Warren Haynes’ Seaside All-Stars Punctuates Big Day At Gathering Of The Vibes

Words by: Chad Berndtson

Images by: Adam McCullough

Warren Haynes Seaside All Stars Punctuate Epic Day at the Vibes

Read Chad’s review below Adam’s gallery from Saturday at Vibes.

[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”107″ gal_title=”20150801 Gathering Of The Vibes”]

That Warren Haynes – he sure can pick ‘em.

Uncle Warren’s deservedly lauded as a guitarist, singer, songwriter, collaborator and all-around decent human being, but he’s also one hell of an organizer. As Gathering of the Vibes honcho Ken Hays himself told JamBase ahead of this weekend’s thrilling 20th installment of the festival, Warren’s been to this kind of rodeo many times before – not only attending and playing the Vibes, but also assembling runs-of-show and guest collaborations with a savvy curator’s eye.

And so it went on Saturday night, capping off a major day of music at the Vibes with a Warren-led jam session among titans – bragging rights for this beloved festival, too, as no other festival this summer can claim this headliner. Credit Warren and his merry band this: their 100-minute set had logical, but not obvious choices, laid out in interesting, non-perfunctory ways. Rather than select songs that a fascinatingly odd band composed of Marco Benevento, Joe Russo, George Porter Jr., Jackie Greene and Branford Marsalis could jam on with a high degree of crowd enthusiasm and ROI, Warren picked tunes and sequences that would put this collective talent’s best feet forward while leaving ample room for exploration.

(In other words, tell me you called a slow, funked-out jam on “King Solomon’s Marbles” as the opener to this, and I’ll call you a liar.)

A roadhouse-y “Road Runner,” which melted into “Sneakin’ Sally Through the Alley,” had the players sniffing around each other, feeling the groove, tossing out ideas without overdoing or committing. And then came a spooky keyboard intro and the opening notes of Radiohead’s “Karma Police” and we knew something more interesting was afoot.

From there, the music rarely ceased, and the band members gradually got more frisky, with Marsalis gamely blowing warm, pleasantly incongruous sax in the midst of a cold, metallic “Paranoid Android” jam out of that “Karma.” The first time they were all hitting at once was in “Gilded Splinters,” which arrived out of Warren’s own “River’s Gonna Rise” and was hot, sweaty swamp jamming, stoked with slide guitar and greased with a filthy Porter-Russo pocket.

No one was in all-time mode here, of course; there were times when the band had to coast on its individual talents to keep a progression interesting or a jam from petering out. But at least as inspired as the song choices were the segues; after “Gilded Splinters,” the rest of the set was a continuous travelogue, from “Low Spark,” through “Dreams,” arriving in Bob Dylan (“Tough Mama”) and finally adding Eric Krasno for a buoyant funk finale: Allen Toussaint, then the Meters, then one more popped-in Radiohead detour before a Sly close-out. Throughout came brilliant asides, such as Marsalis beginning a solo in “Low Spark,” then looking over his shoulder to Marco goading him with keyboard effects, and the two locking in, even just for a few minutes, playing off each other in a chirpy bob-and-weave.

There was that Russo-Porter pocket again, nudging forward what had to be one of the faster-tempo’d “Low Spark” versions in memory. There was Jackie adding economical touches of harmonica, guitar and keyboard – aggressive when called for, less visible when it made sense to be.

And there was Warren, his guitar voice largely hanging back so that his co- conspirators could control the improvisation, but then taking control of “Dreams” with a skywriting solo – stratospheric stuff around which the whole band was orbiting with wide, admiring eyes.

Watching the shit-eating grins flying around the stage, it was clear no one was having more fun than this band’s namesake – not always the case for Warren with so much upon his shoulders as bandleader. He had already made the rounds throughout the Vibes evening, sitting in with both Billy & the Kids (“While My Guitar Gently Weeps”) and Wilco (“California Stars”) as well as leading a sturdy set of his Ashes & Dust material and select covers with Railroad Earth. This was a trip for him, not work; thought-through but not overthought, with nods but not obvious salutes to the day and the Dead, and with the exception of Krasno and the briefest of appearances by old pal Nigel Hall, largely guest-free – a wise move considering how much that might have slowed the momentum.

[Joe Russo & Warren Haynes Guest With Wilco by sfjldj]

Jerry would have dug it, oh yeah.

Warren Haynes Seaside All Stars, 8/1/2015, Gathering of the Vibes

Set: Solomon’s Funky Marbles Jam > Road Runner > Sneakin’ Sally Through the Alley, Karma Police > Paranoid Android jam, River’s Gonna Rise* > Walk On Gilded Splinters > Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys > Dreams > Tough Mama > Get Out of My Life Woman# > Africa# > Karma Police# > Africa Talks To You#

Warren Haynes (guitar, vocals)
Jackie Greene (guitar, keys, vocals)
George Porter Jr. (bass, vocals)
Marco Benevento (keys)
Joe Russo (drums)
Branford Marsalis (sax)
* with Nigel Hall, piano and vocals
# with Eric Krasno, guitar