Billy & The Kids
Last Night
9:30 Club • DC
Last night was hands-down the best concert I’ve ever seen at the 9:30 Club in the past year.
The Dead’s 50th anniversary has already had some great shows thus far. However, last night with Billy & the Kids was the real kick-off. Kreutzmann sharing the stage with Aaron, Tom, and Reed the night BEFORE Dear Jerry in DC is something I’ll never forget.
Last night was the convocation of all things great about the live music community.
Billy & the Kids play at the level of a top tier jamband thundering through the classics of the Grateful Dead repertoire with energy somewhat similar to Joe Russo’s Almost Dead– a lot of credit to Tom Hamilton who has been absolutely crushing every Dead tune he gets his hands on whether it is in Almost Dead of Billy & the Kids.
Billy was the star of the show. He commanded the throne with style and pride last night. Midway through the first set the lights shined on Bill and everyone in the crowd starting cheering in ecstatic recognition of how special all of this was: everyone — fans, musicians, crew, promoters– here celebrate 50 years of the Grateful Dead. And the best part is that the Summer of Celebration barely even begun.
Appropriately, “Touch of Grey” and “They Love Each Other” opened the show– sort of a the calm before the storm vibe if you will. There was a strong jam at the end of “Cassidy” before the band launched into a fan favorite free-for-all sing along “Uncle John’s Band.” I love seeing Aaron go back to his roots of Piano and Hammond B-3 organ (see Morph Dusseldorf studio organ solo from Uncivilized Area if you don’t know what I’m talking about). Then we kept the crowd in familiar territory with “Women Are Smarter.” With the segue “Women are Smarter > Reuben and Cherise> Cassidy”, we got a taste of the magic that would come to fruition second set. This three song suite explored a wide array of sonic territories with Tom utilizing some unorthodox techniques to create spacy sounds and Aaron Magner digging deep with the synth. Billy even went a bit wild at times as they tore through this tri-fecta sandwich.
Reed Mathis. Words are almost a disservice to honoring what this man does on the bass. And fittingly, one of the best in the business Dave Schools of Panic was spotted looking on admirably in the left upper balcony with Duane Trucks. Reed is a musician’s musician. He’s one of those guys that everyone in the scene just likes to watch whenever they can. Reed handles the low end with extraordinary precision and maturity. Never over-playing, never under-playing.
At set break, plans for Dear Jerry were the topic of conversation; but almost equally was the phrase: “What a first set!” Not to reiterate too much, but it was just one of those nights when everything came together effortlessly. The blissfulness of the now inextricably tied to the joy of what’s to come.
Before set two kicked off we got a quick and respectable introductions of all band members as they welcomed an addition to the stage, Al Schnier of moe. Quickly, Billy laid down a shuffle and the whole crowd started dancing and jiving to “Cumberland Blues”. Al has a unique ability to embrace the tandem lead guitarist set-up with just about anyone. He and Tom were firing leads back and forth, crossing each other’s Ts, dotting each other’s Is, and finishing each other’s sentences. Not only was Reed Mathis hammering down the bass lines like a champ, he was belting out the vocals with exceptional execution. The band flawlessly segued into “Let it Grow” and Duane Trucks joined the band on percussion. Then they busted an early second set “Drums.” Reed Mathis actually broke a string during “Let it Grow” but kept playing anyways until a drum & percussion breakdown ensued.
There was a beautiful moment when Bill Kreutzmann smiled at the young Duane Trucks rhythmically conversed on their respective kits. It hit me that this represented a major theme of the GD 50 reunion. The Dead fanbase now stretches multiple generations and its legacy has touched just about every band on the live music circuit in at least some way. It is beautiful to know that their music had brought so much pleasure to so many people’s lives, regardless of age, sex, race, gender, or religion.
Once Duane and Billy roasted us with their polyrhythmic torches, they went right back into “Let It Grow” without skipping a beat. At this point you could see Aaron lifting his head up in a blissful eat-shit-grin kind of way. This was followed by looks of concentration and respect to the music he was crafting. He was stationed at the B-3 for most the show, Brent style. Then came “He’s Gone,” a poetic masterpiece, which gave us all a second to relax a bit for my personal highlight of the night.
The first notes of “Deal” struck, the highlight of the night. That Deal is still sitting on the stage at the 9:30 Club and needs to be returned to Billy immediately so it can be played again tonight. Al and Tom Hamilton made Jerry proud on this one. This wasn’t just another song in the set. “Deal” was a song Jerry loved to play both with the Dead and the Jerry Garcia Band. The emotion in the lyrics, the climatic buildup of that guitar solo, and the shuffling rhythm are all textbook Jerry. You should have seen some of the dance moves and high fives in the crowd. The way that Billy slowly built up the momentum with Reed was a well-calculated veteran move and the crowd just ate it up.
That “Deal” could have been the final song of the night. But that wasn’t enough for the band. Billy & the Kids thought we deserved a bit more.
Countless acts cover songs from The Band. But last night was the best cover of The Band I’ve ever seen to date. “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” was played in a beautiful way with the melodic vocals smoothly wrangling in the entire audience into a musical masterpiece. Words weren’t exchanged after that song, just looks of “Oh my god did they just do that?” Then band played a nostalgic rendition of “Black Muddy River” to give everyone a moment of reflection on how this was just the calm before the storm tonight at Merriweather Post Pavilion (AKA JerryWeather).
Billy & the Kids were done. They Kids left the stage and Billy started walking off. But we simply couldn’t let that happen. The crowd went nuts asking for one more even as the house lights came on. Billy sat back down and the house lights went off. We were in for one more.
Digging into a fan-favorite choice cut from the GD vault, “Bertha” scorched the 9:30 Club with Tom Hamilton’s vicious onslaught of guitar mastery.
We got a short, but super sweet “Big Railroad Blues” to close out the night. Every member of the band was grinning ear to ear at this point and so was everyone in the audience. That special place for music that moves us was hit on point last night.
What a show.
Tonight over 25 bands will perform at Dear Jerry at Merriweather. This will be one of the best concerts of 2015 and has a chance to go down in the books of music history.
Tonight we celebrate the music of Jerry Garcia with 18,000 friends and 25 bands.
Let’s just let the music play tonight.
05/13/15
Billy & the Kids
9:30 Club in Washington DC
Set 1 (8:45 – 9:48)
Touch of Grey
They Love Each Other
Cassidy >
Uncle John’s Band
Man Smart (Woman Smarter)
Reuben and Cherise >
Cassidy
Set 2 (10:30 – 11:45)
Cumberland Blues*
The Wheel* >
Let It Grow** ->
Drums** ->
Let It Grow** >
He’s Gone** ->
Deal**
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down*
Encore (11:48 – 11:56)
Black Muddy River
Encore 2 (11:59 – 12:10)
Bertha
Big Railroad Blues
* W/ Al Schnier
** W/ Duane Trucks, Vinnie Amico, and Al Schnier