Last night in Oakland, one-time Grateful Dead band mates Bob Weir (guitar) and Bruce Hornsby (piano) each played separate sets and then shared the stage for a joint set and encore at the Fox Theatre. Hornsby kicked off the evening with a solo piano set featuring material from throughout his illustrious career. Weir came on next and mixed songs from the his solo repertoire with Grateful Dead classics. Of particular note was the My Brother Esau opener, a tune Weir played for the first time since 1987 just one week earlier at The Bridge Session.

For the pair’s first-ever set as a duo, they opened up with Chuck Berry’s Too Much Monkey Business – a song Bruce released as a bonus track for Japan on 2009′s Levitate. From there, the two tackled Most of the Time by Bob Dylan – another tune Weir performed at The Bridge Session one week prior. After that came a medley of Grateful Dead compositions featuring Lady With A Fan from Terrapin Station, a verse a piece from Dark Star and The Other One plus Me and My Uncle.

Watch as Weir and Hornsby re-interpret Hell In A Bucket as the lone encore…

Bob Weir and Bruce Hornsby – Hell In A Bucket

Here’s the setlists from both solo sets and the joint set and encore…

Bruce Solo: (8:12 start time) Red Hook Summer>Sticks and Stones, Heir Gordon, Preacher in the Ring, Where’s the Bat?, Continents Drift, Valley Road, 20-20 Vision and I’m Walking Round Blind>A Night on the Town (9:06 end time)

Weir solo: (9:11 start time) My Brother Esau, The Music Never Stopped > KC Moan, When I Paint My Masterpiece, Peggy-O > Big Bad Blues > Ashes & Glass, Easy to Slip, Black Throated Wind>Cassidy, Sugar Magnolia (10:27 end time)

Joint Set:
(10:29 start time) Too Much Monkey Business, Most of the Time, Lady With A Fan >Dark Star v1>Other One v1>Me And My Uncle (11:10)

Joint Encore: Hell in a Bucket

[via Chez - Ratdog.org]

The pair team up for another “Alone and Together” performance tonight at the Fox.

Last night at Brooklyn Bowl, the original members of Strangefolk played a show together for the first time since 2000. We’ll have a full review from Pete Mason soon, but in the meantime we wanted to share the setlist and a fantastic video of the Poland opener from yesterday’s performance.

[via Strangefolk Reunion]

Thanks to LazyLightning55 for this incredible clip of Poland…

Strangefolk – Poland

Here’s the setlist from last night’s show…

Set 1: Poland , Bus Driver, Valhalla, …As, Pawn, Chasing Away, Alaska, Stout Hearted

Set 2: Speculator, All The Same, Oxbow, Elixir, Fishin, I Tell Myself, So Far Gone, Westerly

Encore: Roads

[via Strangefolk Reunion]

The reunion tour continues tonight at Higher Ground in Vermont.

Over the last decade Van Halen seemed to be in the news more for their off-stage, seemingly soap opera story-lines, than for what they were known for best – playing fiery arena rock. The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame act toured with both Sammy Hagar and David Lee Roth, kicked originally bassist Michael Anthony to the curb, and saw lead guitarist Eddie Van Halen not only hire his teenage son as the band’s bass player, but also reenter rehab forcing a number of postponed dates during their 2007-08 tour. After numerous rumors that Eddie had been writing and recording new music, the band announced that they had officially gotten back together with Diamond Dave to record their first album of new material together since 1984, with the results being released earlier this month as their 12th studio effort A Different Kind of Truth.

After a couple of warm up gigs, that included one at the tiny 250-person capacity Cafe Wha? in New York City’s Greenwich Village, and another private friends and family show at The Forum in Los Angeles, Van Halen officially kicked off their lengthy North American arena tour this past Saturday night at the unfortunately named KFC Yum! Center in Louisville. The band’s 24-song set leaned heavily on their classic material from the Diamond Dave-era, including two tunes Woman In Love and Outta Love Again, that haven’t been played live in over thirty years. Here’s the four song stanza that opened the show, as uploaded by YouTube user Randy Bayers. Let’s take a look…

Van Halen – KFC Yum! Center – Louisville, KY – 2012-02-18

You Really Got Me, Runnin’ With the Devil, She’s The Woman, Romeo Delight, Tattoo, Everybody Wants Some!!, Somebody Get Me A Doctor, China Town, Mean Street, Oh, Pretty Woman,< Drum solo>, Unchained, The Trouble with Never, Dance The Night Away, I’ll Wait, Hot For Teacher, Women In Love*, Outta Love Again**, Beautiful Girls, Ice Cream Man, Panama, <Guitar solo>, Ain’t Talkin’ ’Bout Love, Jump

* first time played since 1980, ** first time played since 1979

Click here for the Panama, Guitar Solo (Eruption), Ain’t Talking ‘Bout Love and Jump segment. Head over to the Funk It blog, where Randy will be posting more incredible footage of the tour opener.

