The Live Music Thread

[matt fury]

Last show was the Meatmen ~2 weeks ago, next one will be the Germs in July if nothing comes up sooner.

[tom_hankins]

Went to the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and saw the Tangos, Faods & Dance last night. EXCELLENT!The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra

[hungrych]

The Roots Picnic - Totally fucking awesome. PE backed by The Roots and Antibalas was epic, The Black Keys tore shit up, Antibalas kicked ass, and The Roots closing set (with Gary Bartz!) showed that they can play fucking anything, even Sweet Child O Mine, and still sound great. Sadly TVOTR didn't have very good sound (maybe it was just cause I was far back), and everyone was really just waiting for The Roots at that point, but that's pretty much my only complaint.

On friday was the NINJA tour. I wish NIN had played after, cause their shows are just exhausing. They just put so much into it, and kudos to their sound guy for keeping everything in the mix audible and distinguishable. Jane's Addiction was pretty good too, though everyone seemed a little too drained after the NIN set.

I'd definitely put The Roots and Nine Inch Nails up there with The Flaming Lips as teh best non-Jazz live bands I've ever seen. If you get a chance to see any of them, don't pass it up!

[malldian]

PE and the Roots was pretty good, not my style but a cool show to be front row center for. I could have touched flava flave but was scared about the consequences and didn't want my lack of rhythm to some how rub off on him. Black Keys were good but played for 45 minutes blew a guitar amp and Dan stormed off stage without finishing the set. Shortest and most disappointing show by them I have seen.

Antibalas was damn cool. I have been getting into Afrobeat but haven't heard any revival. That was a great surprise and I liked it a lot.

TVOTR sounded good from where I was but I got real damn lucky with my spot. Three new songs all of which sounded good. They put on a damn good show I think. Now is when I start to get angry. Now I KNOW there is a 1:40 train we could take but I was visiting my girlfriend and her friends (around eight) were there as well. THEY MADE ME LEAVE BEFORE THE ROOTS SET. The excuse being "Well you saw them with Public Enemy..." Best spot I have ever had in a big festival like that and I miss the roots to take a train home 3 hours earlier than I could have... sweet.

I also won some tickets to Apostles of Hustle in Philly but since it is over 21 I can't go. Not sure what show will be next. Artworks 2009 isn't really a show but is free and looks interesting.

edit:

I'd definitely put The Roots and Nine Inch Nails up there with The Flaming Lips as teh best non-Jazz live bands I've ever seen. If you get a chance to see any of them, don't pass it up!

Yeah so they say...

edit edit:

As a general rule I don't think I am going to concerts with chicks any more. Definitely limiting the shows I see with my girlfriend. First Animal Collective and now this..

[postjack]

Went to the Wanee music festival in Live Oak, FL this past weekend. My first time to Suwanee Music Park, and it is truly a beautiful place, and a badass setup for a fest. Two stages: the Peach stage in a large field, and the Mushroom stage in a natural amphitheatre filled with oak trees.

Friday:

The Radiators - Can't believe I've managed to live this close to New Orleans for just under three decades and never see this band, but this was my first time. Good stuff, like a hippie bar band. I'll probably go see them next time they come through Mobile.

Hill Country Revue - For those that don't know, this is Cody Dickinson's (of North Mississippi Allstars) side project. It's basically NMAS sans Luther with a different singer. Musically they are very talented, honestly the singer gets on my nerves a bit. Very loud blues rock, good times.

Little Feat - Classic band of course, but it seems obvious they are playing the old stuff to their old fans. They drag "Willin'" waaaay out to the point that is a bit cheesy. Having said that they all were having fun, and it was cool hearing some of my favorite Little Feat singles.

Umphrey's McGee - I've spent years knocking this band, saying they don't write good songs and they don't have any soul. Well after this brief performance I'm a bit humbled but pleased to admit they have a new fan. Last time I saw them was several years ago, opening for moe at the Orpheum in New Orleans. I was blown away then, and am blown away again. Soulful or not, these guys are ridiculously talented, and they have a blast on stage. My musician friend was explaining to me the hand signals they use to indicate where they are going in a jam, and pointed out the microphones standing behind them they use to communicate to each other's earpieces. Neat stuff. They busted out a "Fool in the Rain" because they heard it on the radio on the way to the fest.

