"I'm going back and looking at the stuff that lends itself to extensive exploration, which I think is John's forte. I've been looking to tap into this for a long time, so I would expect the shows with John to include fewer songs and more jamming," he says.

Phil on Scofield shows...link on main page

yep - he says more than that for sure ! I was watching a video of Scofield with Miles last week... This is going to be pretty awesome if the band can keep up ! As per my other post, a plea to folks out there - Please Try and Film This Historic Event :-)

C'monnnnn - BLUES FOR ALLAH!!!!!!

fyi... just pricelined the crowne plaza for $89

haven't been to albany since the early 90's Knick shows...any suggestions for record shops, pizza, other good food, guitar shops, used book stores?

thanks

Blue Note Record Shop (518) 462-0221
156 Central Ave, Albany, NY

Last Vestige Music Shop (518) 432-7736 173 Quail St, Albany, NY


There are some decent places to eat and drink on Lark Street, head south on Lark from the Armory. Don't go north on Lark as the neighborhood ain't good....

Check out Bombers (biggest and best Burrito's in town), or Justins plus there are a few Pizza joints, Chineese fast food and many bar/taverns.

Bomber's Burrito Bar. 258 Lark Street. Albany, NY 12210 ...

Looking forward to an interesting show'

Peace

way to go PHIL!!!

Althea> New Speedway> Fire on Mt.??!!!!!!!!!!!??

There are some decent places to eat and drink on Lark Street, head south on Lark from the Armory. Don't go north on Lark as the neighborhood ain't good....


lol. South is when you have your back to the Armory bldg. North is when you're faciing it for those who will be compass-less. (South on Lark that is, over north, definitely.)

tonight's predictions

set 1
let the good times roll>
sittin' on top of the world>
pride of cucamunga>
peggy-o>
good shepherd>
friend of the devil>
cumberland>
loose lucy

set 2
jam> cats under the stars
uncle john's band> jam
dark star v2> jam
terrapin> space>
wheel> jam
stephen>
morning dew>
know you rider

E. revolution

my prediction...
lots of smelly freaks.

and imagine...

soundcheck... incomplete

rider - full blown
hide your love away - 1/3
watchtower...

I am gonna call Chinacat to open the show. Yes it is a longshot but why play it safe.

If we're going with long shots, how about It's All Over Now, Baby Blue.

the odds

Chinacat 15-1

Baby Blue 100-1

whistlestop>jam>loose lucy, so far

Friend Of The Devil

Washington St. Armory, Albany, NY 12/4/05

Set 1:
Just Another Whistle Stop> Jam>
Loose Lucy
Friend Of The Devil>
Big River
The Stranger(Two Souls In Communion)> Jam>
Birdsong> Jam>
Cold Rain & Snow

OOO!!! you guys got a bird song?? lucky!!

on setbreak right now??

hows it all comin together? john as hot as last night?

Does anybody have a second set update?

U.S. Blues opener

how long was the first set?

The Wheel

first set was 68:15 according to live365... it's streaming now.

Washington St. Armory, Albany, NY 12/4/05

Set 1:
Just Another Whistle Stop> Jam>
Loose Lucy
Friend Of The Devil>
Big River
The Stranger(Two Souls In Communion)> Jam>
Birdsong> Jam>
Cold Rain & Snow

Set 2:
US Blues
Sitting On Top Of The World
Jam> The Wheel> Jam>
Eyes Of The World>
I Know You Rider
You've Got To Hide Your Love Away>
All Along The Watchtower> Jam>
Midnight Hour

Donor Rap/Intros

Encore:
Not Fade Away

Listening to first set stream.....(Thanx Taperrob)....and it all sounds good to me thus far. Looking forward to reading the reviews of the New York critiques as they are defenitely hard to please.

nice set .....the 2nd set especially...but nothing special w/ scofield?

I BET that eyes was special

took each one of those second set songs apart and put em back together...

i'm talkin they took them out to the end and, pardon the pun... rolled em up again.

magic tonight in albany, thank you Phil.

eyes was one of the best I've ever heard, certainly post Jerry. great groove. In fact, the whole wheel eyes rider part was spectac. Watchtower super, midnight hour top notch, not fade also fine. Scofield gave great solos and tremendous energy. Chris was much solidified re lyrics and presence - SOTOW was awesome.....have to hide as well.
Phil drove magnifique.

