Bonnaroo Music Festival, Manchester, TN - 6/11-14/2009

(Note: Photos are coming.)

Wednesday - 6/10/2009

The Bonnaroo adventure (my fourth) began Wednesday night with driving from Columbus around 6 at night and picking up my buddy Matt in Cincinnati at 8 that night. We trucked on down to Nashville to see some old friends and kinda/sorta rest up for the actual show(s). I had some trepidations going in (too old, too tired, etc.), but I could not resist the line-up and the chance to hang out with the guys for a few days.

Thursday - 6/11/2009

We picked up the third in our party, Michael, around 11 that morning, made a grocery store run and then hit I-24 towards Chattanooga. We were quite easily able to meet up with Matt's brother and two of his buddies at the (now infamous) exit 127, where major amounts of traffic were being diverted. So we got in line there (a caravan of 3 cars ... well, my car and their pick-up trucks) and, well, waited for about 6 hours. It was brutal. Basically were on line with small bursts of movement from 2:30 until 8:30. But everyone made merriment, chatting with neighbors and cursing our collective bad luck.

Once we got on the home stretch in (this diversion just filtered us all back to the interstate, where we then got off at the Manchester exit - unreal), it was fast moving but complicated by some torrential downpours. We all stayed together, thankfully, and set up camp in some pouring rain at Camp John Bender (number 61 on the map, miles better than when I ended up in Camp David Wooderson a couple years ago). We headed in that night and saw a bit of some reggae (Midnite) but didn't really stick around that long.



Friday - 6/12/2009

We had a long, slow morning hanging under my shade tent and enjoying the whole crazy scene. And it's a crazy scene alright ... very heavy on the hippie vibe. Not my normal scene but fun nonetheless. We finally got it together and headed in to start with Animal Collective on the Which Stage (2:45 - 4:00). The sound was very muddy, we were a bit far back ... it was not an auspicious debut. We collected ourselves and relaxed by the Other Tent for a bit of Bela Fleck and Toumandi Diabate doing some African/folky music. It was a nice change and a chance to catch our breath.

We proceeded to grab a great spot for Grizzly Bear in This Tent (5:00 - 6:15), as this was a show we were all amped for. I was not a huge fan of them as I was always a bit bored by their records, but my goodness ... live, all these songs made so much more sense and just killed. I was pretty amazed. Highlights included the obvious ("Two Weeks") and the epic ("Fine For Now"). Their performance of "Fine For Now" was true festival highlight for me.

Being old men, we needed a break after this and retreated to the tent for an hour. I saw about one song from Al Green ("Here I Am", which sounded amazing) but didn't have it in me at that point. We made it back in for a bit of Beastie Boys (sounded good, but we were far back) and then headed over for David Byrne. Wow. Really great stuff. He played the whole first half of Remain in Light, "Girlfriend is Better", "Take Me to the River" and a 2-song encore including "Burning Down the House". And he can really play guitar. He recreated some of those Adrian Belew solos in a big way.

We totally blew off Phish that first night, which bums me out a bit as they played some killer tunes that evening (including "The Divided Sky" and "You Enjoy Myself"), but we were dedicated to the rock and headed over to a pretty packed That Tent to see Phoenix (11:30 - 12:15). We had a great spot in front of the soundboard, and they sounded fantastic. Setlist is almost complete on this one (yes, it was short and sweet):

Lisztomania
Long Distance Call
Consolation Prizes
Napolean Says
??
Run Run Run
Love Like a Sunset
Too Young
1901

I had had my fill for day 1. I felt like I could fall asleep standing up during Phoenix by the end. I just can't hang with the kiddies anymore. Again, looking at that Phish setlist makes me kick myself a little, but such is life.

Saturday - 6/13/2009

I felt refreshed and a bit more ready for a long day on Saturday, as there were a ton of bands I was looking forward to see. I was inside and at the Other Tent right at 1:30 to see Cherryholmes, a bluegrass band about whom I'd heard a good deal but wasn't prepared for great they were. Well worth checking out. They are the real deal and just devastatingly talented. (Photo at right.)

We grabbed a beer after this and then got in position at This Tent for Bon Iver, one of the big reasons I made it this year. I've been wanting to see him for so long now and just missing him by a hair on multiple occasions. Seeing his brand of ultra-depressing folk at a big, sunny, good vibes festival was a bit off, but he just killed. His band sounded huge, and his vocals/performance in general were actually better live than on the record, if that's possible. Another real highlight.

Creature Fear
Skinny Love
Lump Sum
Blood Bank
Beach Baby
Brackett, WI
Flume
Feel Like Going Home (Yo La Tengo cover !!!)
For Emily, Forever Ago (with the horns from Elvis Perkins in Dearland)
Re: Stacks (completely, mouthdroppingly devastating - saw a very young couple just standing in a sweet embrace for this whole song - could hear a pin drop)
Wolves (with the whole crowd singing the "what might have been lost" part very, very loudly)

We kind of had to recover from this set for a second. It was a big one. We had wanted to run over to catch a bit of Del McCoury, but instead we just slowly, dazedly made our way over to the big, scary What Stage for our first full set there, Wilco. They came out promptly at 6 PM and just laid it down. I was definitely excited by the new songs and some of the classics, but there weren't too many surprises. The usual killer tunes killed.

Wilco (The Song) / I Am Trying to Break Your Heart / Company in My Back / Handshake Drugs / Bull Black Nova / You Are My Face / One Wing / Pot Kettle Black / Side with the Seeds / Shot in the Arm / At Least That’s What You Said / Jesus, Etc. / Impossible Germany / California Stars / Misunderstood (32 “nothings” at the end) / Spiders (Kidsmoke) / Hummingbird / You Never Know / The Late Greats / Hate It Here / Walken / I’m the Man Who Loves You

We then held our position for the long, long wait until Springsteen took the stage an hour and a half later. I was excited to see Springsteen and had seen him kill in Columbus in early 2008. We passed the time talking to a true New Jersey soul, Gino, who was there with his wife and daughter and was smoking a joint and telling us all about the various drugs he was doing over the weekend. It was surreal.

