A dream came true for the author and other Winos around the country, when God Street Wine came back for four shows last summer followed by two sets aboard Jam
Brothers Past @ Music Hall of Williamsburg, February 5
Words: Carla Danca
Images: Jeremy Gordon
Despite an intimate start to the show, the diehards all came out to support Brothers Past at Williamsburg’s Hall of Music this past Saturday. From the bros in the front row who embodied the “dance like no one is watching” mantra to the Funtown dancers on the stage, the floor kept moving all night long in Brooklyn. While it may have been cold and raining outside, inside things got so hot that there was more than one shirt removed.
[All photos by Jeremy Gordon]
The show began with a set from New Jersey’s own FiKus who were crowded together among the equipment of BP. The tight set up seemed the aid the band as their playing intermixed seamlessly. By adding additional electronic layers on top of the already rich sound provided, the five members of the band dominated the room. Things heated up when DJ Nutritious spun while his two dancers roamed the stage with painted body art that accentuated every curve. Though it seemed a bit risqué, they didn’t quite know what to do when a dollar was thrown on stage… apparently it wasn’t that kind of party after all.
READ ON for more from Brothers Past in Williamsburg…
It sort of seems hard to believe, but it’s been ten years since Jack Johnson put out his debut album Brushfire Fairytales via the small indie-label Enjoy Records (which is
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…
In the midst of their quick 4-night, 3-city tour, Glide had a chance to catch up with dada, the hard rocking trio from LA. After touring only intermittently during the last decade, the band decided to take a break from recording their first album since 2007, and play three cities where they had an established fan base.
On his fourth album, Mission Bell, Amos Lee decided to take his time to get it right. Though the previous two releases weren’t bad, Lee admits that they were rushed and were easily lost among a myriad of rootsy singers strumming an acoustic guitar. The result of that deliberation could be a career-defining album.
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 > MothEncore: 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…
Widespread Panic returns to the town in which the band was formed – Athens, GA – tomorrow and Friday to kick off a celebration of the group’s 25th Anniversary at
Please welcome HT reader Max Eddy to break down the career of The White Stripes, a band who recently announced their break up…
On February 2nd, Groundhog’s Day, The White Stripes announced that they would no longer be recording. The surprisingly straightforward message posted on the band’s website explicitly ruled out “artistic differences” and “illness,” saying rather that the band wanted to keep the music as it was. In their final message, the blues-rock duo comprised of faux-brother and sister Jack and Meg White implored their fans not to be sad, saying that the music “belonged to you now and you can do with it whatever you want.”
Though no one has died and Jack will surely continue recording with any of his side projects like The Dead Weather, the White Stripes are dead.
The band hardly burst upon the scene with their debut self-titled release in 1999. Jack was already a veteran of the burgeoning Detroit garage-rock scene, though he’d seen mixed success up to that point. It’s easy to assume that he formed the two-piece duo simply to play the music he wanted without having to worry about anyone else. He took the lead with vocals and a hammering guitar line, with Meg backing him up on drums.
Over the next two albums, De Stijl (2000) and White Blood Cells (2001), the White Stripes perfected their sound and the image that helped to define their image as much as any album did. Always with an eye for artistry, Jack gave the band a red and white color scheme which was splashed over their albums and stage presence. Growing in their popularity as well as their musicianship, the band produced some of the best music of the then-young millennium and gathered a cult following.
READ ON for more of Max’s White Stripes Retrospective…
