Last week was a busy week for shows. A friend of mine invited me to see Gregg Allman – which I didn’t even know was coming to town and probably wouldn’t have went on my own but I’m certainly glad I did. Honey Honey opening for Trampled by Turtles? LOVE! and then a new discovery in the amazingly awesome 80’s cover band The Spazmatics.
Tuesday January 15th Gregg Allman played at The Palace of Fine Arts and this was the first time I’ve seen him or any of the Allman Brothers offshoots. I have to say that I wasn’t sure how much I would like the show but it took me back a little bit and surprisingly I remembered most of the music – I think as I get older that there’s a lot less music I dislike or maybe it’s that my taste matures, but either way, I’m glad I went to the show and absolutely enjoyed it. I love to see shows at The Palace of Fine Arts! It’s hard to say what I consider my favorite venue in the city but it’s certainly up there.
If you live here or know about San Francisco, then you know that we don’t have a big coliseum, and most of the arena sized events happen in Oakland or elsewhere in any of the numerous larger venues around the bay. Myself? I’m actually happy about the Warriors coming to SF because we just might get a place that can handle larger shows and then I’ll never have to leave the city! 🙂 That’s not entirely true because I do like to get out every once and a while, but it’s awesome to live somewhere that has prolific venues that are known world wide. San Francisco period has a deep and rich musical history as you know.
I actually feel a bit ashamed that I don’t see more shows, but I like to divide the ones I do see among local smaller performers and then the more established larger bands. Now we do get a few shows at the AT&T Park – home of the World Champion Giants 🙂 (We’re a kick ass pro-sports city these days!) Paul McCartney and Roger Waters of notable mention.
Gregg Allman is 65 and still has an amazing voice – I worry about being able to sing at all at 65!. The whole band was amazing and the opening act was a fantastic. There really wasn’t one thing bad or wrong or that I didn’t like. I hate that I didn’t get the name of the opening act and I just did a quick search and didn’t come up with the answer – I’m too lazy to find out who it was!
Next up was Thursday the 17th at The Fillmore with Trampled by Turtles and their opening act Honey Honey. What can I say? Trampled by Turtles is quickly becoming a sensation and understandably so: They’re all amazing musicians. ..And the fiddle player is just insane. I mean that in a good way. His playing is unique and I would definitely call the man a virtuoso. The whole band is just simply astounding and their abilities combined create a unique blend of bluegrass and instrumental shredding that I would say is fairly unprecedented. You can correct me on that after you listen to their entire catalog or experience them live – I’m sure there are some other bands out there that shred on a similar level, but the sum of their combined abilities and the character they have developed, in my own words? One of the most phenomenal group of musicians that I’ve ever seen.
A co-worker originally linked me to their video ‘Wait so Long’, which is still my favorite piece by them, but I like pretty much everything they do.
When they came to the Great American Music Hall last year, I had to go and see them and I’ve been hooked ever since. I took a friend with me who had never been to a bluegrass show and he was instantly hooked and went with me to this last show at The Fillmore as well.
The band has certainly evolved and matured a little since the first time I saw them live. I can’t describe just how much I love this band and how they’re really helping popularize bluegrass with younger generations and presenting some new choices for older fans as well. The crowd was young but there were a lot of people my age and older and that’s cool! The crowd for Gregg Allman made me feel young…
The opening band Honey Honey was pretty damn cool and I highly recommend checking them out if you have the chance. (I linked them below) Fronted by a charismatic multi-instrumentalist young lady from Ohio, and a dynamic mixture of bluegrass, Americana, soul, and rock that was surprising as well as refreshing – they were a definite treat to experience. I have to say that I don’t think I would ever expect Trampled by Turtles to have a bad opening act – these guys are just that good.
That night was the birthday of the bass player of Honey Honey who is originally from San Francisco and I’m sure the guy will have a hard time topping this particular birthday, ever. Opening up for Trampled by Turtles at The Fillmore in your home town? Trampled by Turtles even came out and played one song with them for a combined 9 piece band and just rocked. I’m again, still just taken with this young band of 20 somethings and their talent – I loved it!
So my week was pretty awesome at that point and definitely one I’ll remember.
But it got even better…
Saturday night was a birthday meetup / celebration for a lady I know from the open mic circuit at Red Devil Lounge.
So, my friend didn’t know we were there waiting and her boyfriend was bringing her under the guise of meeting some of his friends. As planned it was a surprise for her and I’m glad they invited me because not only did I get to hang out with them, plus meet a few new friends – I got to discover The Spazmatics! Wow! How to describe it – well, they’re an 80’s cover band with a lot of character and are all exceptional musicians. You have to experience them. If you hate 80’s music they’ll make you love it. The guitarist played a solo standing on the bar and they made several trips into the crowd while still rocking out. The quite a diverse set and I don’t want to mention the songs as not to spoil it for you but I’m hoping they do a lot of different songs when I see them again.
Again, I had a fantastic time and we danced and sang and I woke up with sore legs and a stressed voice, but I had a great time 🙂 The Spazmatics announced they would be back on February 23rd at the Red Devil Lounge (corner of Polk and Clay) so mark your calendar if you’re interested in some kick ass 80’s music with a truckload of character.
Like my sudden burst of ‘formatting’? The WordPress emails are pretty helpful I will have to say – thanks! I’ve actually learned quite a bit of new things about the service and tricks that were useful. Useful spam? I guess I can’t call it spam since I did sign up for it.
Honey Honey – Opening act for Trampled by Turtles.
The Spazmatics – there are so many websites for these guys that I didn’t which one to link other than the Facebook page.
Thanks for reading!
Brent
Brent Andrew Shinn 
Bleh, and I have yet another cold. Seems like I’ve been sick since the first of December? I stayed home most of the holidays and have had to miss a few events due to not being well.
I did forget my flu shot and I know had a sinus infection on top of that which is why you haven’t seen me much on the open mic scene for a while. I even had to cancel mine last week so I could rest. But paid shows… man, you gotta see them sick or not!
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