Saw Over the Rhine last night at Calvin College (not my photo!). Nice show. Just Linford and Karin and a guitarist/mandolinist. Not always a perfect selection of songs in terms of my own personal favorites and less loved tracks, but I guess there were other folk there too :-). Karin was in fine voice, and there were several outstanding songs. Really good evening; OtR are always worth seeing.
Saw Holy Holy at the Birchmere last night. Holy Holy is a tribute
to David Bowie’s The Man Who Sold The
World, featuring the rhythm section from the original album, Woody
Woodmansey and Tony Visconti. Woodmansey was Bowie’s drummer from 1970 to 1973,
which may not sound like a big deal until you realize that period produced TMWSTW, Hunky Dory, Ziggy Stardust
and Aladdin Sane. Sadly, he is now
the last surviving member of the Spiders From Mars. Visconti played bass on TMWSTW and produced Space Oddity, Young Americans,
the Berlin trilogy, Scary Monsters,
T. Rex (Electric WarriorandThe Slider), and Bowie’s last four
albums, up to and including Blackstar,
which somehow came out only a week ago.
I was excited about
this show when it was announced a few months back, because I love TMWSTW and you rarely hear it, apart
from the Nirvana unplugged cover of the title track. Bowie’s death (still seems
weird to type that) changed the vibe but the show was a celebration of his
life, for the crowd and the band. I’ve been listening to his music all week but
this was different, because live music always is. Particularly when the show
features a crack band playing songs I know by heart. Woodmansey is a great drummer. Visconti’s bass sounded huge and he was
clearly moved by the crowd, which was on its feet after almost every song. They replaced Mick Ronson with two or three
guitarists including James Stevenson (Generation X/Gene Loves Jezebel) who took
most of the leads. The singer is Glenn Gregory from Heaven 17. I’m not familiar
with them but he’s the right man for this gig.
Strong voice, very animated and theatrical. He’s physically much bigger than Bowie, sort
of a cross between Bowie and Peter Garrett from Midnight Oil, and he went after
it. Also keyboards, sax, and two female singers.
Set list: Width of a Circle, All The Madmen, Black Country
Rock, After All, Running Gun Blues, Saviour Machine, She Shook Me Cold, The Man
Who Sold the World, The Supermen, Five Years, Soul Love, Moonage Daydream, Medley
(Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud/All The Young Dudes/Oh You Pretty Things), Changes,
Life On Mars, Ziggy Stardust, Lady Stardust, Watch That Man, Rock n Roll
Suicide, Time, Suffragette City
Pretty much every song I'd want to hear. I only saw Bowie once, in Atlanta around 1990, but it felt like he was there last night. Cathartic is exactly the right word to describe it. Awesome
works too.
Last night was the annual Best New Bands show at First Avenue. They bring together 7 of the best new local bands from the last year and put them on the big stage. It's always one of my favorite shows of the year, but last night might have been the best of the bunch.
Murder Shoes - Surfy garage pop 5 piece with a bit of an edge. I've enjoyed their album, but they topped themselves live.
Lexii Alijai - 17 year old rapper. This was only her fourth live performance and it was clear she's not yet comfortable on stage (very closed off physically), but her voice is really, really good and once she gets comfortable I think she'll be great.
Perfume Monster - Best described as PBR&B and another 5 piece. A very good time.
Bruise Violet - Holy crap. Three teen girls (two are still in high school) who are inspired by Babes in Toyland (hence the name), and they are GREAT. All 3 sing, they harmonize magnificently, and they seriously rock. I'm in awe.
Baby Shel - Rapper from the Red Lake Reservation in northern Minnesota (easily the poorest place in MN and one of the poorer areas in the country), he has a great voice and flow (reminds me of Brother Ali in sound) and excellent command of the stage.
Eric Mayson - Weed drenched R&B with a major art influence. Felt a little too consciously arty to me, but he's a great singer and performer.
