As night two of The Werks and Twiddle‘s run of tag team, drive-in concerts at Legend Valley approached, things were already shaping up to be markedly different than the previous outing. The reversal came as audiences traded the persistent rain from Friday for clear night skies on Saturday, as well as The Werks and Twiddle swapping set times.
The Werks took the opening slot for night two and immediately delivered with the band’s quintessential song, “Duck Farm”. Ahead of the tune, drummer Rob Chafin took a moment to acknowledge his grandpa Warren who recently succumbed to Alzheimer’s Disease. Warren was an early supporter of the band and even helped buy the group’s first tour van, and Chafin noted that he had listened to “Duck Farm” every morning for three years while battling the disease. With that added emotional weight, this run through “Duck Farm” wasted no time in establishing the familial mood at the home of The Werk Out Music And Arts Festival.
Related: Night 2 – If The Thunder Don’t Get Ya, Then The Werks Will [Photos/Videos]
After that came the suspenseful opening notes to “Find Your Way”, an early indication of the jam-heavy set to come. The evening once again saw keyboardist Dan Shaw come in hot, leading the improvisation with an ’80s-style, synth-heavy jam while guitarist Chris Houser lurked in the shadows providing palm-muted rhythm. Things kept on moving with the hard drop into “Going Round”, which soon broke out into an expansive, open-ended jam that would’ve seemed more at home in the preceding “Find Your Way”. At any rate, The Werks then threw audiences for a loop with a slick transition into the rare instrumental “Opus 66”. Following a thorough telling of the Inside A Dream ripper, the band slipped right back into “Going Round” as if nothing had happened.
With a break in the action, Chafin took a moment to recognize Steve and Laura Trickle, the owners of Legend Valley. The Werks have a storied history with the venue formerly known as Buckeye Lake, stretching back nearly 15 years to Harvest Fest in 2006. After presenting the Trickles with a lovely plaque, The Werks got back to business with a seasonal take on Edgar Winter‘s “Frankenstein”. As one might expect, Shaw took the reins on the distinct as he stepped into the role of the mad scientist. Following that up with yet another surprise, The Werks debuted a new song, titled “Party Up”. The inclusion of this latest track brings the running total of known songs expected to be on the band’s highly-anticipated new studio album, Sonder, up to six.
Led by an organ-heavy intro from Shaw, the song opened up into a funkier landscape with classic Werks rhythm tones. In all, “Party Up” is somewhat of a departure from the previously-debuted Sonder tracks, and finds the band getting back to the basics. As for the lyrical content, parallels can be drawn to the Phish‘s “Party Time”, whereas the words simply consist of the repeated phrase, “Hey, party up!”
With the clock winding down, The Werks brought up Twiddle’s Mihali Savoulidis to sit in on “Fall”. This collaboration proved much more of a dual venture than Houser’s appearance with Twiddle the night before, as the two well-acquainted musicians engaged in a chorus of instrumentation that flirted with notes of the Allman Brothers Band. Finally, to close out The Werks’ set they fired up “Dark Farm” which served as a cyclical coda to the “Duck Farm” that opened the show.
With that, The Werks passed the torch to Twiddle to close out the evening. Trotting out onstage to Seal‘s “Kiss From A Rose”, Twiddle presented a markedly different energy than the aura with which The Werks had shrouded the stage. The opening of the show saw Twiddle stretching their legs and getting comfortable for the headlining slot ahead, starting with “River Drift”. As opposed to the night before—where the band dove feet-first into the jams—this evening instead featured Mihali wooing the audience with his storytelling abilities.
Sooner or later, the jams crept in as the improvisation dripped in, extending to such a length that fans may have thought they were going for the bold strategy of a one-song set. The band ultimately elected to keep the show going with a seamless segue into “Mamunes The Faun”. It was here that things got truly interesting for the first time in the set, as a deconstructed jam saw the breakdown of integral sounds to their basic sonic structures. The band was then tasked with putting those pieces back together and once again found themselves inside the opening “River Drift”.
