“Do what you will or do what you’re told just don’t, ask me to name names.” Greetings all of you beautiful freakers. The Almanac has returned from its trip through these southern most galaxies and today at headquarters, we are shaking off that cosmos road dust with this little gem from a stormy Saturday night in St. Louis, back in 2014 (6/21/14). This summers tour was littered with love, laughter and amazing performances seemingly every single night. Those three nights of electric boogie in Vegas were only a month away and the now legendary Pioneertown show was just ahead, glowing on the lunar horizon. But the flow and lineage of this tour was evident right away and these stellar tapes hold tales of outlaws and lovers, terrains both welcoming and treacherous at every turn. But all of these stories are set to the music of a band that had firmly secured itself to the open minds and psychedelic souls of a cosmic commune that was growing larger with every stop. Start your download, open that door at the base of your skull and let your spine shine and your hips slip to the grooves of a CRB summer night.
The kaleidoscopic bubble and bounce of the CRB’s version of Let’s Go Let’s Go sent a call out far and wide that it was time to turn, face the sound, and get down. Mystical California’s very own twinkling spells and cauldron like churn seemed to radiate and infiltrate even the most planted of feet as Beggars Moon formed its own advance search party, seeking out that one head that’s light was dim and who’s sway was slow. Adam pushing the band around every corner and up and over every flying change and rhythm section switch. CR hits that powerful strum, signaling its time to spend some time with Lizzie Mae, even though she may be the death of us. This is where the first set start to ascend and where the mix, which holds just enough reverberation and feel of the house to give you that “there” feeling, starts to dial in and you can almost smell the incense and sweat of a packed Saturday night soul send up. “Dog gets hungry, baby how bout you?” Neal joins the laboratory of keys and we are treated to a wonderful 5 minute relaxed, aurora like outro groove that slithers and sparkles seamlessly into the opening notes of Tulsa Yesterday. Mark this point down, for when listening it’s where you’ll want to make sure you’re either seated for the trip or have cleared enough room to boogie and shake. Tulsa starts its slow pulsating climb toward what’s always a unique and feral jam that never ends the same way or in the same place twice. Neal’s guitar comes screaming through the swell, slicing a gap in the thick clouds, allowing everyone to come tumbling out together in a beautiful, swirling light show of sound. It all settles into another lazy back and forth with every member calling out and receiving a musical answer to any inquiry their instrument can articulate. Clear Blue Sky/Good Doctor takes us on a tour through the sunny side of LA’s dark underbelly. Trying hard to keep us from slipping into those grasps that eventually overtake us as CR aches and pains his way through what I’ll always see as one of his best vocals ever, the Good Doctor section of this song. Dawn, on a beach up the coast, alone staring out at a left to right break. Did last night happen? Was I involved? Will she ever come back? Listen to the music and how they set this very mood as the “blood red ambulance is screaming” line washes over you like a rogue wave of regret. Vibration & Light Suite rushes in and lifts us up before the winds whispered answer can even fall. And it’s a real heavy, charging take off into the deep neon and tracer skips of a nebulas number nine on the black market planetary maps. We must have passed out somewhere around re-entry, as the soothing harmony and dreamy drift of Appaloosa surrounds us. The heat outside the capsule isn’t there anymore. Are we still on this trip? When did it even start? Neal unleashes his best solo of the night here, weaving his strings through the melody of the song but taking every turn a little wider, as to bend and pull us over an edge long enough to look below, then pull us safely back into the warmth and gauze of this beautiful composition. The set closes with a welcome back to earth rave up of epic proportions as they absolutely dismantle Got Love If You Want It. They push it to the wall and back, letting every bolt and panel fall off in the process and causing many a boogie shoe to be thrown on the now smoking dance floor of dreams.
