Your Tour Guide
Your Tour Guide – Heart & Peter Frampton
Jul 30th
I can’t possibly report back on every show I attend, but sometimes, when I have a great time, I can’t resist. I took in the Heart & Peter Frampton double bill this past Wednesday night at the Bank of America Pavilion and had a blast. I know a bunch of you youngsters will roll your eyes at the old timer reliving his glory days, but this was a lot of fun. First, I had seen Peter Frampton last summer at Showcase Live, a great little venue on the grounds of Gillette Stadium where the Patriots play football. He was really great so when I saw him on the bill with one of my Guilty Pleasures Heart not ten miles from my house I wasn’t going to pass that up. I’m glad I didn’t.
Peter Frampton can play guitar. You can make fun of him all you want, but the crowd was really pumped to see him do his thing once again the other night. He didn’t disappoint. I would imagine, after all the success he’s had, that running out there for an hour in front of one his contemporaries back in the day has got to be a bit of a downer, but if that is true you wouldn’t know it by his performance. His set list included a couple of the usual suspects including “Baby, I Love Your Way”, but he managed to play a couple of my personal favorites in “It’s a Plain Shame” and “(I’ll Give You) Money.” He ripped into “Do You Feel Like We Do” and the crowd ate it up. His encore was a cover of The Beatles classic “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” In fact he did manage to run out his Soundgarden cover of “Black Hole Sun” as well. It was a small sample size, but if you were a Frampton fan back in the day as I was, this was a total blast. I could have gone for five more songs easy. His bows got some serious applause at the end of his set.
Heart came whipping out of the gates with “Cook With Fire” from their 1978 LP Dog & Butterfly. As someone who loved that record, I really enjoyed that. “Heartless” was next and Heart hadn’t lost a step. Ann & Nancy Wilson still front the band and they sound as good as they ever have. As I have mentioned in my previous post on Heart, I kind of jumped off the bandwagon when they went to the ballads. I know the songs “Never” and “These Dreams,” which they played, but they were not what I loved about Heart. That said, the younger folks in the crowd sang those numbers at the top of their lungs while I grabbed a refreshment. I have to tell you, between Bad Company and Heart in the great outdoors, I had to bring my own towel to remain composed. It was another lovely 90 degree day here in Boston for most folks, but I look forward to those late summer early fall crisper nights of concert going. I have The Black Keys lined up tomorrow night and I hope the weather brings some relief. It’s hard to enjoy yourself when you are perspiring your brains out.
Heart’s set included what you might expect; “Crazy On You?” Check. “Barracuda?” Check. “Magic Man?” Yep. The three most overplayed Heart songs were played consecutively prior to their encore, but they all had life to them. I really didn’t mind. I got “Straight On,” which is one my favorites, but I was disappointed to see “Love Alive” from 1977′s Little Queen left off the set list. What I loved was a mash up of “Even It Out” and one of my all time favorite songs “Gimme Shelter” played almost simultaneously. I never would have thought that they would sound remotely alike, but Heart pulled it off and then some. I loved it. They slowed down “Even It Up” and mixed the verses during the performance. Pretty cool. Rape! Murder! It’s just a shot away. They did two covers for encores; “What is and What Should Never Be” by you know who and “Love Reign O’er Me” by The Who. During their migration to the stage the PA blared the intro to the Led Zeppelin classic “In The Light.” It’s enough to make an old timer wet himself I tell you…
Bottom Line? If you are thinking about catching this show in your town don’t hesitate. Both bands were high energy and played most of their hits. Heart had about five songs going I didn’t know, but that is something I expected because I haven’t bought any of their records since 1983 or so. I know they have a new record coming out and Wikipedia is tentatively calling it Red Velvet Car, but Heart still sounds like a million bucks if you were a fan of theirs in the 70′s. The same and more absolutely goes for Peter Frampton too. Go see them for yourself.
Peter Frampton – Day’s Dawning.mp3
Peter Frampton – (I’ll Give You) Money.mp3
Buy or Download Heart’s Greatest Hits from Amazon here.
