Columns

The Monsters of Folk tour kicked off last week and has been receiving rave reviews at every stop. Mike Mogis, M. Ward, Jim James and Conor Oberst have been performing

Following the bold footsteps of UK regulators who earlier this month issued a preliminary challenge to the Ticketmaster-Live Nation proposed merger, US anti-trust regulators are following suit, not going as far as to rule out the merger entirely, but making it quite clear that in its current form the deal will not likely go through. According to an article in Bloomberg, the vertical integration of the various segments of the music industry pose a direct threat in affording a competitive marketplace for ticket sales.

Regulators are concerned the combined company’s presence in nearly every piece of live entertainment — including artist management, venue operation, concert promotion and ticketing — will undermine the ability for rivals to emerge and create competition that would bring down ticket prices, another person said.

Among concessions under consideration may be finding a way to allow a viable competitor in primary ticketing, one of the people said.

Now, in order to make concessions and ease some of the concerns regarding the concentration of power with regard to the ticketing element of the deal, reports show that the two companies are weighing their options with regard to possible divestitures, the leading candidate being a sale of Pacolian – a Ticketmaster acquisition from 2007 aimed to beef up the Ticketmaster client base. READ ON for more…

On October 12, our household welcomed a smiling baby boy named Nathaniel, and this week’s Stormy Mondays is here to herald him in. The mix kicks off with Jimi’s Belly

If you live within viewing distance of New York City’s Empire State Building be sure to look at the legendary office building tonight for a special treat. The iconic skyscraper

The Widespread Panic/Allman Brothers Band co-bill tour came to an end on Saturday night in Houston, where the two acts each made sure to end on a high note. Panic kicked things off and welcomed ABB guitarist Warren Haynes to the stage for covers of Bill Withers’ Use Me and Neil Young’s Cortez The Killer. Panic hadn’t performed Cortez in nearly 500 shows and they also dusted off their cover of Warren Zevon’s Lawyers Guns & Money.

For their set, The Allmans welcomed WSP guitarist John Bell and percussionist Sunny Ortiz out for Guilded Splinters. Ortiz also came out later in the set for a Franklin’s Tower that also featured Jimmy Herring on guitar. Panic bassist Dave Schools lent his skills to a version of Dreams that Oteil Burbridge sat out for. Herring returned to play on one more Liz Reed before both bands assembled during the encore to end the tour with Southbound.

All told, the memorable tour contained 20 shows split between two legs. There were sit-ins aplenty and here’s a recap of who played on what…

Members of Widespread Panic:

John Bell – Guilded Splinters (8/21, 10/6, 10/17), And It Stoned Me (8/22, 9/2, 10/10), Highway 61 Revisited (8/26, 10/9, 10/16), Can’t Find My Way Home (8/29, 10/12), It Takes A Lot To Laugh It Takes A Train To Cry (9/2, 10/14), Southbound (10/17)

Domingo Ortiz – Guilded Splinters (8/21, 10/6, 10/17), You Don’t Love Me (8/30), Franklin’s Tower (10/7, 10/17), Southbound (10/17)

READ ON for the rest of our guide to ABB/WSP sit-ins…