~setbreak-
Our Bliss Merchants can switch gears mid show, mid set even, sending us all off into a different and equally amazing pathway. Such was the case here as the second set more or less took a turn away from the explorative mind melt of the first and into good old Saturday night get down territory. Adam signals Shore Powers departure early and the comic quintet falls in behind him and off we go down the tracks. Ignoring signs of constructions and dangerous curves ahead. Our speed is contingent only upon how we feel and where we need to go at the moment. Jump The Turnstile blows smoke ring halos from its stacks and the comeback movement after the full stop is a beast here. They can be such a powerful yet subtle band and they exhibit all of that and more here, blazing through Turnstile with beautiful detail, setting up one of the nights most moving moments. Sometimes when Tumbleweed appears it holds something special right from the start. The opening chords float in a little different way and you can almost see the sun shining off the notes. It all happens that way here as we fall backwards into the friendly but bittersweet fibers of the song. Surrendering to the current and pull as the jam slowly starts to build, buoying our soul. Allowing us to see passed the hurt and melancholy malaise to a dance party just over the horizon. The lights are on and the doors are open. And somehow we’ve got a glitter covered ticket in our hand. That’s what Adam handed us at setbreak!? It reads admission one with a plus infinity guest allowance. What’s playing when we walk in? The guys are onstage, already halfway through their set and just now rolling into Never Been To Spain. Smiling and pushing the levels into the red and far into every vibrating cell in our bodies. Neal pulls his slide and we instantly feel the same way we did as kids, sitting in our room listening to that same sound on “Get Yer Ya-Yas Out”. We snap back as we are caught in one of Adam’s signature stares. Locking eyes with us in some sort of Hohner induced haze. What’s happening now, the music has stopped and eerie, ominous creaks and moans are coming from every angle and dimension. A guitar is laughing it seems and I can swear I hear a familiar repeating pattern starting to emerge. Wait, that’s Ride! Here we go, just relax and let it take you. 15 minutes of driving interstellar funk follows. Full of strut and sermon like runs by CR backed by the band gliding through its mastering of one musical genre after another. Its when Adam clicks on around the 10 minute mark that it all really ignites, eventually mutating into its dark demonic disco descendant Ain’t Hiding. Somehow we’ve gone from that hillside barn dance to sneaking through a wet and sleazy backdoor buried in an asphalt jungle. The songs throbbing bass lines stimulating something inside us to move. Just keep moving and no one will know. No one will suspect where we’ve been. The groove goes up in flames as Neal and CR circle it with riffs, pulls and bends and we’ve now lost all sense of time and who we were when all of this started. We’ve got to find a place to sit and gather ourselves. Our minds are dragging behind us as we twist down one backstage passageway after another until a man in a top hat signals us to step inside. Suddenly Burn Slow glides in on its smoldering tap and everything is colored blue with splashes of orange and green. Comforting and friendly it fills our veins with enough of where we started that we begin to feel gravity again at least. There’s a floor now and the open door awaits. But the song is too good and we don’t want to leave until it’s done. Adam tickles the white and twists a knob, fingers reaching for that perfect key to send that specific shiver down our frame. Listen to Neal take this song out with one of the most narcotic guitar passages you’ll ever hear. Amazing. Something gritty is packed around our bare feet now. We can no longer feel the cold chill of cement and 4 am. We are staring into the pacific with our arm around the sweetest of the sweet. Miss Rosalee has nursed us this whole time. Was this all a fever dream and we’ve been here all along? No matter now, the music’s too good and got us this far. It’s all down hill to the beach from here and they blow it out and close the set with style. We are almost home safe and we’ve never been happier to say that are boots still aren’t dry. Saturday nights are usually double encores and we get a masterclass in the rock and roll foundation that the CRB is built on. Tony Joe White provides the AM glow for the backseat ride home and Blue Suede Shoes is soaked in reverb for 9 glorious minutes of lysergic swing that only this band could provide. Wow. If you’re just finishing this show congratulations on completing the trip. If not then use these as guideposts for the journey and use the download link as the ignition button.
I just wanted to take this chance to thank all of you who we met on our “Freak Across The South”. I was able to meet so many of you and I’m still engulfed in the love and hugs we all shared. The kind words and encouragement mean more than I can every explain. And those were all only our hellos, as we will see each other again soon in all those boogie barns across this beautiful country. Some really special things are coming very soon from the Ravens Reels Almanac and I can’t wait to share it all with you guys and see how we can grow this amazing community we are all helping cultivate. Freak farming is fun ain’t it?! Freak On brother and sisters!!
#crb #chrisrobinsonbrotherhood #letthecrbsetyoufree #barefootinthehead #blissmerchants #ravensreels #freaktransmissions #crbismagic #crbeings #spaceisonthephone #dancefloorofyourdreams ✌👁🔮🌟🌙🍄🚀💫🏹🦉
Chris Robinson Brotherhood
6/21/2014
St. Louis, MO
SET ONE:
Let’s Go Let’s Go
Beggars Moon
Little Lizzie Mae
Tulsa Yesterday
Clear Blue Skies/Good Doctor Vibration & Light Suite
Appaloosa
Got Love If You Want It
SET TWO:
Shore Power
Jump The Turnstile
Tumbleweed In Eden
Never Been To Spain
Ride
I Ain’t Hiding
Burn Slow
Rosalee
ENCORE:
Saturday Night
Blue Suede Shoes
