A few months back we reported on the rather sad circumstance surrounding Simone Felice’s departure from HT faves The Felice Brothers (read his open letter for more details). The move has proved to be quite cathartic for the drummer/vocalist/novelist as he channeled his creative energies into a writing songs for a new project called The Duke & The King.
If Cat Stevens had headed to Woodstock during his 70s heyday he may have ended up with a album sounding close to the debut from The Duke & The King. The band, who mix Simone’s heartfelt, confessional lyrics with sweeping folk melodies, will release their debut album Nothing Gold Can Stay on Tuesday – marking the occasion with an album release show at New York’s Mercury Lounge. Let’s check out this incredible kitchen rehearsal performance of The Morning I Get To Hell…
The Duke & The King continue their tour through mid-August, and will then head across the pond for a string of UK dates in September.
The members of Phish kicked off the second leg of their Summer Tour last night at the famed Red Rocks amphitheater in Morrison, CO; playing their first show at the legendary venue in 13 years. While the show won’t be remembered as one of the best they ever played it certainly showed flashes of brilliance and set a good base for the beginning of a four night stand.
Thursday’s concert featured a number of songs that mentioned the surroundings in which the band was performing. Opening with Divided Sky – a staple of the band’s previous performances at the venue – the quartet also threw down The Wedge, Loving Cup and Possum, all with lyrics about mountains. From the moment they took the stage it was clear the band had been practicing. Sure, there was a flub here and there, but for the most part they tore through some of the more complex material.
The highlight of the first set came in the form of the exploratory jam in Stash. Bassist Mike Gordon kept pushing and prodding the improv into new, exciting territory with guitarist Trey Anastasio following Mike and inserting some smart ideas of his own into the jam. If there’s one song to check out from last night’s show, it’s Stash.
READ ON for more from Scotty on night one of Red Rocks…
IFC debuts a new episode of Z Rock on Sunday Night at 11PM featuring harp specialist John Popper of Blues Traveler. Popper returns to make amends for nearly ruining the lads’ career during his last appearance on the show.
[Photo by Jennifer Graylock]
Friday, July 31 [all times Eastern]:
Dave Letterman: Dave Matthews Band [CBS 11:35PM]
Conan O’Brien: Ben Harper & Relentless 7 [NBC 11:35PM]
Jimmy Fallon: Jimmy Buffett [NBC 12:35AM]
Carson Daly: Crystal Antlers [NBC 1:35AM]
Saturday, August 1:
Austin City Limits: Wilco [PBS Check Local Listings]
Peter Seeger: 90th B-Day Party [PBS Check Local Listings]
Live From Abbey Road: Paul Simon [Ovation 11AM]
Saturday Night Live: Phoenix [NBC 11:30PM]
Sunday, August 2:
Kanye West: Live From Chicago Theater [Fuse 4PM]
Spectacle: Elvis Costello w/ The Police [Sundance 9PM]
Follow me @YEMblog tonight for live reports from Red Rocks as Phish kicks off the second leg of their Summer Tour. As always, you can follow all the #Phish action and watch the streams at PhishTwit. Opener calls?
An evening at the Mercury Lounge often proves a real treat. The structure of their shows almost always includes four bands with a time slot of roughly an hour per act. In essence, the evening feels exactly like your run-of-the-mill showcase night a la Arlene’s Grocery. You know, the neighborhood venue trying to reel in a few patrons without giving away drink specials by offering up the stage to wet-behind-the-ears bands playing in front of their poor friends who were given no option but to drop by dressed all biz casual.
Well, the difference with the Mercury Lounge approach is that they put on a showcase night, but comprised of generally really talented on-the-cusp bands with plenty of buzz, generally with some level of overlap in fan tendencies with the other acts on the bill. Hence, it makes for a great way for bands to win over new fans, while fans happily catch the band they came to see, but often leave holding the CD of one they never even heard of. Should one or two of the bands not hit the spot, well there’s always the bar just outside the performance room. You can pop out and pop back in for the next band an hour later. Plus, the price is right.
This past Thursday, the Merc played host to a relatively new band on my radar that is quickly becoming a favorite, Leroy Justice. Having heard from a couple friends in different places and seeing repeat rave reviews from a couple of great writers whose tastes I share, Dave Schultz at Earvolution and Dennis Cook at Jambase, I picked up their new album. The album, called the Loho Sessions just happens to be produced by a guy you might recognize; he goes by the name of Siket. The Loho Sessions has breakout written all over it and it’s a contender for the best this year. The “sounds-like exercise” always reaches for the Black Crowes and Drive-By Truckers, but that makes them sound far too categorical.
