Posts by Joel Berk

Joel Berk saw Primus in Chicago and filed this report and photo set.

They always say if you set your expectations low, you won’t get let down. Phish fans generally ignore that credo and hyped up the three-show run at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, IL that started last night. Yet low and behold the quartet threw down a smoker to kick things off in The Windy City.

[Photos by Joel Berk]

While Hidden Track EiC Scott Bernstein recapped the performance last night, we did promise photos from Joel Berk of our site’s Chicago office. Joel delivered a fantastic set of snaps which we’re happy to share with you.

• Previously: Phish Chicago Night One – Setlist & The Skinny

READ ON for a full gallery of Joel’s Phish photos…

Trey Anastasio Band @ Riviera Theatre, February 27

On Sunday night, Trey Anastasio and his Trey Anastasio Band rolled through Chicago for a sold out show at the legendary Riviera Theatre. The site of TAB’s Chicago debut in 1999, the Riv was an ideal setting to catch the band’s 2011 return to form. The first set was mostly Trey solo acoustic, and began with the 3.0 staple Backwards Down the Number Line before settling into a great acoustic arrangement of Theme from the Bottom. While surprisingly heavy on new Phish material, the acoustic segment also featured great takes on classics Gumbo, Halley’s Comet, Dirt and The Wedge.

[All photos by Joel Berk]

Jennifer Hartswick and Natalie Cressman came out to sing backup on a breathtaking Let Me Lie, an interesting slow arrangement of Water in the Sky and Wading in the Velvet Sea before the rest of the band came out and launched into Heavy Things. The tune, also slightly rearranged, gave keyboard player Ray Paczkowski his first moment to shine of what would be many. Liquid Time and Hey Ya! closed the full-band acoustic portion of the show, but the group wasn’t done yet and launched into a ripping electric Push On ‘Til the Day to close the opening stanza.

The electric set began with the TAB-turned-Phish tune Gotta Jibboo, which got the crowd going right off the bat before launching into a horn-driven version of Ocelot. Ocelot, with its horn parts sounding reminiscent of Allen Toussaint’s arrangements on The Band’s The Last Waltz, worked way better for me than it ever has as a Phish song.

READ ON for more from Joel on TAB in Chicago…

On February 4th, Yo La Tengo brought their Wheel of Fate? tour to Chicago’s legendary Metro for a night of genre-spanning rock and other surprises. On this tour, YLT has been selecting an audience member to spin a wheel set up on stage, and whatever the wheel landed on would be the first 45 minute set. Options included a set by the band’s garage rock alter-ego Condo Fucks, an audience Q&A known as ‘The Freewheeling Yo La Tengo’, ‘Sitcom Theater’ where YLT and crew would perform a classic sitcom and plenty of other goofy ideas.

On this night, the wheel landed on ‘Spinner’s Choice’, and the audience member chose Sitcom Theater. Shortly after, the famous bassline from Seinfeld pumped through the PA, and YLT’s Ira Kaplan came out and began reading the script for the classic The Chinese Restaurant episode. The band then read through the whole episode, even though a sizable portion of the audience had grown audibly restless. It was hilarious.

The set proper opened up with the mellow classics The Room Got Heavy and Autumn Sweater before getting into some of the feedback-drenched introspective noiserock that YLT is so great at. The evening was an excellent snapshot of the incredibly wide breadth of Yo La Tengo’s sound. From acoustic-based love songs through loud thrashing rock, YLT played every song to perfection. Opener Willian Tyler joined the band for Don’t Have to be So Sad, and lent a hand again later on a brilliant reworking of Neil Young’s classic For The Turnstiles.

Sitcom Theater: Seinfeld – The Chinese Restaurant

Set: The Room Got Heavy, Autumn Sweater, Flying Lesson (Hot Chicken #1), Stockholm Syndrome, The Weakest Part, Gentle Hour (Snapper cover), Don’t Have To Be So Sad (with William Tyler), Periodically Double Or Triple, Nothing To Hide, Sugarcube, Blue Line Swinger

Encore: Come On Up (Condo Fucks, The Rascals), For the Turnstiles (Neil Young cover) (with William Tyler), Griselda (The Holy Modal Rounders cover), Did I Tell You

Encore 2: Somebody’s In Love (Sun Ra cover)

READ ON for more of Joel’s photos from a unique YLT show…

Joe Satriani @ Chicago Theater, December 19

On Sunday, Joe Satriani and his band rolled through the pristine Chicago Theatre on their 2010 Wormhole tour. Treating the attentive audience to nearly two hours of practically uninterrupted shredding, Joe and the band powered through material spanning the legendary guitarist’s whole career.

