The Fourth of July is just days away so it’s time for the fourth annual Stormy Mondays’ Battle with the British, this time featuring Warren Haynes as he tackles the Led Zeppelin songbook.

[Photo by MusicMagic]

This weeks’ mix opens with a short Moby Dick jam by the Mule followed by a slow, sweet John the Revelator > When the Levee Breaks > John the Revelator, so smooth it’s like it’s all one song. After that is PLQ with St. Stephen from Roseland in 2001 when the super group dropped into an impromptu Good Times, Bad Times jam with Warren belting out the wrong lyrics. A cool bit of trivia is that on their next date in the NYC area, Jones Beach, they dished out a much tighter, more intentional reprise of the moment. Next is a ripping Living Loving Maid and a heavy, heavy, heavy No Quarter from the Mule at Vegoose in ’05.

To cap things off is a bit of essential listening, Since I Been Loving You from the ’Roo with John Paul Jones crushing the bass. Crank it up and let the fireworks fly. As always, enjoy!

• CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THIS WEEK’S MIX

Earlier this year singer-songwriter Josh Ritter released his sixth studio album,  So Runs The World Away. Among the tracks featuring his brand of smarty and wordy, folk-rock, is the waltz-inspired ballad The Curse. The song tells the tale of a female archeologist who falls in love with a mummy that becomes reanimated, and is arguably one of the record’s strongest tracks.

Among the collection of musicians that make up Ritter’s Royal City Band is drummer Liam Hurley, who also happens to be an accomplished puppeteer. Hurley took it upon himself to masterfully create a music video for the song that takes Ritter’s story and dutifully reenacts it with his puppets. The Curse, which is epically sad on its own, becomes a bit of a tear-jerker when coupled with this stunning video. Check it out…

Josh Ritter & The Royal City Band, who are currently on the road, will mix dates both here and abroad throughout the summer including a free show at New York City’s Governor’s Island on August 8 with Justin Townes Earle, and Ritter’s wife – Dawn Landes – as support.

While The Duo dates are few and far between these days, the two individual members of the band have steadily been keeping themselves busy with other projects. Joe Russo is currently on tour with Furthur and Marco Benevento plays dates with his rotating trio.

Benevento, whose third solo album Between The Needles & Nightfall came out in May, recently released this manic self-shot video for Greenpoint…

Marco Beneveneto – Greenpoint

Marco, who Ryan interviewed last month, will keep himself busy with a variety of projects this summer including dates with Surprise Me Mr. Davis, Garage A Trios, The Trio and a rare Duo date at the Highline on August 27.

Phish headed back to Merriweather Post Pavilion tonight for the second of two shows at the Frank Gehry-designed venue in Columbia, MD. Once again, the quartet caught everyone’s attention with an opener bust out as they switched instruments to tackle Walfredo for the first time since September 30, 2000. Gordon handled guitar, Fish played bass, Trey hopped on keys and Page kept the beat on drums for Walfredo.

Sunday night shows always bring out the best in Phish and that trend continued tonight through set one as the group followed the Walfredo bust out with their first cover of Bob Marley’s Mellow since It back in 2003. While Trey, Mike, Page and Fish may have dusted off Tela down in Miami and December 30, 2009, many fans weren’t able to make the trip down south, so we suspect there were quite a few folks who went nuts when Phish performed the Gamehendge rarity tonight in the middle of the first set.

Walfredo, Mellow Mood and Tela were just three of the six tour debuts Phish performed in set one alone. Digging deep into the depths of their repertoire, the popular rock band also busted out My Soul, Ginseng Sullivan and Brian and Robert for the first time in 2010 over the course of the opening stanza.

READ ON for tonight’s setlist and more of our recap…

Last summer’s Phish concert at Merriweather Post Pavilion on August 15, 2009, was greeted with lukewarm response at best from the group’s fanbase. While I did enjoy the controversial show, I certainly didn’t need to see it a second time, as last year’s show and last night’s performance at the Frank Gehry-designed venue last night had more similarities than any pair of Phish gigs in memory, let alone at the same venue.

