Everyone should end their year bobbing and weaving to The Big Wu. A jam band that goes back to the early 90s, they slowed down for a while to have families and pursue other passions and now much to the delight of their fans they are back with the first album in 14 years – We are Young. We are Old. They introduced the new album at the Fine Line on Saturday night, including a bunch of old some school favorites as well. It felt like a festival or all ages college campus. OK – maybe like parents’ weekend on the college campus if the school was smart enough to have a band such as The Big Wu to tears down the generational recreation walls.
They played a few of my favorites such as Red Sneakers. Live it’s the ultimate jam song – so many strings on stage, so many solos. You can just feel every person in the audience imagining themselves on stage taking their turn with a solo. It’s not a jealousy; it’s an optimism. Again, that is part of what makes The Big Wu such a great end/start of the year show.
They played We Are Trees from the new CD. There’s a levity to the song that raises it to almost anthem heights. There’s a great balance of guitars, bass, keyboard and drums. It’s like an awesome stew where all of the food is flavorful and the mix is just perfect. And the audience seemed to love it.
Finally I have to mention Tom Sawyer. They play a terrific version of that song. The keyboard is very 70s space age sounding. Mark Jospeh sings accompanied by every single person in the building – smiling and singing.
Mostly Minnesota 