A few weeks back we told you about Crimson, White & Indigo – the latest archival release from the Grateful Dead featuring every note recorded at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia
Drive-By Truckers @ HOB Boston – April 2, 2010
On Saturday morning I was trying to shake the fog from my brain & poke around Drive-By Truckers sites to confirm a setlist. I was greeted on the NineBullets board with the type of exhausted, post-visceral reactions one comes to expect following great shows. “Boston was left a smoldering wreck,” said one. “Awesome, awesome, awesomeness!” read another.
As a paid observer, I’m asked to articulate those types of feelings in a more sophisticated fashion (or something), but really, why overdo it? The Drive-By Truckers were off the fucking chain at Boston’s House of Blues on Friday. They rocked, ripsnorted, ran ragged and swashbuckled their way through two hours, 20 minutes of positively nasty, shaggily soulful rock ‘n’ roll and alt-country. Are they at this moment the country’s best live rock band? Well, leave that to the wags that decide such things. But, hell, they’re in the conversation.
My Truckers affections go back more than a decade at this point, and like many in the Truckers faithful, I agree that the departure of Jason Isbell in 2007 meant the departure of the band’s best songwriter. (Isbell’s own 400 Unit, a more R&B-flavored quartet, is coming on strong and with a bit more seasoning may end up the equal of his former band.) And yet, the Truckers sound like a fully formed unit again, with co-founders Mike Cooley and Patterson Hood as fierce as ever. The Big To-Do, the band’s ninth album, doesn’t have the polish of its predecessor, Brighter Than Creation’s Dark, but there’s strength – a hardiness – in the new songs, too, that makes them more heavy and immediate.
READ ON for more of Chad’s thoughts on the Truckers in Boston…
Metric performing at the Showbox in Seattle, WA on March 21st, 2010.
Equal parts quirky and kick-ass, Dr Dog has defined the D.I.Y approach to making music. In the span of a decade, they've redefined and reaffirmed the process of building a grassroots fan-base with a series of increasingly sophisticated recordings and regular touring. The logical culmination of their creative voyage was signing to Anti- and recording their newest album – Shame, Shame.
Lady Gaga will make her debut Lollapalooza appearance this summer. The pop singer will be joined by Green Day and a reunited Soundgarden as headliners during the 2010 installment of
With the 2010 baseball season upon us, we wanted to continue a Hidden Track tradition started in 2007 where we chat with of our favorite musicians about their love for America’s past time. For the first part of this year’s Baseball Preview, we asked them for predictions on the upcoming season, while the second part of our questionnaire got a bit more personal.
Batting cleanup in the 2010 Hidden Track Baseball Preview lineup is Tea Leaf Green’s drummer – Scott Rager. Scott participated in our very first baseball preview back in ’07 and we’re excited to have him back to talk about his beloved Dodger, his thoughts on the upcoming season, his favorite ballpark and many other subjects. Check it out…
Hidden Track: What team do you think will win the World Series and what team will they beat in that final series?
Scott Rager: My gut tells me the Yankees will beat the Phillies again in the World Series but my heart tells me the Dodgers will take it all this year.
HT: Which pitchers do you think will win the AL and NL Cy Young awards?
SR: Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers. C.C. Sabathia of the Yankees.
HT: Which players do you think will win the AL and NL MVP awards?
SR: Ichiro Suzuki of the Mariners, Chase Utley of the Phillies.
READ ON for more of our baseball convo with Scott of Tea Leaf Green…
The folks at iClips have announced a series of free webcasts from some of this summer’s jam-friendly festivals dubbed The Couch Tour. The Couch Tour starts on May 14th-16th with
Colorado’s big festival aims to get bigger in year number three as the Mile High Music Festival returns to Dick’s Sporting Goods Park outside of Denver on August 14 and
SLM, The Hue, Fatbook @ the Miramar Theatre – March 18, 2010
Words: Cal Roach
Milwaukee should be very grateful for the return of the Miramar Theatre as a live music venue; not only is it a great sounding little room, but they serve quality beers at a good price. The place brings in a wide variety of local and national talent, but it has become known primarily as a haven for jambands and metal. In a somewhat curious triple bill on March 18th, fans got a chance to experience both specialties, with mixed results.
[Photos of The Hue by Joel Berk]
The first act of the night was Fatbook, based in Appleton, WI, but drawing members from Minneapolis, Chicago and other Midwestern hubs. You’d expect such a far-flung collective to have little opportunity for rehearsal and thus lack cohesion, but these guys gave no such impression. The first few tunes were lackadaisical, with no real excitement from the three-piece horn section. Singer/guitarist Harjinder Bedi was giving off a lazy Jack Johnson-meets-Jamiroquai vibe, and nothing original was going on via lyric or music. But as the show progressed, the band unveiled some pretty terrific horn arrangements, jazzy but melding unscrupulously with Police-style Caucasian reggae. The motley band began to show remarkable synergy, whether crafting a murky moodscape or generating a kinetic dance groove. No long jams, short and purposeful, often integrating the horns really well into the improv.
Ultimately, Fatbook (Bedi in particular) needs to develop a more original sound, something to set it apart from the pack stylistically, but the pieces of the puzzle are all there. Above all, these guys have the togetherness to create that magical swell of intensity as well as hold together in the mellower stretches, and a horn section that can carry the whole band through its more generic moments. That’s worth your ten-dollar ticket price right there.
READ ON for more of Cal’s thoughts on this triple bill…
Lou Reed can lay claim to being a lot of things – singer, poet, writer and artist. You can now add director to that list as the 68 year-old, former
