Vida Blue returned tonight for their first show in 15 years! They took their first show back, a sold-out show at 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C., as a good springboard to debut some new music live for the first time ever. And it was also a good chance to dip back into their previous catalog and maybe even some of the covers they played on their previous excursions. tl;dr it was a great show back!
Scroll down to see a bunch of clips as well as the setlist of what went down.
15 years later. Vida Blue is back. pic.twitter.com/KbospAqFUC
— Page McConnell (@pagemcconnell) September 18, 2019
Following news earlier this summer that the band had reunited, recorded a new LP called Crossing Lines, and added a new member (Adam Zimmon) to call themselves a four-piece, three shows were put on the calendar and we heard scant details past that until Page and the Blues sat down with Relix. But tonight, it was a fully rehearsed and backdrop-added show with killer lights accenting the music throughout the show. They definitely came to play.
#vidablue 1st show of tour! pic.twitter.com/35ZsS95nI9
— Tom Marshall (@TomMarshall111) September 19, 2019
Artwork matching the cover art for Crossing Lines adorned the stage, while a square set of lights accented the band top to bottom. Adam was stage right, then Russell, Oteil and then Page far stage left.
The show kicked off with the two strongest songs off of the debut Vida Blue self-titled LP, “Most Events Aren’t Planned” and “CJ3.” New songs off the Crossing Lines LP made an appearance as well, and the band really seemed to play about everything in its arsenal that wasn’t off The Illustrated Band LP. The two songs that had previously also made appearances with Page’s other project, Phish, namely “Final Flight” and “If I Told You,” were actually both paired together to close the main set. Can’t wait to hear that segment.
Vida Blue jamming at @930Club 📱 @BrahBrahBrah #vidablue pic.twitter.com/9uUb9FvHBL
— LIVE music blog (@livemusicblog) September 19, 2019
While Page and his new trio of collaborators could have slacked a bit, the stage show had a killer light setup along with the usual Page stripped down aesthetics. I’d say it’s easily a show that’s worth the money you’d shell out. Really hope we get some West Coast dates, too. Check out the clip below for how the light show got when things got stretched out.
Killer lights and @PageMcConnell showing off some serious chops tonight at #VidaBlue @930Club 📱 @BrahBrahBrah #phish pic.twitter.com/uJxPjy8j9N
— LIVE music blog (@livemusicblog) September 19, 2019
My friend at the show said the Pink Floyd jam of “Sheep” was a moment where he truly lost himself a bit, a moment that we are not to skip musically if we don’t have time to consume any part of it (we’ll update the post when we get video of that).
Along with the Pink Floyd cover, the band broke out Gary Numan’s hit “Cars” in the encore slot to get everyone rocking before heading home. All in all it looked like a wildly confident first show back. Congrats to Page and his Blues. More shows please!
Vida Blue covering some Gary Numan “Cars” !!! @930Club 🎥 @BrahBrahBrah #vidablue #phish @pagemcconnell pic.twitter.com/jz2hvVADHk
— LIVE music blog (@livemusicblog) September 19, 2019
Vida Blue @ 9:30 Club, Washington, D.C. 9.18.19
Most Events Aren’t Planned, CJ3, Where Did It Go, Russ, Phaiden, Analog Delay, Maybe, Where’s Popeyes, Dry Spell, Who’s Laughing Now, Weepa, Sheep^, Final Flight, If I Told You
Encore: Cars#, I Always Wanted It This Way, Electra Glide
Notes:
* – SETLIST MAY BE MISSING INFO AND/OR OUT OF ORDER
^ – Pink Floyd cover
# – Gary Numan cover
“Weepa”
Poster
