Greensky Bluegrass brought its fall tour to Kalamazoo State Theatre in Michigan this past weekend. The Kalamazoo-based jamgrass quintet treated its hometown crowd to an original live debut and a variety of covers during the two-night run.
Members Anders Beck (dobro), Dave Bruzza (guitar), Mike Devol (bass), Paul Hoffman (mandolin), and Michael Bont (banjo) started things off on Friday (11/26) with a cover of The Beatles‘ “Get Back”, serving as a hat tip to the recently released, Peter Jackson-directed documentary of the same name. The set continued with a cover of Pink Floyd‘s “Time (Breathe Reprise)”, before a string of originals, including “Out & Under” and “Kerosene”. Of note, this first frame contained a live take on “Monument“, which will appear on the band’s forthcoming studio album, Stress Dreams, due out on January 21st via Thirty Tigers.
Greensky Bluegrass – “Kerosene” – 11/26/21
[Video: TheFestivalCandy]
Set two began with an impassioned take on “Windshield”. Original cuts “Take Cover” and “Tuesday Letter” followed, before a cover of Mississippi Sheiks‘ “Sittin’ On Top Of The World”, which also appeared on the Grateful Dead‘s 1967 self-titled debut. Hoffman and co. continued with the Stress Deams title track, followed by “Merely Avoiding”, and a massive “Broke Mountain Breakdown” > “Miss September” > “Run or Die” segment to end the second set. A third and final Stress Dreams cut, “Grow Together“, ended the night one festivities and sent the crowd off into the night.
Related: Watch Greensky Bluegrass Bring The Heat During Hulaween Opener [Videos]
Greensky skated into night two with “All Four”, which contained a tease of the Cheers theme song, “Where Everybody Knows Your Name”, to open the show. Up next came the live debut of “Give A Shit”, yet another song that will appear on the band’s forthcoming Stress Dreams album. After takes on “Murder of Crows” and “Fixin’ To Ruin” came a lengthy and impassioned cover of Prince‘s “When Doves Cry”. This 12-plus minute cut saw a deep jam and exceptional vocal harmonies from the five-piece outfit. The band then finished the first half of the show with Jimmy Martin‘s “Hit Parade of Love”, which sat between two originals, “Old Barns” and “What You Need”.
Greensky Bluegrass – “When Doves Cry” (Prince) – 11/27/21
[Video: jdwykrentify]
The final set of Greensky’s homecoming saw Bruzza, Beck, Devol, Hoffman, and Bont weave three covers—The Stanley Brothers‘ “Pig in a Pen”, Norton Buffalo‘s “Ain’t No Bread in the Bread Box”, and Townes Van Zandt‘s “White Freight Liner Blues”—between a variety of original tracks, including the final Stress Dreams tune of the run, “Absence of Reason”. Finally, the band ended its homecoming with “Past My Prime”.
Below, check out a gallery of images from night one of Greensky Bluegrass at Kalamazoo State Theatre, courtesy of photographer Steve Baran. Scroll down for setlists of both performances.
Greensky Bluegrass will head off to Puerto Morelos, Mexico on December 9th–11th for Strings & Sol, before a two-night New Year’s Eve run at The Factory in St. Louis, MO (12/30–12/31). Head to the band’s website for tickets and more information.
