Michael Franti & Spearhead return with their much anticipated album, THE SOUND OF SUNSHINE, on August 24th through Capitol Records/Boo Boo Wax. The album’s first singles are already gaining momentum
Phish celebrated Father’s Day this evening with their followers at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, AKA SPAC, in Saratoga Springs, NY. The show opened with Brother and during the middle
Phish was all business for the first 2:45 of Friday’s show in Hartford, the second of two nights at the Comcast Theatre. But the encore, which featured a strange dedication and the same song played twice is probably what will be remembered most about this night.
Fee was an interesting choice for an opener on a Friday, when the crowd seemed ready for something with more energy. The song is fairly rare these days – it was played only once in 2009 – but doesn’t do much to get the crowd going and this version wasn’t really any exception. Rift was close and had some good moments but was not quite as tight as it should be as Trey struggled with the “darkness the light from above could not reach” lyric and several of the licks in the buildup and peak. The set got cooking briefly with a very strong Wolfman’s Brother that started funky but turned into more of a straight ahead rock and roll jam and the energy began to rise in the venue.
New Phish songs always sound strange the first time you hear them live. Everyone sort of looks around and shrugs and has that “I have no clue what this is” look on their faces. Summer of ’89 certainly drew those looks on Friday night. I can’t say I enjoyed the song all that much but I’ll reserve full judgment until it’s been worked out a bit. The beginning struck me as a Water in the Sky/Driver hybrid that tried to gain steam with a jam segment that didn’t go very far. But we’ll see how the song develops if it remains in the rotation.
READ ON for more from Luke on Night Two of Hartford…
On September 28th, Vagrant Records will release the latest studio album from Pete Yorn. Produced by Frank Black (The Pixies), this visceral 11-song collection follows Yorn’s two 2009 releases. Back
EELS leader Mark Oliver Everett, aka E, calls the 14 track album the final installment of a trilogy that began with HOMBRE LOBO (June 2009) and END TIMES (January 2010).
The Tweezer Reprise madness that Phish started on Friday night in Hartford by performing the caffeinated song twice to end the show continued last night at the Saratoga Performing Arts
Phish began the heart of summer tour, four nights in a row in the Northeast, hitting the stage on a cool early summer night in Hartford with a classic Punch You In The Eye opener, and in hindsight the choice set the tone for the rest of the show: a nice show with no huge surprises, a few inconsistencies and some smoldering highlights.
Page was sounding particularly good on the piano here, as he would throughout the whole night, but everyone had ample chances to shine right from the start. Fishman offered up surprisingly dense drumming while a slow, lumbering Ocelot lazily lurked through the forest by night (this song seems so comfortable and warm now, not as peppy and bright as it did this time last year). Mike was slapping hard and bumping the low end on an excellent, welcome Dinner and a Movie, and carried the beginning of the jam on the following Stash to a low, still space. The movement there began to stretch and push at the boundaries, Page’s piano darting above Trey’s reserved lead which was buried in the core of the sound. But eventually the guitar grew louder and began to dominate, pulling the whole jam with it like some sonic groundswell erupting into hectic madness that literally skidded into the finale–the whole improv was really a single uphill movement.
Esther (complete with a Sing a Random Note secret language tease to which no one responded, and had less to do with the old gag than the enormous circus tent set up down the street) was another treat hearkening back to Phish’s early days, sugary rainbow pop lights coloring the stage while Esther and the puppet were adrift, and shifting to foggy purples as they fell earthward again. The truly stand out moment of the set, though, was Walk Away. Something about Hartford on a summer weeknight begs for classic rock, and the James Gang cover was immediately bristling with energy, Trey shredding in his best form. But when it seemed like the zenith was at hand, he kept pushing the music higher and higher, running over a whole series of ever greater peaks and sending the crowd into wild fits.
READ ON for more on Dan’s thoughts on Hartford…
As reported in Rolling Stone, Leonard Cohen is currently working on a new album that he hopes have finished by spring. It will be his first disc of fresh material
Last Sunday night in Hershey, Phish ran into curfew issues before they were able to cap the night with Tweezer Reprise so when the band finally did play Tweezer again,
Drivin’ N’ Cryin’ – 12/26/2009 Atlanta, GA [download] [stream] Drivin’ N’ Cryin’ is without a doubt one of the best kept secrets in the history of Rock & Roll in