Your Tour Guide – Bad Company
Jul 28th
Well, it’s official…I’m on the oldies circuit this summer. As a year round concert goer I always kinda chuckle when I see the summer outdoor schedules finally come out each year. You see your Peter Cetera-less Chicagos and your Lowell George-less LIttle Feats (not bad if you ever want to chance it). Who knows who’s left of the original Doobie Brothers, not that it should be an issue for anyone past the year 1979. The point is you see a lot of broken down acts of yesteryear coming back for one more summer at the concert going trough. Times are tough for everybody. But If you have the money and the inclination you’d be surprised at how many of them are still quite good. Last summer I saw the legendary Moody Blues and they were fantastic. The summer before that Devo blew my mind. This year alone I have seen the resurrection of Procol Harum for instance. Last night, because I had never seen Bad Company live, I took in their show at The Bank of America Pavilion. I’ve got a busy week down there now. Tonight Peter Frampton and Heart are playing the same venue and Saturday night The Black Keys are also there.
I have to tell you, I’m a jaded concert goer. I go for sport a lot of the time. If I hear one good rendition of an old favorite it makes the concert for me. I knew Bad Company was reforming with original members Paul Rodgers, Mick Ralphs and Simon Kirke (unfortunately original bassist Boz Burrell was taken from us in September of 2006) and I wanted to see a piece of Rock history. Paul Rodgers, for my money, is one of the very best Rock vocalists ever. Still, a band that came together in 1973 and didn’t release a record until 1974, English Super Group or no, can’t be expected to Kick Out The Jams some 37 year later can they? The answer is definitely yes.
I have posted about Bad Company in the past so I won’t go over my love of their music again. It still feels like a Guilty Pleasure these days, but I don’t care. If it feels good do it right? I only posted today to tell you folks out there that if you are on the fence about going to see this show go ahead and punch your ticket. There were roughly fifteen songs played over your basic cookie cutter hour and a half set, but there was only one song that could be construed as a dude (“Electricland” from their 1982 relative flop LP Rough Diamonds) the entire evening. The hits just kept on coming; Can’t Get Enough, Honey Child, Run With The Pack, Burnin’ Sky, Oh Atlanta!, Seagull, Gone, Gone, Gone, Simple Man, Feel Like Makin’ Love, Shooting Star, Rock ‘N’ Roll Fantasy, Movin’ On, Ready For Love and Bad Company. I can’t really complain (but I always do), but if they had dusted off “Wild Fire Woman, Rock Steady, Sweet Lil’ Sister, Silver, Blue & Gold, Live For The Music, Deal With The Preacher and Rhythm Machine” it would have been a letter perfect set. Seven more songs boys! I would have paid the extra $30 per ticket to see that. Still, for $60, basically the bargain basement price you can expect to pay these days for any venue that holds more than 5000 people, you got your money’s worth from this version of Bad Company.
The set was tight, the sound was tremendous and Paul Rodgers was on top of his vocal game regardless of his age. I even got pumped during my 3000th hearing of “Feel Like Makin’ Love” and there was no Viagra in sight. Oh, and as an aside, their was plenty of scenery at this show. There was no shortage of female fans. And the Bank of America Pavilion was as loud as I’ve heard it in a very long time in between songs. The fans really turned out to pay homage to this old favorite of a band. Sometimes you can tell when the applause and energy is polite. This was real. People were really psyched. Their signature song, you know the one where Johnny was a schoolboy when he heard his first Beatle’s song (I’d swear this tune was written about me directly if I could play guitar and thought about overdosing)?, well, the ENTIRE crowd sang along to “Shooting Star.” It was kind of cool to watch and listen to. I’ve seen that stuff a zillion times, but I guess WZLX (local Classic Rock station) must be closing in on the one million play mark for “Shooting Star” (during its 25 year mission to ruin all of the 500 songs they play) because the people sure knew every word. It was a thing of beauty to watch whether or not you ever care to hear the song again in your lifetime. I thought I was one of those people before the show.
I wasn’t going to write anything if I thought they sucked. Trust me on that. I was very pleasantly surprised at the fire they brought with them last night. In checking an online tour schedule it appears, unless dates have been added I’m not aware of, that their next tour stop is in Durant, OK at the Choctaw Resort Casino on July 30th. That oughta be quite the culture switch up huh? Isn’t Choctaw Ridge where Billy Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge? Well, I hope they are as receptive to Bad Company as Boston was. With a couple three days to rest up they should be fresh as daisy to Rock their set all over again. I have to admit, Reelin’ in The Years and stowing away the time is kinda fun. Go see Bad Company; it’s Hot Fun in the Summertime…
Bad Company – Silver, Blue and Gold.mp3
Buy or download The ‘Original’ Bad Company Anthology from Amazon here.
