You wake and find its #TaperTuesday! Enjoy the end of the day with #FreeMusic– Here’s a real special one, Twiddle headlining Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre!
Headlining Red Rocks is a highlight in any artist’s career. From The Beatles to U2 to Bruce Springsteen. The Talking Heads to Neil Young to Paul Simon…the venue has played host to all of rock’s most esteemed legends. Yet for jambands, the venue holds a deeper meaning. It has become a spiritual site that has played host to some of the most sacred performances in the history of the scene. Performances by bands like The Grateful Dead, Phish, String Cheese Incident, Allman Brothers, Disco Biscuits…all these artists have helped cement the venue’s moonlight status as the mecca for jambands. Performing at Red Rocks indicates a certain level of growth both musically and in fanbase. Last Friday night, Twiddle began a new chapter as they headlined the hallowed stone steps for two sets of music from one of the front-runners of the new generation of jambands.
The road to Red Rocks is not without trials. This was Twiddle’s third time performing at Red Rocks. The first was opening for the String Cheese Incident in 2015. They made their return in 2016 opening for The Disco Biscuits. During the first song of each tune in both those years, Mihali experienced a musician’s worst nightmare…gear failure. Right from the get-go. Unfortunately sometimes history has a cruel way of repeating itself as, once again, during the first song of their headlining night at Red Rocks, Mihali experienced some sort of gear issue. It was hard to determine what the issue was from the crowd but from the first notes of “Enter”, it was clear that Mihali was not receiving a signal. Speaking to the band’s growth, instead of any sort of visible panic, keyboardist Ryan Dempsey extended the “Enter” piano solo in a beautifully colorful introduction to the set. After a solid run through “Orlando’s”, one of the highlights off their recently released “PLUMP: Chapter 2”, Mihali’s guitar tech scrambled on-stage and switched out his pedal board which seemed to be the offending signal crusher. The band then launched into “Apples” which featured Todd “Octo” Stoops. Anything Todd touches he elevates and this version of “Apples” was no different. The band followed along perfectly as Ryan and Todd traded off weird alien funk and organ tones, each whirling the jam forward in a new and interesting twist. “Apples” almost doesn’t feel natural without Stoops.
Now that Mihali’s guitar rig was in full working order, the band performed a crushing version of their instrumental “Blunderbuss”. With the full bite of his guitar tone back, the band was ready for business. The band then played “Polluted Beauty” which had, in my opinion, the jam of the evening. Sure, people will talk about the sit-in all day, and rightfully so. I’ll get to that in a second. But this “Polluted Beauty” is a testament to the band’s growth as jam crafters. The patient build shows off the band’s effortless communication as they’re able to add layer-upon-layer to the jam with an organic feel. The way the improv segment ebbs and flows shows off the fluid communication the band has with each other. When the everyone comes back into the peak they’re fully locked-in and really allow Mihali’s solo to soar before once again evolving the jam into another blissful landing pad. The jam reaches an almost fully deconstructed stage met by exulted shouts from the crowd. It then clicks into a machine-like build that eventually delivers us one more shredfest to finish out the song. The band then performed a relatively standard “Lost In The Cold” to close out the set.
There was an electricity during the set break that I haven’t felt at a show in quite sometime. People had a flurry of expectations. Rumors of sit-ins and bustouts were abundant. During the set break, images of “Frankenfoote” were projected onto to the rocks. The image would move around the venue mimicking the creature hiding, making reference to the long gap since it’s last performance (New Year’s Eve 2016). Around 15 minutes prior to the lights going down, the house music was replaced by the sounds of ambient jungle noise. After the lights went down, a quick video montage featuring all sorts of familiar faces such as Dan Patrick, Keller Williams, Phil Lesh and even Hank Azaria talking about “Frankenfoote” sightings was played over the video screens, signaling the long anticipated return of “Frankenfoote”. The band then came out and performed the tune to a packed Red Rocks crowd, joyful to witness the return of the fan-favorite, saved for the special occasion. It was performed brilliantly and the solo segment had the crowd fully captivated, serving another beautiful moment to the evening’s highlight reel.
As if the “Frankenfoote” bust-out wasn’t historic and epic enough, the band had another trick up its sleeve as it invited up Grahame and Phil Lesh to perform with them. Mihali and Ryan had sat-in with Bob Weir and Phil Lesh at Terrapin Crossroads and at one point Phil was supposed to sit-in with Twiddle however missed his flight and was unable to do so. As a result, this marked the second time a member of The Grateful Dead has played with the band. Needless to say, the crowd went insane. From the first notes of “Shakedown Street” the venue erupted. The performance was stellar and showed off Grahame Lesh’s guitar work which I hadn’t seen up until this point. After this weekend I am convinced I need more Midnight North in my life. Truly unexpected was the segue into Twiddle’s original “White Light” which was quite seamless. The positivity from the song seemed infectious on-stage. Another highlight of the evening I keep hearing people bring up was Phil Lesh pointing to Ryan to take a solo, him taking a deep breath and then playing his heart out. Phil seemed to dig it.
