Philzone.org - Philzone Phansite Community Discussion Board: Setlists and Reviews: Non GD Related Reviews: Archive: Les Claypool, Warfield, 6/29/07

The opener for this show was a band I'd only heard a little about, Two Gallants...local sf kids. A duo, guitar and drums, the drummer reminded me of Animal, his long hair was flying all over as he flailed about, he made a lot of noise! I only heard the first four or five songs, mostly it was too brash for me, really rough around the edges stuff. They did a Little Liza Jane that I liked, mostly because it was calm and sweet. Eh, whatever...not my style, I spent their set in the lobby having a drink I was impressed by their professionalism though, very young kids and they definitely had a stage presence, the guitar played had a few tricks, he's not quite at Knee-Drop level yet but he's got time!

Les was really great! I liked Gabby far more than ever before...she dropped the cutesy act and just played. The sitar was great, very clear, high in the mix. And it wasn't her being featured in a song, it was her, far more integrated with the rest of the musicians than I've seen before...so I liked it!

I'm not so good with Les setlists...but he did play D's Diner near the end. Other than that I can say it was a typical comic book circus on acid sort of show...Les bounced it right along, keeping everything whimsical and fun.

There was a great Whamola to start the show...I love that shit. It came back later in the evening during a drum solo, Les stormed the stage in his gorilla mask accompanied by two kids (his I'd assume?)...they peppered the rail with confetti, Les went crazy on the whamola and then they all ran off and it was back to the drums. ha ha ha...it was really like a circus

I was upstairs which is not typical for me, but it was nice to sit and listen to Les, there's always something going on and the listening experience is much different from the dancing experience. Of course it wasn't full upstairs so I did spend my fair share of the show dancing in the aisles! Couldn't have asked for anything else. Except a cold beer...it was hot as hell...my chair was broken and the seat next to me was smeared with old gum, I don't think a beer would have done any more damage.

Overall, Much better than last years gig, which was the first show to promote the Whales and Woe stuff...glad I made it.

Nice review Emily, but I was under the impression you were going to Hot Tuna.

I totally agree about Gabby, you said it right on - the sound was IN the music and not so "featured" this time around, plus she just sounded better rehearsed.

I LOVE Skerik and as usual I didn't think he was high enough in the otherwise VERY loud mix, but just as I was getting really frustrated he ripped off his attached mike and began playing into a standing mike and I could hear him much better. And since Les doesn't have another "lead" instrument in his band being able to hear Skerik is rather important, IMO!

As usual the sound was better in the balconey than on the floor. There was room to move around on the floor and I was just about everywhere trying to find Skerik in the mix, but mainly it was just blasting, especially the drums. Upstairs everything was very loud but also mixed better & I could hear the sax; not enough for me, but at least it could be heard.

Ultimately I think this band continues to be an interesting concept; no guitar or keyboard, with the leads coming from a wild sax player & sitar, and after seeing quite a bit of jazz/acoustic music lately it was nice to get blown out.

Nope, Tuna was never in my plan, which makes my luck seeing them on wednesday night was awesome! I was bummed to be missing them, but in general, I see more tuna-like stuff than claypool-like stuff, so I went with Les.

I like Skerik in small does, a little goes a long way for me...I did notice he wasn't as clear as when I've usually seen him, but I enjoyed it! Can't please all the people all the time