Greensky Bluegrass Celebrates ‘Miércoles Casual’ & Plays All-Cover Set At Strings & Sol

Strings & Sol 2022 is currently underway at Sapphire & Dreams in Puerto Morelos, Mexico. Greensky Bluegrass, who along with Yonder Mountain String Band are considered the destination event’s co-hosts, played two of their three performances already. The jamgrass quintet took the main stage for a lengthy set on (Casual) Wednesday and went the all-cover route at the poolside gazebo on Thursday.

Greensky Bluegrass — mandolinist Paul Hoffman, dobroist Anders Beck, guitarist Dave Bruzza, bassist Mike Devol and banjoist Michael Bont — opened on Wednesday with a “Don’t Lie” sans intro that featured a “Grow Together” jam. Next, “Reasons To Stay” led into the pairing of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon classics “Time” and “Breathe Reprise.” The latter gave way to oldie “Demons” before the band looked to 2019’s All For Money for “Ashes.”

The set continued with double dobro action as Andy Hall of The Infamous Stringdusters emerged for “Worried About The Weather.” Greensky played “Bottle Dry” and then worked “New & Improved” within “Courage For The Road.” The day-appropriate “Casual Wednesday” came next. Anders Beck delivered his narration in Spanish as Hoffman sang the chorus as “Miércoles Casual.” Watch the first international “Casual Wednesday” below:

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“Casual Wednesday” bled into “What Happened To Jim?” ahead of “Bring Out Your Dead” complete with its typical “Before Bring Out Your Dead” intro. From there, GSBG performed “The Radio Blues” and dusted off a cover of Van Morrison’s “Into The Mystic” for the first time since May 30, 2021 — a span of 121 shows. The five-piece closed the frame with the beloved “Living Over.”

Greensky played an hour-long set filled with mostly rare covers for Strings & Sol attendees at the pool yesterday afternoon. The all-covers set came after the band began the year by embarking on a winter tour featuring setlists consisting exclusively of originals. GSBG released their Stress Dreams album in January and were excited to play their new material.

Thursday’s set launched with a take on Bob Dylan’s “When I Paint My Masterpiece” that encapsulated GSBG pal Cris Jacobs’ “Bone Digger.” The quintet hadn’t played “Masterpiece” since 2021. From there, the group treated fans to covers of Bob Seger’s “Against The Wind” and Dire Straits’ “Money For Nothing.” A huge surprise came next as Greensky busted out “I Think We’re Alone Now” by Tommy James & The Shondells. The original scored a hit for James’ ensemble in 1967 with Tiffany’s cover topping the charts in 1987. “I Think We’re Alone Now” was performed by Greensky just once prior on April 3, 2010 as per Phantasy Tour, making the gap a whopping 1,338 shows between plays.

Greensky honored the Grateful Dead on Halloween and reprised their take on “U.S. Blues” to keep the poolside side rolling. Hoffman then led his bandmates through Bruce Springsteen’s “Atlantic City.” The five-piece went on to play Paul Simon’s Graceland gem “You Can Call Me Al” for the first time since December 15, 2019. Yesterday’s performance came to a close with the Traffic classic “Light Up Or Leave Me Alone.” GSBG fit a “Tweezer Reprise” jam into the finale with Hoffman singing “won’t you jump into the pool.”

View fan-shot video of yesterday’s “Light Up Or Leave Me Alone” below:

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Strings & Sol continues today with sets from The Wood Brothers, Yonder Mountain String Band, Greensky Bluegrass, Railroad Earth and Big Richard.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cl6XfCerPDv/
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cl821zhOElB/

Setlists (via Phantasy Tour)

Wednesday, December 7

Set: Don’t Lie, Reasons to Stay > Time > Breathe Reprise, Demons, Ashes, Worried About the Weather [1], Bottle Dry, Courage for the Road > New & Improved > Courage for the Road, Casual Wednesday [2], What Happened to Jim?, Before Bring Out Your Dead > Bring Out Your Dead, The Radio Blues, Into the Mystic, Living Over

• [1] – w/ Andy Hall (Dobro)
• [2] – “Miércoles Casual”

Thursday, December 8

Set: When I Paint My Masterpiece > Bone Digger > When I Paint My Masterpiece, Against the Wind, Money for Nothing, I Think We’re Alone Now, U.S. Blues, Atlantic City, You Can Call Me Al, Light Up or Leave Me Alone

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Source: JamBase.com