On Saturday night, Twiddle rolled into Madison, Wisconsin for a great show. The concert featured Midnight North as support. The latter band, featuring Grahame Lesh of the Grateful bloodline, did a spectacular job of opening the night. With some choice covers of The Band’s “Ophelia” and the Grateful Dead’s “Mr. Charlie” as well as originals, Midnight North demonstrated that they will be in the scene for a long time. They even brought up Twiddle musicians Mihali Savoulidis and Ryan Dempsey on stage for the Dead tune. All band members were clearly having fun and it reflected the good camaraderie between the two bands as they have shared multiple tour dates together.
The first set played by Twiddle was an improvisatory juggernaut. The set only included four songs, but each was opened up for exploration. The set began with “Tom’s Song” that was almost 20 minutes. It segued into “Indigo Trigger.” Next up was “Mamunes the Faun” and it was followed by the set closer “White Light.” It was fun to get lost in the music only to find one’s self only four songs deep an hour later.
The second set commenced with “Dusk ‘Til Dawn,” the one song from PLUMP that features drummer Brook Jordan on lead vocals. His voice was strong on the more relaxed song, but that didn’t stop the band from expanding on the song and taking it in a direction it probably doesn’t normally go. So the second set began where the first set left off. “Earth Mama” had the band bring up local fiddle player Tim McIlree to join them, as he had done with Midnight North. Perhaps the most fun part of the show was the encore when Midnight North’s Lesh and Elliot Peck joined Twiddle for “When It Rains It Pours.” Ryan Dempsey took the opportunity to crowd surf. As fans passed him to and fro, everyone was all smiles. It was a great concert from Twiddle. They will continue their spring tour in Ohio on Wednesday.
Check out the full gallery below, courtesy of Daniel Ojeda.
