John Garcia, live in Palm Desert - Sept 5, 2014 (videos)

[astroman]

I went in to the show with tempered expectations because I really did not know a whole lot about the band. I saw Mike Pygmie play guitar with his band You Know Who and I ate that shit up, so I figured he would be able to hold it down on bass. But I had question marks at drums and guitar. I had heard good things about Greg Saenz in the context of being a badass punk drummer, but I was not sure how that would carry over to more straight ahead and/or groove-oriented hard rock. All I knew about Ehren Groban was that he was young and had not played in a whole lot of bands. Did I really need to see these guys playing Kyuss songs after seeing everything from Garcia Plays Kyuss to Kyuss Lives! to Vista Chino?

The question marks in my head morphed into a smile on my face as the show started out with John Garcia still in the green room and his new band destroying "Caterpillar March." Never in a million years (or even 50 million) would I have expected them to play that, but it was the perfect opener. They went right into "Demon Cleaner," which honestly came off a little flat to me. It could have just been me, but either way things only went up from there. The set was equal parts Kyuss tunes and songs from Garcia's solo album with a couple of Slo Burn songs thrown in for good measure.

Garcia really came to life as he started belting out his new tunes. As expected, Mike tore it up on bass. (Not so expected was that he also killed it on drums for Waxy, the support band.) Saenz was probably the biggest, most pleasant surprise of the night for me. He fuckin owns that kit. The "kid" on guitar turned out to be a helluva choice, and I think he knows it. A lot of people in his position would be at least a little intimidated (playing Kyuss songs with John Garcia?!), but Groban exuded confidence and brings a lot of energy to the table along with his badass guitar playing. This all came to a head during "Whitewater," one of my favorite Kyuss songs. (It's a special song for a lot of us, I know it.) When I saw it on the setlist I was pretty fuckin skeptical. I wasn't sure I wanted to see it played without Brant Bjork. I thought maybe they should just leave it alone. But instead they ripped it a new asshole. It was the highlight of the night for me.

I got a few videos that I think are watchable and listenable, so hopefully some people enjoy them. (If so you should check out the other stuff I have on my channel.)

Supa Scoopa & the Mighty Scoop

Pilot the Dune

July

Gloria Lewis

[black]

Cool review and videos.
Thanks for posting that, astroman!
Sounds like it was a blast!

[deleted account]

great job, astro!

[astroman]

Thanks, guys!

[lordfinesse]

Thanks for posting this. Looks like a great show. Mr Garcia's voice seems to get better with age. That dude rocks it. Every time I've seen him in concert, he slayed.

[Ryno]

Good shit man!  Did JG ditch the pony?

[RacerX]

He looks a bit like El Elvis now, but the voice is still there.