The Jam Band thread

[spawnofthesith]

Seeing how PRS is nearly ubiquitous with the jam scene, I figure this would be a good place for a thread

Big fan of the music, got introduced to it in college and was loosely interested, was already listening to a lot of old dead shows at that point. then I saw Umphrey's Mcgee at red rocks in 2015 and i've been hooked and deep in the scene ever since. UM definitely being my favorite, but I'm into pretty much all of it.

Caught both nights of UM at Red Rocks this past weekend. Seeing Dead and Co. for the first (and I suppose last) time this coming weekend. Probably will be hitting at least one night of Cheese and STS9 at red rocks next month... I go to a lot of shows, and it's nice in Colorado, there's never a shortage of jam shows be it national or local to go to. I also play in a jamband (ish, we draw on some different source material like post rock and metal a lot but definitely in that scene locally and do a lot of jamming)

Any other wooks on here?

 

[Chicken hawk]

I'm not a wookie, but I do love jam bands, lol.

Was introduced to the Allman Brothers and Grateful Dead in high school in the mid-90s, although by then the Grateful Dead was way passed their prime, imo. My favorite era for Dead 1968-1972 (PigPen!) and some of the late 70s Keith Godchaux stuff.

I frigging love STS9! One of the best bands ever! Been to over 30 shows including 3 nights at Jam in the Dam in Amsterdam, where they played with UM and Disco Biscuits. That was a fun time. Love SCI too and have seen them a bunch

One of my favorite PRS jam band guitarists is Rick Mitarotunda from Goose. They are SO good!

Pretty jelly you live near Red Rocks. That must be amazing to regularly attend shows there. My Morning Jacket is playing two nights there and I would love to go. I wasn't a huge fan of their stuff until my wife took me to a show and it's hands down one of the best performances I've ever seen.

 

[Greywolf]

Big fan of Goose and Rick plays a nice HBII Piezo , peter played PRS but I believe he's playing off brands currently

 

[spawnofthesith]

I'm not a wookie, but I do love jam bands, lol.

Was introduced to the Allman Brothers and Grateful Dead in high school in the mid-90s, although by then the Grateful Dead was way passed their prime, imo. My favorite era for Dead 1968-1972 (PigPen!) and some of the late 70s Keith Godchaux stuff.

I frigging love STS9! One of the best bands ever! Been to over 30 shows including 3 nights at Jam in the Dam in Amsterdam, where they played with UM and Disco Biscuits. That was a fun time. Love SCI too and have seen them a bunch

One of my favorite PRS jam band guitarists is Rick Mitarotunda from Goose. They are SO good!

Pretty jelly you live near Red Rocks. That must be amazing to regularly attend shows there. My Morning Jacket is playing two nights there and I would love to go. I wasn't a huge fan of their stuff until my wife took me to a show and it's hands down one of the best performances I've ever seen.

Hell yeah!!

It is amazing living so close to red rocks. Before Covid I used to hit 10+ shows there a summer. It's been a lot less after but I'm trying to start getting my numbers back. Prices are way up since the pandemic, shows used to average like $40 or so after fees, now it's pushing $80 for anything

My ex was really into MMJ so I ended up seeing them a lot. I don't really listen to much of them outside of shows, but they definitely put on a hell of a live show



Just moments ago I realized that my band's EP release show on September 1st is dead in the middle of Phish's annual 4 night run at Dick's. That was a bit of an oversite lol

 

[Chicken hawk]

Concert tickets are ridiculous these days. I noticed they started to charge a "convenience" fee for each ticket and it went up a lot. What and who exactly are they creating convenience for?

 

[Greywolf]

Ticket prices are obscene ... The Dead&Co cheapest were over $125 .. damn I remember when we thought anything more than $5 was a ripoff...... To me the best part of playing has always been long jams with good friends. My last trip up to PA , I sat in with a friends band and we played 5hrs .. it was memorable and epic. Growing up in Palo Alto , the home of the Dead , Jam bands will always be in my DNA

 

[LackingWit]

Been a fan of the GD since high school and started seeing them in 1984. Have enjoyed the other iterations of GD-member bands post-Jerry to varying degrees, including Dead & Co about once each tour capping it off with the Chicago and Philly shows this Summer. Love the tones Mayer has been getting with his Silver Sky.

Yeah, it's gotten expensive. Lawn tickets for Merriweather and the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in '84 and '85 were about $11-12, including the $1 that Ticketron charged. I learned about SCI in 2014 but still haven't had an opportunity to see them live.

First time I saw a PRS in person was at a Living Earth show (GD cover band out of Philly) in the late '80s, played by the lead guitar player, Bob. I wasn't familiar with PRS, but my buddy knew the brand and was able to answer my question. Pretty sure it was a Custom 24. Jerry's guitar had 24 frets, so it made complete sense to me.

