2005

Phish and the city of New Orleans have a long relationship. Since the band first played the city in 1990, Phish performed there semi- regularly and have been adopted with typical local hospitality. Keyboardist Page McConnell’s father co-founded the New Orleans Musicians’ Clinic for local musicians in 1998, funded in part with money raised by the sale of a collaborative CD titled “Get You A Healin'” on which Page appears, along with bassist Mike Gordon and an all-star NOLA cast. Page also recorded Vida Blue’s self-titled first album there and drummer Jon Fishman has played there with a variety of bands. The city also provided the backdrop for the formation of Oysterhead, guitarist Trey Anastasio’s collaboration with Les Claypool and Stewart Copeland. All the band members have enjoyed working and playing in New Orleans, collaborating with local musicians, in Phish and other projects over the years. From the early Tipitina’s shows to State Palace Theater and ultimately to the Jazz and Heritage Festival and beyond, Phish has soaked up the bayou’s unparalleled taste for exploratory music and next-level reveling. By the time they arrived at the 27th annual Jazzfest in 1996, Phish was welcomed with open arms and they played in a manner befitting the occasion.

Phish’s “New Orleans Relief” consists of the entire April 26, 1996 performance at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and is available now at livephish.com in both MP3 and lossless FLAC format. “New Orleans Relief” is rounded out with filler consisting of the entire second set from November 7, 1991 at Tipitina’s where Phish was joined by special guests from Colonel Bruce Hampton and the Aquarium Rescue Unit, who opened the show. The master cassette of set I of the Tip’s show is missing, so “New Orleans Relief” provides a perfect chance to highlight the magic that occurred when Phish and ARU combined their talents to the great appreciation of those sufficiently “out-erested” to follow along. Both shows were mastered from the original 2-track soundboard recordings and were mastered by Fred Kevorkian.

In addition to this very special download release, Phish Dry Goods is offering a special “New Orleans Relief” T-Shirt and a brand new, limited edition poster by Jim Pollock. The t-shirt and poster are available for pre-order now at drygoods.phish.com/nola .

All artists and vendors involved in the project donated their time to the cause and ALL proceeds from “New Orleans Relief” downloads, t-shirt and poster sales will be donated directly to Tipitina’s Foundation and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation. The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation has earmarked their funds for “Raisin’ The Roof”; a program that builds affordable housing for New Orleans musicians, and to fund 2nd Line Parades.

To chronicle his first tour with an electric band in seven years, Bob Mould will film a tomorrow’s (Oct. 7) show at the 9:30 Club in his Washington, D.C., home for a live DVD. “It will be a seven-camera shoot with the same crew that [drummer] Brendan [Canty] uses for [the live DVD series] ‘Burn To Shine,'” Mould told Billboard.com last night (Oct. 5) after his show at New York’s Irving Plaza.

The trek, which winds down Oct. 15 in Los Angeles, has found Mould performing everything from Husker Du classics (“Makes No Sense At All,” “Celebrated Summer,” “Chartered Trips,” “I Apologize”) to solo cuts (“Egoverride,” “See a Little Light”) and songs from his sting fronting rock trio Sugar (“A Good Idea,” “Changes,” “If I Can’t Change Your Mind,” “The Act We Act”).

Mould is also playing a healthy dose of his new album, “Body of Song,” released in late July via Yep Roc. The set, which features Fugazi drummer Canty on drums, debuted at No. 22 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart.

Having rocked out for the past month, Mould will take some time off before returning the road for an 11-date acoustic tour that gets underway Nov. 11 in Cleveland.

Here are Bob Mould’s acoustic dates:

Nov. 11: Cleveland (Grog Shop)
Nov. 12: Indianapolis (Vogue)
Nov. 13: Madison, Wis. (Stage Door)
Nov. 15: Milwaukee, Wis. (Shank Hall)
Nov. 16: Ann Arbor, Mich. (the Ark)
Nov. 18: Louisville, Ky. (Headliners)
Nov. 19: Columbus, Ohio (Little Brother’s)
Nov. 25: Annapolis, Md. (Ram’s Head Tavern
Nov. 29: Alexandria, Va. (Birchmere)
Dec. 2: Philadelphia (North Star)
Dec. 3: Brooklyn, N.Y. (North Six)

Source billboard.com.

