Beau Sasser’s Escape Plan
Strangecreek Campout Camp Kee Wanee Greenfield, MA
May 27 2016
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Friday afternoon turns out to have been a major musical event at Strangecreek with a lineup that stretched from newer bands as the festival opened (In Daze, Shokazoba, rice – An American Band, William Thompson Funk Experiment) to Worm vets. Beau Sasser has played Worm events for over a decade stretching back to his days in Uncle Sammy, through his own projects and now with the Escape Plan taking the main stage for the first time.
The band is an amazing lineup with Bill Carbone (Z3, Max Creek, Miracle Orchestra) on drums, Justin Henricks on guitar, Danny Mayer (Alan Evans Trio and many other bands) on guitar, Mary Corso on vocals, and the B3 master Beau Sasser on keys. As expected the band runs the gamut from hard funk to classic rock, Zappa to the Allmans- hammering out instrumentals, vocal tunes, originals and covers. Sasser’s personality shines through at every moment and the king of the valley had no problem capturing the crowd.
It was especially refreshing to see original music pop out of this band. The Sasser original Mirrors went from an Edgar Winter inspired funk riff into a lengthy jam track that pulled in elements of disco and electronica- elements I had not heard regularly from Sasser before in his deep funk outfits. Mary Corso and Justin Henricks had an original and Corso herself had one of her pieces in the set (Follow Me). And it should not go without saying- Danny Mayer is a smoking guitar player who has the ability to do an inspirational solo at the drop of a hat. His presence in this band is no small contribution.
Mike Tucker, saxophone player currently with the Ryan Montbleau band joined the Escape Plan for the song Down Home. This was a playful tune and I could swear that there was a lengthy jam tease of Ease on Down the Road (from the Wiz sound track.)
The set closed with Mary singing the classic Whipping Post. While that song is originated by the Allman Brothers, in deference to his other projects Sasser led the band in the Frank Zappa version of the tune. All in all this was an amazing premier of the Escape Plan on the main stage and I think we should all figure to see them back there again sometime soon.
Set List:
Cold Sweat
Waiting for Life (Uncle Sammy original)
Can’t Hide Love (Earth Wind and Fire)
Love is Free
Stinkfoot (Frank Zappa)
Mirrors (Beau Sasser original)
New Speedway Boogie (Grateful Dead)
Follow Me (Mary Corso original)
Down Here
Whipping Post (Zappa version of the Allman Brothers classic)
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