READ ON to see what Ryan thought of LJ and Cornmeal…
We’d like to welcome our longtime friend and HT commenter Andy Kahn to the site with an editorial he wrote about the overwhelming acceptance of Phish by the mainstream media over the last few months. You can read more from Andy over at Loudlooppress. Welcome to the team, Andy…
From the mid ’90s until their breakup in 2004, Phish was often mocked by the mainstream press for a variety of reasons, namely their lack of radio and commercial success, relatively weak album sales, their obsessively devoted fan base of neo-hippies who follow them around to show after show (on drugs, always on drugs). With the band’s return at Hampton this past March the common perception of the group is not so common anymore, with Phish now getting treated like any other major act in the industry.
Phish has finally stepped out of the shadow of the Grateful Dead and are getting the respect they deserve. Every article written about them does not need to include a reference to their Dead-like fanbase or similar jamcentric style. Instead, music journos from a wide spectrum of publications are acknowledging the quartet as a band that broke the mold and created their own business model that never relied on album sales and mainstream commercial success but rather focused on the live performance and free sharing of their music amongst its fans.
Showing how far ahead of the curve they were, drummer Jon Fishman – in an interview with Rolling Stone in February 2003 stated, “I could fucking care less if everybody downloads our album off the Internet. We’re not in a position to be screwed by that at all. We have the one thing the Internet can’t touch – live music. If you can actually go out and play your fucking instruments, you won’t be replaced by the Internet. If you’re a good live act and you put on a good show, people will buy a ticket to see your show.”
READ ON for more from Andy on Phish and the mainstream…
While we can only play the guessing game when it comes to what album Phish will cover at their upcoming Halloween festival, fans that are headed to see Bruce Springsteen in the Windy City this fall already know what they’re in for courtesy of the shows producers – Jam Productions. Earlier this week the company leaked to the city’s local papers that The Boss would be treating the folks in the Second City to a full rendition of arguably his best album Born to Run at his show at the United Center on September 20.
Meanwhile rumors are currently swirling around the interwebs that Springsteen plans to tackle a different album from his catalog every night during his five-night run of shows at Giants Stadium.
Finally, with Ryan Adams seemingly retiring from the music business earlier this year it left a big musical void in the life of his former band The Cardinals. While they await a call from the always unpredictable Mr. Moore, the band has lent their expert talents to the stunning Gin Wigmore, backing the New Zealand-bred singer-songwriter on her debut album No Smoke which hits stores on September 25.
Exactly one month ago, on June 29th, I attended a concert in Wellington, New Zealand. The Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra performed to a sold-out hometown crowd in one of the country’s most acoustically-pleasing auditoriums, The Michael Fowler Centre, and they blew the roof off the place. Yes, this 12 member, 11-ukulele-ensemble actually blew the roof off the mutha. Eleven ukuleles and one double bass. Yes, that’s right- 11ukuleles. I feel icky just typing that. The ukulele. The red-headed stepchild of the acoustic guitar. Eleven of them on stage at the same time and I actually liked it? Maybe I’ve been in New Zealand too long…
I think its fair to say the ukulele has never been one of my favorite instruments. If I were asked two months ago to come up with a top ten list of my favorite musical instruments, ukulele might rank 37, just behind the French horn. But in the hands of these skilled ukeists (ukeleists? Ukelers?) this four-stringed-mandolin-wannabe not only becomes a pleasing instrument, but an impressive one. (You can see why its taken me a month to write this review- I’ve been struggling with such conflicting internal emotions. Someone hold me.)
The WIUO (as they will henceforth be referred to… since I’m into the whole brevity thing) were founded about 5 years ago in Wellington, New Zealand. The twelve member group play an unusual combination of modern hits, classic rock, kiwi standards and original compositions. In New Zealand, the band is pretty well known, thanks in no small part to a devoted hometown following, many high profile performances, two albums, and the recent success of founding member Bret McKenzie (yes, that Brett. Brit? Briiit.) Internationally, this “international” orchestra has yet to make a very big mark. However, if they continue to play shows like this one, all of that could change. READ ON for more of Neeko’s Uke-tastic review…
Last Week’s Sauce is a recurring column featuring recordings of shows that took place the previous week. Thanks to H20 for the photo.
Artist & Title: The Brew – Seen It All Date & Venue: 2009-07-25 Rock & Blues Cruise, Boston MA Taper & Show Download:Mike Salvo
Leading off this week is the first track off The Brew’s 2008 release Back to the Woods. The Brew next play this Saturday at the Wellfleet Beachcomber in Cape Cod.
