Steve Martin, Steep Canyon Rangers, Edie Brickell get funny, picky and jaw-dropping at Meijer Gardens

On a cool July night, Martin’s second sold-out show at the outdoor Grand Rapids amphitheater in two years had the crowd chortling and mesmerized with help from Brickell and a top-notch band. (Review, photo gallery)

 

Steve Martin surveyed his surroundings at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park on Monday night and couldn’t resist some classic Martin humor.

“I really like what I’m doing now, traveling the countryside and playing at these roadside honky-tonks,” the banjo player and funny man quipped to laughs from the audience of 1,900, during his second sold-out appearance at Meijer Gardens in two years. “It’s great to be back at the Meijer Gardens, performing for your cell phones.”

And so began the touring banjo man’s two-hour set, stuffed to the brim with jibes and rollicking, bluegrass jams.

Joined by the Grammy award-winning Steep Canyon Rangers and singer-songwriter Edie Brickell, the set presented Martin originals such as “The Crow” and collaborations between Martin and Brickell, including “When You Get To Asheville”, “Get Along Stray Dog,” “Love Has Come For You,” “Shawnee” and “Yes, She Did.”

Not surprisingly, the show’s music was not entirely without humor, with Martin’s songs “Jubilation Day” and “Atheists Don’t Have No Songs” drawing guffaws from the crowd. (Check out the photo gallery below.)

TIGHT COMING TIMING TO BOOT

Martin kept the show flowing in between songs. Unafraid to take jabs at himself, at times he played himself off as an airheaded, ego-inflated Hollywood personality. The Rangers’ tight comic timing synced perfectly with Martin, a musician they met while playing at a party in North Carolina.

“Of course, that story doesn’t go well down in Hollywood, so I just tell them we met in rehab,” Martin said.

Brickell also charmed with her husky vocals, touched with a Texas drawl. Her story-telling lyrics perfectly complemented Martin’s banjo licks and she weaved in anecdotes from her childhood spent in Texas, bringing a homespun Southern touch to the performance.

The show also showed off The Rangers’ instrumental virtuosity, highlighting fiddle player Nicky Sanders and mandolin player Mike Guggino. Solos also were taken by upright bassist Charles Humphrey III, banjo player Graham Sharp and guitarist Chris Eldridge of The Punch Brothers, filling in for Woody Platt, who could not make the show due to a family emergency.

Martin also held his own as a solo act, taking the stage without either the Rangers or Brickell for the instrumental “The Great Remember (For Nancy).”

The show closed with a four-song encore that demonstrated that bluegrass was abundantly alive in Meijer Gardens on a Monday night. And it’s safe to bet that if Martin returns next year, he can look forward to another sold-out performance.

THE VIBE

Chilly for late July, concertgoers beat the cold with sweaters, summer scarves and by racing into the outdoor theater as soon as the gates opened. The sun finally made an appearance by the concert’s start, adding to the pleasant, heightened atmosphere.

THE NIGHT’S BIG MOMENTS

The Steel Canyon Rangers held their own as an ensemble with an instrumental, classic bluegrass medley piece chock full of virtuosic solos and the four-part, tightly harmonic, a capella, spiritual-esque “I Can’t Sit Down.” The set closed with a riotous rendition of “Auden’s Train,” showcasing the insane skill of immensely talented fiddle player, Nicky Sanders. Incorporating quotes from famous works into his solos, such as the violin part from “The Barber of Seville” overture, Paul McCartney’s “Live and Let Die,” and Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song,” among others, Sanders stole the show.

THE BANTER

“In no way do I think of the Rangers as ‘my band’,” Martin said at one point. “They are an independent group, they do their own touring. I just think of myself as ‘their celebrity.’ ”

“I guess I’m doing the two things I love best,” Martin said. “Comedy and charging people to hear music.”

“But there’s a downside to traveling without a drummer,” Martin said of the traditional bluegrass set-up. “No pot.”

STEVE MARTIN AT MEIJER GARDENS: THE LOCAL SPINS PHOTO GALLERY BY ANNA SINK (JULY 29, 2013)