4 straight nights of concerts for me.
The first night was an old-school, SoCal punk night with Face to Face at a dive bar in San Diego. Reminded me of my college years in the bay area, so much so that I decided getting into the pit was a good idea. Hopefully I don't have hepatitis.
The other 3 nights were in Indio at the Stagecoach Festival. Headliners were Florida Georgia Line (meh), Keith Urban (not my kind of music, but surprisingly good), and Garth Brooks (pretty awesome, but probably more so if you knew more than 2 songs, which was my situation). Other highlights for me were Midland (going to be gigantic stars), Cody Jinks (Chris Stapleton 2.0), and Jason Isbell. Brothers Osborne were ok, Jake Owen was good, Lee Brice was energetic and good. Kacey Musgraves was great to me, but probably not headlining material. Way too chill.
Time to take a month off before heading up to our next festival...Bottlerock.
Going to farewell concert for Lynyrd Skynyrd tonight
3 nights of Steven Wilson. Great stuff.
Saw Eric B & Rakim at the House of Blues in Vegas last weekend.
U2 concert #ivelostcount this time with both my kids and on the floor close to stages again. Every show reinforces why they are my favorite live concert experience bar none. So much emotion and songs that can be so deeply personal that you find yourself feeling he's singing it just for you. Taking my kids to NYC for a week in early July and realized they are playing while we are there. While floor seats probably aren't in the cards it will be a hard pass
quote:Originally posted by bomba503:
U2 concert #ivelostcount this time with both my kids and on the floor close to stages again. Every show reinforces why they are my favorite live concert experience bar none. So much emotion and songs that can be so deeply personal that you find yourself feeling he's singing it just for you. Taking my kids to NYC for a week in early July and realized they are playing while we are there. While floor seats probably aren't in the cards it will be a hard pass
Always a spiritual, uplifting, and unifying experience, bomba.
Have John Prine coming up June, 1.
Psyched for a couple of reasons.
First, I've seen him 20+ times and have never been disappointed. Not even close. He's not getting any younger, either.
Second, I'm taking my youngest granddaughter with me. She has a beautiful voice, and last year she came over for a sleepover and heard me plunking Fish and Whistle on her way into the house. She said the song sounded "cool," so we spent a couple of hours working on it, I played, and she sang for her parents when they came to pick her up the following afternoon. A truly wonderful rendition, if you allow for the poor guitar picking...
I don't think anyone, including Mr. Prine has ever delivered this line with more feeling:
Then I got fired for being scared of bees
And they only give me fifty cents an hour...
PH
Psyched for a couple of reasons.
First, I've seen him 20+ times and have never been disappointed. Not even close. He's not getting any younger, either.
Second, I'm taking my youngest granddaughter with me. She has a beautiful voice, and last year she came over for a sleepover and heard me plunking Fish and Whistle on her way into the house. She said the song sounded "cool," so we spent a couple of hours working on it, I played, and she sang for her parents when they came to pick her up the following afternoon. A truly wonderful rendition, if you allow for the poor guitar picking...
I don't think anyone, including Mr. Prine has ever delivered this line with more feeling:
Then I got fired for being scared of bees
And they only give me fifty cents an hour...
PH
I saw Paul Simon at the Hollywood Bowl (2nd of 3 nights) on his "farewell" tour. He sure didn't play like a guy about to hang it up. Very well-chosen 2.5 hour set with highlights from all phases of his career, played with a versatile band of something like 12-15 musicians, plus a smaller wind/string chamber ensemble for a couple of radically reworked songs. I had never seen him live before and this show exceeded my expectations in every way.
vs posted:I saw Paul Simon at the Hollywood Bowl (2nd of 3 nights) on his "farewell" tour. He sure didn't play like a guy about to hang it up. Very well-chosen 2.5 hour set with highlights from all phases of his career, played with a versatile band of something like 12-15 musicians, plus a smaller wind/string chamber ensemble for a couple of radically reworked songs. I had never seen him live before and this show exceeded my expectations in every way.
Glad to hear it. I'm going to the Toronto show in 2 1/2 weeks.
Queens of the Stone Age last night.
Solid.
bfw
Todd Rundgren's Utopia this past Tuesday. Fun.
