Friday June 28, 2019 was a great day for fans of the band as they took the stage at Senasqua park to kick of the summer concert series hosted by the Village of Croton. Not only is this a spectacular venue for live music, but the place takes on a festival atmosphere with blankets, coolers and kids running amok. Local vendors Tapsmith and Baked by Susan were setup to offer craft beer and baked goods.
Set one started with Grateful Dead's "Bertha" which is a crowd pleaser sure to get the fans on their feet. But temperatures of 90 degrees plus at showtime had the dancers on the sidelines and saving their energy for later. Next up was "Beat it on down the line" by American author and one man band Jesse Fuller which was well executed considering it was the first time the song was performed by the band. By this time a cool breeze blew off the river bringing a welcome relief to the crowd.
Slide guitarist Chris Lenzi's strong southern rock influence was in evidence on the next few songs, Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Simple Man" followed by Allman Brother's classic "One Way Out". Next up was the Allman's instrumental "Jessica" which would be impossible for the band to play without the great guitar work of Chris Lenzi to complement Jeff Thornton who typically has to switch between the rhythm and lead roles.
Next the evening took an unexpected turn when Karen Thornton, wife of guitarist Jeff Thornton took the stage to join the band performing Trigger Hippy's "Rise up Singing". As a long time fan of the band, I didn't even know Karen sang, much less with the band. But Karen more than held her own and also joined the band later for "Knocking on Heaven's Door". Well done Karen and let's hear some more!
Next up was the dead's "Brown Eyed Women" and by this time band lead Frank Primeggia commented about how the young kids in front of the stage were dancing more than the adults. I took that as a call to action and rocked out in front of the stage for the remainder of the first set while sometimes eliciting strange looks from the kids, some less than 5 years old. And what a great setting for families, the parents relaxed while the kids ran amok and the rock and roll fans got rocked. God Bless America baby!
Set one wrapped up with favorites "Mister Charlie" (with Bass player Dan Howald on the Sax), "Deal" and band favorite "Disco Cowboy" where Frank Primeggia introduced the band and his own alter-ego as the Disco Cowboy. I wrote an entire blog post about that song which you can view here.
Set two led off with the Allman's "Statesboro Blues" followed by "Playing in the Band/Birdsong" with a special tribute your humble blog author and his compatriots, thanks Frank. Next up was more Southern Rock with Skynrd's "Tuesday's Gone", followed by the Allman's "Whipping Post" then Skynrd's "I know a little" a rock and bluesy number with a lot of guitar action by Chris Lenzi.
Set two continued with the Dead's "West LA Fadeaway" followed by "House of the Rising Sun" which has been performed by many bands but whose original authorship is uncertain. Following that was a soulful "Knocking on Heaven's door" and the set ended with the Dead's "Not Fade Away" into "Going down the Road Feeling Bad".
For an encore the band performed the Grateful Dead's "US Blues". This song has a special meaning for your humble blog author and makes me realize how fortunate we are to live in this great country. And this was a great scene made possible by the Village of Croton, more on that below.And a shout out to Charlie from Empire Audio handled the sound. Back the bad old days, sound was handled by people behind a huge sound board with a bunch of cables running into it. Now its just 1 guy walking around with an iPad. In any case he did an outstanding job and the sound was perfect, as well as the tunes introduced between sets. This guy is a true professional.
Finally a huge thanks the Village of Croton for hosting the event and allowing the band to share their talents with a large home town crowd. They were also on hand to direct traffic for the pickup/dropoff since parking was tight. Fans of the band are fortunate to have their support and the event was well executed all around, nice work guys!
Next date for the band is August 9th at Blue Mountain Tavern and hope to see you there.
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