Yacht Rock was back at the Park Tavern a month after our triumphant Revival (July 19). Pretty huge crowd! Presales were just about a thousand people, so I think we came close to the maximum. They were really into it, too, which made for a really fun show. I was kind of lukewarm about playing this gig, but the energy from everybody made it pretty exciting.
It was really hot, particularly for the first set. Even with my fan, I was soaked by the time we took a break; so sweaty that it made playing flute on Lowdown especially difficult, as a I couldn't keep the flute in one spot on my face. The second set was better. Maybe the heat of the day had finally dissipated enough.
My performance was mixed. I played well in the first set until the end, when a few weird notes began to creep into some chords on Go Your Own Way. Basically I kept hitting E instead of F, which made my Bb triad a #4 and my F major triads major 7th chords, neither of which is accurate or appropriate for Fleetwood Mac. All apologies to Lindsay...
In the second set, I was doing just fine until Lido. In the the synth stacking buildup thing before the last chorus, the voicings keep inverting. One hand failed to invert on the third time; when I tried to address this situation, the other hand fell apart. Not impressive. It sounded like I was playing with mittens on. Some of this flailing carried over into Rosanna, which also had a few ragged moments. Fortunately, the gig ended with that.
Oh yeah, one more thing. Either everybody's vocals were really pitchy, or it was me. I'm pretty sure it was me. I think I sang like shit all night long. Like crazy all-over-the-place, quarter-tones-all-night. Sucked real bad.
After setting everything up and running sound all night, Kip was still cool enough to help load out (he helped me load in, too), which got me out of there in good time. Thank you!
I heard the Atlantic All Stars version of Pick Up the Pieces with the terrific Michael Brecker solo on the way home. It reminded me of all the things I don't do on solos--take your time, play clear ideas, don't overflow. On Biggest Part of Me, I think I made it through about eight measures before everything went to hell.
Enjoy. It's worth a couple of listens. The arrangement is super duper too.
Gigs this week!
Monday: subbing on bari sax with Bumpin' the Mango (Tower of Power style horn band) at Cafe 290, 8:30 PM.
Wednesday: private gig with Yacht Rock.
Thursday: the Dave and Dave Organ Duo (with David Ellington) at JCT Kitchen, 6-9 PM.
Saturday: Georgia Theatre in Athens with Yacht Rock, 9 PM.
Sunday: Pre Race Party at Atlanta Motor Speedway with Yacht Rock, 5:30 PM.
