Railroad Earth opened their second show at the Fillmore with more energy than the night before.
Saturday saw the venue far less packed than Friday (it takes time to hide eggs and baskets), which gave fans more room to dance to the funky beats Earth laid down. The band opened with “When the Sun Gets in Your Blood” – a perfect choice to warm freezing fans right up. Focusing more on Tim Carbone’s electric guitar skills, this song set the night up to be a little more soulful rock than the previous nightap jam session.
Opening the show with a far more lyrically-focused first set, the band jetted into “Black Elk Speaks” from their 2010 self-titled album. The harmonious trio that is Todd Sheaffer, Tim Carbone, John Skehan and Andy Goessling is nothing less than magical. Railroad continued straight into “Potter’s Field” and right into “Lone Croft Farewell,” both returning to the more earthy acoustic sound.
The lively first set was thrown into high gear when the band introduced the Black Swan Singers (Sheryl Renee, Coco Brown and Carl Carwell); if you’re going to focus on vocals the Swans are precisely who you want backing you up. Railroad Earth continued through their set with upbeat songs “Came Up Smilin’,” “Any Road,” and “Farewell to Isinglass.”
And because these fellas understand the importance of mixing up their shows with double sax (thank you, Andy Goessling) and special guests they brought in Chris Pandolphi to pick some sweet, sweet banjo strings on “Grandfather Mountain” and “My Sisters and Brothers.”
After a short interlude the band returned with the high energy and state-appropriate “Colorado” from their 2006 album Elko and kept the lyric heavy show rolling with “On
The Banks,” “Birds of America” and “Face With A Hole.”
But nothing was as sweet as when the band performed the classic prison song “Midnight Special.” There’s something mind blowing about hundreds of people singing “let the Midnight Special shine a ever-
loving light on me.”
There’s also something spectacular about Andrew Altman in bunny ears. Yes, yes there is.
As with the night before, the band came back on stage to play one last song which
summed the soul-filling night up perfectly – “Peace on Earth.”
In perfect harmony, Railroad Earth and the Black Swan Singers created an experience for their fans – with hands held high and hearts filled full, fans left The Fillmore just a bit more enlightened.
Setlist:
- When the Sun Gets in Your Blood
- Black Elk Speaks
- Potter’s Field
- Lone Croft Farewell
- Came Up Smilin’
- Any Road
- Farewell to Isinglass
- Grandfather Mountain
- My Sisters & Brothers
- Colorado
- Mighty River
- Chasin’ a Rainbow
- On The Banks
- Birds of America
- Face with a Hole
- 12 Wolves
- Hard Livin’
- Midnight Special
- Long Way To Go
- Peace On Earth
