Time sure does fly by! I couldn't believe it was already time for the Kinfolk Celebration again. This is the time of every year when those of us who do street team duties for Yonder get to come and hang out and meet the band before the show. This year we met up with Amanda and Jason, and Tim and Lori. I also got to finally meet some of Tim and Lori's friends, Alison and Dale. This Kinfolk party seemed better organized than the last couple of years, and was less crowded and provided better snacks. I love Starburst, but maybe putting one in your mouth right before talking to Dave isn't a good idea. I was trying not to have candy drool running down my chin the whole time we talked. Oh well.
As always, Jeff, Dave, Ben, and Adam were incredibly nice and easy to talk to. We got a couple pictures and had our Boulder Theater 2008 poster signed. I also ran into Danny Barnes backstage. I didn't know if he remembered me from Midwest Banjo Camp, but he did! He saw me the night before in the balcony and remembered who I was. I am just so grateful to have him touring with Yonder. It did feel a little weird, however, that not all our friends were back there. We definitely missed having them with us, but we soon met up with them on the floor.
We found our places on the rail and made sure to save plenty of room for our friends. Soon it was me, Colin, Tim, Lori, Dale, Alison, Loren, Anitra, Josh, Chelsea, Andrew, Jason, Amanda, Michael, Annie, Zach, Stray, Carrie, Daniel, and a few others that we know up front.
Danny Barnes played a 45 minute set with Mike Bub (who used to play with Del McCoury) on bass. Danny has his Macbook set up on stage and plays most of his songs with a drum track. I had heard people saying they didn't like this, but I really enjoyed it. Danny is such a different type of musician. His music reaches through many different influences and he has such a blast playing it for people. He engages with the audience and will usually play a couple requests.
Yonder came out and played a very high energy show. This was their sound engineer, Ben Hines' 1,000th show with the band, and each member had a Hines 1K shirt on. At the end of the 1st set they sandwiched Highway to Hell inside Rambler, specially for Hines. During the set break, a screen was lowered in front of the curtains and played a photo montage for Ben Hines, while the band sat with him at the soundboard and presented him with a trophy.
Ironically, the night that the sound man celebrates having 1,000 shows with a band, the PA system blew during the 1st song of the 2nd set. The band almost immediately came to the lip of the stage and played the rest of Illinois Rain directly in front of us. This was a treat! I just wish people could be quiet and listen when a band plays unplugged, but large crowds with many drunk people cannot be expected to keep quiet.
Unfortunately, the crowd almost ruined the show for me and many of my friends. There were so many young, drunk, and disrespectful people that would not quit pushing and harassing many of us. I understand a lot of people want to be in the front row, and that's why we put so much effort into getting in line before anyone else in order to get our spot. A lot of folks don't understand this and get angry when we won't let them push us out of the way and away from our friends or spouses. Get there early and you'll get your spot!
The highlights for me were Midwest Gospel Radio, Illinois Rain, Going Where They Do Not Know My Name (w/Danny), Dawn's>Riverside, and Roll on Blues. What a night!
Danny Barnes opened
Darol Anger sat in on fiddle for whole show.
Kinfolk Celebration 2009
Set I: Boatman, Raleigh and Spencer, Town, Another Day, Mental Breakdown, Southbound, Pockets, Bloody Mary Morning, Eli Renfro, Midwest Gospel Radio, If There's Still Ramblin in the Rambler>Highway to Hell>If There's Still Ramblin in the Rambler
Set II: Illinois Rain, Catch a Criminal, Rain Still Falls, Belle Parker, Going Where They Do Not Know My Name*, Mother's only Son*, Queen of the Earth*, Dawn's Early Light> Follow Me Down To The Riverside> Out of the Blue
Encore: Roll on Blues, Goodbye Blue Sky
*w/Danny Barnes
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