Live Music

[stray]

My favorite Bad Religion song is still.... Bad Religion. Heh.

Did they play with Mike V by the way (i.e. Revolution Mother)? Cool band, in a Rollins Band sort of way. I know they had some dates on the same tour.

[Stormwaltz]

My favorite band, now broken up for 10 years, will reunite for a show in their hometown on May 25.

I'm going to fly to Illinois just for this. Not counting Video Games live, it will be the first live show I've attended since... I think Curve's Boston show on the "Come Clean" tour, 1998.

[Sky]

Saw Dickey Betts and Great Southern in Poughkeepsie sunday night. Another great Betts show, though it started out really rocky. The monitors were all fucked up, Dickey got pissed and walked off stage, I was thinking 'Uh-oh'. I've heard he's real hit-or-miss, and we finally got a 'miss' show. Band comes back out, bass player's amp develops a massive buzzing. Dickey yells at the roadie and monitor guy again...another roadie runs out to give him a Bud :). I think that roadie saved the show, Dickey pounded some beer, lit a smoke, turned up his amp, and cranked out the best version of Blue Sky I've ever heard, a ten minute jam. Then went on to play two sets totaling three hours.

We were in the front, right in front of Andy Aledort, who is a phenomenal guitarist. It was like every solo was a private lesson for me :) He put on a clinic for playing slide in standard tuning. If he could sing, the guy would be Warren Haynes II. Duane Betts (Dickey's son) is still touring with Great Southern, what a great thing: tour with your legendary guitarist dad and one of the best guitar teachers (Aledort) on the planet. We've seen him several times over the past few years and the kid is coming into his own. Great three guitar jams, not to mention Pedro the bassist who is a pure monster (and I'm very critical of bassists).

Met a few of the guys after the show, got to shake Dickey's hand and talk with him for a minute. Amazing night. Another pick in the collection, too :)

[Sky]

ZOMG. Front row, center, BB King at the newly remodeled Stanley Theater.

Opening act was great, a solo acoustic slide player named Papa Mali. Roots blues with a heavy slathering of N'Orleans.

BB's band opened the show, phenomenal musicianship. So tight. They run through some horn section solos. Then BB comes out, first thing he does is smile and say "How ya doin'?" to me and throw me a pick. He then proceeds to rip through a sick guitar solo. Played most of the classics, interlaced with lots of great (and often funny) commentary. I love seeing the old blues guys, you'll get all kinds of great stories and goofing around between band members that have toured together over twenty plus years.

BB shows you how one slightly overdriven note with just the right vibrato is worth a thousand scales.

Going to check out Ernie Hawkins this weekend. Very excited.

[Righ]

Metal Masters - Judas Priest, Heaven and Hell, Motörhead, Testament. It was the first night of the tour and only Priest got a good PA mix. Testament got the worst sound, started first and only had a half hour set. The three stage changes were half an hour. Motörhead were next with a far too short 45 minute set. Being a three piece with a fairly basic sound, the muddy mix didn't really work against them too much. I'd like to have heard more of the upcoming album, but that's not what this sort of multi-band tour is about. Black Sabbath stuck to songs from the Dio albums, as their pseudonym suggests. It takes Dio a couple of songs to warm up these days (or maybe that was just last night) but once he has, its nothing short of remarkable that he can still hit and hold those high notes. We got a good selection of songs from the three and a bit albums and again 75 minutes was just too short so some great songs were missed out. Ending with the full version of Heaven and Hell even on the short set was cool though. Priest as so much better live than on record - the guitars have more presence - they just sound great. They started off with new track Prophecy, and Halford came out in a fucking ridiculous gold lame hooded cape carrying a gold trident. Pretty Spinal Tap if you ask me. Again, mostly a retrospective set despite them having a new album out.

All in all, it was good fun - a neat nostalgia trip for somebody like me who saw all these bands in pretty much these forms in the 80s. Toying with the idea of going to see Motörhead on their own tour next month if they're going to play more recent songs.

