John K Band
State Theater, Falls Church, VA
December 13, 2014
Review and photos by Brian Willis
The John K Band brought their annual holiday show (aka “Larry’s Big Assed Birthday Bash”) to a sold out State Theater crowd and nearly tore the roof off of the place. Opening act, Mateo Monk got things started with his sometimes hypnotic and always joyous music created with his guitar, flute, and melodica combined with his unique style of usage of a looper to create stunning layers of sound.
Following Mateo’s outstanding performance, JKB took the stage to the cheers of the sold out holiday crowd with a high energy rendition of “What’s Become Of Mary”, quickly followed by “Feel Like Dynamite”, a song that seemed to express the feelings of both the crowd and the band perfectly. “The Great Vehicle”- a relatively new song to the band – has quickly become a crowd sing-a-long favorite with it’s refrain of “We are the bus – and the bus is us!” Next up, Nick Newlin joined the band on accordion for a stunningly beautiful rendition of “Lazy River Road.” Rounding out the first set, “I Second That Emotion” was followed by a cover of The Police hit “Walking In Your Footsteps” and another relatively new song, “Riverrun” with guest Mateo Monk on flute, before an exhausting yet invigorating “Complicated.”
Check out the Adam Ezra Group review from January 2 in Boston.
After a much needed break, the band returned to the stage with a short but spacey jam before a surprise reggae tinted version of Rush’s “Time Stand Still” that segued into “Liquid Silver” before landing on another fan favorite, “Sister Smiles.” A personal favorite of mine – “Dweller on the Threshold” – had the packed club in a dancing frenzy. Another personal favorite – a prolonged, stellar “Desert Trance” morphed into “Drums” with the Wednesday Night Drummers (Katy Gaughan, Mark Nickens, Ben Gordon, Chris Colvin, Aaron Gibian, Eric Vesper, Mateo Monk) leading an almost 15 minute rhythmic tribal celebration that morphed yet again into “Good Friday Experiment” before landing on “Dear Prudence.” A haunting, 8 minute version of “Mississippi Moon” segued into a rollicking “Ain’t No Bread In The Breadbox” finale. For an encore, the band finished off the night’s festivities with a sweet rendition of “I’ll Take A Melody.”
Throughout the show, the crowd was treated to The Nicolo & Shapeshifter Kinetic Show (featuring Nick Newlin and Shannon Shapeshifter) – ALWAYS FUN!!!!
John’s CD, “Liquid Silver Live” is currently available for purchase on CDBaby. This show can be downloaded from The Internet Archive.
Set 1:
What’s Become of Mary
Feel Like Dynamite
The Great Vehicle
Lazy River Road #
I Second That Emotion
Walking In Your Footsteps * >
Riverrun *
Complicated
Set 2:
Jam
Time Stand Still >
Liquid Silver >
Sister Smiles
Dweller on the Threshold
Desert Trance >
Drums ** >
Good Friday Experiment >
Dear Prudence
Mississippi Moon >
Ain’t No Bread in the Breadbox
Encore:
I’ll Take a Melody
John Kadlecik – guitar, vocals
Paul Grepps – keyboards
Katy Gaughan – percussion
Nathan Graham Graha- drum kit
Larry Joseloff – bass
Mary Lankford – vocals
Jessica Lake – vocals
# Nick Newlin (guest) – accordion
* Mateo Monk (guest) – flute
** Wednesday Night Drummers – Katy Gaughan, Mark Nickens, Ben Gordon, Chris Colvin, Aaron Gibian, Eric Vesper, Mateo Monk
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Check out the reviews of two nights of Golden Gate Wingmen featuring John Kadlecik, Jeff Chimenti, Jay Lane and Reed Mathis in Long Beach CA February 6 and 7 Night one: Check out the review of Long Beach night two here!
Check out our review of the John K. Band at the State Theater
Check out our recent review of String Cheese Incident at the Capitol Theater
Check out the recent review of the Golden Gate Wingmen at Terrapin Crossroad
Check out the Adam Ezra Group review from January 2 in Boston.
Check out the review submitted by Keith Gaskin of String Cheese Incident in Pt Chester, NY.
