Aptly dressed for their silver anniversary, Greensky Bluegrass revved up Kalamazoo fans Friday at Wings Event Center with two sets featuring guests Sam Bush and Lindsay Lou. The recap and photos.
Anniversary Party: Greensky Bluegrass with Lindsay Lou and Sam Bush at Wings Event Center on Friday. (Photo/Derek Ketchum)
SCROLL DOWN FOR PHOTO GALLERY, SET LIST
It’s only apropos that Greensky Bluegrass would kick off its two-night Halloween weekend run at Kalamazoo’s Wings Event Center with a cover of Thin Lizzy’s “The Boys are Back in Town.”
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After all, the Kalamazoo-bred bluegrass heroes have returned to the band’s birthplace — celebrating their 25th anniversary by embracing their hometown and their Michigan fans, coinciding the upbeat costume party with release of “XXV,” an album that embraces this quarter-century milestone.
Friday night’s triumphant affair — not just an ordinary hometown show as Greensky returned to Kalamazoo for the first time in nearly two years — proved nothing short of epic: 21 songs performed over two sets with much of the evening featuring singer Lindsay Lou and fiddler/mandolinist Sam Bush as special guests.
To mark their silver anniversary, the boys in Greensky Bluegrass — mandolinist Paul Hoffman, banjoist Michael Bont, guitarist Dave Bruzza, bassist Mike Devol and Dobroist Anders Beck — took the stage in shiny silver suits, with Lindsay Lou attired in a silvery dress to accompany them.
25 Years to the Day: Greensky played its first show on Halloween in 2000. (Photo/Derek Ketchum)
“I can’t believe the three of us started to play music here 25 years ago,” Bruzza said at one point during the first set, referencing the house party that Bruzza, Bont and Hoffman played as the first “official” Greensky show on Halloween 2000.
Bruzza, who grew up in Kalamazoo, playing hockey at Wings and looked right at home on the stage set up where center ice would be.
Greensky followed its opening salvo with “Out and Under” – an ode to a legendary Kalamazoo bar that closed earlier this year, then launched into their Michigan anthem, “Tied Down,” sending the crowd into a dancing frenzy.
Michigan native and longtime friend Lindsay Lou then joined them for a beautiful and jammed out “Grow Together,” with another special guest, bluegrass legend Sam Bush, adding his fiddling prowess to “All Four,” taking attendees on an emotional and what will likely be unforgettable journey for many.
Bush’s “One More Love Song” followed and then “Greensky Breakdwon” before Lou rejoined the band and Bush for “Wish I Didn’t Know” and the politically-charged “It’s Not Mine Anymore” to close set one.
Of course, fans got into the Halloween spirit, too, with many sporting wild costumes while cheering the jam-fueled bluegrass stars. And like any anniversary party, friends reconnected and shared laughs and hugs throughout the set break.
The smoking opening set was followed by a smoking Set 2 opener: John Hartford’s classic “Granny Wontcha Smoke Some Marijuana,” with Bush and Lindsay Lou once again on board. Bruzza’s Halloween-appropriate “Blood Sucking F(r)iends” followed as fans hooted and hollered from all over the arena — including one fan dressed as a mosquito in honor of the song.
Fan Fervor: The line outside Bell’s for the record-signing event. (Photo/Derek Ketchum)
With each jam that passed for the rest of the night, Greensky members continued to take their turns basking in Andrew Lincoln’s lights, delivering spotlight solo after spotlight solo. And, as they often do when guests join, Greensky reveled in playing other artists’ songs with them when joined on stage — evidenced when Bush sang his “Circles Around Me” and the band blasted through New Grass Revival’s “Can’t Stop Now.”
The band then launched into a fiery “Kerosene” to close Set 2, with Bruzza heating things up on guitar and vocals. As for the encore, Hoffman and Lindsay Lou teamed up for a duet on vocals as the band tore through the “Dirty Dancing” classic, “Time of My Life.”
The band continues its hometown soiree with a record-signing appearance at noon today (Nov. 1) at Bell’s Brewery Eccentric Cafe (Greensky’s old stomping ground) and an 8 p.m. concert back at Wings Event Center, this time with keyboardist Holly Bowling joining Lindsay Lou and Greensky. Remaining tickets for Saturday available online here.
And fans lined up early today for the special record-signing appearance at Bell’s, another indication of the band’s hometown love. – By Michael Elliot and Local Spins
More about Greensky Bluegrass here.
PHOTO GALLERY: Greensky Bluegrass at Wings Event Center
Photos by Derek Ketchum
SET LIST: Greensky Bluegrass at Wings Event Center (Friday)
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