Dark Side Of The Mountain At Nectar’s December 11, 2013

Words by Tim Lewis.

I had a really good time at Dark Side Of The Mountain last night at Nectar’s. Christopher Larrow wanted to go, so we headed out around 9:30, and got there a little early. I was psyched to see Matthew Bryan Hagen setting up with the band. When it was showtime, the band took the stage in white jumpsuits. Matt reached over to the keyboard and hit one key. The plink sound signaled the beginning of Echoes, and we were off. They sounded even better than last week, and they played a monstrous version of the first half of the song. As it slowed into the middle section, guitarist Bob Wagner and bassist Josh Weinstein spent most of the time close to the floor, playing and twiddling. Dan Munzing’s keys kept things trippy, and Matt Burr’s drumming was Nick Mason hypnotic. Mr Hagen threw in some sonic chaos with some cool theremin, and used a power drill to elicit some searing notes from his guitar. They drifted through it for a while when the opening strains of Speak to Me began. They followed it into Breathe and suddenly we were on the Dark Side Of The Moon. On The Run was especially trippy and tons of fun. Time was great as always. Again, this week, they had an extra microphone on the stage. I expected Bob to play the vocal parts of Great Gig In The Sky on guitar again, but they were joined by a guy, who may have been Chamberlin’s Mark Daly. Whomever he was, he sang the hell out of Gig. I used to think the only guy who could sing that was Scott Fultz, but apparently there are at least two. The packed audience was stunned and thrilled. The band kept things going and brought out Kat Wright to sing Money. She was joined by sax player, Jake Whitesell.  His playing was great, and her singing was cool and smooth. They stayed and helped Us And Them soar to fantastic heights, but left the stage as the band jammed out Any Color You Like. Kat returned for Brain Damage and Eclipse and everyone in the room was having a great time. As the song faded they drifted back into the middle section of Echoes and brought it back to full fury as they played the end part. After that, it was time for a set break. Chris headed out, but I settled in for set 2. The band came out in animal masks and lit into Pigs On A Wing (part 1) and let it flow into Dogs. They followed with Shine On You Crazy Diamond and the sax player returned for some killer riffs. They followed with Run Like Hell and put a killer jam into the middle. Kat returned to get her Roy Harper on and sang a great version of Have A Cigar. Next, they went way back for Lucifer Sam and threw in and Arnold Lane chant. They followed with a rousing Young Lust, then jammed out Interstellar Overdrive, with a journey through Set The Controls For The Heart Of The sun in the middle. A quick run through In The Flesh rocked the place hard. They mellowed it out a bit with Wish You Were Here and let it flow into Fearless. The heavy strains of Obscured By Clouds followed and they let it go into When You’re In, and that was it. They did not even make it off the stage when the encore demand started. Instead of leaving and coming back, they just stayed and unleashed a killer Comfortably Numb. That truly was the end of the set. I headed out the door and walked up a chilly Church St. The clock said 2:15 and I had a delightful walk home. They are doing this again next Wednesday, again for free at Nectar’s, and on the 29th at Club Metronome with Marco Benevento. I’ve got to get a ticket soon.

This post was originally published by Tim Lewis at his personal blog, https://timstriangletribune.wordpress.com.