Jump to content
Jambands.ca

Kevin Breit in Guelph tonight at Ebar


kung

Recommended Posts

We've been pretty psyched for this for a while about this show. It's with Jeff Bird from FolkAlarm and Jesse Stewart who's a local improv drummer. They played a one-off with this line-up last year and this'll be their second one-off. I'm sure it'll be 'songs I wrote today' by Kevin Breit and ensemble. Starts at 8:30 sharp.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Better yet Pete taped tonight's show. Monstrous. Velvet you would've come in your pants. He starts off with a tune called aptly enough 1, which leads to you guessed it 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 then a setbreak then 7 (which he clarified completed the song cycle leading us to you guessed it) 1B then you also guessed it 2B followed by just plain 2. It got a bit hazy here they may have played one or two others then encored with Tennessee Waltz (Pete called it) then Caravan (I called it) although Pete thought it was Afro Blue. Now get me wrong this has been madness he was going into deep improvisational riffs, doing a whole syd barrett trip in his interaction with the audience, I didn't even mention the tape looping played through the guitar including the opener which was a woody allen clip from Antz! He kept coming back to these really odd loops and playing these strange reels he'd patched together. Mucho psychedelico. So he's almost wrapping up his third encore, around that point he did a Sisters Euclid tune or a patch of it, I call out Freebird as part of a running gag and he backswings the axe and kicks on point into Sweet Home Alabama and the largely unrehearsed band follows suit, but he was vamping hard on it and they pulled it out for a good two or three minutes. All in all a stellar night of music.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For the sake of accuracy Kevin told me on the break that 4 was actually Big Al! I think it had some teases or phrases of nora jones or something suitably AC. There were a few teases that were notably obscure over the night. I think he started to joke about the numerical naming of the songs and threatened to call 2 just plain 'Guelph Town' so we had something better to latch onto.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just wanted to reiterate how sick this show was. I think even for Kevin it was a particularly unique show. The first set was a bit tamer, the crowd was very tame (alot of older folks knocking back alot of vino) and doing the lemming. He really got into it in the second though. I mean it really got hot and heavy, he was just rinsing it out hard and Jeff and Jesse were right there with him. And the Sweet Home Alabama was so on it wasn't even funny.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Kwabena Reuben is the man. Those guys crack me up, Julie and Dropsie and Fredlocks. They're actually a quite good band, they can do dub, roots rock, ska, drum and bass- I'd imagine they've gotten better with time too. They stayed in this loft I had in Halifax for a few days once, a little stressful but just in the way that reggae artists have a way of taking their sweet ass time with things.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just thought I'd respond to my own thread a bit more. It's dawned on me over the day just how on Kevin was last night. If this is what the Sisters shows have been like I'm blown away. I mentioned the tape loop thing which he used to really good effect and looped odd phrases and words quite well. He also got frisky near the end and said he was going to play The Greatest Riff Of All Time and proceeded to say it was Warren Zevon's and that he didn't know what old Warren was thinking when he wrote it then he played it- but just the riff for like 3 seconds then stopped. It was all jokes like that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I will chime in now and add that this was by far one of the shreddenest shows I have been privileged enough to see in close proximity.

Kevin is an amazing guitar player and he also seems to blend well and quickly with many people that he always admits haven't had a chance to rehearse together- you wouldn’t know it though it always comes off stellar.

The Warren Zevon riff was great- he drew the story lead in out so that the audience was in anticipation of the answer- when he dropped that it was Warren Zevon- I'm betting a good portion of the audience was like- huh? -. Anyway- other things that were great about that show- in the first set standing next to the table where his wife is sitting and listening to the things she would say regarding his stage banter, it was so intimate.

While we were standing around before the show she was interested in Peter’s recordings and where they might have copies. Then she asked me about my glasses frames.... she admired them and asked where I got them. I answered Amsterdam and she said - wow I'm going over soon- where- and I said the Brillahuis- or glasses house or museum in Amsterdam and told her I would describe how to get there and stuff before the show was out. She left during the intermission and didn't get the chance and was going to ask Kevin for her email or something and when I asked him he said- just look us up and call us.

Nice and open. I can't believe that they guy lives in my backyard, in the town where I went to high school for a while- in the very house I lived in at the time I did!

So that was a babbling post to add to the banter surrounding this thread and so as Kung's comments do not stand-alone.

This was truly a special show and I suppose my point in divulging all that "ohh I know Kevin breit's wife stuff" is how at home and comfortable they both seem with the Guelph jazz fest audience, he loves the festival, he loves the area and certainly calls it home. I think that is it; you can really tell there are very special things about him playing in his home area.

Needless to say the freebird thing will be so funny to hear on the cd's, the fact is I kept waiting for peter to yell it- since he loves to do that, but when Luke yelled it during the encore I was really impressed with the rapid turn and response directly to Luke- he pointed the guitar neck at the spot the voice came from and started. It was certainly a very Kevin Breit version of Sweet home Alabama, the guys picked up and backed it well to, so all in all it was a treasure to throw in just for that exhibition on his intimacy with the audience further.

Great shit- I recommend if you are remotely in the area - to keep your ear to the ground, as he often seems to do smaller local shit- not to be missed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nope, I didn't know his name! I did the homework myself thank-you-very-much and found out he's the guy who wrote "Werewolves of London". Oh yeah and collaborations with Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Chick Corea, John Patitucci, Jerry Garcia, Jack Casady, Jorma Kaukonen, Stan Lynch, Mike Campbell, Benmont Tench, Howie Epstein, David Lindley, George Clinton, Flea of the Red Hot Chili Petters, Bruce Hornsby (Mutineer), REM, Graham Nash, Mark Isham, J.D. Souther and David Gilmour... Hm, not bad! What was the compilation with Neil, anyone?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

More importantly in a lot of ways right before he died he released The Wind with help from Bruce, Jackson Browne, Don Henley and a whack of others. As his death didn't blindside him this may be one of the best if not best meditations on death in the modern rock canon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah Weirdness (Pete) taped it but he has a lot of people trying to get him to hook them up with shows so it might be a challenge. I was at the show and I'd give my left nut to hear it. The tone, colour, shape and timbre of his notes and the fluidity of his lines were unbelievable. It was like getting hit in the eye with a squirt of lemon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know I've gone blue in the face to say this but he really is a monster. His whole approach and his range and ferocity are almost unparalleled. It is a major privilege to be able to see him in these intimate contexts and I'm sure there are afficianados around the world who would love to be in our shoes. Incidentally I was up past 11:00 which is a bit of a miracle for me and I saw the end of a clip on CityTV of him at what looked like the Orbit Room last night, could've been footage from this week or archival, was wondering if anyone actually saw the whole thing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey Velvet,

I dubbed the Breit Bravo! special for you - from BetaSP to VHS. It's as clean a copy you as can get this side of a DVD version.

I'll give it to Booche on the May 24 weekend when I'm in Kingston.

By the way, Breit was damned impressive, and so was his touching story about Nora Jones. That woman has a lot of class.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...