Hidden Track Staff

Longtime HT friend Andrew Bruss attended the Life Is Good Festival last weekend and has filed his first HT review. Welcome aboard, Andrew…

With the help of artists like Brett Dennen and the Blind Boys of Alabama, the Life Is Good Festival was once again a success in more ways than one. Nice weather, playful activities, a stage for performers, and a guest appearance by Red Sox third basemen Mike Lowell set the mood for a wide range of demographics to cut loose for a good cause. Life Is Good, a Boston-based clothing company, has raised money for their Life Is Good Kids Foundation, a non-profit that aims to improve the lives of children who have been victimized by violence, poverty, and illness.

Helping kids should make anybody feel good, and with the atmosphere the organization created on the Boston Common, it never felt better. It was made clear left and right that donations were greatly appreciated, but a limbo contest, art installations, face painting and sporting activities were available to everyone free of charge.

While tots scampered around the Common, Brett Dennen put on a killer set highlighted by tunes off his new album including Heaven, San Francisco, and set-highlight, Make You Crazy. Although the red-headed singer/songwriter doesn’t seem to understand all of the John Mayer comparisons, he has his similarities, although his peace, love, and groovitude philosophy brought to mind Michael Franti & Spearhead more than anyone else.

READ ON for more from Andrew on the Life Is Good Festival…

The Phish reunion tour moves on to St. Louis for one of the smallest American gigs in quite some time at the Fabulous Fox Theatre in St. Louis. HT Executive

Dave Vann has been down in Manchester this weekend shooting Bonnaroo. He sent us 40 fantastic shots of Friday’s action. Let’s take a look…

Gomez Shows Off Their Sweet Backdrop

READ ON for more of Dave Vann’s Bonnaroo photos including shots of Phish, David Byrne, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Kaki King and the Beasties…

Words: Jason Woodside and D. Baffoni
Images: Jason Woodside

After a five week break The Disco Biscuits returned to the road for a highly-anticipated weekend of shows in beautiful Colorado. The band’s first headlining trip to Red Rocks was set to be quite a throw-down. Guest artists Lotus, The New Deal, Paul Oakenfold, RJD2 and others packed the bill for what would be the first Bisco Inferno since 2003, when the festival was held at the Mishawaka Amphitheater in Bellvue, Colorado. The 10 hour marathon of almost non-stop electronic music was much more ambitious than other versions of the mini-festival, with more artists and the location being moved to arguably the most beautiful venue in the country.

The weekend started off in fine form with a warm-up show at the Ogden Theater in downtown Denver. Orchard Lounge opened up both nights, and there could not have been a better act for that spot. Both the Biscuits and Orchard Lounge seem to enjoy each other very much, and Biscuits’ fans were definitely more receptive towards them than any other DJ act of the weekend. Once the Biscuits came on it was clear that there was a little bit of rust after the five week break, and as a result the first set was more-or-less standard. The band was very excited to be back on the road again, and full of energy, but for some reason they were not firing on all cylinders quite yet. They opened up with an a huge standalone rendition of Plan B, followed by a thumping Triumph. The rest of set was alright, it seemed to be void of any stand-out moments.

The rust seemed gone as soon as the band came out for the second set, with a great rendition of Morph Dusseldorf. The jams out of Morph seem to be best when they are methodically built, and this version certainly did not disappoint. The second set was full-blown jam mode as the band played non-stop until the Hope closer, a nice mellow way to end the set. Highlights of the set were definitely the peaks in the inverted Confrontation into the Digital Buddah end. The whole set seemed to be built around the continuously jammed segments between songs. This is what the Disco Biscuits do best. They push a jam to a point where the listener feels it has peaked, and then the jam gets pushed far beyond that point for sheer musical bliss.

