Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers

A Night on the Town (of Montgomery)

February 16, 2005

Davis Theater

 

To be a true believer (an appreciator of genuinely fine music) in Montgomery is to be perpetually starved, unless you’re willing to head to Atlanta or elsewhere for a concert fix.  But on Wednesday night, I wouldn’t have traded my seat at the Davis with anyone anywhere.  “Spider Fingers” came calling and it was a thoroughly enjoyable night on the town.  And while Bruce Hornsby hasn’t had a chart-ranking single in many years, he’s the antithesis of the county fair, has-been rock act.  There were no sets of three-minute radio classics.  It was more of a jam band event, without most of the directionless, and often mindless, interplay among the musicians.  They just cooked.  And the crowd ate it up.

 

Classically trained Bruce walked out alone, sat at his Steinway, and wowed us with a delicate assault of beautiful notes.  When the Noisemakers joined him moments later, they kicked in with Funhouse (from 1998’s Spirit Trail) and the show was on.  Another opening set crowd pleaser was Mandolin Rain (from 1986’s The Way It Is) – who doesn’t love that song?  But, to me, the highlight of the first hour was Preacher in the Ring; especially the grandiose Part II.  Just awesome.  Bruce introduced the song as a story of snake handling in church – a product of Appalachia and a dubious connection between his native Virginia and our grand state of Alabama.  He closed out the first half with The Way It Is, his most recognizable hit and certainly a song that embraces the struggle for civil rights – a topic not at all lost on politically-conscious Bruce.  Right in the middle of the song, he segued into The Neville Brothers’ classic, Sister Rosa – a tribute to Montgomery’s Rosa Parks.

 

The second set was even better, as the band delivered a wall of sound on every number.  Among the favorites was Rainbow’s Cadillac (from 1993’s Harbor Lights), a song requested by Snapper Wade and delivered to the stage by Snapper Jack’s lovely wife Jamie.  Bruce turned this into 15 minutes of righteous boogie woogie.  And the crowd responded with a standing ovation, one of many.  Bruce strapped on the accordion for Jacob’s Ladder (from 1988’s Scenes from the Southside) and several members of the crowd went up on stage to dance.  It wasn’t his best effort, but it was fun to watch.  One of the best tunes was The Changes (from 1995’s Hot House), a tale about fluid, evolving musicians and the inability of their fan base to grow along with them.  The one song I most wanted to hear was Sunflower Cat (again from my favorite CD, Spirit Trail) and he nailed it superbly late in the show.  It apparently has some connection with his Grateful Dead days – I’m not much of a DeadHead, but it’s a super song.

 

Bruce’s encores were outstanding – He cranked up White-Wheeled Limousine and the band went nuts with several fantastic solos, along with a couple of interesting mid-song segues – Liberty Valance and Long Black Veil.  A particular highlight of Limousine was guitarist Doug Derryberry who kicked into a long and brilliant solo reminiscent of Mark Knopfler on the Dire Straits classic Telegraph Road.  It was seriously smokin’.  A final and oh-so-clever number was Fortunate Son with a perfectly sneaky transition into Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb.  It brought the house down.

 

There were no complaints.  Bruce promised to come back to Montgomery.  I’d like to be treated to this kind of noise again soon.  GD