Your Tour Guide – Hole
Jun 24th
Last night Courtney Love came to town. I suppose we should begin to refer to her as Courtney Michelle, but I don’t think that a name change is going to re-brand this women in any serious way do you? Look, there is no denying Courtney has her detractors. The women has been through hell and some of it was her own doing. Still, at 45 years young (for now that is, she has a birthday coming up on July 9th), she seems more able to let the criticism bounce off of her. She’s got balls and I admire her for that. I was on the fence about attending, but the truth is, as soon as I saw Hole listed as a June show at Boston’s House of Blues, I was drawn to the show. I was jokingly calling it a train wreck I just had to see, but I was wrong. Oh, she did space some words during her impromptu rendition of a recent outtake called Stand Up M*F’er, but she and her band did some solid work last night. Some idiots through some stuff up on the stage, mostly beer bottles and water bottles, but she never lost her cool, not even for a second. I was praying she wouldn’t. Why let her detractors win? A guy next to me mumbled to his girlfriend as Courtney was trying to remember the words at one point and said “this is what I came to see.” I remember nodding against my will. Thanks not really what I can to see even though I’d heard the rumors.
I don’t care what anyone says about women like Sinead O’Connor or Courtney Love. When you rock, you rock…end of story. Love does like to stop the show and almost chit chat with her audience. I don’t have any problem with that. It makes her human. Last night, for instance, we learned that her smash hit “Doll Parts” was written at somebody named Joyce’s house near Harvard Square. We learned that one of the first albums she ever owned was a Leonard Cohen record and she covered one of his songs during the show called “Take This Longing” after a nice intro. We learned that some of the lyrics to her song “Awful” were written about a then 22 year old rocker named Gavin Rossdale (of Bush fame) and that he was hot way back when. We learned that everything we do in life is all about getting laid (what’s the definition of doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results again?…I better work on this). And we learned Courtney wears $800 panties…which we witnessed on the outside of her leggings. There was a 50-50 chance of a wardrobe malfunction at one point, but all this aside, Hole put on a great show as far as I’m concerned. I get a real kick out of her whole rock chick persona, but you still have to deliver the goods. She does that and then some.
After a “Dirty Water” voice warm up they dug into “Pretty On The Inside” which morphed into “Sympathy For The Devil.” Curious, but I wasn’t thinking about covers going in. Later on they covered “Play With Fire” which you may recognize as another Rolling Stones classic, but that was dedicated to all the bitches in the audience living off of Daddy’s money. An issue she clearly has had trouble with over the years. In a completely unrelated story the next song following “Sympathy” was her hit single “Skinny Little Bitch.” If you came to hear “Doll Parts, Miss World, Violet, Plump, Celebrity Skin, Malibu, Awful, Reasons To Be Beautiful” and on and on she didn’t disappoint. I would have thrown in “Softer, Softest” and “Asking For It” for good measure, but I’m not complaining. The thing is, she seemed to be having fun instead of going through the motions. One woman whined, just enough so she could hear, when she started covering “Closer” by Nine Inch Nails, but she professionally finished the song and then told her politely to go see “Panic at The Disco” or something if she didn’t like it. The crowd was more with her than against her for a change it seemed. Like I said earlier, some slugs did toss stuff at her to see if they could get under her Celebrity Skin, but she ignored them. One gigantic dude, dressed in heels and full Courtney Love regalia got her attention during one of her numbers and Courtney laughed and smiled like you rarely see her it seems. She had a nice rapport with both the audience and her band which, according to Wikipedia, consists these days of Micko Larkin on lead guitar, Shawn Dailey on bass and Stu Fisher on drums. All were excellent. Apparently, we learned in another one of Love’s chatty moments, there have been 16 members of Hole over the years.