Both shows opened with Crowd Control and Kill Devil Falls and closed with Good Times, Bad Times and Tweezer Reprise, although Show of Life was wedged in between the Reprise and the Zeppelin cover. Other tunes performed at Merriweather in ’09 and ’10 were 46 Days, Tube and Tweezer. For a band that prides itself on changing it up every night, it’s surprising Phish treated Washington D.C.-area fans to such similar setlists two years in a row.

Saturday, 06/26/2010 Merriweather Post Pavillion, Columbia, MD

Set 1: Crowd Control, Kill Devil Falls, AC/DC Bag, Sugar Shack, Tube, In The Aeroplane Over The Sea[1], Stash, Backwards Down the Number Line, NICU > 46 Days, Suzy Greenberg

Set 2: Rock and Roll[2] > Free, Fast Enough for You, Sparkle > Tweezer, The Horse > Silent in the Morning > Wolfman’s Brother > Slave to the Traffic Light > Tweezer Reprise

Encore: Show of Life, Good Times Bad Times

[1] Phish debut.
[2] Moby Dick teases.

Notes: This show featured the Phish debut of In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (Neutral Milk Hotel). Rock and Roll contained Moby Dick teases.

[via Phish.net]

Now, while the similarities must be addressed, there were plenty of differences between Merriweather ’09 and last night’s gig – namely the quality of the band’s performance. Each member of Phish is on top of their game these days and no matter what the quartet played, they nailed it. Most of the first two weeks of Phish Summer Tour 2010 were light on the improv, but there was plenty of psych-rock exploration last night in both Rock and Roll and Tweezer. Wolfman’s also featured a dirty funk jam that the band took out more than your typical version of the tune.

Last night’s random cover came from the indie world as Phish slipped its take on Neutral Milk Hotel’s In The Aeroplane Over the Sea into the first set. While few in the crowd knew the Trey-sung cover, there were a few indie fans going absolutely ape shit. The first jukebox tour – over the summer of ’98 – focused mainly on classic rock covers, but this summer’s tour finds the band making more esoteric cover selections. We’ll see what genre Phish draws from tonight – if they do debut a cover – for the second of two shows at Merriweather.

Before Phish Summer Tour started, we asked our readers what song they would most like to see the band bust out and the winner of our informal poll was Alumni Blues. Hopefully most of those readers who picked Alumni were at the Susquehanna Bank Center in Camden last night when the quartet opened with the rarity.

Not only did Phish open the second of two shows in Camden with Alumni but they worked in one of the first Phish tunes ever written – Letter to Jimmy Page – in the middle of the rarity leading to a combination of two tunes that hadn’t been played in 11 and 16 years respectively.

June 25, 2010
Susquehanna Bank Center

Set 1: Alumni Blues > Letter to Jimmy Page > Alumni Blues, Big Black Furry Creature from Mars, Runaway Jim, Army of One, Free Man in Paris[1], Summer of ’89, Split Open and Melt, The Sloth, Time Turns Elastic, Golgi Apparatus

Set 2: Chalk Dust Torture[2] > Prince Caspian[2] > Heavy Things > Alaska > Also Sprach Zarathustra[3] > Light > Possum > Character Zero

Encore: Shine a Light

[1] Phish debut.
[2] Unfinished
[3] Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’, Billy Jean and Thriller teases.
[via Phish.Net]

The Alumni/Letter segment was just one of many highlights from this fantastic show. Also of note was a heavily jammed out version of Chalk Dust Torture that was reminiscent of the Type-II Chalk Dust the band dropped at their first appearance in Camden back in 1999. Yet the moment of the night came in the middle of the second set when the boys turned 2001 into a tribute to Michael Jackson on the first anniversary of his death by dropping teases and jams on Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’, Billie Jean and Thriller.

Last night’s random cover was Free Man In Paris by Joni Mitchell. Mike Gordon handled vocals and the band nailed the tune. At this point, fans truly have no idea what to expect next and that’s just the way we like it. Phish Summer Tour continues tonight at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD. Follow @YEMblog for live reports from the show.

One of the most common discussions amongst rabid Phish fans when they looked back at a successful 2009 touring season was: When is Phish going to refresh their cover repertoire? Last year, new covers were hard to come by while the old standbys: Rock & Roll, Loving Cup, Boogie On Reggae Woman, A Day In The Life, and Drowned dominated setlists – all being played at least five times in ’09. HT contributor Luke Sacks made this point and a few other prophetic suggestions (Day In The Life second set closer anyone?) in a pre-tour piece titled Phish At A Fork In The Road.

