Who: Robert Randolph & The Family Band
When: March 20th, 2014
What: Blues rock steel guitarist
Last night, Robert Randolph rocked The Westcott theater in Syracuse, NY for a 2 hour performance that had the floor dancing their hearts away and jamming out to the acclaimed pedal steel guitarist. Jam after jam, Randolph stringed away at the guitar, making the hard played instrument look easy. By the time the group finished, two hours have went by, and everyone in attendance knew they had just witnessed an amazing performance. It was the best of the year so far for Wildfire Review shows.
The concert was the first day of spring for Upstate NY being March 20th. However, being Upstate NY, that meant frigid 20 degree temperatures and a dash of snow fall. This was extremely unfortunate because the show got off on the wrong beat when they announced just a day before hand that the times have changed for as much as an hour. So basically, everyone had to wait outside The Westcott in the cold for an hour because they had changed the times from 8pm until 9pm since nobody knew about it. Besides from that, once everyone finally got into the Westcott, they were once again happy and satisfied because tonight they would witness a guitar god-Robert Randolph.
Local Upstate NY group from Albany Minority Report opened up the show, with no Tom Cruise. Fronted by a female lead singer, the jam band jammed out and got the crowd wild up for Robert Randolph. Their performance was somewhat lack luster because most of their songs were just written several days ago, showing that the band was an extremely new band just making it out onto the scene. However, with a little bit of practice, they may hold some future potential.
Finally after the long wait outside and in, Robert Randolph came on stage for a filled in crowd at The Westcott. His up sided energy carried through the entire performance. The set list included hits like "Amped Up" and ?Ain't Nothing Wrong With That," but mostly it was all about the jams. Most of the songs included eight to ten minute jam sessions where the bands instruments flowed into each other and delighted the crowd. If anyone has ever been to a Robert Randolph concert, you know he absolutely loves crowd interaction, which is never a bad thing.
Like he did several years ago at the State Fair, Randolph invited the ladies of the concert to get on stage and dance with him during one of their songs, which may have been a first for The Westcott. Afterwards, Randlolph welcomed to the stage several local guitarists from the crowd to play with them and rock out for several tunes. Whether or not this was all set up before hand or not is in question, but it added a mixture of great fun and surprise.
Robert Randolph's talent at the steel guitarist is extraordinary. He can hammer at the instrument for hours. Even by the end of the show, you could tell that the man was barely tired and could go on for more. Having seen many well known rock guitarists like Buddy Guy and Eric Clapton, Robert Randolph easily fits into some of the greatest. He's opened for both Buddy Guy and Eric Clapton before as well as numerous other legends and deserves to be in the spotless. For 38, he has many more successful years ahead of him that will hopefully have people realize he is one of the great guitar gods.
Show Rating:
A+
Photos:
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