Deer Tick Live at Baltimore Soundstage Baltimore, MD March 9, 2018
Review by Harry Kaplan
“If you build it they will come”, so the saying goes. But if Deer Tick plays Baltimore, will the people show up? The answer is a unanimous yes. I am proud of my town coming out to support a great band. I was quite encouraged. If Baltimore Soundstage wasn’t sold out, it was pretty darn close. That place was packed last night. Not only did the boys play one set, they played two full sets! Set 1 was acoustic and Set 2 was electric. They are going back to The Grateful Dead in Radio City Music Hall in 1980. Deer Tick personnel can pull this off because they all have enormous talent.
As a bonus, James Felice from The Felice Brothers was playing keys, piano, and accordion last night. It really was a special evening with a special band. I was equally impressed by the large audience that seemed to know all of the words to all of the songs played last night. That really shows that the audience and band were gelling. John Joseph McCauley, Deer Tick’s founding member, is free from drugs and alcohol and he is focused and plugged in.
The event last evening was encouraging for a number of reasons. First, it was a great showing from the Baltimore Americana fans who came out in droves. Second, Deer Tick sounded awesome, both on the acoustic and electric set. Third, they are still putting out great material, as evidenced by their double release in 2017 of Deer Tick , Vol. 1 and Deer Tick, Vol. 2. Obviously, the word is out. Deer Tick is back and better than ever and they are a show not to be missed.
