Railroad Earth returned after two years to The Pageant on January 17th to open with The Forecast and Tim Carbone on violin. Following a large crowd welcome, the band started up into a soulful Long Walk Home that had us swaying. The band got rolling with an upbeat Lordy, Lordy and got us to jump and stomp to Gold Rush. RV made everyone dream of taking a road trip due to the weekend’s warm weather and also had Andrew Altman on the double bass. The band slowed it down with Came Up Smilin’ that featured solos from Todd Sheaffer, Tim Carbone, and John Skehan on mandolin. Potter’s Field was up next with romantic violin tones that segued to a face paced bluegrass number, 1759, and then into Fisherman’s Blues to end the first set.
Although concert goers were contained to only the first floor, the vibrant energy of the crowd was unstoppable when Railroad Earth opened with Drag Him Down for the second set. Then the band played a fast Daddy-o, a peaceful and down tempo Grandfather Mountain, and a whole hearted For Love. The highlight of the second set was Birds of America with a wicked solo by John Skehan on mandolin, which following into a bouncy Stillwater Getaway, Crossing the Gap with Tim Carbone on violin and lead vocals, and Elko. Despite the fire alarm going off during Head, the last song of the set, the band kept on playing and crowd was thrilled. The audience was so raddled up that they could not wait to hear the encore, One More Night on the Road.
