Phish will return to the stage at the American Airlines Arena tonight for a special three-set New Year’s Eve show in Miami. I’ll be tweeting from the venue for @YEMblog. READ ON for the setlist once the show starts…
As we continue our year end house cleaning around these parts, I thought I’d chime in once again with a list of my own. As has become the half yearly tradition around these parts, in lieu of a traditional top ten list we opt to do something a little different with our Top 6 of both halves of the year.
While my Top 6 Of The First 6 seemed to have some pretty obvious choices, the second half of the year’s list is mostly dominated by debut records – so let’s get on with it…
I’ve had Fanfarlo’s debut album for so long, that I almost forgot that it officially got released this September. Loaded with orchestral folk-rock that has become all the rage in recent years, the album features everything from saws and clarinets to cellos and ukuleles to melodicas and thermins that all combine with lead singers Simon Balthazar’s booming vocals to produce a cacophony of melodic noise that doesn’t fall far from the Neutral Milk Hotel/Arcade Fire tree.
READ ON for the rest of my Top 6 Of The Last 6…
It all started on a cold winter night in Springfield, Massachusetts seventeen years ago, when Phish dusted off Timber Ho! and Ride Captain Ride to treat some of their die-hard fans to a special concert on the night before New Year’s. Ever since that time, December 30th has been the Phish national holiday – a night when you can expect bust outs and jams galore, a tradition that continued in a big way at the American Airlines Arena last night in Miami where Phish blew their proverbial load multiple times on December 30.
Usually an opener gives you some sort of sense of where things are going and the first Soul Shakedown Party of 3.0 told us to fasten our seat belts. It was the first of SEVEN bust outs the band would drop in the opening stanza, an unheard of figure. The venue was more crowded on night three so the roars the band would get as they broke something out would be extremely loud, something that seemed to push the band to greater heights. After the Soul Shakedown, Runaway Jim opener we got our second cover of the night courtesy of ZZ Top – an intense Jesus Just Left Chicago that gave Trey and Page large windows of opportunity to show off their skills. Trey in particular seemed to really enjoy toying with the tempo during his solo.
Mike Gordon has been going long with some of his 2009 cover selections including She Still Thinks I Care by George Jones in Hampton and When The Cactus Is In Bloom by Bill Monroe in Asheville. Tonight’s random Mike cover was the rollicking Dixie Cannonball by Hank Williams Sr. and it added to the madness we were witnessing. We were only four songs into the set and we’d seen three bust outs. READ ON for more…
We’re just a few short hours away from that big ball dropping in Times Square that will not only put an end to year, but also to the decade as well. We here at Hidden Track want to wish everyone a very Happy New Year and we’ll be back and better than ever in 2010! Have fun, be safe and cheers!!!
I have the distinct honor of bringing you our last link dump of the year and the decade, enjoy…
Finally, last week on Christmas Eve folks walking on Dublin’s famed Grafton Street were treated to a surprise busking session by a rather impressive ensemble of Irish musicians as Bono, Glen Hassard (The Swell Season/The Frames), Damian Rice and Mundy treated the gathering crowd to an hour long set that included covers of Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door and Stand By Me. The impromptu performance raised money for Simon Community, an organization which serves Ireland’s homeless population. Check out some of the performances from that night after the jump…