Scofield played well but bided his time until his solo after the second verse of Eyes -- then he just ripped and continued to do so until the end of the show. The very fact of his "un-Jerryness" -- the angular jazz phrasing, the tone of the guitar etc -- made the whole thing really compelling and obviously made things very interesting for Mr. Lesh.

Chis Robinson majorly flubbed the intro to "Wheel" but otherwise was spot on -- Phil and Chris were obviously close and enjoying hanging together on stage. My personal preference was for the points where it was just the five instumentalists on stage -- but Chris did a nice job throughout and definitely nailed "Midnight Hour."

Great show.

I just put up a torrent of my recording of this show here:

http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=20576

I'm too tired to do a complete song by song description but suffice it to say John Scofield has added to the sound in an incredible way, and it would be a shame if these were the only 2 shows they played together

they had SUCH a good time up there - Phil was beaming all night

was like the meeting of two giants, really, and a very important one

Two Souls In Communion into Bird Song into Cold Rain was also amazing - few people in the crowd knew the late Pigpen tune

they really had it going from start to finish - Loose Lucy was red hot

Eyes of the World end jams were ridiculous

Watchtower hit a moment I'd never thought I'd see

Chris was great

as was the crowd

y'all should have been there!

tried to insert a picture from the show - didn't work - oh well

197 miles and I'm back home...a few random thoughts

venue was very cool, major 70's feel, floor was completey clear with riser seats around the sides and rear, huge arced wood ceiling with exposed steel beams, like a big hanger, I was halfway between the stage and the soundboard and the sound was amazing, crystal clear vocals, chest pounding bass, and nice tone on the instruments...I did feel mookie was low in the mix 1st set, as well as barry's pedal steel...both of these got better in the second set

I froze to death walking around before the show, wandered around a bit in the "not so nice" part of town before exploring Lark Street, nice mexican at El Loco, too bad Blue Note records was closed, almost everything was closed, actually

nice scene and crowd, but witnessed some way seedier elements than NJPAC...unpleasant miracle wookie fight / beatdown while waiting for the doors, some majorly gone people inside, including a manson-esque walking dead in full length duster and beat western hat, amazing how people are even able to stay on their feet, nitrous after the show, but overall way mellow and most of those there were way into the music and the band

as stated above, with the exception of The Wheel flub, CR was spot on tonight from the very first song, nice harp on SOTOTW, lots of acoustic, including adding to the jams, as well as playing his hollow body electric in one of the spaced out jams...I think the blown lyrics in The Wheel actually led Phil to lead the whole group into higher grounds...

great dynamic between everyone on stage, major interplay and lots of laughter, as well as amazement at what at what they themselves were doing...

phil was on fire dropping bombs throught the night, as well as fluid runs, real round and percussive, super deep sound, he was laughing and talking a lot, even pretending to be a spaceship or whatever his was doing with his arms between songs...

mookie was sweet, came up in the mix 2nd set, lots of organ

molo was the rhythm master, at one point in the spacey jam, he kept making "tick tock" noises, meanwhile scofield seemed to be momentarily channeling david gilmour, I half thought they were going to go into "time" or some other floyd dark side tune...

barry was out of control, nice sound reminiscent of garcia, but definitely making it his own, some super percussive riffing when scofield was leading, they seemed to have good interplay, steel seemd a little low in the 1st set, but he was doing some real inventive stuff in the 2nd, as well as the standard lap sound...

nice to hear a few songs like "hide your love" with the different line-up, larry's string touches were missed but more than made up for by scofield

scofield fits really well into the band, he played one guitar all night, a hollow body I think, wasn't close enough to see what kind, at one point he was joking and holding up the sheet music, but he did a great job of holding back when he wasn't sure and jumping in when he picked it up, he had this way of strumming with his thumb when he was holding back that made it look about 8 inches long from where I was standing, he made good use of his guitar, constantly adjusting the pick-up controls to tweak the sound, also used a wide array of pedals and dropped some serious effects in the mix, at one point he had the full on estimated prophet guitar sound going, other times he had that blues overdrive wail going, nice counterpoint to Barry's lines, at one point I think he might have been using an effect that samples a small loop of his guitar and spins it back with delay and effects, I think I've seen pedals that do that, in any event, it was pretty impressive, I actually think he added some of that vibe garcia had in the late 80's / 90's, his straight playing was full on, by no means did he oveuse the effects...during eyes, he held back a bit, then jumped in with this scratchy rhythm riff that was insane, his solo following Barry's excellent run was insane and blew the roof off...sick sick eyes unbelievable I had tears in my eyes the entire time no joke, at times I think scofield was surprised at what he pulled off, how cool would it be to have that as your weekend gig?

