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Sam at Summerfest 7/1/16
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hedgehog42
Jul 5, 2016, 12:42:10 PM7/5/16
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Sam Llanas played Summerfest 2016 like a man on a mission, a mission that went beyond showing the crowd a good time. (That would have been a low bar indeed, since the crowd was already primed to enjoy itself thanks to gorgeous weather and the beginning of a holiday weekend. Many had probably also got into Summerfest free earlier that day, thanks to a large-scale promotion.)
First: some context. Last year, Sam was given a 4 p.m. mid-week slot (hard to get anyone but retirees or those who've taken the full day off from work) at a smaller, covered stage (great for rainy weather, or to seek relief from midday sun, but usually less appealing otherwise). He'd nevertheless drawn and entertained a crowd with a mix of BoDeans and post-BoDeans tunes, including several from his 2014 "The Whole Night Thru."
That paid off with a 6 p.m. Friday slot at the larger Harley-Davidson stage.
This year's was a flat-out, no-holds-barred performance/celebration that actually started 2 minutes before the scheduled start time (a rock and roll rarity, and perhaps a personal first for Sam). But he noted that "we don't have much time" --repeating that several times over the next hour and 15 minutes. He admitted, at one point, "I'm a little nervous, and I don't know why -- I'm never nervous." There was little patter, mostly song after song after song.
BoDeans songs, every one, from "True Devotion" opener to the "Naked" closer. The newest song was "617." Others: "Black, White & Blood Red," "Don't Be Lonely," "Say About Love," "Still the Night" "Misery/Sylvia," "She's a Runaway," "Lookin' for Me Somewhere," and "Feed the Fire." All performed with the air of someone enjoying himself and his band immensely, with an energy that indicated he felt he had something to prove. The crowd responded joyously to his urging them to sing the "oh, oh, OH" lines from "Still the Night" and I spotted one burly security guy running the length of the fenced off area in front of the stage, exuberantly high-fiving the line of fans dancing and standing before it.
I don't know what was in Sam's mind, of course. But I can't think it was accidental that a guy who's made it a point to play new material, rather than rely on crowd favorites, for decades has suddenly chosen to include nothing remotely new, original or cover.
It looked instead like a reminder. The current BoDeans management has campaigned heavily locally to make much of the 30-year anniversary of the release of "Love & Hope & Sex & Dreams." There's a Summerfest exhibit, a new namesake craft beer the band commissioned from a local brewer, having the Milwaukee mayor proclaim "BoDeans Day." Accompanying media coverage has pretty much reduced anyone involved with L&H&S&D, besides Kurt Neumann and T-Bone Burnett, to also-rans, if they're mentioned at all.
And it's true they're no longer with the band, for a variety of circumstances that the involved parties describe differently.
Yet... how odd to discover the Sprecher booth at the Cedarburg Strawberry Festival a week ago promoting the new BoDeans beverage while "She's a Runaway" blasted from the speakers. How odd it has been over the last few years to hear "BoDeans shows" promoted with snippets from "Closer to Free" and "She's a Runaway." How odd indeed, when the mythology used to promote the BoDeans was "Three high school friends from Waukesha, Wisconsin..."
In the more than 15 years I've been seeing Sam play without Kurt, I've never seen him play "Good Things" or "Angels" or any other BoDeans song where Kurt claims primary writing credit.
Sam, though, claims that credit on 8 of the 11 songs on the album being honored this year -- and performed four of those songs Friday night, folded in along with other longtime fan favorites.
I'd bet my mortgage that this isn't the setlist Sam's following at upcoming shows, since he has solo albums to promote. But what we saw Friday sure looked like a message to the crowd, the media, the festival, and the band that 52 hours later would headline a side stage on Summerfest's traditionally biggest night: "You want BoDeans music? I got your BoDeans music right here. Accept no substitutes."
First: some context. Last year, Sam was given a 4 p.m. mid-week slot (hard to get anyone but retirees or those who've taken the full day off from work) at a smaller, covered stage (great for rainy weather, or to seek relief from midday sun, but usually less appealing otherwise). He'd nevertheless drawn and entertained a crowd with a mix of BoDeans and post-BoDeans tunes, including several from his 2014 "The Whole Night Thru."
That paid off with a 6 p.m. Friday slot at the larger Harley-Davidson stage.
This year's was a flat-out, no-holds-barred performance/celebration that actually started 2 minutes before the scheduled start time (a rock and roll rarity, and perhaps a personal first for Sam). But he noted that "we don't have much time" --repeating that several times over the next hour and 15 minutes. He admitted, at one point, "I'm a little nervous, and I don't know why -- I'm never nervous." There was little patter, mostly song after song after song.
BoDeans songs, every one, from "True Devotion" opener to the "Naked" closer. The newest song was "617." Others: "Black, White & Blood Red," "Don't Be Lonely," "Say About Love," "Still the Night" "Misery/Sylvia," "She's a Runaway," "Lookin' for Me Somewhere," and "Feed the Fire." All performed with the air of someone enjoying himself and his band immensely, with an energy that indicated he felt he had something to prove. The crowd responded joyously to his urging them to sing the "oh, oh, OH" lines from "Still the Night" and I spotted one burly security guy running the length of the fenced off area in front of the stage, exuberantly high-fiving the line of fans dancing and standing before it.
I don't know what was in Sam's mind, of course. But I can't think it was accidental that a guy who's made it a point to play new material, rather than rely on crowd favorites, for decades has suddenly chosen to include nothing remotely new, original or cover.
It looked instead like a reminder. The current BoDeans management has campaigned heavily locally to make much of the 30-year anniversary of the release of "Love & Hope & Sex & Dreams." There's a Summerfest exhibit, a new namesake craft beer the band commissioned from a local brewer, having the Milwaukee mayor proclaim "BoDeans Day." Accompanying media coverage has pretty much reduced anyone involved with L&H&S&D, besides Kurt Neumann and T-Bone Burnett, to also-rans, if they're mentioned at all.
And it's true they're no longer with the band, for a variety of circumstances that the involved parties describe differently.
Yet... how odd to discover the Sprecher booth at the Cedarburg Strawberry Festival a week ago promoting the new BoDeans beverage while "She's a Runaway" blasted from the speakers. How odd it has been over the last few years to hear "BoDeans shows" promoted with snippets from "Closer to Free" and "She's a Runaway." How odd indeed, when the mythology used to promote the BoDeans was "Three high school friends from Waukesha, Wisconsin..."
In the more than 15 years I've been seeing Sam play without Kurt, I've never seen him play "Good Things" or "Angels" or any other BoDeans song where Kurt claims primary writing credit.
Sam, though, claims that credit on 8 of the 11 songs on the album being honored this year -- and performed four of those songs Friday night, folded in along with other longtime fan favorites.
I'd bet my mortgage that this isn't the setlist Sam's following at upcoming shows, since he has solo albums to promote. But what we saw Friday sure looked like a message to the crowd, the media, the festival, and the band that 52 hours later would headline a side stage on Summerfest's traditionally biggest night: "You want BoDeans music? I got your BoDeans music right here. Accept no substitutes."
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