As a fan of a wide variety of popular (and not-so-popular) music from the 1950s (and sometimes even earlier) up through the present, one of my bucket list projects for years has been to put together a list of my 100 favorite songs of all time. At some point I decided that, once I got around to figuring that out, I could put it out on a blog, for the infinitesimally small proportion of the Internet world that might be interested. So, here we are. While the Top 100 will be a major focus, I also plan to post on a variety of other musical (and occasionally non-musical) topics, in which you may or may not be interested. (If a particular posting doesn’t ring your bell, you’re only a few clicks away from a dancing cat video on YouTube.)

Friday, July 17, 2015

Guster w/ Kishi Bashi, Wolf Trap, 7/16/2015


Row B, Seats 26-27 (dead center, second row in back of the pit)
 
Proposition: Guster is the world’s greatest rock band that almost no one has ever heard (of).
 
Last night at Wolf Trap provided evidence for both ends of this, as the guys put on a fantastic show in front of a smallish but enthusiastic audience. (“Smallish” here meaning that if the Filene Center were a glass, it would have been closer to half-empty than half-full.)
 
All 5 “members” of the band (Ryan, Adam, Brian, Luke, and ???) displayed their musical versatility – despite the apparent looseness of the show and the repartee, it obviously required a huge amount of organization to keep track of who was playing what instrument as they moved between songs. Front man and resident goof Ryan Miller, for instance, played 3 or 4 different keyboards (xylophone, organ, …) at various points, in addition to guitar and bass. The biggest cheers, however, seemed to be reserved for Adam Gardner whenever he picked up his trumpet, while percussionist Brian Rosenworcel moved seamlessly back and forth between two drum kits while in one song also showing both standard and distinctly non-standard uses for a trombone. (Trivia note – Brian’s sister Jessica is one of the five members of the Federal Communications Commission.)
 
From the beginning of the show, the band demonstrated the depth of their catalog, starting with “Long Night” (the first of several tracks from their recent Evermotion CD), following that with “Careful” (from 2003’s Keep It Together), and going back to last century for tunes such as “Barrel Of A Gun”, “Happier”, and “Either Way”). They also resisted the temptation to only play their hits (OK, they really didn’t have any actual “hits”), eschewing more familiar tracks such as “One Man Wrecking Machine” in favor of less-played tunes such as “Lightning Rod” (a personal favorite of mine).
 
The band ended the pre-encore portion of their show with a rousing crowd singalong on “This Could All Be Yours”, followed (after perhaps a 15-second break) by “Kid Dreams”. They then brought back opening act Kishi Bashi to add violin on the classic “Satellite” and a rousing version of “Come On Eileen”, after which they strolled back to the lawn for a short acoustic conclusion to the show. By this time it was 10:55, which is the closest any show I’ve been to in the past few years has come to the Wolf Trap curfew. (Guster started just after 9:00.)
 
Ah, what to say about opening act Kishi Bashi (the “nom de la musique” for 39-year-old violinist and singer Kaoru Ishibashi)? The Wolf Trap program notes that he “blends elements of pop, classical, electronica, and beatboxing to create an experimental sound that transcends cultures and pop music eras.” Lots of looping on both violin and vocals. Very personable guy – not exactly my cup of tea style-wise, but certainly one of the more unusual openers I’ve seen recently.

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