Max Creek:
Acoustic Live at The Stafford Palace Theater

Going into their 49th year as a band, Max Creek releases their very first live ACOUSTIC album! Compiled over the course of two very special acoustic sets at The Stafford Palace Theater on February 22nd & 23rd 2019, the album features long time fan favorites like High On A Mountain, Hard Love and Three as well as traditional covers by Paul Simon and The Beatles.

The first 100 units are a special limited numbered run of clear tye-dye vinyl pressed by the band themselves.

Max Creek was unwittingly largely responsible for Toni Fishman’s direction in life – not only serving as an aural door-opener to groups like the Grateful Dead and Phish – but turning him on to recording live music and ultimately, founding TELEFUNKEN Elektroakustik.
The once-impressionable high schooler never forget the impact early Creek shows made on him and why he would ultimately have the band playing his 50th – the planned celebration being a two-night run at TELEFUNKEN’S intimate Soundstage in South Windsor, Conn.

The shows, which ran Feb. 22-23, 2019, were sheer magic. Brilliantly illuminated by lighting designer Matt Calabrese on the opening night and then Calabrese teaming up with Marco Ferrero’s Liquid Light Lab for the closer, attendees were treated to acoustic and electric sets by a band that really delivered the goods.

This limited-edition album captures the essence of the two acoustic sets – a great combination of originals and choice covers handled with aplomb by bassist John Rider, guitarist Scott Murawski, keyboardist Mark Mercier, drummer Bill Carbone and percussionist Jamemurrell Stanley.

“It’s just a miracle to be here and alive,” Murawski said in a matter-of-factly way between songs at a 2017 performance, emphasizing nearly two years later how this pair of shows in Stafford Springs underlined the bond between the band and their fans which is now in its fifth decade.
The appearance of a quiet, but unabashed contentment was evident on Fishman’s face each night – and why not. The proceedings were completely in synch. A storied venue, a memorable party, the band clearly enjoying itself – bathed in a magnificent lightshow – in front of a full house wrapped in impeccably produced sound.

In short, if you were there, this album will transport you back to those storied shows. If you missed them, you’ll hear why Fishman did this for his 50th birthday.

–Chris Cowles, WRTC-FM