Good Listening: The Jayhawks 4/29/95 – Slim’s – San Francisco

Maria McKee and The Jayhawks – Precious Time

I had a different Gary Louris-related post in waiting, but it isn’t every day that Louris announces a reunion show with the 94/95 era lineup of The Jayhawks, so let’s focus on that for a second, shall we?

Louris shared the following intoxicating information in a recent blog post on his website:

You might as well hear it here first folks..

It looks like the 1994/95 era Jayhawks are reforming for one show, at the Azkena Rock Festival in Vitoria Spain, either Sept 5,6, or 7th. One show with Mark Olson, Marc Perlman, Tim O’Reagan, Karen Grotberg, and myself…yes, yes, it will be called the Jayhawks, and we will play the music that from that era…It should be a blast..can’t promise any more shows and I apologize to everyone who will be frustrated at it not being within driving distance but it is what it is at this point…
We all look forward to this blast from the past. Please keep an eye on the Azkena website…..

Great news that they are reforming…..if you’re in Spain!

I have thoughts and questions about this happening…….

1. Louris and Olson have a “reunion” duo album, Ready for the Flood, in the can. Ready for the Flood was produced by Chris Robinson, and recorded during the same time period that produced the Louris solo album Vagabonds.

The album has been on the shelf while Olson and Louris promote their respective solo projects.

Does this swing the pendulum towards a reunion tour billed as “The Jayhawks,” or will they bill it simply as Mark Olson and Gary Louris, as they did during the last set of reunion dates?

If they DO end up billing it as The Jayhawks, I would imagine that Tim O’Reagan would be behind the kit, although I would imagine that Karen Grotberg would probably not be in the lineup, as she left the group to focus on her family, but who knows?

For now, it’s a bit premature to speculate on all of this, and perhaps the best we can hope for is a Minneapolis-area warmup date prior to the Spain show.

Very cool news, though!

In honor of that, here is the first live Jayhawks show that I ever got my hands on.

KFOG in San Francisco was in the midst of two consecutive nights of great live broadcasts.

The second night, was a full set from my much loved Del Amitri….and on the first night, they broadcast The Jayhawks, live from Slim’s, captured in the midst of their touring cycle for Tomorrow The Green Grass.

We didn’t know at the time, that this would be the last time for many years that we’d see Olson and Louris on stage together. I first got a copy of the show on a bootleg CD called Six Pack Songs.

Many years later, I got my hands on the holy grail – a copy of the full show!

And that’s what I’m sharing with you here now….the full show from Slim’s, which features 27 tracks (compared to the original 16 on Six Pack Songs.)

Enjoy!

The Jayhawks
Slim’s
San Francisco
4/29/95

Setlist:

Disc One:

Complete Zipped Download

I’d Run Away
See Him On The Street Today
Ten Little Kids
Over My Shoulder
Clouds
Waiting For The Sun
Red’s Song
If You Really Want Me, I’ll Go
Blue
The Baltimore Sun
Martin’s Song
Two Hearts
Nothing Left To Borrow
Six Pack On The Dashboard
Bad Time
Miss Williams’ Guitar

Disc Two:

Two Angels
Get The Load Out
Sister Cry
Real Light
You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere
Lights On The City
Wichita
Love Hurts

Bonus Download:

As an added bonus, here are the Hollywood Town Hall-era live tracks from the promo-only EP for “Settled Down Like Rain,” recorded live on Valentine’s Day at The Metro in Chicago.

Reason To Believe
Sister Cry
Ain’t No End
Martin’s Song/ Settled Down Like Rain

And while we’re in a Minneapolis mood, check out two CDs worth of Paul Westberg/Replacements rarities, courtesy of I Am Fuel, You Are Friends.

Sounds good, right?

Relevant Links:

The Jayhawks Fan Page

Gary Louris official site