Sierra Hull Concert @ Riverwalk Breck ~ Awesome Fun With Sheldon & Kala In Summit 11Jan25

Kala and I headed to Summit the back way after her morning return from Boulder on I25 was 10mph in blowing snow. We had no big issues, even over Wilkerson and Hoosier passes; I drove Kala's great new Lexus car. Too bad LPC & MLC, I made you fried rice servings but we avoided Denver. We were heading out for some winter fun and a concert with the spectacular Sierra Hull.

When we arrived in Frisco we stopped at ORB for a hazy DDH and to pickup my Jan allotment. So good.

Then, we ate the fried rice stuff. Dave met me at Keystone for some corduroy dreams Fri morning... yeah it was -4° when I left the Nest so it was a cold, at least windless, day on the slopes. We got runs mainly on Outback & Bergman; it did warm to mid-low 20°s.

We rested during the afternoon then primped for dinner and the concert. Breck was gorgeous with holiday lighting for the team selfie that included Dave's lifetime buddy Rod, who came out with us. We dined at the excellent Aurum, of course during happy hour pricing, and then headed to Riverwalk. I said "it's GA so let's queue at 6:30 for 7pm doors." Yikes it was cold but we were 1st in line and actually were let into the building by the security volunteer. Nice.

The show opened with Stephanie Landring who had a humorous shtick, good songrwriting and a great voice. She's touring with Sierra, who she met in her town of Nashville, so that says a lot. She'd written others' songs for 10 years before going solo in 2024 with her first album.

Sierra Hull was outstanding as always. Sure she's 3 time mandolin player of the year... but her range of material and styles, songwriting, singing, and band-leadership combine with those outrageous technical skills to deliver truly great shows. She played 3 different mandolins, and a guitar, for the show. The pic far above is an Octavia, a larger, lower octaves, mandolin. She also played her classic bluegrass mandolin as well as a 3rd newer larger one that she most often plays. Styles of course included bluegrass but they did rock; they did folk/Americana; they even did a cool swing number. There were great covers from Doc Watson and Bill Monroe but also Tears For Fears! The accompanying band was very tight, now being in their 3rd year together. The sound in the Riverwalk was also improved from our last event attended there... it was really very good, as was the locals' vibe in the audience. All band members were not only jacked in with pickups but also miced over their sound holes... and there was a band sound man "behind the curtain" doing an initial mix before passing to the venue sound man in the back (we were initially sitting next to him). On a couple occasions they altered the micing to electrostatic/condenser to better pick up all the vocals in a tight harmony; most of the time they are all individually on dynamic mics. The floor layout was unexpected for the show but turned out advantageous... there were only 4 rows in the back with seats and the rest of the theater was tiered, but standing room, mostly. We initially sat with a decent view in the front row of the back seating but we ultimately roamed about and moved up to 12 ft away for half the show. The crowd and opportunity were fun ~ hard to imagine but it was not sold out to the 1,000 ticket level. I was again thrown off the stage trying to grab the setlist. Sierra's moving on to a show in Denver @ Mission and then a show in Aspen @ Belly Up. It was a completely GR8 kickoff show for us for 2025... and enjoyed with good friends.