I have to tell you, I was expecting an uneven performance and what I got was my money’s worth. Most of her new record, Nobody’s Daughter, was played and several of those tracks, such as “Pacific Coast Highway,” complete with its own intro about a relationship with a city (presumably Malibu) and or individual that has gone sour, were very well received. For me personally though, “Letter To God” with its tear your heart out lyrics, is really a step in the right direction for Love. I don’t know if she’ll ever be completely healed, but she seems relatively coherent and friendly these days. The covers of Big Star’s “Thirteen,” Fleetwood Mac’s “Gold Dust Woman” and Nine Inch Nails “Closer” were a blast. I am rooting for her to succeed. I don’t care what she’s done, who she’s done, what her politics are or what people think of her; she rocks. She’s in New Jersey tonight, but if you get a chance go and see her when she shows up in your town. Her band is tight and she’s soldiering on nicely. If you are a Hole fan you won’t be disappointed. And, as in my case, you might be pleasantly surprised.
Hole – Skinny Little Bitch.mp3
Buy or download Nobody’s Daughter from Amazon here.
Your Tour Guide – Jethro Tull & Procol Harum
Jun 16th
I know a concert review about two bands from the 60′s isn’t going to score big with today’s Indie crowd, but not many of posts do so why stop now? Jethro Tull is a very polarizing band kind of like Rush or even The Grateful Dead; you either love them or you hate them. Well, I’m fans of all three bands and I make no apologies. I’ve been listening to Jethro Tull since I was about 13 years old. I own everything in their catalogue. I don’t know too many Jethro Tull fans to be honest, but I met about twenty last night between dinner and drinks prior to the show. They’re like Republicans or Yankee fans in Massachusetts; they’re everywhere in plain view, but nobody can see them. It’s a curious thing actually. Jethro Tull played The Bank of America Pavilion last night on Boston’s waterfront. It’s my favorite venue in a town full of them. It’s a big top tent that only thrives for about three months each year, but it’s easy to get to, close to home and brings all kinds of like minded music fans together each year. I just love the place. Real food, real beer and a very peaceful vibe. All kinds of acts play this venue. I’ve seen everything from My Morning Jacket to Robert Plant to Iggy Pop to Beck there. Capacity is only around five thousand I’m told. It feels like more, but I guess not.
The Bank of America Pavilion does their revival acts like Chicago, The Doobie Brothers and a whole host of bands that sporadically re-unite from year to year. Each year you can pick out five must see shows, particularly if the warm up act is credible, and you make sure you are there. People who know me could point those five out from an ad in the paper each year. The venue is a big draw for me. I skip over the Pop and R&B and head right for the rock bands I haven’t seen in a while. You may recall I caught The Moody Blues there last summer and posted about it here. I’m going to see some fun double bills over the next month or so. Cheap Trick with Squeeze. Heart with Peter Frampton. I’ve seen all these bands before, but they’re so close! This could be the last time (yeah, right). Bad Company has reformed for a show there this summer. Count me in for July 27th, but I’m dying to see Widespread Panic on July 24th. Can this old man stack up this many concerts in such a short amount of time? Gov’t Mule is a staple in my world. See you August 6th. But the show I’m really looking forward to is The Black Keys on July 31st. I could get by with a handful of shows each summer at The BOA Pavilion, but it seems like this year I’ve got twelve or so. So much for the budget. I’ve gotta locate funds to see Rush perform Moving Pictures in its entirety in September at Boston Garden (sorry, TD Bank…North). Ditto for Roger Waters performing The Wall in early October. Can you feel my pain? No? Why not? It’s only money.
When you are around for forty plus years, you tend to accumulate a lot of material. Picking what to play is a nightmare I suppose, but for the hard core fans leaving the hits out is a pipe dream. I’ve probably seen Jethro Tull a dozen times or so, but I get a charge out of them every time. Only lead guitarist Martin Barre and Ian Anderson are what you’d call original members, but the music remains mostly unchanged give or take a few new arrangements from time to time. I’d drop “Aqualung” in a heartbeat, but then what would the first timer say and would he ever come back as a result? I remember an old quote by Joe DiMaggio to the effect that he never wanted to come out of the lineup because some little kid might be at his first game looking to see him play. He didn’t want to disappoint. I guess that is the logic behind Jethro Tull playing “Aqualung” every time they take the stage, but it does get old for me. If owned a band, listen up Mick Jagger, and I had over 20 albums of material to choose from I’d figure out a way to make every song interchangeable. I love the way The Grateful Dead controlled their catalogue. You had to go to every show just in case you missed them doing “Tennessee Jed” or whatever your favorite Dead song might be. I’ll bet they never got bored. There is no reason The Rolling Stones have to play “Sympathy For The Devil” and “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” at every show, but they do. In fairness to Jethro Tull, “Aqualung” is the only song that falls into this category for them. Well, unless you count “Locomotive Breath,” which turned out to be the encore with a touch of “Teacher” mixed into it.
