Posts by Bryan Rodgers

At this point in its career, Umphrey’s McGee is like a spinning top of rock – just drop it on stage and watch in awe as it spins with power and unpredictability.  The band returned to North Carolina’s capital city to kick off their fall tour at the oversized Raleigh Amphitheater, which highlighted the band’s unique situation in the market

By the time Alison Krauss and Union Station waved farewell to the capacity crowd at Cary, North Carolina’s Booth Amphitheatre, they had unfurled a career-spanning set that included 30 songs.  That’s been the standard during their lengthy Paper Airplane tour, and the tour’s moniker has proven applicable only because of the recently released album of the same name

Countless bands, upon releasing a new album, say that they’ve finally made the album they knew they were capable of making.  The guys in Tea Leaf Green have invoked this phrase in regards to their latest, Radio Tragedy, and they may actually be right.

If Thursday night at Bonnaroo has moved past its former status as a festival prelude, Sunday has certainly maintained its rightful place as the event’s mellow epilogue.  The music certainly isn’t mellow, but the atmosphere tends to be just that.  Sunday night’s headliner usually draws a smaller crowd, and campers begin leaving in droves.  This mass exodus makes for a full, pleasurable day for the dedicated fans, and Sunday at Bonnaroo 2011 was one of the finest yet. 

Crowds at Bonnaroo swelled to capacity on a typically over-the-top Saturday that saw some of the music world’s most popular live acts perform.  The teeming horde that filled the What stage field for Eminem’s headlining set rivals any assemblage of humanity in the event’s history, and the masses made for tight quarters at many of the shows.   

As Bonnaroo built to a head on Friday, the day turned out to be a hectic and overwhelming one.  More than a few attendees were roundly confused by an evening stunt that featured parachuters dropping several thousand fluttering LED lights, and that can be attributed to the monumental amount of activity at the festival.  They could hardly be expected to comprehend the stunt or the cryptic messages borne by the cargo’s QR code after such a day.  Plus, many of them had seen Ron Jeremy in the flesh, or perhaps been berated by Lewis Black.

Attending a comedy show at Bonnaroo is a dubious proposition for a music addict.  There are at least a couple of hours of waiting time involved with gaining entry, thus many veterans and greenhorns alike have never even seen the inside of the air conditioned theatre.  A great opportunity presented itself in the form of Henry Rollins’ performance.

Just days before masses of people descended on the District of Columbia for Memorial Day, Paul Simon paid a visit to D.A.R. Constitution Hall, one of the city’s most patriotic venues.  Whatever political subject may have been on the 69-year-old legend’s mind, he kept banter to a bare minimum, quipping only that he recalled “playing here with Artie in the 60’s.

American Legacies sounds exactly like you’d expect a joint album from Del McCoury Band and Preservation Hall Jazz Band to sound.  It’s a riverboat full of rhythmically intoxicating Dixieland, blues, bluegrass, jazz and gospel that draws heavily on standards.

Paper Airplane, like the rest of Alison Krauss and Union Station's albums, is meant to please their diverse musical needs and equally diverse fan base.  Nothing on this album is going to satiate their fans’ desire for the old stuff, but even after seven years away from the studio, the band’s reputation as country music’s most unpredictable jukebox is intact.

Leftover Salmon's Twice in a Blue Moon DVD isn't a full-fledged documentary like the band’s brilliant Years in Your Ears, but there's still an inherent anthropology to Twice in a Blue Moon despite its focus on concert footage.  There's nothing epic about the camerawork or audio quality of the music presentation, and the performance itself is merely above average.  More memorably, the release's 13 songs and ample bonus content reveal more about the sometimes hazy legacy of the nation's first and only "Polyethnic Cajun Slamgrass" artist.

In 2011, it seems that Acoustic Syndicate is really and truly back, at least in a regional sense, with bassist Jay Sanders fully on board, several tour dates in the southeast, and their first new batch of songs since 2004.

The prolific Jesse Harris also boasts a diverse and affecting group of solo records, and the latest, Through the Night, is a deceptively dense experience. Appropriately titled, the record is distinctly flavored for consumption after dark, and it's full of melodies and vocals that nicely evoke the wee hours.

All About Beer Magazine’s annual World Beer Festival in Durham has a special feel to it that separates it from other North Carolina beer events. For starters, All About Beer is based in Durham, and the weather tends to be gorgeous this time of year, making for a fine hometown party. The whole glorious occasion is backed by solid live music as well.

Children of the Horn offered funky stuff just as people were getting in the mood to dance, and Big Daddy Love welcomed attendees with a mix of rock, bluegrass and covers. But the biggest factor is the rush of fall beers that are ready just in time for the festival – recently brewed Oktoberfests, imperial stouts, and pumpkin beers add a new level of excitement to the proceedings.

I made sure to take advantage of the seasonal beer selections at the start of the day, having been shut out on a few limited brews last year. I still nearly missed out on one of North Carolina’s most desirable beers, Sexual Chocolate Stout by Foothills Brewing (Winston-Salem, NC). I scored a sample right before the remaining supply was whisked away to be saved for the afternoon session of the festival.

READ ON for more on the World Beer Festival in Durham…

Heavy on the Vine's appeal isn't nearly as broad as the palette of musical styles featured on the album. By the same token, there are a lot of reasons to like it. Fans of soulful white-boy pop looking for more songs to sing in the car will likely swoon, while those with edgier tastes will want to look elsewhere. The band's wide-open approach means that the album is equally wide-open to interpretation, and reactions will largely depend on the mindset of the listener.

The inaugural Hopscotch Music Festival went off far better than most could have anticipated. Enthusiastic, well-mannered crowds managed to fill the downtown Raleigh, NC streets for three days with barely any issues, save a few very packed shows that left many fans milling about in the cool night air. There was an awful lot of music to experience and a lot of concrete to tread, but a few moments stand out. Here are seven good and three bad things I managed to experience over the weekend.

Widespread Panic's Live in the Classic City II is an example of how not to put together a live release, and it stands in stark contrast to the beloved first volume of the series. Comparisons between the two releases are inevitable, and this two disc set is the son that could never live up the older brother, the participation award winner instead of the blue ribbon holder, the comeback bid that fell short.

The Durham Performing Arts Center has quickly become known as the finest upscale venue in central North Carolina, and one of the best on the east coast. In hosting everything from Wicked to Wilco to Lewis Black to Leonard Cohen, the 2700-seat room has made an impact on a wide variety of people since it opened less than two years ago. The impeccable sound and performance-enhancing power of the ultra-modern building was on full display as Norah Jones stopped in Durham on her seemingly endless The Fall tour.

Many people know Shel Silverstein as the brilliant mind behind the poetry and art of books like A Light in the Attic, Where the Sidewalk Ends, and Falling Up. A much smaller number of people know about Silverstein's equally impressive composing skills, but the tribute album Twistable Turnable Man will surely change that. Since Silverstein is known less as a songwriter than as an artist and poet, the entire experience of listening to Twistable Turnable Man is colored by the listener's perception. But no matter where Silverstein fits into your life, there's plenty to love on this album, and it is guaranteed to stoke your appreciation for him.

When Gov't Mule took the stage for their first show at Raleigh's new downtown amphitheatre on July 16, the audience's Friday night fun came to a wet, electrical end after only 4 songs. Returning to the venue for the make-up show on July 26, I wondered if the atmosphere of a muggy Monday could match the energy and anticipation that existed, albeit briefly, during the band's first attempt.