Fans of The Band

[KanMando]

How about the Levon Helm Band with Sam Bush and Donald Fagen performing "Up On Cripple Creek":



Bob

[journeybear]

Well, of course this was never going to stay focused on bluegrass ... I've always though someone should do "Rag Mama Rag" bluegrass-style, since it is probably the most mandolin-driven song they did, and the hooks really sound somewhere between bluegrass and jug band already.

My band does the two songs mentioned in the OP - "Up On Cripple Creek" and "Ophelia" - at just about every gig, and "The Weight" pretty often, too. That's enough - there are a lot of other bands/artists out there, and three from one puts them at the top of the list, tied with just a few - and we do them pretty much at the same tempo they do. Why mess with (near) perfection? Unless you're a bluegrass band, in which case, go for it! As a matter of fact, "Up On Cripple Creek" is our show opener and sound check song - great groove, story, chord pattern, and riffs. It's going to be on our demo, too.

[Rob Fowler]

Here's Joe Walsh doing I Shall Be Released

[wayfaringstranger]

That Joe Walsh clip is fantastic (as is the version of this cut on his album). Some really cool tunes in this thread, too. Proof that you can play convincing-sounding bluegrass/americana music with progressions that are more complex and interesting than the standard I-IV-V stuff.

[Eliot Greenspan]

Scott Law (guitar on the Joe Walsh clip) is a fabulous musician, and pretty competent on his Andersen mando...

[Mark Hudson]

Here's Joe Walsh doing I Shall Be Released

I actually got to see Joe do this one at a house concert with Scott Nygaard... memory is slipping... but I do remember a great show!

[Rick Schmidlin]

Just to let you know I found a lost never before shoot concert of The Band from 1985 when they performed in Stratford, ON

[Ken Waltham]

That would be home to one of them....

[Mark Hudson]

I never had the pleasure of seeing the original band. I did get to see the second incarnation and various 'All-Stars' and '& Friends'...
about a dozen times in all.
One of the best shows I ever saw was The Band circa 1984 or '85 at the old Poughkeepsie Opera House (The Chance). They tore the place up until 2:30 am... on a Tuesday night! Work the next day was pretty grim ;-)

[journeybear]

I did get to see them on the "Stage Fright" tour in Chicago, I guess that was 1973. My jug band opened for the reunited Band in Stamford CT, late 80s-early 90s (a name like "The Band" renders internet searches virtually useless). My best memory was hanging in the green room with them, trying to have a talk with Garth. He really does exist on another plane. Then I asked him why he had so many keyboards. He said this one had x number of sounds, that one had y, the other one there had z, and so on - and then added them in his head and gave me this big number. A good enough explanation, I reckon! A couple years later we opend for Rick Danko in some club in western CT. All I really remember is he was pretty drunk, and his guitarist had a nice old Fender amp with "Butterfield Blues Band" stencilled on it. Classic.

[youndo]

While some may argue how bluegrass they are, Railroad Earth does a great live version of "Acadian Driftwood", with John Skehan always serving up some tasty mandolin work.

[journeybear]

One of the best shows I ever saw was The Band circa 1984 or '85 at the old Poughkeepsie Opera House (The Chance). They tore the place up until 2:30 am... on a Tuesday night! Work the next day was pretty grim ;-)

This the one? Pretty nice!

Date: 11/25/83
Performer: Band
Location: Puoghkeepsie, NY The Chance
Source/Quality/Length: AUD/VG+/75
Note: w/Cate Brothers
Song list:

Rag Mama Rag
Long Black Veil
Shape I'm In
It Makes No Difference
Milk Cow Boogie
Mystery Train
King Harvest (cut)
Voo Doo Music
WS Walcott Med Show
You Don't Know Me
Stagefright
Caledonia
Chestfever
The Weight
Java Blues
I Shall Be Released
Rock and Roll Shoes

That's the only one from the 80s there here: http://theband.hiof.no/tape_archive/band_tapes_80s.html

[Treblemaker]

My band has been doing a bluegrass version of This Wheel's on Fire (with me on mandolin and backing vox) for a couple of years. We have no Tubes of this but you can get a tast of it here:
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bellemonroe

I for one am a huge devotee of the Band. I saw post Robbie iterations of them several times (most memorably opening for the Grateful Dead at Syracuse in 1984) and caught Rick Danko solo on a few occasions.

In rock guitar contexts I have been playing Ophelia, Up On Cripple Creek and The Shape I'm In for decades...

[Mark Hudson]

Yes, this show! More years ago than I want to consider... wish I had the soundboard recording for this one. 'Rock and Roll Shoes' tore the house down!

Thank you!

This the one? Pretty nice!

