B List: Five More Unanswered Questions

2. Why didn’t The Police change up the setlists for their reunion tour?

When The Police unexpectedly got back together in 2007 there was lots of talk from Stewart Copeland about the band jamming and switching up the setlist from night to night. Unfortunately, the group’s setlist barely changed at all from the start of the tour in May of 2007 until its conclusion in August ’08. On the last few nights the trio actually threw a few covers in for good measure, but where were Canary in a Coalmine, Born in the ’50s, Masoko Tanga, Man In a Suitcase and Miss Gradenko?

3. Was Bob Weir really dosed at the Nokia back in July?

Back on July 29th we put up a post that generated a lot of discussion implying that something was up with Bob Weir at the previous night’s Furthur performance in New York City at what was then known as the Nokia Theatre. Later that day we posted a video of Furthur’s El Paso from the 28th which showed just how “off” Weir was. Phil Lesh addressed the crowd at the beginning of the show on the 29th and told everybody, “never drink out of something you haven’t poured yourself” and then hugged Bob Weir at the start of the gig insinuating that Weir was dosed with a psychedelic drug. Was Phil joking and trying to defuse the situation or was Bobby really dosed? [Suggested by HT reader Ben Hecksher]

4. What happened the day George McConnell left Panic?

Guitarist George McConnell played his last show with Widespread Panic in St. Louis on July 30, 2006 in the middle of the band’s summer tour. At the time there was tons of chatter about Jimmy Herring replacing the Mississippi-bred axeman and perhaps once everyone knew of the group’s intentions but George, he couldn’t go on with lame duck status. In fact, just one day after WSP announced McConnell’s departure, they announced Herring’s addition to the band. So what happened that night in St. Louis? Bare-knuckle brawls? Tearful goodbyes?   [Suggested by HT reader pocketbuddhasc]

5. How much of The Band’s songs that were credited to Robbie Robertson did Levon Helm actually write?

[Photo by Leo Kulinski Jr.]

One of the most touchy topics amongst bands deals with songwriting credits. If one guy brings a melody to the other band members and each of his mates adds a distinctive element to the melody, should they be given partial songwriting credit? Many groups deal with this in different ways, but for legendary rockers The Band guitarist Robbie Robertson generally took full credit for the tunes. This has infuriated Band drummer Levon Helm, who felt he – and the other members – contributed greatly to The Band’s originals, and the two still haven’t settled their grievances nearly 35 years after The Last Waltz.  As of 2007, Robertson still contended that he wrote the classic songs by himself.  How much of these legendary tunes did Levon actually write?

That brings this installment of Unanswered Questions to a close. Let us know your thoughts on any of the questions above or if you have any additional unanswered questions you’d like to see answered.

Related Content

3 Responses

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

New to Glide

Keep up-to-date with Glide

Twitter