The prayers of the Phish-faithful have been answered with five new covers debuted in the first ten shows of the first leg of summer tour. Let’s take a listen to the original versions.

Phish is always good for a location-based cover whether it’s New York, New York to close out New Year’s Eve 1998, Boston’s Foreplay/Long Time and Roadrunner at Great Woods in 1999 and 2000 respectively, or making multiple references to Virginia last winter at the tour-closer in Charlottesville. When the band pulled into Cuyahoga Falls for the second show of the current tour, they added another chapter to this trend by opening with The Band’s Look Out, Cleveland. It was cover city in Ohio as they not only performed the second rendition of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s The Ballad Of Curtis Loew in 17 years, but also debuted John Lennon’s Instant Karma, which keyboardist Page McConnell previously had performed with his solo band Vida Blue.

Portsmouth Virgina’s intimate show saw the first ever Tom Waits cover from a Phish stage (though guitarist Trey Anastasio and David Byrne had previously performed some Waits at the Tibet House Benefit in 2000) when they played Cold Water in the middle of the first set. By far the most obscure cover debut came to open Tuesday’s show in Great Woods when the band left the entire crowd scratching their heads when they opened with Rita Clarke’s Lit O Bit. And last but most certainly not fucking least was the debut of Led Zeppelin’s The Rover which closed last night’s 90-minute first set in Camden, NJ. While one new cover every two shows isn’t quite keeping pace with the Summer of ’98, it is keeping the setlist hawks on their toes with the renewed anticipation that you truly never know what Phish is going to play next. Hopefully it’s Ride Captain Ride. Oh yeah, and play Watcher Of The Skies too.

On Wednesday, Abita Beer out of Abita Springs, Louisiana announced that they were going to be selling a special brew to raise money for people in Louisiana that were and are still being affected by the disastrous BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. They are calling the new brew Save Our Shore or S.O.S. (as in help!) for short.

Here is part of the article published on WDSU Online about the new brew:

“We just thought that hit home more than anything. Cause what it is, is a distress call. And we’re in distress,” said David Blossman of Abita. Abita and the Louisiana Seafood Marketing Board are combining their local flavors to spearhead the campaign, with the 22 ounce specialty pilsner as the top fundraising item. It’s available in 41 states nationwide. “After the cameras are gone and the limelights are no longer here, it will be on the shelves and grocery stores and liquor stores and in bars and restaurants. You can’t miss it when you look at it,” Blossman said. Seventy-five cents of each beer sold and 100 percent of merchandise sales go directly to the charity, which will then be managed by the Northshore Foundation.

The Abita S.O.S. will hit the market in mid-July.

Here are some other stories you may not be aware of from Louisiana based food companies that are trying their best to continue to do business in the face of this horrific disaster:

Louisiana Seafood News shared the story of Shrimpers Using the Internet to Sell Direct to Public. Below is a video from a shrimper named Jimmy Dupre who took his message straight to youtube to speak directly to the public about his situation, the quality of his product and what people can do to help.

READ ON for more on the situation in the gulf…

VH1 Rock Docs presents the television premiere of Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage tonight at 9PM on VH1, VH1 Classic and Palladia. This documentary, which won the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival Audience Choice Award, combines concert footage, backstage clips and never-before-seen interviews to tell the 35-year-plus history of the Canadian prog-rock trio.

Friday, June 25 [all times Eastern]:

• Letterman: Jay-Z & Eminem [CBS 11:35PM]
• Jimmy Kimmel: Sublime w/ Rome [ABC Midnight]
• Carson Daly: David Gray [NBC 1:35AM]

Saturday, June 26

• Austin City Limits: Sarah McLachlan [PBS]
• Foo Fighters: Live From Wembley [Palladia 1:30PM]
• Rush: Beyond The Lighted Stage [Pall, VH1C, VH1 9PM]

Sunday, June 27

• Live From Bonnaroo 2010: Jay-Z [Fuse 11AM]
• Classic Concert: Rush in Rio [VH1C 2:30PM]
• Hard Rock Calling: Ben Harper [Palladia 6PM]

Barely 24 hours before they were set to kick off the Northeast leg of their summer tour, Bob Weir and Phil Lesh’s latest  project, Furthur, has been forced to cancel their July 5 show at the Shelburne Museum, in Shelburne, VT due to concerns from local authorities about surrounding ticketless fans and heavy traffic. The Catamount State and the Dead have had previous history, as back in 1995, thousands of ticketless fans crashed the gates at the band’s June 15 gig at Franklin County Field in Highgate, VT.

