Hug Your Farmer: A tribute to Levon Helm 5/18/12 Higher Ground, Burlington, VT

Hello everyone. Hope you all had a safe Memorial Day weekend. Back in March, when Switzer and her husband Josh came down from Vermont for a visit, they informed me that they were having a going away party in May because they were moving to Montana. Josh was pursuing his masters and they wanted to see some more of the country. I made plans to go up to Vermont on the weekend of May 18th for the party. On April 19th, the music world lost one of its great spirits, Levon Helm. 2 weeks after that, a group of musicians from Burlington announced they were holding a benefit for farmers and would make it a tribute to Levon Helm and the Band. And they were going to have it on May 18th.
     The benefit was being held at the Higher Ground in Burlington, VT. Nice cozy venue with great sight lines. There was a large bar in the back and one on the side. It holds 800 people and the show was sold out but there was still plenty of roam.


Up On Cripple Creek, Down South In New Orleans, Further On Up The Road, Stage Fright*, Who Do You Love?**, Rag Mama Rag, It Makes No Difference, Ophelia***, Evangeline#, Helpless***, Wide River To Cross, Life Is A Carnival^, Don't Do It^, Caravan^, The Shape I'm In, Forever Young^^, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down^^, Baby Let Me Follow You Down^, The Weight

E: King Harvest (Has Surely Come), I Shall Be Released^^^

Bob Wagner- guitar/vocals
Clint Bierman- guitar/vocals
Peter Day- bass/vocals
Ray Paczkowski- keys
Ron Rost- keys
Steve Hadeka- drums
Chris Peterman- tenor sax
Adam Dotson- trombone
Dave Grippo- alto sax
Steven Bernstein- trumpet
Luke LaPlant- baritone sax

*- w/ Anders Parker on lead vocals
**- w/ Matt Hagen & Mike Clifford on lead vocals
***- w/ Will Evans on lead vocals
#- w/ Marie Claire on lead vocals
^- w/ Josh Panda on lead vocals
^^- w/ Ryan Miller on lead vocals
^^^- w/ everyone

Notes: John Fishman on drums from
"Life Is A Carnival" through the end of the show.
  
You can download it here
http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=555076

    While pregaming at the last heady bar in Burlington, The 3 Needs, we heard that they were going to be doing the Last Waltz. I almost shit my pants. That album was one of the goto albums in my college days. I knew it inside and out. I even have the audience recording of the Last Waltz Concert. It was 4+ hours but had to be edited down for a film and double album. When they opened up with Up On Cripple Creek, I knew we were golden. They changed the order of the songs due to personal/logistical reasons but you won’t hear myself complaining.
    Bob Wagner handled most of the lead guitar parts and he looks like he came from central casting for a lead guitarist shredding classic rock tunes. Down South in New Orleans is not a Band original so I then knew I we were going to get the great covers and guest tunes from the album. He showed his chops on the solo for Further On Up the Road. They introduced the band and Gov. Shumlin spoke. His first question, “How many of you out there are growing something?” got some laughs ‘cause I’m sure all the crops being grown aren’t legal.
     Stage Fright started the parade of local musicians to the stage. Anders Parker handled the lead vocals admirably. In the film, the Ronnie Hawkins performance of Who Do You Love is one of the highlights. His stage presence is so large that it took 2 Vermonters to fill his shoes. Mike Clifford was in a Fishman dress print shirt and Matt Hagen looked like Hank Williams Jr if he started on an Amish basketball team. They absolutely killed it. The even attempted the screams the Hawk did. Matt Hagen also did the fanning motion with his hat to cool down the smoking guitar solo Matt Wagner was playing.
     Then local legend Brett Hughes (who I met when he came to Hanover to perform at Switzer’s wedding reception) came onstage to do one of Levon’s signature tunes, Rag Mama Rag. While performed at the Last Waltz, it is neither in the film or the album. So now I was really geeked because I knew we could be getting ANYTHING!

   Evangeline was another song while in the movie, was not performed in live in front of an audience. The vocals of Matt Wagner and Marie Claire blended like waffles and maple syrup. The Helm solo song, Wide River to Cross, was a nice touch but it did bring the energy level down a bit. But no worries as Mr. Joshua Panda was about to blow the roof of the sucka.

     This guy owned the stage the minute he stepped on it. He was so good I forgot Fishman was sitting behind the drum kit now. Life is a Carnival, Don’t Do It, and Caravan each built one on top of the other. Panda is truly a showman of the highest degree. When he got to the leg kicks in Caravan, the audience (including myself) was going apeshit.

     Forever Young and Dixie were great audience singalongs and a chance for the crowd to catch their breath. Then came the song I was waiting for, Baby Let Me Follow You Down. On the album, Dylan rejoins his one time backing band to destroy this tune. While the HYF version didn’t quite make it to that top rung of the ladder, they still did a great job, staying faithful to the album’s arrangement of it.
     The Weight had everyone come out and trade the lead verses, just like the Band and the Grateful Dead used to sing it. For an encore, they did the farmer’s anthem King Harvest and I Shall Be Released was the perfect sendoff for us into the night.

     At the after party, I got to hang with Matt Hagen. He said they did 2 rehearsals, the first being a week before the show and the second on the afternoon of the show. That was also the only practice they had with the horns. I feel very blessed to experience a local Burlington event and iconic venue and would once again like to thank all my friends in the great state of Vermont for making myself feel at home whenever I visit your glorious region.