Col. Bruce Hampton - had to show some love to the good Colonel. He looks a bit older and a bit plumper since I last saw him, but his voice is strong and he was smiling. Talented band as well.

Buddy Guy - first time seeing Buddy Guy, we all enjoyed this one. Very much like a B.B. King show but with more energy. Lots of blues and storytelling, lots of showmanship. I could have done without him playing "Mustang Sally" but other then that, good show.

Gov't Mule - Disappointed. Dan had said the Mule has turned into a watered down jambandish thing, but I didn't want to believe him. Maybe one festival set isn't a fair way to fully judge a band, but the first half of the set was real weak. None of the raw strength of old mule. Things picked up significantly in the second half, with a Beautifully Broken, and then Hunger Strike > Dear Mr. Fantasy > Hunger Strike > Thorazine Shuffle, which was tight.

Allman Bros. Band - Sickness. 2009 is the Bros. 40 year anniversary, and the current line up is so unbelievably tight. The Dead certainly can't claim the same.

Derek Trucks Band (midnight set) - We had got up at 4am to drive from Mobile, and so at this point were going on 20 hours no sleep. Made it about another two hours before we drove back to the hotel. Having said that the two hours of DTB we saw did not disappoint. Incredible as always, with appearances by Warren and of course Susan Tedeschi (Derek's very talented wife, for those who don't know)

Slept in a bit Saturday, and Denny's took forever, but we made it to the park by two o'clock to catch:

BK3 - Kreutzmann's project. Hearing some great jamming and some Dead was a perfect way to start our day. I was loving the female fiddle player, she was great and really put a cool spin on the sound. We left during the last song (He's Gone) to make our way over to the Mushroom stage for:

Dumpstaphunk - Woah, talk about a spiritual experience through funk, these guys are awesome. I saw them open for Panic the night after Halloween in New Orleans, but seeing them up close was much more fun. Check these guys out if they come to your town, for sure. Non stop dancing and even some fart jokes.

And here is where it started pouring down rain. It rained for a little bit the day before, just enough for things to be fun, but this was a true torrential downpour. Luckily I had my poncho and my hat. I put these on and watched:

Jorma Kaukonen - Just him and a mandolin player, a wonderful act to watch in the rain, playing to a very appreciative crowd. I bounced back and forth between him and:

Susan Tedeschi - Hell of a voice, great guitar player, awesome backing band. Great sultry blues, and she's a cutie and a sweetie to boot. Good stuff.

Drive-By Truckers - I am a huge DBT fan, but haven't seen them since Isbell left. I missed Isbell for sure, but Patterson and Cooley have lost none of their energy. Absolutely awesome set, including favorites like "Women Without Whiskey" and "The Company I Keep".

Allman Bros. - Tore it up again for another night.

We bailed before The Wailer's late night set because who cares about reggae?

A few thoughts: I'm glad we didn't camp. Those who say you miss out on the whole experience when you stay in a hotel, eh, maybe there is some validity to that, but the truth is my friends who did camp missed a hell of a lot of music because they had to nap in the afternoons because of noisy neighbors and late night discos setup near their camp site. Couple that with sleeping in a wet tent because of the rain, and I say forget about it. I'd much rather drive to my hotel at 2-3am, shower and crash in a bed, so I'm fresh and full of energy the entire next day.

Also, big kudos to the fest organizers. The park is very well laid out, perfect for festivals, and everything went smoothly. And the food vendors rocked! Prices weren't that bad, and there was tons of way tasty choices, from Mellow Mushroom pizza to one of the best falafels I've ever had.

Bottom line is I didn't want to leave on Sunday, I wanted more Wanee. Just a completely kick ass weekend.

Here are some festie pics. don't know this guy in the first picture but what a great shot of him. his expression pretty much sums up my weekend.

[grawk]

Looks like a good time jack. I may have to catch the allmans this year.

[The Monkey]

The guy in the pink tie dye in the first pic doesn't look pleased.

[Voltron]

Allman(s) really are hot right now with Derek and Warren. dew eet!

[malldian]

They will be pretty close to me this summer, I have meant to see them at least twice now.

