Solana Beach - Belly Up Tavern (San Diego)

Great venue for a show. Tables right under the stage. maybe 200 people.

Set List:

Diamond Joe

Stagger Lee
Throw me a rope

Method Acting -> Cortez
Jackson

I'll fill in the rest here soon.


Afterwards Gillian and Dave came out into the crowd and chatted people up. I got my daughters Ukelele signed by Dave.

Videos

"The way it will be" This one brings tears. An original song of theirs, from about '05. This is probably the definitive YouTube version. But see others below.

Crisp but cut off:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-9fDp-GvJA&feature=related
A little muddier from Disney Hall 2007 (that's a bigger venue that Largo): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wRkKDeTmpM
http://boneyearnest.blogspot.com/2005/10/gillian-welch-throw-me-rope-lyrics-and.html

Here are three songs: I want to sing that rock and roll, and the middle song "Revelator" demonstrates Dave when he's in the groove. It's unbelievable.



Astounding cover of Radiohead's Black Star at Bonoroo 2007.




Caleb Meyer - old and crisp



With John Paul Jones @ Bonoroo. Miss Ohio. He also played Largo with he Machine on 3/05/09.

Largo Coronet Room - March 5th

Thursday 9:00pm show
(with Gillian Welch, Jon Paul Jones, Benmont Trench, Watkins family and others)

Great show. John Paul Jones played most of it. Partial set list:

• Diamond Joe
• The way it will be
• I hear them all (OCMS)-> This land is your land
• Hot Corn, Cold Corn
• Two songs with another female guest singer (?)
• Novacaine (?) w/ special guest singer (?)
• Cortez
• White Rabbit

Reviews:
Yes, that was one of the best shows I have seen. Somewhere in the middle of Cortez the Killer the whole thing shifted from a show to an ecstatic ritual. Then to have that followed by an incredible White Rabbit...Gillian couldn't quite match Grace Slicks vocal's on that one - but nobody could (IMHO it is perhaps the best of all classic rock female vocals), but the instruments more than made up for that.

Other People Covering Welch/Rawlings Songs

This is a really cool song. I think it's about MP3's and music on the internet.



Here is Emmy Lou Harris singing Orphan Girl

I like this Miss Ohio, it's got almost a Reggage feel to it.



Cool also reggae like version of "Everything is Free" by Waz E James Band



And another really interesting version of "Everything is Free" by "The Tiny".
Very nice string work (cello?)

Largo Coronet Room

Friday Show 9:00pm (w/ Gillian Welch, Benmont Trench, and others)

Diamond Joe
The Way it will be (duet)
Stagger Lee
Novacaine (?) (Tri)
Two banjo songs
Incredible version of "Long may you run" I think. (full band)
Cortez
The Weight

Reviews:
From: http://www.mudcrutch.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5989

Seldom have we experienced such an amazing evening as we did last night when David Rawlings and Gillian Welch came together as the 'David Rawlings Machine' at Largo at the Coronet Theater.

They were joined by many other great artists (including Benmont Tench), but I am COMPLETELY ASHAMED to say that I cannot name the others. Something I hope to remedy ASAP.

The musical experience last night left me both stupified and awestruck.

That amazement appeared to be a shared experience, and you could have heard a pin drop during the encore as David and Gillian came together, sans amplifiers, in a final song so pure and heartfelt that besides their guitars and voices, the only sound audible was the muted squeaking of springs as audience members gravitated to the edges of their seats in rapt attention.

I awoke to the chords of Neil Young's 'Cortez the Killer' rolling like thunder in my foggy brain - with my hair still a rats nest I had to look up the guitar tab and make a valiant but futile attempt to replicate what I heard last night.

The audience at Largo is a savy one, comprised of music lovers and included more than a few musicians and actors. It should come as no surprise that great performances like this are more apt to occur in venues that cater to celebration of the arts. At this Largo excells.

If you are ever afforded a chance, you really owe it to yourself to make the trek to Largo at the Coronet and catch a David Rawlings Machine performance. The experience will leave you truly enchanted, and maybe even reaching for your guitar

Other Information

Older Show Reviews:
http://thejtrain.typepad.com/the_j_train/2006/11/review_the_dave.html
http://www.jambase.com/Articles/16202/Dave-Rawlings-Machine-12.12-and-12.19
http://grassyhill.org/pipermail/folkmusic/2003-September/002997.html
http://www.relix.com/Features/Show_Reviews/The_David_Rawlings_Machine_200612062000.html
http://laist.com/2007/09/16/watkins_family.php
http://atruersound.blogspot.com/2008/12/david-rawlings-machine-tangiers.html
http://www.valleytan.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=146:the-david-rawlings-machine-at-club-largo&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=50

Song Info: Chords, Lyrics and other blogs on songs.
That's the way it will be.

What do they play? - Guitar Info

From Acoustic Guitar Magazine, April 1999, No. 76

GILLIAN WELCH AND DAVID RAWLINGS

Gillian Welch’s main guitar is a ca. 1956 Gibson J-50 with a factory-installed adjustable bridge. "It’s pretty much just like a J-45," she says. "It’s blond, and it’s got a big ugly pickguard on it." A couple of years ago, she picked up a five-string Vega Senator banjo, which she’s specially modified "with a little bit of bubble wrap shoved under the head."

David Rawlings gets his signature, midrangey guitar sound from a 1935 Epiphone Olympic archtop with a carved top and plywood mahogany back and sides. He likens its sound to that of a resophonic guitar. "I bought it without a bridge," he says, "and had a one-piece mahogany bridge made for it. I think with a top this small it really behooves you to get as much stuff touching the top as you can, because the top doesn’t have that much flex to it." He says his guitar is unique in that every note on every string plays at the same volume. "It doesn’t have any dead spots or any high spots—which is very, very strange," he says. "It makes it fun to play lead, because you don’t have to worry where you’re at. It’s not much of a solo instrument, but I can’t really play by myself worth a darn, so it doesn’t make much of a difference."

Welch and Rawlings switched their stage amplification rig in 1996 from pickups and DIs to external microphones. Rawlings explains that the change has made setting up for shows easier, although they do need to be a bit more hands-on during setup than they used to be. "We carry Shure SM-58s and SM-57s," Welch says. "Fancy microphones can be very difficult. The one thing that’s nice about the Shures is that their quality control is low enough that they are all different. They’re like snowflakes. If we carry a complement of eight microphones, we can go into a hall and find the right one for the room and the system. We play the microphone game; we swap them out." "And it’s easy to control volume by changing the proximity to the mics," Rawlings adds.

—Simone Solondz