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| Red Wanting Blue @ Hopmonk Novato (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Red Wanting Blue started off a two-night Bay Area run in the North Bay at Hopmonk Novato (with a Wednesday night show in San Francisco at Brick & Mortar Music Hall). The Columbus, Ohio band with two decades under their belt treated a Tuesday night crowd at the intimate Session Room with an energetic and engaging performance fit for an amphitheater.
Lead singer Scott Terry filled the room with charisma and bar band passion from the moment the band hit the stage. His performance balanced boisterous celebration with heartfelt sentimentalism.
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| Red Wanting Blue @ Hopmonk Novato (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
“Hope on a Rope” - labeled by Terry as “the closest thing we have to a band mantra” - formed a perfect bookend for “My Name is Death” which saw Terry and lead guitarist Eric Hall out solo. With references to the “late, great Johnny Cash” and the Rolling Stones, a lantern-lit Terry led the crowd-favorite singalong line of “I’m the baddest motherfucker you will ever meet.”
Terry was supported deftly by Hall, multi-instrumentalist Greg Rahm, bassist Mark McCullough and drummer Dean Anshutz who provided hard driving beats during the set-closing Hitchhiker’s Lullaby and then took to the front of the stage to provide the rhythm for “You Are My Las Vegas”
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| Red Wanting Blue @ Hopmonk Novato (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Meaghan Farrell provided a great opening set, taking the stage with only an acoustic guitar and a van full of emotional stories to share. She soaked up the opportunity to interact with the early crowd - mixing her good humor and positive energy with her songs of life’s challenges. Perhaps the biggest highlight of the night was Terry and Farrell’s duet on “I’ve Got a Feeling It Hurts” off 2018’s The Wanting with Farrell taking the song up to 11.
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