-A.S. Seeing Robert Randolph & the Family Band for the first time when I was in college was incredible. I danced by butt off, and the whole packed house was into the show. The second time I saw him, I realized that it was almost the exact same show as the first time. I told myself I probably wouldn’t go see them again the next time they were in town. Having gotten my hands on free tickets for an exclusive XRT show at the Cubbie Bear, I decided to give them another shot.

The Cubbie Bear was way too crowded, and the amount of vantage points without an obstructed view was limited. Add the fact that the crowd was unusually tall and seeing Robert Randolph when he was sitting down at his steel pedal guitar was difficult. Plus it was almost unbearably warm in there.

The music itself was good, but not spectacular. Randolph is an amazing guitar player, but after a while all of his music starts to sound the same. It’s very formulaic. Riffs and vocal lines get repeated sometimes at nauseum.

Tracks off the newest album, Colorblind, sounded fine live. “Dianne” and “Deliver Me” even got the crowd going a little bit. I think that some of the crowd’s indifference towards the band was probably because it was a free concert and XRT event, and not a concert that the whole crowd paid to see the band. The covers were the highlight for me, at least for the most part. Bo Diddley’s “Who Do You Love” sounded great. As did the blues standard “Shake Your Hips,” which featured about a dozen girls doing the hip shake on stage. The not so great cover was the attempt at Daft Punk’s “Technologic.” After that subpar cover, it was time to go.

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4. Robert Plant and Allison Krauss at ACL
5. Dave Matthews Band closes out Mile High