Notes

Day 9 with Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, Oteil Burbridge, Marco Benevento, The London Soul & the FELA Horns

So here I am...almost speechless again! The evening started off with our saxophonist James Casey's band Six Figures opening up the show. These dudes came out hitting hard and took it to a whole next level when Nigel came out on Jesus Children Of America and Can't Hide Love.

After a little break to deal with some technical issues, we hit the stage trio style with Uncle Jr. and One In Seven. Third song into the set, Marco Benevento came out on Rhodes and Kofi Burbridge rocked the flute. We jumped into a tune that we discovered during soundcheck (can't remember the name of it, but it's probably known from Pulp Fiction). Kofi and Marco just ripped that tune up! Kofi spit for a bit and we went into some Led Zeppelin with Out On The Tiles first. Marco was killing the melody on the Rhodes. Kraz and Marco played some ill solos. After that we went into The Ocean and again, was destroying that tune better than any singer could have. That tune kept building and building with Neal and Marco going off, Kraz soaring way up top and I felt like I was channeling Angus Young head and neck moves. We were feeling great but definitely in need of a quick break.

The London Souls made a reappearance for Bowlive and did a monstrous job. There were a lot of people off to the side of the stage checking them out (myself included) just getting pummeled but pure, unadulterated rock and roll. You really don't see that a lot these days. If you have a chance to go see them, do it!!!

For our final set we came out with some of the Beatles tunes we recorded on our new album but Marco hit the stage with us as well. We went right into Eleanor Rigby and Marco jumped right on his space ship and blasted off with some ridiculous delayed Rhodes sounds. I knew right then that these tunes we've been playing for a little while now were going into uncharted territory. I was not wrong!!! Marco, like Neal, is a beast on the keys and it was so much fun watching those two cats getting down in keyboard land on the other side of the stage. After that, we dropped right into I Want You which was a bit heavier than usual. Everyone who knows that tune well knows the pretty epic psychedelic ending and Marco made sure he topped that and I must say, I didn't want that tune to end!! But it was all good because Kofi came out for which turned out to be a beautiful version of Something. Kofi and Kraz playing the melody together and then everyone putting some serious soul into their solos (when don't they!!). We brought it back up by bringing the Shady Horns featuring Cochemea Gastelum, a few of his boys from the Fela show on horns and percussionout with Tash Neal on guitar and vocals for Get Back. The solo bowl got passed around and everybody was hittin it hard. We then went into Little Richard's Lucille again with Tash crushing vocals and guitars and a now monsterous horn section behind me. We then played a tune Roll Out off of Kraz's new album and I'm pretty sure that was the first time it has ever been played live. Nigel came out on stage and laid down a Moog solo George Duke definitely would've been groovin to.

We thought about taking a break but Oteil ran over from the ABB show, slid out on stage and made sure we kept things moving. We started off with Oteil's tune Butter Biscuit. Now I knew things were gonna get nasty when Oteil showed up with his four string p bass and again.... I wasn't wrong, man he was layin down some serious soul funk!!! I don't even need to tell you his solo was epic but I'll say it anyway... It was epic. So what could we do after that? That was certainly worthy of being a show stopper but Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi came out on stage and we slid into a Soul Serenade. Susan and Derek did just that, serenaded everyone's soul in that room. Susan then strapped on her guitar and we did Tired Of My Tears, I just love her voice... makes me want to smile and cry all at the same time. Nigel came back and did a duet with Susan on Signed, Sealed, Delivered which was just dripping with high energy SOUL!!!! Kraz then led us into We're A Winner and of course... Move On Up. At some point during the tune, Oteil was feeling it so hard he put down his bass and went out to groove in the crowd. Hahaha, I love that cat!!! We split the stage for a sec but came right back out with our JB medley. At this point the horn section was about 6 or 7 cats deep and it was like a freight train right on top of me!!! Well, I don't know what else to say people another epic night of music I will never forget. I can't believe tonight is the last Bowlive show..... for now.

-Al