Spafford swung through the Mesa Theater in Grand Junction, Colorado Wednesday night. The Arizona-based quartet delivered a three-song second set for the Western Slope audience.
Spafford kicked things off with “Eternity.” The ’90s-style alt-rocker has yet to appear on a Spafford album but has featured as a live staple since its debut in March 2015. After bringing “Eternity” to a close, the band got into the light and airy intro to the instrumental “Ginger Stardust.” A newer song, “Ginger Stadust” saw its debut last fall. Toward the end the tune took a funky turn, heralding the instrumental “Funkadelic,” which was also a harbinger of the improvisation to come. Spafford closed out the first frame with their cover of the Grateful Dead’s “Feel Like A Stranger.”
Spafford got their three-song set underway with another instrumental, “It’s A Bunch,” and in this case it was a bunch of minutes, stretching to over 35. After playing through the song’s composed progression, a triumphant bit of soling from guitarist Brian Moss led the band into a major groove that built slowly before dropping into a funky section laced with clav from keyboardist Andrew “Red” Johnson. Moss took over again for another crescendo before he and drummer Nick Tkachyk led everyone into the shuffling twang of “Memphis In The Meantime.” The John Hiatt classic has been a live staple of the band since its Spafford debut in 2014. “MITM” then jammed — led by bounding bass lines from Jordan Fairless — into the Spafford classic “People,” which, after more exploration, included a rollicking ending to cap off the set.
Another Spafford classic, “Beautiful Day,” would bring the evening to a close. Listen to full-show audio taped by Barrett Miller below:
Setlist via Spaffnerds
Set One: Eternity, Ginger Stardust > Funkadelic > Feel Like A Stranger
Set Two: It’s A Bunch > Memphis In The Meantime > People
Encore: Beautiful Day
