By: Andrea Myers
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Curtiss A at the 26th Annual John Lennon Tribute at First Avenue - Photo by David de Young (Click here for full gallery of photos from this show)
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Local legend Curtiss A took a swooning group of local music fans and performers on a grand magical mystery tour for the 26th Annual John Lennon Tribute at First Avenue.
As Curtiss A so succinctly stated toward the beginning of the show, the annual event originated out of two main motivations: to mourn a tragedy and to celebrate a man’s life. Both goals were accomplished many times over throughout the night, as Curtiss A (Curt Almsted) and a revolving cast of aging local musicians cycled through a rigorous four and a half hour set, casting light on every aspect of Lennon’s varied musical career.
As many local scenesters already know, seeing a performance by Curtiss A is a unique and memorable experience. Right off the bat he appeared so comfortable on stage that he neared irreverence, barely acknowledging the fact that he was playing to an overflowing crowd of people. He keeps his hair cut in a shaggy pale grey mop-top that swings and flies with the flick of his neck, and for the occasion he was dressed in a vintage black suit.
The evening started out with a bang with a rousing rendition of “(Just Like) Starting Over,” rumored to be the song Almsted was listening to when he heard the news of Lennon’s death, which transitioned quickly into “Revolution” and then flowed into a mile-long set list of one Lennon favorite after another.
The show was divided up into distinct sections, which can be catagorized generally as Early Beatles, Psychadelic Beatles, and Lennon’s solo career. The opening section was a somewhat shaky, emotional set of tunes out of the Rubber Soul time period and two songs off Anthology, followed by a solid ten songs mostly off of Sgt. Pepper’s and The Magical Mystery Tour. The longer they played, it seemed, the more comfortable the musicians became with each other. The highlight of the first segment was the oh-so-psychedelic trio of “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” “Strawberry Fields Forever” (complete with dreamy flute part), and “I Am The Walrus.”
It’s difficult to determine who was on stage during what numbers, as there were anywhere from 8 to 14 people on stage at any one given time and they rotated quickly and frequently. I can say with certainty, however, that at points during the concert Almsted shared the stage with Steve Brantseg, Vick Johnson, Jeffrey Wilkomm, and Terry Isachson on guitar; Rusty Jones on a beautiful Hofner bass; Steve Thieles and John Haga on drums; and Greg Inhofer on keyboard
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Steve Brantseg
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The next portion of the concert was mostly dominated by material off of The White Album and Abbey Road, and was the most technically sound part of the evening. Many songs during this part of the set turned into audience sing-alongs, including a great version of “Happiness is a Warm Gun.”
At set break (the first set consisted of 25 full-length tunes and a few teasers) Almsted gave perhaps the most hilarious legalization speech I have heard yet, which was punctuated by the statement, “whether you believe in intelligent design or evolution, it doesn’t matter - somebody up there wants us to smoke weed.”
The second half of the concert delved deeper into songs that were written solely by Lennon, beginning with the obligatory combo of “Give Peace a Chance” and “Power to the People,” which featured Almsted screaming at the top of his lungs to “Get that fucking Bush out, now!” It seemed appropriate enough for him to incorporate political messages into the songs, enough so that it was barely noticeable above all of the other political dominated lyrics of parts of Lennon’s solo career.
The crowd was treated to a rare performance by (almost all of) the original ensemble that performed at the first tribute show back in 1980, whom Almsted introduced as “Rusty, Tim, Jim, Slim, and Him,” which included the infamous Slim Dunlap and members of Safety Last. After hours of being pounded by a wall of sound, it was nice to see the stage bared down a bit to the group of six men, and they performed excellent renditions of “I’ll Cry Instead” and “I’m a Loser.”
One of my favorite elements of the show was the fact that a few of the musicians invited their kids either up on stage or onto the sidelines to take part in the action (and by kids I mean people around my age or a few years younger - at 22 I felt like a child in this crowd). A younger lad named Ian, the son of one of the guitar players, was invited to play guitar and add harmonies on “Nowhere Man,” while a few other young folk hung stage left and clung onto the band’s every musical innuendo. It seemed fitting to begin the process of passing the torch; even in its 26th year the tribute show tradition seems to be gaining momentum and fans.
The encore was another set of seven songs that seemed to bleed into one another as a giant medley. The encore began with a unique and almost odd performance of “Imagine,” which featured Almsted delivering the lyrics in a half spoken-word, half shouting manner that simultaneously reminded me of William Shatner and Zach de la Rocha.
By the end, I was amazed that the excitement and electric energy from the beginning of the evening was still pulsating through the room, and that I had just witnessed someone of Almsted’s age perform so energetically for such an exorbitant amount of time. In a way, I don’t think that this event could ever occur on a night other than December 8. There was a very noticeable sense of other-worldly force in the room, a spirit that was channeled through the voices and guitars of the men onstage into the rushing blood of every awestruck spectator in the building. And that’s just not something that happens every day.
Curtiss A and Friends John Lennon Tribute Show set list, (The Longest Set List I Have Ever Recorded):
1. (Just Like) Starting Over
2. Revolution
3. Free As A Bird
4. And Your Bird Can Sing
5. Real Love
6. The Word
7. Across the Universe
8. Instant Karma! (All Shine On)
9. She Said, She Said
10. Tomorrow Never Knows
11. A Day In The Life --> We Can Work It Out --> A Day In The Life
12. Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
13. Strawberry Fields
14. I Am The Walrus
15. Glass Onion
16. Sexy Sadie
17. Dear Prudence
18. The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill
19. Happiness is a Warm Gun
20. Hey Bulldog
21. Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey
22. Come Together
23. I Want You (She’s So Heavy)
-set break-
24. Give Peace a Chance
25. Power to the People
26. Isolation --> Maybe I’m Amazed
27. Cold Turkey
28. Many Rivers to Cross
29. I’ll Cry Instead
30. I’m a Loser
31. You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away
32. It’s Only Love
33. Ticket to Ride
34. Help!
35. Nowhere Man
36. Rain
37. All My Life
38. Hard Day’s Night
39. No Reply
40. I’ll Be Back
41. Anytime at All
42. You Can’t Do That
43. Tell Me Why
44. It Won’t Be Long
45. All I’ve Got to Do
46. This Boy
47. I Want to Hold Your Hand
48. She Loves You
49. From Me to You
50. Please Please Me
51. You Really Got a Hold on Me
52. Please Mr. Postman
53. Money (That’s What I Want)
54. Twist And Shout
-encore-
55. Imagine
56. Ain’t She Sweet
57. I Saw Her Standing There
58. Slow Down
59. Bad Boy
60. Rock ‘n’ Roll Music
61. My Bonnie
Location Info:
First Avenue
Artist Info: Curtiss A
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