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READ ON for more tracks from the likes of Steve Kimock and Wilco…
Each Sunday in August, starting this Sunday, a group of talented musicians led by virtuosic guitarist Tim Palmieri will perform the entire Beatles catalog in alphabetical order at Daniel Street in Milford, CT. The idea came from a jam Palmieri and mandolin wiz Sean Miller had back in 2006 on Dear Prudence. Sean was teaching Tim the tune when the two musicians came up with the concept of covering every Beatles song that was recorded alphabetically from A to Z and successfully completed the task a few weeks later.
Tim and Sean had such a good time – and the shows were so enthusiastically received by fans – that they decided to keep the project going.
For the upcoming shows the pair will be joined by Breakfast drummer Adrian Tramontano and former Breakfast bassist Ron Spears. The Beatles A-Z, as the quartet are known, also plan to cover Beatles tracks that never made it onto an album like the McCartney-written Badfinger classic Come and Get It and George Harrison’s Not Guilty. For a sample of what you can expect at these shows here’s a clip of Good Morning, Good Morning recorded during their last shows in February…
Tickets are available for $7 in advance and for $10 the day of the show.
I just finished putting together today’s posts for YEMblog – a site that compiles all the new Phish-related content on the web – and there were a few items I felt should be shared with the HT readership as the countdown to the second leg of Phish’s Summer Tour heads towards zero.
First up, the folks at Chopping Block have put together a fantastic post giving a behind the scenes look into the work that went into the Phish – Save The Date animation. Chopping Block, a graphic design firm that has been working with the band since the late ’90s, really outdid themselves with the java animation they created and it’s pretty cool to see some of the concepts that didn’t make the cut.
Also of note, as we approach Phish Tour Eve, be sure to keep your eyes on the official Red Rocks website’s webcam for a look at what goes into the setup for the shows. We’d imagine load-in will start at some point tomorrow so keep checking back. Finally, our friend Brian Sherman wrote an article about the convergence of Phish concerts and technology that includes an interview with Jason Wigmann of PhishTube fame. As a reminder, DaveO and I will be tweeting live from Red Rocks on the @YEMblog feed. You can follow our feed and all of the #Phish Twitter action at PhishTwit.
After a thirty-plus year hiatus from touring and recording the influential Brazilian-psychedelic band Os Mutantes will return to the road this fall to tour behind their first album of new material since 1974′s Tudo Foi Feito Pelo Sol. The band, who will release their Anti Records debut Haih Or Amortecedor on September 8, has penciled in a couple of festivals appearances this summer, including a stop at Outside Lands, before heading out across the country for a full slate of headlining shows.
If a night of Brazilian psychedelic music isn’t for you, than maybe you’ll be interested in hitting one of these recently announced tours…
Leonard Cohen announces more dates, including a stop at MSG
Finally, Warp Records, home to acts likes Grizzly Bear, !!!, Battles and Aphex Twin, will celebrate its 20th anniversary with a string of shows throughout New York City this fall from September 3 – 6 at a variety of venues around the city. At press time, the label has only confirmed two shows as part of their celebration, with one taking place at the cavernous Terminal 5 on Sept. 4 featuring Battles, !!!, Prefuse 73 and Pivote. The second will be a free show at World Financial Center Winter Garden the following night.
Sunday morning is always a mellow day for Gathering of the Vibes. With the four day weekend coming to a close and the festival rolling into its last hours of music, many are busy packing up camp and getting ready for the trip home. Some are exchanging emails with their camping neighbors, while others are getting the number from a cute girl they danced with through till the morning sun. However, this year’s headliner Crosby Stills and Nash helped to draw many new attendees to the site for Sunday only. A deal that was even further sweetened by the Sunday only VIP option allowing you to show up and get down, no camping supplies needed.
[All Photos by Jeremy Gordon]
The morning started off with the World Peace Prayer and the Harlem Gospel Choir, similar to last year’s Sunday lineup. The sweet soothing sounds gently nudged the sleeping masses awake. At the GOTV, even church on Sunday involves singing and getting down.
Next up was a different sort of religion as John Brown’s Body came out strong with their reggae sounds. It somehow seems like sunny Sunday mornings are made for listening to reggae. The boys from Boston get you on your feet and moving with out exaggerating the previous night’s head-ache.
READ ON for the rest of Jeremy and Carla’s recap of day four…
at his show at the United Center on September 20.
. The band, who will release their 
on September 8, has penciled in a couple of festivals appearances this summer, including a stop at Outside Lands, before heading out across the country for a full slate of headlining shows.
