatino’s.  It came recommend by two Italian customers and if anyone will know good Italian food it would be these two guys.  I must say I was impressed with the place.  It is definitely a small family run place.  The food was simple stick to your gut goodness.  One thing I quickly noticed was the waitresses.  It was very professional and attentive, but none of them were lookers.  Everyone working there could have been my mother, but it added to the charm.

Baltimore's Italian Festival

When I was finished my waitress asked if I want dessert and coffee.  I told her no, which seemed to break her heart, but she then suggested something.  She suggest I check out the Italian festival happening a couple blocks a way and then come back for some tiramisu, they even closed at 3am.  That last part I took note of, 3am is pretty darn late.

After paying the bill I walked and found the Italian festival like she said.  It took over several city blocks and was a great little festival.  There was music, food, beer(!), and even some bocce ball.  One thing I did notice was all the gambinos around, never had I seen so many in one place before.  Lots of tight shirts and slick back hair.

The Players

Once I couldn’t stand the smell of pasta I walked to the inner harbor.  This is what Baltimore is best known for.  There is so much to do there that every weekend it is packed with visitors.  I decided to take a seat on a bench and watch the world go buy.  After that got boring I finished the book I was reading, Dangerous Days of Daniel X.  After watching the sun set it was time to start making my way to the concert venue.  On the way over I found a free concert from The Players, a local Baltimore ska band and decided to stick around for them.  Glad I did as they rocked the house!  Come to find out every weekend there was another band playing in the common area between the two shopping centers in the inner harbor.  It was great to see such a diverse crowd gather to watch.

Finally I got to the venue and was getting ready for the show.  I ditched my back pack and was lean and mean for a long night of rockin.  Soulive is always a funky band that loves to play, they would play all night if the venue let them so I was getting ready for a long night.  The only disappointing thing about the show was the number of people attending.  There were so few tickets sold the second level was closed and only the main bar was open.  Despite all this the crowd showed much love to Soulive that night.  About the time the band should have come on was the exact moment Michal Phelps was going for his eight and final gold medal in the Olympics.  Fortunately the venue showed it on the tvs around the venue.  I am pretty sure that the band was watching as well, 30 seconds after he won the medal the band comes walking out on stage.

The band did not disappoint with the set list.  This was a classic show from back in the day.  Filled with a groove and a funk that was infectious in the crowd.  For just over two hours I was dancing and grooving to the tunes.  I was so happy I didn’t miss this show.  The last few times I have seen the band they were changing up the sound.  They added vocals with Reggie Watts (of Maktub) and Tosan (spelling?) after that.  It was….ok, not the stuff I liked best.  Soulive was still there, they were just muted, under the surface in my opinion.  But not this night, they rocked the house and I couldn’t get enough, disappointing when the show was over….but not the night.

takes the stage about 11:18pm

Set 1:
Elron
Stepin’
1 in 7
Bobby Bird
Flurries
Reverb
Tuesday Night Squad
Lenny
Dig

encore:
Tighten Up
Do It Again

show ends about 1:12am

After the show I headed over to Sabatino’s for some tiramisu and some much needed coffee.  You see during the show I had a few beers and I was still a little drunk.  To drunk to start driving home.  Since the restaurant didn’t close till 3am on Saturday I knew I had a place to go and sober up a little.  The tiramisu they have was delicious and the capacino I had went perfectly.  After about 30 minutes I could feel the life coming back to me, with the help of the coffee of course, and hit the road.  Just to make sure I could get home I took a capacino for the road, it would go well with the cigar I had for the drive home.

After getting to my truck I started the 1:30 hour drive home.  I had some good music playing, a nice cigar and the excellent capacino from Sabatino’s to nurse me home.  It was just after three o’clock in the morning when I got home and I promptly crashed hard.  The next morning I was headed to Fredericksburg to visit my mom for lunch and I was not looking forward to getting up.

All in all that was one of the best days I had had in a long time.  Most of it was un-planned and it turned out pretty darn well.