By: Joe Lang
 |
Let’s get a couple things out of the way. Béla Fleck and the members of his band, known as the Flecktones, are some of the most creative, technically advanced and broadminded musicians on the planet. Fleck has elevated the banjo to heights unprecedented and put it into situations uncharted with other kindred and open-minded musicians and virtuosi.
The same can be said of Victor Wooten. His approach to bass was first showcased to the world in 1989 on “The Sinister Minister.” Aside from perhaps Jaco Pastorious, or Larry Graham, no one has brought what can be done on the bass further ahead than Wooten—his technical grandeur is untouched. Jeff Coffin is one of the leading sax players of his generation, along with frontrunners like Karl Denson, Joshua Redman and Mark Turner. As for Roy “Future Man” Wooten, he’s the only musician on the planet to play the Synth-Axe Drumitar (like it or not), putting him into a category by himself. Simply put, there is a reason I’ve traveled miles to see the band; they are a huge inspiration and measuring stick for me as a musician and when the band is on, they are capable of soaring highs live. Credit goes to Sue Mclean for bringing this group and other ecumenical musicians at her Zoo shows, and other venues throughout the year.
Unfortunately, for me, the best way to describe their show was boring. It could have been my expectations going in: I wasn’t terribly enthused with what I’d seen of the band’s set lists on the tour and I’ve been incredibly underwhelmed by the group’s last album, the Grammy-winning The Hidden Land. I probably would have been content taking off shortly after the first set.
One of the chief problems with the set was the pacing. The group started with a tune off their 2003 Little Worlds album, “Sleeper.” Rather ironic. I’m pretty sure it’s not really a good idea to start off a set with a tune called “Sleeper,” but it set the tone for the evening. After finishing the mid-tempo tune, they jumped into the slightly more up-tempo “P’lod in the House,” from the Hidden Land, with some more aggressive percussion from Future Man. Again, the quartet took it down for the ballad dedicated to nerds, “Poindexter.” Afterwards, the group jumped into one of the stronger pieces from their newest album, “Labyrinth,” which had Coffin laying down some very nice flute lines and blowing some furious tenor, setting the bar for charisma and interest in his solos. Unfortunately, no one else really stepped up. Afterwards, Wooten took the stage for his trademark bass loop solo. Had I not seen it several times before, I might have been more into it, but it seemed like a rather lackadaisical and brief showing of his bag of tricks, including his masterful double thumb technique. In fairness (as is often the case with Wooten), it grooved, and I guess that’s the most important part. After a nice treat of “Frontiers” from the 1990 first album by the group, the set ended and the audience was treated to a completely unnecessary breather.
<>A short time later Future Man returned to the stage for a solo on the drums and the Roy-El Piano—some strange instrument allegedly tuned to the elements of the periodic table. This portion of the Flecktones’ show is one in which I’ve never been particularly interested, but eventually Béla showed up and the two did a little interplay before Coffin and Wooten came back to the stage and jumped into “Kaleidoscope,” followed by “Misunderstood,” again, a couple of mid-tempo newer pieces.
The rest of the set was a change for the better in terms of energy and song choice. The band took on “Big Country,” from the Left of Cool album. Although I love the song, the vibe just wasn’t there, even though the crowd (of largely first timers) was eating the whole thing up. The highlight of the show came as the band ripped into “Subterfuge,” which highlighted Béla with a distorted rock sound that culminated with a cover of The Beatles’ “Come Together.” The audience was then instructed by Wooten to “put on their listening ears” as Fleck performed solo. Fleck’s solo, to be fair, was quite nice with pieces of “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” and “Ballad of Jed Clampett.” The group came back for an encore of “Earth Jam,” followed by the low key “Shanti” and called it a night.
After a check of the Flecktones’ website for a set list, I saw I wasn’t the only one who felt short-changed. One poster (BigMax) who said he was a long time fan who’d waited with eager anticipation of the show had a similar reaction. “I am long time fan of the group. This is the 6th (sic) time I’ve seen them live…. However, they played the entire show with no enthusiasm, passion or drive. And if you’re going play non-melodic music it has to be done well, it was not!”
I’ll still check the group out next time they come through because I know of what they are capable. But knowing that, the show just wasn’t up to par from what I expect of such transcendent musicians.
Location Info:
Minnesota Zoo Amphitheater
Artist Info: Bela Fleck and The Flecktones
Share this story:
Article comments powered by Disqus