Spafford Cover: On Fire - Best Performances
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On Fire, originally by JJ Grey and Mofro is an awesome jam vehicle for Spafford. With a funky bass line and a cool guitar lick the stage gets set early for a deep groove and a chance to explore. On Fire was one of the first songs that I heard Spafford play that made me really sit up and take notice.
The composed piece always gets a solid treatment with Brian's vocals clearly conveying the feelings that Grey had when he wrote them, but the real magic happens when the boys settle into the groove. A particularly awesome performance comes from the 2014-12-31 New Year's show at Cactus Jack's in Arizona.
The groove opens up early with Red making all kinds of alien noises on the keys and a nice interplay from Brian. At about 18 minutes the second jam kicks and Brian digs in. In general I don't like comparing Brian to other guitarists but there are a few moments where he comes off sounding a bit like a machine gunner. Never one to fall into a pigeon hole though, the third jam brings out some of Brian's bluesier chops, and Red swaps out of the alien realm to return to a straight piano.
Fortunately, you don't have to take my word for it when it comes to this one. You can find a soundboard linked from the 2014-12-31 show page in the SpaffBase. Don't miss the jam into The Fireman that follows and takes the blues groove and drops a little reggae on top of it.
As an aside, this was my first show. I didn't even realize it when I started writing this review.
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My personal favorite is from 3/8/15 Orpheum Theater, Flagstaff. This is one of the shows that contribute to making March '15 my favorite month in Spafford history... so far.
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@Frito-Pie I'll check this out! Good call!
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My 2 cents, the 3/36/17 Houston On Fire is one for the ages, breaks away completely from its usually jam direction.
