The Wood Brothers’ expansive amalgam of American music-incorporating everything from the plainspoken warmth of vintage country and blues to the liberal rhythmic inventiveness of jazz-carries on with the release of
Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey will release their 21st album Race Riot Suite on August 30th. Conceived, written and arranged by the band’s lap steel guitarist Chris Combs, the recording is
Beirut is set to embark on its first national tour in over four years in support of The Rip Tide, out August 30th on Pompeii Records. Joining Beirut leader Zach
Phish Summer 2011 Summer Tour Leg One is now nothing but a memory. Super Ball IX, which will undoubtedly create unbelievable memories for the fans that are there and also those listening at home, is knocking on the door. But what about the memories of Leg One? What did everyone think? Well over 1,000 fans took the time to fill out our survey and shared their thoughts on the venues, the songs, the jamming, the ticket prices and even the band’s legendary ‘Fleezer.’
[Photo by Parker Harrington]
We will follow up with another survey at the end of the summer after what may be the last tour for a while. Until that time, read on for a snapshot of what fans are thinking about Phish right now.
So is Phish just going through the motions? Or performing at the top of their ability? The very first question sums up the general consensus: Phish is ROCKING! Only 14% of fans rated the First Leg at “Average” or lower. Overwhelmingly, “Phenomenal” or “Very Good, Some Gems.”
[Click on the Graphics to Enlarge and View]
Did everyone think this has been the best tour since Hampton 2009? Yes! A majority of fans [56%] think this is the tour to listen to so far.
READ ON for the rest of the results from our survey…
Widespread Panic @ Red Rocks, June 25
Words: Jonathan Kosakow
Photos: Matthew Speck
I’ve recently wondered why Widespread Panic has failed to capture my attention. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, that I even faintly dislike about them. They are all talented musicians, from John Bell’s voice to Dave Schools’ pounding bass and now Jimmy Herring’s searing guitar chops. But until this past Saturday at Red Rocks – the second of a three-show run at the venue – it had been years since they reached out and grabbed me.
[All photos by Matthew Speck]
Set one started slow. With the exception of Rock and Hatfield, the first few tunes stayed short and lacked much energy. It wasn’t until the last three songs, Rebirtha, Blue Indian and Porch Song, that the sextet started to experiment with the space around them. Rebirtha went from southern funk to vivid explorations, and for the first time this night Herring found some melody in his guitar playing, as opposed to the firey up and down the neck style that hadn’t gotten very far. It was a perfect transition into Blue Indian, which bounced nicely towards a set-ending Porch Song.
Henry Parsons Died kicked set two off to a powerful start. Apparently all it took was some darkness to get these guys rolling. All Time Low grooved its way behind Schools and drummer Todd Nance, with Bell’s gravelly vocals leading the way. Herring took control on Down, with an all-out wail of a guitar solo in between quiet verses, but quickly gave it up to John Hermann’s piano solo, which was a groove all its own.
READ ON for more about Widespread Panic at Red Rocks…
Some of the best Cover Wars are Bob Dylan tunes, one of my personal favorites was The Wicked Messenger. Released on the 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home, mystery has always surrounded the identity of Baby Blue. It’s been recorded a lot, we’ll cap it at eight renditions – have a listen.
The Contestants:
Artist: The 13th Floor Elevators
Album: Easter Everywhere
The Skinny: Leading off this week is the band situated in between 10,000 Maniacs and 10-20s in my iTunes collection and their psychedelic interpretation from a critically acclaimed studio album from 1967.
READ ON for more covers of Bob Dylan’s It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
We keep our eyes peeled for new tour dates announcements each week and compile them on Tuesdays for this handy column… For the second year in a row, England’s long
Radiohead returned to the stage for the first time in a year and a half this past Friday night at the Glastonbury Festival. The band focused on material from the
As we gear up for the Phish Superball IX festival this weekend at Watkins Glen International we thought we’d give you some geeky stats to geek over until the fest gets underway. Thus, we present the latest installment of Number Line, an in-depth examination of the First Leg of Phish’s summer tour as told by numbers. So dig in and let us know in the comments if you came across any interesting figures of your own.
[All photos by Joe Ringus]
25,000 – Largest capacity venue (Susquehanna Bank Center)
6,500 – Smallest venue capacity (nTelos Pavilion)
846 – Shows between two instrumental songs opening 1st set (6/18 > 11/22/92’s Oh Kee Pa > Buried Alive)
388 – Total songs played
298 – Shows since the last Been Caught Stealing (12/28/1998)
173 – Individual Songs Played
141 – Shows since the last Lonesome Cowboy Bill (7/30/2003)
137 – Shows since the last Daniel Saw The Stone (8/3/2003)
118 – Shows between two cover songs opening (6/8 > 6/24/04 Loving Cup>Cities)
READ ON for more Phish stats from the first leg…
Music On the Mountaintop has confirmed the list of performers slated for the fourth annual two-day music festival outside Boone, North Carolina this August 26-27, 2011. The performer lineup at