They opened with “Nothing is Easy” from 1969′s Stand Up, which has long been a favorite of mine. Ran right into “Beggar’s Farm” from 1968′s This Was. Can’t beat those two with a stick if you are a Tull fan. They followed that up with the Joe Bonamassa fav “A New Day Yesterday” from Stand Up as well. As my friend Jefferson, who attended the show with me last night, said at the time; “they could pack up right now and I’d feel like I got my money’s worth.” Exactly. For out of the way tracks we were treated to “Jack in The Green” from 1977′s Songs From The Wood and “Budapest” from 1987′s Crest of a Knave. The concert didn’t feel overly short, but we got only one encore and only 14 songs by my count. Look, if they ever do a show that plays the entire Benefit (1970), Living in The Past (1972), War Child (1974) or Minstrel in The Gallery (1975) albums I’d be all over that, but you have to take what you can get these days. Besides, judging from the aggregate age of the crowd, who can handle a two hour rock concert anymore? Oh that’s right, I can. Bottom line? If you are a Tull fan you’ll enjoy the heck out of this show. If not, stay home. You won’t enjoy the show.
Opener Procol Harum ran through an abridged catalogue in 45 minutes or so. Yes we got show closer “A Whiter Shade of Pale,” but we got so much more than that. Lead by singer Gary Brooker and lyricist Keith Reid, Procol Harum still sounds exactly like they did all those years ago. It’s uncanny. Shine On Brightly, Homburg, A Salty Dog, Conquistador, Simple Sister and Whaling Stories all sounded tremendous. Gary Brooker’s pushing 65 for crying out loud! What a great voice. I’m so glad I was able to catch them. I’m almost positive I heard one my personal favorites by them; “The Devil Came From Kansas” during their sound check on the street before the show, but that one apparently didn’t make it. I still get (The Big) Chill’s when I hear “A Whiter Shade of Pale.” Four minutes of classical and rock music fusion that made history. What a single. Robin Trower was nowhere in sight, but go see this show anyway if you are fans of Procol Harum.
Jethro Tull – Nothing is Easy.mp3
Your Tour Guide – The Psychedelic Furs
Jun 6th
This blurry photo was taken by my Blackberry Curve at Boston’s House of Blues last night. A relatively sparsely attended She Wants Revenge and Psychedelic Furs Double Bill turned out to be a blast. As I do with most shows I held off buying a ticket until the night of the show. I wasn’t sure I was attending as I was supposed to be in two places at once, but I was able to shake free to take in this show. I’m glad I went.
The show cost a whopping $25. I wish all shows cost $25. I showed up early to catch She Wants Revenge. I think this was my third time seeing them. They ran through all their hits and played at least four new songs. They were well received. I have a feeling their next CD will be good. I loved this show from the moment I heard about it for a number of reasons. First the Boston Red Sox were out of town. That cuts down on the congestion and makes parking bearable. I waltzed into town, about an eight mile drive, in ten minutes flat. Parking was a snap for an old pro like me. Kenmore Square is never easy, but having lived nearby for over 20 years I know every space. It was a good weather weekend so many folks were out of town and the colleges are not in session this time of year. I love air conditioning. I love the outdoor big top circuit (I’ve got two or three shows coming up as we speak), but I hate those humid high 80′s nights. I can deal with the temperature dropping 10 to 15 degrees when the sun goes down, but when it doesn’t the concert is just not as much fun for this Irish boy. ‘Nuff said. The House of Blues has air conditioning and it just doesn’t sell out on weekend nights in a tough economy if the act isn’t the newest hottest thing under the sun. I’m all over that. I knew The Furs wouldn’t sell out, good supporting act or not, because the HOB does much better during the winter months. There are only so many concert dollars to go around and twenty or thirty year old acts take the hits. No problem by me. This show rocked.
