A Sea of Faces

Beachland Ballroom Friday, January 29, 2010

       The Beachland site said doors open at 8, show starts at 9. I rolled in with big J at about 8:52 and the band was already in full swing. Even more surprising was the fact that there were already well over 200 people in the audience. The band was ON from the get go and again the crowd was appreciative and polite. Paul was exceptionally locked-in this evening. Gene may have been as well, but it was hard to tell since the soundman couldn’t get the bass properly tweaked in the mix.

              The band played 4 sets and ended a little after 11 pm. This show was mostly a “blues” show with very few non-blues numbers. He did, however, play an exceptionally good version of “When He Returns.” The crowd was also treated to a decent “Hard Times” and driving “Proud Man.”

              I got the impression that Glenn was taken aback by the size of the crowd. He made it a point to play a solid show and played it close to the vest for the most part. At the tail end of the fourth set he finally silenced the crowd with some fire & brimstone. Had he have gotten to this state of mind earlier in the show it could have been a barnburner, but the band was simply a Very Good Band this evening.

              Overall I’m happy that the Beachland is booking the band once a month and the performers are finally getting paid for what they do so well. Also, it’s good to see so many people finally coming out to see the band. The trade-off is that with the band being so tight and focused on playing a “good show” that there are rare opportunities for the opening of the vortex. Alas, it’s still early….

TZ

here is a photo of Glenn Schwartz from January 29, 2010 at the Beachland Ballroom courtest of Dom