[The Monkey]

The Feelies at the Dan Graham show at the Whitney Museum. They are such a tight band. Great rhythms and textures. Jingle-jangle indie rock goodness.

Horrible acoustics in the concert space though.

[postjack]

Phish at Alpine Valley, 6/20 and 6/21.

The stars kind of aligned at this trip. My first Phish shows were a two night run at Lakewood in Atlanta, and the same guys I went to that show with all got together for this weekend, even though we live all over the country from each other. That in an of itself made the weekend special, but musically it was the best we've seen from 3.0.

Phish

2009-06-20

Alpine Valley, East Troy, WI

Set I:

Punch You In The Eye, Runaway Jim, Stash, Ya Mar, Bathtub Gin, Kill Devil Falls, Train Song, Farmhouse, Sparkle, Run Like An Antelope

Set II:

Waves > Sample In A Jar, Maze, Makisupa Policeman, Ghost > The Lizards, You Enjoy Myself > NICU > Prince Caspian > Waste > Fire

Encore:

Character Zero

We were on the lawn this night. The AV lawn is very steep and terrible, way WAY oversold. Getting to the bathroom and cigar bar at set break was difficult, I can't imagine trying to pull that off on acid. My first PYITE! They have been opening with newer stuff, doing kind of "warm up" type openers instead of the big songs, so I had a feeling they meant business from the start. Nice Trey-work on Jim, loving the new song Kill Devil Falls, lyrically and musically its a simpler out and out rocker. Train Song is great, Farmhouse is always a bummer, Sparkle was Sparkle, but the Antelope was crazy and huge. Waves was a splendid opener for what ended up being a pretty groovy but low key set II. Makisupa keywords were "Woke up this morning, piss in ja cup, woke up this afternoon, call my probation officer" Cool unfinished YEM > Nicu, and at the end you could see Trey mouthing "Fire!" to everyone in the band. It was a fun and absurd way to wrap it up. Standard one song encore to take it out.

Sunday afternoon took the tour of Madison, which is a really cool city. Had fried curds, which were delicious! Also had a super dank hamburger with cream cheese, caramelized onions, and green goddess dressing, organic ground beef. Great stuff!

Phish

6-21-2009

Alpine Valley

Set I:

Brother, Wolfman's Brother, Funky Bitch, Divided Sky, Joy, Back On The Train, Taste, Poor Heart, The Horse > Silent In The Morning, TMWSIY > Avenu Malkenu > TMSIY, Time Turns Elastic

Set II:

Crosseyed And Painless > Down With Disease, Bug, Piper > Wading In The Velvet Sea, Boogie On Reggae Woman, Slave To The Traffic Light

Encore:

Grind*^, Frankenstein**

*acapella

^preceded by Page thanking the crew, et al

** With Keytar, Flame Bass & Trey on 5-necked guitar

Sunday night we had reserved seating, which was amazing after a night raging the lawn. Brother opener! They pulled a metal tub out, and as they played, each of the band member's children walked out on stage and hopped into the tub. Very cool, and spoke to the much different atmosphere backstage (for the record, the whole band sans Gordo who never smiles anyway were grinning all weekend, and Trey was sipping coffee out of a thermos and hopping up and down between every song). Funky Bitch played per request sign in the audience. Of course we loved the huge TMWSIY > Avenu Malkenu > TMSIY bust out, and TTE as set closer was perfect. I think it is starting to get a little love from the fans.

And then set II was arguably the best set of 3.0. A not perfectly tight but still cool C&P into the first of a few very spacey texture based jams, which I sure as hell hope is the direction Phish continues to go in. Jam out of Piper was the same deal, very cool. Great Slave to close it out.

Frankenstein was huge, Page up front with James Brown's keytar, and Trey with a new monstrous five necked guitar, which was hilarious.

We bolted from the show and crashed on the floor of the Milwaukee airport for two hours, then caught our 6am flight back to the dirty south. The weekend was everything I hoped for and more.

[jinp6301]

Just came back from Jenny Lewis and Conor Oberst at Battery Park.

Jenny Lewis = HAWT

[lostonetr]

Claire (Guo Jing) and Xiao Yu miniconcert. Apparently nicholas teo was the suprise guest at the end, but I was gone by then.

[laxx]

Saw Ziggy Marley and 311 in Central Park a few weeks back.

