Archive for the 'Music' Category

Phish Hartford Review

Published on June 21, 2010 in Music, Phish and Review. 3 Comments

I’m going to write this review a bit differently than I would normally write it. Since I’m reviewing two shows, I’m going to compare them a bit and talk about what I liked better in one over the other.

First off, the Hartford shows on June 17 and 18 were awesome. They were both a ton of fun and featured some great songs, great playing, and great fun from the band. Going completely on memory, my favorite of the two was the second night. I felt the band had more energy to their playing. They seemed to have fewer problems with the sound system. They also seemed to be having more fun. The crowd also had more energy and it was reflected in the band’s playing.

The first show seemed disjointed. It seemed that the band didn’t know where they wanted to go with each set. I remember one standout moment after the great Down With Disease > Sand when they were jamming out Sand and it seemed as though Trey decided he wanted to play The Horse>Silent in the Morning. The segue seemed abrupt. Compare that with the segues of the second night and it’s night and day. The segues of the second night were patient and smooth. The first show also had Farmhouse come in and kill what energy existed after a great Guyute. While on its own, that Farmhouse was awesome, it took the set to a standstill. The band could have tore it up with the Mike’s Groove that followed had they not dropped, as one person put it, the “clusterfly song”. What should have been a raging set kicking off with Party Time ended up falling apart with that Farmhouse.

On the other hand, the first set was strong, though there seemed to be some sound problems during Divided Sky, which were worked out during the setbreak as the guitar techs were on stage the entire break, which seemed extended. Esther and When the Circus Comes were played for Cirque du Soleil, which was taking place across the street. The Walk Away had a HUGE jam that was completely unexpected, about as unexpected as the song itself. Sugar Shack had a nice jam that was also unexpected. While there wasn’t a ton of flow to the set, each song was strong on its own.

Now when the second night came along, the place was full of energy from the first notes of Fee straight through the last notes of the second (yes, second) Tweezer Reprise in the encore. The first set was full of energy, especially with Possum, Moma Dance, Julius, Reba, and Cavern. While Julius saw some flubs from Trey, who had a hard time with the lyrics, Reba was played with absolute precision. Possum, which doesn’t usually excite me, was loaded with energy that had the entire place bouncing. It also featured the new song Summer of ’89. It started out slow, but was a great ballad. I think this one may take some time to grow on me in the live setting, but it was a pretty song.

The second set was full of segues and flowed absolutely perfectly. The Light>Billy Breathes was beautiful and then the Tweezer>Theme from the Bottom was patient and perfect. The place went nuts when they started Harry Hood and the transition to Wading in the Velvet Sea was beautiful. That song made my wife particularly excited, though I also love that one. The only part that I was a little surprised about was the Stealing Time set closer. I was hoping for something bigger, like a YEM after such a great set.

Then came the encore. I was expecting YEM. It would have put a nice cap on the show, but Trey started playing Sleeping Monkey and then paused to tell a story about a sign someone had the night before. The song concluded with an audience singalong and the band started Tweezer Reprise, which was particularly energetic. The second they finished, Trey says they’re gonna play it again because they didn’t in Hershey. They start it up again and the crowd blew the roof off the place. They had even more energy than the first. Everyone walked out on cloud nine talking about the encore. Rarely is the encore the highlight of the show. In this case, it was more than a highlight. It was the theme.

As you can tell, I greatly enjoyed the second night the best. The Walk Away and Sugar Shack from the first night were my favorites from that night, and I always love a good Horse>Silent. Aside from the encore, the highlight of the second night were the segues of the second set and Reba from the first set. Tomorrow I’ll do it all over again at Great Woods (aka the Comcast Center) in Mansfield, MA.

Railroad Earth Review

Published on June 11, 2010 in Music and Review. 0 Comments

I know I’m a little late with this, so here goes nothing. I went to see Railroad Earth a few weeks ago at Lupo’s. They’re a bluegrass/slamgrass/jamgrass band from New Jersey. First of all, they’re awesome. If you get the chance to see them, go. They put on an excellent show and will keep you dancing from the first notes right through the last.

