Thoughts on Punch Brothers at Chautauqua in Boulder
The Chautauqua facility was built in 1898 as a community focused on education and culture. So it makes a perfect setting for the Punch Brothers: music with a strong base in classical and bluegrass genres balanced by innovation and embracing of new musical styles (they covered radiohead after all).
They opened the show with two great songs to set the mood: their own Sometimes and the Gillian Welch classic Wayside. For me, Wayside is becoming synonymous with Punch Brothers because it showcases their talents so well. A mustachioed Noam Pikelny, looking a lot like Gael Garcia Bernal, then announced they would be playing the Blind Leaving the Blind - a 43 minute four piece in four parts. The audience laughed. In his deadpan way, he persisted in explaining that indeed they were going to play this piece. The fans in the audience familiar with the piece cheered. Pikelny (or Pickles) then clarified "They've stopped tuning, so I can stop talking." Like his banjo precision, Pickles' comedic timing is flawless and he left the microphone to the sound of the crowd exploding in laughter.
Blind Leaving the Blind
The Brothers then launched into the first two movements of the Blind Leaving the Blind. I took a long time to really Before intermission they gave a brief respite from the emotionally intense piece by playing a couplet of Bailey and You Know You Know.
Intermission at Chautauqua is great fun. You see old friends from the Boulder area, get to purchase cookies, lemonade, or bottled water at the very reasonable price of $1 each.
The second half of the show included parts 3 and 4 of the Blind Leaving the Blind, several new songs, a Hot Rize cover in memory of Charles Sawtelle, and a "free" song based on some serious improvisation about Boulder and the Punch Brothers' merchandise. The crowd thoroughly enjoyed the humor in this free song.
Their encore also started with what Thile described as "The first satelite request for Pickle Time." Pickle time is a great part of their P-Bingo New York show where audience members get to request songs by handing in lyrics and chords. Pikelny "sings" the lyrics, usually inventing the melody along the way while he calls out requests for solos and gives hand signs for the chord progression. Personally, I think it should be a part of every show they do.
Drawbacks to Chautauqua
The old-timey aspects of Chautauqua are not limited to the timeless feeling of their auditorium and the peaceful gardens. They also impact the draconian rules of the auditorum: no cookies inside, no cameras, no camcorders. I respect their desire to limit camcorders or audio recording devices (though they didn't specifically outlaw audio recording devices). But these days it is becoming standard to allow photos by casual photographers. The photos of a venue and a band can only serve to enhance the experience of audience members and act as advertising for future events by the performers or at the location.
The Punch Brothers and Chris Thile will be coming back to Denver in September with 1 show as a group and 2 shows with just Chris Thile. Tickets go on sale soon (hopefully).