READ ON for more from last weekend’s Bisco Inferno…

Longtime HT contributor Hal Hansen attended Saturday’s memorial service for original GSW taper and superfan Paul Ducharme and filed this report…

The opening song of Stranger was an appropriate one for God Street Wine’s triumphant return on Saturday, the first time all five original members performed together since a 2001 reunion for the closing of The Wetlands. I had never met Paul Ducharme, a fixture in the New York area music scene whose tragic passing in April was the inspiration for the New York City band’s 75 minute set on the lawn outside the Westside Presbyterian Church in Ridgewood, NJ. However, it did not take long to see that this community of friends and family lost a caring, funny & intriguing soul. After a mix of various musical artists and emotional speeches by those closest to Paul, it was time for GSW to play.

The set list featured an even mix of classics from several different albums, unrecorded live staples and even a one-two Beatles punch of Blackbird & Dear Prudence. Each song was a joy to hear again and other than a few moments of understandable rustiness, including a restart on Waiting for the Tide, the band was very impressive for not playing together in nearly eight years. Driving West & 6:15 reached their familiar & powerful climaxes while Imogene featured some blistering guitar work by Aaron. The creative ending segue of Borderline > Swing Low, Sweet Chariot > Borderline showed that GSW can also still have some fun on the fly.

READ ON for more on GSW’s performance in Ridgewood…

Photographer Chris Cartelli took a trip down south to attend last weekend’s Amberland Festival which was thrown by jam-rockers Perpetual Groove at Cherokee Farms in Lafayette, Georgia and delivered these

We’d like to welcome Charlie Wheeler aboard as an occasional HT contributor. Charlie is a guitarist, band leader and you can check out more about the Charlie and his band, the Charlie Wheeler Band at charliewheelerband.com.

Let’s face it, rock ‘n roll is finishing a distant 6th in the race for popular music. The popularity of pop, country, new R&B, Hip-Hop and Punk has elbowed rock music back to the middle of the pack, alongside of late ’60’s Brazilian jazz and western Pensylvanian polka.

As a true blue, dyed in the wool rocker, I naturally lean towards the classic blues influenced rock music. My emotions are stirred easily by the raw power of Stevie Ray’s strat, the time tested despair of Gregg Allman’s vocals, the meaty phatness of Billy Preston’s keys. So what in the heck happened to our beloved rock ‘n roll?

I submit that there were a few contributing factors to this “rock ‘n roll recession.” First and foremost, DUI laws have absolutely pounded the live music scene. Rock is far and away the most prevalent genre played in the bar circuit. Over the course of a rock show, we can feel harmony, be fraught with emotion, become agitated, experience elation and then usually, in the end, be brought down emotionally by the artist to a servicable state of mind. It’s tough to get that type of remedial treatment from a psychotherapist, trust me I know. This soul food is a lot like Lobster; it’s available, but you can’t have it as much as you deserve… primarily because no one wants to have their buzz killed by some badge wearing mustachio who’s sniffing your breath while you’re handing him your license and registration.

READ ON for the rest of Charlie Wheeler’s lament…

For the latest installment of their Bisco Inferno series of Colorado concerts, the Disco Biscuits have booked Red Rocks for their first headlining show at the iconic amphitheater on May 30. Along with two sets of Bisco, concertgoers will also be treated to sets by legendary DJ Paul Oakenfold, Lotus, DJ Z-Trip, the New Deal, Orchard Lounge and RJD2. Tickets for both the Red Rocks event and the Biscuits’ warm up show at the Ogden in Denver on May 29 as well as two-day passes are onsale via Ticketmaster.

[Photo by Jason Woodside]

We spoke with Disco Biscuits bassist Marc Brownstein about how the event came together and what fans can expect. Here’s what he had to say…

Hidden Track: How far in advance does the band plan the setlist for a special show like Bisco Inferno? Does the surroundings at such an epic venue affect the thought process on song selection and what “type” of Biscuits show you are going to construct?

Marc Brownstein: We have been thinking bout the setlist for Red Rocks for months. It keeps changing though because Magner keeps coming in with new amazing songs.

HT: Can you tell us about your experience at Red Rocks in 2001 opening for Phil Lesh and Friends?

MB: What a day. It was pretty cool to get a standing ovation after the Thieving Magpie. Then, watching Phil and Warren tear that place up – it was really a treat.

READ ON for more from Marc about next weekend’s Bisco Inferno…