Slambovian Circus of Dreams ~ 2016 July 16 ~ The Guthrie Center ~ Great Barrington, MA
Band Personnel: Joziah Longo, lead vocals, guitar, harmonica; Sharkey McEwen, guitar, mandolin, vocals; Tink Lloyd, accordion, ukulele, melodica, theremin, flute, recorder, backing vocals; Rick Quintanal, drums.
Set List
Grand Slambovians - Lost Highway - Song for Woody {Dylan} - Windmills - Folsom Prison Pinball / I Wish - Flapjacks From the Sky - Step Outta Time ... intermission ... Solve It All Daily - Glide - Moondog House - Life On Mars {Bowie} - America {Simon & Garfunkel, just a few bars} - Just Like a Woman {Dylan} - Tink (I Know It's You) - Oklahoma Hills {Arlo Guthrie} - Oh Susanna / Trans-Slambovian BiPolar Express ... encore ... Golden Slumbers intro / The Invisible
Videos
Scroll down past the videos for review.
Flapjacks From the Sky
Solve It All Daily
Review
The Slambovians played a much better show than the last time I saw them, at the Turning Point back in June. They played a longer show, the audience was much more enthusiastic, the musicians were in better spirits, a couple of delightful new songs were included, and Sharkey was still wearing his groovy retro bellbottoms. Best fashion news of all: Joziah has replaced the old deteriorating straw tophat with a lovely new one of the same style.
For the second time in my last two shows, new "permanent" drummer Felipe Torres was absent. His replacement was Rick Quintanal, who has a long list of drumming credits, as revealed by a quick DuckDuckGo search. He clearly was enjoying himself behind the drum kit, singing along, and smiling more often than one expects from a drummer. Merch Girl Cindy tells me he's their "permanent sub," and I'm happy to see the band has such a wealth of talent to draw from at the drum kit.
It was a good night for multi-instrumentalist Tink Lloyd, who got to play the flute (the instrument she studied in school) as well as a dizzying array of other instruments. On "Flapjacks From the Sky," she got the theremin to sound just perfect. It's a fussy instrument and doesn't always do what a musician asks of it, but tonight it was spot on. The sound in the venue was also excellent, allowing the audience to hear every nuance of her playing on every song.
Joziah tipped his cap to Arlo Guthrie with a spontaneous rendition of Arlo's "Oklahoma Hills." It was nice to hear Dylan's "Song for Woody" at the Guthrie Center, but a second Dylan cover later in the set was definitely one Dylan song too many.
The Guthrie Center is the very church where Arlo Guthrie went for a Thanksgivin' dinner that couldn't be beat. When Arlo got rich from the song, he bought the church and turned it into a cultural center. It's a great place to hear a show. There is plenty of parking just across the railroad track. While waiting for the doors to open, Concert Going Partner and I sat in the car during a deluge; I took an interesting picture of the venue during this deluge (check it out in the photo gallery up and to the right). Inside the venue, seating is at tables for two (in the first row next to the stage) or for four (the rest of the room), and a few seats up in the balcony. Capacity is roughly 100. Seating was first-come-first-served. The dinner menu was adequate. The sound was great. Unfortunately the stage lighting was very dim, but I still managed to get some decent photos and a couple of videos with good audio, albeit subpar visuals.
More Slambovians
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