Into Something Rich and Slightly Strange

I don't know about y'all, but I had a fantastic weekend. The first notable event came at roughly 5 o'clock on Friday evening when my workday ended. Hopping into my car, I hastily turned on WORT to catch the end of the Hootenanny. Dave Zero plas "Yeah Yeah" by The Revillos before abandoning the mic over to news. It's a good way to rock myself out of the parking ramp and on down Willy Street. A quick gyros at home and I was off to grab Christopher. I got a chance to meet Amber, his roommate, and her noisy bird. I'd thought that I'd met her previously at Mickey's where she tends bar, but I was wrong. Soon enough, we were out the door and on our way to Stoughton. It was a pleasant evening and a nice drive down. We found a spot on the main drag and headed over to the Opera House. Although Chris had been there before, I hadn't. I was in for a real treat. The place looks absotlutely gorgeous. Small and cozy, it has this almost antebellum look to it. We found our seats (front row center!) and began contemplating a reenactment of Lincoln's assassination with Pete starring as John Wilkes Booth. He'd have a wad of Copenhagen in his mouth and his ass crack would be hanging out as is his wont.

How Tempest got booked at the Stoughton Opera House is a bit beyond me. As other folks came in, it became apparent that we were very much on the young side of the crowd. A bunch of old farts filled in some seats on the sides. I presume that they just go down to the Opera House every Friday to take in whatever is there. After conceptualizing our assassination, I tried to convince Chris to join me in yelling out song titles. I figured we'd start off with "Nine Points of Roguery" and then work our way up to "Barrow Man". I wasn't too successful. Then, oddly enough, the show started only slightly later than advertised.

The band walked on stage and I took in the faces new & old. First the stalwarts. Leif Sorbye, founder and frontman, plugged in his double-neck electric mandolin as Adolfo Lazo took his seat behind the drum kit. Michael Mullen, clad in a stylish black Utilikilt unpacked his electric fiddle and checked out his array of effects pedals. There were also two new folks. Firstly, Ronan Carroll on electric guitar. Secondly and more eye-catching was Ariane Cap on bass. She wore a tight pants and an even tighter shirt. They greeted the audience and then went into "Nine Points of Roguery". (Well, I guess I could just skip to "Barrow Man" in my shouting.) It was a spirited performance but we could tell they were just warming up. After another song or two, things really got crazy. Mullen started running around like a chicken with its head cut off during his fiddle solos. Leif began jumping around. Curiously enough, Carroll, the guitarist, barely moved. Normally it's the bassist that stays in one place looking all bored and stoic while the guitar player scoots around with a contorted face. Everyone knows that bassists are supposed to be that way. John Entwhistle and Bill Wyman - they never moved and set the tone for bassists around the world in popular music. But it was Ariane that had that role. She jumped around and wandered to the front of the stage all the while holding down a groove. It didn't take long for Chris and I to notice that she was freeballin'. And that, as Martha Stewart would say, is a good thing.

The show had 2 sets with a brief intermission and went something like this:

Nine Points of Roguery
Jenny Nettles
Ye Jacobites By Name
Catalina Island
Old Man at the Mill
Coalminers
Tamosher
Green Grow the Rashes
The Karfluki Set
Top of the Hill
Bonden Og Kraka (The Farmer and the Crow)
ENCORE:
Masters of War
Dance of the Sand Witches

I have to say that this was one of best shows I've ever been to. It was just fun. There was only one point when the show approached seriousness and that was the first encore of "Masters of war". Otherwise, it was just a lot of good grooves and crazy jiggin' and reelin'. The last time I saw them was in 1996 at The Chamber (which is now the Opus Lounge or something equally yuppie-infested). The stage there was not particularly large but now they had room to roam and they took advantage of it. Mullen hopped and danced in circles around the stage, nearly running over everyone at least a few times. The energy was infectious. It's too bad I was basically stuck in my seat surrounded to sides by people and the foot of the stage in front of me because I really felt like wiggling my bum. In the middle of the first set (just after "Catalina Island", methinks) they performed a couple new songs. One of them was this incredible medley that began with a tune whose beat that was vaguely funky. Then it went into this bit that had the greener roots of Celtic folk. And then another one and another one. The whole bit lasted about 10 minutes. It was just awesome! Fantastic! All those adjectives that Deadheads use for their favorite performance of "Scarlet-->Fire"! When it was done, I got up and gave them a standing ovation because it just rawked!!

During the intermission, the old foggies bailed as it was obviously too loud and too electric for their hearing aids. We ended up oggling a womyn with large breasts on the balcony before starting a conversation with the couple who were sitting directly behind us. They were middle aged but were very impressed by them. The gentleman really remarked on how talented the guitar player was. His comment got me to pay more attention to him during the second set. He didn't move a lot and didn't have nice breasts like Ariane so I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to him. But once I started actively listening to him, I too became very impressed. It really impressed me how his guitar added muscle to the songs without ever being overbearing. There were only two or three instances the whole night in which a person walking in off the street not knowing anything about the band would think that he or she was listening to a hard rock/heavy metal band. His playing was tasteful, kinda sorta restrained yet it really had balls.

The second half was fantastic as well. They played the only song of the night that I knew, "Bonden Og Kraka (The Farmer and the Crow)". I also noticed that the womyn behind us with whom we had spoken was getting fired up as I could hear her clapping. In addition, I could feel the floor shaking from people stomping their feet. At one point, Mullen did his whirling dervish imitation and began spinning in cirlces as he played. His kilt began to creep upwards and the audience collectively held its breath. He stopped and ran off to the other end of the stage just before we could find out if he too were freeballin'. Towards the end, Sorbye had everyone get up so I started shaking my ass. Another 10 or 15 minutes medley of dances closed the set and everyone was into it. Ariane came out front which gave us a chance to see her erect nipple up close and personal while the rest of the band went out into the audience to do some grandstanding. They got a rousing cheer as they left the stage.

The first encore was just Leif on his electric mandolin doing "Masters of War". It was the only moment of the night that approached seriousness but it seemed appropriate as Bobby Z took the melody from an old song called "Nottamun Town". They finished the night off with "Dance of the Sand Witches". Again, everyone was standing and I was doing my best not to hip check Chris or the womyn standing next me while still shaking my ass.

After the band left the stage for the final time, I grabbed a copy of the set list from one of the monitors and we headed to the merchandise room. There, I bought a bumper sticker, t-shirt, and a copy of their most recent studio album, shapeshifter. I also chatted with Leif for a bit before getting his autograph. Then I met Michael and ended up having a lengthy conversation with him. He was very friendly and talkative. We chatted about the set, the life of the muso, Caliban, and various tunes from the set. Soon enough, the fun was over and it was back to Madtown.

On the way home I asked Chris what he'd thought of the show and I was relieved that he'd enjoyed it. In retrospect, how could he not have? I really must see Tempest again soon. Once every 9 years just doesn't cut it. Ideally, it would be outside too or just somewhere that I can stand and boogie.