r/Bluegrass • u/Hefty-Job7049 • 2d ago
Discussion The best bluegrass performance Ive ever seen in my life
Bela Fleck and the Flecktones at Merlefest 1996. I was completely blown away. Jerry Garcia died the previous year and was looking for something to do since no Grateful Dead tour to hop on. Bela blew me away as they brought Peter Rowan and Sam Bush onstage to jam with them. Was anybody else there? What a stunning performance
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u/ResplendentShade 2d ago edited 2d ago
That sounds like an excellent show!
The best bluegrass show I've seen is one that my ex-girlfriend's brother brought me to by surprise. We were in Florida visiting her family, and her brother knew I loved bluegrass so he had already gotten tickets and drove me to "a bluegrass show" in (I think) Tampa*, which I expected to be some local no-name Florida band, which is fine: drink some beers, listen to some music, good time.
Instead we get there and the billboard reads "Larry Rice Benefit" and a "!!!" appeared above my head, we get inside and it turns out that it's a big hoedown with rotating ensembles, featuring the members of the Tony Rice Unit, Vassar Clements, David Grisman, all the Rice brothers, a few local outfits, and a ton of lesser-known musician friends of the Rice family, there to raise funds for Larry's cancer diagnosis. Amazing night of music in an intimate venue.
edit: * = looked it up it was actually in Tallahassee, not Tampa. Back in December 2004
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u/satchmogro 2d ago
this was the first flecktones show of many tones shows that I recorded over almost 38 years and they're still one my favorite bands ever https://archive.org/details/bfft1991-03-25.shnf[Breckenridge ](https://archive.org/details/bfft1991-03-25.shnf)
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u/zazzmatt 2d ago
I was 100% at that show, serving coffee as a 20yo vendor. I caught Bela & the Flecktones in 1994 at Greensboro College a couple year before, and was hooked.
It's amazing to think in that era, Alison Krauss gave the nod to Chris Thile's who later scooped up Sierra Hull and many other of our favorite bluegrass contemporaries. Merlefest is a bluegrass megaspreader.
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u/MisterCircumstance 2d ago edited 2d ago
I saw him there in 1999 or 2000 without the Flecktones. Made me a fan for life.
I got some local intel and lined up early for the Midnight Jam. Missed that night's headliner (Salmon or Dolly Parton?) to be front row center for Nickel Creek. (Not to mention face to kneecap with Sam Bush, Mr. Tony Rice, and Mark Schatz) That shook my bones hard.
The following year, same gameplan got me front and center for Peter Rowan, Vassar Clements, David Dawg Grissman, -Pete Wernik- no. It was Herb Pederson, and Bryn Bright. That was probably the most memorable. Vassar. Along with the cast of midnight regulars.
Doc was in bed by then and things could get a little funky.
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u/KGLW_Magma 2d ago
Highly recommend Jerry Garcia Band's GarciaLive Vol. 2 album, which is a recording of JGB's 8/5/90 show and Bela sits in on "Midnight Moonlight" and "The Harder They Come." Great stuff:
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u/Sea-Mathematician517 2d ago
Was just about to ask if they ever played together. Thanks fire bagwan.
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u/KGLW_Magma 2d ago
It's astonishing the amount of people Bela has sat in with. I saw him sit in with Phish in the 90s and the guy just knows how to meld with everyone and sound like he's part of the band.
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u/Sea-Mathematician517 2d ago
I think that would make ole Jer smile. Mine is the same guy, different show. Bela Bluegrass Heart at the Ryman. Just released, listening now. Highly recommended.
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u/seanpjohns 1d ago
My Bluegrass Heart is my pick as well, saw them at Wolftrap in Virginia. The whole show was mind blowing. Jerry Douglas’ band followed by Sam Bush’s band, followed by Bluegrass Heart which included Douglas and Bush and an entire roster of bluegrass all stars. Will be hard to top that for me.
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u/Commodore64Zapp 2d ago
Flecktones at Bonnaroo 2011 was a gateway for me, alongside Alison Krauss and Greensky who were also there that year. Incredible show, but I might have to call it jazz fusion more than true bluegrass. I'm lucky to have seen him in many ensembles, including his Bluegrass Heart band, duo w/ Abigail Washburn, concerto w/ symphony etc.
I saw Peter Rowan w/ Sam Grisman Project earlier this year, that was a top 5 for sure. His voice has gotten better with age!
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u/Quiet_Carrera9 2d ago edited 2d ago
I wasn't there in '96, but did enjoy '97, '99, and '01 and saw Bela Fleck and the Flecktones each time, along with them jamming with several of the other regulars. In '99 we got back stage wristbands and I found myself sitting down for lunch diagonally across from Future Man.
Seeing Tony Rice there live for the first time, I thought if I could ever become even half that good on guitar, I'd be really good. I finally started taking lessons from Alan Bibey later that year. (Should have taken up mandolin sooner considering the instructor.)
Edit: I can totally understand how that would be your favorite bluegrass show.
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u/tarbender2 2d ago
I was there
Someone should do a documentary on merlefest, specifically the 90s era, I think 96 might be peak.
My theory is Doc himself changed and advanced the scene far more than some might realize, and it might take a documentary to understand. He had a special ear for music and wasn’t worried about genres or Nashville or big names. It was before music streaming and social media. It was a long run where a hot band would ride a wave at merlefest and it would carry them from quasi irrelevance to a legitimate influence and career.
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u/TokieOkie95 2d ago
His set at Hillberry last weekend with Michael Cleveland AND Maddie Denton on fiddle was bananas
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u/ElDeguello66 2d ago
I got to see The Flecktones in that era, at Stewart Theater at NCSU. Victor Wooten was worth the price of admission alone. My only Merlefest was '95, got to see Tony and Dawg doing Tone Poems, which was cool. Also got to see Future Man in the kids tent, that memory has stuck with me.
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u/bassmaster_gen 1d ago
My parents were there, it was the year before they got married. They still talk about that performance to this day
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u/StumpyOPepys 1d ago
Bluegrass Sessions 2000 Birchmere
Ricky Skaggs & KT 2001 Telluride
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u/Hefty-Job7049 1d ago
I was at the bluegrass sessions at the Birchmere. There was an early show and a late show. I saw both
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u/StumpyOPepys 1d ago
In 2000? They did two sets each night, not two separate shows. I saw two of the three nights.
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u/Hefty-Job7049 1d ago
Not sure of the year but it was around that time. It was definitely an early show and a late show because they cleared everybody out of the 1st show. I had to make security aware that I had tix to both shows so I didn't get kicked out when they cleared the venue
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u/Hefty-Job7049 1d ago
The below is from AI
Béla Fleck’s Bluegrass Sessions tour stopped at The Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia, during legendary multi-night residency runs in late 1999 and December 2000. To accommodate massive demand, the venue hosted early and late shows featuring an elite "newgrass" supergroup touring behind Fleck's landmark album, The Bluegrass Sessions: Tales from the Acoustic Planet, Vol. 2.
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u/StumpyOPepys 1d ago
Huh. Wouldn't be the first time my memory turned into my imagination. My tickets are buried somewhere around here.
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u/Single_Magician_1091 2d ago
I’m a young guy but Molly Tuttle and the GOLDEN HIGHWAY (not the new band) knocked my socks off.