The Justice Department has approved the Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger after a year-long investigation. While we’d usually greet such a seemingly anti-competitive decision with anger and animosity, the Justice Department has
moe. impressed this past Friday night with a guest-laden benefit show at the Roseland Ballroom that kicked off the band’s 20th Anniversary Tour. I attended the show with HT/Glide’s Chad Berndtson and Chad put together a fun list of 10 Great Moments From moe.’s WHY Benefit for Glide.
[All photos by Jeremy Gordon]
My favorite guest of the evening was Marco Benevento. Chad explains why…
8. The Marco effect
Every guest except Sanborn saw one or more of their originals or regular songs get a full-on moe treatment, for example, and a reading of Marco’s “The Real Morning Party” was a subversive delight. Not really collaborative in the sense of the moe guys soloing over a Marco groove, but rather moe as Marco’s backing band for a stretch: the heat of a full band behind the zany keyboardist, and a band that also had clear respect and admiration for the song. Later, Marco had another “Marco moment”: he took hold of Blue Jeans Pizza and shook it up, yielding something that split the difference between circa 2003 Duo jazz-rock and the meatier end of rock ‘n’ roll moe. Marco was the night’s MVP, counting guests and members of moe., and he made his presence felt everywhere.
Be sure to read Chad’s article for the rest of the list. We’ve got the rest of Jeremy’s stunning photos from Friday night so READ ON for the gallery…
Compassion is a luxury to those that can’t afford it. Tucked away, far away, in the back of one’s life, is the idea that what drives, what motivates, is the survival instinct. It is in the basic fundamental building blocks of most life forms on this rock, and it certainly digs into the heart of man. We wake up, we breathe in and out, and we seek food and shelter, and then? What next? Ahh…that depends on the person, right? Nurture? Nature?
And what if one is focused on some sort of self-centered, narrow-minded set of goals? Does it truly limit, or does it make one merely a well-educated creature, barely living like some sort of half-mad monster? We dig into the deep recesses of the human soul, pondering these expensive questions, in this week’s Hidden Flick, Tsotsi.
Filmed in South Africa, directed by Gavin Hood, from a novel written by Athol Fugard, which Hood adapted for the cinema, and winner of the 2005 Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, this dramatic story of one man’s redemption has been chosen because a) I believe that despite its international accolades, most people in the West have not seen it, nor relate to its premise, b) it is an unsentimental definition of a spiritual rags to riches tale, and c) the level of compassion achieved by the lead character is quite astounding after one witnesses the evil at the root of his soul in the opening sequences. READ ON for more on this week’s Hidden Flick, Tsotsi…
A number of incredible videos from Bustle In Your Hedgerow’s most recent show at Brooklyn Bowl have been uploaded to YouTube by our pal Sunil. Just watch as Scott Metzger
On paper there is nothing cool about Vampire Weekend. They’re four Ivy League graduates that play indie-pop music inspired by African rhythms and guitar with lyrics full of literary references, visits to foreign countries and summers spent in New England on records put out by a small UK-based label. With barely two-dozen songs in their catalog, these fresh-faced early 20-somethings have managed a meteoric rise in a just a few short years selling close to half a million copies of their infectious self-titled
[All Photos By Jeremy Gordon]
Last week Ezra Koening & Co. returned to New York City, playing their first proper hometown headlining shows since December of 2008 taking over three different size venues over the course of three nights. VW played a 3,000+ person theater, a mid-size and small club – all of which sold out within minutes. The second of their mini-NYC tour brought them to the historic Webster Hall – a venue that these splits time between hosting concerts and dance parties – located in a nebulous area between Manhattan’s Union Square and East Village.
Decorated with a giant backdrop that featured the cover art for Contra, Vampire Weekend strolled onto the stage shortly after 10 PM to the strains of DJ Kool’s club anthem Let Me Clear My Throat, before launching straight into the synth-y, drum machine laced White Sky to the roar of a packed house of enthusiastic fans – many of which, from eavesdropped conversations, were college classmates with the foursome. Over the next hour and change the band ran through almost every song in their repertoire as the floor bounced and pulsed from the dancing and pogo-ing masses.
READ ON for more of my thoughts and Jeremy’s fantastic pictures…
Benefit shows with pre-determined guests are by nature a skewed perspective: neither the band, nor the guests are in their regular elements, so you hope for the best, knowing you’ll get some fun collaborations heavy on cursory pleasure and maybe not a lot of deep-digging.Kudos to moe., then, for bucking the trend. Their 20th anniversary tour opened with impressive aplomb at Roseland Ballroom Friday, and thanks in part to a mix of well-chosen, well-utilized co-conspirators, the band was fun, groovy, limber and exploratory, with nary a dull moment.