[MASantos]

I went to London last weekend to see The Cat Empire at Shepherds Bush Empire.

Awesome concert by an awesome band.

[Beefy]

I went to London last weekend to see The Cat Empire at Shepherds Bush Empire.

Awesome concert by an awesome band.

The Cat Empire are great...... I'm so stoked that they are getting some international exposure.

I saw them a couple of years back at the Belvoir Amphitheatre back home, and it was pretty close to the best concert I have ever been to. Hot summer night, cool breeze, full moon, the place was packed...... and the entire audience was jumping around as one big mass

[Beefy]

I'm not sure if this counts...... but from my apartment, I can hear Paul McCartney singing Hey Jude on the Halifax Commons. Its freaking nuts around there - people everywhere.

[catscratch]

Just back from Orbfest, a 3-day psytrance/electronic music festival in upstate NY. Lots of good artists there - Hallucinogen played live as well as a Shpongle DJ set, Total Eclipse, Logic Bomb, basically an all-star psytrance lineup. Simon Posford (Hallucinogen) played a great set though I wish he wouldn't crank up the bass and treble so high and then play at 110dB; my ears were splitting and it was hurting the music enjoyment a lot. Of course psytrance systems are generally not known for their quality but this one was very good as far as club-style systems go and it could have sounded a lot better. Still, the live set was great, awesome energy and drive and some superb new tracks, though the mixing was at times slightly sloppy.

However, Simon's set was not the biggest surprise or the best set of the festival. Not by a long mile.

That honor belonged to an act named "Liquid Soul" (a.k.a. Nicola Capobianco) which I only heard of in passing since I have an awesome chillout track by him in a mix. But I saw him labeled as "progress trance" and not really having much interest in that sub-genre I let it be. But let's just say that I know what music I'm getting as soon as I possibly can. The set was melodic proggy Goa with fantastic complex classically-influenced melody, flawless mixing, great drive, awesome flow, basically you name it, it was there. It was the best set I've heard in years, bar none, and there wasn't a single weak moment in it. I'm definitely looking forward to hearing more.

Also note that there is a different hip-hop/electronic jazz act named "Liquid Soul" and that's not who I'm talking about.

Nice festival overall. I haven't slept in a few nights and just drove for damn near 6 hours so I'm a little loopy, but I'm glad I went. Even if we did get rained on and my tent proved to not quite be as water-proof as I hoped.

[jinp6301]

Saw Shitty Shitty Jam Band yesterday. They were not shitty

[matt fury]

Just got back from the Germs. They might've played every song they ever did. The guy who's Not Darby Crash But Plays Him on TV was pretty fucking awesome. And the band looked like they were having fun. I certainly did. I'm gonna be fucked up tomorrow.

[skullguise]

Just got back from the Germs. They might've played every song they ever did. The guy who's Not Darby Crash But Plays Him on TV was pretty fucking awesome. And the band looked like they were having fun. I certainly did. I'm gonna be fucked up tomorrow.

Loved Darby Crash....."Gimme a fuckin' beeeeeer" And their version of Grand Ol' Flag is priceless!

I saw Ani Difranco Saturday night, a sometimes quirky but very talented lady. Not even as familiar with her newer work, but was highly enjoyable.

Outdoor concert, JUST escaped the rain!

[Genetic]

Two nights ago I had a hard choice to make between Styx and Patrick Watson....

Went for Watson. A fun show and a lot more babes than the previous Van der Graaf crowd. On vocal, Watson is pretty amazing and the band was having a good time. Not at there best outdoor since the noise coming from the usual morons (the ones with the beer meter already in the full tank 2 hours before the first notes of the opening act) is annoying. Me? a f..... elitist that would prefer all shows to be in an indoor setting? You bet I am.

At least I have found another advantage for the concert earplugs. They cut much of the closer sound coming from the immediate crowd.

The concert had a nice surprise feature: one song was performed by the whole band during a little journey in the audience. Amazing trick because the sound quality of the main audio system was not affected at all.

9 sur 10.

Amicalement

[jinp6301]

I saw one song from Aimee Mann at Jimmy Fallon's show. I dont think it counts as a concert

[laxx]

NY Philharmonic at Central Park tonight.

[jinp6301]

How was it?