Tonight, HT faves Phish return to Madison Square Garden for their traditional New Year’s Eve performance. This marks the group’s sixth NYE show at “The World’s Greatest Arena.”

The New Year’s Gag

A Pay-Per-View webcast of tonight’s show is available through LivePhish.com.

We’re trying something different this run. In addition to our at-a-glance recap of the show we call The Skinny and the setlist, we’re also presenting a Live Blog with the help of our friends at Next Jam. We’ll compile tweets from @YEMblog along with screenshots and other interesting notes. You can find our Live Blog after the jump.

Setlist:

[via Phish.net]

Check out our Live Blog and The Skinny from MSG…

READ ON

Tonight marks Night Two of Phish’s traditional New Year’s Run, which takes place at Madison Square Garden in New York City this year. The group got off to a rousing start last night and hopefully they’ll offer more of the same this evening.

[Photo by Michael Stein]

A Pay-Per-View webcast of tonight’s show is available through LivePhish.com.

We’re trying something different this run. In addition to our at-a-glance recap of the show we call The Skinny and the setlist, we’re also presenting a Live Blog with the help of our friends at Next Jam. We’ll compile tweets from @YEMblog and @Bizarchive along with screenshots and other interesting notes. You can find our Live Blog after the jump.

Setlist:

Set 1: The Sloth, You Enjoy Myself, Back on the Train, The Moma Dance, Funky Bitch, Maze, Roses Are Free, Halley’s Comet > Run Like an Antelope

Set 2: Crosseyed and Painless > Simple > Lifeboy, Guyute, Mike’s Song > Chalk Dust Torture^[1] -> I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove, Show of Life > Character Zero

Encore: Loving Cup

[1] Unfinished

[via Phish.net]

Check out our Live Blog and The Skinny from MSG…

READ ON

After a layoff of nearly four months, Phish returned to the stage tonight for the first of four shows at Madison Square Garden in New York City that make up the group’s annual New Year’s Run. This evening’s performance marked the 20th Phish show at the storied venue.

Pay-Per-View webcasts of all four shows are available through LivePhish.com.

We’re trying something different this run. In addition to our at-a-glance recap of the show we call The Skinny and the setlist, we’re also presenting a Live Blog with the help of our friends at Next Jam. We’ll compile tweets from @YEMblog and @Bizarchive along with screenshots and other interesting notes. You can find our Live Blog after the jump.

Setlist:

Set 1: Free, Glide > Possum, Cities, The Ballad of Curtis Loew, Stash, Contact > Sample in a Jar, Kill Devil Falls > Bathtub Gin

Set 2: Birds of a Feather, Carini -> Tweezer^[1] > My Friend, My Friend^[2] -> Rock and Roll^[3] -> NICU,Bouncing Around the Room, Harry Hood > Bug

Encore: Tube > Rocky Top > Tweezer Reprise

[1] Streets of Cairo tease.
[2] No “Myfe” ending.
[3] Birds of a Feather jam.

Notes: This performance featured the first ever Free show opener. Tweezer contained a Streets of Cairo tease. My Friend omitted the “Myfe” ending. Rock & Roll contained a Birds of a Feather jam.

[via Phish.net]

Check out our Live Blog and The Skinny from MSG…

READ ON

Hall of Fame rockers Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers returned to the stage after a year-long layoff last night at Cal State Northridge for the first of two pledge-drive benefit shows for the college’s public radio station – KCSN. Performing in front of one of the smallest crowds (500 people) the legendary group has played before in years, Petty dug deep into his repertoire and struck gold.

Video Playlist from Show inc. Jefferson Jericho Blues, Banter, I Won’t Back Down, Green Onions, To Find A Friend, Angel Dream, Tom Rambling, I Should’ve Known It, Refugee, Runnin’ Down A Dream, Carol, You Wreck Me

Mixing songs for the group’s most recent release, Mojo, with a few tunes from 2002′s The Last DJ in honor of recently fired KLOS DJ Jim Ladd – who was the inspiration for that album, along with covers and the hits, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers showed they still have plenty left in the tank. Underplayed covers Petty dusted off for the occasion included Booker T. and the MG’s Green Onions, Champagne and Reefer by Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry’s Carol. The Gainesville, Florida native and his band also looked back at their illustrious career by busting out Fooled Again (I Don’t Like It) from their 1976 debut.