PLEASE RELEASE THE SOUNDBOARD!

WHOOOOOOOOO!

WOW

oh yeah, and that spacey tripped out jam? soooo crazy....

wait! and the whole arabian / middle eastern / egyptian jam vibe....amazing...where did that even happen???

so nice to hear a jammin "Sittin On Top .."

Phil sang FOTD and Bird Song, so that did break up or vary the set1 vocals.... I in fact didn't mind CR singing Cold Rain (since Phil just sang Birdsong) except we do not get Phil's changed words... set2 I think Phil sang Eyes and helped with others like Wheel and Rider?

J Scofield did an amazing final solo in IKYR that seemed more thought out than "on the fly", and of course had little resemblance to Jerry.

MookieS Organ was louder and played harder, seemed he did more backup vocals too (no LarryC, no mic for JohnS).

Molo was again always in action and Great.

Hide Your Love Away started nice acoustic, but ended jammin electric!

Watchtower exploded!
Inside the next jam I thought they were gonna do
Heard It Thru The Grapevine, but a few minutes later it was the midnite hour.

Loose Lucy was fun, I wonder if Birdsong was on the setlist plan or if it just happened? maybe that Wheel got broken but I believe they did come back from afar to sing the ending. Eyes was one of the night's best perhaps, but great moments all over the place like Two Souls and in Cold Rain (Albany sidewalks had snow and ice).

Pretty intense show!

I sat in 1st row in front of Scofield on Saturday and noticed he was looping some stuff too.

I really enjoyed his presence. Its so cool to see a real jazz master covering those tunes.

I sat in 1st row in front of Scofield on Saturday and noticed he was looping some stuff too.

I really enjoyed his presence. Its so cool to see a real jazz master covering those tunes.

Sounds like a fun show, this guy was in Buffalo too, "manson-esque walking dead in full length duster and beat western hat". He laid down on the stairs next to my buddy and had to be asked to leave. Tall scary drunk guy with strange attitude. Eyes was probably hot.

<<<Eyes was probably hot.

twas. scorching!

set 2 has been uploaded to the playlist on the Zone Radio.....

>>the whole arabian / middle eastern / egyptian jam vibe....

YES!
I heard it too and texted peggy-o as much! thanks for confirming my ears. At the time I thought it had potential to morph into NMDI....

the wheel mis-cue - I heard it in line for my second and final beer and stopped in my tracks and laughed out loud. Wouldn't have been funny, though, if Chris hadn't been SO ABOUT IT all night.

I too saw the duster cowboy. He's living in HIS OWN MOOOOVIE MAAAAAAN

incredible!!! show, 2nd set beyond decription...

The interplay between sless and sco was magnificent.

molo is unbelievable

phil's playing was better than I've ever seen it, he got in some grooves that had me dancin harder than the old days...

1st set highlights for me were Loose Lucy, Bird Song and Cold Rain (may be the best and cold rain I've ever heard), I must admit during Big River I really missed Jerry, (I mean really missed Jerry, ya know, that thing he used to do) but sco and sless did a great job none the less.

The 2nd set was over the top for me, way beyond anything I anticipated, the jam in and after the wheel was taken waaay over the edge then back again and eyes appears out of no where, from that point on it was hard dancin, harder goosebumps and a stray tear or two. These guys were having a ball up there as was crowd what little of them I noticed, I was way into this show!

Hey Hoff, where ya live in Albany??? Like, Albany PROPER???

I used to live right in the city, but I'm now out near niskayuna, colonie, - I was part of that whole 80's and 90's albany dead head scene of guys and gals.

Where you at?

clifton park here!

work in Latham.

Whoa...close.

Hey you HAVE to catch RRE at the Troy Pub & Brewery Thurs night.

