2011 Live Music Adventures

My 2011 concert going experience has been pretty spectacular! Since I last posted, I've gotten to see a whole bunch of live music of all sorts, and I've even gotten to see a few bands I've been meaning to see for the first time.

The first show I saw this year was 1/28, Umphrey's McGee at the Best Buy Theatre. This was my first time seeing Umphrey's and they totally exceeded my expectations. Not only did they play some of my favorites (Miss Tinkle's Overture and In The Kitchen) but their jamming was mind-blowing. This is one show I went to that I keep listening to over and over again, especially 'Wappy Sprayberry', 'Bittersweet Haj', and 'In The Kitchen'. Their jamming is just so smooth and sexy. The best way for me to describe this is show is pure baby-making music. I will be seeing them many times in the future, that's for sure. They are one of the most genre bending bands I have ever listened to or seen.

The next show I got to enjoy was Lotus at Mercury Lounge on 2/3. First off, great place to see a show. It's super small and intimate, and I was right in the front row. I wish my Blackberry survived the show, because I got some great pictures there that died along with it. This was also my first time seeing Lotus (though I got see Mike Greenfield, the drummed, play with the Disco Biscuits during their New Years run in NYC, and thought he played very well with them), and this was their tour kick-off and the first of 3 nights in New York City. I'm happy that the one show of the 3 nights I went to was this one, because I think of the 3 night run this is by far the best show. Super high energy and eclectic jamming. They've got a great electronic/jazzy/funky sound that I've never heard from any other band.


Then, I had a really crazy week. 3 shows in 4 days. On 2/22 at Terminal 5, I got see Trey Anastasio play with his band, one set acoustic, one set electric. The acoustic set reminded me of a sort of Phish campfire sing-a-long. Highlights for me included 'Camel Walk' and 'Meatstick'. The show featured some fun covers, including 'Hey Ya!' by OutKast, Clint Eastwood by 'Gorillaz,' and fun 'Sultans of Swing' (Dire Straits)/ 'Empire State of Mind' (Jay-Z and Alicia Keys) encore. Fun show. Though I must say, I'm not really a fan of Terminal 5. Don't like the set-up, don't like the acoustics. I think there are just better places to see shows in NYC, especially for an instrumentally driven artist like Trey, but it's not bad for artists like the next one.


Max Tundra, opener for Girl Talk





On stage for Girl Talk
2 days later on 2/24 I was back at Terminal 5 for Girl Talk. Of all the 3 shows I was seeing that week, I was least excited for this show. Not that I don't love me some Girl Talk, but I was seeing 2 of my favorite artists that week. I got there early to get up front and saw his two openers, Junk Culture and Max Tundra. Both were... well, interesting. Very different sounding, sort of electronic weirdness. I wish I knew the best way to explain either one of them. Google may be your friend in this situation. As for the main act... well, let's just say, yours truly got on stage and stood behind him, the whole time, while he performed. Doesn't really get more AWESOME than that. Such a fun high energy show. Short, but sweet.


Video of Skrillex, via a very nice dude on stage.

The next day, I went on an adventure to see Skrillex. The show was sold out, so I dared to brave Webster Hall by my lonesome. The last time I saw Skrillex, I went to a very full Webster Hall, and enjoyed the music but vowed never to return to the venue again. I HATE WEBSTER HALL. More than any place in the world. Seriously. This trip there only proved it to me further. But Skrillex put on such an awesome show (which I got to witness from the front row and got totally beat up in the process) that in the end, the experience was worth it. He's my favorite electronic artist, and he put an even better show than I remembered. However, I will NEVER EVER EVER go back to Webster Hall. EVER. That place is hell on earth. Only with a decent soundtrack.





The last show to catch you up on- Furthur at the Best Buy Theatre 3/13. Sadly, Owsley 'Bear' Stanley, longtime Grateful Dead sound guy and creator of the infamous Dead Bear, died the same day. The band played several poignant tributes to him throughout the show, and everyone could feel the heavy emotion in them. Warren Haynes of Allman Brothers and Gov't Mule fame joined the band for the second set, and he fit seamlessly in with them. The jamming was very ethereal and spacey, and to me the whole show seemed more like a trippy old school Grateful Dead show than a Furthur show. MVP of the night is drummer Joe Russo, who played with such high energy and seemed to lead the band throughout their jamming. This was my second time seeing Furthur, and I enjoyed the show more than my first.

