2009

In this digital age of live shows you can buy after the show and spoiler-free downloads posted minutes after the show lets out, I decided my first try at a Friday Mix Tape will feature tracks from shows that happened in the past seven days. All these tracks come from either bt.etree.org or the Live Music Archive, and none of these tracks are more than a week old.

Leading off we have the Bill Kreutzmann Trio with an extended take on The Dead’s China Cat Sunflower. Next, we turn to Chicago’s Cornmeal, who welcomed both horns and a percussionist to the stage for a Fat Tuesday show with Aiko Aiko. Moving on, the Derek Trucks Band contribute a 17+ minute cover-of-a-cover as they deftly explore John Coltrane’s take on Rodgers/Hammerstein’s My Favorite Things.

READ ON to stream and/or download this week’s Friday Mix Tape…

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…