The crowd was very mixed. I was actually surprised by it. There were a few flatbrims that I wouldn’t have expected at a bluegrass show, but I’m guessing they were there more for the scene than the music. There were some obvious fans who follow them all over the place. There were the older people, the younger people, but the majority seemed to be in their 20′s and 30′s.

The opening act was the guy from Dispatch. I never understood why people loved that band as much as they did. I never got into them and never really thought they were anything special. They were good, but not amazing. I felt the same way about the guy opening for Railroad Earth. It was a slim crowd for him, not surprising.

When RRE came on, the place filled up, but it was still mostly empty. It was a perfect sized crowd. Since it’s so far beyond when I saw them, I can’t really talk about much other than how much fun I had. They put on a great show. They put on a seriously fun show. I was dancing my heart out the entire time. There were a couple of seriously standout moments, one of them was the encore, Roadhouse Blues.

Anyway, since I can’t really write much else, I will just say this. Go see them if you get the chance. While I would have preferred it outdoors, because that music is meant for the outdoors, it’s awesome and fun no matter the setting.

Phish @ SPAC Ticket Giveaway

Published on May 28, 2010 in Music and Phish. 0 Comments

Albany-area tweep Jim Stagnitti (@jimstagnitti) will be giving away a pair of highly coveted pavilion seats to the Phish show at SPAC in Saratoga, NY on Saturday, June 19. All you have to do to enter is donate to his cause. He will be doing a 100 mile bike ride to raise money for MS research. See more at his blog.

Music Filled Summer

Published on May 13, 2010 in Music. 0 Comments

I’m about to start a music-filled summer tomorrow night. Lots of great bands coming to Providence in the next few months, along with the highly anticipated Phish summer tour. Here are the shows I plan on attending. Look for reviews to follow.

Friday, May 14 (tomorrow) – Railroad Earth at Lupo’s
Friday, May 21 – Blues Traveler at Lupo’s
Thursday, June 17 – Phish at The Meadows (aka Comcast Theatre) in Hartford
Friday, June 18 – Phish at The Meadows (aka Comcast Theatre) in Hartford
Tuesday, June 22 – Phish at Great Woods (aka Tweeter Center, aka Comcast Center) in Mansfield, MA
Wednesday, August 18 – Phish at Jones Beach in Wantagh, NY
Friday, September 24 – They Might Be Giants at Lupo’s

Here are some other shows in Providence, I’m considering hitting up. I might just need some convincing.

Friday, June 4 – The New Deal at Lupo’s
Friday, June 11 – Max Creek at Lupo’s
Tuesday, July 6 – The Flaming Lips at Lupo’s

Finally, here are some shows I won’t be able to make, but wish I could.

Sunday, May 23 – Peter Wolf at Lupo’s
Wednesday, May 26 – Dark Star Orchestra at Lupo’s (rescheduled from April 1)
Friday, June 25 – Dweezil Zappa Plays Zappa at Lupo’s (I’ll be ragin’ in Seattle with @FunkCaptMax)

Win a Phish Alpine Valley Travel Package

Published on May 7, 2010 in Music and Phish. 6 Comments

I was lucky enough to win a travel package for the Alpine Valley Phish shows this summer from CID Entertainment. Unfortunately, I can’t make it. However, my loss is your win!

This Week on Lot, a weekly podcast about the music scene, is re-running the contest for this travel package. The package includes 2 nights in a hotel room for 2 people, shuttle service to and from both shows for 2 people, 2 Phish Alpine Valley t-shirts, and 2 download codes for LivePhish.com. If you’re planning on going to the Alpine shows, this is a pretty good deal.

Head over to TWoL for more details

Phish 3D Review

Published on May 1, 2010 in Music, Phish and Review. 2 Comments

I just got back from the theatre where I saw Phish 3D. Rather than wait until I lose my thoughts, I figured now would be a great time to write the review having just discussed what I liked and disliked about it with Susan, who reluctantly went with me.

