On the second of a two-night stand at Woodstock’s Levon Helm Studios Saturday, NRBQ everything worked, it all fit and flowed faster and farther, better than Friday. The mood was up; tempos, too; also confidence, communication – unspoken, intuitive – and cohesion.

NRBQ, from left: Terry Adams, John Sebastian, Jake Edwards, Casey McDonough, Scott Ligon, Klem Klimek, Gene Oliveri

When they hit hard with the exuberantly rhythmic, joyful opener “Yeh Yeh,” fans smiled around at each other, exclaimed “WHOA!” and dance-clustered in the scanty open spaces, way more active than on Friday. Then “Terry Got a Muffin” shifted into an even higher gear, that trademark almost-frantic but somehow loose, happy groove, guitarist Scott Ligon’s voice soaring atop both rousing numbers. He and bassist Casey McDonough harmonized as the band relaxed a bit into “Rain at the Drive-in” about love behind fogged car windows. A slower tempo and cozier feel didn’t diminish the energy or momentum, just made it romantic. This perfectly set up the laid-back exorcism of “Blues Stay Away from Me,” cool saxophones of Klem Klimek and Gene Oliveri and John Sebastian’s baritone guitar conversing around the edges.

Then, the usual roller coaster, bumping the energy in the blithe strut of “Singin’ in the Rain,” Scott singing and Terry Adams’s piano erupting strong. “Magnet” rolled in a similar arrangement, but here Scott lit up the tune with a swaggering guitar break and burly vocal, sharing the spotlight again with Terry’s piano. 

Next came a slow-down three-song sequence; then an explosion.

“Daddy’s Gonna Tell You No Lie” reassured in a calm, contained way, Casey and Scott singing together. Scott nodded to Klem, cueing a hot tenor sax break; Klem shrugged off the mid-song applause with hilarious mock humility. 

Gene Oliveri’s chart tablet

Monk’s “Pannonica” did what the best Monk tunes do; Terry first portrayed one feeling, then layered on others so subtly the emotions blended, buzzed around together in successive revelations, each a surprise. This masterly piano excursion hypnotized, slyly nuanced but accessible right away; here the saxes had their subtle say, too. 

John sang “Richland Woman Blues” persuasively, in better voice than anything he sang Friday. Then Klem knocked everything sideways in the irresistible detonation of “Get a Grip,” sensational R&B fervor at top volume. A saxophonist, he sang like a human trumpet, roaming restlessly up front; Scott’s guitar break hit just as hot.

Klem Klimek, above; Scott Ligon, below

That four-song run felt like a peak, but then they kept things just that high right through to the end. “Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone” built from Terry’s quiet solo piano intro, expanded via his vocal, smoother, stronger than Friday. Then everybody built this happy groove together. Scott’s guitar first comped chords, then staccato single notes flew fast, Casey’s bass got busy, drummer Jake Edwards took his first solo all night, then the saxes took their turn. 

This outburst echoed the careening energy of the opening run, then “We’re Walking” and “We Travel the Space Ways” – Afro-Futurist mission statement of Sun Ra, one of the heroes Terry cited Friday in “Imaginary Radio” – celebrated happy motion, on foot, then planet to planet. Terry both sang and soloed big in “Walking,” while Klem cracked up Gene by ad-libbing about Christopher Walken. Scott’s solo here, though, was serious business, a gleeful note clatter. 

Introduced by Terry’s piano carving circular riffs, “Spaceways” looked into the future, but its groove reached back, to a powerful railroad-like momentum. Here, Scott detuned his guitar for sustained, bent-note glides under Klem’s hard-charging solo. 

The rueful confessional “That Makes Me a Fool” hit home in Scott’s heartbreaking/heartbroken vocal, saxes edging in between phrases, before things went comical again.

Casey McDonough

Casey’s vocal led the goofy shuffle “Yes, I Have a Banana,” affirmative reply to the familiar fruit denial. In the raucous, playful “Hit The Hay,” Sebastian shifted to banjo and the crowd shouted the refrain. These novelty numbers sandwiched the seductively tender “Things to You,” slower and seriously sweet. Again, Scott’s vocal brought this lovely lyric to poignant life.

