It's almost time for Santa
and that means one other thing for SF. The Counting Crows (last
year's webpages) set up
shop at the Warfield for a week of shows. This year's extravaganza was
a triple dose of great music. First up was The Graham Colton Band from
Dallas, Texas. Normally I don't pay that much attention to the opening
act for the opening act but when Adam from the Crows introduced them by way
of Dallas I was intrigued. The Dallas - San Francisco connection is
ever tightening since I live in both places now.
The Graham Colton Band
(KillingMe.mp3)
gave us a high energy set full of soaring vocals and gooey guitar work.
The lead singer and guitarist played off each other and displayed poise
equal to bands who have been together a lot longer. I will be on the
look out for The Graham Colton Band back in Dallas, they play out at a club
called Trees. I have been to Trees to see
Howie Day and it is the
perfect venue to see this band. Small and intimate so you can feel the
connection with the crowd and music. The first band of the evening
gets five big stars from me and most of the other people who came out early.
During the first intermission I was a approached by a grinning couple who asked if I knew Flat Stanley. It is not often I am approached at random regarding something I put on the website so I was shocked then amused as the ruse was exposed. Anthony Barnes and his charming wife are the aunt and uncle of my cloned Flat Stanley. Anthony is the younger brother of one my project partners in Dallas and he received the link from his brother and recognized me from the website. Yikes! Anywho they were great fun and we agreed to join forces to persuade big brother and wife to the leftcoast. Again another Dallas connection pops up. Is there some cosmic Tex Mex Cali hocus pocus a go go, get back Jo Jo working overtime here? My new friends shared some family stories and we all had served in the Army so we had a lot to talk about there. Finally a few nuggets I can use later on my current project and a snapshot to document the meeting and then they were gone in to the sea of people.
Jacob Dylan and The Wallflowers were out next and they too turned in a set worthy of top billing. This night was shaping up to be fandamntastic. The Wallflowers powered through most of their new material and Adam came back onstage to join Jacob sing "One Headlight". After another quick intermission The Counting Crows walked out to their hometown crowd and the place went totally nuts. Everyone knew every song including a Grateful Dead cover of "Friend of the Devil". The sold out crowd was treated to gem after gem and the finale included all the bands returning to the stage for a quazi-jam session.
On the way out the door the first few hundred people received a special poster. For years both the Fillmore and Warfield have commissioned artists to create collectable posters for the sold out shows. My apartment is filled with many of these posters but my collection was missing a Counting Crows. Tonight I filled that gap with a Christmas-crazy bad dream bunny on a train commemorative. I don't know what the artist was thinking but I liked it. The perfect nightcap to a pitch perfect evening.
Peace,
Sean