Back in the corporeal realm, Twiddle rolled into the scatterbrained rhythm of “Doinkinboink”. It was in the proceeding sandwiching of “Zazu’s Flight” in between “Doinkinboink” where the band’s struggles to truly click in terms of improvisation on this night became apparent. Every time Twiddle would approach tapping into some carnal energy that would drive the jam in a new and exciting way, Mihali would pull back the throttle and ease the song down to a crawl.
The music continued to slow to a full stop for some Story Time with Mihali. After setting the stage via a hypothetical about kitchen spills, the band performed a “Slippin’ in the Kitchen” that was highlighted by teases of Stevie Wonders‘ “Boogie On Reggae Woman” from keyboardist Ryan Dempsey.
Then, emerging from the shadows, Chris Houser took the stage to inject some energy when he sat in with the band for the instrumental “Milk”. It was at this point that the entire pace of the show took a drastic upswing as, once again, Houser and Mihali joined in a chorus of guitars that brought the rest of the band up with them. Yet, as was a recurring theme throughout the Twiddle set, just as the jams were approaching ripping paces, the band hit the brakes once again for a storyteller rendition of “Lost In The Cold”. Though Houser—along with the rest of Twiddle—remained onstage, this heavily stripped-down version may have felt at home at a Mihali solo show than a full band affair.
With that, the show appeared to come to a close as cars erroneously began to leave in droves. But there was still more to come, as Twiddle returned to the stage alongside Houser, Shaw, and Chafin for a fitting take on the Ghostbusters theme. With drum duty already manned ably by Brook Jordan, Chafin was able to go full Rockstar Rob mode on lead vocals to belt out the title track to the beloved Halloween comedy. Though they had nothing left to prove, the superjam joined together for one last unorthodox—if a little forced—jam on the Ray Parker Jr.-penned theme.
Finally, the show was over and the curtain came down—not only on the evening, but the entire Legend Valley drive-in concert series that has brought live music back to the hollowed venue these past few weeks. With winter fast approaching in Ohio, The Werks’ next live appearance is anybody’s guess as the drive-in concert model becomes seasonably unsuitable for the Midwestern climate. As for Twiddle, their only remaining show on the docket is a November 1st appearance at Sussex County Drive-In Live in New Jersey.
Watch The Werks and Twiddle‘s opening songs on their respective Facebook pages, and check out a gallery of images courtesy of Charles Izenstark.
The Werks – Legend Valley – Thornville, OH – 10/24/20
[Video: IZEoftheWorld]
The Werks (ft. Mihali Savoulidis) – “Fall” – Thornville, OH – 10/24/20
[Video: IZEoftheWorld]
Twiddle – Legend Valley – Thornville, OH – 10/24/20
[Video: IZEoftheWorld]
Twiddle (ft. Chris Houser) – “Milk” – Thornville, OH – 10/24/20
[Video: IZEoftheWorld]
Twiddle (ft. Chris Houser) – “Lost In The Cold” – Thornville, OH – 10/24/20
[Video: IZEoftheWorld]
Setlist: The Werks | Legend Valley | Thorville, OH | 10/24/20
Set: Duck Farm, Find Your Way, Going Round> Opus 66> Going Round, Frankenstein (The Edgar Winter Group), Party Up[1], Fall[2], Dark Farm
[1] Debut
[2] w/Mihali Savoulidis
(Twiddle) on guitar
Setlist: Twiddle | Legend Valley | Thornville, OH | 10/24/20
Set: River Drift> Mamunes> River Drift, Doinkinbonk> Zazu’s Flight> Doinkinbonk> Slippin In The Kitchen[1][2], Milk> [3] Lost In The Cold [3][4]
Encore: Ghostbusters (Ray Parker Jr.) [3][5][6]
[1] With slippery kitchen floor story introduction from Meebs
[2] With Boogie On Reggae Woman (Stevie Wonder) teases
[3] With Chris Houser (The Werks) on guitar
[4] Storytellers Version
[5] With Rob Chafin (The Werks) on vocals and percussion
[6] With Dan Shaw (The Werks) on keyboard