If you thought the summer was chock full of shows, just wait until you see what’s in store for the fall. Many of my favorite bands have just started long tours that will keep them busy through the end of the year. This week’s edition of GTA looks at four shows from four bands that will each play a slew of upcoming shows.

We start with Smashing Pumpkins, who have already been on the road for nearly four months with no end in sight. And since Ace got all indie on us this week with his ACL reviews, we’ll go back to the well and check out shows from jamband favorites RAQ, Perpetual Groove, and Toubab Krewe. Just by listening to these downloads, I can tell it’s gonna be one helluva fall for us.

Smashing Pumpkins 09/08/2007 DAUD [FLAC]

We checked out a Smashing Pumpkins show shortly after they reformed, so now let’s see where the band is at after a full summer of performing. Just last week, the Pumpkins played a terrific set as part of the Osheaga Music and Arts Festival in Montreal. Billy Corgan & Co. headlined a terrific lineup that included Bloc Party, Damien Rice and Apple’s new pitch-girl, Feist.

Thanks to a first time taper named Matt we were able to find a crispy recording of the Pumpkins’ first post-hiatus concert in Canada. The band did a nice job of mixing in old classics among a slew of tunes from this year’s Zeitgeist. Corgan gave 1979 the solo acoustic treatment, which really shows off his underrated vocal abilities. Jeff Schroeder and Ginger Reyes, who play guitar and bass respectively, have come a long way over the past few months. They back up Corgan really well on both Tarantula and Superchrist. The Pumpkins are back, and they sound as tight as they ever did during the James Iha/D’arcy years. Read on for more GTA…

Toubab Krewe 09/15/2007 DAUD [FLAC, MP3, STREAM]

Toubab Krewe has one of the most unique sounds in the game. Take a rockin’ jamband and add liberal doses of West African instruments to get an idea of what the Krewe sounds like. There are even elements of groove in their music that would make MMW jealous. Recently the Asheville-based band embarked on a lengthy fall tour that will cross the country and back by the beginning of December. One of the first shows on the tour took place at the Lucas School House in St. Louis, and a taper by the name of Scott T. was kind enough to upload this show to the Live Music Archive.

I first saw Toubab Krewe briefly at the Langerado music festival in March, and while I totally got off on the interesting instrumentation, I was most impressed with the guitar skills of Drew Heller. Heller always keeps it interesting by dropping a mind-blowing run of notes when you least expect it. Check out the first few tracks of this recording to see why Heller is so vital to their sound. Also of note is the percussion playing of Luke Quaranta, who keeps the crowd moving by laying down groovy beats. Toubab Krewe is currently in the Midwest, where they will play Davenport, IA and Lawrence, KS this weekend. Check them out if you are interested in hearing something completely different.

RAQ 09/14/2007 DAUD [FLAC, MP3, STREAM]:

Photo by Jonathan Healey

RAQ has racked up a ton of miles this year, and right now they are absolutely killing it every night. The Vermont quartet headed to the beautiful Stone Church in New Market, New Hampshire this past weekend for a two night run. Friday started out as a typically tight RAQ show until the boys dropped a cover of Frank Zappa’s Andy to end the set. When the band returned for the second set they proceeded to play a whole set of classic FZ tunes spanning his entire career. Well, actually somewhere in that set they slipped in the Inca Road’s-like jam from their original Carbohydrates Are The Enemy.

Andy Murray taped and transferred the show onto the Archive, so we can all hear their heady interpretations of Zappa’s tunes. Of particular note is their spot-on covers of Dirty Love and I Am The Slime. RAQ followed up the Zappa set with Whipping Post and then a ripping version of Hannah, with Loose serving as the meat of a Hannah sandwich. These guys are hitting their stride, and we hope they can keep it up through their cross country fall tour, which continues through the end of November.

Perpetual Groove 09/15/2007 SBD/AUD Matrix [FLAC, MP3, STREAM]

Perpetual Groove is another band that has just started a lengthy fall tour, however the PGroove boys have just finished their first extended vacation in over six years. The Athens via Savannah band spent the weekend bidding farewell to the legendary Ziggy’s nightclub in Winston-Salem, NC, where they headlined the Last Supper Festivities that celebrated the closing of the club.

A matrix recording of Saturday’s show has been uploaded to the Archive, and it sounds divine. PGroove’s performance showed off nice improv chops that must’ve kept the crowd dancing the whole evening. Brock Butler’s guitar playing continues to improve; he does a nice job leading many of the jams and keeping his bandmates on their toes. Stand out tunes include Mr. Transistor plus the amped up Mayday > and Everything encore. PGroove has taken to calling their current tour the Serious Business tour, and the shows are living up to the billing.

What have you been listening to this week? Let us know with a message below…