Yonder Mountain String Band made their glorious return to Red Rocks Amphitheatre with friends Greensky Bluegrass and Fruition to perform in front of a sold out crowd on August 21st. Notably this was the first time that newly minted members Allie Kral and Jake Joliff got to experience the view from the famed stage. This event marked Greensky’s third time supporting at Red Rocks. This show also marked the first time that the Portland-based band Fruition has had the chance to play The Edge. They are a dominant force in the Northwest bluegrass scene with an overwhelming tour schedule, multiple festival stops this summer including String Summit, and a slot at the upcoming Strings and Sol Festival.

Fruition started at 6 PM sharp. Yonder always seems to make sure fans get their money’s worth with thick shows heavy on the live music. This year the songs went late with the entire concert lasting over 6 ½ hours. Fruition opened with the Tyler Grant collaboration “Meet Me On The Mountain,” which seemed incredibly appropriate. During their set they invited up a pair of guests. First to guest was Elephant Revival’s Bridget Law adding her fiddle to Fruition’s original epic composition “Come On, Get In.” The second was Greensky’s Anders Beck with a rowdy rock version of “I Don’t Mind.” Fruition sounded fantastic and made the absolute most of their first adventure at Red Rocks.

Greensky emerged to a tumultuous applause from the eager audience. They started by dedicating the set to their FOH soundman, Greg Burns. This band continues to be a powerful force spreading the joy of bluegrass far and wide. Their 90-minute set featured classic Greensky and heavy instrumentals that seemed to intensify as they continued. Songs like the Dave Bruzza sung “If Sorrow Swims” and the fiery “Worried About The Weather” were obvious highlights.

“Well we’re Greensky Bluegrass and we like it here,” declared Anders Beck.

The band took the opportunity to announce they would play three nights at the Ogden in November. As the night fell the lights ramped up, as did the music. They finished just after 8:30 PM with a “Leap Year” that featured a substantial sing-along that had everyone’s voices bouncing off the rocks.

This show was the first time Yonder returned to Red Rocks since the departure of founding member Jeff Austin. The new lineup is fresh off the June release their album Black Sheep and a solid summer of touring. Allie and Jake have acclimated and shaken off any jitters that came with the transition. They are sounding like a fully functioning unit capable of barnburner shows on a nightly basis. They sort of eased into the night with the graceful “Around You” off the new album.

Adam took the lead vocals on his tale of woe, “Left Me in a Hole.” The “Only A Northern Song” contained some ridiculous banjo work from Mr. Dave Johnston alongside Allie Kral’s sizzling violin. “Sidewalk Stars” off their first self-titled album was unexpected, but perfectly placed before they returned to “Northern Song.” Joliff got a chance to sing on a buttery version of Jim Croce’s “I’ve Got A Name.” Adam’s guitar took the spotlight on the bluegrass traditional “Another Day,” before Dave got his twang on with “Black Sheep.” Jake and Allie traded licks on “All Aboard,” which gave way to the space grass tune “New Dusty Miller.” They closed a solid first set by revisiting “All Aboard.” The second set would be almost twice as long.

They started set two with the highly composed new song “Drawing A Melody.” Ben finally got his chance on the Yonder standard “Criminal.” “The End Is Not In Sight” should have been a good indicator that we were all in for a long night. Ben also led the band on an homage to Bruce Springsteen with a grassed-out version of “It’s Hard to be a Saint in the City.” Their nod to The Boss also included another original instrumental “Eat In Go Deaf Eat Out Go Broke” smack dab in the middle. Allie confessed her dream is to play with Dolly before going into an inspired rendition of “Jolene.” Ben again went deeper in the catalog with a perfect “40 Miles From Denver.” We got a set of new songs that included “Landfall” and “Insult And An Elbow” both off of Black Sheep. It’s obvious that this band is looking at music with fresh eyes while still incorporating the songs that fans love. The crowd pleasing “Angel” into “Robot” back into “Angel” was a huge punctuation mark on the second set. This band still has all the tools to put on a spectacular show.

All of a sudden we knew a clusterpluck was about to go down. What proceeded was a jam with all of Yonder Mountain String Band and the entirety of Greensky Bluegrass. Ben mentioned that they would again be spending their New Year’s run at The Boulder Theater during their brief sound check. As soon as Paul Hoffman got his mandolin dialed in it was on, this hot potato super jam is the reason why we stay for Yonder Mountain Red Rocks encores. Anders mentioned the theme of the encore was “Streets.” “Traffic Jam” was the anchor for a twenty-minute throw down where everyone got his or her chance respectively. Back and forth jams between Beck and Kral while both Mike Devol and Ben Kaufman slap the bass simultaneously? This is the stuff of bluegrass wet dreams. The slinky segue into Greensky’s “Jaywalking” took on a minimalist jam which was odd considering there were 10 pickers on stage. Hoffman nailed the vocals before the rag tag group of musicians returned to “Traffic Jam” to end the night. Really the entire experience at Red Rocks was memorable not only for the audience, but for many of the musicians on stage. Time will tell if next summer Yonder choose to spend their summer at Red Rocks or Planet Bluegrass. In the meantime, four nights to ring in 2016 at Boulder Theater should keep local fans occupied.

Words and Photos by Nicholas Stock, Videos by evensteveco

YMSB Setlist:

Set One: Around You, Left Me in a Hole, Only A Northern Song> Sidewalk Stars> Only A Northern Song, I’ve Got A Name, Another Day, Black Sheep, All Aboard> New Dusty Miller> All Aboard

Set Two: Drawing A Melody, Criminal, The End Is Not In Sight, I’m Lost, It’s Hard to be a Saint in the City> Eat In Go Deaf Eat Out Go Broke> It’s Hard to be a Saint in the City, Jolene, 40 Miles from Denver, Landfall, Love Before You Can’t, Insult And An Elbow, Angel> Robots> Angel

Encore: Traffic Jam*> Jaywalking*> Traffic Jam*

*w/ Greensky Bluegrass

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