When you pay a thousand bucks for a concert ticket, there better be a damn good reason. And, Wednesday night at Chicago’s House of Blues, there was one. The final show on Pearl Jam’s tour wasn’t on the original itinerary, but once Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans and its surrounding areas, an encore was in order. With all proceeds — including merchandise sales — going toward Katrina relief, Pearl Jam headlined the relatively intimate venue, bringing Robert Plant and the Strange Sensation along for support. And the inspired pairing of frontman Eddie Vedder and Plant brought the worthy evening’s loosest, most raucous moments.

The price of admission included nearly two hours of Pearl Jam’s catalog, ranging from Ten’s “Evenflow” and “Porch” to more obscure tracks like “Man of the Hour” and “I Got Id.” It was a sermon- and filibuster-free night, devoid of cracks at the Commander in Chief and without a rendition of the band’s vitriolic “Bushleaguer.” Vedder’s first mention of Katrina came during the first encore, when he briefly acknowledged FEMA’s failures before adding, “Hopefully they’ll learn in the future.” That was as didactic as it got.

With a stellar set already behind them, Pearl Jam’s second encore made the ticket price seem like a bargain. The band began it with the Yield song “Given to Fly” — a track both the Seattle rockers and Led Zeppelin have acknowledged owes a debt to the Seventies veterans’ “Going to California.” Vedder went so far as to dedicate the song to Plant and, as it tapered off, the Strange Sensation supplanted Pearl Jam, with Plant, who’d performed a seven-song opening set, appearing at stage left to transform the song into the tune that inspired it. Vedder, bassist Jeff Ament and guitarist Mike McCready stood back and were regaled by the Tall Cool One.

Next, Pearl Jam jumped back in so that Vedder and Plant could trade verses on rock & roll standards “Little Sister” and the appropriate “Money (That’s What I Want).” Plant dusted off a song he’s never performed live (or just doesn’t remember performing live), the In Through the Out Door pop nugget “Fool in the Rain.” One thing’s for certain, neither he nor Vedder remembered the words, and flubbed them often. Afterwards, Plant smiled and conceded, “I never remember the lyrics to me own songs.” Warts and all, it was a classic moment, one that would only be upstaged by the show closer, Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World,” which featured Plant on — drum roll, please — guitar. McCready could be seen actually teaching Plant the chord changes as the supercharged anthem rolled on.

Source rollingstone.com.

Just as fans begin storming the stores for the long-awaited Extraordinary Machine, Fiona Apple has announced a three-week U.S. tour beginning just before Thanksgiving.

Fans have been lusting after Extraordinary Machine for several years, enduring countless rumors and a leaked early version, most of which was later scrapped.

The album – her first since 1999’s When The Pawn… – appears to be living up to the hype, immediately hitting No. 1 on iTunes and garnering a host of rave reviews.

Apple’s first major tour in more than five years begins November 22 at Portland, Ore.’s Roseland Theatre. She’ll hit theatres including San Francisco’s Warfield, Chicago’s Riviera and several House of Blues venues on the trek.

Two shows are planned for Philadelphia’s Tower Theater just before the tour wraps at New York City’s Nokia Theatre Times Square December 11.

The singer/songwriter’s last tour was a two-month jaunt in the spring of 2000.

Source pollstar.com.

On Friday, Oct 7, O’Brien will turn over his entire show to the band, which is in New York for seven sold-out engagements at Madison Square Garden.

The NBC show has never before devoted itself entirely to a musical guest, although it gave major time a few years back to a holiday appearance by bandleader Max Weinberg’s other employer, Bruce Springsteen.

O’Brien is a big U2 fan, and made a personal connection by talking at length with Bono during breaks in rehearsals for the band’s “Saturday Night Live” appearance last season, Pitt said.

Source: billboard