Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real just completed what seems like the unthinkable from their perspective. They took two weeks off. The band has logged enough miles to match most artist’s entire year thus far in 2018, with visits to ten countries and three continents in just three months.
Nelson and POTR kicked off yet another lengthy tour leg with a two-night run at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall with Stagecoach Spotlight shows that included fellow Stagecoach acts Lillie Mae and Tyler Childers. All three will be appearing in the California desert at country music’s quasi-response to Coachella April 27-29.
Lillie Mae kicked things off each night with strings and harmonies, before Tyler Childers brought his whiskey-sippin’ country and storytelling sensibilities to the classic venue’s stage. Here’s a great review of their show together in Portland, OR before joining Nelson and crew in SF. While Childers occupied the middle spot in the lineup, it was really a co-headlining gig with Nelson as both bands would play 90-minute sets each night.
Lukas Nelson stayed in country character to launch their performance on night 1 with tunes like “Fool Me Once”, “Four Letter Word” before warming up the unmistakable signature Nelson family pipes on “Carolina” and really stretching out the chorus sustains on “Running Shine”.
The real treat for those that came out on a Monday night for Nelson’s 11pm set time was a mid-set five-song acoustic run when he really showed off his familial vocal gifts and how he’s making them his own. He led off the acoustic set with a newly written tune “Turn Off The News” and asked that no one use their phones for the three minutes of their lives the song would occupy. It set a nice tone as he continued with “Just Outside Of Austin”. The old hall, next door to one of San Francisco’s more notorious adult entertainment venues back in the day, fell as silent and engaged as an artist can hope for and Nelson, sensing all eyes and ears on him presented a beautiful rendition.
Tom Petty’s “Breakdown” would follow and the mini-set would conclude with Hoagy Carmichael’s “Georgia On My Mind” before Promise of the Real returned to the stage. Picking up the pace with an extended guitar solo from Nelson on “Forget About Georgia” things were really rolling but three more songs in, the dreaded time-reaper caused an apologetic Nelson to abruptly end the show with a pair of songs still on the set list. Adjustments were made for night 2.
Not only did the second evening start a shade before the announced time of 8pm, but crews were given only 20 minutes, rather than 30 to changeover. Lukas Nelson was not going to be denied again.
With an extra microphone set up, it was clear someone would be joining POTR at some point. The crowd only had to wait until the band took the stage to discover their special treat would be Grateful Dead legend, Bob Weir. Dead 80’s standards “Althea” and “West LA Fadeway” would give way to Dylan’s “Maggie’s Farm” seasoning the room for a much more raucous set than the previous evening.
From the get-go Lukas Nelson the guitar player took over. After opening with the same tune “Stars” from the night before, POTR launched into “Set Me Down On A Cloud.” Anchored by the low-end rumblings of bassist Corey McCormick, “Cloud” has a big arena feeling to it, with lots of space to drop some thunder. Nelson finger-picked and bent his way through an arcing solo on his Les Paul that would be the feature instrument on a number of selections to come.
Night two was more up-tempo overall and featured only two mid-set solo acoustic tunes. Nelson spent an active evening on stage, with both he and McCormick getting airborne numerous times in the middle of edgy jams.
A cover of Paul Simon’s “Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes” led to “Awakening”, which didn’t make it out of the gate on night 1, closing the set. Finding themselves with a little extra time, the band dropped The Stones’ “Sympathy For The Devil for an encore. After which, they took a well-deserved bow before packing up the gear to head down the California coast on another massive tour leg.
