I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: December 14, 2024] Strand of Oaks [Winter Classic X]

I’ve seen Strand of Oaks five times now.  Three of these were Winter Classics.  I kind of assumed that I’d go to all of the Winter Classics (but I knew I wouldn’t make all of them).  However, I’m surprised that I haven’t seen one since Winter Classic V.

After a really fun opening set from Pat Finnerty and what was basically the rest of the Strand of Oaks band, they all came back, this time with Tim Showalter–and he received a very warm welcome.  I’m not sure how full the event was–the previous years he’s played two sold out nights at Johnny Brenda’s, but Union Transfer is much larger.

But the crowd was really into it, especially the guy a few people down from me who was jumping and pogoing through every song.

I can’t believe that it’s been five years since I last saw a Strand of Oaks show.  I really enjoyed his 2021 album In Heaven, but I didn’t enjoy the latest album Miracle Focus quite as much.  I didn’t really think this show would focus on that album–the Winter Classic is meant to be a fun night for Tim and the fans, and not a typical tour show).  But I was actually surprised how little he played from it, especially since his keyboard player was up front (and I felt a little too quiet).

Instead, he played six songs from In Heaven.  I was pretty pleased with the song selection, although there are a lot of older songs that I would have loved to hear too.

In between the In Heaven songs, he played Party at Monster Lake and Fantasy Wranglers from the new album and a great powerful version of Ruby.  At the end of Ruby he asked us if we’d mind if his friend Pat Finnerty played a fucking guitar solo and Pat did.  I had figured out that Pat was a remarkably talented musician from his improv set and from the solos he’d been playing, but for this solo, he played a really great solo that wasn’t obnoxiously showoffy or fancy, it was just grooving and rocking and the band was fully behind him.

Most of the Winter Classics that I’ve seen have been solo (or duets) so it was great to hear him with a full band, because damn, the band was so good.

After the super catchy Somewhere in Chicago, the band left and he played a solo version of Sunbathers.  Usually a solo section indicates the half way point or more and I was kind of surprised that the show was going to be as short as it seemed.

The band came back and they played some of his classic songs.  A terrific Shut In was followed by a massively long rocking JM.  He has played JM every time I’ve seen him and every time it has been different.  This time, the full band was there and they totally brought it for this jam, with solos from Pat and Tim and the keys.

I think of JM as a night ender, but nope, this was just a fun midset jam.  They followed it with the actual set ender, Weird Ways, another favorite of mine.

And that was that.  They left for an encore break (in the past he hasn’t done encores, but there was no way a Winter Classic was going to end after just over an hour, right).

The band came back out after a few minutes and launched into an amazing jamming Forever Chords.  It was fantastic, with the band firing on all cylinders.  Although Tim said they were going to play “a few” encores, they wound up playing only two, but the finale, “Goshen 97” was fantastic with the crowd singing along to everything.

There’s a ton of songs that I would have loved to hear–Radio Kids, HEAL, Plymouth–but even without these, the set was still great and the band was amazing.

Tim kind of made it seem like there might not be a Winter Classic XI.  He did say how much he loved doing this one, but it felt like he wasn’t certain about the tradition continuing.  I hope it does, but of course I won’t know until next year.

But as a final concert of the year, this one was a great one!

 

