Over the weekend on Friday night, two members of Greensky Bluegrass, Paul Hoffman and Anders Beck, teamed up with Billy Strings and Samson Grisman for night three of a four show run through Colorado as the Phoffman/Beck Quartet played to a sold-out show in Frisco, Colorado at the Barkley Ballroom.
Coming off previous shows at the Fox Theater in Boulder and the Aggie Theater in Fort Collins, the quartet rolled into Frisco building off the energy from the previous two nights. The capacity crowd at the intimate basement venue was more than ready to keep the energy flowing.
The quartet opened the night with “Burn Them” off their If Sorrows Swim album while intertwining a Shakedown Street tease, which would be the first of many classic teases throughout the night.
The first set continued with a steady dose of Greensky originals including “Fixin’ to Ruin” off their recent album Shouted, Written Down, & Quoted and “All Four” from Handguns. The quartet mixed it up throughout the set weaving in a couple Billy Strings originals as well as powerful cover of the Lynyrd Skynyrd classic “The Ballad of Curtis Loew” which may have been the highlight of the first set.
You could easily see the energy, most notably from Billy Strings, on stage as the four felt free to have fun at this stripped-down show and let loose with banter, call backs, and teases throughout. They flew through the first set finding their stride as the group continued to build off the previous nights’ performances. The quartet ended the first set with another cover, “Little Maggie” from bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley.
Concert goers were quick to head back from the bar as the band did not miss a beat as they kicked off the second set with a Don’t Lie > Feelin’ Alright > Don’t Lie sandwich with a nod to the late Joe Cocker and his classic 1969 single. The first song of the second set was littered with Phish teases including “Carini”, “Wilson”, and “Divided Sky” which set the tone for the second set and got the sold-out crowd moving their feet. The venue’s intimate and tight quarters afforded the sold-out crowd to deliver plenty of energy to the band and the four were right there to match them all throughout the night.
The show continued to roll with another heavy dose of Greensky hits including In Control and I’d Probably Kill You. A Billy Strings original, “Dust in a Baggie”, was a nice change of pace before the quartet ripped into an excellent version of Greensky Bluegrass’ “The Four” with a “China Cat Sunflower” teaser, before ending the second set on a high note with a rocking rendition of “Demons”.
As the band was pushing up against curfew, they managed to squeeze in a fan request for the bluegrass standard “Shady Grove” before calling back to the night’s opening tease of “Shakedown Street” to end a rollicking second set that send the crowd screaming for more.
It seemed as if they were willing to oblige as lead Paul Hoffman was gesturing to the sound board to crank the mics back on, but the lights were up and this excellent show had come to an end. The bluegrass quartet walked off to thunderous cheers, ready to take the energy down to Denver for the final night of their four night Colorado run at Cervantes.
Phoffman/Beck Quartet - Barkley Ballroom Frisco, CO 04/07/17
Set 1:
Burn Them*
Fixin to Ruin
Windsheild
Paul & Silas
While I'm Waiting Here
All Four**
Takin' A Slow Train
The Ballad of Curtis Loew
Little Maggie
Set 2:
Don't Lie >
What is a Booty >
Don't Lie >***
Feelin' Alright >
Don't Lie
In Control
Why Do You Do Me Like You Do?
I'd Probably Kill You
Dust In a Baggie
The Four****
Demons
Shady Grove>
Shakedown Street
*Shakedown Street tease
**Jessica tease
***Carini, Wilson, Divided Sky teases
****China Cat Sunflower verse and tease
(Setlist courtesy of Peter Holcomb & Carin Tompkins)
