Leftover Salmon and The Lee Boys NYE Run
Live at The Vogue, Indianapolis, IN
December 27, 2012
Words/Photos by Mark Loveless
After seeing The Lee Boys a month earlier open for Gov’t Mule, I was eagerly waiting for their amazing performance again. The Lee Boys are a sacred steel band coming off their most recent album release, Testify and were inspired by a unique form of Gospel with Blues and Jazz roots with a twist of hip-hop. Believe me when I say these guys know how to throw down and get loud – I learned real fast after seeing them last month not to forget a pair of earplugs. Keyboardist/Organist Roosevelt Collier and The Lee Boys got the nearly sold out crowd geared up and well primed for Leftover Salmon to take stage.
The Mayans could not have predicted how epic Leftover Salmon would be Friday night. After seeing Salmon several times since they reunited, this show will stick in my mind for many months and years to come. As they took stage Friday night, Vince Herman opened the show with a Cajun Jam Grass tone to get everyone into the dancing mood with “ Dance On Your Head.” Earlier this year Leftover Salmon released their seventh album and first in nearly 8 years called Aquatic 
Hitchhiker. It did not take them long before they jumped into music from the new album. “Gulf of Mexico,” an Americanized song about the beautiful white beaches and swaying palm trees of Mississippi and the lives that were ruined from the storms and oil spills. Followed by a strong bluegrass feel, “Kentucky Skies,” with a great banjo rift from aficianado Andy Thorn. A great bluegrass number for any midwestern growing up in the heartland of Kentucky that loves traditional bluegrass festivals, moonshine and Bill Monroe. Thorn, a real young guy with a lot of energy has fit in this band very nicely after the lost of Mark Vann due to cancer. Salmon would close the first set with an epic and mind blowing jam with “Rueben’s Train” straight into “Hot Corn, Cold Corn” followed by “Rivers Risin.”
As set two began the fans were relaxed, mind flowing and ready to get down on the dance floor. The band opened the second set with a perfect song to get the fans a swaying on the floor. Although it was not a Friday evening, “Sing Up to the Moon” seemed perfect for a week of snow that hit Indiana and extra long weekend. A song about heading up to the mountains for a relaxing weekend of drinking and smoking. Set two seemed be more of mellow set as they played crowd favorite like “Unplug Your Telephone” and “Light Behind The Rain” another new song from Aquatic Hitchhiker. They closed set two out with a good ole foot stomping Drew Emmitt mandolin jam, “Steam Powered Aeroplane” straight into another new number “Walking Shoes,” a song about restarting life and seeing world from a different perspective, your walking shoes. As night ended the encore was breathtaking with artificial snow falling as they jammed out to “Let’s Give a Party” and “Wake & Bake” that were perfect for the beginning of the New Year’s Eve Run of this tour.
Set 1 Dance On Your Head Midnight blues Bird Call Gulf of Mexico … Kentucky Skies The Other Side Tu Nas Pas Aller The Morning Sun Delta Queen Reuben’s Train-> Hot Corn, Cold Corn -> Rivers Risin’ –
SET 2– Sing Up To The Moon Liza Aquatic Hitchhiker Blue Night Demon In Disguise Falling Sky Unplug Your Telephone Light Behind The Rain Jokester Steam Powered Aeroplane Walking Shoes Reach
ENCORE— Let’s Give A Party Wake & Bake
ED note: Mark Loveless is an accomplished photographer, reviewer, but most of all, a HUGE music fan based in Indiana. To see more of his work, check out his website HERE and his facebook page HERE and check back on our site for more to come from this talented guy.
