Whisky a Go Go, Los Angeles, January 17, 1999
After an opening-night private party on Saturday, the paying public got the opportunity to join in the festivities celebrating the Whisky a Go Go's thirty-fifth anniversary on Sunday evening. Musically, the evening belonged as much to San Francisco as it did to L.A., as most of the bands performing hailed from the Bay Area. |
Fittingly, the opening act was a group that probably opened for every big name act to play the Fillmore scene back in the late Sixties: Sweetwater. "We originally got signed through playing here," recalled bassist Fred Herrerea. "Janis & Big Brother were headlining and playing before the entire record industry here in 1967, and we were lucky enough to open up for her. So it was an unintentional showcase where we met a lot of important friends."
Speaking of Big Brother, their set followed, and it was loaded with the same funky camaraderie that made them legendary back in their heyday. With Andra Mitrovich handling most of the lead vocals without actually trying to replace Janis Joplin, Big Brother ran through such classics as "Down On Me," "Combination of the Two" and "I Need a Man to Love," with loads of energy and power. The band was joined by violinist David Laflamme, late of another Bay Area band, It's a Beautiful Day, for an excellent version of the title cut from their last album, Do What You Love. Iron Butterfly followed with perhaps the tightest set of the evening. The original two-thirds of the band roared through "In the Time of Our Lives" and, of course, an extended "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" with the usual proto-metal/rococo motifs.
Moby Grape closed out the evening with a strong set. The group is in fine shape, and Big Brother guitarist Sam Andrew filled in for the absent Skip Spence admirably. Unfortunately, some of the finest music that the band played on this evening -- and it was awesome, especially Bob Mosley's solid soul-inflected bass lines and the Peter Lewis/Jerry Miller lead guitar interplay -- was rendered in somewhat flawed fashion by a lackluster room mix. Still, the Grape's versions of classic material such as "Omaha," "Fall of You" and "That Lost Horizon" were a riveting reminder of a group of musicians who, in a perfect world, should be as legendary as Led Zeppelin.
MATTHEW GREENWALD(January 19, 1999)