Bela Fleck and the Flecktones at the Paramount

I have seen Bela Fleck perform 4 times in the past 3 years, both with and without the Flecktones. This time around, I noticed that he was touring with the original Flecktones lineup, which means that he had Howard Levy playing with him for the first time in almost 20 years.

The show lasted well over two hours, with an intermission at about the 75 minute mark. My friend Dan, and I had great seats 9 rows back from the stage on the floor.

I was unable to find a set list, and will readily admit that although I am a big fan, I find it difficult to remember the song titles. I managed to grab some shots of the band after the encore, but lost them during the upgrade to iOS 5 the next day. (Doh!).

The original Flecktones lineup is:

• Bela Fleck - Banjo
• Victor Wooten - 4 and 5 String Electric Bass
• Futureman (Roy Wooten) - Drumitar
• Howard Levy - Harmonica and Piano

During the show, the band was joined by fiddler, Casey Christopher Driessen, whom I recognized from the Sparrow Quartet. The icing on the cake however, was Bela bringing out his wife, Abigail Washburn, to sing during the encore. Surprisingly, Abigail didn't pick up a banjo herself.

It was a great night of music, and I was totally blown away by Howard Levy's piano playing. Of course, the Wooten brothers kept everything in high gear for this show.

ACL Festival 2011 - Day 2

Sleeping In

I don't remember ever having a hard time sleeping after a day of ACL. Knowing that feeling of exhaustion after 5 straight years, it leads me to wonder, Who the hell goes to the After-parties?

So, I got late Saturday morning, not leaving home until 1PM, and finally arriving on the ACL grounds around 2:20PM or so.

City and Colour

Having seen Dallas Green at St. David's during SxSW, I was anxious to see him again. City and Colour didn't disappoint, delivering a great performance to an attentive crowd.

Abigail Washburn

I then headed over to the Vista Equity Pavilion to catch Abigain Washburn. Mrs. Fleck, the reigning Queen of the Banjo, delivered an outstanding set of music. While she played, a gentle rain was falling outside of the pavilion.

Gillian Welch

I stayed put at the pavilion, in order to catch Gillian Welch. Since I only have one degree of separation with her, through Pat Pattison, it seemed like it was time to see her play.

Preservation Hall Jazz Band

After catching a bite to eat, I hung out for some more Cajun cooking. The Preservation Hall Jazz band delivered a raucous set of New Orleans' music.

TV on the Radio

Leaving the Preservation Hall band a little early, I worked my way over to the Google+. Although not being familiar with TV on the Radio, I was pretty quickly drawn in. This is a band I will have to check out more from, and I will be looking for them to be on tour.

Stevie Wonder

I almost feel like this is false advertising. I didn't actually see Stevie Wonder perform, it was more like I happened to be on the grounds, while he was on stage.

Leaving the TV on the Radio set a little early, I attempted to slide up front, attacking from the Porta-Potties on the right side, like I did last year with Ron and Alissa for the Eagles. It seemed that everyone else was on to that trick, and even getting there early, did not help.

In fact, this show was most crowded I have ever seen this stage during an ACL. Realizing that my first plan would not pay dividends, I started working my way back out, with the intention of cutting out 3/4ths of the way through Stevie's set, so I wouldn't have to wait too long for the shuttles.

Even this did not work as planned. I ended up much further from stage than anticipated. Fairly far from the stage at this point, the crowd was still thick, and it was difficult enough just to see the large video screens on either side of the stage. When Stevie finally did come out, for some reason they had the PA very low, and it was almost impossible to hear. I'm scratching my head on this one, because it was capable of delivering more volume.

I attempted to listen to the first three songs, which were actually difficult to hear or discern, until i had had enough. I left early, got right on the shuttle, and drove home.