now that I have your attention :)…
Wanted to get thoughts of those who went at least four Nightgrass shows. What did you go see and what was your favorite Nightgrass show?
For me:
My favorite: TIM AND DARRELL!!!
:cheers
Yonder-CC
Isbell-Palm
Chatham County Line- 3 songs so I could then head down the street to see
Greensky-rest of second set. I, also, stayed through all of Winwood thus the lateness to Chatham and Greensky.
Had Bluhm but was out of energy Saturday night. Too bad for me because I thought she/them were great on Sunday.
I am huge Isbell fan and his show was my favorite.
He sang Goddamn Lonely Love(his DBT tune). One of my favorite tunes that he only played Thursday. :thumbsup
Yonder @ CC - thought it was a great Yonder show, really enjoyed them with Ronnie and Jason.
Salmon @ Sheridan - really fun show, thought the Keller sit-in was awesome and really brought them to another level. Wish he would have played a few more.
Greensky @ Palm - another amazing Greensky show, they never disappoint! (and my personal favorite band at the festival this year)
Del @ Palm - maybe I was a bit tired at this point but it was my least favorite NG show. It was still great to hear Del but it didn’t seem to have nearly the same energy as the previous 3 NG shows. Also since it was billed as Del & Friends I was expecting more guest sit-ins.
I also caught 1 set of the Kitchen Dwellers on Tuesday at Last Dollar. Overall it was a great NG run and definitely a huge part of the festival experience for me. My favorite was Greensky followed closely by Salmon. :cheers
Caught Head For The Hills Wednesday night at the Moon, but I couldn’t get into it. I stayed away from that venue for a couple years, but it turns out I still hate it. Just too narrow and crowded to be enjoyable.
Isbell Thursday night, it was great, although I was super tired. I dozed off a couple of times, but I was alert enough to enjoy a couple of his songs that are favorites of mine. Showed up at 11:30 or so and Isbell was already playing, thought Lone Bellow was supposed to be opening?
Saw Tim and Darrell at Sheridan, and that was one of my favorite nightgrass shows (and, by the transitive property, one of my favorite shows period) ever.
Finally, Punch Brothers Sunday night… Awesome as usual, especially liked Ed Helms’ delivery of the spoken word part in their new song. Paul Kowert was obviously the star of the show that night.
Hard to pick between Tim and Darrell and Punch Brothers.
Not only was the venue not great, most of the audience was incredibly rude and disrespectful. My brother and I were there for Head for the Hills and we both thought they were excellent. Good energy from the band, fun songs and having Anders there was an added bonus. But the audience sucked.
At one point, a group of seven or so forced their way in front of my brother and me (an area that had space for maybe one or two people, but definitely not seven) and proceeded to talk right in the middle of the songs. Most of the crowd seemed to be there to have a good time, not to listen to good music. I had never been to the moon before, but I expected better. Missoula audiences have spoiled me.
The two Sheridan shows I went to were incredible. Salmon was off the charts good. And Tim and Darrell were beyond amazing. The audiences at both shows were respectful of each other and came to have a good time AND listen to the music. I definitely want to get back to the Sheridan again next year.
Tim and Darrell FTW! Now i went to Yonder CC>Trout Steak Revival/Steaming Bean>Electronic/House Dance Party/Steaming Bean>Tim & Darrell Opera House>had Sun Punch Bros/Opera House pair o’tix which were sold face outside to a delightful couple who were SOH virgins (last yr Sun night Punch Bros was my favorite event of the entire festival, this year i was physically sick) and very grateful. Although the electronic/house dance party took on another dimension and was sublime, i’m gonna have to vote Tim & Darrell, naturally. Seriously, that was an incredible night at an incredible venue!
Old Town Pickers- @ Floradora on Wed.
Trout Steak @Steaming Bean
Del’s 75th @ Palm- This was great, but I sure thought there would be a lot more guests come out. Anders and Mike…(Sam’s guitarist forgot his name) were the only two. Still great to see/hear Del!
I was fortunate enough to catch Nightgrass all five nights (and dragged my butt home Monday night with a helluva head cold and fever to show for it!).
Yonder CC-A great start to the festival and it was reassuring to know that with Ronnie and Jason in tow, we were going to hear great music and have fun as we always do with Yonder.
Leftover Salmon-Loved It. They Rocked hard throughout. Born to be Wild at a bluegrass festival!!
Greensky-Only caught the second set because I had to catch Steve Winwood too. The long jam they did on the Hornsby song they did was a festival highlight for me. Truly liquid.
