Saturday night, San Francisco (by way of Santa Barbara) jam rockers Animal Liberation Orchestra brought their Tour D'Amour to town, playing a sold out show at Harlow's with their good buddy Nathan Moore.

I arrived a few minutes before 9pm to find a long line cued up out front and the venue already teaming with folks.

The first person I saw at the front of the line was my friend Heather Clement, who I'd met at High Sierra, and then again at Outsidelands, and a third time at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. She had made the drive up from San Louis Obispo for the show, with a pitstop in Redding to link up with her pops.

In fact, it seemed that most of the people I spoke to were from out of town. In addition to S.L.O. and Redding, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Tahoe, Pacifica, Reno and Salt Lake City were all represented amongst the 20 or so concert-goers I polled.

The show took place in Sacramento, but the crowd was decidedly a West Coast hodgepodge.

After greeting the Clements' at the door, I proceeded to cut in front of them, heading straight for the front desk. "Lindol French, I'm with the SacPress" I said to the guy manning the post. The "I'm kind of a big deal" was implied.

As you might expect, I wasn't on the list.

So much for impressing the out-of-towers, who were now openly laughing at my plight.

A moment later the owner came to my aid, and I was in, unscathed except for some light bruising of my ego. I suppose I deserved that.

I sidled up for the bar for my first PBR of the evening, and immediately noticed some subtle (not so?) cross promotion going on: Truth and Savage Co. (March 9th, $10.00, I'll see you there) was playing on the sound system. They played the album in it's entirety, and informed the uninitiated of the fact during the first set break. They also mentioned that T&S are on Chris Robinson's (April 5th, $15.00, I'll see you there as well) label. Well done.

Nathan Moore took the stage a little before 9:40pm. The curtains were drawn open for his introduction, after which they quickly closed again. The curtains remained shut for the duration of his opening number, "The Invisible Guy".

For those of you who don't know, Nathan Moore is a folksinger extraordinaire, a captivating storyteller and a prolific songwriter. Dennis Cook of Jambase describes him as "undeniably one of the finest songwriters of the modern age".

To top that off, he's a pretty darn good magician.

After his second song (first with the curtain drawn) "Siting on Top of the World", he pulled out a newspaper and started playfully ranting on the state of world affairs. At the climax of his rant, he tore the newspaper to shreds. Then, with a flourish, he unfurled the shredded newsprint, and "presto!" it was back in it's original state.

 "Did he really just do that?' I asked to no one in particular.  A gentleman standing in front of me replied "He's really good, I've seen him hypnotize an audience. Seriously, he brings out a spinning wheel and everything". Unreal.

Many of the highlights of his set featured the Virginia troubadour playing a kazoo. During the kazoo laden tracks, some folks (the cool kids?) in the audience pulled out kazoos of their own and joined in on the fun.

One of the highlights was "Dear Puppeteer", a slower song and the title track of his newest record. "I'm really proud of it" Nathan told us matter-of-factly, "It's the best thing I ever did."  High praise that.

Later in the set, to the delight of the packed house, he pulled out what appeared to be a mouth operated pygmy keytar/kazoo (I was later informed it was a melodica). He played the melodica (M.O.P.K.K.?) on several songs, "The Woo Hoo Blues" being first among them.

Moore continued to banter with the crowd throughout the set. After thanking ALO for having him open, he informed us that "there's a very good chance you may fall in love by the time the night's over. It's ALO, these guys are trained professionals."

His most profound words he saved for just before he ended his set with an epic kazoo solo. "Don't take it too seriously" he said, seriously. I'm not certain as to what he was referring to, so I'm gonna go ahead and assume it was just about everything.

He left the stage to a standing ovation at 10:50, and 15 minutes later the headliners took his place. "This is a special setlist, you guys picked it!". This was the second "Fans Choice Setlist" of the tour, where-in fans voted online for the songs that were to be played.
The songs would be played in descending order, with the most voted-for song closing the set.

Bluesy rocker "Lady Loop" got the set started off with a bang, and the sweaty throng of fans began to get down with a little more intensity than they had during the predominantly mellow first set.

Up next was "Walls of Jericho", sung by drummer Dave Brogan. I didn't actually realize this fact until a subsequent youtube viewing of the song. I had lost my position next to the stage between bands. The dance floor was uncomfortably packed (at least for ALO's  first set), and it would have been an impossibility for me to juggle my camera, notebook and my trusty PBR amongst the throng. I was forced to take shelter from the masses in the small alcove next to the side bar, which would have been fine if the Sacramento chapter of "The Well Over 6-Foot Tall Jam Band Appreciators Syndicate" wasn't holding their yearly meeting directly between I and the stage. (and, yes, they're coed). For most of the set I was lucky to catch glimpses of the guitarist Dan Lebowitz's head in between the altitudinous ALO-philes bobbing before me.

That being said, it sounded fantastic, and I was able to carve out a nice little dancing area for myself, complete with railing on which to rest my camera, notebook and beer, alternately.

The hits just kept coming, mostly older stuff. The blues tinged "Roses and Clover" from the 2007 album of the same name; the Steely Dan-esque super cool "Pobrecito" off of 2006's "Fly Between Falls"; the keys heavy classic rock sing-along "Maria", also off "R&C".

As they went into Maria, I had the following (inevitable?) encounter with superfan Princess Moonbeam Sparklespinner, who was lamenting the tune selection: "People keep requesting all the popular songs !?!?!?!?!"

"It kinda makes sense, doesn't it?" I answered her puzzled exclamation with a query of my own. She was nonplussed and spun off on her merry way.

The popular songs continued, as I knew they would (almost by definition, right?), with "Girl, I Wanna Lay You Down" and "Wasting Time (The I.V. Song)". They are both love songs, of sorts, but the similarities end there. Anyone who has spent any time in Isla Vista can relate to the latter. (and, I suppose, anyone who's ever wanted to lay you down can relate to the former).

They finished off the crowd pleasing set with the XM Radio stalwart, and, well, bubbly, "Plastic Bubble", followed by their classic, if wistful, summer anthem "Barbecue", which was the most requested song in Santa Barbara as well.

The first set ended at 12:10pm, and (thank God!) some of the more faint-of-heart cleared out, leaving the room a good deal more maneuverable. Don't get me wrong, it remained packed for the second set, but the concept of personal space became a semi-possibility rather than a distant memory. If you squinted just so you could even make out aisles (probably illusory, but hey).

The second set, ah, the second set. Where the training wheels come off. Everytime I thought that they were going to really extend a jam during the first set, the very thought seemed to signify the songs end. In the second set, everytime I thought a jam was ending, it seemed to signify they had a little further to take it.

The uninitiated, nonbeliever might have preferred the more structured, song-based first set, but for died-in-the-wool hippy jamming enthusiasts like me and Princess Moonbeam Sparklespinner, it's no contest. Second set for the win.

They even brought Nathan Moore out for the easily sing-along-able "I Hate Love" which climaxed in an epic dueling melodica (dueling pygmy mouth powered keytars?) jam, with Zach Gill proving equal to the challenge. In the middle of the shenanigans, they dropped into a Steve Miller "Joker" for a moment. 'Twas awesome.

When they dropped into "Kolomana" (2002, Time Expander) P.M.S. (I swear to God I didn't do that on purpose) came over to me and announced "I love this song!".  All was again right with the world!

By the time they encored with Hot Tub>Pirates of Rock>Hot Tub, I had put down my camera, my notebook and my beer. Only the dancing remained. The animals had been liberated.