(Photos: Rob Schmidt)

Greensky Bluegrass made their return to Albany, NY Wednesday for a night of ‘eggcentric’ puns, creative covers and causal fun. Almost exactly one year after playing the Palace Theatre with Circles Around the Sun, this time around, the red-hot jamgrass quintet consisting of Paul Hoffman, Anders Beck, Dave Bruzza, Michael Arlen Bont, and Mike Devo moved up the street to the modern architectural marvel known as The Egg, this time with Tom Hamilton’s Ghost Light opening the show.

Selling out the nearly 1,000 person capacity Hart Theare inside The Egg, the puns and amusing stage banter got started quickly. Kicking things off with a cover of Flatt & Scruggs‘ “Bringing in the Georgia Mail,” and “Lose My Way,” Hoffman would then then change the lyrics of “Dustbowl Overtures” to “like a soft-boiled egg.” “Better Off”, “Hot Dogs (On Parade)”, and “I’d Probably Kill You” came next,
followed by another cover, Hot Rize‘s “Nellie Kane,” which saw the lyrics changed to ’til then I was the scramblin’ kind.” “What You Need”, “Broken Highways”, and “Courage for the Road” closed out the “eggciting” first set.

Following a brief intermission which saw seemingly all 1,000 fans get in the beer line that had only 2 severs, set two began with even more egg references, some so lame even your father would cringe. “Take Cover”. “Collateral Damage”, “Do It Alone” and “A Letter to Seymour” opened the set, followed by perhaps the highlight of the night, the customary Wednesday night rendition of “Casual Wednesday,” which saw Anders Beck remove his dobro/lap steel and run through the crowd, all the way to the top of the theater stairs in full hype mode, making sure every last person got up on their feet, declaring this to be “the best Wednesday ever!”

Up next was “New Rize Hill” before a cover of Bruce Springsteen‘s “Atlantic City” that segued to “Just Listening”. After some more hilarious banter explaining what the next song was about, Greensky debuted their version of Paul Simon‘s “Mother and Child Reunion” followed by another cover, “Exuberance” by Airborne or Aquatic? “Kerosene” brought the the second set a close. After a rousing ovation, GSBS returned to the stage for one last song, another cover, Jimmy Martin‘s “Drink Up and Go Home”, which contained teases of Eric Clapton‘s “Let It Grow.”

The Greensky Bluegrass/ Ghost Light Winter tour now moves on to Pennsylvania, followed by a weekend show at The Anthem in Washington, D.C. For a full list of shows, head to the bands official website for more information.

Setlist:

Set One: Bringing in the Georgia Mail[1], Lose My Way, Dustbowl Overtures, Better Off, Hot Dogs (On Parade), I’d Probably Kill You, Nellie Kane[2], What You Need, Broken Highways, Courage for the Road

Set Two: Take Cover, Collateral Damage, Do It Alone, A Letter to Seymour, Casual Wednesday, New Rize Hill, Atlantic City[3] > Just Listening, Mother and Child Reunion[4][5], Exuberance[6] > Kerosene

Encore: Drink Up and Go Home[7][8]

Notes:

[1] Flatt & Scruggs
[2] Hot Rize
[3] Bruce Springsteen
[4] Paul Simon
[5] First time played
[6] Airborn or Aquatic?
[7] Jimmy Martin
[8] Let It Grow teases