Gary Clark Jr.: 9/14/2021

Gary Clark Jr. has been on my short list of acts I have been wanting to see live. So when I was he was coming to the Mountain Winery, getting tickets was a no-brainer for me. As a guitarist, I am compelled to see as many of the greats as possible, and Gary Clark Jr. is one of the hottest blues guitarists out there right now, in my humble opinion.

We arrived at the venue and there was a good crowd. I checked out the merchandise, thinking I might grab a shirt, but they were pretty drab. Gary may be a great guitarist, but he needs to get a better graphic designer working for him. Just sayin’.

We got our seats, which were kind of on the side of he stage, but they afforded a great view. After a bit, the opening act came out, a rap/hip hop act called Blackillac. While not really my musical genre, they were pretty good. Their forte was their ability to perform freestyle rap, where they basically make it up on the spot. I have to say, I found that impressive. I could not pull of something like that. And the crowd was very supportive of them, which I liked. I know it must be tough being a rap group opening for a blues artist at an upscale venue. I applaud them for pulling it off.

After a brief intermission, Gary took the stage with his band. They sounded great, although personally, I feel that Gary’s guitar could have been a bit louder, especially during his solos. But that is the fault of the person working the soundboard. Still, the show was excellent and Gary’s guitar work did not disappoint in the slightest. He lived up to my expectations, which I confess were fairly high.

Blackillac came out and joined Gary Clark Jr. for one of the encore songs, which was ok. I guess since Gary produced Blackillac, he wanted to help promote them. The evening ending with a killer version of “When My Train Pulls In,” probably my favorite Gary Clark Jr. song. Some great versions of it out on YouTube, if you are unfamiliar.

Anyway, glad I was able to check him off the bucket list. Here is the setlist and a couple pictures.

Setlist:

• Bright Lights
• Feed the Babies
• Next Door Neighbor Blues
• I Walk Alone
• Hold On
• Our Love
• When I’m Gone
• You Saved Me
• Feelin’ Like a Million
• Low Down Rolling Stone
• Gotta Get Into Something
• Pearl Cadillac

Encore:

• The Guitar Man (with Blackillac)
• I Got My Eyes on You (Locked & Loaded)
• When My Train Pulls In

Ozomatli: 3/11/2009

This was a really fun concert. I had seen Ozomatli open for Santana and they were awesome, so I was excited to see them in a small venue.

The opening act was Chali 2na, who was one of the founding members of the hip hop group Jurassic 5. He was cool and got the crowd going. Always great when you have a good opening act, it’s like a bonus.

As far as Ozo goes, they were fantastic and had the audience dancing from start to finish. Near the end, they came out into the crowd with various percussion instruments and had a real tribal thing going. It was very cool. If you’ve never seen or heard Ozomatli, I highly recommend them. They are the epitome of what a multicultural world beat band should be.

Rock on.

MoogFest: 10/29/2010

This stub was from the first MoogFest held in Asheville, NC. I went with my wife and our older daughter, who was very excited that MGMT was performing. I was unfamiliar with MGMT, but my daughter gave me some of their music to listen to, and it was very cool. Anyway, we got tickets only for the first night of the three-day festival.

There were more bands playing than we had the opportunity to see, and of the ones we did see, some of them we only caught part of their sets, since the festival was taking place at multiple venues (Civic Center, Thomas Wolfe Auditorium, Orange Peel). Of the bands that performed on the Friday night, these are the ones we got to see:

• DEVO
• MGMT
• Big Boi
• Girl Talk
• The Octopus Project

Couple things to note. One of members of DEVO had a death in the family and could not attend, so the remaining members performed with Octopus Project, which was cool. Big Boi we only caught a couple songs. MGMT was definitely the high point. We went up fairly close (they were playing in the Civic Center). It was general admission with an open floor, so lots of freaks dancing to the music. My daughter had a friend with her, and the two of them were psyched. It made my wife and me very happy to be there and to see them having so much fun. Live music is such a great bonding experience.

At the time, I was not a huge fan of electronic music and hip hop, but I really enjoyed the energy and the light shows were mind-boggling. I made a promise to myself that next year, I would go all three days. And I kept that promise to myself. I’ll try to dig up my stub from that show and post on it soon.

Barack the Vote: 4/17/2008 (w Arrested Development; and Abigail Washburn, Ben Sollee, and Bela Fleck)

One of the cool things about living in Asheville is that it boasts a truly eclectic music scene. That is evidenced by the mix of music at this fundraiser concert for Barack Obama. We had hip hop combined with acoustic music that included the great Bela Fleck on banjo. Those two styles are about as far apart on the spectrum as they come, but somehow, it all seemed to fit together well.

There was a diverse group of people at this show, individuals of all ages, races, and orientations. And for me, that was the coolest thing about this concert. I remember everybody dancing together, a total blending of individuals. It made me feel really happy to live in this community.

I don’t have much more to share about this concert. Honestly, I was mainly focused on the social aspects, and really, that is one of the great things about live music. It is a social experience.