Hidden Track Staff

Words: Tim J. Nelson

1:25 p.m. on 8/30/2009 – Columbia, Maryland. A new venue proved to be a positive for this year’s fourth annual Virgin Mobile Festival, this year rebranded as the FreeFest. That’s right, for a modest donation – five bucks per free ticket – a fan of music festivals could buy entry into Sir Richard Branson’s celebration of music, summer, commerce, and, well, fun.

Flying Fun is what you call two skydivers soaring over the lawn crowd at Columbia’s Merriweather Post Pavilion, the iconic host to such past acts as Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin, everyone’s eyes searching skyward, lots of shielding of eyes with hands, and oohing and ahhing as the daredevils land on the roof of the outdoor venue. On the roof, Sir Rich greeted them with champagne, opened the bottle, and then proceeded to christen the crowd with the sparkling-wine spray; it was a classy way to start the fest.

The partnership of Virgin, Branson, who is the CEO of Virgin, and independent promoter, Seth Hurwitz, who owns I.M.P., is continuing to prove it is a successful one. For a free show, there wasn’t any clear evidence of skimping, especially on the music talent. A quick overview:

As some christened fans wiped the champagne from their hair, Mates of State launched into their ’80s-inspired pop rock shortly after half-past one. The duo played Goods, ha ha, Fraud in the 80s, among others, and even covered a Tom Waits song, Long Way Home. Their hard-to-not-nod-your-head-to songs, with their up-beat tempo and snappy melodies, were a great warm up for the more-than-ready crowd.

READ ON for more from Tim about the FreeFest…

Update [10/06/09 11:30PM]: We’re still updating this list with the latest “kills” including the recently axed Basement Tapes. Our friends at Welcome to Now noticed that three different albums on the Phish.com graphic have been photoshopped. Check it out and enjoy our list of stats…

On Monday afternoon, Phish.com was updated with an animation featuring 99 album covers from discs the band may cover at Festival 8 on Halloween. We thought we’d take an in-depth look at the albums featured on Phish.com for this month’s installment of The Number Line.

2007 – Year Of Most Recent Album: Oracular Specatcular. Runners-Up: Funeral (2004), Elephant (2003), Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002)

1979 – Average Year of the 99 Albums

1977 – Median Year of the 99 Albums

1971 – Year With The Most Albums (8)

1965 – Year Of Oldest Album: Rubber Soul. Runner-Up from 1966: Pet Sounds Runners-Up From 1967: The Doors, Are You Experienced?, Forever Changes, The Velvet Underground & Nico

94:22 – Longest Album: The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. Runners-Up: The Wall (81:09), Double Nickels On The Dime (81:01), The Basement Tapes (76:41)

43 – Albums From The ’70s

28 – Number Of Times Platinum For The Best Selling Album: Thriller. Runners-Up: The Wall (23x platinum), Led Zeppelin – (23x platinum), Back In Black (22x platinum), Rumours (19x platinum)

24 – Albums with Songs Already Covered by Phish: Back In Black, Toys In The Attic, Eat A Peach, Boston, Hunky Dory, The Doors, Hot Rats, Are You Experienced?, Ritual de lo Habitual, The Modern Lovers, Led Zeppelin, IV, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, Tonight’s The Night, Nevermind, Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, Purple Rain, Pork Tornado, A Night At The Opera, Exile On Main Street, Fear Of Music, Van Halen, Violent Femmes, Tres Hombres

23 – Albums From the ’80s: Back In Black, Against The Wind, Scary Monsters, Freedom of Choice, Los Angeles, Private Eyes, Escape, Ghost in the Machine, Moving Pictures, Rio, Thriller, If That’s What It Takes, Sports, Violent Femmes, Double Nickels On The Dime, Purple Rain, Rain Dogs, Master of Puppets, So, Appetite For Destruction, Come On Pilgrim, The Joshua Tree, I’m Your Man,

READ ON for more stats on the possible Halloween albums…

Photos and Words: Jason Woodside

The fall always seems to be a great time of year for tour, and this holds especially true for the Disco Biscuits. In 2008, however, the band did not embark on an autumn tour, and this, coupled with a stellar 2009, led to some serious anticipation for this year’s Planet Anthem Fall Tour.