Then came a happy-love pairing – ‘I Love Her She Loves Me” in simple sincerity and the pledge “Never Take The Place of You” – and an antique celebration of music itself: “The Music 

Goes ‘Round and Around.” Terry’s solo rang sweet and serene in “I Love Her” with Scott shifting to acoustic guitar and singing lead. He was back on electric for “Never,” John chiming in on harmonica and everybody chanting “Never!”

Saxes starred in the rollicking “Music Goes ‘Round,” Klem quoting “Pennies from Heaven” – as he’d quoted the recently deceased Woodstock resident saxophone colossus Sonny Rollins’s “St. Thomas” in a solo on Friday. 

Terry stood and donned his coat to signal the end and they went off, briefly. Then, as at the beginning, a run of their most joyful tunes hit as happy encores. “Little Floater” (refrain: “I’m in love with an automobile and I know that it loves me too”) cruised on Terry’s synthesizer glide. The careening “Howard Johnson’s Got His Ho Jo Working” raised the question of the next tune, “Do You Feel It?” The band was rightly confident of the answer. Terry led early with jaunty piano and vocal while Klem brought the crowd back up to its feet, happy unanimous. He didn’t bother calling out this invitation; he simply went to the front row and took two fans by the hand, the folks next to Fred and Mary from LA – you remember – and drew them to their feet so everybody got the idea.

“Green Lights” delighted with its sense of release, that all the barriers to love are gone, blown away – like Scott’s guitar solo did to everybody.

Terry Adams

While all the NRBQ players but Terry Adams have changed over half a century plus, the play itself never has. Virtuoso without stiffening into fussy, playful but with serious intent, their music combines highly idiosyncratic individual performance with unanimous joy in the audience. The particular reaches the universal. Fans become part of the thing.

Full of taste, touch and tuneful fire, Terry’s keyboards weld the pieces together, leaving plenty of oxygen for everybody. He leads with a light touch, or none: He sometimes simply starts a tune and the band jumps in immediately. Klem would recognize a song after the first notes and notify Gene, who’d scan his tablet for a chart, if necessary. More often, he’d launch right away, too.

Klem Klimek, left; Gene Oliveri, right

Terry Adams, at left, digs Jake Edwards’s drumming; stage tech deluxe John Krucke at center. Below: Jake Edwards

That includes even new drummer Jake Edwards, maybe half Terry’s age and from the same western Massachusetts area where Terry now lives. Jake swings more like NRBQ’s late longtime drummer Tommy Ardolino than his more rocking predecessors in between; Jake really has the feel. This works because Casey’s bass hits as sparsely and strongly as Joey Spampinato. Playing a bit behind the beat, he pushes the music forward.

Scott Ligon, above, twice; John Sebastian, below

Guitar ace Scott Ligon’s high-energy solos burst with confident bravado or settle into subtle musings; just as essential to the songs and the feel, he steadily supports the groove and his bandmates when they solo. ‘Q songs breathe in an inviting way, seams open for interjections and comments. It’s always a conversation and always open. Frequent guest John Sebastian showed last weekend he knows how to find those spots just as well as the regular crew. 

Wait, no – there’s nothing regular about NRBQ, maybe America’s most beloved band, revered by fans who pilgrimage across the country to see them.

Saturday, June 30

8:10 – 10:05 p.m.

Yeh Yeh

Terry Got a Muffin

Rain at the Drive-in

Blues Stay Away from Me

Singin’ in the Rain

Magnet

Daddy’s Gonna Tell You No Lie

Pannonica

Richland Woman Blues

Get a Grip

Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone

We’re Walking

We Travel the Spaceways

That Makes Me a Fool

Yes, I Have a Banana

Things to You

Hit The Hay

I Love Her, She Loves Me

Never Take the Place of You

The Music Goes ‘Round and Around

Encores: Little Floater

Howard Johnson’s Got His Ho Jo Working

Do You Feel It?

Green Lights

Note on Photos: Friday, I sat in a side section along stage right – the Terry side – but moved around some, in very tight quarters. Saturday, I roamed but mainly stood along stage left – the Klem side – and again moved around some.

Fred and Mary, from LA