[Selby]

Toying with the idea of going to see Motörhead on their own tour next month if they're going to play more recent songs.

I would go see them.  I've seen them several times - at festivals and on their own headlining tour.  MUCH better when they have a 90-120 minute set to work with so they can fit 20-25 songs in rather than the usually 9-11 (with all the "hits" they are expected to perform).  They played Killers, Whorehouse Blues, In The Name Of Tragedy, We Are Motörhead, etc.  All songs off their last 2-3 albums at the time.  They even played songs from Another Perfect Day and commented on how no one liked them when the album came out but now the younger fans wanted to hear it, so they figured it would be worth a try and the response had been huge (which Lemmy said he was amazed by).  I saw them at a festival with Iron Maiden and Dio and they opened, which stunk for them since no one was there to give a shit.  A 30 minute set for Motörhead is hardly getting warmed up.

That's why I don't like most of the 4-5 bands on a festival type tour.  You get 2-3 bands that give a greatest hits live package which is fine if that is all they have to work with like Trixter or some other bands, but Testament and Motörhead have MUCH more material than you could think of fitting in in that little timeframe.  And then you have the headliner who may or may not give a reduced greatest hits live package.  Sounds like Priest played some new material but mostly stuck to the hits, which is to be expected since everyone wants to hear Living After Midnight and Breaking The Law but no one cares to hear Tyrant or The Sentinel anymore.  And don't get me started on 30 minute band setlists and 45-60 minute stage change times.  Fuckdiculous is what that is.

[Oz]

Beale St. Music Festival in Memphis

i actually went to that show.  was reading this thread and getting ready to talk about Allman brothers (since that's what you started this with)...saw them at the Beale St. fest...not their best show.  However, North Mississippi Allstarts absolutely rocked that whole festival.  Knocked its socks off.  

Oh yeah.  if you've never seen Tom Petty & the Heartbreaks.  AMAZING FUCKING SHOW.  saw them a few years back in LA and was highly impressed.

Edit: man, i am fulling of all sorts of fail this morning...i thought there was only 1 page to this thread.  going back to read and see how unnecessary my post really is.

[Sky]

if you've never seen Tom Petty & the Heartbreaks.  AMAZING FUCKING SHOW.  saw them a few years back in LA and was highly impressed.

In what way? I like the band and their music, but their live show wasn't impressive at all. Then again, the two opening bands were Derek Trucks Band and the Allman Brothers Band, and I like improvisational bands (not jam bands!).

We're seeing the ABB again this year at SPAC in a week and a half. Missed 'em last year. Never get good seats for their shows. Just scored front row for Susan Tedeschi at the Bardavon. Woohoo! I  Susie.

[Oz]

Just scored front row

Nice!  i always love front row.  or lawn (fun stuff happens in the lawn, but you can't see anything).

We saw petty when he was touring with black crows.  i went in expecting to love the crows show, but was disapointed (their sound system was all off and was all muddy/unhearable).   Petty and his group put on a really good show, especially their version of Gloria.  Had me cracking up.  He just had good stage presence and good raport(sp?) with the audience.  told some jokes, some funny stories.  They don't improvise much (only a bit on Gloria), which is always a little bit of a downer for me.   But i would still call it a great show (1 part stage presence, 1 part solid songs, 1 part crowd response/reaction).

But i've only seen them once. maybe it was a fluke.

As far as music + presence + improve, i'd have to say some of the best people i've seen in the last few years were James Brown, Robert Randalf, Keb' Mo', and Olu Dara.

[Righ]

They even played songs from Another Perfect Day and commented on how no one liked them when the album came out but now the younger fans wanted to hear it, so they figured it would be worth a try and the response had been huge (which Lemmy said he was amazed by).