I keep expecting The Psychedelic Furs to sort of peter out, but they are really very good live. I can’t really complain about their set list, though I would have made my usual substitutions. I missed “Dumb Waiters,” but I got “Sister Europe, Heartbeat, President Gas, Heartbreak Beat, Heaven, It Goes On and All of This and Nothing.” The standard fare was there too in ”Pretty in Pink, The Ghost in You and Love My Way,” but the size of the crowd lent itself to a bit of intimacy. I feel extremely fortunate when I guess right. I’m not very good at estimating crowds, but I’m guessing maybe 3000 people tops including all three floors. That’s a shame because this was a great time. If they come to your town jump on the cheap ticket. It’s well worth it if you were one of the folks who helped make The Furs famous back in the 80′s. Just a hot tip from The Giant Panther.
The Psychedelic Furs – Sister Europe.mp3
Your Tour Guide – Grace Potter & The Nocturnals
May 29th
Last night was the first time I got to lay eyes on Grace Potter & The Nocturnals. Hopefully it won’t be the last. I own two Grace Potter records, but I was kind of surprised at the show I just witnessed. I thought their 2007 record, This is Somewhere, was great, but I hadn’t listened to it in a while and I was trying to absorb their new release, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals, in time to prepare for what I might hear at the show. I might have gotten through it twice in its entirety. That’s not much to go on, but I was looking forward to seeing her. It’s not that I forgot what they sounded like, but I pleasantly surprised at the amount of rocking Grace does. It seems as if I should have done a bit more homework listening to their back catalogue because I wasn’t quite expecting a rock concert. I definitely got one, that’s for sure.
I don’t have a set list to go by, but The Nocturnals banged out several new tracks during this show and they were very well received. You don’t always get that when you play the “new stuff” in concert. The new album is scheduled to drop June 8th and after watching them play most of it live I’d recommend picking it up. There are a lucky 13 tracks on the new CD and they played the majority of them. I thought “Hot Summer Night” and “Medicine” kicked the most butt myself, but the crowd seemed to love “Paris (Ooh La La)” and “Ah Mary” even more. “Mastermind” was outstanding as well.
I don’t know if they’ll ever be as popular as their Vermont brethren Phish, but ski country can be mighty proud of Grace Potter & The Nocturnals. Boston is the closest major city they play so it was a sort of homecoming for them. Apparently they just recently returned from the UK and were feeling a little jet lagged. I didn’t count the songs or anything, but it felt like they played a good twenty songs and played around two hours. Grace Potter & The Nocturnals come at you with an old school look to them. The two guitar players and the drummer, identified by Wikipedia as Scott Tourant, Benny Yurco & Matt Burr respectively, look like they stepped out of a rockumentary from the 1970′s. Long hair flying everywhere. They can all play though make no mistake. In fact, the musicianship surprised me. I think I was expecting more of a softer rock show.
The sound was excellent as well. Not one peep of feedback and it was plenty loud without splitting any eardrums. Then we come to Grace herself and her bass player Catherine Popper. There is no way around this so I’ll just say it; there’s a lot of sex appeal between those two. That never hurts any band. Two beautiful women right up front and great music to boot. What’s wrong with that?
Grace had a Heidi Klum ‘do that never stopped moving. Dressed in a slinky black dress with sparkly gold lines, Grace came out rocking right off the bat. Her enthusiasm for what she is doing is very contagious. She has an extremely warm and congenial way about her that is endearing. She seems like a bit of a goofball and the crowd loved her. She does a lot of jumping and dancing while she sings and plays the guitar, tambourine and organ. She’s definitely the maestro of the act, but all of the musicians had their moments in the sun during the show. Everyone in the band looked like they got on very well and everybody seemed to be having fun. People can sense that I think. The crowd was very young and there were a lot of female fans, which is always a good sign for a band. Making a living in the music business these days is harder than ever, but the effort that Grace Potter & The Nocturnals put in last night will serve them well going forward. The show was executed flawlessly I thought.
One last thing; Grace mentioned halfway through the show that she once got to lick Iggy Pop’s chest and that she found him very attractive. I thought that was so Rock & Roll. And there song “2:22″ sounds like it came right out of the Led Zeppelin playbook so you know they are a serious band. Their encore included a cover of the Jefferson Airplane classic “White Rabbit.” Considering that Grace Slick absolutely nailed that vocal the first time around I’d say that is mighty brave of Grace Potter to try, but their version is really very good. Maybe she just needed to sing another Grace’s song I guess. At the end of the night the band crowded up onto the drum kit and everybody played them all at once. I’ve been to a zillion shows and I’d never seen that one before.
