Sat BELA FLECK & FLECKTONES @ WILTERN
Late Sat FISHBONE @ MALIBU INN
Sun 2PM Acoustic Fleck tones at AMOEBA RECORDS on SUNset in LA FREE!!
Sun LIVING COLOUR COACH HOUSE, San Juan Capistrano
Mon LIVING COLOUR COACH HOUSE, Santa Barbara
Tues LIVING COLOUR House of Blues, Los Angeles

PFunkjazz said:

Caught Bela Fleck & Flecktones last night at the Wiltern in LA. Their band is excellent and everyone's a musical inovator. Any true funksta has gotta give it up for VIctor Wooten. His bass playing is beyond virtuoso and adds tremendously to the foundation left by Jaco (ya shoulda seen him build into "Birdland" on his solo. He'd play a note save it. Play it back. Slowly and surely until the theme manifested itself. WHOOOSH!! then it was crankin'!)
Rest of the band are top-drawer musicians. Bela has taken a lot the yangyness of bluegrass and made it other worldy. Jeff Coffin is a sax player (Actually multi-reddist who plays flute and clarinet as well as alto, sporano and tenor) I hadn't paid much attention to, but now I'm more interested in him. I'm totally amazed by the drumitar prowess of FUTUREMAN, but sometimes I wanted to see and feel a real drum set. The group interplay is very cohesivve and they are all truly outstanding!

They played two sets of 45 - 50 minutes with a 25 minute break in between; startings a bit after 8 PM and we got cleared out after 11PM. Most of the selctions seemed to be from TEN LITTLE WORLDS, their latest on SONY. I got a setlist I'll post in my review on their website. www.flecktones.com

Place was full of younginsh white PHISkids. Everybody got along fine. Not musch 420 got sparked though. Overall, they acted more like a jazz crowd than a jambanders (not a lot of noddle-dancing)or rockers (no brash moshing).

Shirts were $20 (& $25 for the latest tour shirt). CDs were 25 and the latest 3 disc was $30. I copped Vic's LIVE IN AMERICA for $25 Which happened to be a double-disc).

If you're allabout the funk, you gotta catch 'em out on tour:

11/25/2003 Spreckels Theater San Diego, CA 619-235-0494 6/13/03
11/26/2003 Rio Theater Santa Cruz, CA 831-423-7970 9/19/03
11/28/2003 Fillmore Auditorium San Francisco, CA 415-346-3000 8/1/03
11/29/2003 Freeborn Hall - Univ of CA Davis, CA
10/1/03
December 2003
12/5/2003 Juanita K Hammonds Hall Springfield, MO 888-4SMSTIX 6/15/03
12/6/2003 The Pagent St. Louis, MO 314-726-6161

12/7/2003 Loeb Playhouse Purdue Univ West Lafayette, IN 765-494-3933 9/30/03
12/8/2003 Fitzgerald Theater St Paul, MN 651-989-5151 9/10/03
12/10/2003 Mankato Civic Center Mankato, MN 507-625-7919 10/3/03
12/11/2003 State Theater Kalamazoo, MI 269-373-7000 9/13/03
12/12/2003 Power Center Ann Arbor, MI 734-763-8587 9/15/03
12/13/2003 The Eagles Auditorium Milwaukee, WI 413-342-7283 8/30/03

PFunkjazz said:

passed on these; had to do family and house stuff

PFunkjazz said:

LC did a really great set. Fully two hours; no break. The sound was really great and sightlines were excellent. However, Coach House has the all-time shittiest seating arrangement: dinner tables right up to the edge of the stage. Best seats go to first reservatons. I was told by one of the managers: "This is our pure money area. We really discourage that behavior." That's uptitey-whitey in OC, y'know.
Still, they were all pleasant and polite and laughed at most of my smart-ass remarks.
I met up with Dennis, their gutiar-tech, and chatted with him a bit about the tour. I also stupidly wandered up the stairs where the roadie crew was watching the Simpsons. Walked right in behind Vernon and didn't even see Corey on the couch.

The actual set was tight and sweet. I'm just not used to reserved seating anymore. I wander all about the room singin' and keepin' the groove. Still, it was a blast.

Here's the setlist (verbatim) I copped off Dennis:

Song w/o Sin
Funny Vibe
Middle MAn
? of When
Operation Mind Control
** something scratched out **
Memories
Go Away
In Your Name
Flying
Sacred Ground
Nothingness
Love Rears
Holy Roller
Ignorance
Type
Time's UP
Cult

NOTES:
I was on the Vernon side of the stage. Tuesday I'll be sticking to
the Doug side of things.

"Flying" was termed 9-11 love story and was played with a heavier funk accent. Will loads a click track as it fades and leads into "Sacred Ground".

"Type" added reggae flavor with Vern singing on "Police and Thieves".

"Crosstown Traffic" was the encore. Dedicated to the "designated
drivers" by Vernon.

The set was a great mix of songs from all phases of their repertoire. The crowd was really into it, though they hadn't got up off their ass to much. They did brisk business at the merch table and the guys came out to do autographs.

They're in Santa Barbara tonight, but I'm only doing HOB LA on Tuesday.

Here's the rest of the tour.

11/24/03 Santa Barbara, CA Coach House
11/25/03 West Hollywood, CA House Of Blues
11/26/03 San Francisco, CA Bimbo's
11/28/03 Portland, OR Rosland
11/29/03 Seattle, WA Showbox
12/02/03 Chicago, IL Park West
12/04/03 Philadelphia Trocadero
12/05/03 New York, NY TBA
12/06/03 Farmingdale, NY The Downtown
12/07/03 Washington, DC 9:30 Club