gave two career defining performances this weekend. On Saturday at the , the band performed its second of two sold out headlining sets that had the venue once again dancing for three hours until the house lights came up.
By the time the band had finished its second set, the crowd was so energized that they stomped their feet loudly, shaking the Ogden as they chanted, “Greensky, Greensky!” The band returned to the stage with almost sheepish expressions, launching into an extended cover of Bob Marley’s “Could You Be Loved” that seemed a perfect ending to a magical run.
Before they got to that point however, the five members of Greensky wove through long instrumental jams that went from moody and bluesy to funky and spacey, tore through several tracks on their new album, and even had a few rave-ups on traditional tunes.
Kicking off with “Just to Lie,” the band quickly found a groove on the Flatt and Scruggs song “Bringing in the Georgia Mail.” Mandolinist Paul Hoffman and guitarist Dave Bruzza each took tight bluegrass solos, while banjo player Michael Bont’s rolling banjo lines lifted that pace.
That proved a good setup for “Last Winter in Copper Country,” on which Hoffman, Bruzza, and Dobro player Anders Beck teased different melodic ideas in a push-pull during a long moody jam that built to a rousing finish.
Beck also used his guitar amp to great effect on “The Luckiest Man,” building distorted overtones into a frenetic finish on his solo that had the crowd raising their hands in the air.
Late in the first set, banjo player Chris Pandolfi and Dobro player Andy Hall from Infamous Stringdusters joined the band on “Free Born Man.” Beck clearly enjoyed playing off another Dobro player, as he and Hall faced off with each other and built off shared melodic ideas into a great solo. Then Bont and Pandolfi took a turn, facing each other and finding spaces for the banjo to propel the song’s pace even higher.
The first set closed with a cover of the Allman Brothers’ “Midnight Rider” that had many in the crowd singing along at the top of their lungs.
On Friday’s encore, Beck had extensively teased the melody line for his main Dobro riff on “Don’t Lie.” After opening the second set with a “Demons” that had Hoffman dancing on stage, Beck took over on a long jam. He and Bruzza played off each other, hinting at the main melody of “Don’t Lie,” playing into funky territory while Hoffman held down a chunky rhythm. Beck finally launched into the song, and after Hoffman sung the first verse, Bont took over with a long hyperdrive solo, alternating between rolling lines and the occasional strummed pattern.
Then Beck and Bruzza took over, playing off each other and teasing in and around the main riff while finding different spaces to move into. When the solo finally wound down and Hoffman sung the final verse, the crowd seemed to release a huge burst of energy. The song had gone on for 15 minutes, but the fans were still dancing, and Beck smiled and played the main riff one more time to the delight of the crowd.
The band caught its breath on a fairly straight-up version of “Forget Everything,” and the next few songs, while well executed, didn’t go so far into jam territory.
Greensky was just pausing however, as “Broke Mountain Breakdown” featured plenty of musical exploration. Hoffman took a speedy mandolin solo, and Beck, teasing different melodies, at one point hit on the guitar riff from Phish’s “Bathtub Gin” before leading into a fantastic cover of “After Midnight,” sung by Bruzza, to close the second set.
Setlist
Set 1
Just to Lie, Windhield, Lose My Way, Bringin’ in the Georgia Mail, Last Winter in Copper Country, A Letter to Seymour, New Rize Hill, The Luckiest Man, Free Born Man*, Midnight Rider
Set 2
Demons, Don’t Lie, Forget Everything, Worried about the Weather, Burn Them, Jaywalking -> Train Junky, Broke Mountain Breakdown-> After Midnight, E: Could You Be Loved
*with Chris Pandolfi and Andy Hall from Infamous Stringdusters
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is a Denver freelance writer/photographer and regular contributor to Reverb. When not writing and shooting, she plays guitar and violin in Denver band .
