Strangefolk: A Great Long While In The Making

Friday’s show opened up with Dance, harkening the audience to get ready for a full night of revelry. Faces and Like You Anyway took the cake in the first set, with fans moving closer to the stage and singing loudly with the band, bringing out that campfire quality to the music. The second set started with a now rarer highlight of Pooh Bear’s Mistress, a Reid led narrative that stands out among the highlights of the entire weekend in the progressive song’s lone version. Great Long While, now called Songbeard, was far and wide expected by the fans to be played in Burlington, close to where the band ended things in September of 2000 at Garden of Eden. Reid’s knowing smile anticipated the lyrics, “He’s been sitting there a great long while, a great long while, sunlit silver hair, a great long while, a great long while,” as we all have been waiting a great long while for this reunion to take place.

3/30 – Higher Ground

Set One: Dance, Who I Am, Sometimes, Faces, Otis, Take It Easy > Video Game > Take It Easy, Mama, Like you Anyway*

Set Two: Pooh Bear’s Mistress, Rather Go Fishin, Filter, Songbeard, Crest of My Wing, Come on Down, Woman Child, Reuben’s Place^

Encore: Roads, Juicy Fruit

* – with Hey Jude teases by Jon ^ – with You Lay The Dust lyrics

Trafton spent time playing a great deal of notes as the weekend progressed, but the normally reserved guitarist was long overdue to let loose and those notes carried the band and their songs to heights unheard in years. Jon’s has a sound in the vein of Trey Anastasio but not in his style, with conservative spurts of extra notes that build the songs up when coupled with Reid. The first version of Reuben’s Place, combined with the lyrics of You Lay The Dust via Reid, capped off a huge second set. Another encore of Roads was received well by the crowd but they were clearly asking for one specific tune and the band relented in playing Juicy Fruit, a classic, unique yet short cover that fans clamored to hear.

[PhanArt Post: Strangefolk Shirts]

Jon Trafton: I think the reconnecting and laughter and joy of collectively remembering our past and our music played forward to the shows at the end of the month. We committed ourselves to making the concert experience as good as we possibly could for this set of shows. For us this was all about honoring our past and the community that came together around us. Sitting here tonight, having had a few days to recollect, I couldn’t be happier about the way it all went down.

A trip up the coast to Portland, home of bassist Erik Glockler, and a solid contingent of the fanbase in attendance was the perfect end to the four nights. A slight chill in the sea-infused air bundled the crowd into The State Theater, the largest room of the run, and one that allowed lighting director/designer Jeff Waful to shine. Having known Strangefolk since his days as a radio show host in Boston, Waful connected with original Strangefolk manager Brett Fairbrother who brought him in to do lights for the shows. Using the same light rig as he does with Umphrey’s McGee, Waful shifted from the frenetic playing of Umphrey’s to the more subdued sound, comparatively, of Strangefolk, continuing to evoke the mood the band was portraying.

Jeff Waful: There was a moment last night (Thursday 3/29) where they were in the middle of a big jam – very high energy with a soaring guitar solo, and Jon Trafton just sort of looked over at the rest of the band and nodded. When the one (first beat of the measure) came around, I went to a dark, pretty purple look because I was anticipating that they were going to bring it way down. Luckily they did and it was this big moment. I sort of got the chills.

Bassist Erik Glocker was the rock of the group, holding down the groove and keeping the flow moving between Luke and the guitarists throughout the whole run. Glocker’s tight bass work was a consistent force during each song and the interplay and communication displayed with Luke Smith provided a strong bass/drum connection, adding a level of consciousness to the shows that generated a proud response from the crowd. Factor in a third version of Rather Go Fishin’ and his trill to open the song was there and sparked the crowd into a frenzy of smiling dancers.

3/31 – State Theatre

Set One: Reuben’s Place, All The Same, Valhalla, Hildegard, Whatever, A Great Long While, Rather Go Fishin’, Dance

Set Two: Oxbow, Westerly, Faces, Elixir, Blue & Grey, Two Boys, So Far Gone, Far From Yourself, Neighbor, So Well

Encmore: Lines and Circles*

* – with Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

A Reuben’s Place opener, followed by All the Same and Valhalla were three classic songs that got things rolling. The rarer Hildegard, Trafton’s Whatever, Songbeard, Fishin’ and Dance made for the best set of the run, all fan-favorite songs perfect for the sold-out crowd that was brimming with intensity. If the first set was for the fans then the second set was for the band. Oxbow, Blue and Grey, and Far From Yourself were peppered with Elixir, Two Boys, So Far Gone and So Well – a wide sampling of songs from their catalog written at different points in their career that each brought broad smiles to both band members and the crowd. An encore of Lines and Circles brought immense cheers but the interlude of Swing Low Sweet Chariot was out of the blue, surprising even Trafton for a moment, but the audience felt it and the drive kicked in. Reid’s classic move into a spoken word piece out of left field is always interesting and was welcome even as the show wound down. Reid’s uncanny ability to pull from his mental music library and throw a musical curveball the audience’s way has been consistent throughout his time in Strangefolk.

Luke Smith: I was certainly humbled (by the fan response); I focused on what I had to do. Having fans there, it’s just incredible to have such a supportive fanbase. I wasn’t prepared to look up and see the crowd; it was an incredibly powerful experience. I remembered how supportive and kind our fan base is/was from the previous incarnation of the group; it was fantastic to have that response.

Closing

Having overcome a 12 year gap through practice, patience and rehearsal, as well as setting aside personal differences, the Strangefolk shows overshadowed any reunion I have seen, save Phish in 2009. Hanging on to every note, dancing to every tune, taking it all in and enjoying the moment – that was the key to these four days in New England.

Fortunately, this was not a one-off run of shows for the reunited group. Only after the four shows ended, as they only wanted to focus on this week (as Luke noted, “it was worthy of our total attention”), the group confirmed late Sunday night that they would play Gathering of the Vibes July 20-22 in Bridgeport, CT. Just announced this week is another show titled Edge of Eden on August 11th in Burlington on Lake Champlain’s waterfront. They will also be playing StrangeCreek Festival over Memorial Day weekend with the regular lineup (Trafton, Lawton, Glockler, Montgomery and Scott), so fans have a chance to take in multiple sets and lineups of Strangefolk that will bring smiles to the audience and leave little doubt that one of the best bands to come out of Vermont in the past 20 years is back and ready to rekindle the magic.

PAGE THREE = 22 Videos From The Strangefolk Reunion