Winter Classic X 2024	Winter Classic V (Night 1) 2019	Winter Classic IV (Night 2) 2018
Hurry Œ	Wild and Willing €	Shut In ♥  (with Carl Broemel) [2]
Party at Monster Lake ϖ	Same Emotions ♥	Plymouth ♥ (with Carl Broemel) [2]
Easter Œ	Shut In ♥ [3]	JM ♥ (with Carl Broemel) [3]
Galacticana Œ	Moon Landing € [Sleeping Pills on setlist]	Weird Ways [first time played] €
Ruby € [2]	Keys € (with Carl Broemel and Joe Pug and Mike “Slo-Mo” Brenner on lap steel)	Everything ⊗  (with Carl Broemel) [2]
Fantasy Wranglers ϖ	Dirt [Phish cover] (with Carl Broemel and Joe Pug and Mike “Slo-Mo” Brenner on lap steel)	Wait for Love ♥
Sister Saturn Œ	Weird Ways € ((with Carl Broemel and Joe Pug and Mike “Slo-Mo” Brenner on lap steel) [2]	Kill Dragon ¥ [sung with Tim’s wife, Sue]
Somewhere in Chicago Œ	Whip-Poor-Will [Songs: Ohia cover] ((with Carl Broemel and Joe Pug and Mike “Slo-Mo” Brenner on lap steel)	Nation of Heat [Joe Pug cover] (with Carl Broemel and Joe Pug)
Sunbathers (solo) Œ	JM ♥ ((with Carl Broemel and Joe Pug and Mike “Slo-Mo” Brenner on lap steel) [4]	Dark Matter [Carl Broemel cover] (with Carl Broemel and Joe Pug)
Shut In ♥ [4]	Plymouth ♥ ((with Carl Broemel and Joe Pug and Mike “Slo-Mo” Brenner on lap steel) [3]	Comfortably Numb [Pink Floyd cover]  (with Carl Broemel and Joe Pug)
JM ♥ [5]	Horses at Night Œ [first time played] ((with Carl Broemel and Joe Pug and Mike “Slo-Mo” Brenner on lap steel)	Rest of It ⊗ (with Carl Broemel and Joe Pug) [2]
Weird Ways € [3]	Ruby € ((with Carl Broemel and Joe Pug and Mike “Slo-Mo” Brenner on lap steel)	The Golden Age [Beck cover] (with Carl Broemel and Joe Pug)
encore	Visions € ((with Carl Broemel and Joe Pug and Mike “Slo-Mo” Brenner on lap steel)) (Eraserland on set list. Tim cashed “an audible”)	Goshen ’97 ♥ (with Carl Broemel and Joe Pug) [3]
Forever Chords € [2]	Forever Chords € ((with Carl Broemel and Joe Pug and Mike “Slo-Mo” Brenner on lap steel))
Goshen ’97 ♥ [5]	Goshen ’97 ♥ ((with Carl Broemel and Joe Pug and Mike “Slo-Mo” Brenner on lap steel) [4]

 

Union Transfer (full band) 2017	Winter Classic II, Night 3 (2016)
Acid Intro	Radio Kids (with Carl Broemel) ⊗
Shut In ♥	Sterling (with Carl Broemel) ¥
Taking Acid and Talking to My Brother ⊗	Passing Out (with Carl Broemel) Ø
Radio Kids⊗ [2]	Keys (with Carl Broemel) €
On the Hill ⊗	The Gray Tower (Songs: Ohia cover) (with Carl Broemel)
HEAL ♥	Hard Love ⊗
Plymouth ♥	Looks Like We Made It (snippet)
Everything ⊗	Shut In ♥
Rest of It ⊗	Two Kids £
encore	Last to Swim ¥
Cry ⊗	Hymn #101 (Joe Pug cover) (with Joe Pug) (also performed with Carl Broemel)
JM ♥ (featuring John Baizley from Baroness on guitar) [2]	Carried Away (Carl Broemel cover) (with Joe Pug) (also performed with Carl Broemel)
Goshen ’97 ♥  (featuring John Baizley from Baroness on guitar) [2]	The Golden Age (Beck cover) (with Joe Pug) (also performed with Carl Broemel)
	JM ♥
	Goshen ’97 ♥

 

ϖ = Miracle Focus (2024)
ΠIn Heaven (2021)
€ = Eraserland (2019)
Ø = Harder Love (2018)
⊗ = Hard Love (2017)
♥ = Heal (2014)
¥ = Pope Killdragon (2010)
£ = Leave Ruin (2009)