Del-Priviledged to attend with the late, great John Wood and we had a ball. Del was really funny and the band played great. Only downer was the flying glowsticks, some of which were directed to the stage. Do we really need these things? Beyond the danger of hitting someone in the eye, talk about environmentally unhelpful…
Punch Brothers-After what I thought was a lackluster main stage performance, I loved them at Nightgrass. The first set was sweet PB music on their own. The second set included many fine guests including Sara and Sean Watkins as well as Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings! The sheer horespower of all that talent made the Punch Brothers Nightgrass my favorite.
yonder on wed
isbell on Thurs
greensky on fri
bluhm on sat
~I loved the Jack-A-Roe we got on Wednesday at CC. Felt like “Festi” was finally going…
~Isbell brought tears to my eyes in the balcony during ‘Elephants’. It was the most powerful experience of the fest for me watching him pour out his heart and soul at 2am. He was a phenomenal addition to TBF41. :thumbsup
Elephants: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClugMhMbrRg
Just a phenomenal song. If Elephants doesn’t touch your soul, I’m at a loss for words.
I’m still amazed that show was the only Nightgrass not to sell out right away. I would have seen him over everyone and I liked everybody on the Nightgrass menu. Sounds like it took a main stage show to finally get people to get up and rock with Isbell.
He tells a story like none other. Please invite him back TBF. Agreed sdmjake, what an addition.
best song written by anyone in a few years that i know of. couldn’t believe it when i first heard it, and that’s what drew me into his catalog. both nightgrass and mainstage show were incredible. can’t stop listening to southeastern.
:pickin from the sky we look so organized and brave
Yonder CC - Well played show but felt weird when they played songs like Cuckoos’ and Girlfriend.
Salmon - Wowzers what a show! Born to be Wild section with Keller, Ronnie and JC was unreal. Awesome to hear Drews daughter sing one, a great moment! Loved hearing Easy to Slip and Fat Man in the Bathtub too. Rubens Train followed by the Lovin’ in my Babys Eyes / Rocky Road Blues Encore was a great end to the show, although 2nd set seemed kind of short. My favorite nightgrass, along with…
Greensky - I felt they didn’t take any chances with the setlist but it actually paid off because they straight crushed it. They were on point the entire night with great versions of Little Maggie, All Four, King of the Hill and Don’t Lie. An incredible light show added to the unreal level of energy the band put in all show.
Del - A good show, but I was not in quite the right state of mind after being really pumped up by Sam and Salmon on the main stage.
Same shows as Martin. Good analysis. I agree. Love Del, but fell asleep and left early after coming late.
I hit the jackpot and did all 5 nights.
Yonder @ CC
Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen w/ Front Country @ Fly Me to the Moon
Greensky Bluegrass @ The Palm
Del’s Birthday @ The Palm
Punch @ The Sheridan
I am still trying to figure out what was truly my favorite because they all had big moments for me.
Yonder - my first time seeing them since they lost Jeff and they sounded great. They seemed like they were having a lot of fun and it seems like Ben has taken over Jeff’s big interaction role (although he’s always been interactive too) which is cool. Ronnie and Jason with them takes their sound to a new level I think. We only made it to the 2nd set so this one is towards the bottom for me only for that reason. That gondola ride in the dark was really cool too, like floating through space.
Frank Solivan - Front Country to open was SO much fun. High energy, dance-y, and great catchy songs made this one of my favorite sets of the whole festival. The crowd was awesome and I love the atmosphere of small places like that. Definitely at the top. Frank Solivan and his band kept up the energy and I had great time during their set too but I think I enjoyed Front Country more.
Greensky - They are one of my favorites so there’s no doubt this is was a great set for me. I enjoyed that they were one of the only artists to not have any guests. It was nice to just hear them, it’s been a while since I had seen them. Four is my favorite song of theirs so I loved hearing that. I’d put this one in the middle. It was beautiful but the top ones had the goosebump factor and I didn’t get that here.
Del’s Birthday - I felt like I was at the Grand Ole Opry for this show. Del’s charisma and stage presence is a truly natural thing which makes him so special to watch. Especially the fact that he’s playing with his two sons is just so neat to me. You can see the love in that family. The songs were traditional and the stories were heartwarming. I felt like I was in Del’s living room with him and his family that night, the energy in the room was one I don’t think I felt anywhere else that week. Definitely top 2.
