Hot Tuna at the Town Hall

No one would have expected that a side project of a major band would outlive its ancestor and last 50 years. Guitarist Jorma Kaukonen and bassist Jack Casady, who started playing in bands together in Washington DC in the early 1960s, enjoyed success with Jefferson Airplane in the 1960s and 1970s and formed Hot Tuna in 1969 during gaps in their primary band's schedule. Jefferson Airplane split in 1972, but Hot Tuna is still rocking. Hot Tuna is presently a trio with drummer Justin Guip. The band's 11th and most recent studio album is 2011's Steady as She Goes.

In recent years, many of Hot Tuna's New York concerts have been acoustic, but this two-night 50th anniversary engagement at the Town Hall was billed as electric. For the most part, the technical difference between an acoustic night and an electric night is in which guitars Kaukonen will play, because Casady always plays electric bass and Guip continues to be the band's drummer. Even at tonight's electric show, however, Kaukonen played a few songs on acoustic guitar. While Kaukonen is a master at Piedmont blues picking on his acoustic guitar, he is extraordinarily adept on the electric as well. Guitarist Steve Kimock was announced as a special guest, and although he was listed on the set list as playing on only a few songs, he jammed with Hot Tuna for at least half of the three-hour concert. The set consisted of many Kaukonen compositions sandwiched between blues covers from Jelly Roll Morton, B.B. King, Reverend Gary Davis, and others, all given an earthy Hot Tuna twist. For Hot Tuna fans, the biggest surprise was the inclusion of "Easy Now," a song the band has not performed live since 1975. All of the songs were extended to showcase Kaukonen's broad range of finger-picking styles, and a few songs also spotlighted Casady's bass improvisations. Hot Tuna's roots-style blues-rock is rare in today's music world, and this concert proved that no band does this music better.

Setlist:

Set 1:

1. Been So Long (Jorma Kaukonen song)
2. Winin' Boy Blues (Jelly Roll Morton cover)
3. Walkin' Blues (Son House cover)
4. Ode for Billy Dean
5. Sea Child (with Steve Kimock on pedal steel)
6. Hesitation Blues (traditional] cover, with Steve Kimock)
7. Bowlegged Woman, Knock Kneed Man (Bobby Rush cover, with Steve Kimock)
8. Baby What You Want Me to Do (Jimmy Reed cover, with Steve Kimock)

Set 2:

1. Serpent of Dreams
2. Roads and Roads & (Jorma Kaukonen song)
3. Trial by Fire (Jefferson Airplane song)
4. Living Just for You
5. Easy Now (with Steve Kimock)
6. Rock Me Baby (B.B. King cover, with Steve Kimock)
7. Sleep Song (with Steve Kimock)
8. Death Don't Have No Mercy (Reverend Gary Davis cover, with Steve Kimock)
9. Good Shepherd (Jefferson Airplane song, with Steve Kimock)
10. Funky #7 (with snippet of "My Favorite Things" by Rodgers & Hammerstein on guitar by Steve Kimock)

Encore:

1. Water Song (with Steve Kimock)