Concert reviews: Bag Men and the Legacy of Giving Festival
Steve Gorman and Luther Dickinson, plus lots of other interesting bands including Harlem Hayfield
These were two fun shows filled with old friends and new. Oh, and I got to meet an original member of the Black Crowes …
Bag Men, Space (Evanston, Illinois), with Imperial Boxmen
This was a late addition to my calendar — a band I wished I’d caught the year before at this venue.
The Bag Men are lead singer/bass player Nick Govrik along with two former members of the Black Crowes — drummer Steve Gorman, who was an original member of the Crowes and was with them until 2015, and guitarist Luther Dickinson, who was with the Crowes from 2007 to 2011.
They formed a year ago and released six songs, two at a time, over the first six months. But since, the band has been quiet — it’s a side project, with Gorman’s main job as a morning show co-host at KQRS-FM in Minneapolis, and Dickinson having a wide variety of musical projects, mainly the North Mississippi Allstars.
With that in mind, and knowing it had been awhile since they’d played together, I wasn’t sure what to expect. It didn’t take long for them to establish what the night would be — three guys who love playing together having a great time.
The crowd wasn’t big, but those there were into it. And I could have been the only one in the room when they played the Beatles’ “Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except For Me and My Monkey,” and I still would’ve considered it one of my musical moments of the year.
Luther’s tone, as always, was perfect. Then, as he was jamming out the lead, things changed and they were suddenly playing “Day Tripper.” A few minutes later, it had morphed into “Tomorrow Never Knows.” Now THAT’s a Beatles medley I can get behind!
I like the six songs the band has released, but hearing them performed live breathed a lot of life in them. The two stars of the show had a lot to do with that.
Dickinson has a unique tone and playing style — there’s a subtlety to it, but at the same time he has an energetic stage presence, lays a wicked groove and can rip a lead with anyone. And when Gorman is hitting the drums, there’s power that just sounds different than other drummers.
At the show, I met up with concert buddy Shawn and also Joe and Jeff from the Steepwater Band, and Joe’s wife Angela — a concert-going legend as far as the number of shows she’s attended. Once the Bag Men were done, we gathered for an impromptu post-show huddle — I love that. The three who had seen the Bag Men in Evanston a year previous, Joe, Angela and Shawn, all agreed that last year was great, but this year was WAY better. The consensus was they were looser on-stage and more experimental.
After the show, we got to meet all three band members, and Shawn and I took a photo with Gorman. Shawn asked about the Beatles medley and Gorman said: “Well, I’ve been ripping off Ringo for my whole career, so it wasn’t that hard!” Meeting Gorman was definitely a thrill and a highlight of my concert experiences.
It was also fun watching Jeff and Dickinson talk gear after the show. Most of it was way over my head, but it reminded me of the conversations my dad used to have in the music store when I was growing up … except this was between two of my favorite guitarists.
The opening band was Imperial Boxmen — a funky jazz trio. I checked them out earlier in the day at home before the show and enjoyed them, but wondered what Shawn and the Steepwater guys would think. They were instantly impressed. Joe and Shawn were blown away by drummer Noah Plotkin; Jeff described them as “Jeff Beck without the guitarist,” which was something I never would’ve thought of and why it’s cool to go to shows with musicians.
This was my first time at Space and I really liked the venue — it’s cozy and sounds great. Evanston is on the north side of Chicago, so from Decatur it’s stretching the limits of a same-night drive for me. But for an experience like this show, it was worth it.
— June 13, with Angela, Jeff, Joe and Shawn
Legacy of Giving Festival (Springfield, Illinois)
It was my third year attending the Legacy of Giving Festival in Springfield to see my friend Hugh’s band, Harlem Hayfield. But they didn’t go on until 11 p.m., and I knew if I sat at home too long I might not go, so I ended up getting there around 7 to catch some of the other bands.
I’m glad I did. As always, the festival brings out a diverse mix of people of all ages, and the bands on the stages are reflective of that. I wish there were more festivals like this in Central Illinois — it’s a lot of fun to be able listen to a band for awhile, then wander down the street to find another. It seems like there used to be something like this in Decatur … .
Anytime you have a bunch of live bands, you’re going to have some you enjoy and some you don’t, but the best part is when you’re surprised by how much you connect with a band. That happened to me a couple times.
Normally I don’t write reviews unless I’ve seen the band’s entire set, but I made an exception in order to have a different experience. Here are the highlights:
Catfish Seminar
This was the band that was playing when I walked in and I was immediately charmed. They’re from Nashville and had a bit of a John Prine sound, with some weird and fascinating lyrics. They finished with a song called “Stone Age Man,” which the singer said was written with his 16-year-old daughter. It was a jam live and is an absolute ear worm.
I later ran into these guys post-festival while hanging with Hugh and friends and found out they’d connected with the Harlem Hayfield guys. When I told them I was from Decatur, they looked at each other, then asked, “Is there a Decatur around here?” I told them there was, and they started laughing and said of the Harlem Hayfield guys, “We thought they were from Decatur, Georgia? We were like, ‘Damn, these guys came a long way for this!’”
If you search them out on iTunes, I recommend Live in Nashville.
Pinch of Grace
Pinch of Grace is a Springfield-based Jerry Garcia Band tribute, and a side project of Grateful Dead tribute Sunshine Daydream.
I’m a very casual Dead fan but these guys have me rethinking that. The lead guitar player, who handled some of the vocals, played with Garcia’s melodic style and sounded great. They hooked me with “That’s What Love Will Do,” did a killer version of Smokey Robinson and the Miracles’ “Second That Emotion,” and finished with the Dead’s “Fire on the Mountain.”
This is a local band I’ll definitely be checking out more of in the future.
Harlem Hayfield
I was joined by a couple of former co-workers, Adam and Leslie, as we watched another of our former co-workers, Hugh, and his great band.
Hugh, who plays keyboards and sings background, grew up playing live music but had gotten out of it before Harlem Hayfield formed —they put out their debut EP in 2020. Now he’s in it for the long haul, playing a style of music I’d call funk rock. They call it “rustbelt soul,” which sounds cooler. Either way, it’s great live.
They performed some songs I recognized from past times seeing them, including “What the Hell?” and “Sick Style,” but also some from their upcoming album including “Coming Home” and “Better Off.” Hearing those two songs have me excited to hear Harlem Hayfield’s first full-length record when it comes out (I’ll review it here when it does).
Harlem Hayfield summed up the night perfectly with their song, “Brother,” introduced eloquently by lead singer Mikey Schoneman: “The friends we meet on the streets late at night. Losing inhibitions, making bad decisions … those friends become your family. This song is for them.”
More bands
— June 8, alone, but later met up with Adam and Leslie
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