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As a rule, I’m pretty leery when it comes to after-shows. Usually by the time I’m done with whatever regular show I’m at I’m done seeing music for the day. I’m generally too excited to talk about the concert I just saw to be able to pay attention to somebody else’s set of music, plus I’m often well on my way and not willing (or able) to stand around in another bar until 4am.
But pre-shows? They’re a-okay with me! Especially in Las Vegas.
Of course, to attend a pre-show assumes you’re already in town, and you probably have the afternoon to kill anyway. And in Las Vegas killing an afternoon can get expensive.
So it was a good deal all around when I whisked right through the whirring bells and whistles of the gaming floor at The Flaming-O on November 2nd, 2014 and walked out into the squinting sun. I rounded the corner and started down a newish upscale pedestrian plaza called The Linq. On previous trips this side street beside my hotel had been nothing but a series of loading docks and delivery doors but it had recently been transformed into one of The Strips new hotspots. And in the middle of the glittering gift shops and chintzy chophouses was The Brooklyn Bowl, the second instalment of jam-impresario Peter Shapiro’s short string of venues (the other one is in – you guessed it – Brooklyn).
This was my first time being in either of the Brooklyn Bowls and I immediately liked it. The place was clean, hip, and spacious, with a big stage, great sight lines, and a row of bowling lanes along one side. I parked myself along the side of the room and leaned lazily against the wall just as the band emerged.
Not only was this my first time at the venue, it was also my first time hearing Greensky Bluegrass. I had heard quite a bit about the upstart pickers but had yet to hear a note.
Well, I heard a lot of notes that afternoon.
At first I shrugged off the band (as well as one could when they are leaning against a wall) as just another bluegrass act that had inexplicably gained traction in the very lucrative* jamband scene (see: Yonder Mountain String Band).
But about three or four songs in they started getting pretty good. Or, more likely, I was finally awake enough to actually start paying attention and give the band half a chance. Then (what do you know) those Greensky Bluegrass guys started getting pretty great, and that’s where they remained for the rest of their afternoon set.
When the show was over I felt uplifted (as uplifted as I could after three nights of Vegas Phish, that is). Rather than struggling to reach the end of the concert – as I might do at an aftershow – this pre-show was like a nice big cup of cappuccino for my soul, it brought the spring to my step and was tonic for my gin. I had started the concert at a trot and by the end of the show I was galloping right along with the band. Instead of winding me down they had wound me up, just like a great opening band should, only they had played at a whole different venue and left enough time for dinner in between.
And so I had dinner and went to a whole different venue, buoyed by bluegrass for final Phish.
*Just ask Peter Shapiro.
Todd Man Out 