Springsteen comes out 30 minutes late and opens with a wicked "Badlands." I was pumped. And then it just got cheesier and cheesier. None of us were feeling it, and by the time he trotted out "Outlaw Pete" (one of the worst songs of the last few years), we had to exit. Our thought on heading back to camp was to regroup and then head back in for Nine Inch Nails and some MGMT, but instead I fell asleep. Typical.

Sunday - 6/14/2009

As unreal as it seems now, there were still a ton of bands I was just losing it to see on this last day. I was also longing for things like showers and running toilets and a bed, but that's another story.

Got in right at 1:30 again to the Other Tent to see Ted Leo playing a very, very loud set with a ton of new tunes as well as some classics ("Where Have all the Rude Boys Gone?", "Me and Mia," "The High Party," and "Timorous Me" among them). We chilled and had some beers at the Broo'ers' Tent and then got in position for a killer twofer at the Which Stage - Andrew Bird followed by Band of Horses.

Andrew Bird was his usual fantastically talented self. I like how his band has coalesced around him and really seem in tune with his idiosyncratic delivery and pauses. It was great stuff.

Masterswarm
Opposite Day
Fitz and Dizzyspells
Nervous Tic
Fiery Crash
Oh No!
Effigy
Anonanimal
Imitosis
???
Tables and Chairs
Fake Palindromes
Skin, Is My
Why
Scared

Then Band of Horses came out to a very big crowd and launched right into some classics off the bat. The sun was setting, the weather was cooing off ... perfect. A truly perfect moment among many from this weekend. Partial setlist for this one included opening with Monsters, The First Song, The Great Salt Lake, Is There a Ghost? and Weed Party. Other tunes included a great cover of "A Song for You" by Gram Parsons and some required tunes (The Funeral, Ode to LRC, No One's Gonna Love You).

We finally made it to see Phish thereafter. It was quite nice, actually - all 6 of us in a very good yet comfortable, far back but not too far back spot. And Phish were pretty great ... very funky. I only made it through part of set 2 before I had to turn in, but it was an awesome time. And Springsteen came out, which was, well, interesting if not musically inspired.

AC/DC Bag
NICU
Gotta Jibboo
Punch You in the Eye
Sparkle
Bathtub Gin
Character Zero
Tweezer
The Horse
Silent in the Morning
Run Like an Antelope
Mustang Sally (w/ the Boss)
Bobbie Jean (w/ the Boss)
Glory Days (w/ the Boss)
- break -
Rock and Roll
Manchester Jam (left at this point)
Light
46 Days
Limb by Limb
Farmhouse
Backwards Down the Number Line
Prince Caspian
First Tube
- encore -
Suzy Greenberg
Tweeprise

By Monday morning, we were just ready to get out, eat some warm/clean food, shower, etc. I was on the road until Monday evening, which was rough, but it was worth it.

The great question remains ... will I ever do this again? Just not sure ...

Meat Puppets and Retribution Gospel Choir, The Summit, Columbus, OH - 6/3/2009

My buddy Jenn and I headed over to the Summit (our inaugural visit since this venue sprang up out of Bourbon Street Cafe) with very low expectations, truth be told, to see some legends bring their stuff. I had seen the Meat Puppets last year at ATP New York and also back in the early part of this decade when it was basically the one Kirkwood brother and bunch of no names on stage with him. The former was quite cool; the latter was lame except that my best friends were in town and we were getting drunk.

We walked in, got some beers and were basically right in time for Retribution Gospel Choir. Alan Sparhawk from Low fame is the main dude in this much more rocking power trio. I liked them. Nothing to just flip out over, but it was good and tight. And his guitar sounded awesome - like Neil Young-awesome guitar sounds. I loved that, of course.

A fairly long wait later, the MP's took the stage. It was pretty crowded, too, with a very weird mix of punks, college kids and 40-year olds who had obviously loved the Puppets in their heyday. The show was good and of course featured "Plateau," "Lake of Fire," and "Up on the Sun." But they were very tight ... much tighter than when I had seen them almost a year before. I didn't take a setlist, we left before the encore (which, apparently, was "Backwater," which makes me all the more glad that we left early), and it was a fine time.

Wish I had something more awesome to report on this one ...

Franz Ferdinand, Newport Music Hall, Columbus, OH - 5/2/2009

I can't pretend to be the biggest Franz Ferdinand fan in the world. I had not yet really seen them live (had kind of seen them at a festival many moons ago, but that doesn't exactly count), but I of course really liked the first album and have found the rest of their output to be quite consistent. I also really liked and highly recommend the singer Alex's book on eating while on the road ... good stuff.

We didn't do any major pre-partying but got to the Newport toward the end of opening act Born Ruffians' set. It didn't seem like we missed much, but again, that's not a band I'm a huge fan of or anything. We were down in the floor for the show itself (after grabbing some large beers, of course) and settled in for the rock.

And wow did they bring it. Very tight, very energetic, crowd was hanging on every song. It was one of the better shows I'd seen in a while in that sense. Everyone was on the same page, having fun, great sound (loud but not crushingly so) ... really nice.

I started to jot down a setlist but stopped due to having too much fun. Some definite highlights, though, included "The Dark of the Matinee," "Michael," and an encore that started with "Jaqueline" and ended with "This Fire." Tight.

Yo La Tengo w/ Girl Talk, Gordon Field House, Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, OH - 4/24/2009

"If the venue is a 'field house,' I think it's not worth it." - Noelle, my special lady friend, paraphrased/speaking much wisdom
Oh, Yo La Tengo. You make such (and so many) beautiful records yet can be so, so spotty live. I have seen you scorch the earth and have also seen you just not quite bring it. Chalk this night up to the latter, though there were significant hurdles to be overcome.

Talk about weird bills ... Yo La Tengo + Girl Talk playing at a small Ohio college's fieldhouse for their Springfest. Delaware, Ohio is only about 20 miles from Columbus, so I had to check this out. We grabbed dinner at Northstar (spotting a trend) and headed up, thinking that YLT went on at 7. Well, there was some other dude opening at 7, as we found out on arriving, so we had about 90 minutes to kill in Delaware. Nice, small midwestern town with the gorgeous Ohio Wesleyan University at the center of things. We grabbed a drink at a dive bar with slow service and then headed in.