Date: 11/25/83
Performer: Band
Location: Puoghkeepsie, NY The Chance
Source/Quality/Length: AUD/VG+/75
Note: w/Cate Brothers
Song list:

Rag Mama Rag
Long Black Veil
Shape I'm In
It Makes No Difference
Milk Cow Boogie
Mystery Train
King Harvest (cut)
Voo Doo Music
WS Walcott Med Show
You Don't Know Me
Stagefright
Caledonia
Chestfever
The Weight
Java Blues
I Shall Be Released
Rock and Roll Shoes

That's the only one from the 80s there here: http://theband.hiof.no/tape_archive/band_tapes_80s.html

[Mark Hudson]

Didn't find Railroad Earth's cover. Did find this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFXoJISra4w <g>

[Mike Bunting]

I first saw them at Place des Art in Montreal when they backed up Bob Dylan on the first electric tour.

[youndo]

Didn't find Railroad Earth's cover. Did find this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFXoJISra4w <g>

stream Track 16 from this show, a nice version:

http://www.archive.org/details/rre2006-11-24

[Jim Ferguson]

I have been a big fan of The Band for so many years.........as was already stated: absolute genius!!!!!
Enjoy this version of It Makes No Difference........Rick Danko at his best......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSHzODm-Ik8

Peace,

[catmandu2]

Wow. They're feeling it.

[GVD]

Closer--but still not the one I heard, which had a quicker tempo still, very even syncopation, and nice tight harmonies: dare I say--more in the "classic" BG style..

Well the best BG version I've heard is on Andy Thorn's Bolin Creek CD. I downloaded it a couple of years ago and really like it. I couldn't find any videos of him doing it on youtube but you can listen to the entire song on his myspace webpage.

http://www.myspace.com/andythornblue...filter=POPULAR

[Laird]

Enjoy this version of It Makes No Difference........Rick Danko at his best......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSHzODm-Ik8

Yeah, but who are those guys playing with Rick?

[Mark Hudson]

I also caught a show in a small club outside of Woodstock. 1985-86? Garth Hudson couldn't make it from the Albany airport because of a snowstorm (we drove up from Poughkeepsie!). The highlight of the show was Rick ripping hearts out with 'It Makes No Difference'. You KNEW you were watching magic...
For Rick Danko fans you should check out The Band's Jubilation. Levon was fighting throat cancer and Rick did a lot of work for the album. Very solid, old-timey feel... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uabpn_mRZp8

I have been a big fan of The Band for so many years.........as was already stated: absolute genius!!!!!
Enjoy this version of It Makes No Difference........Rick Danko at his best......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSHzODm-Ik8

Peace,

[journeybear]

Yeah, but who are those guys playing with Rick?

Richard, Garth, Levon, and a bunch of other guys. I've seen this happen other times with reunion tours - Jefferson Airplane and Fleetwood Mac, in particular - where there were so many backup musicians it was like having a whole other band on stage. Literally. Actually, both times they were standing upstage - literally back-up musicians - not interacting with the band, as they are here with The Band. I don't know why they were there - maybe to fill in in case someone forgot his part, maybe just to fill out the sound - but I was disappointed to see that, preferring to think these great bands still had it and could carry on by themselves. But anyway, I have to believe that if the members of The Band wanted some extra help, they were entitled to have it. I trust their musical instincts more than most. BTW, I don't recall seeing Rick play anything other than bass before.

And yes, very nice version.

[Tom C]

I was at the shows at The Chance. I believe they played 2 nights. This was their 2nd show after getting back together. The fist in C.A. Thee crowd went crazy for 20 minutes after the first tune. Rick was pumping his fist. I need that recording. I still feel the goosebumps. Their biggest loss was Richard Manuel and stopped being "The Band" with his passing.

[journeybear]

Robbie quitting did it for me; they were never he same after that, despite sounding great. But when an original member dies, it is indeed hard to think of a band the same way. Somehow I managed to think of The Rolling Stones as the real deal after Brian Jones died, or Pink Floyd after Syd Barrett died. Maybe it's because of the volume of great work produced by the surviving members. The vast majority of The Band's catalogue predates Richard's passing.

The set list I posted came from The Band's official site and it links to a recording available by swapping or some such. I guess they are cool with that. There are other versions around; googling turns up all kinds of stuff. (Note this one is incomplete - "King Harvest" is missing.) I feel bad about saying this, but the date on this one makes it a Friday night, not Tuesday. Which makes me think either the taper got the date wrong (happens) or the shows you and Mark are remembering were indeed from another year - he did say '84 or '85 to begin with. This is the only show from the 1980s at that site, which is far from complete (it doesn't have the one I saw them at, Chicago in 1973 with Taj Mahal opening), but it is really tough to search on them with a name like theirs.