Kitchen Dwellers kicked off their final stretch of shows for the year with a surprise appearance by Anders Beck at the Ardmore Music Hall on Friday. The Greensky Bluegrass dobro player joined the Dwellers for songs by each respective band (plus one by David Grisman), but it appeared KD caught Beck by surprise.
At the tail end of their first set, Kitchen Dwellers brought out Beck, a native of nearby Philadelphia. After interim mandolinist Silas Herman (son of Leftover Salmons’ Vince Herman) welcomed their guest by beckoning the crowd, “Everyone say hi Anders,” banjoist Torrin Daniels and guitarist Max Davies started in on what appeared to be the intro to Dwellers’ “Colder Nights”. Just as the rest of the band dropped in, however, they all suddenly changed course to Greensky Bluegrass’ own “The Four”. As the realization washed over his face, Beck dropped his arms from his instrument and let out a hearty laugh as Kitchen Dwellers smiled across the stage and Daniels took the place of GSBG’s Paul Hoffman and sang lead, later joined by Beck for a rare turn on vocals.
After “The Four”, Kitchen Dwellers ultimately made good on their “Colder Nights” fakeout by diving into the Ghost in the Bottle track for real. With Beck still on board, the bolstered quintet took the live staple out for an airy 12-minute flight, hitting a spacey cruising altitude midway before a kinetic buildup of momentum brought them back to Earth. Finally, the expanded lineup closed the first set with a nod to bluegrass legend David Grisman with “E.M.D.”.
Watch Anders Beck join Kitchen Dwellers for Greensky Bluegrass’ “The Four” below, and stream audio of the entire show on Internet Archive. The band’s New Year’s run continues tonight, December 28th, in Baltimore followed by two nights in Wilmington, NC on December 30th and 31st. The band’s final two shows were originally scheduled for Asheville’s Salvage Station, which Hurricane Helene sadly destroyed. A portion of the proceeds from the shows at Wilmington’s Brooklyn Arts Center will benefit Salvage Station’s ongoing initiative supporting non-owner crew members who were put out of work by the deadly hurricane. Find tickets on Ticketmaster and watch Friday’s full concert on nugs.net. If you’re not signed up for nugs yet, start here with a seven-day free trial or purchase a 50% off yearlong subscription for $99 here. [Editor’s Note: Live For Live Music is a nugs affiliate. Ordering your nugs subscription or purchasing a download via the links on this page helps support our coverage of the world of live music. Thank you for reading!]
Kitchen Dwellers, Anders Beck — “The Four” (Greensky Bluegrass) — 12/27/24
[Video: SEPA LIVE]
Kitchen Dwellers — Ardmore Music Hall — Ardmore, PA — 12/27/24 — Set One
[Video: SEPA LIVE]
Kitchen Dwellers — Ardmore Music Hall — Ardmore, PA — 12/27/24 — Set Two
[Video: SEPA LIVE]
Setlist: Kitchen Dwellers | Ardmore Music Hall | Ardmore, PA | 12/27/24
Set One: Phaedrus > Comet, Sundown, Guilty > Cleaning Windows (Van Morrison) > Cold on the Shoulder (Gordon Lightfoot), The Four (Greensky Bluegrass) [1] [2], Colder Nights [1], E.M.D. (David Grisman) [1]
Set Two: Wind Bitten > Broken Cage > Ebeneezer’s Winter, Down in the Lonesome Draw (Cahalen Morrison & Eli West), Whitewater (Béla Fleck), Wise River > Visions of Mohr > Pendulum > Visions of Mohr
Encore: Lean on Sheena (The Bouncing Souls)
[1] w/ Anders Beck
[2] w/ “Colder Nights” fakeout