While it’s the fans in Vermont’s loss, it is the gain for the people of the Philadelphia area as the band has announced a replacement show to take place at historic The Sherman Theater in Stroudsburg, PA for that day – with a pre-sale beginning today at noon, and the public on-sale tomorrow at 10 AM. Here’s the official statement from the band…

July 5th Shelburne Vermont Show CANCELLED
To All Of Our Fans Who’ve Purchased Tickets To Our July 5 Show in Shelburne, VT:

After days of meetings to address and alleviate last minute concerns being expressed by State and Local Authorities, Furthur is very disappointed to learn that today (6.24), the local authorities, citing an inability to deal with an expected influx of ticketless fans, traffic concerns, and other issues, have revoked the approved permits for the show and have decided to cancel Furthur’s concert at Vermont’s Shelburne Museum on July 5. As the decision was made by the local authorities so close to the event date, regrettably we are unable to find a suitable alternate venue in Vermont. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience!

Full & complete refunds will be available soon via point of purchase.
If you bought tickets online you’ll automatically be refunded.

** Replacement Show Added For July 5 **

We have added a new show on July 5 to replace the recently cancelled show in Vermont.
Furthur will be appearing for an intimate show at The Sherman Theater – Stroudsburg, PA
A limited amount of tickets will be offered online via pre-sale starting June 25 @ Noon ET.

Public on sale: Saturday, June 26 @ 10:00 AM ET.

We are truly sorry that we couldn’t find a suitable venue in Vermont to replace the cancelled Shelburne show, but at this late date, there was nothing available. The Sherman Theatre in Pennsylvania, where we will now be playing on July 5, is a terrific & very intimate venue.
Regretably, tickets for the cancelled July 5 Shelburne will NOT be honored at the Sherman Theater show. We hope to return to Vermont at some time in the future.

Again, our sincere apologies!

Furthur will kick off their Summer tour tonight at the High Bowl Amphiteather in ROCKchester, NY and then pull into Brooklyn, NY for two shows at MCU Park in Coney Island.

After years of toiling in semi-obscurity singer Bettye Lavette finally got her due, with her 2005 “comeback” album I’ve Got My Own Hell to Raise. Ms. Lavette recently released her latest album Interpretations, which finds the Detroit-based songstress putting her own spin on songs from a who’s who of British classic rock bands including The Beatles, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin. For her recent stop on the Late Show, Lavette performed The Rolling Stones deep cut Salt Of The Earth…

Bettye Lavette – Salt Of The Earth

Bettye Lavette will be on the road this summer as the support act for former Zeppelin front man Robert Plant’s new group Band Of Joy.

Phish Summer Tour pulled into lovely Camden, NJ this evening for the first of two shows at the Susquehanna Bank Center on the banks of the Delaware River. There’s something about this venue that brings out the best in Phish and tonight’s show continued that trend.

David Bowie offered an unorthodox opening to a set that included the first bluegrass cover of tour, Bill Monroe’s Uncle Pen, and the tour debuts of Gumbo, Timber, I Didn’t Know and Birds of a Feather. Yet, the highlight of the opening stanza came at the end when Phish busted out their debut cover of Led Zeppelin’s The Rover. Straight off of LZ’s landmark Physical Graffiti album, the quartet nailed The Rover which featured Page McConnell on vocals. We finally got a taste of what PG would’ve sounded like had the album come in first for the fan voting that led to the cover album selection for Phish’s first “costumed” Halloween on October 31, 1994.