From the ’80s classics like Ice 9 and Always with Me, Always with You (the latter of which could have been on the Top Gun soundtrack) through material off his latest album Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards, the band was tight and well-rehearsed, flawlessly executing Satriani’s (mostly) instrumental arena-shred stylings.

Joining Joe on keyboards on the new record as well as this tour was the incomparable Mike Keneally. One of the best contemporary guitarists on the planet in his own right, you would have never known it by the apparent ease with which Keneally moved around the ivories. Mike added deep textures, as well as furious synth and Rhodes lines – perfectly both complementing and going toe-to-toe with Satriani’s explosive, arpeggio-laden melodies.

READ ON for more photos and thoughts from Joel…

Tortoise brought a rare two-week tour to a close last Saturday in front of a sold-out hometown crowd in Chicago. Often just gigging sparingly, the time on the road had the band sounding as tight and cohesive as I’ve ever seen them, playing a masterful set that spanned their entire career.

Since entering my musical world a few years ago, I can’t think of another band more consistently in my listening rotation. Each record has carved its own place, being called on at specific times to serve their purpose. Intensely structured yet free flowing, Tortoise builds sonic soundscapes that are as dynamic or passive as you – the listener – choose to hear them. Genre-busting and wholly unique, Tortoise have been semi-quietly making some of the best and most influential records of the last 15 years.

As impressive as the records are, Tortoise is a band that needs to be seen live to fully grasp. It’s easy to get lost in their world of shape-shifting studio madness, but to see the same material performed by five dudes in front of your face is truly a whole other experience. The songs come alive, each section grabbing you and dragging you along as it twists and turns before seamlessly flows into whatever is next.

READ ON for more of Joel’s thoughts and pictures…

Ween is not for everyone. It seems that a lot of people can’t get past the silliness, raunchiness, and perceived-offensiveness to grasp the deranged beauty that is Ween. For those of us privy to the Brownness however, the band holds a special place that could not be filled by anything else. There is a delicate balance that is always at play when it comes to Ween. They can make you laugh, want to cry, question everything you know about life and then laugh again – often within the same song.

Often lost in a sea of ridiculousness and loud noises, it was impossible not to notice just how wonderful the songs themselves are seeing them stripped down by Gener with only his own acoustic strumming accompanying. It was also hard to ignore how fantastic a singer Gener is. The man has an incredible range and a full palate of tones that are freakishly similar to the effects-drenched vocals on Ween studio records.

The magnificence and absurdity housed in the Ween catalogue was impeccably on display last weekend as Gener brought his solo tour to Chicago’s new, fantastic Lincoln Hall for a sold out show. From the opening notes of Now I’m Freaking Out through the rousing ending of Buenos Tardes Amigos, Mr. Freeman was all smiles and treated the attentive audience to nearly an hour and a half of Ween classics and rarities.

Setlist:

Now I’m Freaking Out, Tried and True, Stallion Pt. 3, Golden Eel, Flutes of the Chi, Spiritwalker, Don’t Get 2 Close 2 My Fantasy, Ooh va lah, She’s Your Baby, I Don’t Want to Leave You on the Farm, You Were the Fool, The Argus, Boy’s Club, The Grobe, What Deaner was Talking About, The Mollusk, Mutilated Lips, Tender Situation, Oh My Dear (I must be falling in love), Baby Bitch, Oh Yoko, Buenos Tardes Amigos

READ ON for a gallery of Joel’s Gene Ween photos…

One Fast Move Or I’m Gone is a wonderful collection of songs from Death Cab for Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard and Son Volt/Uncle Tupelo’s Jay Farrar. The material, crafted together using words from Jack Kerouac’s Big Sur novel, invokes the same optimism, longing, and playfully deep introspection that has made millions of readers identify with Kerouac’s work.

Last monday, Gibard and Farrar brought these songs to life with a rocking three-piece rhythm section at the brand new Lincoln Hall in Chicago. First, let me quickly say congrats to the fine folks at Schubas for bringing a such a top-notch 500-person room into the mix here. Great sight lines, great sound, friendly staff and an impressive beer selection will definitely bring me back for more shows.

