Review by Ralph Greco, Jr.
Photos by Craig Brady
Screamin,’ in the best sense of the word, and just like their name states — vocalist Mike Farris, guitarists Rick White and Bob Watkins, Dean Tomasek standing in for bassist Steve Burgess, and drummer Terry Thomas, collectively known as the Screamin’ Cheetah Wheelies, celebrated three decades of their second album Magnolia, as well as what seems to be their final round of shows at NYC’s Grammercy Theatre for two nights. I caught them the first night.
Split into two sets of roughly an hour and half each, the band opened with “Backwoods Travelin’” with Farris kicking the song’s strut into high gear, playing harmonica then onto a call-and-response from the venue’s small but oh-so-responsive audience. The Wheelies might call Nashville home but tonight in New York City they were certainly welcomed.
Pretty much the rest of this first set followed a song-by-song roll from 1996’s Magnolia. Farris, the consummate frontman, was having a great time mugging, getting the crowd crazy and still sounding as killer with his still on-point bluesey vocals and scream, as the rest of the band was duck-ass watertight. But as kick-ass as the band was during the first set, things got even rockier in the second.
This is when we got a big gulp of 1998’s Big Wheel album. From opener (and my personal most favorite song of theirs) “Boogie King,” into the band’s version of “Right Place, Wrong Time,” which I have to say lost a little of its nuance for no reason I can pinpoint, into “Halcyon Days,” Farris lead the bluesy parade pretty much as he did the first set.
Farris opened the encore — just him on electric and singing “This Is the Time,” as the band slowly took to the stage. Then they rolled into the expected “Ride The Tide,” (the one where the crowd gets wild with a “woo woo” call and response) to end the show, just before the walls of the Grammercy completely melted.
I have seen the “Screamin’…Cheetah…Wheelies” (as you are supposed to shout, word by word when seeing the band live) plenty over the years. And I’m not sure I have ever seen them play better. This is a band that hits the stage seemingly with something to prove and tonight in New York City, they proved they are one of the best live bands still out there — for however short a time that might be.
