Last night marked what was billed as the final show of the band’s nine-year run. Something that started as a bit of a joke quickly caught on with local audiences and steadily grew as the band relentlessly toured for years. Remaining largely intact for those years, with the exception of a couple of members who were invited back for the shows in Knoxville, the group finally hit the point where they were ready to come off the road. They’ve played to mostly sold-out shows for this final small tour, with both the Bijou show (which was an add-on) last Saturday night and the Tennessee Theatre shows selling out in their hometown.
Like many of you, I’ve seen them numerous times and the places I’ve seen them (I missed their Preservation Pub shows), pretty much traces the ascent of the band. I first saw them at Barley’s in all their craziness and watched James stage-dive into the too-small crowd and fall flat on the floor of the bar. He got up laughing. I fell in love with their sound, energy and, for me, the very tasteful playing of Michael Jenkins. This was pre-Cozmo.
I saw them multiple times as they climbed their way through the Square Room, Market Square, the Bijou, the Tennessee and, last year, saw them play Thompson-Boling. For Knoxville boys, that had to be pretty heady, though for venues, they’d already played our best by that time. Some of their biggest success came from having their songs used on various television shows, recording with Levon Helm opening for the Zac Brown Band, Wilco, the Black Crowes and others and playing Bonnaroo. Not a bad run.
I attended the show last Saturday night at the Bijou and enjoyed the raucous crowd and the high-energy music throughout the night. This was the first time I’d heard opener Electric Darling, a gumbo band of rock-and-roll, soul and funky goodness. Two (former, as of today?) members of the Dirty Guv’nahs plan to carry the torch and have launched the new group.
Cozmo Holloway is front-and-center on guitar and Kevin Hyfantis, who played keyboard with the Guv’nahs (and previously the Black Cadillacs) has switched his talents to guitar for the new band. The centerpiece of energy, talent and visual pop, however, is vocalist Yasameen Hoffman-Shahin (Yaz) whose vocals and stage presence would be sufficient to front any band. With the talent assembled here, it is easy to predict a very successful run if they want it.
The Guv’nahs? I won’t belabor what you would expect and know would be delivered from the guys. On from beginning to end, they played a wide-ranging set which James told the crowd would include exactly what they wanted to play and found them dipping way back into the catalog on songs like “Amie Mae.” Of course they played crowd favorites like “Blue Rose Stroll” and “Fairlane,” so the show wasn’t completely taken up by obscure tracks.
The covers followers have come to expect were also present, including (obviously) a Rolling Stones cover and the Band’s “The Weight” as a tip of the hat to their friend Levon. That song featured vocals by nearly everyone on stage by turns, including current and former members who rarely get the vocal spotlight. The cover of the night, however, was “Hey Jude,” which seemed to be endless and that fact didn’t seem to bother any of the capacity crowd as they happily sang another round of “Na, na, na, na, na, na, hey Jude.” That lyric sounds better than it looks, doesn’t it?
Surprises included the original members coming onto the stage and joining the band and a horn section which they’ve used before and I always felt fits their sound perfectly. The show started with Electric Darling at 9:00 PM and ended with the final notes from the encore at about 1:00 AM. It was a fitting conclusion for me, as I was unable to attend last night’s show at the Tennessee.
Enjoy this small group of photos and watch the Inside of Knoxville FB page for the complete collection of both Electric Darling (31 photos) and the Dirty Guv’nahs (115 photos).