Gibbard and Farrar’s hour-plus set pulled mostly from the record and also included an inspired cover of Dylan’s Absolutely Sweet Marie. The songs had a warmth and subtlety that perfectly brought Kerouac’s words to life. If you’re a fan of Jack Kerouac, Ben Gibbard, Jay Farrar or any combination of the three, you will find something that grabs you in this material.

READ ON for more of Joel’s Farrar/Gibbard photos…

It was a middle-of-the-workweek-good-for-nothing Tuesday when The Phish (from Vermont) brought their recently resurrected traveling circus to Chicago’s south side. That’s right…a Tuesday. Once reserved for routed dates in non-major markets, the weekday shows used to prove fertile for the widely-chased “sleeper show.” The show where you knew the band would bring the fire, given the randomness of the location and date.

It was a Monday in Utah in 1998 that saw a full performance of Dark Side of the Moon. A Tuesday in Boise in 1999 saw the bust-out of Peaches en Regalia. A Tuesday in Burgettstown in 2003 was packed with rarities, bust-outs and other heady goodness. Could a weekday show in a major market pack the same wallop? Apparently not. While far from terrible and not particularly-flub heavy (though there were some), Tuesday’s rock show at Toyota Park was representative of Phish, the band, but far from the transcendental heights sought out by the show-chasers.

The first set started rather predictably with Kill Devil Falls, Sample In A Jar and Ocelot, early-show staples of 3.0. The first Paul and Silas since 1998 seemed to get lost on the younger crowd but was eaten up by some of the old faithful. Everything thus far was well-played, but seemed to be lacking any sort of edge or meatiness. This continued through the debut of Windy City – a new Page number that stays true to his early-Elton roots. I’m interested to see how this one matures, but wasn’t floored by it.

READ ON for more of Joel’s thoughts on Phish in Chicago…

From its humble beginnings as a monthly online newsletter in 1995 through its current reign as internet hub for indie culture, Pitchfork Media has always championed the under-heard, eclectic and sometimes downright weird. Whether you agree with their (most-likely unfavorable) review of your favorite record or not, it’s hard to deny their reach and influence on independent music and how it intertwines with the modern social web.

As their presence continued to grow it came as no surprise when Pitchfork decided to bring their niche to life, curating the 2005 Intonation Music Festival. It was even less surprising when the fest re-branded itself under the Pitchfork name the following year.

For one reason or another, I had never been able to attend any of Pitchfork’s festivals. The bills always had bands that didn’t come through Chicago often that I wanted to see, but the timing didn’t work out for me until this year. This year, I found myself with a rare weekend both at home and sans work for most of the July 17 – 19 weekend and could finally attend the Pitchfork Music Festival (well…2/3 of it at least).

READ ON for more from Joel on the Pitchfork Music Festival…

Pitchfork’s annual music festival returns to Union Park in Chicago on July 17 – 19 for three full days of eclectic bands (and presumably lots of tight jeans and small pins). Hidden Track will be there covering the good, the bad and the ugly with a full review to follow the fest. In the meantime, we’ve put together a list of the top five bands we’re most excited to catch. From the genius soundscapes of Tortoise on Friday through the closing circus of the Flaming Lips on Sunday, this promises to be a great event.

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1. Tortoise [Friday 5PM @ the Connector Stage]

Any day I can see Tortoise is a great day. Their set next Friday night is part of the “Write the Night” series where fans vote for what songs the bands playing that night will tackle. For a band whose catalogue runs as deep as Tortoise’s this is quite an exciting prospect. Personally, I’m hoping for gems – tunes such as Gamera, Djed and Onions Wrapped in Rubber. I’m also quite interested to see if any tunes off of their recently-released Beacons Of Ancestorship will make it into the set. Prepare Your Coffin would make a particularly nice addition to a set of classics and rarities.

READ ON for four more bands to catch at the Pitchfork Festival…

First opening in 1889, the Auditorium Theater has seen an immense variety of top-notch art. From the Chicago Symphony’s debut performance in 1891, to rock shows by the likes of The Who, The Grateful Dead and Frank Zappa, the room always seems to bring the best out of its performers.

