Greensky Bluegrass at the Beacon Theatre

Banjoist Michael Arlen Bont, guitarist Dave Bruzza, and mandolin player Paul Hoffman were newcomers to the bluegrass scene in 2000 when they formed Greensky Bluegrass in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The band began by playing living rooms and open mic nights across America's midwest. By 2005, the band was touring nationally. In 2006, Greensky Bluegrass won the Telluride Bluegrass Festival Band Competition, earning the band a spot on the main stage of the 2007 festival, which in turn led to a series of annual appearances. Bassist Mike Devol joined the band in 2004 and dobro player Anders Beck in 2007, completing the present quintet. Greensky Bluegrass will released its seventh studio album, All for Money, on January 18, 2019.

The light show and the high volume was designed for a rock concert. For the most part, however, the Greensky Bluegrass concert tonight at the Beacon Theatre was indeed a bluegrass performance, but with a musical vision so broad that the set included hoedown adaptations of Pink Floyd, Paul Simon and Allman Brothers Band songs. Throughout the two sets, the five musicians brought the acoustic stomp of a string band, foregoing a drummer and yet aggressively rocking a full-throttle energetic performance. The mellower songs, fewer in number, became acoustic think pieces. No one member dominated the spotlight; all songs pivoted on a free-soaring array of solos, extending songs like "Leap Year" beyond 15 minutes. Songs from the new album kept this spirit alive, assuring the audience that the band remained committed to its thickly padded bluegrass core but continued exploring beyond the traditional framework that previously defined bluegrass. The musicians' combined ingenuity and creativity will make Greensky Bluegrass the hybrid band for bluegrass fans to experience live for years to come.

Setlist

Set 1:

1. Demons
2. What You Need (with Guido Batista on vibraslap)
3. Wings for Wheels (>) Time (Pink Floyd cover) (>) Breathe (Reprise) (Pink Floyd cover)
4. Kerosene
5. Ashes
6. Leap Year
7. Do It Alone

Set 2:

1. All for Money
2. Past My Prime
3. More of Me
4. Gumboots (Paul Simon cover)
5. Steam Powered Aereo Plane (John Hartford cover, with lyric change “high above New York City”)
6. Murder of Crows
7. I'd Probably Kill You (with Billy Strings lyric change)
8. Don't Lie (with Mountain Jam tease)

Encore:

1. Midnight Rider (The Allman Brothers Band cover)