Photo by Vernon Webb
There was palpable excitement in the air before the lights went down for the Saturday night show. The question of who would be sitting in was on everyone’s lips: would Levon Helm be joining in on the festivities? What about members of the Grateful Dead? And would there really be an Airplane reunion?
Although only one of the above options actually panned out, Saturday night’s show was equally as entertaining as Friday night’s, although in a very different way. If Friday night was more about bluesy
soloing, jamming and displays of musical virtuosity, Saturday night was more about Hot Tuna’s history (although it certainly had a healthy level of jamming, as well). After four strong opening numbers without any guests, Jorma announced that the band would be joined by one of their most illustrious alumni: Pete Sears, who played piano with the band in 90s and made the Live in Japan and the two Live at Sweetwater albums so memorable. After playing an incendiary solo on “San Francisco Bay Blues,” (a song which appeared on Live at Sweetwater Two), it was clear that Sears’ addition to the band’s sound that evening would add a whole different dimension to the music. Much like when Chuck Leavell sits in with the Allman Brothers Band, also usually at the Beacon, it was a treat to watch a true musical virtuoso who also is extremely familiar with Hot Tuna’s catalog sit in with the band for the duration of the evening and push the music to another level.
However, the real treat of the evening came right before the next song, when Jorma announced that they would be bringing up another Tuna alum, Michael Falzarano (who currently plays with the New Riders of the Purple Sage); however, as he walking out, a somewhat hunched over bearded man with a guitar emerged right behind him. A few seconds later, it became apparent to everyone that the second guest was Bob Weir, and the Beacon exploded with uproarious applause. “Oh yeah,” Jorma said, “I forgot to mention that Bob Weir is going to help us out with this one.” Bobby jammed with the band on “Big Railroad Blues” (which Bobby’s old group was known to cover from time to time), and later in the set, came back out for “Bowlegged Woman” and “Walkin’ Blues,” singing lead on the latter tune (Allman Brothers bassist Oteil Burbridge and Bob Steeler also joined in for these two songs).
After a long set break, the band returned with their acoustic instruments for “I See the Light” and the Airplane classic “Third Week at the Chelsea.” Although the rumors of an Airplane reunion on Saturday night turned out to be unfounded, it was fitting to see Jorma pay tribute to his former group for his 70th birthday in his own way. The band then brought out the first major guest of the set: Steve Earle, who sang “Nothing Brings you Down like You’re Hometown” and a cover of Townes Van Zandt’s “Brand New Companion” After the songs, he giddily said from the stage “Man, do I love this job!” After a few more acoustic numbers (all of which featured top-notch playing from Pete Sears), Bobby came back out with an acoustic guitar and led the Beacon through a sing-along version of “When I Paint My Masterpiece.” He received a standing ovation, and the moment was arguably the highlight of the two-night run. After Bobby walked offstage, Jorma, echoing Steve’s Earle earlier line, as he said with a
massive grin on his face: “Man, do I love this job!”
Following a crowd-pleasing version of the beloved acoustic Hot Tuna number “Hesitation Blues” the band brought the evening to a close with guest-laden versions of “Ak-47” “Funky #7” (which featured an epic Oteil-Casady bass duel) and “Come Back Baby” (with Weir, adding his funky, idiosyncratic rhythm guitar throughout). The crew also rolled out a Les Paul shaped birthday cake for Jorma, and all of the guests and the crowd sang the near-70 year guitar hero a rousing rendition of happy birthday. The evening closed with an encore of “Baby What You Want Me to Do?” that featured all of the evening’s guests and sent everyone home happy.
As incredible as the two nights were, they can also be characterized as two nights of missed opportunities. For example, Larry Campbell has been singing lead vocals on a cover of “Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning”—a major Hot Tuna staple— with the Levon Helm Band for the past year or so. In fact, he did it at Levon’s second show at the Beacon a mere week before the Jorma birthday shows. One would think that Larry and Jorma being on-stage together presented a perfect opportunity for them to duet on this classic, but that theoretical version never came to fruition.
In a similar vein, when Warren Haynes toured with the Dead in 2009, on a number of occasions, he and Bob Weir dueted on an incredible cover of “Death Don’t Have No Mercy,” a Reverend Gary Davis song that is an extremely important part of Hot Tuna’s catalog (and of course, was also featured on Live Dead, albeit sung by Pigpen). Both Warren and Bobby were guests at the run, yet on neither night did Jorma cover this with either one of them. Furthermore, when Jorma was a member of one of the earliest incarnations of Phil Lesh and Friends (along with Steve Kimock), he would often lead the group through a cover of “Friend of the Devil” in his unique, finger-picking style—a Jorma-led version of the song was even featured on Phil’s 1999 live album, Love Will See You Through. On Saturday night, I found myself wondering why Jorma and Bobby did not take the opportunity to duet on this beloved Dead tune; rather, Bobby was used primarily to play rhythm on songs like “Big Railroad Blues” and “Come Back Bobby.” Also, if the band was going to cover “I Know You Rider,” why do it on Friday night with Bruce Hornsby as opposed to on Saturday night with Bob Weir? Of course, there was also the question of who could have been there. It would have been great to see John Bell sing on “Genesis” or “Bowlegged Woman.” And where was David Bromberg, one of Jorma’s closest friends and musical cohorts?
The two evenings also featured a few more repeats then one would have hoped for, and not just of Tuna Classics like “Come Back Baby” and “Funk #7,” but even of the new song, “If This is Love, I want My Money Back.”
However, in the grand scheme of things, these are minor critiques. All in all, the two shows constituted the best type of concert experience one can hope for. The guests were incredible, the crowd was animated and enthusiastic, and most importantly, Jorma was in top form. I can only hope that he is as impressive at his 80th birthday shows.
No Comments comments associated with this post