Scofield

Guitars
1981 Ibanez AS-200 -- PRIMARY AXE FOR NEARLY 20 YEARS
plus an assortment of Takamine acoustics and an old Martin

Amps
VOX AC30 or MESA BOOGIE MARK I reissue

Effects
Pro Co Sound RAT Distortion pedal
Ibanez Analog Chorus Pedal (purple)
Boss EQ pedal
DIGITECH Whammy/Wah
Boomerang Phrase Sampler
Boss Loop Station
Tuner
Green Line 6 (delay)
Purple Line 6 (filter)
Expression pedal for Line 6 pedals
Micro Synth

Pedal Board
Custom Pedal Board System by Pedal-Racks

http://www.johnscofield.com/photos/mainboard.jpg
http://www.johnscofield.com/photos/satelite.jpg

he played the Ibanez, and only appeared to have two Vox amps...

other moments from last night

Chris's opening acoustic strumming on The Wheel - stunning

Midnight Hour - he more than once launched amazing moments - please give this guy a chance, people

Lesh & Scofield near the end so enamoured with each other, they started clowning around making "fake" angry fists at each other - what a beautiful sight that was

if they never play together again, this was something, but hopefully they have much more to give - these guys belong together!

the Wheel into Eyes into Rider sequence is going to be hard to top

Exceptional show.
Highlights: Second set jams, the stranger

Yea. real close Peglet...Drop me an e-mail if you ever want to hook up to say hey.

Can't make RRE on Thursday, I'd like to though..

Peace,
Hoff

Wow, impressive. Scofield is very talented and powerful, as it was obvious in Phil's responses instrumentally. The boys put on a hell of a show! A release of this sbd would be highly appreciated!

very, very, sick show
Friend Of The Devil>-- very nice i missed the opening 2 songs because of a ridiculous line to get in the venue-- made my way to front
Big River- very good version- could have used a second jam but very tight
The Stranger(Two Souls In Communion)> Jam>-- CR sings with soul and this song was it for him
Birdsong> Jam>- GREAT very sweet, emotional version-- powerful to say the least
Cold Rain & Snow-- a monsterous version-- an absolutely ridiculous jam at the end egged on by scofield and phil responded in spades by dropping bombs left and right

Set 2:
US Blues-- good opening song- not particulary extraordinary
Sitting On Top Of The World-- same
Jam> The Wheel> Jam>-- kind of a trainwreck from the beginning at least for me----- during this some ASSHOLE who must have been dosed out of his mind or something kept yelling ghetto shit at people around him like FUCK YOU PUSSY MOTHERFUCKER etc etc. he was getting out of hand and started pushing people so we all mobbed him- dude was like 6'7" but a bunch of good people jumped his ass so he couldnt touch anybody- i pulled his shirt over his head and other fans kept him down and gave him the bums rush and got him the fuck out of there- security was nowhere to be seen-- this all happened about 20 feet center in front of the band too so i think it definitely sucked some life out of them-ive never seen anything like this at a show especially not so close to the band--- anyway it took a few minutes to get back to normal
Eyes Of The World> - phil completely brought it back with this-- sick sick jam-- sless and scofield ripping it up and tearing into shit
I Know You Rider- very good version good good
You've Got To Hide Your Love Away>- good song
All Along The Watchtower> Jam>- absolutely ridiculous! this song was brought to new levels this night-- unbelievable
Midnight Hour-- for all the CR haters this was it for them! also a song that was brought to a completely new level of playing

Donor Rap/Intros

Encore:
Not Fade Away- decent

overall-- completely awesome show-- i really hope this isnt the last we see of this lineup!!! mookie siegel was turned up and tearing into shit-- CR was soulful on vocals-- the scofield sless combination was phenominal- they looked like they were having the time of their lives-- not to mention phil, and molo was tight

Phil the master, Molo DROVE the train, Sless & Scofield screamingly good. Like said, the FUN they were having on stage was infectious, even the wheel flub had Phil laughing out loud with Chris as they got it together. All in all a really fun night in a great ol gym floor room. (Trying trying trying to not make Q comparisons...but can't help it completely...meaning, the zenith climaxes that seemed regularly building, higher & higher with Warren-Jimmy-Rob, I only felt twinges/moments of with this band...but, I'm also easily distracted-confused Great fun AND I cannot wait for CT to do IT again!

