RECAP: 12.04.2010

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On 12.4, Chance Fisher played my favorite show of 2010. Filling most of the set with big jam vehicles, the band was on a mission and played some of the biggest jams we have heard all year. From O Jeremiah->Cosmic Dirigible till the very last note of Chemical Parade, Chance Fisher played with vigor and an urgency that I haven’t heard in awhile. Likely motivated by 12.4 possibly being the penultimate Chance Fisher concert, the band played with strength and concocted a set that is a highlight from start to finish.

Opening with O Jeremiah, the band opened with the jaunting blues rocker before starting the jam at around 3:26. It starts out slowly, with Jud building a solo around the rest of the band. Soon AKelly locks onto some of Jud’s lines and there is a nice build in the jam. Jud and AKelly seemed to be very locked into each other on this night. At 6:30 there is a nice tension-and-release section of the jam as it cools down into a fast, funky groove around 7:30. Staccato lines by Jud accent the jam while Sam/Joel/AKelly keep the pocket held down. Nice peak around 8:30 as the band is really communicating well with each other. At around 9:00 another build starts, AKelly begins to stick out just as much as Jud as he chords in the background over Jud’s leads. At around 10:41 this build changes and slows into an ambient-section where Jud loops sounds over top of the sonic brew building underneath him. At around 11:50 this sounds as if it could segue into Squash Anyone. Instead, AKelly starts the chords to Cosmic Dirigible (still in rhythm with the jam) – the rest of the band catches on, and a smooth segue is complete at 12:15.

The funk of Cosmic Dirigible takes off and we are launched into the song with ease – the composed section of the song is well performed. The jam starts at 5:15 as we are treated to syncopated funk grooves. This Cosmic definitely has more “bounce” than usual. Jud and AKelly play wah-drenched funk riffs with an extra playfulness here. While this song can sometimes feel a bit boring to me, this version is better than usual. 8:40 starts a really engaging section involving AKelly and Sam and a melody which almost sounds like a funked-out version of It Was a Good Day by Ice Cube which CF covered 1.21.10. At about 10:00, the jam goes back to regular Jud soloing for a bit before peaking. Overall, this is a very, very good version of Cosmic, and this was a fantastic way to start the show.

After a break in Blueberry Pie, we are treated to what is one of my biggest highlights of this show and the second half of 2010 in general: Dead Flowers->Old Town Manitoba->Dead Flowers.

Dead Flowers started off in its normal country-rock styling. I really enjoy this cover by itself, and this rendition was no exception. The jam starts at 3:00 as Jud solos for a couple minutes before, at around 6:00, the jam slows and darkens into a slower, driving beat. At around 6:50, Joel drives the beat for Old Town Manitoba, and slowly the rest the band catches on and completes the transition.

The verses of Old Town Manitoba are played well, and the jam starts around 5:33 with dark Jud-AKelly interplay. This jam growls with opaque vehemence from the start, as the entire band seems to be locked into this aphotic, post-apocalyptic groove. At 9:04, Jud starts to add more intricate melodic leads to the musical stew. AKelly follows him, playing a hypnotizing melody which only adds to the murky darkness surrounding this jam. By 10:00, AKelly is playing lead as the rest of the band builds the dismal sound around him. By 12:00, this jam still isn’t letting up by any means; Joel adds more fills as the four-headed beast changes direction momentarily.

At 13:00, Jud begins to lead the band into a major-key Dead Flowers jam. At 14:20, the major-key jam has changed into a more ambient, dulcet sound, apart from any particular song. This leads into a gorgeous section of space which opens itself quite gracefully after the foreboding darkness of the previous jam. At 16:20, we are dropped gently from space back into Dead Flowers where this musical journey began. The return into Dead Flowers is beautifully done as Jud’s wailing arpeggios careen towards the chorus. The band sings through the chorus one last time and the entire Dead Flowers->Old Town Manitoba->Dead Flowers section of the show clocks in at 25:16. This section serves to be one of my favorite moments of the show.

Out of the end of Dead Flowers comes AKelly’s piano intro to Square Root of One, my favorite of the newer songs and a fantastic new jam vehicle. The composed section was well-played and the jam starts out at 4:40. While I would usually expect more dulcet, ambient playing in this song, this rendition surprised me. While it does start out in that mode for the first minute or so, at around 6:36 this jam changes on a dime from slow, gentle playing to Cosmic-like funk grooves. This Square Root of One pops as the whole band joins in on the funk jam. At 8:31 the jam begins to build a bit more with Jud leading the jam. At 9:50 Jud is playing with a tone on his guitar which sounds like something out of a Tom Morello solo. At 10:50 Jud begins to play low, dark rhythmic lines on his guitar while AKelly begins to lead the jam for a couple bars. AKelly and Jud show great communication in this section as it seems they are finishing each other lines. A full band build begins around 12:00 as you can hear the tension up until 12:15 when they release the build. This leads to a nice peak at 12:40 before it gets funky around 13:00. After a few bars, the band reprises Square Root of One around 14:00 and the song concludes at 16:00.

Atrophy Road served as a breather after the last 40+ minutes of improvisation, before opening up another jam vehicle in the key of Schizo.

