The Rides Tickets

The Rides at the Wilbur, 9/7/13. Great show! I've never seen KWS before and now I'll make a point to see him when he plays in New England. It was great to see Stills in a non-CSN setting. Everyone was clearly having a good time. Good mix of blues standards and new material. Stills/KWS guitar shoot out beats Stills/Young any day--and I'm a huge NY fan. I just wish the mix was a little better; KWS's guitar was much louder than Stills' and the vocals weren't loud enough. All in all, well worth the money.

I was prepared. I knew that Steven Stills had not much voice left at this stage in his career. I was a huge Stills fan back when he "had it", and still enjoy his style, but knew that I'd have to "fill in" in my mind the notes he can't hit any more. I was familiar with The Rides CD and enjoyed the performance, especially Kenny Wayne Shepherd - fantastic blues guitarist! I would have enjoyed the performance more if there was more banter with the audience, but that's not really what it's all about - it's about the music, and for a band that's only been together a short time, it was good music.

The wilbur is a great venue for shows. Althought this shows acoustics weren't very good. The opening act, Beth Hart, is a wailing banshee of vocal prowess, she could not be understood due to poor sound. the Rides came out and Stills sings the first song and none of us could understand a word he said, again bad sound. Stills seemed quite confused on stage. His singing was pretty bad. He was off key consistently, voice quality shot and he just seemed to struggle throughout. Stills is a pretty fair guitar player but this night he was mediocre at best. missing notes, losing the tune and just jumbling strings. Of course he was playing opposite Kenny Wayne Shepherd who was absolute sterling. His playing was immaculate and surprisingly he sang quite nicely. The show had moments but Stills performance as he stumbled around the stage was a distraction, another performer would have done better. This lends itself to the question what was in that little red plastic cup and was Steven visiting the still and it bit him

Great show - KWS was FANTASTIC as usual...Stephen Stills who I think is a legend in his own right has lost a good part of his vocal range...still loved the show, music and venue!

The sound was a bit muddy when they first started but was resolved. We had trouble hearing the voices at times as the music/sound overwhelmed the singers. Sometimes it's nice to hear the voices. They did the music from their album and then did some of their individual stuff. They are both amazing musicians. Stills is a top notch song writer

Beth Hart deserves the top billing....wow....unfortunately, Steven Stills has pretty much lost it...Kenny Wayne Sheppard was ok...

Thank you God that Beth Hart opened. She blew the roof off, incredible energy, pure heart and soul, left us greedily wanting more. She owned the stage and took us for a Ride. This being the 1st time seeing her it won't be our last...Beth you have a new pair of fans. The Rides...This unfortunately turned into an instrumental performance of how loud can we turn Kenny up. I know Steven Stills was singing, just couldn't hear him. The keyboards, except for a few brief solos was not in the main mix. Steven's guitar finally got turned up so he could compete. The bass player struggled with the changes and the drummer couldn't wait to pack up and leave. He played with zero intensity and 1/2 the time looked like he was off the beat. Horrible! I bought these on spec as it had the potential to be a great evening. What I got was a poorly mixed, unrehearsed garage band that failed to deliver. I am truly disappointed with this one. Do yourself a favor and go catch Beth the next time she's around, she delivers and then some.

The Ride were really good, especially Kenny Wayne Shephard, however Beth Hart was the surprise of the night for me, she was amazing, I will be following her for the rest of my life

Let me start by saying this Venue http://www.librarymusichall.com/ is one of my favorite places to see and hear live music. I have never been disappointed with any show here over the last 3.5 years, until tonight. This place has superb acoustics, I have heard bands do acoustic and a cappella songs here, there's not a bad seat for sound. My seat was dead center about 15 rows back, the sound booth was in the left rear of the auditorium about 6 rows behind me. Either the sound man for The Rides is incompetent, or somebody's jerking Stephen Stills around, based on what I sat through tonight. Mr. Stills' vocal mix was like listening through quicksand, and I kept wishing it would pull me down through the floor so I could escape. It wasn't just when the band was playing, his patter was unintelligible during the breaks between songs. Kenny Wayne's vocal mix was a little bit better, or else his voice is a lot stronger, but before launching into an Elmore James cover, he asked the audience if we liked the blues. When not too many people responded, he remarked that that's unusual because they are a blues band. What he didn't know was we couldn't hear his question. I saw Kenny Wayne with his band at the same venue this June, they rocked the auditorium to it's full potential, one of the best shows i've experienced there. Yes knocked it out of the park on two consecutive nights in August. This one was by far the worst I've been to since, well i've been going to concerts since 1968 and this was the worst i've ever seen. I've seen Stephen with Neil, with C&N, C,N&Y, and Solo, and obviously was happy with his performances or I wouldn't have bought tickets to this show. I even bought the newly released CD and listened to it at least 4 times over the last 10 days. I was looking forward to seeing this great new band, but I wasn't expecting them to forget to do a sound check. When they were not singing, the sound was pretty good, the guitar solos and duets were outstanding, the rhythm section playing a bit muted, but it looked like Stephen and Kenny Wayne were having some fun. Beth Hart's band sounded tighter and better, don't know how long they've been together but obviously longer than The Rides. I felt that it wasn't till they played Honey Bee that the Rides were firing on all cylinders, that was the high point of the show for me. Kenny Wayne mentioned in the intro to Blue on Black that he doesn't sing the vocals when his band plays it, and obviously Noah is the lead singer for a reason. Stephen sang lead for most of the songs, but if you're touring to promote a new CD, I'd think you try to make sure the audience would be able to hear and understand the words, because you've written some great songs in the past. Otherwise, don't write lyrics, just go out and jam all night. Better yet, fire the sound man, and hire Beth Hart to torch the place with her voice, and get ready to start booking some larger venues for next year. For What It's Worth, was very disappointed we didn't get it in the encore, perhaps the band was pissed that so many people had left by then. Or else they played it for a second encore which I didn't stick around for. If you've got tickets to see this show elsewhere, make sure you get there early to hear Beth Hart. And also find out if there's a way to let the sound man know if the sound needs some tweaking during the show. Do the band a favor and point them back to these reviews, there doesn't seem to be a fan forum yet for them, and i'm not a tweeter or Facebook user

