The Live Music Thread

[Audiofiler]

I took in the Eagles show at US Airways on April 21'st in Phoenix. The show was great as was the sound quality. Highlights for me included the horn solo intro to Hotel California and the band featuring songs from each of the members' solo careers.

The band did a very nice job representing the vast golden catalog they have built.

[mypasswordis]

Going to see Joshua Redman + Brad Mehldau duo tomorrow, and probably the PT concert on the 11th. Bad time for good concerts.

[mypasswordis]

Concert was awesome, both of them were ridiculously good and they played off each other incredibly well. 'nuff said. Oh, and they played Smells Like Teen Spirit as one of their encores.

[jinp6301]

going to go see girl talk in a few minutes.

I AM NOT A HIPSTER

[Absorbine_Sr]

Waiting to see Rotten.

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[Absorbine_Sr]

Fucking Rotten...

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[postjack]

Waiting to see Rotten.

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awesome. their first two records are two of the best albums ever made, IMO.

[postjack]

Jazzfest 2010!

We started things off in an odd fashion with the progressive house mouse, Deadmau5, at the CAC on (first) Friday night. As usual the folks in charge of entry at the CAC are a bunch of amateurs, with a line wrapped around the building leading up to ONE guy checking IDs and putting on wristbands. Maybe they were trying to build up hype with a long line, but to me it doesn't make business sense, because people outside aren't inside spending money.

But once we got inside everything was great. Easy to grab a bottled water, easy to get in the bathroom (unless you were waiting for a stall, a little bit of a line there ), and plenty of room to dance. It was hot as hell though, much hotter then I remember it being last year. Openers were Force Feed Radio, who started out weak but the second half was hot. I love that moment in a rave when the DJ just hits it right, and the crowd just starts vibrating. They definitely hit that point halfway through the set. Next was Javier Drada, who was good, but it was typical trancey house stuff, and there was one moment of DJ fail when he lost the beat. When Deadmau5 finally took the stage at 1am I knew we were in the hands of a DJ that knows his stuff. This guy has blown up in recent years and for good reason. He runs the gamut from house to trance to IDM to glitch and everything inbetween. Very versatile, but always highly danceable. Highlights included his Legend of Zelda remix, completely with little Link-like mouses on the screen running around with sword and shield, and an incredibly high energy mix of Rage's "Killing in the Name Of", with long drawn out buildups of all the important parts. I don't know too much about Deadmau5, but he has quite a little following, plenty of folks wearing their own giant dead mouse costumes. The crowd ranged from classic rave kids to goofy hipsters to fray boys to the occasional hippie geek like myself. Bottom line is I know Deadmau5 tours the festival circuit pretty heavily, so if he is around and you are around and you enjoy a rave, go check him out! I finally collapsed exhausted at about 3:45am in our hotel and had a solid nights sleep.

The morning brought the big moment: my first time to ever go to the Jazzfest proper. I've been in NOLA many times for Jazzfest night shows, but I've never actually gone to the fairgrounds. This year I vowed to remedy that. My GF and I were cautious about going because of the foreboding weather forecast (tornado and hail apocalypse) but everything looked dry and miraculously the storm broke around NOLA and instead ravaged Mississippi and north Alabama instead, so we left our Metairie hotel and headed to the rugby field at city park to catch the Jazzfest express. I've read mixed reviews about the express but personally I can't say enough nice things about the experience. Easy to get there, easy to park, about a one minute wait in the will call line to grab our bus pass and admission ticket. The bus was about half full when it left, and we were inside the fairgrounds in minutes. Aside from staying at a friends near the grounds this has to be the easiest way.

When we walked in by the Gentilly stage Bonerama was opening with the Other One and I ran into an old friend of mine. Totally awesome. I had all these plans to catch certain bands but like most festival plans we abandoned them in favor of wandering and discovering. We somehow ended up at the Blues Tent for Lil' Buck Sinegal Blues Band, then at the WWOZ Jazz Tent for Guitar Woodshed featuring Steve Masakowski (astral project is going to be the shit!). After the late night dance party the previous day it was really nice to sit in the shade and listen to incredible music. Eventually we abandoned the comforts of Heritage Square for the mud and chaos of the Acura stage. Here I was really wishing we had brought in chairs if for no other reason then we could setup camp somewhere, but we braved it and enjoyed the Meters immensely. Then we went on to experience was has to be the highlight of the day for me:

cochon de lait! it is the best pork dish I have EVER had. the bread was PERFECT, and I'm a big bread snob, and the cole slaw really tied the whole thing together. Add some of the hot sauce they had handy and my gawd.