Punch - This set is in hard competition with the Del set and mostly because of the ladies. Seeing Sara Watkins, Sarah Jarosz, and A’Oife O’Donovan on the same stage was magical. Their musicality together is dumbfounding. Watching them giggle with each other through lyrics and still come out with these pitch perfect, spine-tingling notes is something else. Punch was great as usual, I know people have qualms with them but I enjoy their shows. I haven’t seen them much but I’ve never had a show to complain about from them. I liked the whole thing with ribbing Paul all night, he went along with it perfectly, and he does sing a nice bass. The song with Ed Helms was hilarious and fun, very old timey. By the end of the show there were about 50 people on that tiny little stage all sawing, picking, and plucking away. Cool to see all those heavy hitters on one stage. I’m sure I’ll for get somebody but it was: Punch, JPJ, Dave Rawlings, Gillian Welch, The Sara(h)s, A’Oife, Ronnie, and now I’ve drawn a blank… I was lucky to be very close for the encore in the middle of the crowd and that just ended things on such a beautiful, peaceful note with the ladies and Chris. My only wish would be that my pictures actually turned out!
Night grass is too late for me.
But I would have Loved to see Del as his most recent CD is a favorite of mine. Did he play more songs from “The Streets of Baltimore” than he played on the main stage? Fifty years of music makes it tough to play it all.
Maybe you’d be able to make it if you didn’t burn off so many calories moving so fast during the day, KJ.
:lol :evil 
:flower :flower
:cheers
Does anyone remember the set list from the Greensky show at the Palm?
I remember they had Little Maggie, Light Up or Leave me Alone, Bring Out Your Dead and All Four in the first. Second had King of the Hill and ended with Don’t Lie followed by and Atlantic City encore with the start of Broke Mountain Breakdown played multiple times to close it out. There were def some new songs too (In Control, Windshield?) , but that’s all I got.
Here’s what my wife and I were able to hit:
Pete Kartsounes & Michael Kirkpatrick at Steaming Bean on Tuesday night - we caught about 7 or 8 songs and was a nice chill way to kick off the festivities.
Yonder at CC - Ronnie and Jason are great additions which helps ease the loss of Jeff a bit. Kinda weird to hear some of “Jeff’s tunes” (even the covers) sung by Ben or Adam, but it was still all good. I was really excited to hear Jason sing Lonesome, onry & mean (love that song). Other highlights for me were Oklahoma > Holdin > Oklahoma, jack-a-roe and the closing sandwich of Years with Rose > Winds of Wyoming > Girlfriend is Better > Windows, and Down that River Road. I thought the songs that Bruzza came out for were a really odd and poor choice (I am a big Bruzza fan too). I feel like he could’ve added so much more on Jack-a-roe or one of the sandwiches at end of first or second sets.
Salmon at the Sheridan - I admit I am not the biggest Salmon-head… I much prefer their more bluegrassy stuff from 1997-1998 so this show was just ok for me. The section with Keller was the highlight for me (and I am not the biggest Keller fan), along with the song Drew’s daughter came out for. I have seen Drew jam much harder at other shows so that also left me wanting a bit more. Ah well.
Greensky at the Palm - Greensky and the Stringdusters have been, by far, my two favorite bands for the past years. Though, I will say that the previous 6-10 Greensky shows I have seen have been a bit lackluster in terms of jamming and pushing it to the edge (compared to past shows I have seen, 50+). Having said that, I feel like they kicked it up a notch for this one. We had a great spot about 4 rows back in the seats, dead center, great sound. The light show was fantastic. Was that the high school’s lighting gear or did Greensky get some new toys? Some great jamming in Little Maggie, All Four, King of the Hill, and Don’t Lie. I’d say I had the most fun at this show during the entire week (rivaling only the Dave Rawlings Machine set on the main stage as my favorite music all week).
Tim & Darrell at the Sheridan - So this was the show I was most excited about pre-fest. However, nightgrass every night and having to get up early to run the tarp for the tapers every morning caught up with me here. My wife and I were lucky enough to snag some seats up in the balcony but those seats, lack of sleep, and the edibles made me a bit sleepy and I admit I was happy they only played one set. Looking forward to hearing this again though.
Oh, and here is the setlist for the Greensky nightgrass show at the Palm for those asking…
set one:
ghost of Richard Manuel
the shape I’m in
better off
bring out your dead
against the days
little Maggie
200 miles from Montana
all four
set two:
letters to Seymour
in control>
can’t stop now
bottle dry
jaywalking
king of the hill
old barns
don’t lie
e:
Atlantic city
broke mountain breakdown
Thanks for posting the setlist!