J3
*****************
Wine makes me smile
vs posted:I saw Paul Simon at the Hollywood Bowl (2nd of 3 nights) on his "farewell" tour. He sure didn't play like a guy about to hang it up. Very well-chosen 2.5 hour set with highlights from all phases of his career, played with a versatile band of something like 12-15 musicians, plus a smaller wind/string chamber ensemble for a couple of radically reworked songs. I had never seen him live before and this show exceeded my expectations in every way.
I've seen him solo, multiple times, and once with Art Garfunkel. He always delivered a very entertaining show.
Killer Santana cover band. They were ripping, except for keyboardist.
Joe Bonamassa in Atlanta at the Fox theater on May 4, 2018. What an amazing artist! What a great venue!
Ian Anderson presents 50 years of Jethro Tull last Friday (6/1). Ian's vocals are pretty unreliable but his flute/harmonica/acoustic guitar skills are still in good shape. The band, especially the lead guitarist, were fine but did not include any members from the core Tull days, not even Martin Barre.
They went very deep into the 1st two Tull albums, and saved the best for last with great renditions of Aqualung and Locomotive Breath.
Steely Dan with the Doobie Brothers as opening act. Excellent performance!
Widespread Panic - Trondossa
Umphrey's McGee - Patriots Point
Went to Bottlerock in Napa over Memorial Day. Pretty great set up. Awesome food and drink available, pretty easy access to the stages, and a really good lineup. Highlights for me were the Killers, Muse, Low Cut Connie, St. Paul and the Broken Bones, and I only saw a little of the Struts but they were good. Cool to go to a festival, as I'd never pay to see Bruno Mars, Halsey, or Incubus. Other good acts were Chainsmokers, Snoop, Revivalists, Michael Franti, Shakey Graves.
Last night I went to see some country music with the Turnpike Troubadours and Charley Crockett at the Belly Up. Awesome. For a guy who loves punk and rock and roll, Turnpike is easily one of my favorite bands in the world. Great storytelling, good beats, and no songs about getting drunk or trucks (as opposed to the Kenny Chesney concert I'm going to next week).
vs posted:I saw Paul Simon at the Hollywood Bowl (2nd of 3 nights) on his "farewell" tour. He sure didn't play like a guy about to hang it up. Very well-chosen 2.5 hour set with highlights from all phases of his career, played with a versatile band of something like 12-15 musicians, plus a smaller wind/string chamber ensemble for a couple of radically reworked songs. I had never seen him live before and this show exceeded my expectations in every way.
Just curious: was there an opening act? Going to the Toronto show tomorrow and I can't find any info on this.
Ryan Adams - The first time seeing him live, in a beautiful outdoor amphitheater east of downtown, at the base of the mountainside.
He was very interactive with the audience, and he, and his band, sounded great.
gigabit posted:Ryan Adams - The first time seeing him live, in a beautiful outdoor amphitheater east of downtown, at the base of the mountainside.
He was very interactive with the audience, and he, and his band, sounded great.
One of my all-time favourites, both on record and live. I've seen him with 3 different bands as well as solo. All were great, but if you ever get a chance to see him solo, don't hesitate. There's an excellent double album from a few years ago of his Carnegie Hall show (same tour I saw him solo). Very much worth a listen.
Paul Simon last night at the ACC.
Fantastic 14-piece band behind him and they were all superb. Most were multi-instrumentalists (guitar player also played sax, drummer played guitar on one song, the various string section members also sang and some played brass). Depending on the song, there might have been 4 musicians on stage or all 15.
Every one of them was at the top of their game.
As for Paul, he was in fine form. I saw his PBS Austin City Limits performance from about 18 months ago and he played and sang well but seemed lethargic. Last night he had great energy. And he sang really well.
He commented briefly on the weekend's anti-Canada comments, calling it idiotic and saying that the American people don't feel that way about Canada. "We're all family."
A 2 1/2 show with no breaks. As a friend said on FB "how does a guy in his late 70s go 2 1/2 hours without having to pee?"
An excellent setlist with representation from all stages of his career:
Samantha Fish and Elle King tonight. The former opened the show and was better all-around.
Sonny Landreth followed by Aaron Neville. After a low-key acoustic set opening Sonny treated us to slide mastery for a rocking hour. Excellent. I wasn’t sure what to expect from Aaron Neville. His band was phenomenal. While his voice is hanging on (I think he is 77 😳) the backup vocals of the drummer and bass player seemed to carry him at times. The set was basically a wide range of well known covers. Interesting and enjoyable.