It is no surprise that Umphrey’s McGee chose to step up from the familiar confines of the Aragon Ballroom to this landmark venue for their 2008 New Years Run. And step up they did. The little band from the Midwest has grown into a formidable powerhouse, maturing better than I think anyone could have hoped. Last week’s New Years run was truly a professional display of a band once again on the rise.

I first visited the Auditorium Theater in 1994 to see the Broadway adaptation of The Who’s Tommy, and it warped my 10-year-old mind. From then on, I was obsessed with The Who – a factor that in many ways set me down my current path. Had I not seen Tommy, I wouldn’t have started playing music or developed as a listener, and would most likely see things differently than I currently do. Needless to say, I was very excited to see how Umphrey’s would utilize a room with such amazing sound and sight lines.

READ ON for more of Joel’s thoughts and photos from UM in Chicago…

It’s hard to explain the effect Frank’s music has had on me.

At its simplest, it amuses the hell out of me. At its most complex, it forces me to think about my own life’s endless possibilities and whether or not I’m living up to my full potential. Something happens once all that is Frank clicks for you – it fully colors how you view the world around you and your place within it. Once the infamous “it” reveals itself, there is no going back and you will probably find you are, at the very least, a marginally better person for it.

The biggest lesson that I have learned from Frank is to not be afraid to try anything, no matter how absurd, ridiculous or insane it might seem. Frank teaches that anything is possible and acceptable, as long as your execution is flawless and you carry yourself in a professional manner. He didn’t encourage free reign to act like an asshole, but rather the sovereignty to explore the potential of your own mind. Have I taken this sage advice to heart? Absolutely. Do I act on this lesson? Probably not as much as I should. Self-confidence is not always easy to come by and self-doubt is a natural part of the creation process. Frank teaches us that if you believe in the end result strongly enough, you can and will do what is necessary to get there.

I find it important to look at Dweezil’s Zappa Plays Zappa project through a similar lens. Is ZPZ a cover band? Sure, but simply in its basic definition. Yes, they play only Frank’s music, which they did not write, but what they offer the world is so much more. Gail, Dweezil (and, of course vaultmaster / drummer Joe Travers) have presented an opportunity for bringing the life, lessons and most importantly the music of Frank Zappa into the contemporary landscape. I, for one, am incredibly grateful they have done so.

READ ON for more on Zappa Plays Zappa in Chicago…

On Thursday night at the Park West in Chicago, former Tombstone Blues Band bassist Mike Gordon treated fans to a show that was unbelievably strange, even for eccentric Cactus. Gordon brought out stilt walkers with human puppets, jugglers, a hula hooper and other circus performers to help him act out the story behind Andleman’s Yard from his latest album, The Green Sparrow.

[All Photos By Joel Berk]

Joel Berk was on hand at Park West and here are his amazing photos:

Mike Gordon
9/4/08
Park West
Chicago, IL

O: Andelman’s Yard > Dig Further Down, Cruel World > Ain’t Love Funny, Andelman’s Yard > Morphing Again > Andelman’s Yard > Traveled Too Far, Things That Make You Go Hmmm > Andelman’s Yard > Voices, Andelman’s Yard > Another Door

READ ON for more photos and videos from the Mike Gordon Variety Show…

For most of 2008, Howlin Rain’s sophomore release Magnificent Fiend has completely dominated my listening. For those of you who don’t know, Howlin Rain is Ethan Miller of Comets on Fire’s other band. The record came out at the beginning of March, but I’d received an advance copy early in the year and took to it immediately.

Howlin Rain’s 2006 eponymous debut was damn good, but in retrospect laid the groundwork that was undeniably built upon with this release. Where the debut was cautiously and deceptively unadorned, MF is full of vintage goodness, sounding like a lost gem from the golden era of album-rock. It brings us back to an age when organic chemistry and clever arrangements lead to an album sounding like a complete, cohesive thought. Ethan Miller’s marathon vocals lie atop a rich tapestry of organs, pianos, horns, and overdriven guitars set against a rock-solid rhythm section. Long story short – Magnificent Fiend kicks serious ass.

