Show Review

It was such a sad feeling to pull up the MMW.net website a week before their scheduled Boston show to find out that, due to a “scheduling conflict,” the performance had to be canceled by the club. With a tight work schedule, this show and Northampton were to be my only two of the tour. That’s life... right. Maybe not. Shortly after the initial cancellation, came the announcement of a new show added at the Colony Cafe in Woodstock, NY. To make things even better, this would be a special acoustic performance. With the Boston sadness replaced by the Woodstock anticipation, plans were made.

Driving into Woodstock was like traveling back in time. What I imagine an old 1950s town might feel like. And the Colony Cafe, the outside decked in white Christmas lights, made me feel quite at home. I situated myself, sitting on the floor, about 2 feet back from Billy’s high-hat stand. There were only about 50 or 60 chairs set up on the main floor and maybe 15 upstairs on the small balcony. So the rest of us sat on the fringes and filled ourselves in wherever we could. The stage, about a foot off the ground, was set-up with a baby grand piano for John Medeski, a slightly condensed trap kit with many accoutrements for Billy Martin and a stand-up and Beatle bass for Chris Wood.

The set started off calmly with some airy improv and built up to their new songs "Anonymous Skulls," "Shine It" and "Paris," all in fine acoustical format. The last of which is their first song ever performed with vocals, debuted very recently to much fanfare. Next up they took us back to the beginnings of MMW with their version of John Coltrane’s "Syeeda's Song Flute," a song that has become somewhat of a rarity lately. The beautiful jam that emerged lead into "Your Lady," another of Coltrane’s masterpieces that they debuted during the acoustic run of Tonic shows from March of 1999. Those last 2 songs were the highlights of the evening for me, both exemplifying the delicate treatment of all of the songs. "Brigas Nunca Mais," "Seven Deadlies" and "Legalize It" followed and all flowed seamlessly and beautifully into each other. The always punchy "Olde Wyne" and a delicate "Hey Joe" rounded out the set and left us all, be it blissfully briefly, stunned at what we had just experienced. The rare "Buster Rides Again" served as encore and slowly faded into a Medeski melodica lead jam to end the night.

This night showcased the heart of Medeski, Martin and Wood and how sometimes, all the bells and whistles, be they very cerebral to the MMW sound, should be silenced to simply breath in what music is all about in its natural and unaffected voice.

Setlist

Improv-> Anonymous Skulls-> Improv-> Shine it, Paris, Syeeda’s Song Flute-> Improv-> Your Lady, Brigas Nunca Mais-> Improv-> Seven Deadlies-> Legalize It, Olde Wyne, Hey Joe

Encore: Buster Rides Again

Photos courtesy of Mike Wren