Aero Flynn - Some of Justin Vernon's Eau Claire buddies, they play a kind of electro dance folk. Is that a thing? It is now. There's a bit of a Radiohead vibe to what they do. I've never really spent much time with their music, but that's going to change.
Field Music is coming to my area in a few weeks. Thinking about going, but I was wondering if anyone's seen them and can tell me if they're worth the price of admission?
KLARA IN DESINGEL : EUROPEAN UNION BAROQUE ORCHESTRA I was able to go to this concert yesterday in Antwerp even though it was sold out, because the colleague I have been working with in Gouda has a daughter who plays violin in this HIP baroque ensemble, which is made up of young players selected from across Europe. A piece by Rameau was sandwiched between two by Jean-Féry Rebel, about whom I confess I was completely ignorant before the show - I will, however, be looking for a recording. The Rebel pieces were fun, a little wild and irreverent, playing recklessly with changes of tempo and meter and including some dashing high-speed romps. I am not expert enough for fine-tuned judgments, but I thought the orchestra played well, and they seemed appreciated by the large audience. Great show, and nice to discover something new.
attn Craig...I was doing homework over the weekend. Hope your venue is better than ours, which is a beer-soaked barn. That's a lot of Midwest dates they added.
A couple of weeks ago I saw Dan Baird & Homemade Sin in DC. I was exhausted after no sleep and a cross-country flight earlier in the day, but I haven't seen Dan Baird since a Georgia Satellites one-off reunion in Atlanta probably around 2002. Love the Satellites, love his solo stuff, and his current band features the great Warner Hodges (Jason & the Scorchers) on guitar. I dragged my ass out and the show woke me right up.
I was standing next to the stage, one big step would have gotten me there. I've never had a better vantage point for a band I wasn't in. The set list was a good mix and i loved how the band dissuaded the crowd from shouting out song suggestions. Warner told us that any song title they heard from the crowd definitely wouldn't get played. Dan explained that the set list is pretty much the only part of his day he gets to control, and he doesn't need any help. The band is world class (with Mauro Magellan from the Satellites on drums and Micke Nilsson who looks like a young Warren Zevon on bass) and Baird is just a great songwriter, so I had no complaints even though they didn't play a couple of my faves. Tremendous show.
The show was great. Was at the Jazz Showcase in Chicago last night for Dr. Lonnie Smith and his trio. Even though the tickets were not ruinous, it was an expensive show given the drive down and that we got a hotel for the night. But it was absolutely worth it. Magnificent music, great atmosphere (first time at the Showcase, but if I lived closer I think I'd be there often), great surroundings - we were seated on an antique sofa in the center of the front row, right in front of the stage. All three musicians were worth watching, and as a newbie to live jazz I was struck by how much more of the interplay and mutual adjustment I could pick up and understand live than listening to recordings. We bought a copy of The Healer on CD at the end, and I would say that release is actually closer to the sound and setlist of this show than the other albums I had heard beforehand. It was a very memorable evening all round.
Glad you enjoyed it Prof. Would like to get down there a little more often...There is someone worth seeing pretty much every weekend. There are even 4 PM Sunday shows! If you're open to the occasional Chicago excursion for a show, you might also keep an eye on Constellation.
Saw The Dandy Warhols at a small KC venue called The Riot Room - haha, I remember going to that same place back when it was called The Hurricane.
A band called Seratones opened, and I quite liked their energy.
Great show, I danced so long my shoulders ache still. Don't have the playlist, but I shouted "Godless" enough during some quiet times they played it! swoon
My friend got Courtney's autograph for me on the ticket. Then Zia was the DJ for an after party on the back deck, but I'd had my fun & was too shy to ask for her autograph, so we left.
Perfect show by Savages last night. They efficiently tore through pretty much all of both albums in 1:30. For all the intense material and monster sound, they have a lot of fun with each other and with the crowd. One of the best rock shows in recent memory.
Oh man, Doofy. I still have over a month until Savages. Sounds like they still rock as much as when I saw them a few years ago. At least I have Bob Mould and Courtney Barnett (among others) to tide me over until they're here.
