From album to stage
God Street Wine played its first show after the release of The Method at New York’s Gramercy Theatre on October 30. Rabbit Ears opens the programme. Another Wonderful Secret, Dreaming of Bob, Nightbird and This Is Fine Fido also bring the new album onto the stage. The album was recorded in March before a studio audience at Utopia Studio in Woodstock. It marked the band’s first time together in a proper studio since its 1999 split. Lo Faber described a collaborative writing method involving contributions from multiple participants.[1]
That opening puts the new album at the center of the repertoire selection. Rabbit Ears had not been played live since March, creating a concrete link between the studio gathering and the opening of this show. The relevant measure is how much room the newly written works receive in the programme. Collaborative writing and the space allocated to those songs can be considered together. This reading does not require a judgment about how the songs sounded. The named works and their positions supply a starting point for understanding the move from recording session to concert.[1]
As the forces expand
Jason Crosby joins during Chop and stays onstage. The keyboardist and fiddler briefly belonged to the band in 1999. Uncorked Horns joins in the second set, extending the forces in a programme already carrying songs from the new album. Lizzy Love adds vocals in the encore. Paul Simon’s Late in the Evening is followed by Brick House and Michigan from the new album. The guests make a reunion-only account of the evening incomplete: newly written works retain their place within a programme whose performing forces expand over the course of the show.[1]
I read this arrangement as a concert form growing around the album. New works remain within the programme while guests change its instrumental and vocal forces. These appearances could simply be choices for a single Halloween show; one concert cannot establish a permanent lineup change. The programme nevertheless makes a useful distinction. Crosby’s past membership is one fact, and his participation on keyboards and fiddle here is another. The new album supplies works at both the beginning and the end, giving the expanded ensemble current material alongside its returning repertoire.[1]