Greensky Bluegrass Brings ‘Casual Wednesday’ Full Circle In Buffalo

Last night, Greensky Bluegrass returned to Buffalo’s Town Ballroom for the latest stop on their summer tour. The band celebrated the occasion by performing and telling the origin story of “Casual Wednesday,” a song birthed at the same venue on a snowy February night in 2014.

GSBG followed the “All For Money” second-set opener with only their third “Casual Wednesday” in two years. Each version of “Casual Wednesday” features narration from Anders Beck. The dobroist dove into the history behind the song last night at The Town Ballroom.

Beck explained The Town Ballroom is a historical place for Greensky Bluegrass: “This is the home of the ‘Casual Wednesday,’ [which] began right here [on this stage].”

“There was a snowstorm and [venue reps] didn’t really want us to play, but then we got here and they’re like ‘nobody’s going to come to the gig,” Beck continued. “And we’re like, ‘Well, we got to the gig. We’re here, so it doesn’t really matter if no one’s going to come. We want to play.'”

The dobroist then revealed that all the band was given backstage were a bag of chips and a bottle of Jack Daniels. “We drank the whole bottle of Jack Daniels and that created the first-ever ‘Casual Wednesday,’ because it was fucking loose, my friends, loose!”

Beck went on to say “Casual Wednesday” stands for “joy and fun and being fucking silly.” He noted, “you can find joy in bluegrass music, that’s why we’re here.” Greensky went on to play the song 83 additional times over the 650 Wednesdays that followed. “I myself have been alive for 2,542 Wednesdays and this one is the best goddamned Wednesday of my life,” Beck exclaimed before his bandmates finished the song.

Watch footage of the memorable “Casual Wednesday” from Town Ballroom thanks to Max Berde:

Later in the show, GSBG trotted out a reggaefied version of oldie “Through The Trees.” Other highlights included the first “Sweetwater Sea” in nearly two years, a “Broke Mountain Breakdown” that gave way to a take on Bruce Springsteen’s “Atlantic City” and an encore featuring the recently-revived “Money For Nothing.”

Greensky Bluegrass plays New York City’s The Rooftop at Pier 17 tonight. The band then performs in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania on Friday before a pair of festival appearances.

Setlist

Set One: The Radio Blues, Screams, Boron Again, Reuben’s Train, Sweetweather Sea, Send Me Your Address From Heaven, Merely Avoiding, Dustbowl Overtures, Just To Lie > Train Junkie

All For Money, Casual Wednesday [1], A Letter To Seymour, Run Or Die, In The Morning Light, Through The Trees [2], Broke Mountain Breakdown > Atlantic City

Encore: Money For Nothing

• [1] – includes origin story narration
• [2] – reggae style