[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. (more…)
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