2011

Now that’s it’s been just about a month since Jam Cruise 9 returned to land, I’ve had plenty of time to reflect on all the music I witnessed. While I was familiar with most of the bands aboard the MSC Poesia, there were a number of acts who were new to me. For this week’s B List, I made a list of the 10 bands I hadn’t seen live before the trip who impressed me the most.

Yes, it’s ridiculous that I hadn’t seen a few of these bands, but now that I have, I won’t miss them again the next time they come around.

10. Big Gigantic

[All photos by Chad Smith]

Colorado’s Big Gigantic features drummer Jeremy Salken and producer/saxophonist Dominic Lalli coming together to forge an inventive sound that’s equal parts electronic and rock. You can’t help but dance to the ridiculously high-energy beats and grooves the pair provides. BG’s Zebra Bar set was otherworldly, not only for the work of Salken and Lalli, but also for sit-ins by the likes of Brock Butler, Eric Krasno and Joel Cummins.

• Previously on HT: All Aboard, Knee Deep In It, Letter to 16-Year-Old ScottyB, Nourished Soul, Day Four – Part 1, My Jam Cruise Debut, Jam Cruise 9 Videos, Day Four – Part 2, Photo Gallery – The People

READ ON for more of this week’s B List…

February has been a month of heartache for music fans as breakups and rumors of breakups abound. First, the White Stripes amicably quit their courtship, then LCD Soundsystem announced they’d play their last show in April and there was even a rumor about the Gorillaz calling it quits at the top of their game. All of the tragedy aside, 3GM found it strange that these breakups, whether rumored or true, were uncharacteristically harmonious.

Conor Kelley on LCD Soundsystem:

It’s better to burn out than to fade away.

What could be more rock and roll than following through with that line? Although Neil Young is way past the age where he can burn out, and his new work shows absolutely no signs of fading into insignificance, his lyric is still a tried and true adage of the musician lifestyle. Going out while on top almost ensures a legendary reputation in the rock and roll record books.  It’s the George Costanza theory about leaving on a high note, and it works like a charm.

In the ’60s and 70s people would rarely leave the game by choice. It was mostly at the hand of drug overdoses (Hendrix), alcoholism (Joplin),  french hookers and baguettes (Morrison) or the occasional peach truck (Allman). These days people are hanging up their guitars for a different reason entirely: they see a project’s creative end in sight and walk away before it becomes stale. READ ON for more of this week’s Three Grown Men column…

We’re going to fire up the Hidden Track time machine to take us back to my favorite show of 2008 – Paul Simon’s Under African Skies at BAM. This unique

Longtime Phish fan Andy Silver has been seeing the band perform since 1992 and recently spent some time preparing a list that we think will be of interest to our readers. Take it away, Andy…

Trying to get a handle on the evolution of Phish can be a daunting task. For new fans and seasoned vets alike, surfing through nearly 25 years of performances may seem like an exercise in futility. Each of us has special language, tour short-hand, inside jokes, personal preferences and individual memories that shape our perspective on the band, its history and our place within it.

[Photo by Regan Teti Marscher]

Many of us have spent hours arguing the merits of 1992 versus 1995, or the cow funk of 1997 versus the juke box tour of summer 1998. Personally, I find these debates entertaining, albeit somewhat pointless, as beauty is always in the eye (or in this case, the ear) of the beholder. After all, what I choose to put on my iPod may be very different from what you consider to be “must listen material.”

Given this context, I set out to compile a list of shows (and multi-night stands) that roughly document the various stages of Phish, their sound and their emergence as a cultural phenomenon. It should be noted that the list is not intended to be a “best of.” Rather, it’s a guide for those that love the band and want to revisit key moments in Phistory.

READ ON for Andy’s list of 200 Essential Phish Shows…

moe. @ Ogden Theater, Denver CO – February 5th

Words: Jonathan Kosakow
Images: Jason Woodside

I’ve always wondered why moe., of all the bands in the jam scene, has never caught hold of a larger mainstream audience. Their songs are easy on the ears, and the group’s sing-along choruses are nearly always high energy. But Saturday’s show at Denver’s Ogden Theater finally gave me my answer. At times we were spoonfed slow, low-energy ambience, at others we were caught in the middle of an old-fashioned cafeteria food fight. By the end of the night, it was hard to tell which way was up.

[All photos by Jason Woodside]

It was about 9:30 by the time the band took the stage. Following a spicy set of pre-show music that included everything from Van Halen’s Hot for Teacher to Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean, the first notes of live music we heard were those first lingering tones of Mexico. It was absolutely the way to start it off, an old favorite to remind us why we came. Al Schnier’s noodling guitar was helped along by Chuck Garvey’s, and the two worked off each other’s riffs until they settled into a steady groove for Day Dreaming.

Set One: Mexico > Day Dreaming, Blue Jeans Pizza, Good Trip, Opium > 32 Things*

Set Two : Haze > Dr. Graffenberg, One Life, Billy Goat > Understand, Kyle’s Song > Moth

Encore: Mar-DeMa, Spine Of A Dog

* – w/ Allie Kral of Cornmeal on Fiddle

[Setlist via PT moe.]

Soon though, somewhere between the high notes of Rob Derhak’s vocal on Blue Jeans Pizza and the joke-along “Don’t Die’s” of Good Trip, something started to fade. Perhaps the band, at the end of a tour and about to take a quick stint in Japan, was a bit road-weary, but it definitely showed in the general lack of collective energy throughout the room.

Their jams, though note-tight, dragged a little too long, and the foot-shuffling slowed throughout the audience. Soon, though, the familiar drone of Opium sunk into our brains and swallowed us whole. The slow, powerful train that is this song gained speed steadily until it found its (in)sanity in the bright lights of Derhak’s bellowing chorus. The outro of Opium saw the introduction of Cornmeal’s Allie Kral who joined the band for 32 Things, ending the set with a three-way guitar-guitar-fiddle duel that was powerful enough to leave Schnier with both jaw and hands dropped nearly to the floor in stupefaction. “Leave it to Allie” was the word throughout the room during setbreak. READ ON for more on moe. in Denver…