Lickinghole Creek Craft Brewery
(Rain Makeup Date - July 1, 2021 rescheduled to August 7, 2021)
Suggesting Rhythm and fans rolled up to the Lickinghole Brewery grounds Saturday for an all-time epic show. This show was originally planned for July 1st to celebrate Virginia passing the cannabis legalization bill. Lightning had other plans that day though and this one was starting to look similar earlier that morning. Luckily, by go-time, the rain had passed and the clouds were moving on.
Firing up the show to get the night burning and commemorate the occasion, of course, was Bob Dylan's 'Rainy Day women #12 and 35'. I could write an entire paper about this song, but what I wanted to know was the meaning of the numbers. Allegedly, two females walked into a recording studio one day to get out of the rain and Dylan correctly guessed both girls' ages at 12 and 35. Honestly, it sounds about right that Dylan would name a song after some obscure and random life event like that. The guys made a quick adjustment, and then went back to the Dylan vault. This time, 'Silvio'; they've only played this once before on August 24, 2020 at Brambly Park. That night, the 'Tequila' tease was inserted but that disappeared this go round. The song was written by Robert Hunter and Bob Dylan and the opening lyrics:
"Stake my future on a hell of a past…Looks like tomorrow is a coming on fast…"
That really hit home for me right now and the band drove that point home with an amazing version! The end jam slowed some before Ed and Noel flipped the beat and the band transitioned nicely into Peter Tosh's protest hit from '76, 'Legalize It'. Perfect to commemorate the occasion, this was the first of two breakouts for Suggesting Rhythm who continue to add to their repertoire of songs.
With zero pause the guys jumped right into a speedy 'Cumberland Blues' to get the dance floor moving again. Dave stopped to talk a little bit afterwards about sunshine and then, sticking with early-ish Dead, we got 'Truckin'. It went almost ten minutes with some nice tasty jamming throughout that smoothly dropped right into 'Smokestack Lightning' by blues legend Howlin Wolf. Yet another silky smooth transition brought up 'Going Down the Road Feeling Bad' that features some blazing guitar work with Adam sandwiching a hot organ grinding Steve solo and closing out with the usual instrumental closing of 'We Bid You Goodnight'.
Dave took another quick break to say happy birthday to Ivan Trexler, a man that can outdance me any time he wants, and then continued with the slow tempo. Recorded during the "Built to Last" album session but not included on the album, it was a passionate version of the rarely played song 'Believe it or Not'. Again, with no hesitation the 5 jumped right into 'Throwing Stones', every head's favorite F-U song to the government. This brought to close a smoking set that you'd be a fool to miss.
Starting the second set like the first was another Dylan tune, 'Like a Rolling Stone' that again showed off some decent solos from Barnard's organ and Drudge's PRS. Slowing down, the jam bled into the Van Morrison classic 'And It Stoned Me'. Smiles were rampant and everyone cheered a little when Oakley hit the lyrics about the rain letting up and getting dry.
Another quick talk led to an always dank 'Hell in a Bucket' that told the crowd the band wasn't getting tired and we're ready to go!
'Let it Grow' came next. The title and chorus, a poignant message for all Virginians and a mantra of sorts for Token Rhyme Gardening fans excited about the new laws. Not wanting to be upstaged by the gorgeous shirt Adam was wearing, the band took this jam and us to the next level on a psychedelic ride through space and back. Coming back to earth, we landed in the regret filled double entendre 'High Time'.
Quickly raising the tempo again, 'Lovelight' was next in rotation. Steve handled the lyrics this round and now typing I can't stop dancing to the incredibly performed jams in this hit. Dave couldn't help it either, he was dancing all over the stage having an absolute blast while Steve was putting every ounce of passion he has into the mic and organ. Adam was busy melting his guitar strings and Bray and Burton egged them all on faster while we danced in gratitude.
Taking a breath, we got band introductions that eventually included Adam and then the set closing 'Mighty Quinn' by Manfred Mann.
Coming back to an incredible ovation for an encore we were treated to a second breakout number 'Days Between'; a later season Jerry ballad with a powerful message in the lyrics that translates beautifully to the melody. And then with one more lyrical message to mark the historical change, SR gifted us with a double encore. 'All Along the Watchtower', a Bob Dylan written song made famous by Jimi Hendrix and always crushed by Virginia's favorite Grateful Dead band.
It was a fantastic show even if a little delayed and a perfect set list derived for the event.
The highlights for me were:
'Silvio' in Set 1
The 'Let it Grow' and 'Lovelight' in Set 2
The amazing double barrel encore
And of course Adam’s Awesome Token Rhyme Gardening shirt in the second set!
