October 7, 2010

For this week’s B List, we look at ten musicians who were brought on to help existing bands through tough periods only to leave those  groups shortly thereafter. In most cases the reasons for the musicians departures are unknown because as we discussed in the Unanswered Questions B Lists, bands generally like to keep personnel matters private.

Here’s what we came up with…

1. Gary Cherone in Van Halen: 1998

Van Halen fans around the world were shocked when Gary Cherone of Extreme was announced as Sammy Hagar’s replacement on vocals. The Cherone-fronted band released the underwhelming Van Halen III in 1998 followed by a lengthy world tour. Just as quickly as it began, the Cherone Era ended with a press release describing the split as “both mutual and amicable.”

READ ON for nine more short-lived unions…

God Street Wine guitarists have added another gig to their schedule. In addition to performing tomorrow night, October 8, at Sullivan Hall as part of a birthday party for Alexandra

Phish kicks off its Fall Tour on October 10 with three gigs at the 1st Bank Center in Broomfield, Colorado and I have to admit I am not quite sure what to expect on several fronts. And there’s something sort of exciting about that. There also something extra special about Phish in the Fall as they have proven throughout the years, including 2009 when they tore apart the Northeast in late-November after a glorious performance of the Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main Street at Festival 8 in Indio, CA.

But the last time we saw the band it was wrapping up a somewhat unsteady second leg of summer tour. Yes, the Berkeley Cities is other-worldly (how many recent jams can you hear/feel that connection between the crowd and the band that was felt during that segment?) and the two Alpine Valley shows brought the heat. But overall the shows lacked the creativity and punch of the first leg of the summer. I found it interesting that in Leg 2, there were 10 songs played four times in the 11 shows (Backwards Down the Number Line, Down with Disease, You Enjoy Myself, Possum, Ocelot, Run Like an Antelope, Tweezer, Tweezer Reprise, Mike’s Song and Weekapaug Groove).

Those songs are always in constant rotation so it’s not a huge surprise they saw a lot of action. But in Leg 1 of the summer tour, Phish made such an effort to mix up the setlists, bust out the bust outs and generally catch fans by surprise at least once on most nights. So it was indeed surprising to basically see that approach abandoned for the August shows. Not to mention the fact that they ignored the 15th Anniversary of Jerry Garcia’s death – I don’t want to hear that Quinn the Eskimo was a tribute – and failed to do anything unique in two of the most special musical venues in the country: Berkeley’s Greek Theater and Town Park in Telluride.

READ ON for more of Luke’s preview of Phish Fall Tour…