I’m going to leave you with a YouTube clip of her song “Medicine” so you might get the feel of what it was like to see Grace Potter & The Nocturnals. Buy the record and go see the band. Bands like this need to be supported. They’re a blast.
Your Tour Guide – The Pixies
Nov 29th
Few bands have the cache or street cred that The Pixies do. It’s really hard to actually put a finger on because the run of the mill rock fan might be able to name three or four Pixies tunes max. I wrote about these guys maybe six months ago so I’m not going to wax poetic all over again today. Ryan, better known as The Giant Panther, and I took in The Pixies show this past Friday night at The Wang Center For The Performing Arts here in Boston. The actual building has a long history of hosting cultural events. In 1925 The Metropolitan Theatre opened in Boston’s Theatre District presumably hosting opera, classical music concerts and probably a little vaudeville. In 1962 the edifice was rechristened the home of the venerable Boston Ballet and renamed The Music Hall. In addition to the ballet crowd, the Music Hall began hosting a myriad of rock concerts including The Grateful Dead and Bob Dylan, particularly in the 70′s. I’m stating this from memory, which I’ve admitted in the past has betrayed me in the past, but I think I can safely say I saw The Outlaws, Heart, and possibly The Cars in that building before it was renamed yet again (this time back to The Metropolitan Theatre) in 1980. Great building; forced identity crisis…
Dr. An Wang, a computer engineer, made a large donation to the now non-profit Metropolitan Theatre in 1983. Wouldn’t you know it? Name change! According to Wikipedia, $9.8 Million was raised to renovate the theatre between 1989-1992. Now, with a capacity of roughly 3600, The Wang Center For The Performing Arts represents the very best Boston has to offer to the theatre going public. The Opera House is a fine establishment as well, but it’s buried a little off the beaten path near The Shopping District and not quite as big and glorious. Since the renovation The Wang has been careful not to attract the wrong element. I don’t think you’ll be seeing Motorhead or Judas Priest performing there any time soon (no offense to their music or perceived crowd intended). I think my concert going has been restricted to apple pie acts like Steely Dan, 10,000 Maniacs and comedian Jerry Seinfeld since they did the place over, but it is gorgeous. I don’t know their exact connection to the neighboring Wilbur Theatre is but I’ve taken in The Dandy Warhols and comedian Craig Ferguson over there. Nothing too offensive there either. I do have some crappy news though; The Wang Center For The Peforming Arts is being name hijacked once again…hello Citi Peforming Arts Center…uggh. I don’t believe I’ll be using that moniker anytime soon to describe this address. I still call The Tweeter/Comcast Center Great Woods and I always will. I detest corporate name changes. If they actually built the place fine, but otherwise…it’s such a turn off…no other way to describe it…have their been studies done that being hit over the head with a particular company, let alone a bank, improves business? Really? Stupid me…
The Pixies have another type of crowd. First of all, they have Boston ties, so that would probably factor into The Wang booking them, but I’m always curious where they draw that imaginary line in the sand. Ironically, my last, and only Pixies concert was November 27, 1991 at The Orpheum Theatre in Boston. How absolutely ironic is it that my next Pixies concert was 18 years to the day on November 27, 2009? I find that a tad disconcerting, but in a good way as we are all still here, healthy and rocking. The Pixies don’t have a particularly frightening brand of music, but they aren’t afraid to challenge the norm. The focus of this concert was the 1989 CD Doolittle, celebrating the 20th anniversary of its release, which they played end to end after a four song warm-up. I’ve been to my share of shows, but I got a big kick out of this one. I have often said that my 1991 show was spectacular. I was in roughly the 20th row this time so I wasn’t nearly as close as I was the first time, but I still got a pretty good feel for the enormity of what I was witnessing. To recap; The Pixies were together from 1986-1993 and released five studio albums. Come On Pilgrim and Surfer Rosa featured some awesome singles such as “Gigantic” and “Where is My Mind,” but ultimately sales were so-so. Then came 1989′s Doolittle.