For those of you who don’t know, Phish 3D is a 3D movie that was filmed at Festival 8 in Indio, CA. The three day festival was held over Halloween weekend and included eight sets of music. On Halloween night, the band played the Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main Street in its entirety. And on the final day, they played a full acoustic set.

To make this easy, I’ll use bullet points with explanations of what I liked and didn’t like, along with a letter grade.

Song selection (B-): There were some good point and some bad points, but overall it was decent. I think they should have shown more from the Exile set. After all, that was the focal point of the festival. Only choosing four songs from that set was a little weak, though the song selections were good. I would have liked to hear more of the “raunchy” songs. I would have liked to have seen more from the acoustic set, though I thought the song selections from that set were just fine. It would have been nice to see McGrupp and hear Trey tell everyone to sit down on the nice soft grass. Finally, the songs from the other sets could have been better. My biggest complaint is that they didn’t show Party Time. The song kicked off the first set of the festival and set the tone for the whole weekend. It was a big party. I would have liked to have seen Fluffhead and You Enjoy Myself. Both songs were high points with fun from the fire towers in the back of the concert field. The only easy going songs they showed were from the acoustic set. It would have been nice to see Joy or When the Circus Comes.
Song order (C): I don’t know why they couldn’t play the songs in the order that they were played at the festival, starting with the first night and ending with the last. I know it worked out best showing a set opener first, but, again, why wasn’t the first song Party Time? Instead, they started with songs from the last night. They showed the acoustic set before the Halloween set. I imagine that was to put some of the higher points of the movie towards the end, but that goes into the whole song selection. They could have picked more upbeat rockers from the acoustic set.
Views (C+): While I really liked seeing the stage, I would have liked to have seen more of the audience, especially on Halloween night. Part of what would have made this movie great would have been seeing glowsticks and balloons flying at your head, just like you’re there. It would have been nice to see more views out from the stage as well. They also showed way too much of Trey and Mike finger work on their guitars during the acoustic set. Why this set in particular you ask? Because they were sitting down with their legs spread and the guitars resting on their thighs. What am I getting at? Crotch shots. There were WAY too many of them. One of the parts I really enjoyed seeing was Fishman playing the drums. He’s the one guy who is hard to see from the audience because he’s surrounded by tall equipment and he’s not a really tall guy. It was fun watching him get into it. The last thing that I have a complaint about is the lights. The lights are one of the best things about a Phish show. I don’t know if it was the editing or the cameras, but the lights didn’t really come through in many of the shots. I was really hoping to see some 3D lights. It also would have been nice to have a camera way in the back to film the whole field of people and the speaker/light towers near the back of the audience. Those are a bit part of the festival experience.
Picture quality (A-): The picture was clear as day. It was better than any of the DVD’s the band has released date. I was very impressed by it. However, for what they were trying to do, this would have been much better in IMAX 3D. I’m sure the movie crew didn’t have the money for IMAX cameras, but that would have really drawn you into it.
Sound quality (B+): The sound was excellent, though the bass could have been turned up a bit (no surprise there, that’s exactly how I feel about the soundboard copies of the show). I did feel that Page was a bit louder in the mix than usual, especially during the acoustic set.
Overall (B-): It was a good movie, but I didn’t feel drawn into it the whole time. The song selection, the order, and the shots were distracting at times.

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, I’ll explain what I think could have made the movie better. Concert movies are tough. They either really draw you in or really don’t. The one other time I saw Phish in the theatre was for their show in Brooklyn that kicked off their “final” tour in 2004. The difference was that it was a live simulcast. People watching it in the theatre were just as excited as the people at the show. This time was different. It was just a film made at a concert. I think in this case it didn’t have to be 3D. While it was great to see the depth of the stage setup and all that up close, it wasn’t necessary, though, as I said, it would have worked if it was IMAX.

The best parts of the movie were the parts the audience and fans never get to see. I loved watching the band rehearse with the horns and backup singers. The movie needed more of that. I also loved watching the crowd come in for the acoustic set on Sunday morning. That part was fun because it added the excitement of the festival to the movie. What concert movies don’t usually do is give you that full experience of being there. That’s what this lacked.