Songs from the highly anticipated new album are slowly but surely being worked into the catalog. While some of them are still met with mixed emotions, it is pretty clear that it will not be long before they lead to some truly inspired improvisation. On September 24th and 26th, the Biscuits stopped through Nashville and Knoxville, Tennessee, and both shows lived up to the anticipation.

The Cannery Ballroom is located in downtown Nashville, in what used to be a flour mill built in 1883. The Cannery building was converted into a venue in the ’70s, yet still maintains the look of an old factory. The look, while charming in a sense, has the downside of obstructed views and average sound. You wouldn’t find many people complaining about the venue tonight however, as the show, from start to finish, was a high energy dance party.

READ ON for more of Jason’s thoughts and photos…

The band Groundation has been spreading their self-proclaimed “spiritual roots reggae” across the nation as they finish up a massive world tour in support of the group’s latest release, Here I Am. The album shows off the group’s drum and bass-heavy roots reggae meets horn-infused funk with a touch of dub sound that has been a trademark of Groundation’s live shows.

[Photo by Philippe Gassies]

Groundation trumpet man David “Diesel” Chachere has been blogging a behind-the-scenes account of the band’s tour as Diesel’s Diaries. Chachere’s entries tell the story of life on the road for a band on the rise. The group recently performed at New York City’s Sullivan Hall and Chachere blogged about the trip and has been kind enough to let us reprint his entry.

Wednesday Sept 23rd, 2009

Dropping in on the General Assembly; The vicissitudes of road life; We don’t need no stinking air conditioner.

We’re finally in Cleveland, looking forward to our first day off after eight shows in a row. Our second show in New York went well, at Sullivan Hall down in NoHo. After the show the fans constituted a four to one girl to guy ratio, so spirits were high. The next morning I hopped the C and F trains to the Brass Lab in Chelsea and got my horn fixed by the crusty fellow that works there. He fixed my busted bell in no more than seven minutes and charged twenty bucks for it. Then I went back to meet the bus in the Bowery. A friend of Kim’s who owned a restaurant brought us two big cardboard boxes of rice, potatoes, spicy fish and braised oxtail for which I was deeply grateful, and I threw a plate of that down right on top of a chicken mole sandwich from Cafe Habana.

READ ON for more and check out Diesel’s Diaries…

On Tuesday, The Avett Brothers played a free show in Manhattan on Tuesday and friend of HT, Will McCranie, has a recap for us… In celebration of their Rick Rubin-produced

Words and Images: Tim Hara

The crowd buzzed with anticipation as they waited for Mike Gordon to take the stage at the packed Park West in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago this past Friday night. Rumors swirled that Gordon’s Phish band mate, Trey Anastasio, would be making a guest appearance since he was in town the day before to do an interview for a local radio station. Unfortunately for Phish fans, Trey would never show. However, the crowd didn’t mind as Mike Gordon and company treated fans to a night of great music accompanied by guitarist Scott Murawski, Craig Myers on percussion, Tom Cleary on keyboards, and drummer Todd Isler.

Throughout the two sets, Gordon and his band played a wide array of songs from old and new originals to covers. In the first set, the night kicked off with Another Door from Gordon’s most recent album, The Green Sparrow. Later in the set, the band played solid versions of Mike’s new original Can’t Stand Still and Gillian Welch’s Time (The Revelator). Things really got going when Gordon and friends delighted fans with a rocking version of Soulfood Man from from 2003’s Inside In. The set closed with Dig Further Down, another Sparrow tune.

