ALO | 12.31.08 | San Francisco

these guys are fuckin ill,

Dennis..Sue..you are killing it! Great review. Beautiful shots. Nice work.

Saw ALO last year for NYE @ The Independent. I'm sure this show was equally SICK. Hope they come visit Oregon soon!

Sue is the digital master of light

i've said it before and I will be saying it till the day that I die...I heart ALO...

Great review. Great pics. Looks like a rockin ALO time to me!

Dennis welcome to ALO family. I have to admit when I read your Las Tortugas review I was pissed you talked about everyone else but ALO. In my opinion ALO at Las Tortugas may be the greatest ALO shows I've seen. I too was late to the scene when it comes to ALO. My first ALO show was Moe's Alley april 2006 at the time I only liked Walls of Jericho & Wasting Time. That show at Moe's they opened up with Possible Drown, Plastic Bubble & Country Camper and after that I was hooked. I've now seen them live 18 times. This band is four very skilled musicians. I to as most american love the lead guitar I've seen some great guitarist play live like Jerry Garcia, Steve Ray Vaughan, Eddie Van Halen, Trey Anastasio, Derek Trucks, Steve Via & Steve Kimock. Lebo can play regular guitar or sit down a blown your mind playing the slide. Dave Brogan not just a drummer he's a singer songwriter who plays guitar in his own band and just released a kick ass new album. He sings about 40% of ALO songs and the man has soul. Zach Gil not just keyboard player/singer. He plays the ukulele, accordian, melodica and the clavinet. Zach also is a singer songwriter who just released his own new killer album. I will argue that ALO hiatus has produced more good music than Phish hiatus did. Zach & Dave also have a way of personalizing the lyrics like the song Walls of Jericho for instants when were at Soho were The Santa Barbara freaks who just rolled in to town, at Yosemite were Las Tortugas freaks and at independent were San Francisco freaks. Steve Adams rocks the bass every time I see them I'm more impressed with his unique sound. He's not an in your face bass player like a Les Claypool but more of a fill in the sound and lay the backbone groove player like Phil Lesh but funkier. Steve also plays the flute on occasions. ALO incorporates allot of different styles of music jam, funk, soul, electronica, rock, blues, trance, dance, R&B & reggae it's like a musical orgy to your ears. There jams don't last 40 minutes with killer light shows and that what i like about them they can stretch good songs without killing them. Songs that last 8 to 18 minutes I like anything more is over noodling. ALO is the most fun you can have on the west coast.

ALO is consistently throwing down big new years out west. It would be such a mind blowing experience if they played a show like this in the midwest. The setlist looks stacked, great review & pictures.

Why do I love ALO?

Uh...pretty much because they're super badass, that's why!

"Everybody in the world today has got an animal you've got to liberate!!"

Thanks for the review, very deserved. If I didn't live in Denver (stayed close to home for obvious reasons) I would have been at the independant! boy do i miss me some ALO, lets see a tour!!!!!!!!!

show was fun..

but open bar not so fun ....

in the end i mean ...

left me hurtin

why would this guy review this show? he has no idea if it was a good or bad ALO show....

why won't ALO come out east....

Don't feel bad Dennis I never cared for these guys. Until that fateful night I found myself talking with Falcor over at the 12 Galaxies for the Golden Gate Gramble. Even though ALO didn't play that night(just Lebo) I decided to check these guys out. So over to archives I went to discover that these guys rock. I remember these guys opening for Vinyl at Palookaville in Santa Cruz back in 99 or 2000. Boy they have come a long way. I too would like to go to more of there gigs. Great fan base. So for 2009 I would have to put my money on The mother Hips,ALO, Big Light and Tea Leaf Green as being the scene for me.

Don't care much for ALO, but Big Light writes some pretty cool music.

ALO is the deal

very nice. feel good band.

I have never seen them, but I do love the albums..

sometimes they remind me of Trey.. just they way some of it is sung.

So Boston Dan, "songs that last 8 to 18 minutes i like anything more is over noodling." Not sure what you meant there, but I am pretty sure Frank, Miles, Jerry, Omar, PHiSh, and hoards of other tremendous talents push your set time limit that defines what is a 'jam' and what constitutes as 'noodling.' Some would venture to say (myself included) that those who know how to jam are just getting warmed up at the 18 minute mark.

I know these words are wasted here, but..... ALO PLEASE COME BACK EAST!!!!

I love ALO wish I coulda been there - looking forward to their SoCal appearances coming up!

Way to go Dennis for your honesty about that asshole review!

Nice review.....Dennis, I was wondering if you liked these guys (after Tortugas)??? I am very glad. Susan, I was standing RIGHT next to you....well captured!!! I have been seeing these guys for a while now, but recently, after their time off, this band is hitting on all cylinders....super good shit. Wasn't at NYE, but the 30th was great....Big Light is fresh as well!!!

Not one negative post. I like that.

I dont really know much about this band beside the mentions on Jambase.

Time to head to the archive!

if you are headed to the archive, might I suggest:

mayflowers 1 5-28-05

mayflowers 2 5-28-06

Mountain House NYE 12-31-06

A Note to the Author: This review is offensive. It is an insult to the Jambase community and to music writing in general. In addition to the writing being mediocre (sycophantic, overcomplicated, excessively intellectualized and verbose to the point of boredome), you are disingenuous. You state that you are not familiar with the band and then admit that you smile "every time" you see them. That makes unfamiliarity imposible. Then, you go on to state that are familiar with two of the members from a side project. So, are you familiar or not? I am beginning to wonder if you are friends with the band. Finally, you apologize to the band publicly for work that I assume you meant when you wrote it. Where you lying then or now? Awful review. I waws embarrassed after I read it.

Guess Cook didn't like your band, huh JJ?