This movie would have been better off as a documentary. It’s so difficult to make a concert movie out of a three day festival with eight sets of music. Which songs do you pick? What order do you show them? How much of the audience do you show? There needs to be a balance, but if you mess any of that up, it can make what could be a great movie into a mediocre movie. I had really high hopes for this, having been at the festival and dealing with the camera booms going up and down over the audience blocking our view. It would have been nice to have seen people coming in for the Halloween set. Other than the fact that the movie mentioned it was Halloween weekend, you couldn’t tell from watching. They should have setup an area near the entrance to the venue where they could have lights and a camera man filming people coming into the show in their costumes. That would have made the movie and given some people their 15 minutes of fame. The could have filmed people coming onto the site on the first day and setting up their campsites. There should have been more wandering around the campgrounds. There was so much at the festival, I feel this didn’t really capture it, even when it came to the music. Had they included more of this other stuff in the movie and cut out some of the music (they could have cut out AC/DC Bag, in my opinion) it would have really brought you into the festival and drawn you into the movie, like you were part of the experience. I guess if I had to summarize the movie in a word, it’d be flat (kinda funny considering it’s a 3D movie).

I’m not going to tell you if you should go see it or not. That’s up to you to decide. I did enjoy the movie. I don’t know if being there made me a bit jaded about the movie because it lacked that full experience. It really is a toss up. I’m inclined to suggest seeing it in the theatre for that full big screen experience and buy the DVD because I’m sure it will have special features with additional songs and hopefully some of that documentary type stuff I’m looking for.

Disco Biscuits 2/19/2010

Published on February 24, 2010 in Music. Closed

Last Friday, a couple of my invisible friends from Twitter (@UNOlker and @mountainlaura) came up to Providence for the Disco Biscuits show at Lupo’s. Having never seen Bisco, I decided I’d check it out, knowing the two of them love the band.

We got to Lupo’s during the opening act. The opening band was Indobox. They were decent. The people already there seemed to love it. There wasn’t much of a scene outside. The scene inside was far younger than I am used to. In fact, most of the crowd seemed barely 21. There were a few older folks and probably a lot of younger ones. It was a very different scene. Everyone seemed pretty spun for the most part, too.

Bisco came on sometime after 10. It might’ve been closer to 10:30. They played what seemed to be a very long first set. I’ll be honest, while they are pretty damn talented, I’m not sure it’s really for me. It was fun. It felt very much like a big dance party. The people there seemed like those you would see at a rave if raves still happened. I had a hard time following the different songs. They all seemed to flow into each other and, for the most part, ended up with that “UNTZ UNTZ UNTZ” sound at some point. This caused them to sound fairly similar. There was one song during the whole show that was slower and more mellow than the rest, but the show was extremely upbeat. As much as I like a good party, I think I can officially say that I’m getting too old for it. During the second set I headed upstairs to the balcony and hung out in back. It was nice to get away from the crazy dancing mobs for a bit, even if some chick thought I was someone else and started dancing with me. The encore was cool. They played “Cars” by Gary Numan (you know the song, look it up). I think that was my favorite part.

There were people puking in the bathroom, in garbage cans in the lobby, and I’m sure outside on the street. While in line at the coat check, some chick saw my Sunday River shirt and goes “Hey, I lost my virginity at Sunday River”. That pretty much summed up the whole experience for me.

I had fun hanging out with UNO and ML. The cabbie that took us back to my place was hilarious and a little wacked in the head, but it was fun. I’m not sure I’ll do it again, but there’s always the possibility. Maybe if it’s not on a Friday, I will. I had been awake from 6:30 am until 3:00 am that night. Needless to say, it was a long day.

Disco Bicuits 2-19-2010

Trey Anastasio 2-13-2010

Published on February 15, 2010 in Music and Trey. 5 Comments

On Saturday, I had gone to CT to see Trey and Classic TAB at the Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford. Because of a new hookup from my cousin, I had great seats, about 6 rows back. I had seen bands from that close before, but never a Phish-related band. The seats were great.

