Analog Men

Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band/Joe Walsh

Rose Garden Arena

March 30, 2013

The first indication may have been the stage. Simple risers, a few lighting rigs, a couple of modestly-sized video screens. No frills, no apparatus on the stage jumping out as a  potentially showy production element that would be a source of modern arena spectacle. There was even a huge drum sitting curiously by itself, looking quite lonely on the highest riser behind the drum set. Basic. Solitary. But man, could it resonate.

Also resonating on this night were two old lions of 70s rock, Detroit's own Bob Seger and affable guitar wiz/class clown Joe Walsh. A more precisely curated concert duo representing the halcyon days of FM radio is tough to imagine, and on this warm Portland evening, they turned up the heat and turned out the hits (and more) to impressive effect.

Walsh took the stage first, laying into the James Gang's rhythmic, insistent hit "Walk Away," enhanced by three backing singers and a band boasting two drummers and a percussionist. With his witty between-song banter and comically sparkly disco shirt, the easiest-to-like Eagles member was so charming, even that universally feared "here's our new song" moment was eaten up by the crowd. It helped that "Analog Man," the title track to Walsh's 2012 album, is a cutting meditation about the world's intractable free fall into absolute digitalism. Hearing a codger lament about advancing technology while audience members captured it all with their digital toys was a delicious slice of irony indeed. The singer-guitarist performed just seven songs, yet made a strong impression, effortlessly knocking out his signature classic "Life's Been Good" and the heavy-riffing, talk box-inflected "Rocky Mountain Away." 

Seger's two-hour show for this "Rock and Roll  Never Forgets" tour was put into motion with the thesis statement of "Detroit Made," a John Hiatt rocker that would be the first of five covers he and his longtime troupe the Silver Bullet Band would dole out. The second song, Otis Clay's "Tryin' to Live My Life Without You" was rendered with soul and was a reminder of how many truly familiar, American songbook-ingrained tracks Robert Clark Seger is responsible for. It's surprising how many covers he performs on one level (even the Night Moves album's saucy "Come to Poppa" is a Willie Mitchell tune), but then, he's made so many of these songs his own that the lineage of the music takes a back seat to the feeling being put across.

Age 67, utterly white of hair and beard, and donning a jet-black athletic headband that only highlighted his apparent wholesale rejection of Just for Men, Seger nonetheless commanded his band and the Rose Garden with a smile, a fist-pumping verve, and a Vegas entertainer's graciousness. The well-calibrated presentation oddly felt like something that would fit in Vegas, with its middle-aged backing singers, graying drummer, and grand scale (14 people onstage). That's not to say it was corny or phoned-in, as Seger truly shined and struck deepest when he sat center stage with an acoustic, delivering "Mainstreet," "Against the Wind," and "Night Moves" with the Silver Bullet band fleshing out the sound behind him, perhaps most notably longtime sax player Alto Reed (who, as it turns out, has not at all eschewed hair color enhancement).

Seger, like John Mellencamp or Bruce Springsteen, has always been a blue-collar hero, a populist Midwesterner singing about, and spiritually connected to, hard-working regular folks. "Like a Rock" was dusted off for this tour for the first time in 17 years, and though it unavoidably recalls the Chevy truck commercials it provided the soundtrack for, its intrinsic message and meaning still managed to break through. The middle section of the show flagged a bit with "Beautiful Loser" and "Roll Me Away," as well as Seger's over-reliance on having the crowd sing his choruses for him, but a rebound wasn't far behind with the surprise cover of Ike and Tina Turner's "Nutbush City Limits," the reliably haunting "Turn the Page," and the roof-blowing "Katmandu." 

"All the Roads" was the one new original that Seger offered. Reflective lyrically and definitely in line with the Rock Hall of Famer's admission that he will stop touring in the near future, it was a sentimental if slight piece. But no matter; at this point, few Seger fans are looking for anything new from this living legend. Most are looking for a trip down memory lane, a reason to hoist a beer and experience songs that remind them of gloriously lost American nights, lost American dreams, and full-on American redemption in the form of a carefree, rocking Saturday, which was so resoundingly offered here.

