I heard the David Nelson Band in San Rafael last night. I got there late but made up for lost time by going deep into the Zone during their set-1-ending “Any Naked Eye.” After it was over, Rob Bleetstein said, “That’s the best ‘Playing in the Band’ I’ve heard in twenty years!” And I did not disagree: the Nelson Band has several songs that traverse musical regions defined by the Grateful Dead – not surprising, given that Mookie Siegel (keyboards) and Barry Sless (guitar and pedal steel) are Deadheads and their association with Nelson began in a tribute band called Dead Ringers.
My wife became a Nelson Band fan when we want to Hawaii with the band in January of this year (I was the opening act on the six-show tour), so when this DNB tour was announced we ordered tickets immediately and wound up with a ringside table. So I had a front-row seat right next to Barry’s pedal steel, with a great view of bassist Pete Sears and drummer John Molo.
I wound up spending a lot of time in the Zone during this show. This band has the collective-improvisation mind-meld of the early-’70s Grateful Dead, riding in a powerful groove built by Sears and Molo. Molo can, and often does, play melodically along with Barry’s guitar, and in the next section he’ll be providing punctuation for staccato passages while maintaining an irresistible groove. Pete’s bass playing is breathtaking, holding down the bottom in a way that Phil Lesh sometimes didn’t bother with and simultaneously contributing deliciously to the harmonic conversation happening upstairs.
Like his old friend Jerry Garcia, David Nelson has a great ear for songs and a strong sense of narrative in his playing and in the construction of the band’s sets. “Til things we’ve never seen will seem familiar,” as Hunter wrote in “Lady with a Fan” – and the inverse, too: We start down a familiar path and wind up in a whole new place, with the listening and dancing audience and the performers onstage all hearing something new and amazing, tension and release and ecstatic discovery, gliding back to earth occasionally only to be launched into another song and another thrilling voyage.
This band gives me something rare in the days past Jerry’s prime: an opportunity to forget where we are and what time it is, for “seconds on end” and even longer.
P.S. I had my digital recording device with me, and I am going to broadcast some of this show on KPFA next Wednesday. I wish I had gotten there early enough to hear (and record) “Where I Come From,” a great Hunter-Nelson song and the title track of the most recent NRPS CD. I will probably broadcast “Any Naked Eye.”
David Nelson Band 11/5/10 Palm Ballroom, San Rafael CA
Set 1: Rocky Road Blues, Light Up or Leave Me Alone > Ballad of Casey Jones, Two Soldiers, Where I Come From-> Impressionist Two-Step, Fennario, Any Naked Eye
Set 2: Iko Iko-> Different World-> Give Me Love-> This Wheel’s On Fire-> The Wheel-> Joker’s Lie, Suite at the Mission > Iko Iko
Encore: Beat It on Down the Line
The tour continues through next weekend. Details here.
Nice review David! Thanks for sharing, I hope this show circulates so we can give it a listen.
What a great show. I was right behind you David and got some great video clips…show was too good to hold up the flip for entire tunes. Nice review, thanks.
I’ve been a big fan of the David Nelson band for about 11 years now. Had the pleasure to work with them quite a few times too. They are one of the best bands around. I’ve never seen a bad show. I wish that I would be able to see them more often, but with my crazy schedule these days, it’s just not that easy. Hey, they would be perfect for Jam Cruise!!!