We wrapped things up at Gentilly with MMJ. Tough call with S&G across the way, but all we could do was make a decision and stick with it (turns out it was the right decision, Art's voice was reportedly in poor condition). Didn't hurt that the Jazzfest Express exit is right next to the Gentilly stage. After we setup I wandered to get a coke and checked out the Congo Square print up close, it really is gorgeous. The Bennett print is all well and good but Congo takes the cake, just beautiful colors all around. I also heard a mandolin wafting through the air and stumbled upon Sam Bush at the Fais Do-Do stage. It was one of those special festival moments, very cool. Back to MMJ: Jim James knew the sacrifices people were making to catch MMJ and thanked the crowd for choosing them, and they didn't disappoint! Hell of a show, complete with some old favorites of mine (Mahgeeta and Golden in particular). In the end of course he invited the Preservation Hall Band up for some tunes, which was outstanding. We bailed right at the end of the show and caught the last of it in the short line for the buses. We drove back to Mobile totally physically exhausted but aglow with the fest. My GF loves live music but is NOT a festival gal, but she had an absolute ball and said she will definitely do Jazzfest again.

fast forward to second thursday:

Had a truly amazing time at Down on the Bayou II. I was literally first in the door and my friend and I posted up front and center. The show started at 9:10 and we made it through five and a half hours of a brutal New Orleans musical beat down before stumbling outside into the cool air and driving back to Alabama. The show was billed as Jojo's Mardi Gras Band featuring special guests, and was a benefit for the New Orleans Musician's Clinic, who lost a government grant this year which provided 90% of their funding. Here are a few choice iPhone pictures from the show:

My buddy and Jojo. :-D

GPJ showed up early...

...and Dirty Dozen showed up late!

my new hetero boyfriend Anders Osborne joined this guy:

Papa Mali and this guy:

Mr. Bill Kreutzmann of Grateful Dead fame for a few numbers, including an incredible Love Light. :banana:

of course some of the natives came by to dance and sing...

and of course Widespread Panic took the stage for a few numbers, including one song I didn't recognize (JB was reading the lyrics off of papers on the ground) and Guilded Splinters.

and one of the most special parts of the night for me was a rendition of "Tipitina" with Jon Cleary:

oh and Batiste was pretty much on stage the whole night ^^^

and then the inevitable occurred:

We were treated to a few songs by Gov't Mule, sans Matt Abts, who Warren said was "missing in action". )

Bonerama was a real treat!

christine oldman made her presence felt a few times:

and just to give some perspective on how small this place is (capacity 800 IIRC):

then they had a poster auction for the Musician's Clinic, and this fan was completely lit and covered in glitter and jumped on stage to try and sell that shit.

then things really started cooking after 1am when this cat walked over from stage right:

and of course Jojo was happy to welcome Luther Dickinson (Black Crowes, North Mississippi Allstars) on stage!

and that wasn't even everybody. one of the finest moments of the night was when John Gros from Papa Grows Funk came out. that guy is just amazing.

pic of the little scene outside at about 2:30am:

so it was pretty much the shit. The sad news is that this is where my Jazzfest 2010 journey ended. I really wanted to do more, but exams next week and professional obligations prevent me from playing anymore.

Jojo made it clear he wants to continue to do these Down on the Bayou benefits for the New Orlean's Musician's Clinic, and he said that next years will be much, MUCH bigger, and that all the folks who came to the show last night have first dibs on tickets for the next event. Pretty cool!

I

LOVE

JAZZFEST

we should so have Canjam 2011 in NOLA next 'Fest and just not bring any gear at all.

[Absorbine_Sr]

awesome. their first two records are two of the best albums ever made, IMO.

