Keegan Ales celebrated their second year of brewing fine ale by hosting a concert with two exceptional bands, in of all places, right in the brewery. The stage was set amongst the kegs, sacks of hops and barley, and other things, but the sound was surprisingly good considering the venue was essentially warehouse space with brewing equipment.
The Tony Levin Band was first, with the impressive Jesse Gress (Todd Rundgren, Jim Weider Band) on guitar and vocals, Larry Fast (Peter Gabriel, Synergy) on synths, Jerry Morratta (Peter Gabriel, Paul McCartney) on drums and vocals, Peter Levin (Paul Simon, Gil Evans) on keyboards and vocals, and of course, Tony Levin (Peter Gabriel, King Crimson) on bass, Chapman stick and vocals. The set began with an amusing barbershop quartet song welcoming the audience to the show and as they announced that it was okay to take photos in harmony, the band took out cameras and snapped a shot of the audience. Mixing it up with older, newer and material the group has recorded and performed with other bands, we were treated to a soaring version of “Pieces of the Sun,” and a soft instrumental ballad “Belle,” performed by Pete and Tony Levin as a duet. Delivering complex, beautifully textured layers, the racing tempo of composer Aram Khachaturian’s classical piece “Sabre Dance” illustrated the group’s precision. The vocal department was equally strong, with a version of Peter Gabriel’s “On the Air,” an updated version of Levin’s “Utopia,” and King Crimson’s “Sleepless.” An instrumental version of Led Zeppelin’s “Black Dog,” even made an appearance. After a much-deserved rousing ovation, The Tony Levin Band further wowed with an incredible version of the Genesis classic “Back in NYC” and another King Crimson tune, the rhythmic “Elephant Talk” as an encore.
The Jim Weider Band brought their instrumental guitar rock ensemble to the party, with a set that featured music from the band’s new release Percolator. Jim Weider is a masterful player, best known as the guitarist for the post-Robbie Robertson incarnation of The Band, although he has recorded and performed with many fine musicians throughout his career. Guitarist Jesse Gress (yup-he played in both bands), bassist Daniel Grimsland, drummer Randy Ciarlante (who also spent time on the drummer’s throne with The Band), and percussionist Carlos Valdez fill out the band. Four new songs from Percolator started the set, including “Flight,” the title track, “New Day.” and “Troll.” Gress had plenty of solo time in a stirring rendition of Jeff Beck’s “Come Dancing,” while “The Maze,” was hypnotic, rhythmic and showed the tight interplay of the group. Another crowd-pleasing Beck offering, “Air Blower,”, displayed Weider’s funky rhythm guitar abilities and closed out the set with a flourish. “Man Cry,“ the first of two encores featured Tony Levin on bass and some tasty slide techniques by Jim Weider on his vintage 60’s Silverstone. The Jim Weider Band came out for another encore with “Prayer”, another song from the album, which the band highlighted for this performance, with good reason.
