The fourth night of the Beacon residency began as all the previous nights have, exploding out of the gates to raucous cheers with "So You Want To Be A Rock & Roll Star."
As Rolling Stone rock critic David Fricke commented in one of his extensive reviews of the first few Beacon shows, The Byrds cover has evolved night in and night out, especially Mike Campbell's guitar solo, which went from bouncy at the beginning of the week to a note-bending mind warp by Saturday. Saturday saw Tom and the guys' first stab at Into The Great Wide Open with a stellar "Two Gunslingers," along with selections from Hard Promises ("Woman In Love"), Wildflowers ("You Wreck Me," "Wildflowers"), You're Gonna Get It ("Listen To Her Heart"), Mojo ("I Should Have Known It," "Takin' My Time"), Damn the Torpedoes ("Refugee"), as well as from two of Tom's solo albums, Highway Companion ("Saving Grace ") and Full Moon Fever ("Love Is A Long Road," "Runnin' Down A Dream"). "Melinda" re-appeared, this time with Benmont Tench playing a much more staccato piano solo than the jazzy drums-and-keys fusion thing from earlier in the week.
Saturday night was a big covers night though, and the crowd seemed to love watching the band dig deep into their bag of tricks. Tom and the band dipping back into the blues on "Baby Please Don't Go," a song written by Big Joe Williams and popularized by Van Morrison and Them. "We came out of a garage in Gainesville, FL and were listening to bands who came out of garages, too," Tom said before launching into a fuzzed out version of Paul Revere & the Raiders' "Steppin' Stone." "Friend of the Devil" made its second appearance of this run, and the Grateful Dead classic continues to evolve as well, with Tom playing more and more harmonica. Country music even got a nod with a cover of Conway Twitty's "The Image of Me," a song Tom said the band used to listen to on the radio riding back from gigs in FL in the early days.
Last night at the Beacon tonight! Keep checking back for more!
Set List
Rock & Roll Star
Love Is A Long Road
Listen To Her Heart
Baby Please Don't Go
The Damage You've Done
Takin' My Time
Steppin' Stone
Woman In Love
Saving Grace
Like To Love You Baby
Tweeter And The Monkey Man
Rebels
Two Gunslingers
Wildflowers
The Image of Me
Friend of the Devil
Melinda
I Should Have Known It
Refugee
Runnin' Down A Dream
Encore:
You Wreck Me
American Girl