Greensky Bluegrass celebrated “Casual Wednesday” with a special show last night at the Midtown Ballroom in Bend, Oregon featuring special guests keyboardist Holly Bowling and guitarist Pete Kartsounes. A portion of last night’s second set saw some members of the band switch instruments and included a debut cover of Phish’s “Lawn Boy.”
The quintet went at it alone for the first set in Bend. “Can’t Stop Now” opened and was followed by rarity “Grow Bananas.” Next came the recently debuted original “Absence of Reason” along with staples “Blood Sucking F(r)iends” and “All Four.” Greensky continued with All For Money standout “Do It Alone,” oldie “The Radio Blues” and a rollicking “Miss September.” A +12-minute “Courage For The Road” capped the set.
Greensky Bluegrass was joined by Holly Bowling for last night’s second set and encore. An expansive “Lose My Way” got the set underway after dobroist Anders Beck thanked the keyboardist for touring with the band recently. Then, “6reensky” dug in on the beloved “Jaywalking” and the Dave Bruzza-fronted “Murder Of Crows.” Next, mandolinist Paul Hoffman led his bandmates and Bowling on a “Last Winter In The Copper Country” that featured a long and impressive jam.
The concert continued with Anders Beck providing “Casual Wednesday” narration as Hoffman picked up an acoustic guitar, Bruzza moved behind a drum set and Devol swapped his typical upright bass for an electric model. Beck revealed last night was GSBG’s final Wednesday night concert of the year. “Certain days of the week, I find that things change around for the better,” Anders said. “I’m not sure if you all know about ‘Casual Wednesday,’ but if you don’t you got two options. You can rejoice at the mother fucking fact that it’s ‘Casual Wednesday’ or you can walk your ass right out that fucking door,” the dobroist added as the band vamped on the song.
Anders went on to introduce the members of the ensemble and provided some stats regarding Wednesdays. He then noted Phish keyboardist Page McConnell has been alive for 3,052 “Casual Wednesdays” before the musicians launched into “Lawn Boy.” Beck sang the loungey title track from Phish’s 1990 studio album while Devol took a solo towards the end of the cover debut. Greensky then reprised “Casual Wednesday” with Anders successfully egging the audience to sing along.
GSBG and Bowling remained in their new formation for fan-favorite “I’d Probably Kill You” and a cover of Billy Joel’s “Big Shot,” last played on August 2, 2019 — a span of 118 shows. A pairing of “Old Barns” and an 18-minute “Leap Year” brought the set to a close. Bend’s own Pete Kartsounes helped Holly and Greensky Bluegrass end the night with a “Shakedown Street” encore. The jamgrass act hadn’t performed the Grateful Dead cover since October 25, 2017.
Watch last night’s “Shakedown Street” encore shared in the wrong orientation by GSBG:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CWaSDailsIg/
https://www.instagram.com/p/CWbHjl_P5pM/
Setlist (via PT GSBG)
Set One: Can’t Stop Now, Grow Bananas, Absence of Reason, Blood Sucking F(r)iends, All Four, Do It Alone, The Radio Blues, Miss September, Courage for the Road
Set Two: Lose My Way [1], Jaywalking [1], Murder of Crows [1], Last Winter in the Copper Country [1], Casual Wednesday [1,2] > Lawn Boy [1,2,3] > Casual Wednesday [1,2], I’d Probably Kill You [1,2], Big Shot [1,2], Old Barns [1,2], Leap Year [1,2]
Encore: Shakedown Street [1,2,4]
- [1] – w/ Holly Bowling (keys)
- [2] – w/ Paul on acoustic guitar, Devol on electric bass, Bruzza on drums
- [3] – Debut, Phish
- [4] – w/ Pete Kartsounes (electric guitar)
