After a spectacular two-night stand in Albany, Phish returns to Madison Square Garden tonight for the first time since December 31, 2002. Our friend SuperDee will be tweeting about tonight’s show @YEMblog starting immediately. Other options for experiencing the concerts from home include Phishtwit and Hoodstream. We’ll have a full report tomorrow.
READ ON for the setlist once the show starts [via Phish.net]
For this edition of Track By Track, singer/songwriter/banjo player Danny Barnes shares a quick factoid about each track on his latest album, Pizza Box.
Caveman
I read the bible a good bit and one day I realized that the human condition really hasn’t changed that much. We live a little longer and don’t work as hard, but we really are just animals, or guys with sticks and rocks, to a degree. This has my country funk thing and a delta blues construction. Dave Matthews provides the levity, that’s him grumbling and whooping.
Road
When i was young, Black Sabbath Vol. 4, Aerosmith Toys in the Attic, T. Rex Tanx, The Sex Pistols record and stuff like that were a huge influence on me. I love the way those records sounded and I searched for that feel in this song: like you are riding in a fast car…with the windows down on hot a summer night. The poetry in this song is an amalgam of several stories i’ve heard from friends that went to the joint. One of my friends said it was a relief to finally get away from the death trip and get off dope. It’s also about walking away from your own issues and moving metaphysically to a healthier place. Boyd Tinsley loaned me the guitar I used on this and the Marshall amp.
READ ON for a taste of Pizza Box and for more stories about each track…
Back on December 2, 1983, Phish played their first gig for an unappreciative crowd at the Harris-Millis Cafeteria on the campus of the University of Vermont. Tonight, the band celebrates
So far all but one of the fabulous Widespread Panic Archives releases have been from pristine multi-track recordings. Today, the band announced that they will start releasing two-track recordings with
Last Week’s Sauce features recordings of shows from the previous week.
[Thanks to stober for this week’s photo]
Artist & Title: Brooklyn Bowl All Stars – Dear Mr. Fantasy
Date & Venue: 2009-11-28 Brooklyn Bowl, New York NY
Taper & Show Download: Dave Mallick
On November 28th, the Brooklyn Bowl hosted a care package assembly party and people were encouraged to show up with items to donate and/or cash donations for the troops overseas. The evening concluded with a performance from the Brooklyn Bowl All Stars, which featured members of Stephen Kellogg & The Sixers, State Radio, Guster, and fun. The Brooklyn Bowl will be the scene of Phish after-shows the next three nights with a great lineup of Everyone Orchestra tonight and tomorrow, and Motion Potion on Friday.
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/brooklynsauce.mp3]READ ON for tracks from From Good Homes, Guitarness, Phish and WSP…
For those of you just tuning in to Dream Focused, we have been examining Umphrey’s McGee’s new style of jamming; a departure from the ADD driven metal mania and an exploration into a cohesive groove.
[Photo from 11/11 – Toronto by Tammy Wetzel]
This edition finds the boys at The Mesa Theater in Grand Junction, CO. Off the beaten path and deep into tour, the band was in excellent form for a packed house and wrote an amazing setlist. Not only was the song selection fantastic, the improvisation this night was some of the best all fall.
We start with a particularly groovy version of August. The song has what Umphreaks call an “implied” Jimmy Stewart. This Stew is patient and winds up being a fairly danceable section with a great Bayliss solo to end the tune.
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/august.mp3]The next section is a run of songs that start Set II. This is how you want a second set to open; old school segue with very fluid and tight improv sections. Front Porch > Resolution > Front Porch winds up going many different places with the utmost attention to the crowd’s energy.
READ ON for more Umphrey’s audio from Grand Junction…
Actor Jason Segel has previously showcased his knack for clever songwriting in Forgetting Sarah Marshall with his unforgettable songs for his character’s Dracula musical. The How I Met Your Mother
Words: Jonathan ” Kos” Kosakow
Video & Photos: Curtis Stiles
In August of 2007, a blue station wagon pulled up to the Rockwood Music Hall on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. After checking to make sure they were legally parked, Jeff Prystowsky and Ben Knox Miller unloaded their own gear and carted it to the small stage. Rockwood, though comfortable and with pristine sound, only holds a handful of people, so it’s not spacious enough to host any large band – or even a small one with a large following. On that night, the room was hardly at capacity, but the two members who comprised The Low Anthem were able to grab hold the ears of every listener in the small, dimly lit brick room. And, based on the post-show conversation, I was not the only one who felt they had a music-making future ahead of them.
I saw them again two years later at The Bell House in Brooklyn, in August of 2009, opening for Surprise Me Mr. Davis featuring Marco Benevento (a welcome addition to the bill). As Miller told me, Surprise Me Mr. Davis was the first band to ask The Low Anthem to tour with them, so it was a comfortable match-up for both (and it made for a nice encore as they joined forces on a couple of tunes). The video below is a gospel standard the trio played that night, Don’t Let Nobody Turn You Around…
Though I had seen the Anthem multiple times between these two shows, it was interesting and inspiring to watch the group, now a trio including Jocie Adams, gain popularity while also growing musically.
READ ON for more from the Noise Report…
Pretty Lights performing at the Fillmore at Irving Plaza in New York City on November 19th, 2009.
In the past five years, Great American Taxi has become one of the best-known headliners on the jam band circuit, their uninhibited sound a swinging concoction of swampy blues, progressive
