The Blender Theatre @ The Gramercy
New York, NY
Sunday, May 4th, 2008
General Admission Standing
$50
First, let's get the Spinal Tap moment out of the way. During one of the new songs, Winwood was sitting at his organ, and he gestured towards a roadie. The roadie crouched in front of Steve's amplifier with what looked like a wireless white keyboard. Steve gestured again. The roadie moved behind Winwood and tried desperately to fix ... something. Equipment trouble? Everything sounded fine.
The cause of the problem became clear. The roadie went backstage and then came back, walked right on stage, and right to the big Teleprompter. This time, he had a wireless keyboard and mouse. He used the stage itself as a mousepad. The crisis was averted. I can only guess that the correct lyrics now were showing on the Teleprompter.
This was just a delightful day. Roy and I were at RoSFest, the Rites of Spring festival held in a small town near Philadelphia. He was continuing on to see the final day of the fest, but I was skipping out to see one of my favorites, Steve Winwood, in New York City. I felt so lucky. Winwood is coming to St. Louis this summer, but as an opening act with a shortened set. I bought tickets, but discovered I won't be in town the day of the concert. Winwood announced a couple shows on his own, and the one in New York coincided with my trip to the East Coast. Better yet, this show was general admission, so I only had to show up early and wait in line to get a prime viewing spot.
Roy and I had breakfast at the main RoSFest hotel. I chatted a little with my friend Robert, before saying goodbye. We also bumped into Robin. Robin is a photographer for YesWorld and usually spends more time with the band than hanging out with friends. I've known her for a long time, and it was nice to catch up without her being in an official function or having the band around distracting us.
Roy drove me up to the train station in Trenton. There are a million options to get to New York City and back. I decided I didn't want to travel late at night after the show. My plan was to take a New Jersey Transit train up to Penn Station in Manhattan. It runs every half hour and is fairly cheap, even if it takes longer than Amtrak. I was staying overnight, and I had an Amtrak reservation to get me to Philly quickly the next morning. The plan worked perfectly. I didn't have to wait long for the train, and I got into New York just before noon.
I dropped my bag off at the hotel (more on that later) and walked to the club. It was an absolutely beautiful day, perfect for walking around or standing outside all day waiting in line. My hotel was in the Chelsea neighborhood and the Blender was a mile north of there, near Gramercy Park. No one was there yet. I had lunch and wandered around for a bit. I haven't spent much time in this part of the city, but there were some beautiful spots. On a day like this, I could imagine living there so easily.
The hotel was odd. I found it on the Trip Advisor site. It was like a bed and breakfast without the breakfast part. Small rooms with shared bathrooms in the hall. The room did have a sink and shower, so there was some privacy. It was cheap enough that I didn't feel guilty staying in the city overnight and it was clean and safe. I freshened up and walked back to the club.
Someone was else was in line, Mike. He was hoping to get some things signed by Steve. We chatted for a bit, and it turned up he grew up near me in Northeast Philly. The next guy was very talkative. His name was Jeff, he was from Long Island and was a know-it-all who gave me a lot of wrong trivia about Yes. Friendly though. Some of the band arrived, walking in from the east. Jeff noticed Steve Winwood coming from there and the three of us in line walked over to talk to him.
I didn't bring anything to get signed, but they both did. Steve was quiet, but friendly, signing all their albums and CD sleeves. I noticed he was wearing glasses, but took them off for the fan pictures. I didn't get to talk to him, but I took the pictures for Mike and Jeff. It was interesting just observing this, but it all went very quick. Mike decided to leave to drop the albums back in his car and tour the city a little. That made me first in line. Steve arrived around 4:30, and we had until 8 for the doors to open.
We got a small glimpse of the soundcheck. The doors were open and the inner doors were open. When we peeked in, we could see right in to the stage. I've been further away from this at actual concerts. Steve was playing something on the organ. We only got to watch for a few minutes before the staff closed the doors on us. Later on, we got to see a bit of Back in the High Life. We didn't see Steve come out for dinner, but several of the band members walked in and out. I spotted the guitarist Jose Neto using a payphone on the corner. I pointed him out to Jeff, who I don't think believed me at first. As Jose walked back into the club, we told him to have a good show. He wished us the same and told me he liked my Yes tshirt.
A guy who worked at the club recommended a place for dinner. It was a bbq and Southern seafood place called Live Bait. I had only planned on getting another slice of pizza, but I went to this place and had another weird experience. This woman at the restaurant bar decided she was going to Be My Friend. She was reading Ayn Rand's the Fountainhead and was full of anti-corporate buzzwords. She offered the seat next to me, got the waitress for me so I could order, told me about how she was married but didn't wear a ring because she didn't buy into the symbolism. I don't think I could just start making conversation with someone random like that without an ice breaker, but it was interesting. It turned out that I had a math degree, and she had worked as an actuary, a field a lot of math majors go into.
I got my food to go, freshened up a bit, and got back in line to eat dinner. I ordered bbq chicken, which wasn't the smartest thing. I was standing up, holding the platter with one hand and breaking off bits of food with a plastic knife with the other. Still, it was nice to eat something real rather than another burger or slice of pizza. Well, the marshmellows on the sweet potatoes weren't all that real. Jeff saved my place in line for me. Ironically, Mike came back and was now the third guy in line. The idea of actually being in the front row and getting to lean on the stage is such a draw.
