Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros. featuring the Wolfpack

February 2023

It was ‘One More Saturday Night’ with Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros. featuring the Wolfpack Saturday, February 25, at the historic Louisville Palace. The last time Weir took this stage was Sunday, March 8, 2020, or as most refer to it the last night the world was ‘normal’ prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, lockdowns and things getting weird. Thankfully there wasn’t a repeat of that after this visit, but the sold-out crowd definitely got Weir’d during this amazing performance.

The 75-year-old Grateful Dead front man formed Wolf Bros. in 2018 with Don Was on double bass and Jay Lane on drums. Playing roots rock tunes and Grateful Dead songs they have toured as a trio before adding Jeff Chimenti on keyboards, he’s also with Dead & Company. He has added a whole new layer of wow to their performances. This year’s lineup included those four, along with Barry Sless on pedal steel guitar. He has played with Phil Lesh and Friends. Always interesting to see how musicians are all intermingled. Since 2022 the Wolfpack has been a part of the lineup, featuring Alex Kelly on cello, Brian Switzer on trumpet, Adam Theis on trombone, Mads Tolling on violin and Sheldon Brown on saxophone. It is never a bad show when there is a good lineup of songs and a talented line up of musicians.

Deadheads are always a fun crowd that is engaged with what is happening onstage, making this an all-around perfect evening of music in one of the area’s finest venues. With two sets, the first being about an hour and the second running about an hour and a half, they covered a lot of ground. wonderful arrangements of familiar songs filled the air all evening. However, when they closed things out with ‘One More Saturday Night,’ as expected, the crowd was left wanting more. They can get more as Bobby Weird & Wolf Bros. featuring the Wolfpack are still on tour, or they can catch Dead & Co. this tour as they embark on a farewell tour. Check out the setlist here.

Bush at Louisville Palace

February 2023

British alternative rock band Bush played to a sold-out crowd at the Louisville Palace Wednesday, February 22. Devora opened things, performing a hybrid of dark pop with Western vibes. An interesting opener for a 90s alternative rock band. Still worth looking up on your favorite source for music. The house music between bands was truer to the 90s vibe with Nine Inch Nails and Soundgarden blaring in the Spanish baroque auditorium. The lights dimmed and Bush took the stage. Opening with “Identity’ from the ninth studio album The Art of Survival, which was released last October. Coming in strong 57-year-old Gavin Rossdale’s vocals sounded as great as they did on the band’s 1994 debut album Sixteen Stone. Although Rossdale is the only remaining original member of the quartet, the current lineup sounded amazing with Chris Traynor on guitar, Corey Britz on bass and Nik Hughes behind the drumkit. Rossdale played guitar off and on throughout the show. He also got up close and personal with fans. He may sing about not wanting to come back down, but he did, off the stage and into the crowds. Coming up an aisle on the main floor, cutting down a row of seats high-fiving patrons, going up another aisle, into the lobby and up to the balcony all while singing. Going through the masses, he was gracious pausing for photos and fist bumping. The 17 song setlist was packed with tracks from all the band’s albums, with the new stuff blending right in, as it should After close two hours of high energy, it was nice to know a slice of 90s alternative rock still exists, just as well as we all remember it, thanks to Bush for making time travel possible!

Puscifer’s Existential Reckoning Tour

^{November 2022}

Puscifer’s Existential Reckoning Tour - Let The Probing Continue landed at the Louisville Palace on Friday, November 11. It was a truly out of this world experience.  TOOL and A Perfect Circle front man Maynard James Keenan, a.k.a. Agent Dick Merkin, showcases his sense of humor and multiple nods and winks to the sci-fi genre with the stage show. Let us not discount the interesting industrial music being performed on stage, including Carina Round’s vocals alongside Keenan’s. Mat Mitchell is the only other permanent member taking on the duties of guitar, bass, keyboards and synthesizers. On tour Greg Edwards is on the bass and Gunnar Olsen is on drums, programming. Programming? At a concert? Multiple drum machines were used in this show, which added an element unattainable with a standard guitar, bass and drum kit. Maynard has often said this group, or project, is his "creative subconscious." Whatever it is, it is a truly unique experience. There are costumes, creating an X-Files/CIA agent vibe. Along with several entertaining on stage videos. Perfect example of the videos’ entertainment value; Puscifer has a very strict no photo/video policy. Agent Merkin comes on screen before the show to discuss the photo policy. During the course of the video, it shows meat being processed. Turns out it is Spam, we’re talking canned meat and not junk email. He discloses it is processed audience members who took photos during the show. Message received and acknowledged. The show starts and some nitwit on the front row is leaning on stage taking photos. Two agents grabbed him up on stage and carried him off (on obvious plant). Without missing a beat Merkin starts chanting, “Spam! Spam! Spam!”

Here is the evening’s setlist, but that and this recap won’t begin to scratch the surface of what a transcendental show this truly was!