Ry Cooder at Great American Music Hall, July 20, 2018

Slim's presents Ry Cooder featuring the Hamiltones NC; and opener Robert Francis
Great American Music Hall
859 O'Farrell Street, San Francisco, CA 94109-7005 USA
8:00 PM, Friday, July 20, 2018

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[7:59 PM lights down, announcements, RF out alone]

1. [8:00 PM] Dark Windows
2. [8:06 PM] the Other Side of Heaven
3. [8:11 PM] Modoc County
4. [8:20 PM] I've Been Meaning to Call
   [set ends 8:26 PM]

• Robert Francis: acoustic guitar, harmonica, vox.

[8:45 PM lights down, SG out alone, playing a Saxello, a ?Conn-o-sax, or a Stritch (straight alto saxophone), joined by Ry on a Gibson hollow body guitar + glass slide after about 30 seconds]

1. [8:45 PM] Nobody's Fault But Mine
   [Add band; Ry swaps to black Fender Stratocaster + glass slide; SG swaps to bass saxophone]
2. [8:52 PM] Everybody Ought to Treat a Stranger Right
   [Ry swaps to blue Fender, SG swaps to alto saxophone]
3. [8:58 PM] Straight Street
   [Ry swaps back to the black fender + glass slide]
4. [9:04 PM] Alimony
   [Ry puts away the slide; SG switches from alto to bass saxophone part way through the next tune]
5. [9:11 PM] The Very Thing That Makes You Rich
   [Ry off for brief respite; Lelo on guitar]
6. [9:18 PM] Highway 74 (Hamiltones)
   [Ry back, playing a black Gibson]
7. [9:23 PM] Gotta Be Loving Me (Hamiltones)
   [All off but Ry, who swaps back to the Gibson hollow body guitar + slide]
   [Ry takes awhile to tell the Concern app story]
8. [9:30 PM] Vigilante Man
   [Ry swaps to an acoustic guitar, tells Heaven story; add GP: piano]
9. [9:40 PM] Jesus and Woody
   [Band back, Ry swaps to ?cittern; SG: alto sax; GP: harmonium]
10. [9:47 PM] You Must Unload >
11. [9:54 PM] Jesus on the Mainline
    [Ry swaps back to the black Stratocaster]
12. [10:00 PM] How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?
    [Ry introduces the band]
13. [10:10 PM] The Prodigal Son
    [Ry swaps back to the black Gibson; Lelo picks up guitar too, takes the first solo]
14. [10:18 PM] Little Sister
    [set ends 10:22 PM; all off in a minute or so]
    
    Encore
    [Back in a minute; Ry on blue Fender guitar]
15. [10:24 PM] Go Home Girl
16. [10:31 PM] I Can't Win (Hamiltones)
    [show ends 10:36 PM; off in a minute, lights up]

• Ry Cooder: guitar, slide guitar, acoustic guitar, electric cittern or mandola, vox;
• Joachim Cooder: drums, percussion;
• Robert Francis: bass;
• Sam Gendel: alto saxophone, bass saxophone, unidentified saxophone, effects;
• Glenn Patscha: piano, keyboards, harmonium.

the Hamiltones NC

• 2E: lead & harmony vox;
• Tony Lelo: guitar (t07, t14), lead & harmony vox;
• J. Vito: lead & harmony vox.

• We arrived at GAMH about 7:10 PM after a tough slog across the bay bridge to find at least 100 folks ahead of us in line. Drat!
• Couldn't get a seat on the floor (many of the tables were reserved, and the rest of the seats went to the folks ahead of us in line). Managed to wedge into a spot at the front of the SRO crowd, in line with the inside of the PA hanging from Stage Left.
• Standing around for about an hour before the show? Torture!
• Ry was standing around watching the crowd from the stage monitor area hard at stage left; I spotted Henry Kaiser there too for a moment or two. Joachim came out into the crowd and greeted a few folks.
• Folks were remarkably respectful of Robert Francis during his opening set. I thought his tunes were OK, though not necessarily the sort of stuff I'll seek out.
• Break was mercifully short. Did I mention that it was torture standing in place in the crush of peons behind the floor tables?
• Ry's set started off with Sam Gendel laying down some breathy, atmospheric wind tones from a large, mostly straight saxophone run through a battery of effects. I'm guessing it was a stritch – a straight alto – but it could have been something stranger. Couldn't find anything about it on the web. Wish I'd taken a picture, since that would help with the ID!
• Overall, I was really pleased with the set, which struck a good balance between sharing new tunes (and covers) off Ry's recent (May) release, Prodigal Son and stone classics from his earlier discography.
• With the passing of the great Terry Evans earlier this year, the Hamiltones NC were the wild-card replacement, offering deep Gospel groove and soulful harmonies to many of the tunes tonight.
• Ry seemed darn chatty tonight, telling us a couple stories, and sort-of-ranting about the sad state of affairs in America today.
• Outside after the show, I overheard one or two folks commenting that they were glad to have attended, even though the sets were largely (?exactly) the same. One woman mentioned that she thought the crowd was more passionate last night, whatever that means.
• Looks like I should try and sell my Sunday Napa tix: I liked the show plenty, but I don't really need to hear the same thing again so soon.

Big thanks to Ting for the photo gallery!

Whoa! This section is incomplete for now, sorry!

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2018 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2018 event list! ☸ On to the next event!