Yes, the fieldhouse was a big gym with huge, echo-y, reverb-y, terrible sound. We caught the opener's last song (I honestly don't remember his name) and waited for YLT as Tom Waits' Swordfishtrombones played in its entirety. So YLT finally comes out and opens with, of all things, "Tom Courtenay," arguably their most well-known song. And the sound is complete mud. And it is LOUD. My Bloody Valentine-level loud. People holding their ears and walking out loud. Noelle made it to the second song and had to wait outside, as did many others. I had my earplugs in and was still shocked at the volume.

They played a pretty killer setlist with a slew of classics, but it never really came together. The venue was a big part of that, I think. By the time it was over, I was pretty done, as was Noelle. As we walked out after deciding to forego Girl Talk altogether, a rush of young folks (I think mainly high school, she thinks mainly collge) decked out in neon and generalized rave attire pushed their way in. That dude has officially left the tipping point in the rearview mirror.

Tom Courtenay
???
Stockholm Syndrome
Pass the Hatchet I Think I'm Goodkind
The Summer
???
Beanbag Chair
Mr. Tough
The Weakest Part
???
Autumn Sweater
Big Day Coming (fast)
Decora
Watch Out For Me, Ronnie
I Heard You Looking

Neko Case w/ Crooked Fingers, Newport Music Hall, Columbus, OH - 4/23/2009

There was no significant dining pre-show tonight. It was all bid-ness. So I am a part-time fan of both these acts and a much bigger fan of their previous/other incarnations (Archers of Loaf, New Pornographers, etc.), but I had a good feeling about the evening.

Contiuing a recent trend, we walked in, got a beer and were right where we wanted to be exactly as the music started. Pretty cool. Crooked Fingers consisted of Eric Bachmann being tall and singing/playing guitar, a female bassist/singer and a drummer/keyboardist. The arrangements were quite spare, and most of the beginning of the set consisted of songs not too familiar to me. Talk about going out with a bang, though ... he ended with "A New Drink for the Old Drunk" and "Angelina," a pretty killer 1-2 punch.

Then it was time for Neko. She was backed by 2 guitarists (one standard, one more pedal steel and other odd stringed stuff), a drummer, a bassist and Kelli Hogan on vocals. The crowd was more-or-less perfect: loud and enthusiastic between songs, pin-drop quiet during the tunes. She seemed into it and, I think, into playing a smaller venue for a change. The Newport is a great-sounding, great-sized rock club that ought to get more shows.

I didn't take down a setlist, but it was very similar to her recent shows, so I'm posting one of those, instead. The big surprise (and clincher for me) was that she did a 2nd encore and played "Star Witness." It was gorgeous ...

This isn't a show I have a ton to say about. It was quite good, and her vocals are stunning live. I find her songs to be a bit "same-y" at times, though, so it all kind of runs together a bit for me. The stand out tunes ("I Wish I Was the Moon," "Star Witness," "That Teenage Feeling," etc.) are jaw-dropping, but her whole catalog doesn't stand up to that level. If her songwriting matched her vocal prowess, she'd be ready to conquer the world.

1. Maybe Sparrow
2. People Got a Lotta Nerve
3. Fever
4. Hold On, Hold On
5. The Pharoahs
6. Middle Cyclone
7. Deep Red Bells
8. I Wish I Was the Moon
9. I’m an Animal
10. Prison Girls
11. The Tiger Has Spoken
12. Margaret Vs. Pauline
13. Red Tide
14. Don’t Forget Me
15. That Teenage Feeling
16. This Tornado Loves You

ENCORE:

17. Vengeance Is Sleeping
18. The Next Time You Say “Forever”
19. Favorite
20. Knock Loud

2nd ENCORE:

21. Star Witness

Wilco, Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Auditorium, Athens OH - 4/17/2009

***Photo courtesy of bluet14 on flickr.com.***
I can't remember how many times I've seen Wilco now ... maybe 20? Something like that? I think in terms of total package - songs, musicianship, all around experience - live bands don't get much better. I could go on and on about their control of dynamics, tempo, etc. Sometimes, I do. But let's just say that I'm a fan. And when they're playing about 90 minutes away on the eve of my birthday, well ... I'm there.

My girlfriend, some friends and I ate a rushed but as always great (fairly light) dinner at Northstar Cafe. (I can't even express how lucky I think Columbus is to have this place.) And then we drove 90 minutes to Athens, OH, a fairly picturesque college town where Wilco would be rocking it quite soon. We were pushing it in terms of time and having a hard time finding the venue on campus, but a nice, granola-y student walked us to the front door of the place on our asking directions. And about (literally) 3 minutes after finding our seats (front row of the balcony), the lights went down and the show started. (We totally missed the openers, A Hawk and a Hacksaw.)

In the pantheon of Wilco shows I've witnessed, this wasn't an epic barnburner and wasn't a bust ... it was solid with a few fantastic moments, which I'd say is a typical night for them. They still blow almost any other band off the stage, of course. It's hard for me to be very objective with them at this point, as they're so ingrained and near/dear. Getting to know their catalog from back as a high schooler loving Uncle Tupelo has been so formative as to prevent me from having the same expectations or reactions as I would to "just any band." It was a blast.

I put an asterik next to some personal highlights. They went super heavy on material from A Ghost Is Born, which is great for me as that is probably my favorite Wilco record. Biggest disappointment was having both "Hate It Hear" and "ITMWLY" in the first encore. Ugh.

Hell is Chrome
Company In My Back
You Are My Face
Shouldn't Be Ashamed
Pot Kettle Black
Muzzle of Bees *(great, as usual - an underrated Tweedy tune)
I Am Trying To Break Your Heart
A Shot In The Arm *(always epic)
Handshake Drugs
She's A Jar *(a nice, heartbreaking surprise)
Misunderstood *(midset? didn't see that coming)
Jesus etc.
Impossible Germany *(goosebumps every time)
Side With The Seeds
Poor Places -->
Spiders (Kidsmoke) *(this two-fer shows Wilco at their best right now)
----------
The Late Greats
Hate It Here
Heavy Metal Drummer
Walken
I'm The Man Who Loves You
----------
Kingpin
I'm a Wheel

***Photo courtesy of bluet14 on flickr.com.

Morrissey, the Palace Theater, Columbus, OH - 4/1/2009

So this was my first chance to see the Moz after a near lifetime of loving basically his entire output. I had been keeping up with the setlists (courtesy of www.morrissey-solo.com) and wasn't expecting much in terms of surprises, etc. I also had picked up tickets last minute on StubHub for about $70 total (2 tix in the 10th row), which was kind of a nice bonus.

