Bela Fleck at the Orpheum: Madison, WI

Bela Fleck and the Flecktones played at The Orpheum on State Street in Madison last night, Friday September 21st 2007. I went to the concert with my girlfriend, sister, and my sisters friend. We showed up at 8:15, 15 minutes after the show was announced to start, and the Flecktones were already on stage playing. The entire first floor seating was filled so we were forced to sit in the balcony, which was also very packed, for the first set.

What was played?

Bela and the Flecktones played a wide variety of songs, a lot of their later hits, such as Locks of Dread, which I captured on video, to some of their more recent hits of their last album, and also a couple covers, one of them being the Beatles song "Come Together" which I also captured on video. The music ranged from smooth contemporary jazz, to spaced out psychedelic trances at times, to the always upbeat and funky bluegrass the Flecktones are known for.

Going Solo

As always, each player was given their opportunity to take the stage themselves. Victor Wooten played some funky bass lines, and did some cool improvisational work with his loop station. Futureman impressed the crowd by playing his drum synthesizer, and also added an additional keyboard that played simple and melodic samples and phrases. Bela of course took the show down when he sat on his stole by himself and threw down, while the crowd eagerly cheered him on.

The Conclusion?

The show ended after two sets, and a very long encore. There were alot of older folks in the crowd, and almost all of them were standing up for the 30+ minute encore, and by the end the crowd was ecstatic and full energy, cheering on Bela Fleck and the Flecktones to keep on playing. Overall it was one of the better concerts I've seen from Bela, maybe because of the Madison atmosphere and the enchanting vibes and surreal closeness(since I was about 20 feet from the stage 2nd set) that made this concert really come to life and showed me that there are some truly amazing musicians still out there touring.