The folks booking the shows at Red Butte Garden sure know how to end their season with a bang, rather than a whimper.
Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, playing the mountainside venue for the third straight summer, and first time as a headliner, delivered a high-energy dose of what bandleader Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews calls “supafunkrock,” a tasty blend of soul, funk, R&B and jazz that can only come from the multi-culti musical polyglot that IS the Big Easy.
The crowd got on its collective feet early in the set, and stayed there while Andrews led his band through originals and classic covers, the band leader bouncing between lead vocals, trumpet and, yes, trombone, while his stellar crew of musicians offered incredibly tight support. Those members of Orleans Avenue–bassist Mike Ballard, guitarist Pete Murano, drummer Joey Peebles and sax players Dan Oestreicher and Tim McFatter–are vital to the sound Andrews has forged on albums like 2010’s Backatown and the new For True.
Make no mistake, though–Andrews is the man, and at Sunday’s show he offered further proof that he is an artist to be reckoned with. Not only is he a more-than-capable multi-instrumentalist, skilled on several tools besides that famous trombone; he is a top-notch singer who was able to hit some soaring high nights as easily as some sexy deep growls over the course of the night.
At one point, he channeled Ray Charles for a version of “I Got a Woman,” followed up by James Brown via “Sex Machine,” and he worked the crowd like an old pro–despite only being 25 years old. Here’s hoping Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue make Red Butte Garden a regular stop on their summer tours from here on out.
When Red Butte Garden announced a two-nights-running double-bill of Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Mavis Staples and Bonnie Raitt, it was clear the audience was in for something special.
That proved true Tuesday night, the first of the two-night stand, as soul legend Staples teamed with “little sister Bonnie” to provide one of the more memorable nights of the summer, a deep dive into gospel, soul and rhythm and blues by two of America’s favorites.
Staples, as is her wont, blended barn-burning cover songs with cuts from her vast catalog of both solo hits and songs from her years in the Staples Singers. She opened with Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth,” turned up the funk in the gospel-driven “Creep Along Moses” and knocked “Wrote a Song for Everyone” and The Band’s “The Weight” out of the park, before leading the crowd in chants of “Levon Helm! Levon Helm! Levon Helm!” in tribute to the recently fallen Band man.
Proclaiming that she and her stellar band were at Red Butte to spread “some joy, and some good vibrations,” Staples made it so thanks to her passionate takes on “You Are Not Alone” and Curtis Mayfield’s “This Is My Country.”
Staples brought the headlining Raitt on stage to share the vocals (and add some of her patented stinging guitar licks) to “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” afterward regaling the crowd with a story about how Pops Staples always loved “sister Bonnie.” She then ended her solid set with an inarguable classic, “I’ll Take You There.”
Raitt took the stage and greeted the audience by proclaiming Red Butte Garden “the most ridiculously beautiful place we get to play,” besides Colorado’s Red Rocks. She leaned heavily on her latest release Slipstream early in the set, delivering album-opener “Used to Rule the World” to open the show, and following with her cover of Gerry Rafferty’s “Right Down the Line,” a tune Raitt and her band delivered with a hint of reggae.
Raitt’s lengthy set ran for nearly two solid hours, bouncing between Slipstream cuts and old favorites. “Something to Talk About” was an early favorite, and the crowd was responsive to Raitt’s slick slide-guitar and strong vocals right from the get-go. She covered Bob Dylan’s “Million Miles” and sounded great on “Love Sneaking Up On You.”
Raitt introduced her new “Marriage Made in Hollywood” by saying it showed off some of her “Celtic roots,” and she followed with another new one, “Take My Love with You.”
Her version of John Prine’s “Angel from Montgomery” was easily the most powerful performance of the night, a perfect combination of passionate playing and vocals that truly showed what Raitt is capable of. For all the talk about Raitt being a blueswoman–and she certainly can play the blues like nobody’s business–she is truly a pop stylist, capable of delving into all manner of music. Throughout Tuesday’s show, she touched on a variety of styles, always staying rooted in Americana, but veering into reggae, Celtic, rock and country as well as the blues.
