Two nights of DTB = heaven

The Derek Trucks Band played two nights at the Park West this week. I was able to go to both shows. I sent out setlists and reviews to the Derek email listserv which I'll also post here.



Park West, Chicago, IL
4/8/09

Down In The Flood
Down Don't Bother Me
Days Is Almost Gone
Rastaman Chant
Get What You Deserve
I'll Find My Way
Meet Me At The Bottom
Already Free
Leavin' Trunk
Afro Blue
Get Out Of My Life >
Who Knows >
Get Out Of My Life
Up Above My Head

Encore:
Done Got Over
We're A Winner
Sweet Inspiration

The band came on just after 8:45pm and played one long set finishing up at about 10:45pm. The venue was pretty full for a Wednesday night (I saw Tea Leaf Green at Park West a few weeks ago and the crowd was quite paltry) and it might have even been a sell out - I know tomorrow's show is sold out. The band played with a horn section at tonight's show, which added some nice touches to most of the songs. I'm not a huge fan of horns in "rock" music, but a nice horn triad can add a lot when not over used - tonight's show was a great example of that. The sax player took some nice solos at a few points during the night as well. As per usual, the band played a really solid set. It was evident when they hit their groove though. From Leavin' Trunk through the rest of the show the band was in 5th gear. The version of Leavin' Trunk was one of the best I've heard. Furthermore, not only did the play Rastaman, which was a treat and a surprise, but they played the one song I was really jonesing for - Afro Blue. Suffice it to say the band didn't let me down. Kofi and Derek were on fire, as per usual. I was really struck by Derek's straight playing during Afro Blue tonight. The Count and the sax player took a nice solo each in the song as well. The only disappoint was that I did not see any tapers (again, for a city the size of Chicago with so many tapers not one?). I sincerely hope that I'm wrong because the band was ON and people need to hear this version of Afro Blue. I'll be at tomorrow night's show and report back to the list.



Park West, Chicago, IL
4/9/09

I Know
Get What You Deserve
Sailing On
Miss Me When I'm Gone
Rastaman Chant
Key To The Highway
Days Is Almost Gone
Leavin' Trunk
Already Free
Get Out Of My Life Woman >
Who Knows >
Get Out Of My Life Woman
My Favorite Things
Any Day

Encore:
Down In The Flood
Sweet Inspiration*

*with Billy Branch on harmonica

To me, the mark of a good live band is when their performance transcends time; when you look at your watch and realize, "holy shit, it's been an hour and fifteen minutes already." Fortunately, this happens virtually every time I see the DTB and tonight was no exception. The band took the stage at about 8:50pm tonight and played another solid two hour set. (I love how the band eschews the whole rock and roll ethos in their own attitudes and mannerisms as well as a band. They respect their fans and go on when they should, which allows us fans to get home and to bed for work the next day. Now that's class.) The horn section from the previous night was back and they all seemed a bit more comfortable with the tunes this time around. "Sailing On" stood out early in the set. The horns sounded great and there was an incredible upbeat, funky vibe to the song that really got the crowd moving. Kofi was on all night and Todd did a really nice job of holding the down the bottom end while still adding flourishes of color (as a bass player I notice his playing more than most, probably). Surprisingly, or perhaps not, given the previous night's performance, "Leavin' Trunk" really cooked. The whole band was on - Derek and Kofi doing their thing as per usual and an extended jamming period that saw solos from the trombone player, Kofi's clavinet, the sax player, and the Count. They brought it down a bit with "Already Free" but there was still plenty of tasteful playing. I think "Already Free" is one of my favorite on the new album (that and "Something To Make You Happy" - what can I say, I can't get enough Paul Pena) and what the band does with it live simply builds on an already great song. The band stepped the funk back up with "Get Out Of My Life Woman." Several times during the night I looked over at Bobby Tis at the board and he had a big SEG (shit eating grin) on his face. You know the band is hitting their stride when you see that kind of reaction from the crew. "My Favorite Things" stuck out tonight as well. Having followed this band almost religiously for the better part of a decade, Derek's slide fireworks come as no surprise (that's not to diminish his chops though) but what I really paid attention to tonight (and a bit last night) was Derek's straight playing. He didn't even touch the slide during "My Favorite Things" and just blew me away with some of his work on the fretboard. Throughout the night I tried to focus on his rhythm work as well, which I think is very under-rated. He manages to add a lot of color to his rhythm parts and keep the song moving and interesting while staying true to the arrangement. One thing I noticed during "Down In The Flood" - the guitar change between Derek and Bobby is so fluid it's almost one swift motion. For the "Sweet Inspiration" encore, Billy Branch from the opening band came out and blew some harp. I must say that the combination of the DTB, the horn section, and the harp may have just resulted in the best version of that song yet. The major surprise for me was that I didn't see any taping rigs again tonight. Perhaps I missed them again, but I'm kind of shocked that they weren't more apparent if they were there. Both of these shows were so good it would be a shame not to have them available to the whole community. Who knows, perhaps Marty and company were pulling multi-track tonight (do they do that every night?) for a future release. Trust me, there were enough highlights from both nights to have a pretty amazing live album (of course I'd love it if they released both nights in their entirety, but hey, that's me). One other little funny moment, during the intros Derek introduced Mike as being from Northwestern (when he really went to Harvard) and both night's the Count was introduced as being from Gary, Indiana. I was listening to the House of Blues tape from 4/2/09 and they introduced the Count as being from a town in MA, so I assumed they're just messing around, which I found humorous. I made sure to give Marty a thumbs up and a "good work tonight" on the way out of the building. Everyone earned their paycheck at the Park West gigs this week. It's nice that the DTB finally did more than one night in Chicago, and I hope it's a trend that will continue in the future.