We ate at Tip Top beforehand, and it was delicious as usual. A lot of folks there were pre-show, too. Noelle rocked a reuben while I devoured a beef BBQ sandwich. And we had yummy beer.

We got to the Palace after the openers and probably about 10 minutes pre-Moz. He was showing video of the New York Dolls and some other similar-era glam/punk icons with whom I was not familiar. Lots of people there, too; not sold out, but a good-sized crowd.

He came out, and I must admit that I had a minor religious experience seeing him live and in person for the first time. The band was extremely tight, the sound a bit loud, the vocals a bit buried for it being, well, friggin' Morrissey. But it was great and a lot more high energy than I expected. He totally dropped his shirt at one point and looked quite good for his age, if I do say so in a heterosexual manner. I'd say the Smiths songs were all highlights, but that's kind of a given. No stage rushers until the encore, when quite a few folks went for the Moz. One guy got straight up clotheslined, which was hilarious but also a bit concerning.

This Charming Man / Billy Budd / That's How People Grow Up / Black Cloud / How Soon Is Now? / Irish Blood, English Heart / I Keep Mine Hidden / How Can Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel? / Ask / I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris / Mama Lay Softly On The Riverbed / Best Friend On The Payroll / When Last I Spoke To Carol / Seasick, Yet Still Docked / The Loop / Death Of a Disco Dancer / Let Me Kiss You / Sorry Doesn't Help / Something Is Squeezing My Skull / I'm OK By Myself // First Of The Gang To Die

Modest Mouse, Balch Fieldhouse, Boulder, CO - 2/28/09

After some very exhausting (and awesome) skiing at Keystone and Beaver Creek, our posse forced ourselves to go see Modest Mouse in Boulder. We dined at a most excellent pizza joint between the mountains and Denver off I-70, Beau Jo's, followed by a quick change in Denver and then on to the show. Doors were at 8 with opening act Mimicking Birds, so we thought arriving at 9 or so would be perfect. Wrong ... the openers hadn't even played yet, so we had about 2 hours of standing around before the Mouse. And again ... we were super friggin' tired.

The biggest nuisance in all this was that MM took at least 45 minutes to take the stage after the openers. People even started booing at one point. They played a cool set, though, with a ton of old songs. They were pretty sloppy, though, and the sound (an old field house that held about 4,000) was pretty awful, too. A lot of long, going-nowhere-fast outros to songs, too ... like "Dramamine" could've been about 4 minutes shorter and about 10x better. It was kind of a 180 from the nuance of the Andrew Bird show 2 days earlier. You gotta love the setlist, though ...

Start 10:15

Paper Thin Walls
Never Ending Math Equation (!)
The View
Dramamine (!!)
The Good Time Are Killing Me
Doin' the Cockroach (!!!)
Fire It Up
We've Got Everything
Satin in a Coffin (during which he made a hippie from the crowd jog in place ... funny)
Float On
Trucker's Atlas (!!!!)
Ohio
Broke (!!!!! - totally flubbed the lyrics, though)
Trailer Trash (!!!!!!)
Education

Off 11:45

We did not stay for the encore ... good times killing us, I suppose ... but, according to the good ol' web, they played:

Satellite Skin
Black Cadillacs
This Devil's Workday
Custom Concern

At least I didn't miss "Talking Shit About a Pretty Sunset" or the return of "3rd Planet" ...

Andrew Bird, Ogden Theater, Denver, CO - 2/26/2009

After an amazing few days hiking/camping/rock climbing in Joshua Tree National Park (as well documented here ... thanks, Aaron), I found myself meeting up with my girlfriend in Denver, where we stayed with an old med school buddy and his wife for some hangtime and skiing. Luckily, we were able to see Andrew Bird play a sold out (small!!!) club (capacity around 850) in Denver.

We started the night with some yummy sushi at Hana, which had some cool offerings. We then headed over to the show and completely missed the opener, Loney, Dear. (This may be unfair, but fine by me.)

So the show started around 9:15 and ran until 11:00. They sounded great, with Andrew doing the solo thing to start with (2 songs) followed by Dosh and the rest of the band joining in. Just crazy good. All of them are fantastic musicians, of course, and they sounded tight as hell. Biggest issue for me was a setlist that was a bit heavy on new songs, but by the end ... well, just check out the last bit of the show. I wanted to cry during "Tables and Chairs" ... it was fantastic. "Armchairs" was also killer. A high bar as far as 2009 shows go, but there are some great ones to come, so we'll see ...

Instrumental
Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning (traditional)
Masterswarm
Opposite Day
Fitz and Dizzyspells
Natural Disaster
Effigy
Oh No
Plasticities
Not a Robot, But a Ghost
Armchairs
Anonanimal
Tenuousness
Imitosis
"Dr. Strings" (silly quick tune)
Fake Palindromes
***e1***
"Easy Going" (bluesy, solo Bird number)
MX Missles (just Bird and Dosh)
Tables and Chairs

Times New Viking (Hearts the Velvets), Wexner Center Black Box, Columbus, OH - 2/14/2009

Haven't posted in a while (work/travel) or seen shows in a while (winter), but then had a run here recently. First was this TNV show on Valentine's Day. Had spent the previous night having an exquisite tasting menu at Rosendale's and then pre-show saw the classic Hitchcock flick Vertigo followed by a 90-Minute IPA at Mad Mex.

We got to the show around 10, and TNV was already into their set. (Shockingly, to me.) And it just wasn't that great. It wasn't terrible by any stretch, but it was just kind of off. A couple folks guested, including Ron House of Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments and someone playing violin. It's hard to pin down what exactly was "off" about it, but it never clicked for me. Wish I had more to say about this ...

Partial setlist (from when I came in) ...

Can't Stand It
Heroin (at this point, I realized just how late we were to the show)
Pale Blue Eyes
Here She Comes Now
Femme Fatale
After Hours

Neil Young with Wilco and Everest, Madison Square Garden, New York, NY - 12/15/2008

I just got back to the C-bus after a whirlwhind trip to San Francisco (business, mostly) and then New York City (pleasure, mostly). The trip to NYC was made to see friends, eat some good food (the Striphouse features steak as well as truffled spinach that are both to die for) and - though I thought I could resist it - see Neil Young with Wilco opening up.