The doors opened a little earlier than 8. There was a guy in a wheelchair and one person with him who were allowed in first and took the center spot. My ideal spot for Winwood is front row, a little to the audience right of the center microphone stand, so I went there. I think this offers the best viewing angle to Steve when he's sitting at his organ, which is on stage right. The rest of the band forms a semi-circle around the stage. When Steve plays guitar, he stands front and center. The fascinating thing for me is that the band doesn't have a bass player; Steve plays the basslines using the bass pedals on the organ with his foot. At times, he's singing, playing the keyboard, and tapping his foot all over the place playing bass lines simultaneously! Maybe I can forgive him for needing help with the lyrics. Anyway, the Teleprompter was sitting on stage at audience left, and had I been standing on that side, it would have blocked my full view of the stage. So my preferred spot worked well for me. Unfortunately, my new acquaintances stood on the other side of the guy in the wheelchair, so I couldn't talk to them anymore. The stage was so small, that while I was two people over from dead-center, I was directly in front of the drums. I used an earplug in my right ear, and it wasn't nearly as loud as I thought it would be.
There was a setlist hanging up on the drum stand. With the light shining on it, we could read it from behind, like mirror writing. The people around me seemed interested too, so we deciphered it before the show. A lot of songs from the new album, but only one Traffic song. I'm glad I knew this in advance. This is one of two stand alone concerts Steve is doing before going on tour with Tom Petty. The next one is in Boston and is billed as "a
special concert of his career-spanning hits" after he gets an honorary doctorate from Berklee. I assumed this one would be a warm up concert, but it was something different entirely.
The concert started few minutes after nine. It opened with a new song from Nine Lives. Next was I'm a Man and another new one. There was a very cute moment during Can't Find My Way Home. Steve starts out playing organ, and then the flute/woodwind/other organ player Paul Booth takes over and Steve comes to center stage to play guitar. They handle the organ transition just so, with Paul standing behind Steve and reaching over to hit the same keys while they exchange places with (exagerrated?) care. This is live music with a smooth transition. This is a big audience singalong piece. Steve sings the word "Can't" with an American sounding accent rather than the "kahnt" of the original recording. I always liked how English he sounded on words like can't and years on the studio recording.
Steve addressed the audience after this. He usually talks to us only twice during a show - once as an introduction and again near the end of the show to introduce the band. He did something very smart here. I don't know how this show was billed, but he told us the show's purpose was to play the material from his new album Nine Lives, a celebration of its release. Not all the older favorites could be performed because of this, but he hoped there was a good mix for everyone. I kept comparing this to the Circa concert the night before, where they played all of their new album, but didn't introduce it or communicate this with the audience.
The full setlist was:
Secrets (new song)
I'm a Man
Hungry Man (new song)
Can't Find My Way Home
Had To Cry Today
We're All Looking (new song)
Fly (new song)
At Times We Do Forget (new song)
Raging Sea (new song)
Light Up Or Leave Me Alone
Crossroads
Back In The High Life Again
Dirty City (new song)
Other Shore (new song)
Why Can't We Live Together
Gimme Some Lovin
After Can't Find My Way Home was the other Blind Faith song of the night, Had to Cry Today. I saw this at the Crossroads festival last year with Steve and Eric Clapton on guitar, but never at one of Steve's shows. He did the guitar hero thing on it, duetting with Jose Neto. It was really cool to be able to see this so close and upfront. One of the downsides of the wonderful view from the front row is compromising a bit on the sound. The speakers are above us and pushing the sound back. I was hearing everything from the monitors and hearing the drums and percussion without amplification. The sound was much better than at the Circa show the previous night. If anything, it was too low. I didn't need to wear earplugs in each ear, just the right to protect me from the drums. The mix was very clear and I could hear every instrument distinctly, with no distortions. Having everything a little louder to compete with the drums would have been just perfect.
I really had to remind myself that this was the first time these songs were being performed live. The band was tight, and this felt more like a gig several weeks into a tour with everyone comfortable with the material and the flow of the concert. The band members were making a lot of eye contact and smiling a lot too. Later on, Jose would tell us how excited they all were to have this chance to play so much new material.
Light Up was the sole Traffic song. I had seen Steve do this live a couple years ago, but this version was longer. A drum/percussion/organ section was added to it. This was originally a song sung and written by Jim Capaldi, an odd choice for his only song from that era. I was dancing and bopping around the most to this song the most. It kind of took the place of Low Spark of High Heeled Boys as the long showcase song in the setlist. I was getting hit by the stage lights and it was getting warm in there. Was it after this song that I saw the drummer down a whole bottle of water in one gulp?
