Philzone.org - Philzone Phansite Community Discussion Board: Setlists and Reviews: Non GD Related Reviews: Archive: Will Bernard -- Blue Plate Special Band

Great show last night at the GAMH. Turns out this band--Will Bernard, Andy Hess, Stanton Moore and John Medeski--is the band that recorded the Blue Plate album of last year. This was their first time playing together live...hard to believe, they sounded great!

Stanton is a machine, he never stops! The drums were fast and light, crisp and clean. The guitar was driving and funky, the organ and the drums combined as a feeling more than a sound, then Medeski switched to piano that danced across the top of it all. Will identified a bunch of the songs as being off the album, aside from that the only tune I could name was Day Tripper. It was funny to hear the instrumental song the band played fill in with lyrics in a low echo through the crowd, it was an involuntary response.

It was a great show, the band is going to be in LA tonight...definitely check it out if you can!

For an SFJazz crowd it was a real treat to be standing! Hopefully they'll continue to book the Great American. I think they can really increase their core audience if they keep booking this sort of gig! The one caveat is they keep to the standard jazz format of short shows. We were done last night at 11. There were two sets, just over an hour each with a short set break. The only complaint was we wanted more!

The short sets were really too bad, as this group and this type of music really needs to go go go; I felt like they were just getting into a groove when they shut it down, and you could tell that they wanted to play more. Clearly SFJazz only paid for a three hour show and at 11:00 that was that, thank you goodnight.

It doesn't surprise me that this was their first live gig; I thought they sounded just the slightest bit hesitant at times, but it was still a very groovy show and a real good time, and if they continue to tour this will soon be a powerhouse band to see.

This band is great...go see them while they are together. It's good to see Will with a band of this caliber...he was more on fire than I've ever seen him.

The next night's show (L.A.) is up on etree. Not sure if I saw anyone taping the show at the GAMH.

http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=523617

>>>The one caveat is they keep to the standard jazz format of short shows. We were done last night at 11. There were two sets, just over an hour each with a short set break. The only complaint was we wanted more!

That is how I feel when I leave a great jazz show, and why i dont go to much live jazz. On thursday at Yoshis, Bela Fleck & Toumani Diabote played wonderful music for about 1 hr 15 minutes only. I enjoyed and appreciated it, but was also disappointed. Some shows there are 1 hour or less. It is silly. I spend more time in the car than at the concert.

I would like to catch that Blue Plate band though. Talented crew. Thanks for the review.

Sounds like it was great. Wonder if it was taped? Maybe stealthed? Was hoping you'd put up a review, Emily. Thanks.

They had signs up stating no photos or audio recordings...so it would have had to be stealth...