I had been to Madison Square Garden twice in my life before this: once as a kid to see the Knicks with my dad during one of our annual NYC sojourns (pretty cool annual trip for a kid from straight up rural South Carolina), and later as a teenager on another family trip to see Rush on the Roll the Bones tour. (It was kind of awesome, and I even found a bootleg a couple years later of the second night of that stint at MSG for Canada's greatest prog rockers.)

I had not wanted to commit to a big, arena show with all the social comings and goings of this venture into the city, but I couldn't help myself and swung up to Penn Station around 6 PM to see what the ticket situation was. Scalpers seemed to be having a hard time giving these tickets away, and I ended up paying $80 for a general admission floor seat in section 7 (face value $90). I was telling the scalpers that I only wanted to spend $40, much to their chagrin, and to my surprise, low balling them worked pretty well. As did the fact that I was obviously not overly enthusiastic. Plus, well, they couldn't give the damn things away.

I relaxed with a Bud tallboy back at my buddy's apartment and then walked in around 8 PM. It was a strange maze of hallways for general admission ticket holders, and when I finally stumbled out into the arena, I think I was guided the wrong way, as I found myself in the closest possible general admission area. I waltzed up about 30 feet back from the stage, dead center, and about 20 minutes (most of which I kept thinking someone was going to pull me out of there) later, Wilco walks out and launches into a killer 4-song set opener. The rest of the set was quite good, though I could live without "I'm the Man Who Loves You." Hey - at least they left out "Hate It Here."

Via Chicago / Impossible Germany / You Are My Face / Spiders (Kidsmoke) / Hummingbird / Jesus Etc. / Forget the Flowers / Walken / I'm The Man Who Loves You

So then it's wait time for Neil. I drink a couple of Bud Lights from the floor people who are out selling it, as I was not about to lose my place. This was my first time seeing Neil, too, so it was kind of a big deal for me on many levels. There are so many things to highlight about this show ... his crazy amplifiers, the fact that he rocks pretty hard for an old codger, the fact that he played almost 3 hours (which was almost too much for me), the fact that his newer songs are often pretty awful (esp. the brand new ones on this tour that are all related to oil/cars/etc.). Regardless, just getting to see him rock "Powderfinger" or "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere" was dreamy for me. I can't even begin to explain how long I've simply loved those songs, going all the way back to early high school when I picked up Live Rust and had my world blown open.

Seriously ... this setlist pretty much kills:

Love And Only Love / Hey Hey, My My / Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere / Powderfinger / Spirit Road / Cortez The Killer / Cinnamon Girl / Oh, Lonesome Me / Mother Earth / The Needle And The Damage Done / Light A Candle / "Cough Up The Bucks" / Fuel Line / "Hit The Road And Go To Town" / Unknown Legend / Heart Of Gold / Old Man / Get Back To The Country / "Off The Road" / Just Singing A Song / When Worlds Collide / Cowgirl In The Sand / Rockin' In The Free World // "Get Behind The Wheel" / A Day In The Life

I had to leave before "A Day In The Life" was done with its feedback outro as there was a train that needed to be caught as well as sleep that needed to be had, since I was flying out of LaGuardia at 9 AM and, as a lot of folks know, I only take public transportation to the airport - even LaGuardia.

No Age, Wexner Center Performance Space, Columbus OH - 11/19/2008

As the Who once sang ... the kids are alright. Yes, it was a kid-friendly (and by "kids," I mean teens and twenty-somethings) atmosphere at the Wex for this show last night. I had listened to all of 1 minute of No Age going in, so I was kind of expecting, based on other reviews, a loud/pummeling assault. That was about right.

My friend Jenn and I grabbed a couple beers pre-show at the always yummy St. James (where we also tried a new Lagunitas brown sugar-tinged beer that was, um, strong) before getting to the show around 10.

Openers #1 were Silk Flowers, whom we missed. We did not hear good things. Then was Soft Circle, which was a cool looped thing where a guy got a good, trance-y, krautrock-esque instrumental thing going and then drummed (quite well) and chanted along. It was good if a bit tiresome.

Then it was time for No Age. They played a lot of 2-minute songs that were surprisingly complex for how much riffage and volume was going on. The vocals could have been louder, for sure, and the moshing a bit less in my face (I'm old, what can I say?), but it was a fun time. (The last moshpit I saw that rivaled this was, I swear, during Yo La Tengo's set at All Tomorrow's Parties. Crazy.) They aren't my bag 100%, but they are good at what they do.

I'm thinking that I'm going to get to meet Dean Wareham today. Kind of pumped. Now that's more my bag ...

(No setlist, as I have no idea what their songs are titled.)

Zoso (Zeppelin tribute band), Newport Music Hall, Columbus, OH - 11/14/2008

I'm a little late getting to this one. I have an odd love of all tribute bands, even those that are a tibute to bands that I don't necessarily love. From the B Street Band to the Sweet and Tender Hooligans, count me in. Of all the tribute bands out there, though, I have seen none as many times as I've seen Zoso, the most totally awesome hammer-of-the-gods Zeppelin-istas you'll ever come across. It is jaw-dropping how they rock the Zepplin sound. And how can one really hate the Zeppelin sound? It's awesome - end of story.

What I really like is that they play a pretty varied setlist with some oddball song choices every show. They rocked a killer "No Quarter," for instance, threw in a gorgeous "Going to California" along with some later period tunes and even opened with one of my personal faves from Zeppelin III, "Celebration Day."

It was fun, that's all I'm sayin' ...

Partial setlist ...

Celebration Day
can't remember
What Is and What Should Never Be
Tangerine
Heartbreaker
can't remember
can't remember
Black Dog
Immigrant Song
can't remember
Misty Mountain Hop
Since I've Been Loving You
10 Years Gone
Bron-y-Aur Stomp
Going to California
The Song Remains the Same
No Quarter
Over the Hills and Far Away

Stairway (why do they have to end with Stairway?)

