Mickey Hart and Bill Walton
What could be better than catching the Mickey Hart Band at an intimate venue with a capacity of 600 people? How about adding to the bill some impressive guests like NBA Hall of Famer and Sports Commentator, Bill Walton and Widespread Panic’s “bass mountain” Dave Schools. Thus was the case on a chilly Southern California night in Solana Beach, CA at the Belly Up Tavern and the San Diego adjacent crowd was delivered a gift wrapped early Christmas present in the form of an incredible night of music from Mickey and company.
Widespread Panic’s Dave Schools
Dave Schools, regular rhythm man for Southern Rockin’ Widespread Panic was billed as a special guest and it was expected that Walton would be in the building given his home is in San Diego and he and Hart are close friends. In fact, Walton has one of the original “beams” in his rec room at home. But seeing Walton take an active participation in the evenings music from the get go was a nice addition to the evening’s musical journey.
Mickey Hart Band at Belly Up Tavern, Solana Beach, CA
From note one of Aiko Aiko, the first song of the night, Walton’s 7′ plus frame found it’s way up on stage behind Hart’s beast of a drum rig. Walton pounded out the beats on a variety of drums with Hart before making his way over to the other side of the stage to keep the rhythm with Schools. This would set the tone for an evening of reappearances of Walton on The Other One, Fire on the Mountain and the encore, Not Fade Away.
Mickey Hart’s new band features vocalists Crystal Monee Hall and Tim Hockenberry, bassist Dave Schools, drummer Ian “Inx” Herman, guitarist Gawain Matthews, percussionist Sikuru Adepoju, and keyboardist Ben Yonas. Combine Hall’s soulful and powerful vocals with a less percussion heavy backing band from MHB’s previous incarnations and the new ensemble delivers a delightful mix of the rhythmic sounds we all love from Hart mixed with shredding guitar licks from Matthews for a cornucopia of excellent new sounds. Schools’ addition to the band is nothing but a delight for the non-Dead jam fan delivering the hard driving bass lines he’s known for with WSP.
There’s something about a big sound in a little venue. I’d rather see a show in a venue like the Belly Up than a large arena or amphitheater. The intimacy of the space puts the audience right in the thick of it and honestly, whether you were front row or standing at the back bar getting a cocktail, you always had the best seat in the house…because just being there was the best seat. As they say in Monster Truck racing, “We’ll sell you the seat, but you’ll only need the edge.” In the case of MHB at the Belly Up, you couldn’t sit down if you wanted to as the feet couldn’t help but dance to the beat of the rhythm machine that is Mickey Hart.
Set 1
Aiko Aiko (w/ Bill Walton)
Let There Be Light
Djinn Djinn
Starlight
The Other One (w/ Bill Walton)
Peaceful Time
Time Never Ends
Set 2
Jam
Slow Jo Rain
Cut The Deck
Brokedown Palace
Supersonic
Who Stole The Show?
Fire on the Mountain (w/ Bill Walton)
Encore
Not Fade Away (w/ Bill Walton)