I stumbled across Goose when I saw the YouTube video of their 10/31/21 show. The thumbnail shows Rick with his HBii. (Because it was a Halloween show, they dressed as characters from the Austin Powers movies. Rick went as Dr. Evil.) The pic of the HBii prompted me to check it out to see how their music sounded. I got hooked. I saw them in Fairfax, VA with the Trey Anastasio Band (and special guest Billy Strings) last November. My wife and I are headed to Red Rocks to see them in October. It will be our first Red Rocks shows. It's a bucket list thing and I don't expect to get into the habit of seeing any band regularly at Red Rocks. I'm very excited to see this great band at such an amazing, by all accounts, venue.

Sadly, it appears that Rick won't be playing his HBii because he obtained a new custom made guitar in the Spring. The new guitar looks like a cross between an HBii and Trey Anastasio's Languedoc guitars, with 24 frets and a more traditional archtop tailpiece (vs. tune-o-matic/stop piece style). To me, Rick's tone has not really changed with the new guitar, other than that he's playing with the pickup selector in the middle most of the time with this new guitar versus mostly the bridge pickup with his HBii. I'll leave it at that with no link to more info on the guitar because I'm not sure that it would be cool of me to post a link to what is essentially an advertisement by a competitor soliciting bids to build similar guitars for those who want to venture beyond an HBii. It looks lovely and the builder seems like a perfectly decent fellow, but my HBii is my desert island guitar. (I know, I should change my avatar, but that PG would be on the island if I could have two.)

I wish Goose all of the success that they desire. But, selfishly, I hope that they continue to play at least some venues on the east coast or Chicago (daughter lives there now) that are no larger than the single-digit thousands. I don't know that I would look forward to more stadium shows, like D&C have been playing this Summer, by any band.

 

[spawnofthesith]

I caught Dead and Co for the first (and sadly last) time on Sunday. Was totally blown away, I really screwed up on skipping them over the past 8 years


Went to Railroad Earth and Blues Traveler at red rocks last night.... 45 minute hail delay before railroad earth, they played a great set. Blues Traveler came on and only played like 5 songs before a torrential downpour started again and they had to stop. Not sure if they ended up playing more or not the entire venue cleared out. Kind of a bummer but oh well.

 

[Greywolf]

I discovered Goose this year and immediately became a fan , so glad to see the torch being passed . Rick still plays his HBii , the new one is a DeLuis custom . Don't forget Jerry played custom Irwin -Alembics the majority of his later career, but started out on Gibby's and a Strat . Luthier's are always trying to get Artist's to try thier work, that's how Paul started .... so don't be bummed .. some lucky luthier is smilin like a Chesire cat.

 

[spawnofthesith]

I was super into Goose from like 2019-2021, then they kinda lost their luster for me. I know that makes me sound like a hipster/hater lol. That said, I've heard a couple jams lately that have re-piqued my interest a little bit. If I can score a cheap RR ticket I'll probably go when they're here.



An up and coming band I highly recommend checking out is Squeaky Feet. Phenomenal musicians that go extremely deep on the jams. They play some cool PRS as well

 

[Tony M.]

Just to clarify before I put my foot in my mouth...

Is a jam band a band that plays a catchy little riff or melody
and then they all play solos over the chord changes and then
go back to the original riff or melody once in a while?

 

[BigChrisW]

Jam bands are not a genre I've explored... could you suggest a few albums to help me explore the genre? Thanks

 

[Greywolf]

Any live : Phish, Goose, Grateful Dead , Allman Bros one will do nicely

 

[Lewguitar]

Just to clarify before I put my foot in my mouth...

Is a jam band a band that plays a catchy little riff or melody
and then they all play solos over the chord changes and then
go back to the original riff or melody once in a while?

That's about half of it.

The completely stoned out audience who will twirl in circles to that crap is the other half.

 

[Greywolf]

 

[Greywolf]

 

[Tony M.]

Just to clarify before I put my foot in my mouth...

Is a jam band a band that plays a catchy little riff or melody
and then they all play solos over the chord changes and then
go back to the original riff or melody once in a while?

It's very hard for me to believe that the endless out of tune aimless ramblings of the Grateful Dead and
the excellent music of Spyro Gyra are in same category but both bands fit the above description rather well.

How can this be?

 

[Greywolf]

Wiki says : A jam band is a musical group whose concerts and live albums substantially feature improvisational "jamming." Typically, jam bands will play variations of pre-existing songs, extending them to improvise over chord patterns or rhythmic grooves. Jam bands are known for having a very fluid structure, playing long sets of music which often cross genre boundaries, varying their nightly setlists, and segueing from one song into another without a break


the list of jam bands : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_jam_bands

 

[Greywolf]

two of the best current jammers ... imo ....

 

[Greywolf]

groove on