Setlists:

BOB SEGER AND THE SILVER BULLET BAND

 Detroit Made

(John Hiatt cover)

Tryin' to Live My Life Without You

(Otis Clay cover)

The Fire Down Below

Mainstreet

Old Time Rock & Roll

All the Roads

Like a Rock

Travelin' Man

Beautiful Loser

Roll Me Away

Come to Poppa

(Willie Mitchell cover)

California Stars

(Wilco cover)

Nutbush City Limits

(Ike & Tina Turner cover)

We've Got Tonight

Turn the Page

Sunspot Baby

Katmandu

Encore:

Against the Wind

Hollywood Nights

Encore 2:

Night Moves

Rock and Roll Never Forgets

JOE WALSH

Walk Away

(James Gang song)

Analog Man

Funk #49

(James Gang song)

In the City

(Eagles song)

The Bomber

(James Gang song)

Life's Been Good

Rocky Mountain Way

Bound for Glory

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
Rose Garden Arena
November 28, 2012
(Top and bottom photos by Mary Layton, center photo by Eric Layton; click to enlarge)
"I said this train...dreams will not be thwarted...this train...faith will be rewarded!" assured Bruce Springsteen in his concert opener, "Land of Hope and Dreams." In a world where trials, tribulations, and loss are too commonplace, this New Jersey hero and his music continue to summon a gravitational pull of encouragement. There have been inspirational figures throughout history—beacons of light that remind us to persevere. It's in this archetypal position that Springsteen finds himself; as his legend deepens over the years, and as newer generations are drawn to his communal uplift through strife-scarred yet hopeful anthems and songs of unabashed joy, it is difficult to name a peer of his not only doing what he does, but doing it so smashingly. At the Rose Garden, facing another screaming multitude that is just another day's work, "The Boss" lived up to his almost saint-like expectations, delivering over three hours of hope, reflection, and fun.

Touring in support of their new album Wrecking Ball amid an election year, the Jersey Shore-devastating hurricane Sandy, and continuing economic turmoil, Springsteen and the E Street Band (guitarists Stevie Van Zandt and Nils Lofgren, drummer Max Weinberg, pianist Roy Bittan, bassist Garry Tallent) honored their mission and recognized their fallen brothers, saxophonist Clarence Clemons and keyboardist Danny Federici. And as Springsteen's lyrics often remind, no one walks alone, so 11 additional musicians were on hand, including Clemons' talented sax-playing nephew Jake, to help raise spirits and the roof.

With the large head count onstage, not to mention the high amount of energy exchanged between the audience and the performers on this night, it must be observed that Springsteen's concerts, taken historically, just don't achieve parity with this 2012 show. That's not at all to say this is the best tour he's done, it's just that the current Springsteen live experience is a vastly different, more immense animal than in the past. It is a more frequently joyous communion now, in contrast to earlier periods where the reliable rock n' roll party was often acutely tempered by a purposeful, singular, and serious vision being telegraphed from the stage: there was the prove-it-all-night, walk-on-tables seaside bar band era; his redemptive mid-1970s arena takeover after Born to Run; his college auditorium tour for Darkness on the Edge of Town, an album born out of creative and legal struggles; his mercenary Born in the U.S.A. global takeover; his dark, contemplative solo tours behind Ghost of Tom Joad and Devils & Dust; his E Street reunion tour/rock n' roll revival of 1999-2000; his solemn post-9-11 trek forThe Rising; the Seeger Sessions Band folk hoedown; and the late-2000s Magic tour which, while expectedly euphoric at turns, at certain points dutifully referenced stacked bodies of war dead and "the bitter fires of the devil's arcade."

In 2012, Springsteen could have understandably turned the gloom dial to 11 in response to our times, and particularly due to the landscape-altering death of the larger-than-life Clemons, whose absence onstage, and how Bruce would address it, weighed mightily on every fan as they anticipated the E Street Band's future. An answer to this came on this night during "My City of Ruins," a gospel-tinted number where Bruce asked us all to remember our dearly departed, and, to stirring effect, he turned the Clemons-referencing lyric from another song, "The change was made uptown..." into a brief mantra. Ultimately, a pair of spotlights shone down on empty spaces that both Clemons and Federici once filled. It was a heart-rending moment that urged healing and gave both the entire Bruce juggernaut and his audience permission to live on and move on, if for nothing else to honor the dead.

Indeed, life and movement were in order here, with many exhilarating sing-alongs (a brisk "No Surrender," the swelling, horn-driven "Spirit in the Night," the insistent "Badlands"), fresh new material (the punchy reminder "We Take Care of Our Own," the Irish folk stomper "Death to My Hometown"), and the pensive, solo-Bruce highlight "If I Should Fall Behind." The Wrecking Ball ballad "Jack of All Trades" found Springsteen singing "There's a new world coming, I can see the light/I'm a jack of all trades, we'll be alright," lyrics that distill the man's entire ethos in short order.