Fleet Foxes, Wexner Museum, Columbus, OH - 10/8/2008

A college buddy of mine got into town a couple hours before this show, and we had a few beers to get warmed up for the event. As our group walked into the Wexner, we found out that rather than a trip to the Black Box stage, the band was performing on the stage of the Mershon Auditorium. The last show I saw with that set up, Vampire Weekend, was a kind of hushed affair, so I was skeptical.

We walked into the forlorn, dead-on primitive folk/blues stylings of Frank Fairfield, which was pretty great stuff, I must say. For fans of old blues or Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music (a collection I highly recommend), it was kind of mind-blowing how well this dude channeled that creepy vibe.

Then the Fleet Foxes came out and did their thing, and they did it very, very well. I don't have a ton to say about this show aside from the fact that it was great ... a towering, mighty performance. They played most of their catalog and sounded devastatingly perfect. A couple of songs, most notably a cover in the middle, were done solo by their lead vocalist, and he was a force just on his own. They encored first with him again playing solo, this time their haunting "Tiger Mountain Peasant Song," which possibly sounded even better with him doing it on his own. If I may be forgiven a moment of hyperbole for the umpteenth time in my life, it made me think of what seeing the Band in their heyday must have felt like. (That's a high compliment coming from me.)

A buddy of mine has said that he wanted to follow Grizzly Bear around on the road after seeing them live recently, and I had that same feeling seeing Fleet Foxes. They're the real deal.

Setlist (courtesy of the Via Chicago forum):
1. Sun Giant
2. Sun It Rises
3. Drops in the River
4. English Houses
5. White Winter Hmnal
6. Ragged Wood
7. Your Protector
8. Crayon Angels (Judee Sill) >> Oliver James [Robin solo]
9. Quiet Houses
10. He Doesn't Know Why
11. Mykonos

-Encore
12. Tiger Mountain Peasant Song [Robin solo]
13. Blue Ridge Mountains

My Morning Jacket, The LC Pavilion, Columbus, OH 10/6/2008

Got back into town from Nashville and quickly turned around and headed up to this show. I'm a pretty big fan of these guys and would even rank their album It Still Moves in my Top 5 all-timers. The typical baggage comes along with that kind of long-formed devotion ... things have changed, they're more popular, they don't play the "good" songs anymore ... it's kind of like a relationship going slightly sour ...

I was reminded recently of telling a friend that seeing them live would "make you a believer," and I still stand by that statement. By now, I've seen them >10 times and pretty consistently for 5 years (first MMJ show for me was the Orange Peel, Asheville, NC in early 2004), and those have included some of their career-defining performances (Bonnaroo is 2004 and 2006, end of the Z tour at the Orange Peel in 2007); expectations are thus a bit high for me.

We got there early and settled down on the lawn at the LC with a great sightline. It was cold and clear and kind of perfect. My 32-ounce Fatweiser tasted quite yummy. So the show ...

One truly needs to divide reviewing today's MMJ as pre-Evil Urgesand post-Evil Urges, the steaming pile of dung that they released this year. It's a brutal, heart-breaking record to listen to, and I don't mean that in a good way. It's the sound of everything good going off the rails in a big way. I'm not a change hater, either ... from Dylan to Miles to the Velvets to Wilco and Spoon and Pavement and other modern rockers, change can be done perfectly well. This is a case of change going very, very wrong.

For the pre-EU material, a band this good is not going to have much trouble conjuring magic and intensity. It's amazing how intense and vibrant they can still make "The Way That He Sings" sound, even if they've played it literally hundreds of times. Even the by now expected closer, "One Big Holiday", sends shivers and inspires some degree of rapture, despite it's predicted nature. Highlights were, for me, "Lay Low" (which is always a live highlight), "Evelyn" and all the It Still Moves material, even a slightly tired reading of "Golden."

And now where the rubber hits the road ... Evil Urges ... as I expected, these songs did indeed sound much better live. A couple are even quite legitimate, like the "Touch Me" two-fer or "Sec Walkin'." But this is just subpar material, no matter how you slice it. I've gotten to a point where most of the bands I like are continuing to put out such strong material that I'm just as happy to hear the new stuff as the old, even with acts as venerable as Radiohead or Wilco ("Hate It Here" notwithstanding). Sadly, though, no one is ever going to redeem "Highly Suspicious" or the middling lyrics of "I'm Amazed" (though the music is great on that cut).

But add it all up, and the show was greater than most any band you're going to find these days. These guys are in control and can bring out the hammer of the gods as they see fit. Jim James is a singularly great frontman. Maybe I just miss the days of old and should stick to my geezer rock tastes.

Nicely, I have a great upcoming comparison in getting to see Fleet Foxes tomorrow night. I am looking forward to comparing/contrasting the new kids on the block with the old ...

Onstage: 8:30
Off: 10:45

Evil Urges
Touch Me Pt. 1
Off the Record
What A Wonderful Man
I'm Amazed
The Way That He Sings
Thank You Too
Sec Walkin
Evelyn Is Not Real
Mahgeetah
Lay Low
Gideon
Golden
Librarian
Dondante
Smokin From Shootin
Touch Me Pt. 2

ENCORE:
It Beats 4 U
Wordless Chorus
Highly Suspicious
Phone Went West
Anytime
One Big Holiday

The Cardinals, Palace Theater, Columbus, OH 9/29/08

I can't say that I had the highest of expectations on going into this show, as I think that Ryan Adams has been, to put it mildly, wildly erratic in terms of quality output. Whiskeytown was great, to be sure, and then he gave us one of the greatest albums I've ever heard, Heartbreaker. Then he's given us one album after another of some great cuts padded with a lot of not-so-great ones. The last thing I really loved from him was Cold Roses, and that came out in friggin' 2004.

More to the point, though, he just doesn't bring that much to the table as a performer these days. He's talented beyond belief and has a voice that is nothing short of spectacular, but the renditions of his songs live lack any sense of dynamics. It all comes across as very brutish compared to the delicacy of the records.

This show was a case in point. We started the night with a nice meal and decent beer at the Elevator and then walked over the the venue, which is a gorgeous, old school theater. Columbus seems to have more gorgeous, old school theaters than it knows what to do with.