Beth Hart was a surprise opener and what a pleasant surprise it was! She and her band were in top form and her short set left me wanting much much more and feeling like this was going to be a great night. Then, The Rides took the stage. This venue has never let me down for sound quality, and Beth's sound was crystal clear after a little tweaking. The Rides used their own sound man (unusual at this venue, as explained to us by a Wilbur staffer) and the mix was absolutely inexcusably terrible. I've seen many, let's say, "classic" performers, and am not stupid enough to discount the use of band members with "fresh" (better) chops to fill in the gaps. I can't say for sure that Kenny Wayne Shepherd was recruited or mixed this way for this purpose (he seemed to genuinely get a kick out of fronting with Stephen Stills), but, man, it sure seemed that way. The upside was that the volume on KWS' Strat was so loud you could clearly hear every string, every note and it was SWEET! The downside was that Stephen was muddled and I could not hear Chris Layton's drums at all -- a bummer for me, and I felt embarrassed for Chris. If the whole band signed off on this mix, shame on them. Aside from poor sound (impossible to overlook), the band seemed like they had rehearsed for a day or two and then hit the road. A band entirely comprised of good blues players could pull this off. Unfortunately, Stills and Goldberg are not and could not. My second and third stars represent what Beth Hart added to the show. I would save your money for great seats for a Beth Hart or a solo Kenny Wayne show.

The backup band Beth Hart was never advertised on the bill. The Rides set was way to short at a little over an hour. Kenny Wayne Shepard was superb as usual but he was way to loud and blew away Stephen Stills and Barry Goldberg. Steve Stills vocals where muddled by the over blown lead PA setup.

What a combination of sets. Beth Hart blew the walls off! So great to have her back. tremendous voice and stage presence. The Rides - wow, a stellar moment in blues and rock and roll to have the two older masters collaborating with a young master. Fantastic. My socks got blown off in the Beth Hart set and never came back. lucky for me! Great show. Small peeve - the sound was very unbalanced. I was in the second row mezzanine, which should have been awesome; but Kenny Wayne Shepherd's guitar was so loud it was most of what anyone could hear. I mean, louder than Steven Stills' singing and guitar playing (and Shepherd's singing)? - so unnecessary and annoying. Shepherd is amazing but so were the folks he was playing with.

it was good to see Stills playing electric guitar with kenny wayne sheperd. they worked well together. their new material was good, playing a few old anthems seemed forced.

This show was fantastic! It was great to see Stephen Stills still has his voice in all those right places. What practice that must take, as I'm only in my 50's and have lost my singing voice in at least 2 octaves. Unfortunately, he was overpowered largely by Shepard's guitar, which for some reason from where we sat, was much too loud for the rest of the band, and totally drowned out the voices and others' playing. Albeit, KWS can play to kill, and I love it. But, still, the sound man needs to hone it down by a few notches so that the rest of the band could be heard. I've loved Stills since the old days, I've loved KWS for many years, and Barry's been such an instrumental imperative in so many bands and a very respected musician... I so loved that each got to display a song or two of their own. You guys ROCK together. Beth Hart is an idol and inspiration. Have a great tour!

Great trio. Tight music with some old tunes, new tunes, a little blues and a lot of guitar. Very entertaining

We were in the baloney, I thought the sound was not great. I thought Kenny Wagne Sheperd was great, the others okay. I missed Noah Hunt.

The Concert was Great way better than I could have dreamed.I haven't seen or heard Stills for years and didn't know what to expect,well let me say Stills & Shepherd worked as if they were playing together for a long time.I loved every song.I have been to a lot of concerts in 35 yrs and this was in my top 20.Trop is a great place to see a concert.

It was so obvious that these guys were a party. They were exemplary musicians who totally fit together and showed it.

The new Stephen Stills project, The Rides with Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Barry Goldberg, played a blistering 90 min of music. Stills showed he can keep up with the younger Kenny Wayne, who killed on guitar. Barry Goldberg was outstanding on keyboards, shifting from pounding piano to organ, and kept the band laying down a rockin' groove. The band as a whole rocked the entire set. I think, partly in trying to stay current with youngr players, Stills has lost a bit of his unique style of guitar playing. I miss that from him. Having said that, it was good to see him in his element of Blues-Rock again. He showed he can still rock with the best of them! All in all, a great show with the exception of the PA getting louder and louder as the set progressed. By the end it was close to unbearable...which is saying something for a Blues-Rock show. Beth Hart opened and night and she set the right tone for the evening. She has a great voice that can wail with anyone and she's backed by a great band.

What an amazing collaboration. Three of the most diverse, different, yet still from the same family bloodline, musicians you will ever get the opportunity to hear together.