Yo La Tengo is one band I've never actually seen. I need to rectify that at some point. Lest Thom travel here from NJ just to smack me upside the head.
Mould will be on the same stage where we saw Savages, but we missed out on that. This Greg Kot review (w/ photos) sums up our show pretty well. They were intense, but could actually be seen having fun. Great musicians at the height of their powers.
We did go to that Bottle Rockets/Marshall Crenshaw show last night, where nobody was surprised that the band was having fun. The Rockets are promoting a new album, which sounds great.
This will be the 4th time I've seen Mould and second on Barnett (although the first in a club for her). Mould is one of the best performers in the game.
He turns it up to 11 that's for sure. Saw him a couple years ago in the 7th Street Entry, which is one the places Husker played at first. Capacity is 250. It was so hot Bob's glasses kept fogging up, so he had to take them off and couldn't read his set list (he did two hour plus sets, the second almost purely Husker songs), and it was LOUD. Probably the loudest concert I've ever been to. Only competition would be Mogwai.
Comments
I might be able to make the 19th work. I'll have to look into it.
Craig
Saw Holy Holy at the Birchmere last night. Holy Holy is a tribute to David Bowie’s The Man Who Sold The World, featuring the rhythm section from the original album, Woody Woodmansey and Tony Visconti. Woodmansey was Bowie’s drummer from 1970 to 1973, which may not sound like a big deal until you realize that period produced TMWSTW, Hunky Dory, Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane. Sadly, he is now the last surviving member of the Spiders From Mars. Visconti played bass on TMWSTW and produced Space Oddity, Young Americans, the Berlin trilogy, Scary Monsters, T. Rex (Electric Warrior and The Slider), and Bowie’s last four albums, up to and including Blackstar, which somehow came out only a week ago.
I was excited about this show when it was announced a few months back, because I love TMWSTW and you rarely hear it, apart from the Nirvana unplugged cover of the title track. Bowie’s death (still seems weird to type that) changed the vibe but the show was a celebration of his life, for the crowd and the band. I’ve been listening to his music all week but this was different, because live music always is. Particularly when the show features a crack band playing songs I know by heart. Woodmansey is a great drummer. Visconti’s bass sounded huge and he was clearly moved by the crowd, which was on its feet after almost every song. They replaced Mick Ronson with two or three guitarists including James Stevenson (Generation X/Gene Loves Jezebel) who took most of the leads. The singer is Glenn Gregory from Heaven 17. I’m not familiar with them but he’s the right man for this gig. Strong voice, very animated and theatrical. He’s physically much bigger than Bowie, sort of a cross between Bowie and Peter Garrett from Midnight Oil, and he went after it. Also keyboards, sax, and two female singers.
Set list: Width of a Circle, All The Madmen, Black Country Rock, After All, Running Gun Blues, Saviour Machine, She Shook Me Cold, The Man Who Sold the World, The Supermen, Five Years, Soul Love, Moonage Daydream, Medley (Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud/All The Young Dudes/Oh You Pretty Things), Changes, Life On Mars, Ziggy Stardust, Lady Stardust, Watch That Man, Rock n Roll Suicide, Time, Suffragette City
Pretty much every song I'd want to hear. I only saw Bowie once, in Atlanta around 1990, but it felt like he was there last night. Cathartic is exactly the right word to describe it. Awesome works too.
Craig
Holy Holy - David Bowie Medley - Visconti and Woodmansey - Ridgefield - Jan. 9, 2016
Just two days before we received the message about Bowie's departure.
ETA: and 1 day after:
Woody Woodmansey's Holy Holy - 12 January 2016 - The Opera House, Toronto
(The Man Who Sold the World, complete album)Interesting and quite powerfull . . .
ETA 2: Extreemly powerfull, thank you very much @Muggsy .
Murder Shoes - Surfy garage pop 5 piece with a bit of an edge. I've enjoyed their album, but they topped themselves live.
