Curfew… what curfew? So it was for on Friday night at . In the band’s last Colorado show until next spring, they raged for close to three and a half hours, ending after 1 a.m., leaving the sold-out crowd tired but joyful.
Friday’s show had a family feel to it, with two bands that were great inspirations to Yonder Mountain in its early years, and , opening for them. After Split Lip’s opening set, Leftover played a 90-minute set that belied their very part-time status. LoSo plays maybe a half-dozen gigs a year, and rarely rehearses for them, but after close to 20 years together, it doesn’t seem to affect their playing. The band found a groove early on “Zombie Jamborie.” At the side of the stage, sometimes-stealth concert painter Scramble Campbell was wearing the official LoSo mascot, the Mayor McCheese that they took from a McDonalds, while he painted a stunning impression of Red Rocks as viewed from the stage.
There’s something irresistible about the LoSo groove. Whether it’s the Zydeco-inspired tracks like “Mama Boulet” or mandolin player Drew Emmitt shredding solos on “Breaking Through,” it’s hard not to dance to LoSo.
Whereas Leftover took bluegrass and electrified it, Yonder Mountain injected high-octane rock and roll while keeping the acoustic string band feel. Some of the songs are best described as modern bluegrass/folk, while others hew closer to traditional bluegrass and others still more toward rock. The band was on from the first note Friday, opening with “Looking Back Over My Shoulder,” sung by bassist Ben Kaufmann.
Throughout the first set, each member alternated singing. Guitarist Adam Aijala had a touch of high-mountain lonesome to his voice on “Left Me in a Hole,” while banjo player Dave Johnston’s low voice carried the rock-ish “Fingerprint.”
Yonder Mountain frequently expressed reverence for being able to sell out a place like Red Rocks. Mandolin player Jeff Austin said early, “This is the best time of the whole year for us,” while Kaufmann gushed, “I’ve got a confession; I can’t believe we get to do this.”
Much of the first set included extended jams and improvisation. Austin and Aijala traded solos back and forth during “Casualty.” Austin and Aijala further twined solos on their take on the old fiddle tune “Cuckoo’s Nest.” They closed the first set with an extended segue of “Piece of Mind” into “Angel” back into “Piece of Mind.” The “Angel” sandwich nicely broke up the frenzied pace of “Piece of Mind.”
By this time, it was 10:30, and it felt like Yonder would just keep playing, but they took a half hour break before coming on again just after 11 for an even longer set, that, while paced strangely at times, rewarded the faithful, and included plenty of musical sit-ins.
After opening the second set with “Sidewalk Stars,” the band moved into “If There’s Still Ramblin’ in the Rambler (Let Him Go),” with the obligatory mid-song pause at the line “Just one more, Jagermeister shot…,” at which point a roadie brought out shots with which the band toasted the crowd, saying thanks to their fans for continuing to support them.
In a tip to many fans’ sensibilities, the pause led into their cover of “Reuben and Cerise,” an old Jerry Garcia tune that talks about “Reuben playing his painted mandolin,” sung passionately by Austin.
After dedicating the instrumental “Polly Put the Kettle On” to violin virtuoso Darol Anger, the band was joined by Split Lip’s Eric Mardis and Wayne Gottstine for a long, very upbeat cover of the Bad Livers’ tune “Death Trip.”
Throughout the night, Yonder was backed by an impressive light show. It was put to good use on the closing segue, beginning with “Traffic Jam.” While Kaufmann sang “I’m sitting on a hilltop, looking at a traffic jam,” video of traffic crawling on a road flashed across the different screens behind the band.
LoSo’s Emmitt and Vince Herman joined the band on the encore, kicking off with a take on the classic John Hartford song “Steam Powered Aereoplane.” Emmitt and Austin shared vocal duties, and while the harmonies were rough at first, all you could do is sit back and enjoy as Colorado musicians tipped their hat to the music that started it all.
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Candace Horgan is a Denver freelance writer/photographer and regular contributor to Reverb. When not writing and shooting, she plays guitar and violin in Denver band the defCATS.
Joshua Elioseff is a Boulder-based freelance photographer and regular Reverb contributor. Check out his .