June 24, 2010
Susquehanna Bank Center

Set 1: David Bowie, Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan, Water in the Sky, Ocelot, Uncle Pen, Boogie On Reggae Woman, Gumbo > Timber (Jerry) > I Didn’t Know, Birds of a Feather, Bouncing Around the Room, Reba[1], The Rover[2]

Set 2: Down with Disease -> Crosseyed and Painless > Nothing, Twenty Years Later, Harry Hood > Fluffhead > Julius, You Enjoy Myself

Encore: Bug

[1] Unfinished.
[2] Phish debut.
[via Phish.net]

For set number two Phish opened with another big jam song, Down With Disease, which segued into the first Crosseyed and Painless of 2010. After a slow-paced jam, Trey led the band into Nothing off of 2004′s Undermind. A closing sequence of Harry Hood > Fluffhead > Julius and You Enjoy Myself kept the energy up for one of the best shows of tour. Phish finished off with a mellow Bug encore before calling it a night. Summer Tour continues tomorrow night in Camden.

We’re nearly two weeks into Phish Summer Tour & the band has played nine shows thus far. After the first four gigs, we asked fans what they thought of the tour & at that point nearly 90% of respondees gave Phish an A or a B. We want to see if the fanbase’s thoughts on tour have changed, so we’ve set up another poll. This time we’ve added intermediate grades so if you would rather give ‘em an “A-” rather than an “A” you can do so.

• Previously on HT: Grading The First Four

READ ON to give Phish a grade on the first nine shows…

Last year we started a recurring feature on HT called Jam Cruise Files, where we asked artists a number of questions about their Jam Cruise experiences. Jam Cruise 9, on the MSC Poesia, sets sail from Ft. Lauderdale on Jan. 4th – a little more than six months away, with a power-packed lineup that includes Bob Weir’s Scaring The Children, God Street Wine, Galactic & the Rhythm Devils. We kick off the second year of Jam Cruise Files columns by talking with Cruise Director Annabel Lukins – aka Julie McCoy.

Hidden Track: What were a few of your highlights from Jam Cruise 8?

Julie McCoy: Two words: Nigel Hall. During the Fantastic 4 set on the pool deck, which was one of my most anticipated shows since we booked them, Nigel came on stage for Love Having You Around where he proceeded to yell to the crowd, “Where’s Annabel at, I want to sing this to her?” I humbly made my way to his side, and he serenaded me while I danced effortlessly next to him. The smile on my face was permanent, tears flowed from my face, and I felt such deep love and affection from my dear friend. It was truly a magical and humbling moment in my life, let alone my absolute Jam Cruise 8 highlight.

[Photo by Jeffrey Dupuis]

A few others worth mentioning:

Sexual Chocolate, Karl Denson’s brainchild…I was once again called up to sing in the final song with the supergroup, swaying back and forth next to Liza Oxnard and others. I truly felt a part of musical history.

Pretty Lights – 4:00am – Pool Deck. I have never danced so hard on Jam Cruise late night than I did during Pretty Lights. The entire pool deck was packed and everyone was grooving constantly to the ridiculously talented duo. READ ON for more of Jam Cruise Files with Julie McCoy…

Despite the concert industry taking a bath this summer, there are still a few events that are doing well such as All Good which is nearing a sell out.

We received the following statement from the event’s organizers…

We would like to take a moment to thank all of you for the overwhelming response for this year’s All Good Music Festival & Campout!

Our tickets are selling at a record pace and we would like to give you a heads up announcement – we may sell out! If you or any of your friends haven’t gotten tickets yet, we suggest you secure your spots as soon as you can. We do have our limitations at Marvin’s Mountaintop and may have to cut off sales before or during the festival to make sure that everyone is comfortable and safe. It’s as important to us as it is to you that we provide the freedoms and space that you have become accustomed to at All Good. That’s why we have a capacity number in mind . . . and we want you be included in that number! Also, please note to avoid overnight shipping charges you would need to purchase your tickets by July 1 at 3:00 PM EDT. Tickets can be purchased online here.

Thanks again for your support and we look forward to seeing you in a few weeks…
The All Good Family

The 14th Annual All Good Festival takes place at Marvin’s Mountaintop in Masontown, WV on July 8 – 11 and features a lineup that includes HT faves Furthur, Widespread Panic, Dr. Dog and Umphrey’s McGee.