So I’m back on this snowy Thursday with No. 11 of 12 memorable shows I caught in 2024 (Check out No. 12 here).
I love the memory of this show, which was special to my friends and I for a number of reasons while also bittersweet, but those factors most definitely propelled the band, Duluth’s Saltydog, to greater improvisational heights.
I got to see Saltydog at least 8 times (and not nearly enough) in 2024 — one of the most exciting jam bands we have in Minnesota. This show was definitely the band at its best.
For one, it was a goodbye to the Ripple Bar, a Grateful Dead-themed cocktail bar inside Hoops Brewing Co. in Canal Park owned by the band’s manager, Maggie Gustafson.
The performance lived up to the occasion of saying goodbye to a place where they launched their existence as a band.
It also served as a birthday party for Erik “Mad Dog” Madsen, a friend of Gustafson’s, the band and myself. Madsen had the great fortune of being born on Leap Day. His birthday only comes up once every four years. Hence, it was ‘lil Erik’s 11th birthday.
Saltydog always plays a solid show, but this one definitely had something extra in the sauce. They closed out the show with a sit-in from Colleen “Boss Mama” Myhre covering “Shakedown Street,” — pretty much a perfect ending.