2018-08-11 - The Lawn at White River State Park - Indianapolis, IN
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After an easy drive from St. Louis to Indianapolis it was time for night 2, and the first of two Spafford shows of the day! Finally a beautiful Midwest summer night! Between the cooler weather, it being Brendan Bayliss’ (Umphrey's McGee) birthday, and knowing a lot of us had the Spafford late night after this show, there was an added energy throughout the crowd. Tonight was primed to be a dance party!
The set opened with what felt like a fairly standard When It Falls. I’ve now seen this song 2 of the 4 times it has been played live and the potential in each section of this song is immense! I’m REALLY excited for where this song could go once they stretch it out!
Next up was a rousing rendition of the always popular Ain’t That Wrong. High energy right from the start and then settling into a groove that emphasized the fun in funky, this jam seemed to build from your toes until the entire crowd was getting down as one. To me one of the easiest measures of a great jam is when you think it has reached it’s peak only for the band to take it to another level, and this version did exactly that!
I love Jordan’s bass line during All In, especially as it leads through Red and Brian’s almost Allman Brother’s-esqe dueling scales, and ultimately to one of the best breakdowns Spafford has in their catalog. Brian’s shredding through the first sections of this song gave way to Red leading a mellow jam (and perfectly timed breather) before Brian came back in to hammer this one home. It just amazes me that these guys get tighter and tighter every time I see them.
The set ended with more fireworks as Brian crushed more soaring riffs through America. This one was fairly straight forward, but that is NEVER a bad thing with this song. As technical as ever, the band has been absolutely on point throughout these sets. As they ended the set Brian said “See some of you tonight” and my anticipation for the coming late night could not have been higher!
