Welcome back my friends and freaks! Come inside and let’s trip merrily along and do some rock n’ roll reminiscing. The El Ray in Los Angeles was the scene of our 11th sighting. A cosmic manifestation with an incident report of November 28th, 2014. So let’s all gather in collective grace and start our travels!
Bobby Mitchell’s now familiar Try Rock and Roll gets us started. The band moving fast with every ounce of his Algiers R&B artistry. A lively version of Tomorrow Blues with plenty of strong strumming from CR is our first mothership original of the evening and here the wizard is loud and loose. We follow him through that Magic Door on the Bakersfield beat of Wheel Don’t Roll. I Love this song as a first set pace changer. The fourth number in the set is one of the highlights of the tour. Safe In The Arms of love, the New Earth Mud holdover, has now become somewhat of a rarity. I’m a massive fan of this song and would love to see it show up again on special occasions. “Stepped out of my shadow, to kiss your soul so full of sky.” Neal playing some true Electric Ladyland Riffs. Maxing out those Divided by 13’s with a unique solo and a tone he doesn’t use on many, if any other CRB songs. One of my favorite Casal moments. Atmospheric landscapes for the head. The entire band locking in and slowing down for CR’s cries. A unity of feel and playing that shines a light directly on why we love this band. You must listen to this song folks.
The Cosmic American Music continues with the Dylan song of the set, She Belongs To Me. A song that is colored in the purples and oranges of our home team. Adding yet another CRBeing interpretation to a track with so many already existing. CR is in fine, FINE form, delivering some of Dylan’s best lines like, “she’s a hypnotist collector, you are a walking antique.” The Hawks ain’t got nuthin’ on these guys. This band can groove and swing with the best of them. Our centerpiece of the first set appears in the form of the hallucinatory imagery of Meanwhile In The Gods>Tulsa Yesterday. After the main section of Meanwhile, the guys fall into a jazzy, impulse groove. With Neal and Adam steering our ship through the clouds and mountain peeks. Listen too the delight on stage as they blow right through the usual stopping point in the jam. Climbing higher and higher, every instrument adding beautiful texture as they maneuver some tricky time changes with the smooth tumble of a rolling cloud bank. Even working in an almost Drums>Space styled section. Just all around one of the best trips through this song. A fluid transition into Tulsa leads to more big jams and just the right mix of ballad and boogie. At 14 minutes this is one of the most extended improvisational Tulsa’s on any Ravens. A large block of that time hangs on a sultry slow groove that the band allows to bend and morph. Each member taking its turn trying all types of leisurely euphoria. The Slim Harpo swamp blues track Got Love If You Want It closes out the set. A song I was introduced to by the Kinks. A band that will show up ever so fittingly later in this show. CR treats us to some serious harmonica riffing here as the band sock hops and struts around the Union Hall. A little break for CR to get some vocal raps and emotive calls in before a massive rave-up that sets the glowing mothership down for a refueling session.
~set break~
Vibrational signals radiated through the theatre when the gang engaged the NOW late Leon Russell’s – Stranger In A Stranger Land. Superb harmony from the whole band during the chorus, Adam with his sonic synths wrapping this up in extra Freak flow. A quick but forceful take on Shore Power sets us down in California, staring up at a big Beggars Moon. Always a fun song, we strut around the stars and meditate some funky dimensions that only CRB can explore. An American Beauty styled walk with the Comedown King. Clear Blue Sky and The Good Doctor begins the heart of this show. Chris warns “if the song you sing can’t make you happy”, well you sure won’t have any trouble here. As great as the first half of this song is, it’s the ending that absolutely rips my soul in two every single time. This is Neal’s time to shine. He steps on a pedal, twists a knob and doesn’t even give us a chance to resist. Pulling us out past the breakers as we look back across the water and beach at that blood red sunrise.
Vibration & Light Suite serves as our deep space shuttle craft on this galactic journey. Adam firing his lasers and clearing a path for the rest of the guys to enter without fear. We downshift for his signature solo and then Neal comes riding in on Muddy and George’s low end rhythm. Bending notes into the sound of a star cruiser emerging from hyperspace. A psychedelic romp through this rugged foreign terrain. More random synth sequences from the Wizard sets a true Freak foundation until the song dissolves into a rainbow of hues. Neal starts the intro lick to Ride and we leap forward, backwards, up, down and even disappear for the next 15 minutes. This is a full on CRB super jam. Every member takes off, soars and lands. Multiple times. This alone is worth the price of admission. I’m going to have a hard time finding a better one. It gets heavier than any I’ve ever heard, before jumping back into one final groove. How often do you get asked to describe what you love so much about this band? If you are like me then only about 5 times a day! This sums it all up. Next time that happens, have a ceremonial number ready and tight, sit them down and press play. Your ears and skull will be in serious need of soothing after the cosmic scorching that Ride applies. And what better reprieve than a stunningly beautiful Driving Wheel? Neal easing any pain or fatigue with his steel guitar style leads. We end the second set where we often do, on the beach with our California cutie Ms Rosalee. They take this one for a few well deserved victory laps as the crowd roars its approval, sensing the evening is coming to an end. But they have something oh so special in store before sending off into that Hollywood night, the Kinks ballad and ode to Tinseltown, Celluloid Heroes. CR wrings every drop of feeling and emotion out of this superficial classic. The crowd now firmly in the palm of their hands, they close with a powerful bouncing version of Hard To Handle that almost blows the doors off the theater.
The organic energy of this show is felt from the very first notes. One you’ll surely enjoy blissing out with for years to come. I’m still finding new twist and turns with each listen and when I think of L.A. shows this one is the first that comes to mind. It’s waiting at the link below, so hurry and make it the next Brotherhood bomb you drop on your brain! Freak On brothers and sisters!!
#crb #chrisrobinsonbrotherhood #letthecrbsetyoufree#coloradotransmissions #crbismagic #crbeings #spaceisonthephone ✌️️👁
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Chris Robinson Brotherhood
11/28/2014
Los Angeles, CA
SET ONE:
Try Rock N Roll
Tomorrow Blues
If Your Wheel Don’t Roll
Safe In The Arms Of Love
She Belongs to Me
Meanwhile In The Gods
Tulsa Yesterday
Got Love If You Want It
SET TWO:
Stranger In A Strange Land
Shore Power
Beggar’s Moon
Clear Blue Skies/The Good Doctor
Vibration & Light Suite
Ride
Driving Wheel
Rosalee
ENCORE:
Celluloid Heroes
Hard To Handle
