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Jam Cruise Report Final Day: (Everyone Orchestra, Galactic, Steel Pulse, A California Trifecta…)

The Pool Deck stage’s final night was an official Bay Area evening, featuring three bands with long, intertwined history. Hot Buttered Rum started things off and brought out ALO keyboardist Zach Gill and ALO drummer Dave Brogan for portions of their set. At the end of the show, Lee Boys pedal steel player Roosevelt Collier and Tea Leaf Green’s Reed Mathis—who played percussion instead of bass—sat in on an extended version of “Turn on Your Lovelight.” Hot Buttered Rum also worked up an energetic, bluegrass-inspired cover of U2’s “Where the Streets Have No Name.” ALO was the second of three Bay Area bands to perform. A number of musicians sat in throughout their 90-minute performance, including Collier, Steve Kimock and his son John Morgan, as well as moe. guitarist Al Schnier, who joined in on the ALO original “Try.” The ship’s theme was This is Spinal Tap and ALO embraced this spirit by bringing out Mathis and Meters bassist George Porter Jr. for a bass-heavy version of Spinal Tap’s “Big Bottom.” Everyone Orchestra’s Matt Butler, who played drums in ALO during their early days, also played percussion on the song. Mathis remained onstage as ALO bassist Steve Adams put down his instrument to front the band on “Falling Dominoes,” while Butler sat in for the remainder of the evening, including a take on Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger.” Finally, Tea Leaf Green closed out the Northern California-themed evening with Jam Cruise 11’s final Pool Deck set. They brought out all of ALO for a collaborative jam during “Zoom Zoom” and also invited out Worrell near the end of their set. Their performance climaxed with “The Garden Part III.”

Another super jam took place in the ship’s Zebra Bar. For his New York Hustler Ensemble set, Wyllys called upon a number of the ship’s performers to fill out his band. Those guests included Hustler Ensemble mainstays Jennifer Hartswick, Natalie Cressman, Joel Cummins, Jeff Coffin, Lettuce guitarist Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff and Lettuce bassist Erick Coomes, Tiny Universe guitarist DJ Williams and Dumpstaphunk drummer Nikki Glaspie. Wyllys also spun during the ship’s costume contest on the Magic Hat Wind Stage.

Fittingly, two Jam Cruise staples closed out the Teatro Carlo Felice. Karl Denson—who has appeared on each Jam Cruise—ran through a two-hour set with his band Tiny Universe. He also invited out a slew of guests, including his Greyboy Allstars keyboardist Robert Walter, Ivan Neville, Nigel Hall, Jeff Coffin, Skerik and members of Lettuce’s horn section. As always, Galactic—the only full band to play every Jam Cruise—closed out the theater’s festivities. For the second show in a row, percussionist Mike Dillon sat in throughout their entire performance. Rebirth Brass Band’s Corey Henry and Living Colour singer Corey Glover, both of whom are on tour with the band, also augmented the core Galactic lineup for a chunk of their set while Skerik sat in for a few songs. At one point, the power went out for a few minutes, and the members of Galactic brought out The Soul Rebels to help them perform during the interruption.

Porter’s Jam Room set kicked off at 1:30 AM and drew in many of his Motet collaborators. At one point, Nick Daniels, Nigel Hall, Ian Neville, Adam Deitch, Eric Krasno—who are collectively known as Dr. Klaw—all took the stage for stealth late night performance in the Jam Room. A few flights above, Orchard Lounge performed in the disco. Though the Jam Room hosted the evening’s final official music, Moore’s Spot jam session was still going strong as the clock ticked toward 6 AM.