acoustic

B List: 10 Bands That Should Go Unplugged

[Originally Published: April 14, 2011]

Back in 1989, when MTV was still living up to its Music Television title, the cable network debuted a show with a simple premise called Unplugged. Artists from a wide variety of genres would perform acoustic sets in front of a small audience. By 1992 the show had produced a #1 single (Mariah Carey’s I’ll Be There) and a #1 album (Eric Clapton’s Unplugged) and dozens of memorable performances.


MTV’s Unplugged is currently in its 21st season with Lykke Li, Train and Adam Lambert among the latest batch of underwhelming performers visiting the show. It’s been quite some time since an episode of Unplugged has generated lots of buzz and we’d like to see that change. For this week’s B List, I’ve put together a list of ten acts I think would kill on Unplugged…

10. Fleet Foxes

While appearing on Unplugged wouldn’t exactly take Fleet Foxes out of their comfort zone since frontman Robin Pecknold usually plays an acoustic, we would love the whole band eschew electricity for a set of pastoral folk-rock.

READ ON for nine more acts that would revitalize Unplugged…

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Bob Weir Solo Acoustic in San Rafael

Bob Weir continues to prepare for his first-ever solo acoustic tour, which kicks off in Knoxville on August 2, with a few intimate performances including a set last night at

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Trey Anastasio in Princeton: Setlist

Tonight, former 70 Volt Parade vocalist Trey Anastasio returned to his hometown of Princeton, NJ for a rare solo acoustic show. The performance took place at Richardson Auditorium in Alexander

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Trey Adds Hometown Acoustic Show

Former 70 Volt Parade lead singer Trey Anastasio returns home for a special solo acoustic show at the Richardson Auditorium in Princeton, NJ on November 18. According to the announcement

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Festival 8: Videos, Videos & More Videos

Now that concertgoers who attended Phish’s Festival 8 in Indio this past weekend are home, a slew of amazing clips have been uploaded to the major video sites. Head over to YEMblog for a complete accounting of the better Festival 8 videos, but we just had to share a few more clips of the sign language interpreter we told you about on Sunday, a “Team Hood” vid and a few epic playlists of the Exile On Main Street set and the Acoustic set.

Sign Language Interpreter Rocks out to Bathtub Gin:

Phish @ Festival 8 Acoustic Set Playlist:

READ ON for the Exile playlist, more sign language clips and a purported Team Hood shot video of Torn and Frayed…

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Review: An Evening With Gene Ween

We’d like to welcome our new Midwest correspondent Benji Feldheim to the team with his review of a recent Gene Ween Band show…

[All photos by Allison Taich]

Gene Ween tried something different.

Armed with only an acoustic guitar, a harmonica and himself, Aaron “Gene” Freeman led about 100 people in a drunken singalong during a private party Jan. 30 at Tonic Room in Chicago. About halfway through, he forgot the words. But it’s Gene Ween, so who cares? At least that’s what the audience thought.

“What’s the second verse?” Gene said through a smile when he stopped in the middle of Marble Tulip Juicy Tree.

Amidst hoots and hollers, a few people obliged him and shouted the next few words. He jumped right back into the bouncing rhythm of the song with a scream and was back on point.

The intimate, one-man-show is a new thing for Gener, as he playfully reminded the patient crowd of this a few times. Not only was Gene playing his songs without the full electric energy of the band Ween, but he was also missing his musical partner and soulmate, the axe-wielding Mickey “Dean Ween” Melchiondo.

READ ON for more of Benji’s Gene Ween solo acoustic review…

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The Interface Debuts Acoustic of Montreal

of Montreal stopped by Spinner’s The Interface and laid down three brand new live performances – all of which featured front man Kevin Barnes on acoustic guitar. Anytime a song is performed acoustic, or “unplugged” if you will, it seems to take on a bit of new context.

This is especially true with lyrics such as, “He’s the sort of guy who would leave you in a K-hole to go play Halo in the other room.” I think this series of videos reassures that without all the freaky live stage antics, Barnes is a great songwriter and performer at his core.

READ ON after the jump to check out of Montreal @ The Interface…

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The Pixies

Pixies: Acoustic: Live in Newport

There's been a windfall of Pixies DVDs in the past year or two, but Acoustic: Live In Newport takes the cake for odd and wonderful resonance. What's even more fascinating than this concert document of the Pixies at the 2005 Newport Folk Festival is the behind-the-scenes material, where we quickly see that the the reconstituted band not so much eases into the idea of an acoustic set as it gets ready to shoehorn itself in.

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The Beautiful Girls: Water

To follow the success of We're Already Gone, The Beautiful Girls decided to move ahead by looking behind, filling in their new American audience with Water, a compilation of tracks pulled from those earlier releases between 2002 and 2004.

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