The one song I could have done without was Crossroads. I realize it's a hugely influential song, but I'm not much of a blues fan, and something else could have fit in that time. But it was good to play a song that everyone knows, with so much unfamiliar material in the show. Back in the High Life Again was similar to the other times I've seen it, with Steve playing a mandolin. He started out playing a quiet instrumental bit with the mandolin, guitar, and a triangle. Then it led into the song. Big applause on this one. They played Dirty City, the new single, as the last song of the main set, and it was the only one of the new songs with Steve playing guitar on it. It kind of took the place of Dear Mr. Fantasy as a big guitar hero type song and similar placement in the set.
Like I mentioned above, I could see the setlist before the concert. I knew what was in the main set versus what the encores would be. There was a lot of applause after Dirty City. However, the band didn't leave the stage. It never triggered to the audience that we reached the end of the main set and the next songs were part of the encore. When the band finally left the stage after Gimme Some Lovin', the audience was expecting an encore. The applause and cheers went on for quite a while, even after the lights came up and the roadies started to take apart the equipment. I hoped it didn't get ugly with disappointed fans thinking they didn't get an encore. I also hoped that all this applause might lead to a true unplanned encore. The Hammond organ was still set up and Winwood could do something solo. It didn't happen though.
I bought a tshirt after the show and went outside. I hadn't brought anything to get signed, but I had my ticket stub with me. I planned to wait outside and see if I could have Steve sign that as he left. I had a strange conversation with one woman after the show. She claimed she knew me. I didn't recognize her, but I'm bad with faces. She knew me from Path? I had no idea what she was talking about, but I said okay. She told me I should walk with her to the Path stop. Ah, it's a train to New Jersey. She got upset when I wouldn't go with her. Told me she had been backstage and someone told her Steve wasn't signing anything, so I should just leave with her now. I looked confused and told her I was from out of town and taking a cab. I called Roy and was able to reach him at the hotel. Roy doesn't have a cell phone and the hotel voicemail didn't work, so I was glad to be able to touch base and let him know how my day went.
I also bumped into some guys who had been standing behind me during the concert. They were going to wait out to meet Steve and told me where the stage door was. It was around the corner. I had seen the band enter through the front door, so we all stood on the corner looking at each entrance. We chatted for a bit and saw the flute player Paul Booth head out the front door. He told us Steve would be leaving that way as well.
I saw Jose Neto at the payphone again. This led to one of my favorite parts of the evening. As he walked towards us, one of the guys called out that Jose could have borrowed his cellphone. Jose stopped to say that he didn't have one yet, he was old-fashioned that way, but it was no problem using the payphone. He ended up chatting with us for a good 10 or 15 minutes. It was relaxed and casual and Jose was so sweet. He asked where we all came from. I had taken pains the rest of the day to tell people even though I was from St. Louis, I had only traveled from Philly for the show, but this time I proudly said I had come from St. Louis in Missouri. He told us about the upcoming tour with Tom Petty, some of the TV appearances taking place later that week, how happy they all were with Nine Lives. He commented on my Yes tshirt again, and asked me if I'd seen them live. When I told him 59 times, he asked when I first saw them. He didn't seem too impressed that it was only in 1990. The chat was just so un-hurried and not rushed at all. It was really nice. Jose eventually excused himself to go back inside and get his guitar.
The other fans and I were all pretty buzzed after this conversation. The atmosphere changed shortly afterwards. I wonder if Jose told anyone there were some fans waiting outside? Anyway, Mrs. Winwood came out. She didn't introduce herself, but I recognized her from another show when she came on stage. She asked if any of us had Nine Lives. Two of us raised our hands. Strictly speaking, I didn't have it yet. I special ordered the LP version from my local record shop and it hadn't arrived yet. But I raised my hand anyway. Mrs. Winwood said that Steve would only be signing his new album. "Well, I don't have it with me", I said. She said if we don't have it, we'd all better leave now, as Steve wouldn't be signing anything. Or taking pictures. Or shaking hands. We might as well leave now. But I had seen Steve sign autographs that afternoon without any problem. She went back in, and we all decided to wait.
When the band left, they walked to a van waiting half a block away on the next corner. Mrs. Winwood walked out first and was already halfway there before Steve came out. He shook my hand, and I told him I enjoyed the show, and asked him to sign my ticket stub. Didn't seem to be a problem. We all started walking to the van. The other guys asked if they could take a picture with him. Steve asked if we had Nine Lives yet. "I bought the LP." "Oh, the vinyl?", he replied. He seemed a little put out that noone had the new album there to be signed, and he told the guys in a less friendly way that he'd let them take a picture as they were walking, but wouldn't stop for one. He still reached over for my ticket stub and signed it for me. The guys got a quick photo, and that was it. I felt like running over to the van and saying "na na na na na, I got my signature!" to Mrs. Winwood, but of course I didn't.
I heard later from Roy that the first two bands that day for RoSFest were very good, but Crack the Sky disappointed him. He had seen them about ten years ago and just loved it. He had dinner with a bunch of our friends and skipping the last band Wishbone Ash. We had seen them a few years ago at ProgDay, and he was in the mood for a quiet evening. I am so glad I went up to New York for the Winwood show. Without all the Traffic material, it didn't have the highs of the previous times I've seen him, but it was a very good performance and a lot of fun. It was a rare experience too to get to see so many songs of the new album performed live.
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