While it seemed as though Gordon and his band needed the first set to get comfortable and loosen up, the real magic came in the set that followed. They opened with the new, short and sweet Phish song, Sugar Shack, which was penned by Mike. Next came an inspired guest sit-in by Dumpstaphunk’s Ivan Neville. The crowd roared and frantically snapped photos as keyboardist Tom Cleary and Neville sat side-by-side dueling during Hey Now Baby. After Neville left, the band surprised the audience again with a cover of Radiohead’s 15 Step. The highlight of the show came with a huge set-closing jam out of Traveled Too Far, another Sparrow song. The night ended with another sing along when the band encored with The Beatles’ She Said, She Said. READ ON for more of Tim’s thoughts and photos…

Words: Alexander Wolff
Images: Jason Woodside

Grand Junction, Colorado is a beautiful place to see a show. As you approach this seemingly sleepy city from the West, the Colorado River is on your right and the mountains surround you with 360° of picturesque landscape. Naturally, this kind of thing will affect not only those going to see the show, but often times a band itself. Umphrey’s McGee was no different last Friday.

[Photos by Jason Woodside]

Mesa Theatre & Club is a 750-capacity venue, and being less than full, it lent itself to great sightlines and freedom of movement within the room. When Umphrey’s took the stage, the crowd erupted. While the set opener, Atmosfarag, might not have been the best choice, those in attendance quickly forgave this oversight as the band slid into a roaring version of August. With relaxed, patient jamming they took time to explore this tune and the results were prodigious. At this point in time it was also noted that it was percussionist Andy Farag’s birthday and everybody seemed more than happy to oblige a celebration.

From this point on, Umphrey’s McGee produced some of the most laid-back jamming this year has seen, and nothing seemed as though it were forced. They allowed their songs some room to breathe, and the outcome of this was seen in several jams that just blossomed, without having to be pushed so much as they were guided. Lead guitarist Jake Cinninger seemed to take more of a back seat tonight, allowing Brendan Bayliss’ guitar chops to shine more than usual. READ ON for more of Alex’s words and Jason’s photos…

Words: Alex Wolff
Photos: Jason Woodside

In the moments leading up to Umphrey’s McGee’s triumphant return to Arizona, it would seem as though most of those in attendance were as excited as the band. It showed in both the music and the way the crowd responded to their first Arizona show in almost four years. A surprising amount of fans had seen Umphrey’s before, and the band ensured that any first timers would be eager for a return visit.

The band wasted little time as they got to work with a 13 minute rendition of Nemo. This song set the tone for the night with a dark and moody, yet playful jam led by guitarist Jake Cinninger. Using various hand signals the band is able to craft exceptionally precise improvisation, and from the beginning of the night it was clear that the improvisation would be spot on in Tucson. The momentum kept going strong with a sequence of tightly executed songs that included the elusive Soul Food 2. The highlight of the set was an impeccable FF. This song included two searing dub jams, and a flawless segue into Push The Pig before wrapping up the set with their cover of Flock Of Seagull’s I Ran.

If there was uncertainty as to whether the second set would carry the momentum of the first, it did not last long. An exploratory, and unfinished, version of The Crooked One picked things up right where they left off. The second set saw heaps of improvisation, and particularly gorgeous playing from guitarist Brendan Bayliss. In both Dump City as well as Example 1, they maintained the overall mood that they set with Nemo and both songs featured some incredibly soulful jamming. Several times throughout the evening keyboardist Joel Cummins and bassist Ryan Stasik both took the lead in improvisation, conducting the band and guiding the flow of the jam.

READ ON for more of Alex’s thoughts and Jason’s photos…

Music fan Jimmy Coulas loves to attend concerts from a wide variety of bands and write about them for his Chicago-based blog, Scents & Subtle Sounds. On Sunday night he saw U2 at Soldier Field and tells us all about it…

[All Photos Via U2.com]

Music has always served as my escape from the every day hustle and bustle of life. The economic crisis that has gripped this country has affected the way that people live and has inevitably changed the way that people spend their money. To most people, concert tickets would be on top of the list of items to cut out of their budget. It seems as if U2 serves as the exception to the rule.

When the house lights cut out on Sunday night at Chicago’s Soldier Field the crowd erupted. You could tell the audience was ready for any and everything the band had in store for them. U2 could have easily rolled out their greatest hits and pleased the crowd, but they held back and played a career-spanning set. READ ON for the rest of Jimmy’s take on U2 in Chicago…