Next up was a well placed “Beethoven & Greene”, which was a return to Twiddle as usual. The lyrics “Somewhere on the mountain” certainly appropriate reverberating off the Red Rocks walls. The following “Hatti’s Jam” signaled to many the end of the set. The song is usually paired with “When It Rains, It Poors”, often times to close out the evening. It’s a beautiful tribute to a lost friend that took one more twist as it segued into the other song about its namesake, “Hattibagen McRat”. The pairing seems so natural its remarkable uTwiddle doesn’t have another known instance of it occurring. The upbeat bluegrass tune was perfect for the Colorado crowd, with mentions of the state. A beautiful moment was during the line:
“Few months had passed before my eyes the music soon became our lives we formed a band and started playin shows
The crowds at first were thin and few but soon the crowds filled up and grew
We sold out every show we showed up to”
you can hear the smile in Mihali’s voice and then the roar from the crowd. You can only imagine how cool of a moment that must have been for those lyrics to manifest themselves. The tune eventually then segued into “When It Rains, It Pours”. Anytime I think I am tired of hearing a “When It Rains, It Pours” show closer, I am reminded why that song is so special. It’s one of those songs that transcends its genre. It’s a song that always make me introspective. Even if he didn’t realize it in the moment, the song was a perfect allegory for what happened with Mihali’s guitar failure. Basically its a song that can make you feel something every time which is pretty much the essence of what makes great music. When it hit, I danced. I danced hard.
The encore featured the members of Stick Figure performing Bob Marley’s “Jamming” and The Beatles’ “With A Little Help which was a nice nod to their newly established friendship after an extensive tour. In a sense, this is something Twiddle does better than many bands. They are able to establish relationships with artists and help expose them to a fanbase that loves music. I’ve learned about so many bands because they were a part of the Twiddle community. Bands like Kitchen Dwellers, Jaden Carlson Band, Hayley Jane and the Primates and tons more. It’s a beautiful thing to share music, its kinda why I tape 
Quick personal note-I’m super grateful to have been able to experience this show. For some perspective, I saw Twiddle first in 2006 – they played a UVM dorm common room. I saw them open for The Werks in 2013 to a West Virginia crowd of about 12. To see the work they’ve put in, the balls they had to put it all on the line and just go for it and to see it pay-off….Its pretty inspiring. This band has put the work in and are successful as a direct result of their determination and talent. Congrats to Twiddle for the epic accomplishment and all that is yet to come.
Also BIG thanks to Dylan Coyle – this dude went in early for me and held down the taper spot. If it weren’t for him, this recording most likely wouldn’t have happened and I would just left my gear at home. I’m really, really, really, really glad I didn’t do that. Seriously, if you ever want to buy him a beer for this recording it would be 100% deserved. Also thank you to Kat Horton for helping assuage my stress and getting Dylan where he needed to be. You rock and it was fantastic to finally meet you and Burdzy!
Twiddle | 2018-05-04 | Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Morrison, CO
Set 1: Enter > Orlando’s, Apples[1], Blunderbuss, Polluted Beauty, Lost In The Cold
Set 2: Frankenfoote, Shakedown Street[2] > White Light[2] > Shakedown Street[2], Beethoven & Greene, Hatti’s Jam > Hattibagen McRat > When It Rains, It Pours
Encore: Jamming[3], With A Little Help From My Friends[4]
Show Notes: This show was the final night of the Road To Red Rocks Tour 2018. This was Twiddle’s first time headlining the venue. The Hip Abduction opened the show, followed by Stick Figure and then Twiddle closed the evening. “Frankenfoote” was last performed on 2016-12-31 (140 show gap). “Shakedown Street” was last performed 2017-11-25 (42 show gap). “With A Little Help From My Friends” was last performed on 2015-11-07 (249 show gap).
[1] “Apples” featured Todd Stoops (Electric Beethoven / RAQ) on keys and contained “Fuck Trump” quotes.
[2] “Shakedown Street > White Light > Shakedown Street” featured Phil Lesh (Grateful Dead) on bass and Grahame Lesh (Midnight North) on guitar.
[3] “Jamming” (Bob Marley) was a debut performance and featured the members of Stick Figure.
[4] “With A Little Help From My Friends” (The Beatles) featured the members of Stick Figure.
Thank you to Twiddle and Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre for being cool with taping/sharing shows. Go see live music and tip your bartenders! #spacetapes
LINK: https://archive.org/d…/Twiddle2018-05-04.AKG.P170.AUD.flac16
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