Main Set: Jefferson Jericho Blues, Listen to Her Heart, Mary Jane’s Last Dance, Fooled Again, Lover’s Touch, Won’t Back Down, Takin’ My Time, Champagne & Reefer, Have Love, Will Travel, When A Kid Goes Bad, Green Onions, To Find a Friend, Angel Dream, First Flash of Freedom, I Shoulda’ Known It, Good Enough, Refugee, Runnin’ Down A Dream

Encore: Carol, You Wreck Me

The second show takes place tonight at Cal State – Northridge.

• Reviews: Rolling Stone, The Hollywood Reporter

Hall of Fame rocker Sting sure knows how to throw a party. To celebrate his 60th birthday, the former Police front man welcomed a cavalcade of legendary performers to rock with him at the Beacon Theatre in New York City this past Saturday night including Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Lady Gaga, Chris Botti and Branford Marsalis. In fact, nearly every tune Sting and his band played at the 27-song show featured at least one guest.

Sting w/ Lady Gaga – King of Pain

So far a number of videos from Sting’s birthday bash have surfaced and the performances range from the amazing (Bruce Springsteen’s solo guitar version of Fields of Gold) to the surprisingly good (Robert Downey Jr. sings Driven To Tears) to the emotional (Stevie Wonder lays into Fragile) to the unsurprisingly terrible (will.i.am freestyles on Walking On The Moon) to the killer (Bruce Springsteen joins Sting for Can’t Stand Losing You). Towards the end of the evening, all of the special guests joined Sting and the band for Desert Rose and Every Breath You Take.

Here’s hoping the report that official footage from the show will be released for free in November as part of a free app is true, because there’s plenty of performances that haven’t made it to YouTube yet including Billy Joel sitting in on Everything She Does Is Magic, Herbie Hancock working his magic on Sister Moon and Marsalis guesting on If You Love Somebody, Set Them Free. The evening ended with a Scottish bag pipe troupe taking over the stage, a present from Sting’s wife Trudie Styler.

Take a look at the setlist (via StingUS)…

Set One: Robert Downey Jr. Intro, Englishman In New York (with Branford Marsalis), All This Time (with Joe Sumner and Jimmy Nail), Seven Days (with Chris Botti), If You Love Somebody, Set Them Free (with Branford Marsalis), Walking On The Moon (with Will I.am), When We Dance (with Chris Botti), Hounds of Winter, Sister Moon (with Herbie Hancock and Lionel Loueke), Consider Me Gone (with Herbie Hancock and Branford Marsalis), Driven To Tears (with Robert Downey Jr), Whenever I Say Your Name (with Mary J Blige), Brand New Day (with Stevie Wonder)

Set Two: Roxanne (Bryn Terfel), Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic (with Billy Joel), Don’t Stand So Close To Me (with Billy Joel), End of The Game, Why Should I Cry For You (with Joe Sumner), Wrapped Around Your Finger (Rufus Wainwright), Bring On The Night/When The World Is Running Down (with Branford Marsalis and Herbie Hancock), King of Pain (with Lady Gaga), Fragile (with Stevie Wonder), I Hung My Head (Bruce Springsteen), Fields of Gold (Bruce Springsteen), Can’t Stand Losing You (with Bruce Springsteen), Desert Rose (Everyone), Every Breath You Take (Everyone), Message In A Bottle

The festivities at the Beacon along …

Of the hundreds of outdoor venues Phil Lesh has played over the past 50 years, the Grateful Dead/Furthur bassist ranks Red Rocks in the top two along with The Pyramids of Giza in Egypt. In fact, there’s a plaque at the Morrison, Colorado venue that says as much, so you knew last night’s Furthur show at Red Rocks had the makings of something special.

[via @MusicNeverStops]

For the start of the second set, Phil and Bobby’s band welcomed Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes and Chris Robinson Brotherhood to lead them through classic Pigpen-sung tunes The Stranger (Two Souls in Communion) and Hard To Handle as well as the Furthur debut of Bob Dylan’s You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere. Robinson has a long history with Weir and Lesh dating back to the Crowes opening for the Dead in Tampa on April 7, 1995. More recently, Chris did a few tours with Phil and Friends and performed back in August with Weir and Jackie Greene at the Folks Festival in Lyons, Colorado. Back on March 12, 2010, Robinson first sat in with Furthur at Phil Lesh’s 70th Birthday Bash, where he sung a number of songs including The Stranger.