Lexii Alijai - 17 year old rapper. This was only her fourth live performance and it was clear she's not yet comfortable on stage (very closed off physically), but her voice is really, really good and once she gets comfortable I think she'll be great.
Perfume Monster - Best described as PBR&B and another 5 piece. A very good time.
Bruise Violet - Holy crap. Three teen girls (two are still in high school) who are inspired by Babes in Toyland (hence the name), and they are GREAT. All 3 sing, they harmonize magnificently, and they seriously rock. I'm in awe.
Baby Shel - Rapper from the Red Lake Reservation in northern Minnesota (easily the poorest place in MN and one of the poorer areas in the country), he has a great voice and flow (reminds me of Brother Ali in sound) and excellent command of the stage.
Eric Mayson - Weed drenched R&B with a major art influence. Felt a little too consciously arty to me, but he's a great singer and performer.
Aero Flynn - Some of Justin Vernon's Eau Claire buddies, they play a kind of electro dance folk. Is that a thing? It is now. There's a bit of a Radiohead vibe to what they do. I've never really spent much time with their music, but that's going to change.
Craig
No Twin Cities date for Craig, WTF?
Craig
Craig
I was able to go to this concert yesterday in Antwerp even though it was sold out, because the colleague I have been working with in Gouda has a daughter who plays violin in this HIP baroque ensemble, which is made up of young players selected from across Europe. A piece by Rameau was sandwiched between two by Jean-Féry Rebel, about whom I confess I was completely ignorant before the show - I will, however, be looking for a recording. The Rebel pieces were fun, a little wild and irreverent, playing recklessly with changes of tempo and meter and including some dashing high-speed romps. I am not expert enough for fine-tuned judgments, but I thought the orchestra played well, and they seemed appreciated by the large audience. Great show, and nice to discover something new.
I saw Babes in Toyland last night. Also a great show, but a bit different in tenor, I'd say.
Craig
attn Craig...I was doing homework over the weekend. Hope your venue is better than ours, which is a beer-soaked barn. That's a lot of Midwest dates they added.
It's not my favorite venue, but it could be worse. Certainly not a barn.
Craig
I was standing next to the stage, one big step would have gotten me there. I've never had a better vantage point for a band I wasn't in. The set list was a good mix and i loved how the band dissuaded the crowd from shouting out song suggestions. Warner told us that any song title they heard from the crowd definitely wouldn't get played. Dan explained that the set list is pretty much the only part of his day he gets to control, and he doesn't need any help. The band is world class (with Mauro Magellan from the Satellites on drums and Micke Nilsson who looks like a young Warren Zevon on bass) and Baird is just a great songwriter, so I had no complaints even though they didn't play a couple of my faves. Tremendous show.
Protomartyr at The Entry. Loud and punishing. Just the way I like it.
Craig
Busy concert week coming up - SFJazz Collective tomorrow night in St Louis, then Savages next week. And since my wife's going to be out of town, might try to sneak in Marshall Crenshaw and The Bottle Rockets next weekend too~!
Steve Albini and Shellac. They and Mono were both fantastic. What a great show.
I love how Albini refuses to use a monitor.
Craig
Saw The Dandy Warhols at a small KC venue called The Riot Room - haha, I remember going to that same place back when it was called The Hurricane.
A band called Seratones opened, and I quite liked their energy.
Great show, I danced so long my shoulders ache still. Don't have the playlist, but I shouted "Godless" enough during some quiet times they played it! swoon
My friend got Courtney's autograph for me on the ticket. Then Zia was the DJ for an after party on the back deck, but I'd had my fun & was too shy to ask for her autograph, so we left.
Good times, good times.
Yo La Tengo is one band I've never actually seen. I need to rectify that at some point. Lest Thom travel here from NJ just to smack me upside the head.
Craig
We did go to that Bottle Rockets/Marshall Crenshaw show last night, where nobody was surprised that the band was having fun. The Rockets are promoting a new album, which sounds great.
Craig
Craig