October 26, 2001: Trichromes Harvest Ball

San Francisco, CA
Fillmore Auditorium

What a long strange trip it's been...

So, just what happens when you take Bill Kreutzmann of the Grateful Dead, Neal Schon of Journey and throw in Sy Klopps, Ralph Woodson, and Ira Walker? About three hours of rocking blues!

What a fabulous show I got to see last night, and what an interesting experience overall. The Fillmore is always such an amazing place to see a show. This is the legendary Fillmore (not "Fillmore West") -- the original hall run by the late Bill Graham in the 1960s and was a launching pad for so many of the legendary San Francisco bands of that era. And, mercifully, since it has been taken over by SFX when they bought Bill Graham Presents a few years back, the corporate goons have left well enough alone! The Fillmore is a small dance hall-maybe 1,500 people tops-and just a fun and funky place for a show.

The night opened with a screening of "Sunshine Daydream" a ninety minute film of a Grateful Dead concert from 1972. It was... um... interesting. For you Deadheads out there, it's going to be digitally remastered with a remixed soundtrack and released next year. Personally, I'm gonna pass.

At 10:00 the Trichromes hit the stage... adorned with leis (I don't know why) and they launched into a 75-minute set of blues based tunes. There were a few covers that I recognized -- some Bob Marley, Dylan, and of course Dead tunes. While most of the tunes were instrumental jams, Sy Klopps (better known as Herbie Herbert) did step up in front to sing.

Sy Klopps (aka Herbie Herbert) on the mic

All I can say is WOW... Herbie can SING! His voice is definitely suited to blues, but I was very impressed. I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't what I heard. I guess I had figured Herbie had a passable voice for singing and left it at that. His voice is definitely more than passable.

This band was having a blast on stage. Whether it was a contact high from all the dope being smoked in the crowd (these ARE Deadheads we're talking about here) or sheer joy of playing, it was obvious these guys were having a great time (I suspect it was a combination of both.) Neal and Ralph Woodson played off each other all night long -- two fabulous guitars.

There was a forty-five-minute intermission, and the crowd thinned out considerably. The place was maybe half full for the first set and by the time the band took the stage again at midnight, it had dwindled by half. My friends and I had decided we'd leave at 12:30 whether or not the show was over - we were all exhausted from a long day, and wanted to get home at a reasonable hour. Alas, that plan was foiled.

About twenty minutes into the second set, I looked over to my left and who should I see about twenty feet away, but Ross! I had seen him wandering around the place before the first set, but not later. I elbowed Darla and we decided to stick around and watch Ross watching Neal. (It was worth it!) Since the crowd had thinned, we moved a bit more towards center stage. A few minutes later, who should stand in front of me, but Ross! He and his brother Brett were having a great ole time... And Neal was cracking up whenever he caught Ross in the audience. At one point, Neal's guitar caught the lei that was draped on his mic stand (why he had a mic I don't know since he didn't sing at all) and it was only a matter of time before the mic stand toppled over. Ross and Brett were nearly doubled over laughing before Neal saw it and took the lei off and tossed it into the audience.

About 1:15 the band closed their set, and went off stage. The announcer for the night (I'm not sure if he was with the band or with the venue) came out and said a few words about Bill Graham and asked the band to come out and pay tribute to Bill. Thirty minutes of jamming, and it STILL wasn't over, and my friends and I decided to get our coats and head for the car -- especially since the garage closed at 2:30! We heard someone say "Thank you and good night." as we were walking down the stairs, so I guess we left just at the end, but for all I know, those guys are STILL playing!