Taj Mahal
10.24.2010 – Veterans Memorial Theater – Grass Valley, CA
Taj Mahal Trio with opening band Vieux Farka Toure was overall a good show at Veterans Memorial in Grass Valley, CA. The opening band from Mali has great credentials and the crowd loved them. To me they are an acquired taste. Enough said, I was there for Taj Mahal and like Mikey, will listen to anything at least once.
Taj Mahal was a dominating presence whether behind his guitar, keyboard or banjo. He still is an “A” lister in my book. The show had some issues with sound and well, how gently can you suggest the extremes in nostril stimuli. It was a Haight-Ashbury kind of moment, but when Taj Mahal took the stage, it was on!
The video below is a recent one of the songs he did in Grass Valley where cameras where prohibited. Taj Mahal’s sound is unique, fat with slack key and reminded me of Hawaiian mixed with creole mixed with a lot of Blues. He was focused on the guitar, but did one song on key and one on banjo that really rocked the house. His one set was about an hour long and worked all over his discography. I will apologize for not having a playlist this time as I actually wrote it down on the program and promptly left it in Sacramento. In any case he covered new and old songs, including a few with his opening band Vieux Farka Toure.
The crowd experience was sort of unique depending on where you were checking out the show. It was all about “Rainbow Gathering” if you were in the wings up front near the stage where it was twirling tye-dye from the first note played. The folks seated on the floor seemed focused on enjoying the show despite the dancers that were occasionally stuffed back into their area by security.
Up in the balcony where I was sitting, there was a more loose interpretation of “no-smoking”. Fortunately no one was into sharing which suited me just fine. I guess they don’t call it “Grass Valley” for nothing anymore.