It was a good album, but it followed on the heels of the Iron Fist tour. Iron Fist may have been a low point for the Lemmy/Clarke/Taylor band, but on tour they were still flying high, still growing - it was only a couple of years after they had broken out with Ace Of Spaces and the colossal No Sleep Til Hammersmith album. To go from that to having Robbo's more complex but also restrained playing was a shock to the fans, most of whom were new to the band due to their surge of popularity. They wanted Fast Eddie, or failing that, somebody who could churn out loose fast and raw riffs in the same way that he did. Unfortunately for them that wasn't Robbo, despite him being a great guitarist. I've been fortunate enough to have seen every touring line-up besides the original with Larry Wallis and Lucas Fox, and I think that their current one is the best they've had. I've seen the band over 30 times, however I haven't had many chances to see them in the last decade, which is part of the reason I'd like to see them play newer songs. That and any band that is playing their current music is always more interesting than one cranking out fan favorites due to a sense of obligation.

[Sky]

Just saw the Holmes Brothers, third time we've seen them. They are such an amazing act; blues, gospel, rockabilly, funk, r&b, country, rock. Trio with three-part harmony. Real small venue, I'm surprised they didn't fill it, I blame our blues society for fucking up marketing. Sat right in front of the guitarist who is mind-blowing, probably 70 or so, just rips out leads and his rhythm playing is reminiscent of Hendrix with even more fills. Stacks up chords amazingly, which was blowing my mind until he sat down at the piano for a few songs, piano players tend to play much better chords than guitarists :) Their progressions were amazing, too. Just a real mature and confident mixture of styles, one of their specialties is rewriting songs into different genres.

Telecaster into a Fender Super Reverb, love watching a guy who uses nothing but the guitar and amp and sounds amazing. Scored a pick from him on the cd signing line, they don't have custom picks, it's the one he used for the entire show, and a lot before that. A standard fender pick with the printing almost worn entirely off, in a way that means more than a custom pick imo.

That and any band that is playing their current music is always more interesting than one cranking out fan favorites due to a sense of obligation.

One reason I love seeing the Allmans is that their current lineup is so smoking and with the younger guys there is a lot of energy renewed in the original guys. And their new music is just as good as the old stuff, and they also reinvent the old stuff. We always buy the Instant Live CD (though it's a new vendor now, I forget the name) after the show because they rework so much material. We have one version of Liz Reed that was almost unrecognizable outside the signature riffs.

Also why I love more jammy bands (NOT JAM BANDS), because they are guys who love to explore the music and have fun playing each night. Watching a band play just like the recording is boring as hell. I like watching the creativity on the fly, and the thought process unfold, the interaction between everyone, the nuances and little stage gestures and looks. Love that stuff.

[Hoax]

Saw Iron & Wine & Gogol Bordello @ Golden Gate Park yesterday, good sets, good hippie festival but with lots of various hot alternachicks and BYOB + free = 4tw.

I'm convinced if you've only heard his stuff off The Shepard's Dog that you should listen to his earlier work.  I personally didn't like that album at all, but my dad has been talking him up so I figured I'd check it out since it was a short walk from my house to the stage.  Since it was Beam, no backup instruments, I don't think he played a single song from that album and it was very cool.

[Fraeg]

seeing Clutch this thursday, they are playing across the street from me in their only Nor Cal date 

[stray]

Iron and Wine is chill. Sounds fun.

I got into them by way of Calexico (I guess they're similar, but I prefer Calexico much more.. more on the dark side of things, I guess)...

Gogol Bordello is hit and miss with me... I like the idea, but they're a little too kitschy for me. I want so much to hear a gypsy like rock band that isn't kitschy, but that may be asking too much. Kind of like native american bands.

[Sky]

Going to try and catch the Experience Hendrix tour when it swings into Albany. Way short notice and we're broke...but Buddy Guy, Hubert Sumlin, Mitch Mitchell, Kenny Wayne Shepard, Andy Aledort, some great talent on stage. Eric Johnson, though he doesn't do anything for me, really, and Billy Cox who is no Noel Redding. Thursday night without any time off is rough, need to find at least an hour to make curtain. I'd really like to catch Sumlin, who was Howlin' Wolf's guitarist.

[Moaner]

I get to go see Boris in November.  I'm happy.  They are opening up for NiN.