On Monday night, I experienced a highlight of my life. Pier Six Pavilion, Inner Harbor, Baltimore, Maryland. Section 104, Row C, Seat 14. And Béla Fleck and the Flecktones!
The concert itself was absolutely amazing. The Flecktones had a couple of opening acts, both with suprisingly excellent musicianship. First, Marc Broussard from Louisiana brought in a little bayou rock. His band was tight and the boy could wail. (I saw him after the show and I got the impression he was proud of himself—but then who am I to judge?) I really enjoyed their groove too. The drummer was dead on, the bass player was very solid, the guitar was good (very prone to hanging on to those notes, but he did it with finesse) and the keys player was absolutely smokin’. To me, the keys guys really had the stuff and they didn’t let him unleash it enough. Béla also came out and jammed on a couple of their tunes. Overall, I was very impressed with Marc Broussard and company, especially to have never heard any tunes and to have barely heard his name before this show. They had to coolest seque into the second act. On the last jam (a tight one I might add), a second bass player showed up on stage and plugged in next to Marc’s bassist. After a few seconds of jamming together (same lines) Marc’s bassist left the stage. One by one, each musician was replaced by a musician from the second band. After it was over, the second band was fully in place and rocking the exact jam Marc’s band had “left” them with. Not totally original, but totally cool nonetheless!
Next up was a band I was completely unfamiliar with, Umphrey’s McGee. Wow. This was truly an experience. They really mixed so many genres that they basically landed in a genre all their own. Studying up on them after the show, I found that most people consider them to be progressive rock, even comparing them to Dream Theater. And I can sorta dig on this to some degree, but it’s a bit of a stretch. (One blogger I found even compared their guitar player, Jake Cinninger, to John Petrucci. Sorry, I just can’t take the parallel that far. Jake was excellent, but he’s no JP.) Still, Umphrey’s has a truly original sound. I can certainly say I’ve never heard anything quite like it and I very much enjoyed their tunes. Plenty of smokin’ 80s licks in there. 
And lots of neoclassical influence mixed with some really ambient, yet tight melody structures. Definitely one of those bands you just need to hear. And possibly one of those bands that make horrible CDs but sound incredible live. (I don’t know this to be true, just throwing out a theory.)
For the transition to the Flecktones, Umphrey’s took the same approach out that they came in on. First came Victor Wooten, then Jeff Coffin, then Futureman and finally Béla. I really enjoyed the jam they transitioned on as well. And they took a few minutes to have a mini showdown with Umphrey’s players. Pretty cool.
The Flecktones set was nothing short of stellar. I was so impressed with their musicianship and it was everything I thought it would be and more. Not only did they seem to just love what they were doing, they seemed so humble about their gifts and visibly encouraged each other on stage. This is definitely what music is really all about. Their interaction with the audience was superior. Several times I was able to kind of catch the attention of Victor and even connected with Béla just a bit. Who knows if they were looking at someone ten rows behind me, I sure felt like they were connecting with me personally—and that was so cool.
Victor Wooten is simply the very best at what he does. I was on the third row, looking on stage from the left (stage right) and Victor stood right in front of me for most of the night. So, I really got a great chance to watch him play. This dude is serious man. I mean, he has tons of fun. But man, when he lets loose, it is sick.
Jeff Coffin has this incredible gift. And it goes beyond what most people see or hear. For me, Jeff puts so much feeling in his playing that it literally makes my eyes water and I get that feeling that I should be crying. There is only one other sax player who can do that to me and that’s Kirk Whalum (one of the all-time greats.) Jeff, wow man. What more can I say?
Futureman. It really doesn’t matter who else Futureman is on stage with. When he’s up there, there is no doubt that he is the coolest dude there. I love the drum-tar live. It really gave a new dimension to that instrument (that’s hard to get from the CDs and DVDs.)
Béla Fleck is Béla Fleck. His name is synonomous with excellence and Monday night was pure perfection to me. I mean, I actually heard him flub one or two, but there was magic even in that—as though the raw nature of the moment helped solidify perfection. (Maybe that only makes sense to me.) Béla has this unique gift of producing and playing insanely creative music while gathering the most insanely creative musicians on the planet to his side. He’s the best. Bar none.
I took lots of pictures (thanks to the Flecktones sense of freedom), so dig in. It won’t be like being there, but I hope I captured some of that emotion!
Béla Fleck and the Flecktones: Official | Wikipedia
Umphrey’s McGee
Marc Broussard
My Photos of the Concert on Flickr
Technorati Tags: concert, Béla Fleck, Flecktones, Umphrey’s McGee, Marc Broussard, Balitimore, Inner Harbor