Chris Robinson w/ Furthur – The Stranger (Two Souls in Communion)

READ ON for more on Chris Robinson’s big night with Furthur…

What a week it has been for Radiohead and their fans as the group performed on SNL and The Colbert Report before hitting NYC’s Roseland Ballroom for a pair of shows. Last night’s finale at Roseland featured most of the same songs as Wednesday’s show, but played in a different order. The main difference was the debut of the full-band version of Supercollider, a King of Limbs outtake that was released earlier this year on Record Store Day.

Radiohead – Supercollider

Here’s the setlist via At Ease…

1. Bloom
2. Little By Little
3. Staircase
4. The National Anthem
5. Feral
6. Subterranean Homesick Alien
7. Like Spinning Plates
8. All I Need
9. True Love Waits/Everything In Its Right Place
10. 15 Step
11. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
12. Lotus Flower
13. Codex
14. The Daily Mail
15. Good Morning Mr Magpie
16. Reckoner
17. Nude

Encore

1. Give Up The Ghost (just Thom and Jonny)
2. Myxomatosis
3. Bodysnatchers

Encore 2

1. Supercollider (full band – first time it has been played with the band)

Next up for Radiohead is a previously taped appearance by Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood of the KoL track Give Up The Ghost, which will air as part of Monday night’s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon episode.

Radiohead took the stage tonight at the Roseland Ballroom in NYC for the first of two shows. This evening’s performance marked the megaband’s first full show in over a year a half. Highlights included Thom Yorke paying tribute to the recently broken up R.E.M. by playing The One I Love on piano before starting Everything In Its Right Place, the first Subterranean Homesick Alien in eight years and a five song double encore.

[via Mr. Coolness]

Here’s the setlist (via At Ease)…

1. Bloom
2. Little By Little
3. Staircase
4. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
5. Feral
6. Subterranean Homesick Alien (first performance since Red Rocks 2003)
7. All I Need
8. The One I Love/Everything In Its Right Place
9. Lotus Flower (Thom: “That’s the video when I officially became an embarrassing dad. And I’m proud of it.”)
10. 15 Step
11. Myxomatosis
12. Codex
13. The Daily Mail
14. Bodysnatchers
15. Reckoner

Encore

1. Give Up The Ghost (just Thom and Jonny)
2. The National Anthem
3. Good Morning Mr Magpie

Encore 2

1. Street Spirit (Fade Out)
2. Nude

Radiohead returns to Roseland tomorrow night.

Phish returned to the stage for a one-off tonight at Champlain Valley Exposition in Essex Junction, Vermont. This benefit concert was set to raise funds for the Vermont Flood Relief effort in the wake of last month’s Hurricane Irene.

[via @NugsNet]

• Audio: Soundcheck via PT’s ACDCHarry
• Previously: Get Involved – Vermont Flood Relief, Phish’s Storied History of Generosity

The first Phish show in Vermont since the Coventry Festival in 2004 started with a typically rocking Chalk Dust Torture. Phish kept the energy high throughout an opening stanza laden with the band’s “greatest hits” such as Cavern, Sample In A Jar, Moma Dance, Julius and Bathtub Gin. Bathtub was an intense version energy-wise that stuck within the normal parameters of the jam.

With the exception of Alaska, the quartet kept to classic material in set one. As expected, Possum reared its head for the 14th time in this short year of touring. Phish saved the best for Wolfman’s, throwing down another fantastic version of a song contending for 2011 MVP. Trey lit into the solo from the get go and built up the dirty funk jam to a rolling boil. Once at that point, Anastasio laid down a number of jam-dropping licks and was urged on by Mike Gordon’s slap work and Page McConnell’s chunky, barrelhouse piano stylings. You wouldn’t expect Julius to be among the highlights of a set, but tonight an interesting take on the rocker in which the band toyed with the tempo and pacing closed out set one.

READ ON for the rest of the recap as well as the setlist and The Skinny…

Last week, we posted a B List of 10 Oddball Musical Pairings that included the likes of Phish and Jay-Z as well as Bing Crosby and David Bowie. If we ever do a second list, we’ll have to put Umphrey’s McGee and Biz Markie on it, since the Yo Gabba Gabba star/Just A Friend rapper thrilled the crowd at Brooklyn Bowl by covering The Joker by the Steve Miller Band with the Chicago prog-jammers as his backing band.