And any air of separation between fans and artist? Left at the door. Springsteen crowd-surfed during "Hungry Heart," and when he wasn't literally playing Santa Claus and wearing a red hat (the seasonal imperative has them playing "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town"), provided Santa-like wish fulfillment to several lucky fans by heeding song request signs (The River-era songs "Drive All Night" and "Loose Ends" were the finest of these) and by pulling a virtual Courtney Cox dance troupe onstage during "Dancing in the Dark"; it's a safe bet that Cox could have never predicted that her awkward dancing with Bruce in a music video would still be reenacted 28 years later.

The E Street Band origin story "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" ended the show with the Boss on a center-arena catwalk and a dramatic pause/video tribute to Clemons prior to Springsteen's famous shout-out, "When the change was made uptown/And the Big Man joined the band..." Big Man is no longer onboard, but this train is still racing toward glory.

Furthur Satisfaction

Furthur
McMenamin's Edgefield
September 28-29, 2012
(Top photo by Eric Layton, bottom photo by Roy Cevallos; click to enlarge photos)
It's been a long, strange trip, but even seen-it-all Deadheads may not have expected the Commodores lyrics: "Shake it down, shake it down now!" Sung by the Furthur collective during a punchy, bass-propelled "Shakedown Street," it was a fun, whimsical moment that set the upward mood and energy level for this second of the band's three nights at the rustic McMenamin's Edgefield amphitheater.

An easy observation to be made about the Grateful Dead scene 17 years after the death of its talisman Jerry Garcia is that it's smaller—fractionalized by attrition and time. The Deadheads of 2012 are still loyal, though, and the environment to witness Dead music played by any of its original members is a much more user-friendly, enjoyable experience than battling the stadium-sized multitudes of the 80s and 90s. That positive condition was only enhanced at the Edgefield over these two nights with clear sound, balmy temperatures, and a woodsy outdoor setting ideally suited for Furthur's spirited romp through one of rock n' roll's deepest catalogues.

Furthur, founded in 2009 by singer-guitarist Bob Weir and bassist Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead, is given a welcome jolt of Garcia-esque lead guitar and vocal energy by John Kadlecik, formerly of Dead tribute band Dark Star Orchestra. (Also rounding out the band are drummer Joe Russo, keyboardist Jeff Chimenti and backing singers Sunshine Becker and Jeff Pehrson.) Where erstwhile post-Garcia projects have vacillated between rewarding (The Other Ones) and conceptually off (gritty Southern rocker Warren Haynes filling the Garcia spot), Furthur is consistently rewarding, offering up a leaner, meaner version of the two-set extravaganzas the original band knocked out for decades. Where there was once improvisational bloat, there is now economy and briefer, percolating jams; where there was once the psychedelic, two-man "Drums/Space," there is now simply one virtuoso drummer.

What hasn't changed is Lesh's booming bottom end and Weir's eccentric yet compelling rhythm guitar and voice. Friday, September 28 ignited in the first half of Set 1 with the singalong "Jack Straw" and a flowing, harmony-laden "Crazy Fingers," and then the fire dampened a bit with Weir's lonesome-me ballad "Looks Like Rain." However, the best one-two punch of these two nights came next with an unexpectedly strong "Doin' that Rag" and a spry cover of The Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction," complete with Weir mugging and acting out the distress of the lyrics with wild hand gestures. It seemed they were just getting started, and yet Set 2 never quite reached the peaks of Set 1. Although it featured "Viola Lee Blues" with a hypnotic jam, and a forceful "Let It Grow" (which wound down nicely with descending notes evoking a feather floating to the ground), a reading of "The Wheel" felt a bit perfunctory. Thankfully Kaclecik invested some Garcia mojo into the heartfelt "Comes a Time," while Russo's polyrhythmic drumming was remarkable during "Slipknot."

Saturday's show got off on the right foot energy-wise with the "I'm outta here" kiss-off "Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodleloo" and a rocking "I Need A Miracle," two audience favorites. Covers were then the order of the night, as Johnny Cash's "Big River" was a rollicking treat, followed by Lesh howling out Bob Dylan's "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues." And while it is customary for "One More Saturday Night" to be held as an encore on this day of the week, the president-referencing barnburner was saved for the last number of the first set, preceded by the more outwardly political "Throwing Stones," spiked with the timely lyrics "The radical, he rant and rage/Singing someone got to turn the page/And the rich man in his summer home/Singing just leave well enough alone..." It must be an election year.

After unfurling "Scarlet Begonias" and "Fire On the Mountain," Set 2 continued the evening's theme of pure musical joy and farewells, with "Playin' in the Band" and "Uncle John's Band" topped off by "Goin' Down the Road Feeling Bad." Finally, Furthur brought the three-night run in for a soft landing with the a cappella benediction of "And We Bid You Goodnight" as well as the delicate "Attics of My Life." By then, the kids had shook it down, and the current generation of Deadheads streamed happily into the night.

