It's certainly been a while since I've done one of these show-review posts. Last night, I went to The Earl in East Atlanta Village for the first time in six years. The last time I was there was February 22, 2020, just mere days before the covids shut everything down, so see the singer Mattiel.
I've been to live shows since then, of course, although mainly just the annual Big Ears festivals. Music's changed and I've changed, but last night I was delighted to see that The Earl hasn't changed. Not one little bit. Okay, I did notice a new light above the stage, but that's more of a I've-just-bought-a-new-lamp kind of change than a honey-I-redecorated-the-whole-house kind of change. Everything else, the corner bar, the merch table in the other corner, the low-rise stage, the gritty but accommodating atmosphere, is exactly the same as it was in the twenty-teens, and I couldn't be happier about that. Don't ever change, Earl, you're perfect the way you are.
Last night's show was the brilliant pairing of Nashville's Rich Ruth with the jam-band supergroup Tapers Choice. Rich Ruth opened.
I've seen Rich Ruth before at Big Ears 2023 so I knew what to expect. Not that tagging is important and we don't need to put a label on everything, but their music is hard to classify. It's certainly not jazz, even though a saxophone is prominent in their sound. It's not prog or post-rock, either, although it's all instrumental with no vocals. Psychedelic rock? Stoner ambient? Experimental? Frankly, I don't know and I don't care. Judge (or don't) for yourself:
Last night's set consisted of almost all new material is anticipation of an album they'll be recording soon in Athens, Georgia. They did, however, close their set with Older, But Not Less Confused from 2022's I Survived, It's Over.
The headliners were L.A.'s Taper's Choice, a supergroup of sorts consisting of Dave Harrington (Darkside), Alex Bleeker (Real Estate), Chris Tomson (Vampire Weekend), and Zach Tenorio-Miller (Arc Iris). They are unapologetically a jam band, specializing in long improvisations and often face-melting grooves. They're a little too attached for my liking to Grateful-Dead style vocals, but the songs are usually just launching pads of bookends for their long, exploratory instrumentals, which is the part I like. Not sure they really need the singing, though - it's not their strong suit and some of their best material is vocal free, like Doner Wrap, below.
As you can see from the photo at the top of this post, they bought saxophonist Sam Que from Rich Ruth on stage for one jam, a clearly improvisational number with some great call-and-response interplay between Sam and keyboardist Zach Tenorio-Miller.
Minds were blown and faces were melted, people danced, and a good time was had by all. Bonus points: even though Taper's Choice played for 1¾ hours, I was back home just a few minutes after 11:00 pm, despite some overnight, construction-related traffic in downtown Atlanta.
Double bonus points: Now that I've seen Tapers Choice, my Big Ears 2026 dilemma between them and Medeski, Martin, Metzger & Cline is now resolved.
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