Her hit cover of John Hiatt’s “Thing Called Love” was, as expected, a highlight, and her encore that included “I Can’t Make You Love Me,” “Have a Heart” and ’70s-era favorite “Louise” proved a perfect ending for pretty ideal evening all around.
And Raitt and Staples are doing it again tonight.
This week ranges from the profane to the spiritual, in all the best ways. Check out some of the great entertainment options of the week ahead right here:
JANE’S ADDICTION, SALTAIR, Tuesday, 7:30 p.m., $40 day of show
Being a fan of Jane’s Addiction is a bit of a conundrum in 2012. Nothing’s Shocking is still one of my all-time favorite records, and the opportunity to hear Perry Farrell et al perform “Mountain Song” or “Had a Dad” is always welcome. one of my fondest high school memories is seeing the band on the Nothing’s Shocking tour at the old Utah State Fair Park arena. At the same time, the music that the band has sporadically released since has never lived up to that release (and yes, I’m including the hit follow-up Ritual de lo Habitual, a so-so album with a few great songs, especially compared to its grounding, Shocking predecessor). And the occasion tours inevitably feel like cash-grabs, even when Jane’s Addiction has new tunes to perform, which is the case this time around as the band is ostensibly on the road in support of its latest release, 2011’s The Great Escape Artist.
Jane’s Addiction headline Tuesday at the Saltair.
BONNIE RAITT/MAVIS STAPLES, RED BUTTE GARDEN, Tuesday-Wednesday, 7 p.m., $63
Not a lot needs to be said about why this double-bill is worth checking out; there’s a reason Red Butte Garden booked two nights for this double-shot of Rock and Roll Hall of Famers. In Raitt, you have a slide-guitar killer who consistently releases collections of rock-solid blues and pop-rock, including this year’s Slipstream. And in Staples, you have one of the signature voices of American soul and gospel music, a familiar face since her days with the Staples Singers who has released a string of killer albums the past few years, particularly You Are Not Alone in 2010. Don’t get to these shows late, and don’t plan on leaving early. Tickets are still available as of August 26, but both will most likely sell out.
Bonnie Raitt headlines Tuesday and Wednesday at Red Butte Garden.
JASON ISBELL & THE 400 UNIT, NEWPARK AMPHITHEATER (PARK CITY), Thursday, 6 p.m., Free
The fact that Jason Isbell and his band the 400 Unit is playing a free show at EXACTLY the same time as the University of Utah is playing its first home football game of the season is one of those things that would seem to indicate it doesn’t pay to be both a music geek AND a sports nerd. Isbell released one of my favorite albums of 2011 with Here We Rest, just the latest in a long line of releases that prove Isbell is one of the best American songwriters working today. The fact that he’s only 33 years old makes future-me happy to know I’ll have Isbell to enjoy for years to come–definitely long enough that I won’t feel it necessary to thrown in the obligatory “and he was a Drive-By Trucker, dammit!” reference. As the season-closer of Newpark Amphitheater’s free concert series, Isbell is the best show of the week.
Jason Isbell headlines Thursday night’s free show at Kimball Junction’s Newpark Amphitheater.
THE LOWER LIGHTS, BRIGHAM YOUNG HISTORIC PARK, Friday, 7:30 p.m., Free
Listening and watching The Lower Lights perform is easily one of my favorite local music experiences. And chances to do just that are kind of rare–the gospel-singin’ collective doesn’t get the chance to gather its players and singers together very often, so each show seems like a special treat. This summer, the group released its second Hymn Revival set, and you can expect a heavy dose of it at this free show in downtown SLC.
THE ROSE EXPOSED, ROSE WAGNER PERFORMING ARTS CENTER, Saturday, 9 a.m.-10 p.m., Free
This is one of the best ideas I’ve heard of in local arts in quite a while, and a fine way to introduce one of the most treasured venues in Salt Lake City to people who perhaps have never visited the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center. A bunch of the group that call the Rose home are joining to offer day full of free performances and classes, with the day capped off by an hour-long variety show of the best of the best for just $10. Those shows are at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m., but before that you can spend the day learning about and seeing performances by the likes of the Plan-B Theatre Company, Pygmalion Theatre Company, Repertory Dance Theatre, Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company and SB Dance, as well as films from SpyHop Productions. Hit the link above to check out the full schedule–new programs start on the hour, every hour from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
A few songs into Huey Lewis & The News’ show at Red Butte Garden Sunday night, listening to the group’s bar-band brand of pop-rock, I came up with the following thesis: Huey Lewis & The News’ ’80s popularity and ubiquity on MTV is, in fact, NOT proof that MTV in the Reagan years was full of saccharine, inoffensive pablum, but rather Lewis and Co.’s success was evidence that MTV was NOT obsessed with youthful good looks and disposable pop swill.
