by Micah 'Prof.' Robinson
Usually, second nights are the ones where bands can seem tired or listless. That was certainly not the case tonight.
Judge Roughneck warmed the crowd up with their unique blend of ska, R&B, and funk. The audience ate it up. I personally, made a point of catching their whole show. I totally loved it!
The crowd seemed to double in the time it took to change over from one band setup to another. The placed looked a stadium shrunken to scale, so it would fit into the room. Right away, we could see tonight would be different from the previous. First, the crowd let themselves be seen as soon as the doors opened. None of that football business tonight…
The set list was no more than a piece of paper this evening. Mr. Rodney just knew what the crowd wanted and led the band into tunes that delivered. No set list could do that! The audience witnessed a true master of music at work this night. He moved the crowd to his will and they loved it. Every tune he called helped drive the emotional pitch toward its eventual crescendo. I can't even begin to remember the order of the tunes we played; all I can remember is that the band and audience felt like dance partners. Each would take a turn leading, taking each other to new places within. By the time I came down from this high, we were on the bus en route to Vail.