They did a lot of stuff from Metal Box and Religion and Public Image from the first album. As old as John and the rest of the band are, and regardless of the PiL for hire talk, they did an awesome 2.5 hour set.

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[mypasswordis]

Going to see Joshua Redman + Brad Mehldau duo tomorrow, and probably the PT concert on the 11th. Bad time for good concerts.

Yeah, speaking of which. Decided to skip yesterday's concert due to the massive amount of work I have, my lack and thus need for sleep, and my friend bailing on me a couple days before. I hope you enjoyed it, Dusty.

[laxx]

Korn concert this past Monday, May 10th.

[JimP]

Deep Purple in Hong Kong this past Monday - missed 'Highway Star' because I went out to concession to buy beers. Man, these guys are old...but they rocked it! Steve Morse, the guitarist was amazing.

[Dreadhead]

Marriage of Figaro at the National Opera. Went and saw it last week. Great performance in my opinion.

[JimP]

Massenet's Manon with french soprano Nathalie Manfrino singing the title role - wife and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Dusty Chalk]

I hope you enjoyed it, Dusty.

Indeed I did. Posting what I wrote you here for others:

It was great, although they only played one song that I didn't hear at either the Baltimore or Philadelphia concerts (Stars Die). The best thing about it was that it was perfect -- no technical difficulties, no fat guy trying to back-hump me, no leaky roof raining on us, not terribly crowded, not too hot, not too cool, perfect spot to see Gavin and Colin, note perfect performance, perfect timing on all the sync-to-video stuff (he didn't even look over his shoulder, most of the time), John Wesley Harding was absolutely channeling. That said, it was a little too perfect, I would have liked to have seen more jamming. They extended the end of Hate Song a little bit, but that's it. Russia on Ice (first part) into Anesthetize (middle part) was a highlight, as was Way Out Of Here (one of my favorite songs by them), but no Blackest Eyes, no full length versions of any of the long songs, no real big surprises (Normal, at this point, was not a surprise). It was basically a melding of the two shows. At one point he said something to the effect of that they would be playing back catalog stuff at the Radio City Music Hall show in New York in September (are you going to that?), so that's the show that's going to have the real specialness. Minor note: we left at ~3:50 from the Tysons Corner area, and didn't get there until ~7, they had already let everyone in. So the early entrance surcharge was absolutely wasted. I think next time (if/when), we're going to shoot to leave at 2, and hope to be on the road by 2:30. I was hoping that we had left early enough to stop at Once Upon A Vine, but we didn't.

[tyrion]

Michael Franti and Spearhead. Great show,as always. At one point he came into the audience from the back and was about 4 seats away from us for part of a song.

[GPH]

Cirque du Soleil: Totem

Great, great show, one of the best live audio-visual performances I've witnessed. There's really something magical with the Cirque du Soleil, it's such a perfect blend of gymnastic talent, music, visuals, technology and creativity. It was the third time I see the Cirque live and I had a smile on my face for the whole show, I really enjoyed my time. Recommended!

[humanflyz]

Just came back from a MONO show at Lincoln Hall in Chicago. Holy fuck they are amazing live, so much better than their albums.

[Dusty Chalk]

Which is saying a lot, because I like their albums.

Assuming we're talking about the same Mono -- which Mono did you see?

[humanflyz]

Which is saying a lot, because I like their albums.

Assuming we're talking about the same Mono -- which Mono did you see?

The Japanese post-rock band.

[Dusty Chalk]

Yeah, that's what I thought, but I had to check.

[humanflyz]

Yeah, that's what I thought, but I had to check.

The whole soft-loud, tension-release dynamic of their music is amplified by about 100 times live, as compared to the record. And those guys know how to play: they are equally good during the finess/delicate parts as they are at unleashing the sonic assault. They are able to stop and shift gears on a dime, and damn if they don't pull it off.

[Dusty Chalk]

Alright, I'm sold -- I'm going to try and see them June 2. Thanks for sharing.

[jinp6301]

On my way to see Colin for the imogen heap concert

[laxx]

Saw Pearl Jam last Thursday at MSG.