Last week the producers of the High Sierra Music Festival posted on the event’s official Facebook page asking for suggestions about bands to perform at next year’s festival. The GSW
As we first reported, the latest archival release from Phish comes in the form of Coral Sky – a 2-DVD set recorded on November 2, 1996 in West Palm Beach,
When Michael Franti followed up his ambitious, politically-charged 2006 release Yell Fire! with dancehall mass-appeal on All Rebel Rockers back in 2008, it wasn’t entirely clear if he took a palpable 180° away from his activism, or more likely, just got swept up in his Jamaican studio environs. Apparently, the former proves truer as his latest effort, The Sound of Sunshine, takes it a step further as he reunites with Sly & Robbie in Jamaica for a portion of the record, and leans heavily on the formula that produced his first big hit the last time around: catchy-as-hell reggae grooves, dancehall sit-ins, and a fat dose of the Edge’s delay-laden guitar tone.
[Photo by James Minchin]
In retrospect, Franti’s Yell Fire! project served a contradictory purpose in that what he expected to drive him toward an album of 15 angry songs, taught him about the importance of simply making people feel good with his music.
“I get scared, man,” Michael emphasizes in reminiscing about that period. “Being in Iraq especially, I mean, I hate to say it, but I couldn’t wait to leave. And I say that, because I met so many people there who were beautiful, kind, generous, and loving people, both Iraqis and Americans, who couldn’t leave. When I was just able to hop on a plane and get out of there, they were stuck in that situation. So, one of key things I learned there came from playing music on the streets for Iraqi families. A lot of times, I’d start by playing some quiet political songs and they would turn to me and say, ‘that’s really nice, but play something that makes us laugh and sing.’ It was a real lesson for me in making happy music.”
READ ON for more of Ryan’s chat with Michael Franti…
Wow, I can’t believe we’ve made almost three-quarters of the way through the year and we’ve haven’t had the time to get the HT Crew together for a solid hang to talk music, while chowing down on a tasty spread of burgers, dogs, kebabs and whatnot. With summer officially coming to an end yesterday, we thought we’d invite the gang over to HT Headquarters to enjoy the quickly disappearing last warm days of the year, throw some large hunks of meat on the grill and crack open a few Long Trail Harvest Ales for another rousing edition of At The Barbecue.
This time around we’re having everyone share with the class what they did on their summer vacation by discussing their favorite show of the summer – which we’ve roughly defined as anything seen between Labor Day and Memorial Day weekends. So with that in mind let’s get to it…
Scott Bernstein – Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers / MMJ – August 24 – Izod Center – East Rutherford, NJ
Picking my favorite concert of the summer wasn’t easy as there were about five concerts that all could’ve easily been my choice. While Phish’s second Camden show was fairly epic, God Street Wine’s reunion shows were a blast and catching Squeeze in the middle of Bryant Park was sublime, I’ve decided that the My Morning Jacket/Tom Petty show I saw at the Izod Center on August 24th was my favorite concert of the season. MMJ tore through all of their classics and didn’t hold anything back in tackling their best material, while Petty did a great job of presenting a mini-set of songs from his latest album smack dab in the middle of a flawless greatest hits set.
Not only was the music great but I was very surprised by the enthusiasm displayed by the concertgoers in my section. I expected a crowd of folks who were content to sit all night and instead most stood and danced with joy and excitement. I took great pleasure in watching MMJ win over Petty fans and I do believe The Heartbreakers are extremely underrated as musicians, especially keyboardist Benmont Tench. I tend to focus on the details and watching Tench come up with innovative fills on a variety of vintage keyboards was a revelation. I would’ve never guessed going into the show that MMJ/Petty would be my favorite gig of the summer, but perhaps the lack of expectations and a full, rocking arena led this night to a special place in my heart. Plus, I’m just a sucker for arena rock.
READ ON for more of the HT Staff’s favorite shows of the summer…
The momentum behind Tokyo Police Club’s second proper album, Champ, reached a rolling boil yesterday as the song Gone made an appearance on Gossip Girl. Glad to see TPC getting
We first visited the catalog of Tom Waits a couple of months ago when we made the Cold Water edition of Cover Wars. Goin’ Out West was released on the 1992 Waits album Bone Machine. Fun bonus this week, we’ve got both very old and recent video to compare from two of our four contestants. You don’t see a whole lot of Mid ’90s live concert footage on YouTube, so that was a pleasant surprise to find. Ten points to anyone who can identify what scene in Fight Club features this song.
The Contestants:
British band Gomez leads us off this week with a strong performance from 2005. A fantastic recording of a show that also features covers of The Beatles and Buddy Holly. Audio Source: 1-24-2005
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/gomezwest.mp3]READ ON for the scoop on the rest of this week’s contestants…
Crowdsourcing is all the rage among jambands lately and instead of asking their followers to design merch the Disco Biscuits continue to solicit dream setlists from the fanbase. The jamtronica
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals found themselves in Dallas tonight with a few days off and nothing to do. Potter sent a tweet asking her followers what area to visit
Keller Williams has announced plans for a set of very special East Coast New Year’s Eve concerts. Starting on December 29 in Virginia and concluding on NYE in North Carolina
The Hold Steady have expanded their tour of North America. Currently playing throughout North America, the group have added a series of dates in October and November. Their next show
