Jay Farrar

Jay broke one of his guitar strings when Spencer and him closed the show with "Love You To" in L.A. Meanwhile, Spencer set his fretboard on fire. (not literally). That was amazing.
I'm seeing him with Canyon on Thursday. Can't wait!

I went back and watched the videos on the a/v section of this site and kind of got an idea of what it was like to hear Jay with Spencer. While it sounds incredibly cool, I think the whole band approach with Canyon just can't be beat. I agree with the comment about Jay's electric guitar playing, it's is really cool when he rips it up like he did on Lucifer Sam, or Hurricane when I saw him at ACL Fest.

That Beatles song is Love You To. George penned that, and it absolutely rocks with Jay and Mark playing it.

Farrar with Spencer - I saw this combo three times last year but all three were a mix of Farrar/Spencer duo and Farrar/Spencer with bass and drums from the Varnaline guys on about half the songs. Spencer is a guitar virtuoso, just an incredible guitarist in my opinion, and he really shines on Jay's solo songs. He absolutely tore up Clear Day Thunder and the Beatles cover they closed with (can't think of the name.) My only problem with this version of a Farrar show is that Jay mostly just played acoustic and left the electric lead stuff to Spencer and I enjoy seeing Jay play a little more electric. I think I liked the show with Canyon better just because Jay played a good chunk of electric. And while Canyon's guitarist isn't as good as Spencer, he's more than good enough and the band plays really well as a whole. I also liked the addition of a full time keyboard player so they can play a song like Drain and they can make the Sebastopol songs sound more like the album.

Short answer - I love both versions. I appreciate the Sebastopol songs more and more from seeing Jay live - the songs sound great just with Jay and Spencer, with bass and drums but no keyboards, and with keyboards too. Sebastopol is an underrated album.

Thanks for the responses! I love the Jay with Canyon sound, just can't beat that, but I would really love to see the other interpretations of the songs, guess I will have to go to Scandanavia in march!

Saw Jay with Mark Spencer and Eric Heywood in Solana Beach (where I'm seeing Jay and Canyon on wednesday!) and it was great. Pretty mellow, good setlist. no hanging on to you Heavier on the Sebastopol stuff than I expected, but it's great to hear those songs stripped down.

I saw Jay twice last fall at Great America Music Hall in San Francisco (with Mark Spencer and Eric Heywood) and then saw him at the Austin City Limits (with Canyon backing him). Both combos were great, BUT the Canyon show was definitely more rocking. I'm going to see Jay w/ Canyon this Friday at Slim's in SF.

I saw Jay with Mark two times 6 months ago and have yet to see him with Canyon (6 more days woohoo), but I'm guessing the back up band will bring out the alt in the .country

more rockin in other words

Curious to know if anyone saw Jay with Mark Spencer earlier last year or in Europe. How did it differ from the Canyon backed shows in style, setlist, etc. Just curious to know.

Thanks.