2010

Words and Images: Andrew Bender

All Good Review 2010 – Days 3-4 – No Expectations

Day 3:

Every music festival is different & I try to plan things out and have some idea of what to expect when going to a festival for the first time. However, as much as I might try to make things happen according to plan, or figure out what to expect in advance, festivals are usually best approached with a fair bit of planning & plenty of flexibility. Being able to surrender to the flow & let go of expectations is essential to enjoying 40+ bands in four days.

Missing the morning sets at the Campground Stage by the Brew and Rubblebucket, I took a scenic walk to the festival box office tent to replace my broken plastic wristband. Festival security staff were truly wonderful the whole weekend, and I didn’t hear or see a nitrous tank the whole time. I recently heard that the festival security had caught all of the large distributors going into the festival. I did get a second hand report of one tank in the campground on Sunday afternoon, but it sounded more like a personal tank. If I had to guess, I’d say somebody was selling some of his own personal N2O for a little dough, and not part of a highly organized criminal operation.

• Previously on HT: All Good Festival Pt. 1

I made it out to see my good friends from Ann Arbor, the Macpodz in the first set of the day on the main Dragon Stage. In some ways the ‘podz represent everything that’s good and weird about southeast Michigan. They blend funk, rock, jazz, latin beats with Nick Ayers’ percussion and Ross Huff’s hot trumpet trading licks with Jesse Clayton’s dexterous keyboard work, all kept in time by Griffin Bastian’s tight kit drumming and Brennan Andes’ high energy bass playing. These guys are up-and-comers on the festival circuit, and it was a real treat to see them on the big stage. Even in the heat of the noon sun, the Macpodz had a nice crowd getting down to the first party of the day in the festival bowl.

READ ON for more from Andrew on All Good…

In advance of a July 22 gig at Radio City Music Hall, Widespread Panic will make their first-ever visit to Late Night with Jimmy Fallon tonight on NBC. Tuesday finds

Words and Images: Benji Feldheim

Pitchfork Music Festival 2010 Day Two

On the second day of Chicago’s own celebration of fringe music, the Pitchfork Music Festival, we found proof that a steady continuity of energetic music is far more important than adding performers that are, you know…different.

Day two’s more oppressive heat than the day before held throughout. And while that only exacerbated a few performers’ middling attempts to hold the audience’s attention, other groups released real energy that carried the crowd until the night.

Walking in during Jon Spencer Blues Explosion was a welcome as hell contrast to the dead silence I met the day before. Raucous, grinding and noisy rock coming from two guitars and a drum kit rolled through the north end of Union Park, as JSBX added heat to the day. Spencer’s Elvis-twinged yells and pensive spoken word crushed into furious distorted chords and bends from the guitars, with pounding drums keeping a heavy heartbeat to the fray.

Take the taste for raw and experimental production of New York’s downtown musicians, and root it in dirty Memphis garage rockabilly and you get the explosion. JSBX is a reminder that music experiments can still just kick ass, especially when the set closed with a huge vamp, colored by Theremin yelps.

• Pitchfork Festival: Day One

READ ON for more on the second day of the Pitchfork Fest…

Along with The Wetlands, the 712 Club, the Nightingale Bar and the Fore-N-Aft, New York City’s Irving Plaza holds a special place in God Street Wine lore as one of the “home” venues for the band. Unlike the Gramercy, IP was the site of many special GSW shows during the group’s hey day.

[All photos by Joe Madonna]

Let’s compare the group’s four reunion shows to a typical high school reunion. If last weekend’s concerts at Gramercy were the more formal part of the reunion at a hotel ballroom, last night’s GSW show at Irving felt like the after party in the basement we all used to hang out at back in the day.

Set 1: Epilog, Wendy, Big Papa, Lighthouse, Crazy Head -> Goodnight Gretchen -> Hammer and Spike -> Stupid Hat, Bring Back the News

Set 2: Stranger, Mile By Mile, Epiphany, I Still Like You -> Water -> Feel The Pressure -> Morning Cigarettes -> Waiting for the Tide, Get on the Train (with Love Light Tease)

Encore: Any Major Dude, Brick House

Encore2: Thirsty

Opening with Epilog – a tune drummer Tom Osander picked as his favorite God Street Wine original in our interview with him – the quintet seemed more comfortable on stage and were a bit looser than at the Gramercy shows. That’s not to say that musically they didn’t nail it again, because they did, the members of the band just seemed less intent on not messing something up and more intent on enjoying the experience.

• GSW Reunion: Night One, Night Two
• Audio: Scott Brown’s Audience Recording
• Video: Crazy Head, Epilog, Morning Cig

Over the course of two lengthy sets God Street Wine mixed originals that weren’t performed last week with some of their best material that had already been played at the Gramercy. I liken the repeats to getting to spend some bonus time with a long lost friend after finally reconnecting last weekend. The band’s comfort level came through in the repeats and songs like Gretchen, Epiphany and Waiting For The Tide were even better the second time around.

READ ON for more on God Street Wine @ IP…

Words and Images: Benji Feldheim

Pitchfork Music Festival 2010

Day One:

Leave it to a Swedish pop singer to save the first day of the 2010 Pitchfork Music Festival from a numbing heat haze.

Wait, really? Yes. Her name is Robyn, and she can sing and dance globe-wide circles around most other dance-beat laden pop singers. Take some tips here Gaga.

With a scorching sun beating down on about 18,000 folks out of the estimated 54,000 expected to attend Pitchfork this weekend, Robyn put on a powerhouse set of electro dance, high register harmonies and a fiendish sexual energy that woke the crowd up.

“Is it always this hot Chicago?” Robyn said between songs.

With a live band tweaking synth knobs and playing both electric and no-plug drums, Robyn showed the difference between a pop singer who actually writes and enjoys her own music, as opposed to those on a record label leash. Straight ahead beats that suddenly shifted into faster paces, backed by a rolling array of clean synth bleeps and bloops and topped by Robyn’s crystal clear singing and energy made the set a gem.

READ ON for more from Benji on Day One of the P4K Festival…

HT’s Benji Feldheim will be representing us at the Pitchfork Festival in Chicago this weekend. While we wait for Benji to file his report from the meeting of the hipster