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Last night at the Fox Theatre, in Boulder, CO, The Big Wu brought their Midwestern grooves to the mountains, and WUUU did they lay down. Being someone who had never heard the band live or on CD, but had heard many good things, I decided to go and check them out. Let me explain to you my reaction. Song one: the head starts bopping to the beat. Song two: my legs start to move around a little bit. Song three: I'm thinking to myself, "Ok, I need to finish my beer so I can groove." Song four: I'm strutting all over the back of the Fox!
The Wu laid down a mellow groove all night that was layered with solos on top of the rhythm section. Each band member would take a turn in the spotlight, bringing the groove to new heights each and every time. The highlight had to be in the second set, when before the second tune, they announced that they'd like to bring a friend out. Out comes Jeff Austin, the mandolin player from Yonder Mountain String Band! Once he plugged in, they started the opening chords of Jack-A-Roe, which led into an original tune, Kangaroo. This lead into another original and the three song trio had
the place a-rockin', with everybody grooving hard! After Jeff left the stage, the band went into Tough Mamma which I believe is the perfect cover song for this band, considering their sound. The band turned the Fox into the House of Wu and for the remainder of the second they just continued to lay "it" down and keep the full capacity crowd happy and grooving!
For the encore Jeff came back out with an acoustic guitarist from Shanty Grove and they played an inspired version of Shanty Town. Each musician on stage would take a solo, just going one right after the other. The band then said good night, but the crowd was not done with them yet. Once more they came on to the stage and brought with them Warren and Jack from the All Mighty Senators, for a ROCKING version of the classic song Johnny B Goode.
My advice to those who have never seen The Big Wu, check 'em out... these guys are GOOD!
The Big Wu's Upcoming Tourdates
Adam Sokolic
JamBase Boulder Correspondent
Go See Live Music!
Fox Theatre, Boulder, CO
January 18, 2001
Set I:
Red Sky
Elani
Gibson Girl
House of Wu*
Straight Through the Ear
Sissy Strut
Boxing Day
Big Love
Texas Fireball
All Good (Revival Ending as Zebbo Calls it)
Set II:
Minnesota Moon
Dancing with Lula
Jack-A-Roe#
Kangaroo > Hugh Jam > Kangaroo#
Bloodhound#
Tough Mama
Save our Ship
> "Show Me What Your Made of" Jam >
Save our Ship
Puerto Rico
Silcanturnitova
Encore 1: Shantytown*#
Encore 2: Johnny B. Goode& >
*Jason from Shanty Grove sitting in on Acoustic (I think that is what
looked like on the web
# With Jeff from Yonder Mountain String Band
& with Warren and Jack from the Almighty Senators and Jason as the
Front Man.
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