Upon arrival, there wasn’t a large lot scene that I could see. We had driven by around 6 to meet my cousin at a bar in downtown Wallingford and there was no one at the Oakdale yet. When we go back to the Oakdale around 7:15, the lot was pretty full, but there wasn’t a large scene. So we headed in.

We grabbed a beer and headed to our seats. The Oakdale is a pretty nice theatre, though it was the largest venue scheduled for Trey’s tour. It wasn’t a sold out show, but the vibe inside felt as if it had been sold out. The crowd was excited and Trey was visibly happy to be there. In fact, he had mentioned it was one of his favorite rooms. I could tell why. The sound in the room was perfect. We were low below the speakers and the sound was still excellent. This is a major contrast to the last time I saw TAB at Lupo’s. The sound there tends to be too loud, making it difficult to pick out the different instruments. The Oakdale had a nice warm sound to it.

He opened the show with “Alive Again” and it was clear the show was gonna be a good one. Everyone was playing at the top of their game. The next song was “Shine”. This is a song that I had previously only heard played by 70 Volt Parade. The song was horrible then. It was just way too much of a pop song. The horns added a nice element to it and made the song really sparkle (pun intended). After the new song “All that Almost Was”, he dedicated the next song to Natalie’s (the trombonist) great-grandmother who was in the audience, and they played “Mozambique”. You could tell the band was well rehearsed and didn’t just get on stage and wing it (which was how 70 Volt Parade always sounded). They followed that with my favorite TAB song, “Push On Til The day”. They really played this one strong and jammed it out a bit. Other highlights from the first set were “Sand”, “Alaska”, and “Liquid Time”, which really sounded great with the flute. I can’t wait for Phish to play this one. They closed the set with a song he said he was playing for his friend, Steve Pollack, aka the Dude of Life. He had written the song with Trey, but had never heard it performed. The song was “Show of Life”, which was another great song and could become a great Phish tune as well. It ended a long 90 minute set.

The second set opened with “Cayman Review”, followed by “Gotta Jibboo”. The band was nailing everything. They played “The Birdwatcher”, a barbershop tune from Phish’s Party Time album. They then went to “Love is Freedom” which segued to “Simple Twist-up Dave”, keeping up the energy. After calming things down a bit for “Flock of Words” and the nice groove of “Drifting”, they closed the set with “First Tube”. We knew we’d get a great encore. They came back and Trey explained how curfews worked and why there would sometimes be a three minute encore. He then said that wasn’t going to happen this night and it didn’t. The triple encore included “At the Gazebo”, “Valentine”, and “Dragonfly”.

Trey was visibly excited to be there throughout the whole show and didn’t seem to want the night to end. But, as with all good things, the night had come to an end. It was a very strong show and reminded me why I love Trey and TAB so much. This smaller incarnation of the band is really what he needs to stick with. Things started to get out of hand with the 10 piece band. It was almost too much going on to really get it. It’s also nice that he’s able to play the smaller venues. I had seen his bigger band at Great Woods during Phish’s hiatus. While it made sense that he played a venue that big, the music and the band really weren’t fit for such a large venue. For a band that’s full of just fun music, they need a smaller venue where they can be closer to the whole audience.

Unfortunately, the scene outside after the show was pretty bad. There were nitrous tanks and balloons everywhere. We made our way to the car and headed out.

Setlist 2-13-2010

Phish 11-28-09, Albany, NY

Published on February 15, 2010 in Music and Phish. Closed

When Phish announced their Fall Tour, there was a severe lack of New England dates. In fact, there was only one – Portland, ME. However, they had six dates in scheduled in New York State – one in Syracuse, two in Albany, and three at MSG in NYC. I was upset about this decision on their part. They had off dates that coincided with off dates at other arenas they used to play on a regular basis, including the DCU Center (aka Worcester Centrum) in Worcester and the Dunk (aka Providence Civic Center) in Providence. A band based in New England did a whole tour centered around the Northeast, and they skipped pretty much all of New England.