I was glad to see Schizo on this setlist and this rendition certainly did not disappoint. Starting the tune with its usual mid-tempo swing, the verses are run through quickly before the jam starts at 2:40 with a collage of looped notes, before welcoming us to more mid-tempo swing. AKelly plays a nice jazz-styled solo here before Jud enters with more subtle lines around 4:10. This first section of the jam builds nicely with tension-and-release. At 6:14, things start to get more interesting as the jam moves from typical Schizo-territory into more uncharted territory. At 6:50 Jud is playing broken funk chords overtop AKelly’s soloing. At around 8:00 the jam gets more dissonant as Jud and AKelly’s lines juxtapose and collide with one another. 8:30, a cool ambient groove passes through before a funkier section follows around 9:30. While this jam is rather long-winded at times, it certainly does have its special moments and its long-windedness is one of my favorite aspects of the song. At 10:10, we are being pushed into an open kaleidoscope of sound, immersed into this deep velvet space until, at 11:00, the band pushes its way out of the ambience and returns to more tension and release. The whole band peaks around 12:08. At 12:30, the entire band is locked in to one another as Jud starts playing a low melody on his guitar. At 13:00, this blossoms into another idea which is built upon up until 13:45 where we are brought back into Schizo. At this point, the jam once again departs into a more dischordant section. At 14:30, the jam is rather dark and slowed down from its normal tempo. This leads to an almost Black Sabbath-sounding groove for a bit, as Jud solos overtop the slowed down groove. At 16:16, the mid-tempo swing returns as we are treated to a Sam-led solo section for a bit, until the band goes back into the song and Jud comes back in with the Schizo vocals at around 17:00. The band plays through the bridge and the song ends at 18:51.

A very cool and unique cover of Brown Eyed Women followed, and I have to say the band really nailed this song, especially vocally. Well done. The biggest jam and, in my opinion, the biggest highlight of the show came next in a spectacular version of Sun Guy.

Coming out of the space after Brown Eyed Women, Chance Fisher nailed the composed section of Sun Guy before starting the jam at 4:20 with up-tempo soloing. The band has come a long way in the first jam segment of this song, and this rendition is no exception. Chance Fisher nails the first half of this jam with ripping solos and plenty of full-band interplay and tension and release. The first 2 or 3 minutes of this jam fly by fast because the band is just ripping things up here. At 7:00, AKelly starts to make things a bit funkier as Jud adds fast riffs to complement his chords. Joel is heavily contributing here too, adding in big fills to follow the intensity of the jam. At 8:30, the jam sounds like it may be going into more dulcet territory as big organ washes overtake Jud’s gentle guitar playing. But slowly, at 9:10, Jud and AKelly pull the up-tempo jam into a major key, veering away from the expected Sun Guy reprise. At 10:25, the entire band is just really ripping this section apart, AKelly and Jud playing fast major chords while Sam serves as the main melody of the jam and Joel keeps the tempo. At 11:31, Jud lets loose again and the jam shifts into organ led up-tempo funk at 12:08. Very cool playing here, you can hear the whole band really digging into the funk and finding unique ways to add to the groove.

At 13:12, Jud departs from fast funk chords and starts playing more dissonant lines – AKelly catches on and slowly the band decreases tempo until it is building back up again at 13:51. A slinky, ambient-style of jamming is going on right now. At 14:40 Jud is repeating licks as Joel and Sam change tempos around his playing. At 15:16, the jam sounds like the space at the end of Old Town Manitoba earlier in the show. At 15:35, the entire band has slowed into a Godfather jam. Jud plays Godfather Theme teases while AKelly supports him with funky organ chords underneath a slow, swanky groove. This goes on for quite some time, and at 17:22 the jam begins to sound like a Schizo jam, as the band layers sound overtop the groove, leading to a very cool, but short build.

The funk returns at 18:14 as this jam sounds like it could segue into Cosmic Dirigible at any minute. Staccato funk riffs overtake the jam at 18:50 while ambient textures morph in and out of the jam. Another build comes at 20:10, which continues to build until the band incorporates the main Sun Guy theme into the build, reprising the song at 20:54. The song ends at 21:30. I am really impressed with this jam – it did a fantastic job of completely ridding itself of its structure, then going through many different musical segments before subtly bringing itself back to the chorus. I think I’ve finally found the Sun Guy which out-does 3.4.

The light-hearted, bluegrass romp of Apple Pie came next before the show concluded with a monster rendition of Chemical Parade to close the night out with a bang. Chemical Parade was one of the first Chance Fisher songs I really loved, so I’m glad to see the song get such a big treatment here. The band nailed the composition of this song, no flubs to my ear. The jam starts at 5:47. The band really takes their time in building the jam in this rendition. Every note is carefully framed; it seems the band is playing with extra special precaution around 8:00 - AKelly’s keyboard drones add a lush tone to the jam as the band continues to build the song. At 9:42, Jud is soloing a bit louder as the band pushes the jam further and further. Finally, at 11:11, the band is rushing towards the peak, galloping together at 11:45 as they peak the jam higher and higher, with more intensity each go-round. At 13:53, Jud departs from the traditional Chemical Parade outro and pushes the jam with some funky lead lines – AKelly follows suit and as Joel changes the beat at 14:10, the song is launched into a funk jam fit for something like Cosmic Dirigible. At around 15:20, the jam slows back into the normal Chemical Parade outro, and the song ends at 16:34.

Overall, 12.4 really was an incredible Chance Fisher show. Most of the night is spent on deep improvisation, with very few breathers in between. Throw in a great cover of Brown Eyed Women, and you have a fantastic Chance Fisher show. Highlights include: Cosmic Dirigible, Dead Flowers->Old Town Manitoba->Dead Flower Reprise, Square Root of One, Schizo, Brown Eyed Women, Sun Guy, Chemical Parade – the whole show. With this being possibly the penultimate Chance Fisher show, I just want to say thank you to Chance Fisher for all of the music. It’s been fun. I hope the very best for all of you guys. Cheers.

Set One:
O! Jeremiah->Cosmic Dirigible, Blueberry Pie, Dead Flowers->Old Town Manitoba->Dead Flowers (Reprise), Square Root of One, Atrophy Road, Schizo, Brown Eyed Women->Sun Guy, Apple Pie, Chemical Parade