So that's what I've been up to. Coming up, I'll be seeing two nights of Disco Biscuits on April 14 and 15, EOTO on April 22nd, and then FINALLY, some Phish-y goodness coming up at the end of May. Also coming up- SPRING! Spring produce! I'll be heading over to the Farmer's market to let you know what's starting to pop up for the season next week.

Happy eating/musicing <3

RAGE-O-WEEN

After a pretty exciting fall tour, Phish wrapped up the October-long series of shows in a 3-night run in Atlantic City, NJ, at the Boardwalk Hall. Having been to some of the shows the previous week (Utica, Providence, and a 2-run in Amherst), I was very excited to see what Phish had in store for us. Not only were the shows well played, but the set lists were full of some great bust outs and it seemed like some antics were making their way back onto the stage.

I'm happy to report Phish delivered on most accounts. Take a look at the set lists, and then we'll discuss each show individually. (Set lists courtesy of Phishnet.

10/29/2010



Set I: Star Spangled Banner (a capella), My Soul, AC/DC Bag, Ocelot, Sample in a Jar, Light Up or Leave Me Alone, Sugar Shack, Timber > Bouncing Around the Room, Axilla > Rift, The Moma Dance >Cities > 46 Days
Set II: Punch You In the Eye > Sand > Carini >Prince Caspian, Corinna, Piper > Theme From The Bottom > Golgi Apparatus > Slave to the Traffic Light > Fluffhead
Encore: Loving Cup

While the first night had no major bust-outs, it was a pretty solid set list of standards. I was happy to see (hear?) "Carini," which seems to be appearing on more and more set lists. All in all, this show was clearly a warm-up for what was to come, but was enjoyable none the less. A few flubs here and there (will Trey ever get "Sugar Shack" though?), but nothing major.

10/30/2010


Set I: Kill Devil Falls, Cavern > Foam, Guelah Papyrus, Chalk Dust Torture > Whole Lotta Love > Chalk Dust Torture, Ha Ha Ha, Walk Away, Wolfman's Brother > Undermind >Bathtub Gin, The Squirming Coil
Set II: Tube > Possum > Tweezer > Heartbreaker > Ramble On > Thank You > Tweezer > Stairway to Heaven, Halley's Comet > 2001 > David Bowie, Show of Life, Backwards Down the Number Line > Good Times, Bad Times
Encore: Sleeping Monkey > Tweezer Reprise

No, this is not a mistake. It's not the Halloween show. While the show starts out like any Phish show would, what emerges out of it is pure awesomeness. I was happy enough grooving to "Guelah" before "Chalk Dust" raged into Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" and the escaped back into "Chalk Dust." I loved this fun addition, especially with Led Zeppelin floating around the Halloween rumor mill. I also loved the reappearance of the "Wolfman's Brother" vocal jam, which seemed a pretty popular selection for the band on fall tour.

I was not, however, expecting what happened in the second set. First, a "Tube" second set opener. Sweet! But when "Heartbreaker" made its way into "Tweezer" and launched the audience into a Phish induced Zeppelinpalooza, my mind was pretty much blown. The Led just didn't stop! At the end of "Stairway to Heaven," Trey joked, "Happy Halloween! See you next year!" The set ended with another Zeppelin classic, "Good Times, Bad Times," but we got our Phish back in the encore with "Sleeping Monkey" and as expected "Tweezer Reprise."