After 2+ months of immersing in the record, I was ready to see those tunes live. I finally got my chance March 27 at the Empty Bottle in Chicago. I’d spent so much time with the studio output that I’d conveniently forgotten about how the songs might play out differently live. From the opening moments of Death Prayer in Heaven’s Orchard off the debut, I was quickly reminded that Howlin Rain is a living, breathing organism just beginning to find its legs and navigate through life. Throughout the course of their hour set (which was WAY too short), there were moments of absolute brilliance and moments where the whole thing was hanging on by a thread. The biggest thing I noticed watching Ethan and company navigate through the set was how real it all was. Read on for more…

Last Thursday I had the pleasure of catching Brooklyn’s Bryan Scary and the Shredding Tears at the Subterranean in Chicago. I was not very familiar with the material going into it, but had heard of the band through a close friend who checks them out down South. Said friend played me their new Flight of the Knife (out April 4 on Black and Greene Records) earlier in the week, and a surprisingly large amount stuck after only one pre-show listen.

Flight of the Knife is a sprawling epic about The Knife, “the greatest flying machine to ever sail the skies” which no one had seen. The record follows Venus Ambassador on his quest to save the flying machine from the “furthest reaches of the world” where it teeters on a cloud. I don’t think I’ve listened enough to fully grasp the continuity of the plot (which I can only assume is there), but the songs themselves are delightfully poppy while remaining musically interesting and grounded in familiar sounds. They tumble and shift in erratic ways that end up making perfect sense, providing for an incredibly diverse listen.

On the whole, this record plays like Alice Cooper and Ziggy Startust arguing over McCartney melodies, while listening to Frank’s Freak Out having just finished some Gabriel-era Genesis and Beatles (you know, just as George was starting to become a forceful songwriter). Read on for more about this exciting new band…

Armed with a new record and a new guitarist, The Black Crowes brought their “One Night Only” tour to a capacity crowd at the Park West on Friday. For seven nights across the country, the Crowes will perform the new Warpaint record in its entirety along with a brief set of classics and covers.

In times of change, the band always seem to revert back to a club tour to get their bearings. They had a similar setup on the East Coast to kick off 2005’s reunion, and this run proved to be a similar situation – allowing the band the comforts of intimacy while road-testing the material before delving into their usual outdoor summer plans.

These shows also provide a means for new recruit, Luther Dickinson, to ease himself into the mix – a transition that is more than already under way. Luther’s stamp is all over Warpaint, making it a surprisingly focused record whose weak link appears to be Chris Robinson’s lyrics. The songs themselves are the most interesting to come from the Brothers Robinson since 1996’s Three Snakes and One Charm, something which Dickinson and bassist, Sven Pipien can be given a lot of credit for. Pipien finally seems comfortable in his role, and is downright assertive on the new material – a welcome change from his playing during the awkward By Your Side days. Read on for more…

Today, local blog Chicagoist reported that the Metro has decided to ditch Ticketmaster, and move all ticketing services for the Metro and SmartBar in-house. This is a huge move considering the venue is 25 years old and has had a long-standing relationship with the event-ticketing overlords. The fact that it could signal the beginning of […]

Hidden Track started as a New York City-centric blog, but we’ve always aspired to bring you content from around the country. Today we’re excited to announce that we’re expanding our reach towards Middle America.

Please welcome the newest member of our team, Joel Berk, who will head up our coverage of the Midwest. You’ll be hearing about a wide range of music from our new Chicago Bureau Chief, but he’s gonna start by recapping Wilco’s Riviera run:

Alt Country rebels…folk rock heroes…pop darlings…sonic explorers…

All of those clichés were probably used to (correctly) describe Wilco at various points of its career, but during the band’s Riviera Residency in Chicago last week, one thing became clear: Wilco is a rock band.

Photos by Joel Berk

Over the course of five sold out evenings, Jeff Tweedy and company worked with precision through every song to appear on an official Wilco release and sprinkled in a smattering of other rarities. A daunting task as each record has a different sound and lineup. But the band rose to the challenge with an ease that can only come from being at the top of one’s game.

The current sextet is unbelievably focused and locked in as a unit. They dusted off gems like A.M.’s Dash 7 and Being There’s Hotel Arizona, making them sound as fresh and vibrant as ever. The comfort with which the current incarnation handled the older/out-of-rotation tunes was shocking at times, most notably on Monday’s Summerteeth gem, My Darling. Urging the band into unfamiliar territory, Tweedy reassured “we can do this” before introducing the song as “a lullaby” to close the second set. Read on for more including downloads from the Wilco run…