2009

With the big reunion just a week away, conversations are tending towards guessing the opener. Saxilla nailed this a couple weeks ago with a great post, opening the gates for a wide variety of Hampton opener calls.

In thinking about what the band will open with – no doubt about it, an elusive task – I thought it might be fun to take a quick look back through the annals at some other monumental “theme-based” openers. In other words, in prepping for what will surely be remembered as one of the big moments in the band’s history in Hampton, let’s look back at the times where the band fit their opener to the moment at hand and directly linked their opening song to the surrounding circumstances. Here we go…

Red Rocks, 8/20/93, Divided Sky

For Phish’s inaugural seal cracking of Red Rocks, they kicked off with the geographically fitting Divided Sky. With the gorgeous outdoor venue nestled amidst the Rocky Mountains and surrounded by the Colorado stars, I imagine the Divided Sky opener really fit the scene. They also further hat tipped their surroundings with a Wedge later in the show, where the “Take the Highway, to the Great Divide” also works perfectly as the actual “red rocks” mysteriously sort of pop out of nowhere, are located right along Highway 80, and the audience and stage literally divide the giant rock slabs on both sides.

READ ON for more thematic openers including 1999 and Rhinoceros…

HT reader Opsil32 hipped us to yet another magnificent leak from The Beatles’ vaults. A few days ago we told you about Revolution Take 20 and today we’ve got an

Ovation presents a series of jazz programs on Sunday afternoon starting with a showing of Clint Eastwood’s Bird at Noon. Other programs of interest include a tribute to John Coltrane

This week’s B List looks at ten bands that went on without their fearless leaders. We’re talking about the main creative force not just the lead singer. Team HLA has helped with this post and there have been some healthy debates about what exactly constitutes a band’s leader.

Opinions vary, but here’s what I settled on with their help…

1. The Doors – When anyone thinks of The Doors they think of both Jim Morrison’s songs and voice. Morrison died in 1971 and his three surviving bandmates went on as a trio for two unsuccessful albums before disbanding.

2. The Dead – After Jerry Garcia died in 1995 the surviving members of the Grateful Dead thought better of moving on without Captain Trips for a few years. In 1998 all of them except for drummer Bill Kreutzmann reformed as The Other Ones for that summer’s Furthur Festival. When Billy joined his old bandmates in 2002 they kept The Other Ones moniker for a while until they decided to go back to be calling The Dead for Summer Tour 2003.

READ ON for rundowns of seven other leaderless bands and more…

Did you ever see the Seinfeld episode where a car rental company doesn’t honor Jerry’s reservation for a car? “But the reservation holds the car, that’s why you have reservations.”

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to the Umphrey’s McGee Variety Show(s)! Buckle up, take a seat and enjoy the show!

It would have been nice to have a ring master introduce the guys at the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta last Thursday and Friday, but alas it was not to be. Even without a ring master, Umphrey’s McGee didn’t hesitate to give their all at each night’s performance.

It’s taken me a while to finally realize that I should never go to a show with any sort of preconceived notions or expectations, because when you do that you’re ultimately setting up both yourself and your favorite band for failure. One of the major factors as to why I enjoy myself at an Umphrey’s McGee concert is because the band enjoys themselves on stage. And when they are there to have a good time – you’re almost guaranteed the same privilege. Their interplay and enjoyment on stage is what keeps me going back as often as humanly possible.

READ ON for more from Jen on Umphrey’s Variety Playhouse shows…

Earlier today, a couple of Phish-related blogs picked up on a message from a Twitter account labeled Page_McConnell saying “is absolutely amazed, exhausted and exhilarated, but it’ll all be worth

Jerry Garcia Band – Evangeline