November 28 was the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Susan’s cousin was getting married that day with an early wedding. I begged and pleaded and got a ticket really cheap. Susan caved and allowed me to leave the wedding a little early, only by about 30-60 minutes. I headed up to Albany where I met up with the Twibe at TJ’s. I then headed over to the show and met up with the rest of the crew, including the best vendor on lot, UNO’s Wine Bar.

I went into the show and found my way to my seat, which was behind the stage, Fishman side. Because there were so few people behind the stage, I just hung out by the rail on the landing. There weren’t many security guards in the area and we were able to just hang out there and dance. It also had a better view than my seat. The band came on and opened with “Party Time”. It was a fitting start to what would be an incredible show full of bust-out worthy songs and some of the best jamming of the year. Highlights from the first set included the bust-out of “Uncle Pen” and “Vultures”, “Sanity”, “Walk Away”, and “Alaska”. During the set closer, “Backwards Down the Number Line”, I spotted Jessie from Twitter. She was sitting with Steve, also from Twitter. I sat with them for the rest of the show.

The band came back for the second set and opened with “Seven Below”. Entering into some of the best type 2 territory they’ve hit all year, they segued nicely into “Ghost”, which also stretched beyond the 20 minute mark. The double-whammy amounted to about 50 minutes of type 2 jamming, the most they played in all of 2009. It was a real rager for the beginning of the second set. They brought things back down to earth with a cover of “Cool It Down”. The rest of the set was very strong with a great “Gotta Jibboo” and a funked out “Wolfman’s Brother”. They closed with a strong “Julius” and encored with a crazy “You Enjoy Myself”.

Overall, it was a killer show and totally worth the long trip up to Albany. It made me look forward to 2010. I’m hoping for some shows closer to home. They need to return to Providence and Worcester this year.

Setlist 11-28-2009

Max Creek – Thanksgiving Eve

Published on February 15, 2010 in Local Bands and Music. Closed

The night before Thanksgiving, I went to Lupo’s in Providence to see everyone’s favorite local jamband, Max Creek. They have one of the strongest followings of any band, especially when it comes to smaller, local acts. They’re also known for putting on a great show, and rarely play what one would call a bad show. So the night before Thanksgiving had to be a great one.

Providence-based Fungus Amungus opened for them. The crowd was pretty small at this point, consisting of what seemed to be mainly friends of the band. They’re more of a funk style band with shorter jams. While a solid act in and of themselves, they seemed to be a bit more inexperienced (which could be because they’re quite a bit younger). I enjoyed what I heard from them, but it wasn’t anything overly special. The one song they really did well was Pink Floyd’s “Shine on You Crazy Diamond”. I was quite impressed by that. Scott Murawski from Creek came out to join them on stage for a song or 2. He basically stood way off to the side and back of the stage, though. What could have been a great moment of collaboration, I think he held off on his talent and allowed Fungus to take the lead. In fact, I couldn’t really even hear his playing. I’ve seen him collaborate with others before and he’s done a great job playing off of them and vice versa, but in this case, he just stood there playing. My guess is that it’s because of the inexperience of the other group in their ability to really jam and improvise off someone else, likely who they’ve never really played with before.

Creek went on later. while the crowd grew in size, it still wasn’t a large crowd, and certainly not a sell out for Lupo’s. Now, I’m not one who is overly familiar with Creek’s catalog. I’ve seen them a few times, but that’s really it. So you’ll have to bear with my review.

They started out slow and seemed to have a hard time finding their groove. This lasted through much of the first set, though it did have its highlights (for me that was “Six Days on the Road” as the only song I knew/recognized). The second set saw things pick up quite a bit more. It started with a few covers, many of which I recognized. They ended the set with some originals, but since they had found their groove, they nailed it. You could tell as the night got later, they were having more fun, especially when midnight rolled around and it was officially Thanksgiving.

All-in-all, I had a great time. I decided after that show that I’m gonna try to never miss a Creek show in Providence as long as I can help it. They’re really worth seeing whenever you get the chance. I’ve had a blast at each one I’ve been to, and because they have such loyal fans, it’s like a big family (similar to Phish in many ways).

Setlist 11-25-2009