Opening Act: NA
Location: TLA
Date: Friday, March 12th 2010
FULL DISCLOSURE: In the interest of honesty true be-loggers, I must tell you that my friend Tom plays in this band, so my objectivity may be compromised when it comes to this review. With that said, I think I can be fair.
[Before the Show]
On a rainy Friday that saw my sister give birth to my first nephew, I rushed into the city of Philadelphia (after a small visit with my sis) to meet my friends for dinner. As I raced up the stairs of my favorite watering hole (Jose Pistolas), my eyes darted around and eventually found a table with some of my most favorite people on the entire planet. They are the type of people you think all human beings should act like: smart, informed, caring, and interesting. Included in this wonderful group, was Tom Cleary who plays piano/keyboards for Mike Gordon's band.
I have known Tom for several years now, and I haven't ever seen him play professionally. The last two times he came to the city to play with Mike, I missed it for whatever reason. I thought I was going to miss him again because my sister was having some troubles (a story for another place). Everything work out, so I was very glad to be at that table with my friends and my wife. The reason I mention any of this is because during dinner, I asked Tom the following questions:
Joey: How long is your set tonight?
Tom: One set is like an hour and forty-five minutes, and the other is like an hour and a half.
I start thinking to myself - does Mike Gordon have 3+ hours of solo material (forgetting a very obvious point)
Joey: Do you do covers?
Tom: Yes - we do a few (Tom mentions the songs, and I have completely forgotten them).
As I was getting into the cab to head over to South Street, I kept thinking about that three hour set....
[The Main Event]
I have never really listened to jam bands (my apologies to any Phish-heads who will find this through Google). Because of that, I wasn't familiar with any of Gordon's solo material, I purposely didn't seek out samples because I wanted to go to the show with a completely open mind. Mike Gordon's band was set to start at 9 PM. No opening act. They were prompt: the rocking started at almost 9 PM on the dot. The first song out of the gate was excellent and to my surprise, Tom quickly took control and started the drive the song with his keyboards. This became a theme the entire night.
I was really impressed with Gordon's generosity to the other band members, he let Tom and guitarist Scott Murawski jump out front with their own material and take center stage for a good portion of the songs. Another amusing\entertaining aspect of the show was special surprise guests: The Chieftains (or at least a few members) and a troupe of dixie (!?!) tap dancers (I don't know if they were with the Chieftains or Mike found them somewhere else). The first 100+ minute set went by pretty quickly.
As the second set started, I realized that the band didn't play many songs (remember the obvious point I missed? JAM BAND!). I finally had the "Duh!" moment during the second set because the band really settled into complete "Jam" mode. For the next 90+ minutes, I would be lying if I said they played more than 5 or 6 different songs. The Jam got loser than the first set and they let the music go where it wanted to. Tom played one of his original tunes which he modified for jam-ocity and it was excellent\very "sing-a-long" as Gordon rightfully put it. As that set closed, I thought it was time to go. My friend said they were coming out to do an encore. I noticed my wife's head on the railing, barely keeping her eyes open... and I realized the day had taken it's toll on me as well. We decided to leave, we didn't have the stamina for the complete jam. We said goodbye to our friends and headed home with a new-found respect for jam bands and pure awe of Tom's talent (the man is a beast!).
[Phish-heads]
This was my first direct experience with a large group of Phish-heads (Brad - you don't count); I assumed they were dirty neo-hippie type kids. I was totally wrong. Copious pot smoke in a smoke free venue aside, the crowd was very polite. VERY POLITE. They know how to act at a concert.
Thanks to Tom (and my group of favorite people) and to the entire Mike Gordon band and fan-base for putting on excellent show and giving us an end to a pretty special day.
[PS: A Funny Story]
As we were leaving Jose Pistolas, the owner and Philadelphia bartender of the year was giving me shit for leaving early. When I told him I was going to see Mike Gordon, he informed me that half of his day staff was going to the show. I then pointed out the window to Tom and said "that's Gordon's keyboard player". All of the guys at the bar lost their minds and were like "why the hell didn't you tell us!". Tom was a total rockstar at the bar that night and didn't even know it.
