As the dust settles – and by all accounts there was a lot of it – and the last of the cars pull out of the parking lots from the
Originally only scheduled to play a mid-afternoon set on Saturday at That Tent, Deer Tick made the most of their first ever trip to Bonnaroo. Getting behind the freewheeling ethos
Ziggy Marley will release his sixth album, Wild and Free, tomorrow. But tonight he will visit Jay Leno for a performance from the new offering. Marley begins a World Tour on
The Big Man, Clarence Clemons is said to be seriously ill after a stroke at his home in Florida. The legendary, magnificent saxophone star of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band
Phish returned to Merriweather Post Pavilion tonight for the second of two shows at the Frank Gehry-designed shed. Saturday saw the band explore the depths of their songbook and offered a few tastes of masterful improvisation along with a few dubious song placements.
READ ON for tonight’s setlist and The Skinny…
Crowds at Bonnaroo swelled to capacity on a typically over-the-top Saturday that saw some of the music world’s most popular live acts perform. The teeming horde that filled the What stage field for Eminem’s headlining set rivals any assemblage of humanity in the event’s history, and the masses made for tight quarters at many of the shows.
Tonight Phish tour moved on to Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD for the first of two shows at the venue. The quartet first performed at Merriweather on July 17, 1992 and have since played a total of seven shows at the shed leading up to tonight.
Scott Marks (@bizarchive) will be reporting live from the show for @YEMblog. READ ON for the setlist and The Skinny…
Phish @ Susquehanna Bank Center, June 10
Sometimes you know what to expect from a Phish show. Others, you don’t. Last night in Camden, NJ, at the Susquehanna Bank Center was definitely the latter, and a show that displayed some flashes of brilliance, but overall had an odd vibe and flow throughout. Kicking off with the usual encore tune, Rocky Top, and immediately followed by Mike’s Song > I am Hydrogen >Weekapaug Groove, Friday night was surely off to a start that caught many off-guard.The first highlight of the night was definitely this Weekapaug. With Mike Gordon on bass leading the way, this version had the extra spark that many of the previous years have been missing.
In many ways, the first set felt like it was backwards, eventually closing with The Curtain (With). After some ebbs and flows of the set, The Curtain With punctuated a 90-plus minute opening stanza with one of the most impressive, soaring and soulful solos that Trey Anastasio has laid upon us in some time. As this tune was transpiring, I knew it was something magical and definitely my favorite version of the song in recent memory – and maybe ever. (There’s no mistake that the band released the official vibe of this song from last night.
Watch it here:
While the long first set was an interesting affair, set two is one I’m still not sure what to make of – although I enjoyed huge portions of it as it was occurring. Down With Disease > Free was a welcome, but predictable springboard for the final frame – but that’s about the last predictable thing that went down. When everyone hoped that the improvisational doors had been opened for the remainder of the evening, Trey led the band into yet another Possum, a song played all-too-much this tour. Now, this version was very strong, with above average work by Anastasio, but it was the song’s placement that did it wrong. Like PNC the previous week, an early set Possum is just the wrong spot for this tune to be played. Period. Always fun, but oddly placed. In fact, Odd was a common word that kept popping into my head last night. Just like the Big Black Furry Creatures From Mars that followed and saw Gordon sitting on the ground while singing. I told you last night was a bit weird, right?
READ ON for more on last night’s Phish show…
2011 marked the 10th anniversary of the Sasquatch! Music Festival, one of the most beloved and well-attended of its kind in America. Held at the breathtaking Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Washington, Sasquatch mixed indie rock, folk, punk, hip-hop and experimental music over the course of four full days. Selling out all 25,000 daily tickets in a mere couple of days, the popularity of the festival is only eclipsed by the consistent strength of its annual lineups. This year, headliners the Foo Fighters, Death Cab for Cutie, Modest Mouse and Wilco in no way embody the flashy, the opulent or the minimal; however, their solid rock-based performances were heartfelt, powerful and undeniably compelling.
As Bonnaroo built to a head on Friday, the day turned out to be a hectic and overwhelming one. More than a few attendees were roundly confused by an evening stunt that featured parachuters dropping several thousand fluttering LED lights, and that can be attributed to the monumental amount of activity at the festival. They could hardly be expected to comprehend the stunt or the cryptic messages borne by the cargo’s QR code after such a day. Plus, many of them had seen Ron Jeremy in the flesh, or perhaps been berated by Lewis Black.
