The Blue Star was my first show after the disappointing news that Bruce was leaving the band. I have to admit that came as a shock to me because the Stone Pony was such a highlight for the entire band. Will Dennis took on the base duties for the night and showed a real passion for playing. There were moments where I couldn't tell it wasn't Bruce and others where it was distinctly Will's own unique style coming through in the jams. This music is too powerful to yield to any obstacles and continued to serve up waves of energy to the hungry faithful.
Mark said he wore his Yoda shirt to invoke the power of the Force for the night and from my account he succeeded! Opening with a sweet jam into an explosive Tabla Rasa!!!
The Table Rasa opener was sweet and just what I was hoping for a Thursday night show where it was mostly the faithful fans there and the band would do some serious exploration. The jam to open the set sounded like the Door's When The Music's Over which was eerie since Bruce wasn't there and had me wondering who was going to sing the words. Maybe it was just a Freudian slip type tribute to what might have been if Bruce was there... the song never fully materialized while the jam morphed into Tabla Rasa and took off with an intensity I normally expect in the second set, not the opener!
Will seems to be getting more comfortable with the Juggling original material since I saw him sit in last summer at the Brownie's gig on Jerry's B-day. He had a music stand by him but he wasn't reading the charts as much, if at all? He certainly is a good fit for the role and with him in the family, there's always a capable sub when he's available. No one should leave disappointed with him handling the bass dutes!
Mark looked a little worn out when the set started but quickly recharged and delivered a solid show as usual.
Taper Tim handled the sound and seemed to have his work cut out for him throughout the night...
I'm trying out a new publishing method for this show's pix, attempting to figure out the easiest method for sharing these with the fans. The boards can be too cumbersome and I don't want to bog down page displays by overloading a single document with all the images, so here's a few more separate pages, there is also a link to the next page at the bottom of each page...
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