Get Well, Dax
Last night was the first of two benefit shows at Bottom of the Hill, for Subtle keyboardist Dax Pierson, who was left tetrapalegic in a tour accident earlier this year. It was a great show and an enthusiastic, supportive, and sold-out crowd.
Passage opened the show with some Gameboy hip-hop, with help from Charlie Brown on live drum machine. About halfway through the set, they switched up to a simpler rhymes backed by CD-player setup. There was a special guest group, a three piece rock band, up next, who steadfastly refused to identify themselves as anything other than “special guests.” a little post-show research (tipped off by the CD selection at the merch table) revealed that they were Thee More Shallows.
As good as the first two acts were, the fun really got started when Jel took the stage, playing an MPC with the virtuosity and variety of a James Brown drummer. HE was teamed up with a guy named Marty, who played tenor sax, bass clarinet (I loooove this instrument) and flute along with the instrumental stuff Jel was creating. They even did a couple of spontaneously composed pieces.
There was a brief intermission for a video of Dax doing his physical therapy and updating everyone on his condition, and then Why? and his live band took the stage. It must have been around 1AM at this point, and their set finished off right at the 2AM mark. Yoni & Co. played a lot of new material, including tracks from the Sanddollars EP and the upcoming Elephant Eyelash, with lots of instrument switching going on. all in all, there was a drum kit (and oh my god, what an amazing drummer…), 2 guitars, a slide guitar, a bass, a Casio keyboard, a Rhodes piano, and some sort of drum machine on stage. But the drummer…at one point he was playing drums with his feet and bass with his hands; he would constantly pivot between wild free-jazz fills and tight time-keeping/backing vocals. Amazing to watch; he looked like he was about to destroy the drumset at several points. And Yoni makes for an entertaining frontman, making faces, cracking jokes, and looking like a crazed wildman at certain points…
Excellent show. I wish I could make it to tonight’s as well, but i’m sure it’s sold out already. Still, it would be nice to see solo sets by Alias and Dosh…Oh well. I’ll have to catch them next time.
More later…
