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Maybe it’s because I’ve been seeing absolutely steller guitarists—Dean Magraw and Derek Trucks—lately. Although Jimmy Herring is no slouch.

Maybe it’s because I couldn’t afford the ticket prices for Warren Haynes 19 October show at Saint Paul’s Fitzgerald Theater (US$80, really? But a spectacularly excellent show from what I hear).

Maybe it’s because parking in the same lot last Tuesday was US$4 and last night was US$10 for “an event.”

Maybe it’s because the front-of-house sound was pretty mushy and overly loud.

But for me, last night, Widespread Panic’s show at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis failed to deliver.

Jerry Garcia used to say that the Grateful Dead were in the transportation business, and that’s what I expected last night—to be taken somewhere else. But last night’s Widespread Panic show just never seemed to get off the ground. My wife, Karen concurs, as does a long-time friend and Widespread fanatic who attended, calling the show and sound “lumpier” than other shows in the current run. It’s like they were trying too hard and the younger fans—at least the ones around Karen and me up on row M of the balcony—just couldn’t seem to find their groove.

Widespread Panic, Orpheum Theatre, Minneapolis 25 October 2011.

Widespread Panic was the first great hope of Phil Walden’s resurrected Capricorn Records after his move from Macon, GA to Nashville in the early 1990s. I much prefer the first few Capricorn releases—Space Wrangler, Widespread Panic, and Live at the Georgia Theatre—than the band’s more recent releases.

John Bell’s vocals usually attain lift-off from the first tune and never let down, as does Jimmy Herring’s guitar, but not so last night. Herring has a long history starting with Col. Bruce Hampton, the Aquarium Rescue Unit, brief stints with the Allman Brothers Band, Jazz is Dead, Phil Lesh and Friends, The Other Ones, and the Derek Trucks Band. He joined Widespread Panic in 2006, taking over lead guitar duties from George McConnell. Like I said, Herring is no guitar slouch, but last night he spent way too much time playing the same solos on the top three frets of his Strat. Seemingly in the middle of every tune. I had high hopes when I saw he was touring with his older Marshall rig. But instead of informed nuance we got frenetic showboating.

Widespread Panic, Orpheum Theatre, Minneapolis 25 October 2011.

Sad to say, but this was the worst show I’ve seen this year.

Here’s the setlist from Tuesday, 25 October 2011:

Heroes >
Wondering
Better Off
This Part of Town >
Dyin’ Man >
Hatfield >
Don’t Wanna Lose You >
North >
Jam >
Jack >
Henry Parsons Died
Give >
Diner >
Second Skin >
I Walk On Guilded Splinters >
Proving Ground >
Drums >
Jam >
You Should Be Glad
Holden Oversoul >
Blue Indian >
Protein Drink >
Sewing Machine
Solid Rock > Rock

There was at least one taper up in the balcony, but I haven’t bothered to look for the show.

I’m going to wash out my ears with Dean Magraw, Bruce Kurnow, and Michael Bissonnette at the Aster Cafe in St. Anthony Main, Minneapolis tomorrow night.

Tedeschi Trucks Band at the Minnesota Zoo 26-27 August 2011

I thought I had written up the two Tedeschi Trucks Band shows at the Minnesota Zoo, Friday 26 August and Saturday 27 August, but checking the archive I see I didn’t. Both shows were absolutely stellar, about the music, only the music, and absolutely nothing else. Although they’d been together for only about a year or so (Derek Trucks had played occasionally with Susan Tedeschi and vice versa) as a formal band, they were polished, professional, and blazed from start to finish.

Those two shows were among the best of the summer.

Tedeschi Trucks Band, Minnesota Zoo, Apple Valley 27 August 2011.

Where Susan Tedeschi has had a tendency to over-sing in the past, none of that was evident either show, with the possible exception of Friday’s cover of Bobby Blue Bland’s “That Did It,” where it was almost surreally welcome. And what can you say about Derek Trucks, who has been channeling Duane Allman since he was 10 or 11. Stage presence, mannerisms, playing style—it’s all Duane, all the time. No singing, very little stage patter, and almost no audience interaction. Maybe a smile after a particularly stupendous solo, and a wave at the end, leaving the stage; that’s it. But Trucks’s musical presence is as commanding as it is compelling and he’s one of the five best guitarists on the planet. All with no effects.

Touring in support of Revelator, their first release, the shows had a lot of unfortunate—but to be expected, I suppose—overlap, and were still fresh and stunning. The music was genre diverse, ranging from straight-ahead blues, to jazz, funk, soul, and even a little jam-band.

Tedeschi Trucks Band, Minnesota Zoo, Apple Valley 27 August 2011.

Highlights—there were no lowlights—were That Did It and Bound for Glory from both shows; Midnight in Harlem and Learn How to Love from the Friday show; and Until You Remember from the Saturday show.

Mike Mattison’s and Paul Olsen’s Scrapomatic opened both nights with sets that left the audience wanting more. I’d really, really like to see Scrapomatic get headline billing in Sue McLean’s Music in the Zoo series next year where they could stretch out a bit more. Mattison is from Minneapolis (his family sat near us for Saturday’s show), is the lead singer in the Derek Trucks Band, and sings backup for the Tedeschi Trucks Band. Olsen is from Saint Paul; they both live in Brooklyn these days.

Scrapomatic, Minnesota Zoo, Apple Valley 27 August 2011.

I’m afraid these two Tedeschi Trucks Band shows may be the last I see at the Music in the Zoo series. It’s a shame; Sue McLean is the best promoter in town, but she’s abandoned the up-and-coming acts for the more expensive, established acts.

Rick Odeen’s Neumann SKM-184 recording of Friday’s Scrapomatic set is available in the Internet Archive (the Saturday set doesn’t appear to be available, although I saw at least three tapers at the show).

Here’s the setlist from Friday 26 August:

Don’t Let Me Slide
Space Captain (Joe Cocker)
Comin’ Home
Midnight in Harlem
Learn How to Love
I’ve Got a Feelin’
Nobody’s Free
That Did It (Bobby Blue Bland)
Anyday (Derek & the Dominoes)
Uptight (Stevie Wonder)
Bound for Glory
Shelter
Love Has Something Else To Say

Rick Odeen’s Neumann SKM-184 recording of the Friday show is available on etree.org.

Here’s the setlist from Saturday 27 August:

Come And See About Me (The Supremes)
Midnight In Harlem
Bound For Glory
Until You Remember
Don’t Drift Away
That Did It(Bobby Blue Bland)
Give It Up (Bonnie Raitt)
Manic Depression (Jimi Hendrix)
Anyday (Derek & the Dominoes)
Uptight (Stevie Wonder)
Space Captain (Joe Cocker)
Leavin’ Trunk (Taj Mahal)
Simple Song >Take You Higher (Sly Stone)
Anyday (Derek & the Dominoes)
Uptight (Stevie Wonder)
Bound for Glory
Shelter
Love Has Something Else To Say

Mike Mahoney’s Sennheiser E-614 recording of the Saturday show is available on etree.org.