Compared to the last time I saw him (at the Ryman in Nashville, 2006), he was very engaged and chatty, even having fun. And the show started with some excitement, especially getting a lot of gems in the first 5 songs. But the playing was just a bit ... by the numbers. Not once was an acoustic guitar touched during this show. The first set really hit a high mark with "Goodnight Rose," not a favorite of mine usually, but they really channeled a Dead-style energy and made it hum. "Let It Ride" is a never miss as far as great tunes, but it too felt kind of tired.

The second set had an emotional high point or two ("Dear Chicago," which he played even though he vowed he wouldn't play it in a million years after people kept yelling for it, and "The Rescue Blues"), but there were moments that I swear could have been from a Counting Crows show. All in all, it just saddens me because he's got the talent and Lord knows he's got the songs, but the performance itself just lacks a bit.

(In case you haven't noted this yet, his new album is titled - and I couldn't make this up - Cardinalogy. Ouch.)

Coming next (after a quick trip to Nashville) is My Morning Jacket in a week. Fingers crossed ...

Setlist and photos courtesy of the Ryan Adams archive.

On: 8:45 pm EST

1. Cobwebs
2. Stars Go Blue
3. Wonderwall
4. Two
5. La Cienga Just Smiled
6. Fix It
7. Sun Also Sets
8. Magick
9. Remote Control (Improv)
10. Come Pick Me Up
11. Goodnight Rose
12. Evergreen>
13. Bartering Lines
14. Desire
15. Natural Ghost
16. Let it Ride

Break: 10:10 pm EST

Onstage: 10:30 EST

17. Sinking Ships>
18. Crossed Out Name
19. Afraid Not Scared
20. Please Do Not Let Me Go
21. Everybody Knows
22. OMG Whatever, ETC
23. Rescue Blues
24. Note to Self, Don't Die
25. Dear Chicago

OVER CURFEW

26. Off Broadway

Off: 11:15 pm EST

All Tomorrow's Parties New York 2008

So I rarely post on here but am thinking that this is a better venue for my music reviews/vacation tales/etc. than just old e-mails. Plus I can toss in more links, have these things remain a bit more "permanent," etc.

So I just got back this week from the All Tomorrow's Parties festival in the Catskills, New York. There have been some great, all inclusive reviews already published, like from:

NPR - All Things Considered
Pitchfork Media
The New York Times

Here's my 2 cents on it ...

Thursday 9/18/08

I fly out from Columbus to Providence, RI, where I rent a car and head up to Newton, MA to meet up with my sis and her family. I got there by 1:30 or so in the afternoon and scared my brother-in-law slightly. We headed up to my sister's lab to all meet up (my brother-in-law's mom was in town, too) and ended up ordering pizza back at the house. I was having a blast playing with my nieces, of course. My sis and I ended up getting out of the house for some beers, and it was great to catch up, though she gave me the damn third degree on career plans and what not. A nice, easy night.

Friday 9/19/08

Lily, my 3-year old niece, comes in and wakes me up in the morning. (I should explain that when I sleep at my sister's, I usually sleep on an air mattress on the floor of their half bathroom downstairs, as they don't have a guest room and my brother-in-law is up late in the den usually. Lily, who just turned 3, thinks that I always sleep in bathrooms all the time. Mildly hilarious.) I make my first driving foray into Boston proper to pick up my med school buddy Matt (pathologist in Boston) and his lovely wife Nicole (ditto) right by MGH. I did OK, methinks.

We hit the road, stopping on the way to get 3 cases of beer and some snacks, and around 2 PM arrive at Kutshers Country Club in Monticello, NY. An article I read described this resort as "elegantly shabby." It's hard to quite convey just how right on that description is. As Pitchfork reported:

A resort that was once a jeweled notch on the buckle of the Borscht Belt, Kutsher's is stuck in a time warp somewhere around when Dirty Dancing was supposed to take place. It's got a real golf course and a mini-golf course, an ice rink, indoor and outdoor pools, tennis courts, a playground, a lake with rowboats, a synagogue, an arcade, a cinema, and a cosmetics counter where a lady sat from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every day, ready to do your makeup. The kitchen is kosher; the ATP food court, serving only the finest in greasy fried carnival fare, was located in the parking lot. As a certain expert on the vacationing patterns of Northeastern American Jews during the 1960s and 70s (a.k.a. my mother) said, "What the hell are you going to Kutsher's for? That place is still around? What a dump!"

Indeed, Kutsher's was a dump. An entire wing was crippled under flood damage, many rooms barely got hot water, and ATP advised guests to bring their own towels and toiletries. A rumor spread that the place was infested with bed bugs. (Not true, thank goodness.) The ceiling of the main performance space looked like it had been attacked by Cookie Monster. But as the event's publicist pointed out, it isn't easy to find a space that not only features all of the amenities required for a three-day, live-in, indoor rock festival, but is willing to put up with thousands of intoxicated revelers and the mayhem that ensues. The place did have its charms, though. References to The Shining ran rampant, and Patton Oswalt made a joke about David Lynch walking into Kutsher's and saying, "Ahh, perfect!"

As we checked in, we ran smack dab into Thurston Moore within 10 minutes, which gave me a taste of what the weekend had in store. The first day's sets were close to getting started, so we hurriedly cracked some beers so as to get there in time to see Bardo Pond perform their album Lapsed, a record I bought when it came out and have liked for a long time. It's not as seminal to me as their double album manifesto Amanita, but it's a good 'un. They were pretty dang true to the album, and our first introduction to the main venue (the venerable Starland Ballroom) was surreal. Also, we quickly discovered that we could bring our own beers wherever we wanted. And that this festival was composed of about 92% dudes by my estimate, so ladies, if you're looking for socially awkward late 20's/early 30's rock nerds, this is your Studio 54.

Bardo Pond - "Be A Fish" (off Amanita, but it gives you a good idea of what their sound is all about)

So Bardo Pond brought it, I thought ... we recharged with more beer and then settled in for the Meat Puppets playing Meat Puppets II. It was a bit cracked at first, but by the end of the record they were cooking with fire and even did a killer trio of "Up On The Sun" (my favorite song of theirs) into "Tennessee Stud" into "Tomorrow Never Knows." I knew we were in for a good weekend.

