Arena sound isnt' always bad, it's just always bad with incompetent sound engineers. Go to a Roger Waters concert to see how good arenas can sound.

Would go if the tickets weren't always 100+$

Good sound isn't cheap

Drum Tao

The show was really great. Huge amounts of energy from the performers, great rhythm, and funnily enough there were drums....... lots of big drums. It was all softened nicely by some traditional wooden flutes and a little bit of koto action.

Highly recommended if they come to your town.

Saw Cho Young Pil (a korean superstar singer songwriter in the 70s-80s who my dad loves) and wow, just amazing. The band he played with was stellar and he just blew everyone away with his intensity.

but sound sucked, treble was way boosted and when he sang without a mic (at Radio City Music Hall ) he sounded so much better

Tonight I saw Dave Grisman playing with his wife and my brother in law at an art gallery. His wife and my brother in law are also artists and were showing at the gallery. Mandolin, acousting bass and harmonica makes for a nice little trio. Grisman can play the shit out of a mandolin.

nice

Breakdown by TP and the HBs live -- right now -- at the outside lands music fest. Stevie Winwood came out for two songs as well. Here with JP Nums. Rockin good time peanut!

Breakdown by TP and the HBs live -- right now -- at the outside lands music fest. Stevie Winwood came out for two songs as well. Here with JP Nums.

Earlier today was M. Ward, Kaki King, galactic and Regina Spektor. Last night was Beck and Radiohead.

Rockin good time peanut!

nice

So who else wants to kill Voltron and steal his life?

Nice.

So who else wants to kill Voltron and steal his life?

Not me. I just hate Al and Jp for their freedom.

I wish I could have made it out there for this one. It looked like it was going to be a great fest.

Speaking of freedom, my wife and kids also went to the festival. We live three blocks from Golden Gate Park so we could just walk in when we wanted to be there. The first night appeared disastrously disorganized and JP kept saying the revolution was going to begin in the ID Check and pizza lines that spanned the entire width of one venue about one-third of the way back from the stage. People had to walk through the line to get up to see the stage and nobody could possibly tell what the hell was going on. There was a choke point between that stage -- Beck -- and the next stage over for the main show -- Radiohead -- that was literally insane and led to people -- including my wife and 10 yr old son -- toppling and trampling the temporary cyclone fencing and creating a different egress.

Yesterday was a full day and it all seemed better run and less anarchic. We managed a good spot for M. Ward/Regina Spektor and then an even better one for TP & the HBs, which would have been about 25-30 rows back if there was seating.

Today's lineup of interest is going to be: Stars, Andrew Bird, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, Broken Social Scene, Rogue Wave, Wilco, and Jack Johnson. Not sure about Sharon Jones and Rogue Wave because all the others before JJ are at the same stage and it might just be a [relatively] mellow day with some breaks rather than running all over the place.

If this thing happens again next year, Mike, that would be the time to come. It will be better run and may attract even bigger names.

Hope you got to see Wilco Al, Tweedy puts on a hell of a show.

Hope you got to see Wilco Al, Tweedy puts on a hell of a show.

It was a good show, although I left with my daughter 2/3 of the way through so that we could get a spot for Jack Johnson, which is what she was looking forward to. I have seen Wilco and Tweedy solo about 5 times, and this one was good but not the best. Stars were ok but not exciting. Andrew Bird was great, and very trippy, as you might imagine. Played and sampled violin and guitar and he whistles like a son of a bitch. JP went over to Sharon Jones but I skipped that and Rogue Wave. Broken Social Scene was very rockin' and sounded good. JP doesn't know them, but he thought AB and BSS were good shows and it seemed better than he thought. Jack Johnson had great sound but it was overall a bit boring.

I am wiped after that weekend. As JP said a few times, the idea of a weekend music festival is really appealing but the fact of it is tiring.

I've been mostly down on festivals for a long time. They're a good way to find ut what a bunch of bands are like live, but not a great way to see music otherwise.

It was a good show, although I left with my daughter 2/3 of the way through so that we could get a spot for Jack Johnson, which is what she was looking forward to. I have seen Wilco and Tweedy solo about 5 times, and this one was good but not the best. Stars were ok but not exciting. Andrew Bird was great, and very trippy, as you might imagine. Played and sampled violin and guitar and he whistles like a son of a bitch. JP went over to Sharon Jones but I skipped that and Rogue Wave. Broken Social Scene was very rockin' and sounded good. JP doesn't know them, but he thought AB and BSS were good shows and it seemed better than he thought. Jack Johnson had great sound but it was overall a bit boring.

I am wiped after that weekend. As JP said a few times, the idea of a weekend music festival is really appealing but the fact of it is tiring.

It's sure hell getting older, isn't it?

Jack Johnson ... was overall a bit boring.

gonna go see ingrid michaelson and ben lee tonight

2nd row center! woot! only thing that sells out for my school are emo bands

Paul Motian, Bill Frisell, and Joe Lovano at the Village Vanguard. Bill Frisell is fucking awesome! Sometimes he sounds like he can barely play guitar, and other times he sounds like he's 5 people, but it always is great. They were really having fun when they played too.

Yeah it definitely was. There's nothing like listening to unamplified (well other than the guitar) jazz in a crowded club.

Gonna go see Ryan Adams in a couple of weeks

Gonna go see Ryan Adams in a couple of weeks

WOOT. Did you get tickets?

i'm calling peaceful valley opener.

"can I still smoke my cigarettes, and have my coffeeeeeee..."

Stacy and I saw Bob Dylan at the Santa Barbara Bowl last Sunday. It was all electric and Bob did all the vocals. The music was mostly rockabilly style. Bob sang with a frenetic style in which he would belt out a line really quickly, and then wait for the music to catch up before singing the next line. As a result, it was often hard to understand the words he was singing and often very hard to determine the song. Stacy, who is younger than me, had a lot of trouble recognizing the two encore songs. They were "Like a Rolling Stone" and "Blowin' in the Wind". I'll admit that I had a bit of trouble too.

I kind of liked this style, though definitely would have liked hearing some of the old songs in the old style. Still, it was interesting to hear this take on his music. The band was very good. You can find more info here. Look for the 9/7 concert near the bottom of the page.

Tonight, it's Brian Wilson at the Lobero in Santa Barbara.

Paul Motian, Bill Frisell, and Joe Lovano at the Village Vanguard. Bill Frisell is fucking awesome! Sometimes he sounds like he can barely play guitar, and other times he sounds like he's 5 people, but it always is great. They were really having fun when they played too.

that must have been a great show.

No shit! I saw Frissell at the Vanguard the weekend of the first national head-fi meet. Only time I have been there.