My Morning Jacket at McMenamin's Edgefield 9/8/12

Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band at McMenamin's Edgefield 7/15/12

Roger Waters - The Wall at Rose Garden, Portland, OR 5/22/12

Jason Lytle at Al's Den, Portland, OR 5/4/12

Nada Surf at Wonder Ballroom, Portland, OR 3/23/12

Smooth Operator

Sade/John Legend
Rose Garden Arena
August 15, 2011
Sometimes reality just won't do; that's where Sade comes in. There are rare living figures in music that have built such mystery around themselves, they're more a concept than a person (think: Prince). Sade Adu is one of those artists. Shattering the mythical aura this reclusive Nigerian-British chanteuse possesses, she and her eponymous band stepped onstage at the Rose Garden, delivering two hours of rhythmic soul-pop enhanced by seductive, otherworldly video projections.


Just now hitting the road in support of Sade's platinum 2010 album Soldier of Love, the group kicked things off with the record's punchy title track. Alluring, adorned in black and tiptoe-strutting across the stage, Adu was in fine voice and focused throughout. A technically locked-down, tightly orchestrated revue of her three-decade catalog, the show's strongest moments were revealed in favorites, from the subtle, elegant "Your Love is King" and the sax-driven "Smooth Operator" to passionate torch songs like "Is it a Crime" (a standing ovation-garnering highlight) and the pained yet resolute "Jezebel."

Belting it out and armed with dazzling staging and production, Adu gave ticketholders their money's worth. And in a move seemingly aimed at showing her at her most relaxed and "normal," a video was shown during the new song "Skin" depicting the singer with her hair down, frolicking through a field of flowers, relaxed, and smiling. It was an unexpectedly revealing glimpse that dispensed of the glamour and exposed another side to her.

On the downside, there were a few obscure songs performed that were more memorable for the glitzy special effects that accompanied them than the actual music. A valid criticism of Sade's catalog is that it tends to spring from a bit of a slow, monochromatic smooth jazz well, and the energy flagged at times. However, when the drums, horns, and keyboards surged, Adu soared skyward, as on the percolating "Paradise," and during "The Sweetest Taboo," when some fans made a point of rushing to the aisles and dancing.

Ethereal yet humanized, intimate yet distant, by the time Adu sent "No Ordinary Love" cascading over the audience, all in attendance had been transported to her sophisticated, timeless world.

Modern R&B hitmaker John Legend gamely filled the opening act slot with a crowd-pleasing yet unchallenging mix of piano-driven, Top 40-ready tunes that split the difference between Luther Vandross and Marvin Gaye, which sounds better than it actually was. Legend's a photogenic, lively young artist with class, but some growth is needed. He's got the horn section and the backing singers, but what he really needs is a little James Brown.

Neil Young Trunk Show

The journey never ends for Neil Young. Captured cinematically just a few years ago in the formal Nashville recital Heart of Gold, the legendary rocker and that film's director Jonathan Demme return with Neil Young Trunk Show. The result is a rich, organic chronicle of the 2007-8 tour in support of Young's Chrome Dreams album. With multiple video angles and handheld cameras, Demme's spontaneous approach meshes perfectly with Young's free-floating, soft/loud, this-old-man-will-do-whatever-he-wants-to artistic imperative.

It's hard to think of another 60-something singer-guitarist granted as much reverence by his audience, and one that can summon as much electric fury. It was a smart idea, then, to capture the aging Young in this particular chapter in his career - increasingly grandfatherly and gentle one moment (the acoustic "Harvest" and "Oh Lonesome Me" are given poignant readings), then flattening the crowd the next with blazing steamrollers like "No Hidden Path" and "Like a Hurricane." Humble every second, yet never pandering, Young reveals himself throughout, apparently feeling every note he plays to the utmost. And as this concert movie goes on, the foundational themes of this singer-songwriter's body of work -- how a defiantly solitary man reconciles himself with the outside world, love, and spirituality -- come into progressively clearer focus.

Young and his band, including bassist Rick Rosas, guitarist Ben Keith, drummer Ralph Molina, and backup vocalist/wife Pegi, present a wholly convincing argument for artistic purity and old ways. With an eye toward both spectacle and heart, Demme captures his subject unpacking a Trunk Show complete with a live painter, vintage lighting, and, at center stage, those songs. It all boils down to the songs; Young serves no other master.