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Agents of Good Roots & Regan with Modern Groove Syndicate at The Jewish Mother - 3/18/02
Ok, so I lied.
I really did think that this past show on New Years Eve show was the
last ever Agents of Good Roots performance at least that was the word on the
street. But a few of days
ago, I heard a radio commercial advertising that Agents of Good Roots was to
play at the Jewish Mother in Virginia Beach.
Sure enough, Agents had reconvened for a few more shows. Apparently the bands name and reputation survived longer
than they did maybe deciding to break up wasnt such a good idea after
all. J.C.
Kuhls new band, Modern Groove Syndicate, opened the show.
Here we have yet another talented group of Richmond musicians that just
love to get together and jam their brains out.
And this time around, theyre not letting silly distractions like
singing get in the way either! Modern
Groove Syndicate played all instrumental songs, chocked full of all-out jamming.
You mix the fast, funky bass lines with the super-talented keyboard
player and of course Kuhls free-form sax, and the crowd was really moving.
Playing with Modern Groove Syndicate really seemed to give Kuhl a lot
more freedom and flexibility. Kuhl
stayed on the stage, and the rest of Agents of Good Roots joined him along with
Regan on the mic and Daniel Clark on the keyboard.
Missing from the lineup was original Agents drummer Brian Jones, so the
crowd didnt get to hear any of his songs.
Whoever was playing the drums on this night wasnt hitting those skins
half as hard as Jones usually does, which was ok.
The Jewish Mother is a smaller venue, and this was a more chill show,
music-wise anyway.
Agents
opened with Get Me There, which was the first instance of Regans female
vocals making a world of difference, enriching the musics delivery.
Next was Shot Down, one of my favorite songs to hear Agents play
live. Every time they play it, its a little different, but those
sax riffs are trademark. A surprise
in the set was Miss Misbelieving; I havent heard them play this song in
four years, and tonight the crowd got to hear a slow, groovy version. Andrew
Winn began playing a new song that I was really digging, called Goodbye
Yesterday, and then all of a sudden a fight broke out in the back of The
Jewish Mother. This was really
unusual, especially for an Agents show. How I could walk away from a much larger, fight-free Bad
Religion show last weekend (punks) and walk into a brawl-fest while watching
Agents of Good Roots this weekend (neo-hippies) is beyond me. The brawl was so
bad that the band had to stop playing and yell for security. It took a good two minutes to get all of the drunk crazies
out of there, probably because the Jewish Mother is completely unequipped to
handle incidents such as this one. Unfortunately
for the band, a good number of people left after the brawl even though it was
only about half way through the set. Fortunately
for me however, the band played Goodbye Yesterday again from the
beginning. Andrew
and Regan traded off singing throughout the night, and from Regan we heard some
great covers including Cyndi Laupers Time After Time and Marvin
Gayes Whats Going On, which she did a fantastic job on to close the
show. From Andrew Winn we heard
Dylans Tangled up in Blue, and from bassist Stewart Myers, his always
good version of Paul Simons 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover. Once
again, Agents Of Good Roots put on a stellar show, despite both an unwelcome
interruption and the dodgy acoustics of the Jewish Mother.
One can only hope that this reunion less than three months after
their so-called break-up might mean they are re-considering parting ways.
There are plenty of good shows in them yet.
You can purchase music by the Agents of Good Roots from Amazon, Insound & CDUniverse LEFT OFF THE DIAL's Agents of Good Roots Page
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