I attended my first concert back in 1991 with my dad. He took me to see Rush at Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati, now known as U.S. Bank Arena.  I was eleven years old and I still can remember the experience to this day.  That brings me to this weekend, we took Kim’s youngest brother, Nick, to a concert at Red Rocks.  He is only nine, so he is already beating me by a couple of years.  Not to mention that his future concert going experiences may never compare to the scenery at Red Rocks.  The lineup for the night started with State Radio, then Medeski Martin & Wood, and finally John Bulter Trio.  We arrived as State Radio had already taken the stage.  I’ve seen them a couple of times before, but I don’t remember liking them as much as I did this time.  I read that most of the songs they played were from their latest release, Let It Go, so I’ll have to be sure to pick that up soon.  Toward the end of their set, I took Nick on a walk around the venue.  We climbed the stairs all the way to the top and took in the great view.  I also showed him the inside of the visitors center.

We had seats in the twenty-fifth row, but once Medeski Martin & Wood (MMW) started, the music became too loud for Nick.  We brought along earplugs, but we couldn’t get him to try them out.  So we decided to move up and eventually ended up sitting in the very last row.  The sound was not quite so loud, and there were a couple of others kids nearby.  I actually like the view from up top, and we had plenty of room to spread out.  I had never seen MMW before, and I don’t think I will go out of my way to see them again.  I can appreciate completely instrumental music, but I really need vocals to be fully entertained.  Apparently I wasn’t the only one, as the general consensus in the beer line was that MMW should have played first and allowed State Radio to have an expanded set in the middle slot.

After a somewhat bizarre native american dance session, the John Butler Trio finally took the stage.  This would be the seventh time I’ve seen JBT and probably one of the best.  The trio was recently reconfigured to include older drummer Nicky Bomba and Byron Luiters on bass, and the chemistry with this incarnation sounded great.  The vocal harmonies have never sounded better, and each musician brings a unique quality to the older songs.  Switching band members is nothing new for John Butler, and I think it helps him to keep the songs and shows unique and interesting.  The show was scheduled to go until midnight, but they were behind schedule and it ended up going well past the scheduled time.  Nick did eventually fall asleep about halfway through their set, but he made it long enough to hear his favorite song, “Don’t Wanna See Your Face.”  I’m sure it was an experience he will never forget.