Meat Puppets - "Up On The Sun"

I was feeling drunk by now, too, but we regrouped for part of Tortoise's rendering of Millions Now Living Will Never Die. I like seeing Tortoise live, but it was, as usual, a bit boring. And to reiterate ... I was getting drunk. At this point, I ate some (fairly nasty) kebab (which will now forever make me think of Flight of the Conchords) and acutally napped through Thurston Moore's Psychic Hearts. I had to rest up for Built to Spill. Sadly, I missed all the comedians, which was too bad, because some of those dudes are damn funny.

So I really did get up and rally for the coup de gras of the first evening, Built to Spill's complete opus Perfect From Now On. Both Nicole and I tried to rouse Matt with earnestness, but he was out for this one. What can I say? It's one of my favorite records of the 90's, and they absolutely killed it. Not always a great live band, they were clearly digging it. Right when "Untrustable" ended, they launched into (without pause) "Goin' Againt Your Mind," followed by a short break and then a killer encore of "Stab," "Car" (!!!) and finally a long, noisy drone out. I was so stoked that I ended up staying up 'til 3 or so that morning talking and drinking and soaking it in.

Built to Spill - "Randy Described Eternity" (live)

Saturday 9/20/08

I felt pretty good this morning, despite my fears otherwise. I e-mailed some in the morning and then went to a screening of Gimmie Shelter, the classic Stones documentary that I've seen multiple times already. It seemed like a good way to get into the day. The Criterion Collection was there screening films all weekend and giving away some killer prizes. A guy at the Stones film won a Frank Kozik-signed poster related to the movie. Damn!

During the day, I saw Apse (forgettable, but great drummer), Wooden Shijps (pretty killer psych rock) and Harmonia (very cool, oddly relevant krautrock from some old geezers from Germany).

Harmonia - "Arabesque" (live 1974)

Then we saw Edan, a rapper/DJ from Boston, and he killed it. Great rapper, very innovative spinning ... it was a great set. Impressive. And he had crazy reverence for indie rock, including a long rap where he namedropped a great and varied cache of artists.

Edan - "I See Colours"

Next was a band that was a deciding factor for me to come, Polvo, indie rock greats from Chapel Hill who have just recently reunited. I never got to see them back when I first fell for them in high school, so it was great to see them now. And they were huge - monolithic slabs of math rock with a drummer who blew my mind. And they played some "hits," including "Fast Canoe," "Every Holy Shroud," "Bombs That Fall From Your Eyes," and a personal favorite, "City Spirit." Possibly the set of the weekend for me.

Polvo - "City Spirit"
Polvo - "Bombs That Fall From Your Eyes"

Next was Les Savy Fav. (The singer, Tim Harringon, was standing next to me during Polvo, so we snuck a shot of that.) They were predictably awesome and wacked out, but I had to take a breather for about 30 minutes to prepare for Shellac. And Shellac rocked it hard. Very machine-like, with enough "hits" ("Prayer For God," "Copper," "My Black Ass" and a bunch of others) to keep it great. I had to bolt right when they finished, as I am an old man who can't hang with the kids who hung around to see Lightning Bolt.

Shellac - "Copper"

I should mention that this was Nicole's least favorite day, as it was very heavy on hard, math-y rock. I find that interesting.

Sunday 9/21/08

I am still very tired on getting up this morning. Matt, Nicole and I drive into Monticello for proper brunch (it wasn't that proper, but whatever) and to restock the beer fridge. I wasn't planning on seeing any bands until 4:00 or so because I was feeling like such a wimp, but I roused enough to get over and start the day seeing Lilys, a psych rock outfit from Philly. They've been around a while and were fine ... nothing great, but fine.

We then saw EPMD, the most incongruous act of the weekend. They are straight up hip hop legends, and this was the whitest crowd you could possibly imagine. A handful of people really knew their catalog, but it was kind of eerily quiet at times. They seemed to have fun with it, though, and they were pretty great.

EPMD - "You Gots to Chill"

Then it was time for the mega-lineup everyone was really there for ... Mercury Rev, Yo La Tengo, Mogwai, Dinosaur Jr and, finally, My Bloody Valentine's first show in the US in 16 years. This was a long night, and I got quite drunk, and I got quite tired, and I had to take some breaks. But here's my attempt ...

Mercury Rev - ear-splittingly loud, very "soaring" and bombastic, made me think of the Flaming Lips minus the good, succinct songs

Yo La Tengo - a weird set for them, starting with an ambient opener, then an obscure one off Electr-O-Pura called "Flying Lesson" (which I'd never heard them do live, interestingly), a couple of new tunes ("I Feel Like Going Home" and "Watch Out For Me Ronnie") and a crushing ending with "The Story of Yo La Tango," which was fantastic ... and people moshed to them - hard - which never happened the rest of the weekend

Yo La Tengo - "The Story of Yo La Tango"

Mogwai - I stuck around for about 2 songs ... they don't do it for me, though they sounded great ...
(At this point, I woofed down a hot dog and saw about 5 songs from Bob Mould, including a spirited take on "See a Little Light," which was nice ...)

Dinosaur Jr. - I certainly made it back for Dinosaur but was getting stupid by this point. I saw "Little Fury Things" and "Out There" and a couple others, but by the time they started in with "Feel the Pain," I had to go lay down and rest up for MBV ...

My Bloody Valentine - Pitchfork wrapped their set up nicely, though I would have to disagree on the point that they came out of the gate rocking hard (and loud) and continued to do so for the whole set ... it was great and, on some level, revelatory to hear these songs done this way ... I only made it through about 5 minutes of the unreal, 17-minute wall of noise with which they end each set ... it was super loud, like standing behind a jet engine ...

My Bloody Valentine - "I Only Said"

And so I was out like a light, though we stayed up for a while just gushing about how great it was. Hey ... it was pretty great ...

Monday 9/22/08

Traveling ... we hit the road at 7:30 that morning after we saw these poor English dudes getting scolded for taking a golf cart out and wreaking havoc. They looked sheepish and hungover. That was probably the most violent thing that happened all weekend. I really think the staff and security were just perplexed by these mostly older, fairly calm, almost totally white dudes all hanging out qutie politely for 3 days.

We were in Boston by 11:30 AM, said our goodbyes, and then I was off to Providence and finally back in the C-bus by 8 that night.

There's some talk around that they're going to do this thing again next year ... same time, same place. If the line-up is anywhere near as sick as this one, I can't recommend it enough. Just a great time ...