November 2025
Spafford brought the absolute heat to The Alpine in Reno, Nevada on Tuesday, October 28th, 2025. The venue was buzzing with excitement as the fans waited for Spafford to take the stage at the Tahoe Aleworx adjacent venue, the Brewery District live music venue which was at one time a glass manufacturing facility.
They started things off in true Spafford fashion with a 26 minute long “Pursuit of Madness”, featuring a signature epic solo from guitarist Brian Moss early on in the tune. The solo was passed next to Cory Schechtman providing an electrifying keys to counterpoint Moss. From there the band locked in and absolutely crushed the four song opening set, finishing on “High Beams”, leaving the crowd beaming and excited for what the second set might bring.
At this point I checked out the merch booth, and Spafford has got to have one of the strongest merch games in the jam scene. Complete with tie dye bucket hats, lighters, baby clothes, and even disc golf discs there was something for everyone. I bought a vinyl of live recordings selected by the band, one song per side each exceeding 20 minutes, the ideal live vinyl for a jam band fan. The venue itself had a great little courtyard on the side where the folks in attendance could get some fresh air while waiting for set two to start back up.
The band came out swinging in the second set, with a bouncy 21 minute cover of The Temptations’ “The Way You Do The Things You Do”. Brian Moss started off with a reggae chop to get the people moving and Cory Schechtman breathed even more life into the song with epic organ tones pouring out of the keys. Bassist Shon Gordon’s ability to hold down the pocket of a groove with flair while providing a solid foundation for Moss and Schechtman to go into deep improvised jams was made obvious at this point of the evening. Drummer Nick Tkachyk held down that groove with Gordon, creating a light and airy texture to improvise endlessly over.
The drums then got heavy as an epic keyboard solo segued into Spafford’s “Motel 6” and another light and airy jam. Spafford does an excellent job at using their improvisational focused approach to weave songs together, giving space at the right time and going into heavy jams when the crowd yearns for it. The second set went well into the evening, and they were encored for a nearly 10 minute “Legend” to close out the evening. The crowd went wild and hoped for a second night, leaving no doubt that the Reno-Tahoe area has some seriously dedicated Spafford fans, which is probably why the band continues to come back to the Biggest Little City.
Check out more coverage of Spafford…
- Spafford celebrates spring at Crystal Bay Casino
- Spafford, The Higgs take long, strange trip to Tahoe
- Bands to look for at High Sierra Music Festival
