Merl Saunders & The Rainforest Band
The Bayou
Washington, DC
1995-09-29

Source:   SBD > DAT(s) via Scott Clayton
Transfer: Fostex D-15 > Behringer Ultramatch 2496 > Reaper 6.19 > WAV 16/48
Master:   Wavelab 10 (tracking) > FLAC 1648

01. intro
02. Imagine >
03. Dark Star >
04. Get Up and Dance
05. Save Mother Earth
06. Sugaree
07. I Put a Spell on You *
08. Fiesta Amazonica *
09. Blue Hill Ocean Dance
10. Feel Like Dynamite (w/ TYFLMBME)

Encore:
11. Ainâ€™t Nobodyâ€™s Business *
12. Let's Go Get Stoned
13. Pigpen story
14. Bertha

* w/ Mariana Fiero

A nice show and a solid recording that does not circulate much.  The levels are a little strange, sometimes too soft and occasionally unbalanced.  This has been fixed somewhat but your volume knob will fix it even more.

The date is kind of a disaster, though.  The DAT was marked Sept. 25.  Etreedb had this listed as Sept. 12.  During the show, however, Merl says that he is playing wetlands "tomorrow" for a record release party for "Still Having Fun," and then playing Manny's Car Wash the next day.  Etreedb had the Wetlands show on April 29 and nothing for Manny's.  Other websites have some combination of these dates for those shows.  It boils down to a lot of random Tuesday nights for a well-known artist in two major markets.

Merl also says that this show and the two NYC shows would be the "last 3 days of our healing tour," a reference to Jerry Garcia's death.  It's 1995, then.  The MC mentions "The Bayou" and Merl does say "thank you Washington DC" so at least that part is nailed down.

Laura Bourque's Wetlands NYC History:  A Visual Encore reproduces monthly Wetlands calendars, which show Merl playing there on Saturday September 30, 1995, and not on any other date in April or September 1995.  That places this show on Friday, September 29, 1995, which makes more sense.

With that behind us....

Enjoy!

--mhg :: 2021-03-31