People wise...Deardear Peglet&Jay and VT crew swooped me up with unbelievable warmth and welcome...even giving me a ride after...it was COLD. Got to gratefully meet the legendary Trob & Phairone! AND dear Huck...what words, what laughter, such Hugs! Good laughs with MikeW too...he actually confessed that he may be on his way to liking Chris R More than Phil

Its always my pleasure! Thanks Phil!

Just listened to set 2 and must say that the band defenitely had on there game face tonight. They did not let down the Phans of the New York area. Killer Watchtower>Midnite hour.


Love the reviews. They are on the $$$$$!

Phil was having so much fun last night. Half the night he had perma grin. He also was more animated than usual doing trippy stuff with his hands.

This translated into the music and the crowd fed off of it. Great show!

my review from tooboard
-------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------
Washington St. Armory, Albany, NY 12/4/05

Set 1:
Jam>
Loose Lucy
Friend Of The Devil>
Big River
The Stranger(Two Souls In Communion)> Jam>
Birdsong> Jam>
Cold Rain & Snow

Set 2:
US Blues
Sitting On Top Of The World
Jam> The Wheel> Jam>
Eyes Of The World>
I Know You Rider
You've Got To Hide Your Love Away>
All Along The Watchtower> Jam>
Midnight Hour

Donor Rap/Intros

Encore:
Not Fade Away

OK, as a lot of you may or may not know, I was upset by the Boston show. I felt little magic and I just felt like the band never "got there". It could have been the sound where I was, or it could have been me and my anger at Jimmy not being there (as much as I tried to have an open mind, maybe I did not).

So, I got to Albany really worried that this show was not going to be what I needed. Once we checked int the Crown Plaza and got to our really nice room, I heard LOUD bangs and smashes, so I look outside and there is an awesome fireworks display right outside our window!! It went for like 15 minutes..I found out later it was the tree lighting ceremony for Albany.

We walked downstaris and the shuttle drove us to the Armory and it was COLD outside. I'm from NH, and it was SO SO cold! We went in not long after the doors opened after I scored a free ticket from my buddy who left it at will call for me.

Insided the Armory is a big basketball arena with bleachers on both sides, and in the rear. The both sides and the ceiling are made of wood, and the whole ceiling is curved like some hockey arenas. you could tell the sound was going to be insane.

Show started with Just Another Whistle Stop, which I had heard at Boston, but within 2 minutes, I knew this band was going to rip it up. Scofield just freaking shredded the entire night. It was so unlike the other show I was taken aback at how good it was. Iwas also suprised right off by how much Scofield can create that same type of excitement that seems to be missing from this version of PLF.

CR was absolutely on fire. I did not notice him looking at a teleprompter, and he only messed up a couple time. Not even that bad. Him and Phil shared a laugh at the end of first set about it.

Barry was the freakin' man. He and Scofield have quite a bit of musical chemistry, and MOOKIE ROCKED!!!!! He was laying that B3 down like nobodys buisness.

They played each song for at least 10 minutes, many were longer than that. Each song was just jammed to the maximun by Scofield. The Midnight Hour was absolutely crazy, and the entire crowd was just going bezerk at the end.

Scofield should be the new guitar player FOR GOOD (if he would do it!) for PLF, and even the TD. I think his style could really make all factions of this "Family" together.

"including a manson-esque walking dead in full length duster and beat western hat"

HAHAHA I saw this guy and later found out that my buddy gave him a beer. He was gonzo.

You had better laughs with huck lsb ?

Mike, I forgot you were there!

'S all bout the HUGS brotha
the HUGS
;)

I am everywhere huck! BTW ya gave me a wonderful hug in boston. Oh and you looked fabulous !

looked fab, well, that's good, as I was TOTALLY OVERWHELMED

>>I heard LOUD bangs and smashes, so I look outside and there is an awesome fireworks display right outside our window!!

ME TOO! I had literally just got to the hotel, 15th floor & incredibule view of the capital. I even called Peglet back all excited about fireworks, she said..."The GD always loved Albany" A great start to a FUN night, indeed!

