Stephen Kellogg | 2017-09-29 | The Walnut Room, Denver, CO [AUD]

Happy Sunday! Check out my pull from the first night of a two-night run at The Walnut Room by Stephen Kellogg!

This recording was particularly special to me because I’ve been a fan of SK’s for a long time. The first time I saw him live I was hooked and thanks to the dedication of tapers I was able to dive deep into his catalogue on the LMA. It’s nice to be able to return the favor to some fan out there who wishes to relive a special night for them. The show itself was great – the Stephen Kellogg Postcard Tour has had a much looser feel. Each night there is a request board with a large amount of the catalogue on it and fans are able to put three votes towards whatever they’d like to hear that night. Makes for a unique experience each night with old songs being busted out and the fans having a general consensus over what should be played. The opener “Noelle, Noelle” hadn’t been played in years according to Kellogg and was about his youngest daughter. It’s a beautifully touching song about the hurdles of growing up both as a child but most importantly as a loving and eternally dedicated parent. While touching, the story beforehand about his daughter and her newly inflated ego over a recent successful spelling attempt primed the crowd for the type of night it would be. The storytelling aspect of the show was really great especially in such an intimate room (venue probably held around 100-150) and kept the crowd fully engaged. During the crowd favorite “Start The Day Early” SK broke a string which led to a funny story about trying not to miss a flight to Denver last tour. During the encore, SK attempted a rendition of “Last Man Standing (East)” however his guitar was just not staying in tune, this led to a comment about Bon Jovi which led into a full room sing-a-long version of “Wanted Dead Or Alive”, which in turn after two verses and some raucous choruses segued finally into “Last Man Standing (East)”. This ended with the band, unplugged and a capella in the middle of the crowd singing the final words of the chorus together. Moments like these are what make shows special and it often felt like the whole night was a non-stop montage of these moments. If you have a chance to see SK on this tour, definitely go. It had been around 10 years since the last time I’d seen him and it was one of my favorites.

Thank you to Stephen Kellogg, his manager Shady and The Walnut Room for being cool with taping/sharing shows. Go see live music! #spacetapes

LINK: https://archive.org/details/SK2017-09-29.AKG.P170.AUD

If you dig it - share it!