Hard to complain with a $20 ticket to a riverside outdoor music fest 15 minutes from home.
On Saturday night the Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion stop of the LSD tour. That would be Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle (& the Dukes) and Dwight Yoakam. The latter was the best of the three. Lucinda was disappointing. Steve Earle was solid, but Yoakam and band were more energetic.
Great venue too.
Well that's a shame about Lucinda, Steve. She's been variable when we've seen her in the past - sometimes sharp and focused and sometimes tired and distracted.
I only saw her once before and that was the Car Wheels tour when she played the intimate setting of the original Club Soda here. Great performance. Tired and distracted could have been the case on Saturday night. She played the song Essence, which I really like, but her vocals on it were awful. A couple of songs (eg. Foolishness) were very well done.
Alison Krauss last night at the Sony Centre. About as perfect as it gets. Her voice has the purity and clarity of a great burgundy. She has perfect pitch, never once faltering. The band was excellent, including two members of Union Station as well as Suzanne and Sidney Cox from the Cox Family (probably most widely know for their contributions to the O Brother Where Art Thou? soundtrack).
Great set design, too.
Saw the Rheostatics at The Hayloft in Price Edward County. Amazing venue, so-so band (as many 'almost made-it' college bands are). 
Cool venue, Rob. Dave Bidini's made a good career for himself post-Rheostatics: author of 2 or 3 books, and now publisher of the monthly West End Phoenix newspaper.
Found a few short clips from last night's Alison Krauss show in Toronto.
One with the full band:
https://youtu.be/dFuo0_XJ9T4
Down to the River to Pray (from O Brother Where Art Thou):
https://youtu.be/_HMYpTJKuHQ
Kenny Chesney last Thursday, Slightly Stoopid last Saturday. Two completely different performers, though both crowds were equally fun (albeit taking different roads to the promise land). Chesney is a pro...I've seen him probably a half dozen or more times, and he always puts on a very similar, polished gig. The boys in Slightly Stoopid were playing a hometown show, and so they always bring it when in SD. My liver needs a break.
Two shows this past week...first was a night of metal music headlined by Swedish band Hammerfall with Flotsam & Jetsam, Masqued and Apocalyptic supporting. A good show but last date of the tour and they were ready to head home.
Most recently Brit Floyd (tribute band for Pink Floyd) put on a great show, complete with lasers and background video reminiscent of the Pulse era tour. I would have liked to seen then again.
Dr. Lerxst posted:Two shows this past week...first was a night of metal music headlined by Swedish band Hammerfall with Flotsam & Jetsam, Masqued and Apocalyptic supporting. A good show but last date of the tour and they were ready to head home.
Most recently Brit Floyd (tribute band for Pink Floyd) put on a great show, complete with lasers and background video reminiscent of the Pulse era tour. I would have liked to seen then again.
Seen Brit Floyd twice in the past year and will see them again.
Dave Matthews Band- meh. Not sure how I like the new album. Plenty of it played.
U2 at MSG with my kids as part of our NYC trip. Another great show though not on the floor which takes it a couple notches down from the L.A. Show in May
Well, tomorrow, sort continuing a pastime with my wife to see Rascal Flatts (Their version of "Bless the Broken Road" is our wedding song)
Then of course, Ticketmaster released some more shows I can apply free vouchers to, so picked up some free tix to:
Sat - Chicago/REO Speedwagon (I guess I'll see sunnylea's friend sing for Chicago)
Aug - Five Finger Death Punch/Breaking Benjamin
Oct - Kid Rock/Brantley Gilbert
and had tix to:
Nov - Ghost
pinotlvr posted:Sat - Chicago/REO Speedwagon (I guess I'll see sunnylea's friend sing for Chicago)
The unknown history of how REO Speedwagon got its break:
A group formed in Chicago called Mountain Bus in the late 60s. They were sued by Mountain for their name and didn't have the pockets to fight them in court. The group broke up. Mountain was scheduled to play in Chicago shortly after this, but due to backlash against them they cancelled. However the show went on with REO, and the rest is history.
Zac Brown Band. Those dudes are talented.
A blast from the past: David Bromberg and Band. I've been going to his shows since the mid-1970s. He's one hell of a guitarist. Everything from grungy blues slide guitar to flat-picking country and bluegrass. An amazing evening of blues, "folk," "Americana"