Scruffy-voiced legend Rod Stewart will release the fifth edition of his Great American Songbook series, which includes his take on classics like I Get a Kick Out of You, Fly
My Morning Jacket will make a late-night TV splash this week with two talk show appearances and a live webcast. The Southern Gentlemen will visit David Letterman on Tuesday and
Phish kicks off its Fall Tour on October 10 with three gigs at the 1st Bank Center in Broomfield, Colorado and I have to admit I am not quite sure what to expect on several fronts. And there’s something sort of exciting about that. There also something extra special about Phish in the Fall as they have proven throughout the years, including 2009 when they tore apart the Northeast in late-November after a glorious performance of the Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main Street at Festival 8 in Indio, CA.
But the last time we saw the band it was wrapping up a somewhat unsteady second leg of summer tour. Yes, the Berkeley Cities is other-worldly (how many recent jams can you hear/feel that connection between the crowd and the band that was felt during that segment?) and the two Alpine Valley shows brought the heat. But overall the shows lacked the creativity and punch of the first leg of the summer. I found it interesting that in Leg 2, there were 10 songs played four times in the 11 shows (Backwards Down the Number Line, Down with Disease, You Enjoy Myself, Possum, Ocelot, Run Like an Antelope, Tweezer, Tweezer Reprise, Mike’s Song and Weekapaug Groove).
Those songs are always in constant rotation so it’s not a huge surprise they saw a lot of action. But in Leg 1 of the summer tour, Phish made such an effort to mix up the setlists, bust out the bust outs and generally catch fans by surprise at least once on most nights. So it was indeed surprising to basically see that approach abandoned for the August shows. Not to mention the fact that they ignored the 15th Anniversary of Jerry Garcia’s death – I don’t want to hear that Quinn the Eskimo was a tribute – and failed to do anything unique in two of the most special musical venues in the country: Berkeley’s Greek Theater and Town Park in Telluride.
READ ON for more of Luke’s preview of Phish Fall Tour…
In 2009 Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy began collaborations with Chicago soul icon Mavis Staples and the resulting 13 tracks can be heard on the new rootsy/gospel Staples release You Are Not Alone.
Gorillaz will kick off their eagerly anticipated Escape to Plastic Beach World Tour on Sunday in Montreal. The band will hit North America in October, Europe in November, Australia &
Pavement, along with a contest winner on guitar, visit Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on Thursday night. You can also catch Pavement tonight on The Colbert Report. Meanwhile, Jimmy Kimmel
It’s a triple shot of British rock awesomeness on Wednesday as BIO airs profiles of Led Zeppelin (8PM), Ozzy Osbourne (9PM) and The Rolling Stones (11PM). Speaking of Led Zeppelin,
Ray LaMontagne will make two late-night TV appearances this week stopping by Jay Leno on Wednesday and Jimmy Kimmel on Thursday in support of his new album God Willin’ &
The Swell Season had a rough August following the suicide of a fan during one of their shows in Saratoga, CA. But they are a tremendously talented act and if
Learn everything you ever want to know about The Who and more with back to back looks at the band and Pete Townshend on BIO beginning Wednesday at 2PM (EDT).
