helliott
October 4th, 2007, 05:56 PM
I don't know if folks in these parts enjoy reading reviews of shows, but I'll gamble some do and post this one.
My bias declaration: I'm a very big Warren Haynes fan, whether he's with ABB or Mule. Interestingly, I'm not a huge fan of extended jams where the focus gets lost. Sometimes really atmospheric jamming gets boring, to me.
Anyhow, took my guitarist son and friend, also a good musician, to see Mule at Kool Haus on Queen's Quay in Toronto. Got there in good time, got right close the the barrier in front of the stage -- all GA, no seats.
Opening act was Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. If you haven't checked these guys out, do so. They rock, hard and nasty. Grace has a powerhouse voice, blues inflected like a younger Bonnie Raitt, but with the growl and howl of a Susan Tedesche (pardon if the spelling's off.) Her songs are very hooky and melodic, but positively burn when they rock. Her band is a straight ahead trio that slams blues rock and funk with ease. Honest, see 'em if they're nearby. I'm finding their album and buying it, from their site if necessary.
Mule was simply spectacular. They opened with Bad Little Doggie, and played with an intensity as if it were their last song of the night. The soloing at the end was jaw-dropping -- we felt like we'd been hit by a musical truck on the very first song, and they just didn't let up. Brand New Angel from High and Mighty was stellar, as was Slack Jawed Jezebel.
We were about 15 feet from Warren, second row behind the barrier. Had a birds eye view of him, his axe, his playing (his pedalboard was invisible behind the monitor bank), and of his guitar tech's workshop and control centre immediately off stage. Aside from being melted by his playing, we could see all the nuancing in his technique, his communication with the band, his tech, the sound people. He didn't use his ES35, sticking to two LPs and his Firebird.
I can't tell you anything you don't already know about his playing and tone, but another thing we could see being so close was the blinding intensity he brings to nearly all the songs, vocally and instrumentally. He laid back on a few, but when he was in the slot, you could tell he was just fused to that guitar, his facial muscles, forearms and hands all scream intensity. I don't know how anyone can play that hard and hot for so long. He must be drained by the end of the show, which in this case was 1ish, I think. One of the toughest jobs in the world would be being his pickup selector -- he slaps, punches, flicks and hammers that thing without mercy. And, not surprisingly, he fiddles tone pots a whole lot, often while singing, throwing in a blistering riff between a vocal line, flicking his pickup selector and adjusting a pot.
Of course, the rest of the band was awsome, too. Matt Abbts is a superb percussionist, monster strengh and finesse. The bass player and keys were much more role players, which figures, but extremely solid, too.
Funny bit to end. Warren shreds a lot of picks and tosses 'em out. I'm not into that level of worship, nothwithstanding my blithering praise here, but my son adores Warren. So when I looked down and saw a pick at my shoe, I put my shoe on it, looked around to make sure I wouldn't flatten anyone by bending down (6' 4.5", gotta be careful) and crouched to get the thing. Gave it a glance, handed it to my son, and he nearly jumped in the air before putting it in his pocket.
Then, I felt a hard poke and turned to see the drunken face of a little guy, there with his wife and small children (small kids in front of a massive amp stack near midnight?). Drunken dad and angry mom said I took the pick from their kid, who apparently was going for it, too. I didn't, but could tell right off I couldn't win. Held off for a few minutes until drunken dad (who stood all of 5'6" or so) started wanting to scrap and mom found a security guard who started giving me a hard look. Heavy sigh, turn to my son and apologized to him, took back the pick and handed it over.
Pretty PO'd about that, as my son would have treasured the keepsake, but I knew it was a no win situation. Anyway, one sour note in an otherwise remarkable night of music.
Next up is Springsteen and the E Street Band Oct. 15. Sadly, no chance of this sort of view at that show, for which we're in the second tier halfway down the Air Canada Centre.
Cheers ...
My bias declaration: I'm a very big Warren Haynes fan, whether he's with ABB or Mule. Interestingly, I'm not a huge fan of extended jams where the focus gets lost. Sometimes really atmospheric jamming gets boring, to me.
Anyhow, took my guitarist son and friend, also a good musician, to see Mule at Kool Haus on Queen's Quay in Toronto. Got there in good time, got right close the the barrier in front of the stage -- all GA, no seats.
Opening act was Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. If you haven't checked these guys out, do so. They rock, hard and nasty. Grace has a powerhouse voice, blues inflected like a younger Bonnie Raitt, but with the growl and howl of a Susan Tedesche (pardon if the spelling's off.) Her songs are very hooky and melodic, but positively burn when they rock. Her band is a straight ahead trio that slams blues rock and funk with ease. Honest, see 'em if they're nearby. I'm finding their album and buying it, from their site if necessary.
Mule was simply spectacular. They opened with Bad Little Doggie, and played with an intensity as if it were their last song of the night. The soloing at the end was jaw-dropping -- we felt like we'd been hit by a musical truck on the very first song, and they just didn't let up. Brand New Angel from High and Mighty was stellar, as was Slack Jawed Jezebel.
We were about 15 feet from Warren, second row behind the barrier. Had a birds eye view of him, his axe, his playing (his pedalboard was invisible behind the monitor bank), and of his guitar tech's workshop and control centre immediately off stage. Aside from being melted by his playing, we could see all the nuancing in his technique, his communication with the band, his tech, the sound people. He didn't use his ES35, sticking to two LPs and his Firebird.
I can't tell you anything you don't already know about his playing and tone, but another thing we could see being so close was the blinding intensity he brings to nearly all the songs, vocally and instrumentally. He laid back on a few, but when he was in the slot, you could tell he was just fused to that guitar, his facial muscles, forearms and hands all scream intensity. I don't know how anyone can play that hard and hot for so long. He must be drained by the end of the show, which in this case was 1ish, I think. One of the toughest jobs in the world would be being his pickup selector -- he slaps, punches, flicks and hammers that thing without mercy. And, not surprisingly, he fiddles tone pots a whole lot, often while singing, throwing in a blistering riff between a vocal line, flicking his pickup selector and adjusting a pot.
Of course, the rest of the band was awsome, too. Matt Abbts is a superb percussionist, monster strengh and finesse. The bass player and keys were much more role players, which figures, but extremely solid, too.
Funny bit to end. Warren shreds a lot of picks and tosses 'em out. I'm not into that level of worship, nothwithstanding my blithering praise here, but my son adores Warren. So when I looked down and saw a pick at my shoe, I put my shoe on it, looked around to make sure I wouldn't flatten anyone by bending down (6' 4.5", gotta be careful) and crouched to get the thing. Gave it a glance, handed it to my son, and he nearly jumped in the air before putting it in his pocket.
Then, I felt a hard poke and turned to see the drunken face of a little guy, there with his wife and small children (small kids in front of a massive amp stack near midnight?). Drunken dad and angry mom said I took the pick from their kid, who apparently was going for it, too. I didn't, but could tell right off I couldn't win. Held off for a few minutes until drunken dad (who stood all of 5'6" or so) started wanting to scrap and mom found a security guard who started giving me a hard look. Heavy sigh, turn to my son and apologized to him, took back the pick and handed it over.
Pretty PO'd about that, as my son would have treasured the keepsake, but I knew it was a no win situation. Anyway, one sour note in an otherwise remarkable night of music.
Next up is Springsteen and the E Street Band Oct. 15. Sadly, no chance of this sort of view at that show, for which we're in the second tier halfway down the Air Canada Centre.
Cheers ...