Hear me out.
Looking at Huey Lewis & The News on stage Sunday, and recalling those monster hits and videos that seemed to make them one of the biggest bands in the world for about five years, they are nothing more, and nothing less, than a highly competent classic-rock band with real respect for the American musical canon. It was true then, when the band’s straightforward brand of rock and roll sold millions of records at the same time as far more “cool” and “modern” bands like Duran Duran or Depeche Mode, and it’s true now as the band continues to throw plenty of classic covers in its live shows, alongside its own considerable catalog of chart-toppers.
It’s just a theory, and Lewis and The News’ fluffy pop tunes leave plenty of time for the mind to wander–it doesn’t take a lot of intellectual engagement to appreciate, say, “Heart of Rock and Roll”–the show-opener–or “I Want a New Drug.” Sunday night, the covers that showed Lewis and The News’ roots included Solomon Burke’s “Got to Get You Off My Mind,” the Drifters’ “Some Kind of Wonderful,” and the Staples Singers’ “Respect Yourself,” all delivered early in the show as the crowd stood on its feet and danced.
I was actually a little annoyed that the show relied so much on covers, considering Lewis and The News’ popular heyday coincided with my first years of music geekdom. I never bought one of their albums, but why would you? When you are a young teenager listening to Top 40 radio and watching MTV for all your musical education, you heard PLENTY of Huey Lewis & The News. And those were the songs I was hoping to hear Sunday night, not the best wedding cover band ever.
Thankfully, Lewis mixed it up enough to keep me, and the crowd, engaged. Backed by an excellent horn section and a couple of female backup singers, Lewis & The News knocked out strong versions of their own songs “Small World” and “Jacob’s Ladder,” as well as an excellent take on “Heart and Soul,” one of the band’s earliest hits and still one I legitimately enjoy as one of my fonder memories of early MTV programming.
Lewis was the definition of an old pro as a frontman, chatting up the crowd, introducing the band and talking about their 34-year history playing music together. And the crowd ate it up, staying on its collective feet throughout–something you don’t see every show at Red Butte Garden.
How about next year we get a Duran Duran show for another ’80s flashback at Utah’s best summer venue, and see how the experience compares?
I first moved to Utah when I was in high school, and Crosby, Stills & Nash were annual visitors (or at least seemed to be) at venues like ParkWest (now the Canyons), and while they packed fans in there by the tens of thousands, the legendary folk-rockers were not really on my radar as a young punk-rock kid.
20-plus years later, I appreciate the significance of the band in America’s music history, as both leaders of the ’60s protest-music scene and as songwriters with serious chops, excellent vocal harmonies and a catalog of songs that transcend eras.
That said, I entered Thursday’s sold-out show at Red Butte Garden–my first time seeing the trio–with trepidation, fully aware that the years have probably changed their collective vocal prowess, and not for the better. And that proved to be true, but the things that made Crosby, Stills & Nash legends in the first place–the songs–overcame any complaints with ease.
Splitting the show into two sets, Crosby, Stills & Nash took the state shortly after 7:30 and promptly lit into one of their best from when Neil Young was in the group, “Carry On/Questions.” Stephen Stills’ guitar solo during that first performance was one of the pleasant surprises of the night; I’d been told of his axe skills, but didn’t realize what a powerful, emotional player he can be–that more than made up for some of his rough vocals on later songs like “Southern Cross.”
Graham Nash sat at a piano for the follow-up, “Chicago,” and his voice seems to have weathered the years the best, although David Crosby was in pretty fine form all night as well. When he and Nash shared the spotlight on songs like “Lay Me Down,” those moments were some of the best of the night.
