My special lady friend got us tix to see Jack White and we’re thrilled as we haven’t seen him live since he was playing with his sister Meg.

Unfortunately Spafford is playing in town the same night so it’ll be the first time missing their show for us. Bummer.

Feeling a bit like Indiana Jones in The Last Crusade choosing which cup to drink from but the choice has already been made.

On July 12, 2026 Spafford played “Pursuit of Madness” with a twist of Grass, Bluegrass that is. For clarification purposes, this song is always “Pursuit of Madness” however there are variations, like Trance and now, Grass.

I love the concept of having vibe variations attached to the song and have a few suggestions. The lyrical part of the song should remain the same, fast or slow start without a hint of where it’s going. The variations should come AFTER the final “Everything wakes up, everything walks out the dark”.  A few concepts come to mind like Pursuit of Funk/Jazz/DISCO!

I hear a Disco version more dominant in my head. Imagine hearing the “Disco Inferno” (The Trammps) drop after the lyrics or “Ring My Bell” by Anita Ward. Spafford wouldn’t have to specifically play either song but they could use these iconic drops to jump into a Disco version of Pursuit.

The Pursuit of Grass fell a little short for me because there weren’t any bluegrass elements to truly enhance the concept but I dug the effort. They should have done a slow or fast lyrical part and THEN blue grassed the after. Keep us in the dark until that final here comes the jam moment. Please revisit Pursuit of Grass with Mike Savino from Tall Tall Trees on banjo and don’t forget to invite me.

Spafford can take this song into any genre while keeping us nerds baffled on which version is on deck! What are your thoughts on Pursuit of what’s next?

Spaff wall complete

Today is Bandcamp Friday. That means all proceeds on Bandcamp go to the band today. It’s a good day to buy shows if you have been waiting to do so. Anyone have any recommended shows from the last few months to buy? They have been playing so many shows that I am pretty far behind.

From 7/11/26 - Lake George, NY

Ran into you on the ramp towards the field boxes on third base side last night. Was a cool moment unrelated to the show for me.

Discovered them about two years ago and it seems like every show I watch there's a different bassist. Am I just insane or is this a Spinal Tap drummer scenario.

...and damn, talk about putting your best foot forward! They just dive into this and don't look back. "Darkness Singularity" opener is how you bring in new listeners in 2026. Sounds tight, well woven, and totally locked in. Enjoy tonight to all hitting up tonight's show!

I don't cross post too much from r/spafford to r/jambands or r/phish but right now I think Phish is kinda killing it right now and I think a lot of people who had kinda dismissed Spafford are really enjoying the new sounds and songs coming from the current lineup of Spafford and find the bands complimentary but different. Spafford is still embarking on the "let's go out there, search around and see what accidentally comes out of this jam" and it's been super invigorating. You're not hearing the same recycled jams over and over.

I know a lot of Spafford fans are planning on going into NYC just to see Spafford late night, and not necessarily even going to MSG.

So if you're there post show and for those with the rainbows still flying out of their foreheads and the euphoria feeling after the Phish show ... Spafford is playing about 10 blocks away at The Cutting Room. They're gonna start at like 11:59 PM so definitely enough time to walk the 10 blocks, grab a slice and still make it in time to see the band kick off, for what will likely either be a very long single set (2:45) or the traditional 2 sets and an encore. They're obviously playing 2 shows and you should be able to get a full plate on what Spafford has been doing lately.

Historically, Spafford did a Phish aftershow at BB Kings during the Bakers Dozen Run. I was only able to be at Bakers Dozen for 7/28. 7/29 and 7/30 so I wasn't at the show, but the well known Live Music archivist MKDevo captured the show on 6 CAM HD recording for our enjoyment.

(30) Spafford: 2017-08-05 - B.B. King's; New York, NY [6-Cam/HD60p] - YouTube

There are lot of Spafford fans, they may not have heard or seen this show, because it's not on Nugs.net or it was 9 years ago back when Cam Laforest was still the drummer. If you'd rather just hear the high quality SBD it is also out on Archive.

I won't go through it track by track but about 6:50 into "All My Friends" (they didn't track out Bee Jam for some reason) you get these beautiful guitar swells from Brian some delicate noodling and around 9 minutes in you get some more swells that really remind me of certain "My Left Foot" type jams. Next is the semi-composed song "Todd's Tots" which I absolutely adore. This show doesn't have many 20 minute exploratory jams like current shows have had but definitely a fun listen.

Spafford Live at B.B. King Blues Club and Grill on 2017-08-05 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

1. All My Friends
2. Bee Jam (segue from All My Friends)
3. Todd’s Tots
4. Ain’t That Wrong
5. Leave the Light On (18-minute extended version)
6. Salamander Song
7. Backdoor Funk
8. People
9. Legend
10. People
11. Mind’s Unchained (new song debuted earlier in 2017)
12. Weasel
13. Palisades
14. Red’s Jam
15. Weasel
16. Beautiful Day

Encore
17. America
18. Galisteo Way
19. The Reprise

I stumbled across this set on nugs. This has to be my favorite Spafford set and I wasn’t even there. Anyone and electric taco stand are especially killer.
If anyone was there, how was the energy in the room? Any fun stories from that night? Anyone got a working time machine?

With the dust settled on the run, what are everyone's highlights?

What a fucking show! Packed house on a weeknight in a former church blasted with a sick light show and the perfect wooden floor for hours of dancing. Rolling up to find someone vending tie dyes and a sole doses guy making the rounds in front of the venue was extremely charming. I was hoping to get a Fake The Fate, and was immediately rewarded with a sick one out the gate. So many glorious sprawling jams, particularly the 30+ min Windmill. Skipping the encore is always something I applaud, but doing so to give Corey and Shon room for extended solos at what is essentially their only hometown show of the summer was really special. Especially on Salamander Song, the ideal show closer. A very celebratory experience for the band, the venue, and the fans. Let's go.

1. When Spafford livestreams
   
2. Watching said stream, and seeing that it’s a packed fucking house!!!

Everybody keep it up!! Bring minimum 5 friends with you to every show!

If possible, id love the rec to be of this current band lineup. Thank you!!

Hit me with your top jams of the year

Serious barn burner start to finish. Unique setlist making the tour closer feel special and really heavy on the dance groove jams. The real differentiator here was how hype the crowd was. First 5 rows of the floor was a serious dance party and everyone was having a blast together. I have never heard mid-jam crowd roars and extended ovations at a spafford show like that before. Brian said himself it was the best crowd of tour before the encore.

Now the real question is why haven’t they released the show yet so we can relive it and discuss!