The surviving members of Mother Love Bone reunited at the Neptune Theater Saturday night and performed four songs together during a benefit concert. The band — drummer Greg Gilmore, bassist Jeff Ament, guitarists Bruce Fairweather and Stone Gossard — was joined by Shawn Smith of Brad, Om Johari of Hell’s Belle’s and Steve Mack of Stag on vocals in place of the late Andrew Wood.
The performance was the first time in eight years that the members of Mother Love Bone shared a stage. The previous performance was during a concert billed “Brad and Friends” at the Showbox and also featured a reunion of Malfunkshun, Wood’s first band, which included his brother Kevin Wood. Smith also handled vocal duties that night.
The reunion began during the night’s encore when Gossard came out and performed “Man of Golden Words” with Smith of keyboard and vocals. The tender ballad is one Wood’s more autobiographical songs. It brings a sliver of vulnerability to the over-the-top showman “Landrew the Love Child” alter ego he would become while performing what he labeled Mother Love Bone’s “love rock.”
“It’s so touching for the band, and all of us, for you all to still love these songs,” Gossard said, addressing the crowd.
It was definitely clear the songs meant a lot to the Seattle crowd, with many singalongs throughout the night. Initially scheduled to be held at the Tractor Tavern and announced with little fanfare, the event sold out the 400-capacity venue. Due to demand the concert was moved to the larger Neptune, which has a capacity of 800, and those tickets sold out in less than an hour.
After the song Gossard introduced Johari who delivered a soulful and fiery “Bone China.” Smith then handled vocals on a stunning “Stargazer,” which was the vocal highlight of a show filled with many and his strongest performance of the night.
Fairweather, Gossard, Ament and Gilmore were all smiles while onstage together. The joy they seemed to feel from playing together was nearly palpable as old songs were dusted off and had new life breathed into them by a series of eight different vocalists. The set of Mother Love Bone material ended with Johari returning for a passionate and animated “Stardog Champion.”
The evening concluded with Mack taking the frontman reigns for a cover of Argent’s 1972 hit “Hold Your Head Up.” The lengthy cover, which lasted more than 10 minutes, acted as a curtain call of sorts as 17 of the musicians who performed that night crammed onto the stage to sing along, play tambourines, sway and dance together to end the show.
Aside from the surprise Mother Love Bone reunion, which was not advertised as part of the bill, the lineup of musicians included an all-star cast of locals. The impressive and sharp house band of drummer Mike Musburger (The Posies), bassist Jeff Rouse (Loaded) and guitarists Ben London (Stag) and Tim DiJulio (Stereo Embers) backed six different vocalists through a 10-song main set.
All of the vocal performances were excellent and it was refreshing that every singer was respectful of the source material and didn’t set out to make the songs his or her own. A move like that could have easily derailed a night of celebrating the music of Mother Love Bone and turned it into an overblown show of cover songs gone bad.
Adam Czeisler of Sweewater provided a bit of swagger and showmanship, channeling some of the charisma Wood was known for during “This Is Shangrila” and “Thru Fade Away.” Carrie Akre of Goodness and Hammerbox followed with “Come Bite The Apple,” which was one of the more solid performances of the show and kicked up the energy of the set. She was then joined by Smith for a duet of “Chole Dancer/Crown of Thorns,” an early highlight of the evening.
Akre and Smith are two of the most talented and underrated singers out of the Seattle stable of ’90s rock vocalists. Their duet begs the question of why haven’t they performed together before and hopefully it will lead to some sort of collaboration down the road.
Having two female vocalists play the role of Andy Wood on separate occasions felt appropriate as Wood was a bit of a gender fluid frontman. His friends would tell stories of how he’d brag to them about wearing his mother’s underwear and Wood worked that story into his stage banter as well. And while the show wasn’t a tribute to Landrew the Love Child, his presence was definitely felt.
The concert was a benefit for SMASH, a non-profit organization that helps provide health care services to musicians. A silent auction, which included a guitar autographed by Kim Thayil, a poster autographed by Pearl Jam and other items, was held as part of the event. Organizers estimated the concert raised $32,000, surpassing their goal of $20,000 to help provide preventative health care services for musicians and members of the local music community.
Setlist
Heartshine (Ben Rew)
Mindshaker Meltdown (Ben Rew)
Capricorn Sister(Tony Fulgham)
Gentle Groove (Shawn P. Bates)
Holy Roller (Shawn P. Bates)
This is Shangrila (Adam Czeisler)
Thru Fade Away (Adam Czeisler )
Come Bite the Apple (Carrie Akre)
Chole Dancer/Crown of Thorns (Carrie Akre & Shawn Smith)
ENCORE
Man of Golden Words (Shawn Smith)
Bone China (Om Johari)
Stargazer (Shawn Smith)
Stardog Champion (Om Johari)
Hold Your Head Up (Steve Mack)