Umphrey’s McGee w/ Biz & Steve Molitz – The Joker, Hangover

Biz’s appearance capped off another busy day for the sextet as their four-show Brooklyn Bowl run rolled on. The action started in the afternoon for the first NYC Stew Art event, which took place on the tenth anniversary of “Jimmy Stewart.” Then, Umphrey’s played two rocking sets for a sold-out crowd that included blistering jams in Tribute to the Spinal Shaft and Red Tape as well as covers of Live and Let Die by Wings and Pink Floyd’s Shine On You Crazy Diamond. One of the highlights of the night was a “Jimmy Stewart” complete with ad-libbed lyrics by Brendan Bayliss in the middle of The Bottom Half.

Set One:
(8:27) Nipple Trix > Booth Love* > Miss Tinkle’s Overture, Morning Song, Room to Breathe, Tribute to the Spinal Shaft, Mantis Ghetts > Live and Let Die (9:31)

Set Two:
(10:03) Red Tape > “Jimmy Stewart” > Puppet String, Ocean Billy > Gulf Stream, The Bottom Half > “Jimmy Stewart”** > The Bottom Half, Shine On You Crazy Diamond

Encore: The Joker^, Hangover^^

Notes:
* with One Nation Under a Groove jam; and bras and panties
** with lyrics
^ first time played, Steve Miller; with Biz Markie on vocals and Steve Molitz on keys
^^ with Steve Molitz on keys

[via Jeremy Welsh on The Bort]

Markie, who was set to DJ after Umphrey’s left the stage, joined the band for their debut of The Joker along with Particle keyboardist Steve Molitz. Biz clearly was comfortable with the Steve Miller Band cover (the idea of which came to Brooklyn Bowl owner Pete Shapiro in a dream) and you would’ve thought UM had been performing the classic rock nugget for years. Molitz stayed out for the celebratory Hangover which put a stamp on the festivities.

Next up for Umphrey’s McGee is an hour-long set at the Apple Store in Soho at 5PM this evening followed the Brooklyn Bowl finale, which will be simulcast live on Sirius/XM’s Jam_ON radio.

Phish Summer Tour 2011 started way back on Memorial Day Weekend with a three-night stand at Bethel Woods, and tonight, a bit more than three months later, the extremely successful tour comes to a close at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park for the last of three shows at the soccer pitch.

[Photo by Jason Woodside]

Scott Marks of the Phish.net Team will be tweeting live from Denver for @YEMblog, so be sure to follow along. You can watch tonight’s show through a Live Phish Pay-Per-View.

A Maze opener, the first since December 9, 1995, showed the band’s continued willingness to toy with song placement this tour. The jam of the set came in a blistering Bathtub Gin that thankfully went on and on as guitarist Trey Anastasio blissfully shredded one melodic run of notes after another. Unlike many of the layered, spacier jams from earlier in the run, this one was led by Trey and was pushed to the top shelf of the era by the work of his band mates.

• Previously: Phish Dick’s Night One, Phish Dick’s Night Two

READ ON for the rest of our recap as well as tonight’s setlist and Skinny…

After kicking off a tour-closing three-night stand at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park with the instant classic “S Show” last night, Phish returned to the large soccer pitch for night two of the run this evening.

[Photo by Jason Woodside]

Possum, the most played song of the year, opened tonight’s first set and gave a hint of what was to come – ferocious versions of high-energy staples. When Moma Dance came next it was clear this was not going to be another night filled with songs that start with the same letter. Moma saw some feistness from guitarist Trey Anastasio that would continue to surface throughout the opening stanza. Phish loves playing Wedge and Divided Sky in beautiful venues or beautiful parts of the country, so their inclusion tonight in a town surrounded by mountains was fitting. Divided Sky had a bit of that “extra mustard” fans appreciate.

It seems like every time Phish has played Llama in recent years they find a new way to start it and this evening it was drummer Jon Fishman’s chance to start the tune, which led to a bit of confusion and a false start before the band romped through the song properly. Only the second Fast Enough For You of the year (and sixth since 2009) followed and gave fans a breather. There wasn’t much improv to be found in the first set until the Wolfman’s Brother closer. Trey immediately seized upon the opportunity to show off one swampy funk riff after another. Big Red mixed distortion and wah effects to perfection as Page McConnell milked the clavinet, Mike Gordon slapped away and Fishman kept the jam moving. Eventually Anastasio took control and peaked the song repeatedly. If you only listen to one thing from this set, it should be the Wolfman’s.

READ ON for a recap of the second set as well as The Skinny…