Beyond Two-Four

A great show last night at the Bartley Ranch Hawkins Ampitheater in Reno. Opening band Crooked Fingers were a little loose, especially for a band that claimed to have been around for 17 years. The drummer, however, had a great groove, played most of the time with mallets and had a unique style that probably only drummers would appreciate. His snare was tuned loooow. A 5-incher tuned so low that it didn’t cut very well in my ears.

Neko Case was hilarious, providing a nice contrast to her sad, sad songs. Onstage banter was very funny. Lots of jokes about Reno/Nevada culture (i.e., the pole dancing culture of Vegas). Surprisingly, the band appeared a little loose, lack of set lists may be to blame, but it seemed they were at the beginning of a tour, perhaps. Backing vocals by Kelley Hogan were astounding. She could easily have been fronting.

Case’s drummer was very solid with a great sounding four-piece, white-marble wrapped kit. The kit was booming and present but well mixed. No hole on the res. head (an internal mic?). He played primarily with brushes, mostly with a ballad, swing (or 6/8) feel and grooved exceedingly well with the stand-up bassist, who was also solid as a rock. Excellent left-foot work on the hi-hat pedal augmenting the swing rhythms. (I need to work more on that.) A+ for the drummer.

Overall, it was a great show. Definitely a sit-down-and-relax event–mostly older folks in attendance–but well worth the money and time (~2.5 hours total, in bed by 11 p.m.). It was my first show at Bartley Ranch (also where my wife and I got married) and look forward to seeing more in the future, provided the acts coming are of interest, which mostly they have not been over the years.

I’ll be listening to the New Pornographers today to wake up.

PS Case quote of the night: “I’m such a dick.”

Just saw the police last night outside Sacramento. Stewart Copeland was fantastic–all that could be expected. The band as a whole didn’t appear to psychologically gel, even though they were tight musically. Nevertheless, Stewart played great, his kit sounded amazing. It was true to his sound, yet modern. His snare popped nicely, though lower volume hits didn’t seem to cut through the mix as well. I noticed he was actually playing his blue signature cymbal–it sounded great, especially the bell sound.

I got to see Stewart with Stanley Clark and Animal Logic in ’89. Horrible band, excellent musicians. I was standing about 10 ft. away from the side of the stage in a way-too packed club. My jaw was on the floor while watching, especially when they did a drum and bass solo.

I highly recommend checking out The Police on this tour if you haven’t already. Don’t expect the same edge of their younger years, but you are guaranteed great, updated versions of classic songs with, of course, superb drumming and a couple doses of tasty percussion (the video image of Stewart shot from below and through his gong bass comes to mind).