February 27, 2022. I am at the Lincoln Theater in Raleigh, North Carolina to see a group who goes by the title of “KCL.” This trio is made up of guitarist Wayne Krantz, drummer Keith Carlock (Steely Dan, Sting, John Mayer) and bassist Tim Lefebvre (Tedeschi Trucks Band, David Bowie). This tour is fresh out of New York City, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, last night in Vienna, Virginia and now right into the capital city of North Carolina. The Lincoln Theater is a nice intimate venue that regularly hosts some of the best music of all genres from all over the country. At times the line to get in on a sold out night can stretch out of sight on the downtown Raleigh sidewalk.
As I entered the theater parking lot for the show I was a little early as that seems to always be my method of operation for any live music show. It was a quiet Sunday evening and the cold winter darkness was contrasting against the lights of downtown Raleigh. I crossed the street and made my way into the lobby of the building to start the evening. In a few moments I had my ticket scanned and my wristband showing my excellent seat on row A. I made my way over to my seat and soon started talking with some of the folks around my chair. We were all commenting that seating in this theater is not the normal thing as most shows pack the standing crowd into the “dance floor” as they call it. Having a chair and your own comfortable space is great at any show! The crowd started to file into the seats and the clock was ticking towards showtime.
The trio came out just after 7:00 PM which is great for a Sunday night show. If there was a setlist I never saw one. The show lasted roughly 90 minutes with a single encore without a break. The theme for the night was full-on jazz fusion genre-bending music that was being served at 95-100 db and I was seated in front of the PA stack. Yes I was using my etyomotic earplugs so I was pretty close to the safe listening zone. I really love my “baby blues.” https://www.etymotic.com/passive-hearing-protection/
I had no plan to review this show tonight as I only wanted to share some images and memories from the evening with this trio of very talented artists. I drove a three hour round trip to see this group and it was worth it. I was not the only one in the room who had put in a road trip to see these guys. I had conversations with Raleigh locals and people who had put some “gas in the car” to make this road trip. “Is there gas in the car?” “Yes there is gas in the car.” If you missed the humor google it.
Folks there are still some dates on this tour and I highly encourage you to get out there and support these guys. They have a final date in Nashville at the City Winery on March 1 and some dates in Europe and Asia later this year. I suspect those dates will follow the close of the late summer dates that Keith is playing with Steely Dan in 2022. I have tickets to one of those and can’t wait.
I enjoyed watching each one of these artists play as I closely watched and listened to each one of them at times with their contributions to the sound. They are great fun whether you kick back with a beverage or groove intently without distraction. If you can’t catch this group live go buy the music. It is a very cool listen that is unique and full of talent. One can hope for more future tour dates and some new studio music would be great!
Until next time I’ll see you, down the road.