10/31/2010



Set I: Frankenstein, Big Black Furry Creature from Mars, Ghost > Spooky > Divided Sky, Roses Are Free > Funky Bitch, Boogie On Reggae Woman, Stash, Character Zero
Set II- Halloween Set- Little Feat, "Waiting for Columbus": Fat Man in the Bathtub, All That You Dream, Oh Atlanta, Old Folks Boogie, Time Loves A Hero > Day or Night, Mercenary Territory, Spanish Moon, Dixie Chicken > Tripe Face Boogie, Rocket in my Pocket, Willin', Don't Bogart That Joint, A Apolitical Blues, Sailin' Shoes, Feats Don't Fail Me Now
Set III: Down With Disease > Back on the Train > Gotta Jibboo > Camel Walk, Suzy Greenberg, Wilson > Harry Hood > The Horse > Silent in the Morning > You Enjoy Myself
Encore: Julius

So if you take a look at the songs in Set I, you can notice a theme here- right? Frankenstein, BBFCM, Ghost, Spooky... the line "carve out a pumpkin and rely on your destiny" from "Roses are Free." Yeah. You got it now. I thought it was a great little festive start to the evening. Then, things got funky and cool, and ended with the standard "Character Zero."

Next- The (in)famous Halloween set. Let me say first that this was my second Phish Halloween. Last year, when Phish played The Rolling Stones' "Exile on Main Street," I was decidedly more familiar with that album compared to this year's choice, Little Feats' live album "Waiting for Columbus." Or, so I thought. I have a good amount of Little Feat on my iPod that I've listened to a whole bunch and enjoyed, but I didn't think I had this particular album. I realized part of the way in that whoever I download Little Feat from has their albums mislabeled, and I had in fact listened to the songs on this album several times!

I thought the Halloween set was fantastic. Phish clearly rehearsed their faces off. I really liked that they varied the vocals- MIke sang a few, Page sang a few, hell, even Fishman came out and serenaded us for "Willin'- and I think a highlight was the a capella version of "Don't Bogart That Joint," which to me showed the true spirit of the evening, Phish doing Little Feat their way. The horns and additional percussionist fit seamlessly in with the band. The set ended with the whole group marching around the gates of the floor, instruments in hand and still being played.

I have to say, familiarity the music certainly helps in keeping your interest at this kind of show, but you also need to actually like the music. That being said, I do love "Exile on Main Street," (my favorite Rolling Stones song is "Rocks Off") but a good portion of those songs I'll skip if I listen to it. "Waiting for Columbus," however, is one of those albums that I could listen to all the way through without skipping. I think if you're a Little Feat fan as well as a Phish fan, you are going to love this set, and if you don't care for Little Feat, you won't care for it. I think this makes it a little harder to compare to previous Phish Halloween sets, where the albums had slightly more universal knowledge and appeal, like The Beatles' "The White Album." I'm finding that people who already liked Little Feat really enjoyed this set compared to the rest of Halloween sets, while people who didn't seem to know them or like them could have done with out this one. Personally- I think I liked this set better than "Exile," but "Remain in Light" is probably my favorite still. I think "Waiting For Columbus" is going to the battling with "The White Album" until I give it another few (hundred) listens. No, but seriously, I haven't really stopped listening to this whole set since I got home.

As for set III, I enjoyed it. It was sort of flubby; "Down With Disease" had to be restarted because of a Fishman mess-up to which he reminded himself "This is off our album." Good job Fishman! The restart sounded decent. I thought the song selection was a little bit on the random side and the order was kind of out of wack. But I thought "Gotta JIbboo" and "Harry Hood" were the best versions of the songs here. "Wilson" rocked pretty hard too. The vocal jam on "You Enjoy Myself" was intriguingly sing songy and dreamy. One thing I didn't get- they left the equipment up to still have the horns and percussionist from "Waiting For Columbus" to play with them for another song, but the only song they played with them was the encore, "Julius." I was slightly disappointed in the lack of horns. I would've loved to maybe see them in "Suzy Greenberg," or something. But I will say, while used sparsely, I did enjoy the horn-laced rendition of "Julius" to close out the run.

All in all, this was a phine weekend of Phish, pholks. Sad to think I won't be seeing them again until New Year's. I'm working on making Trey in Princeton, and also looking to make it to the Mike Gordon show in Boston. Time (and funding) will tell.

At the end of any music related posting, I'm going to put out a reminder of the next show I'll be at (unless it's a special report). Right now, I have to update my music calendar, but I'm going to be posting it in the next article, a review of Phish' "Coral Sky" so you know whether it's worth your purchase for the holidays, and reviews of any shows I may go to.