The first set was the stronger one, including fine takes on “Just a Song Before I Go,” “Marrakesh Express,” “Deja Vu” and the Buffalo Springfield song “Bluebird,” which Crosby introduced by saying “I can see at least one Buffalo Springfield shirt out there.” It probably wasn’t hard to spot, considering the majority of the audience was on its feet from the first song onward.
The second set had several highlights as well, but the energy seemed to wane a bit after the raucous first half of the show. “Helplessly Hoping” was a worthy effort, as was Stills’ cover of Bob Dylan’s “Girl From the North Country” and Crosby and Nash’s version of “Guinnevere.”
The men on stage, backed by a solid band, were thankful to the crowd, but didn’t chat too much. The best line of the night probably came from Crosby about mid-way through the second set, when he noted that a lot of people consider Crosby, Stills & Nash a political band, “even though we do more love songs.”
“But one thing I will say,” Crosby continued, with the audience cheering, “is that I don’t think the people who wrote the Constitution had in mind that the people who have the biggest TV budget should have the keys to the kingdom.”
Interesting that Crosby’s line was as political as it got all night, considering Utah is a sort of adopted home of the conservative presidential nominee of the Republican Party this year–a fact no doubt known to the old radicals on stage. Perhaps they didn’t want to offend any fans at Red Butte Garden, or simply don’t like to delve too deeply into political diatribes any more.
Regardless, Crosby, Stills & Nash delivered a rock-solid show, something far better than the worst-case scenario I had imagined of old guys who could no longer sing or enrapture a crowd. The trio and their backing band had an easy go-to to avoid that possibility–again, those songs!–and the vibe was perfect for the environment they were playing. If only every band from CSN’s heyday aged as gracefully.
Above: A couple of these guys allegedly aren’t like the others.
Peter Cooke’s campaign for governor against Gary Herbert shows all too clearly the maddening and perennial paradox that faces Democratic voters in Utah.
Common wisdom is the only way for a Democratic to win in Utah is to mimic a Republican. Case in point: Cooke takes a Republican stand against gay marriage, making it impossible to distinguish him from a GOP candidate.
“I’m not a typical Democrat!” Cooke crowed. Indeed, he even looks like a Republican. Now, the only real difference between the two gubernatorial contenders is that Herbert is a vastly well-funded incumbent with an “R” beside his name.
A more infamous example for those slow on the uptake (you are Democrats, after all). Rumor has it U.S. Congressman Jim Matheson is a Democrat—though he seldom owns up to it. Matheson just received an honor that any Republican would kill for—the endorsement of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “Few Democrats get that endorsement!” his supporters brag. Yeah, and there’s a reason for that.
But I’ve got a solution for Democratic powerlessness. OK, it’s not a perfectsolution, but, hey, Utah Democrats accepted long ago that it’s not a perfect world. Let’s call it a scheme with merit: ALL DEMOCRATS IN UTAH REGISTER AS REPUBLICANS!
Before you have a case of the vapors, Jim Dubakis, think about it. As Republicans, these Closet Dem’s (CDs) could attend to Republican neighborhood caucuses and conventions and vote in GOP primaries. On these occasions, CD’s could vote for the most moderate Republican and even elect each other in as county and state convention delegates. If nothing else, it would nudge the Utah GOP toward the edge of sanity.
Any moderate Republicans (aka RINOs, Republicans In Name Only) that the Closet Democrats elect would enjoy the same privileges as regular Utah rock-ribbed, crazy-assed Republicans (RRCARs) to attend otherwise closed legislative meetings, vote for state House and Senate leaders and even, maybe, be GOP leaders—it could happen. (Not to mention getting lunch and golf paid for them by lobbists.)
For once, Democrats would actually have some impact on politics in Utah—even though they would no longer technically be Democrats.
Right about now, many progressive Democrats are saying, “But Crawler, that’s not ethical!” (BTW: This kind of thinking is one reason Democrats get nowhere in Utah politics.)
But think about it, most Utah Repiublicans think “moderate Republican” is a synonym for Socialist. So you sorta, kinda, ain’t lying.
And, to look at it from another angle, is registering as a bogus Republican any more repugnant than Matheson’s charade as a Democrat?
Glen Warchol also writes about arts, culture and politics in Salt Lake Magazine.
Daniel Nailen 