(Hate to be negativo-naysayer-doin-that-rag, BUT
I've tried and tried, and truly true I am just not liking the CR vocals/rockstar vibe addition here...just an opinion though)

<<<I've tried and tried, and truly true I am just not liking the CR vocals/rockstar vibe addition here...just an opinion though)

ditto. MISS Warren (& Joan for that matter) but I thought CR did good for CR.

~~FIREWORKS~~Just a little good old fashioned Albany hospitality welcoming the circus with STYLE!!!

From my view, it was really clear that Chris was looking at a prompter, pretty much consistently throughout the show -- he would do this glance down thing before every couple of lines.

It didn't bother me, though. A little distracting to watch but he sang with real conviction, not like he had just learned the song that day or something.

Bumped into Phil as I was checking into the Crowne Plaza. Very cool.. Later Fireworks.. Then the Phil show!! Show was great but they definitely botched The Wheel. Would see them in a heartbeat with Scofield on guitar. Was it me or was there not enough Pedal Steel?

In my book there can never be enough pedal steel, in general and with respect to this group

steel was low in the mix first set for sure...

nice reviewz..

I thought the steel guitar was mixed a bit low too. Overall the sound definitely improved signficantly about midway through the first set. When the show first started, I thought, oh, shit, I'm not sitting in the Phil (and Scofield!) zone -- I was on the other side of the stage, and I thought the bass sounded a bit muddy -- I like to hear every note crisply that Phil lays down -- but it totally cleared up as the first set progressed.

just listened to cold rain & snow, US Blues from albany (thank you live365 and the speakers at work)

no complaints from the west coast, this band is rockin - CR brings it up a notch

bring it on

between CR at Albany and Boston, he just blew me away in Albany. I was always a fan of his and this music since I saw the Dec 04 shows, which were just amazing.

I gotta say that Mookie and the steel were low in the mix first set, but by second they had it corrected.

I'm listening to the Rob Clarke version uploaded to bt.etree....

wheel > jam >eyes....


I keep hearing violin?
Is that scofield? Or is that Sless on pedal?

My FOB recording is currently up on bt.etree.
Please upload as much as you download.
http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=20642

Thanks -
Tim

tim, thats a nice recording. great job and thank you. listening to it right now. any chance you taped buffalo?

I taped Buffalo FOB also, but we got busted during the jam out of shakedown and throughout althea. I somehow managed to keep the recording running and hand held for the remainder of the set. I have been on the fence about seeding it since security is all over the recording bitching.

It's comical now, but I was really pissed at the time. The first set and Shakedown sound fantastic, I am going to hold off and see if someone else seeds their FOB. There was three other tapers with me and they all shut down at some point during the bust, I was the only one to get a complete recording.

I know there were two other tapers running in hat setups FOB, hopefully one of them seeds their's.

I really don't know what to do with it, I'll probably just sit on it and not circulate it.

I've been listening the version of the show up on the archive. it's a great recording, captured chris' voice better than any of the other audience recording shows i've listened.

scofield's guitar on eyes is freakin amazing.

THANK YOU GUYS xoxoxo THANK YOU PHIL, CR, SCOFIELD, JOHN, AND MOOKIE.
I GOT ON AT THE BEGGINNING OF WINTER TOUR, AND TO BE HONEST THERE WERE A COUPLE FOOT STOMPERS A NIGHT, BUT IT WAS LACKING. THEN I GOT A CALL FAMILY EMERG. HAD TO GO HOME. 12/4/05 WOULD BE MY LAST SHOW FOR A WHILE. AND LET ME TELL YOU, THAT WAS ONE HELL OF A GOIN HOME SHOW.( made me wanna stay on tour!) THANK YOU GUYS, I NEEDED IT. KUDOS TO WHO EVER ARANGED THE SET LIST, IT WAS AS GOOD AS ANY SYMPONY OR OPERA STORY LINE. INTRO, BUILD UP, CLIMAX, GENTLY BROUGHT AROUND TO END WHERE IT BEGAN. BEAUTIFUL. I DANCED ALL NIGHT AS A MATTER OF FACT I DANCED MY HAT OFF!! LITERALY! AND SPEC. THANKS TO GDF MY HAT FOUND ME THOUGH GOOD FAM. I LOVE ALL YOU CIRCUS FREAKS