Doolittle, to the uninitiated, might represent a struggle for continuity. You know and love “Here Comes Your Man” and “Monkey Gone To Heaven” from repeated radio listenings, but you don’t hear many a Pixies’ fan favorite “Debaser” much anymore on terrestrial radio. “Wave of Mutilation,” featured twice in two different forms during this concert, also has trouble maintaining any consistent radio waves. You can forget about hearing Pixie classics “Gouge Away, Hey and I Bleed” from this record unless you own it. Only three of the fifteen tracks clear the three minute mark, yet the record placed 226th on Rolling Stone Magazine’s prestigious Top 500 Greatest Albums of All Time published in 2003. That is incredibly impressive.
If you live in a major metropolitan city like Boston with some 15 potential rock venues you sometimes have to pick and choose your concerts, particularly in this economy. No matter what the circumstances, when you see a band re-surface like The Pixies after years of squabbling and not knowing if they will ever come around again you have to make the effort to see them. It’s historic, it’s magical and they were terrific. If they come to your town go see them. They go on just after 9 PM. I spent almost as much money on the Live at Hammerstein (11-23-2009) CD they were hocking in the lobby before the show AND by shelling out $50 for what looked to be an ordinary cardboard poster of the cover of Doolittle (they swore they were only selling 15 of them per show…that’s probably right…there aren’t 15 suckers at each show to pay that kind of money) than I spent on three tickets, but I had a great time. You will too. The good news is I can now leave you with a copy of “Hey” from the Hammerstein CD for your enjoyment. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.
Set List – Dancing The Manta Ray, Weird at My School, Bailey’s Walk, Manta Ray, Debaser, Tame, Wave of Mutilation, I Bleed, Here Comes Your Man, Dead, Monkey Gone To Heaven, Mr Grieves, Crackity Jones, La La I Love You, Number 13 Baby, There Goes My Gun, Hey, Silver, Gouge Away
Encore I – Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf), Into The White
Encore II – Where is My Mind, Caribou, Vamos, Gigantic
Your Tour Guide – Secret Machines
Sep 22nd
I’ve been meaning to write about these guys for months now and my opening just now presented itself. Secret Machines refer to their music as Space Rock, but The School of Rock sound chasers are having a field day with these guys trying to trace their lineage. You hear Pink Floyd mentioned, but I don’t hear that at all. Last night I saw them perform, at the venerable Paradise here in Boston, for the very first time. I own three of their CDs, but I have to admit to not absorbing the last two releases as much as I intend to in the future. I’ll have to get back to you on those.
I remember reading the year’s critical and popular reviews in 2004 and stumbled upon their major label debut called Now Here is Nowhere. I didn’t know they had an earlier 2002 EP called September 000 at the time, but it wouldn’t have mattered. I liked what the critics had to say about them and I liked the artwork on the cover of the CD. I had more disposable income in those days so I threw a copy in my Amazon.com bucket. In those days my 20 mile commute from Back Bay in Boston to Framingham, MA for work was where I got the majority of my listening done during the work week. It’s wasn’t much time, believe me, and it was a straight shot, reverse commute no less, down the Massachusetts Turnpike to get there. Some days I heard five songs tops each way (not that I’m a lead foot or anything). I guess my point is I actually grew to like this record despite sleep deprived cranky rides into work and the frazzled stressed out rides home at night. I don’t have ADD or anything, but that’s a neat trick. You always want to hear something you know when you have a short ride and I didn’t know anything about Secret Machines at the time. They still won me over.
Secret Machines is a three man act that evolved out of a myriad of Dallas, TX based bands even as they consider the great City of New York their home these days. In doing some light research I found out that original band members Brandon and Ben Curtis were brothers (I know that’s stating the obvious, but monitoring the personnel in bands was never my strong suit). Brandon does most of the vocals and handles the bass. Ben played lead guitar on Now Here is Nowhere and 2006′s Ten Silver Drops before leaving the band in March of 2007 to focus on his own band called School of Seven Bells. I don’t have enough information to call it creative differences, but School’s music has been described as Dream Pop, which I guess is in the ballpark of The Postal Service. If that is true, I really loved that Postal Service record, it makes sense, but I’m sure there’s more to the story.
A highly competent guitarist named Phil Karnats was hired as Ben’s replacement and he put on a show last night. I think I heard a bit of Adrian Belew during some of his improvisations and I enjoyed his contributions immensely. The drummer’s name is Josh Garza and I loved his thunderous playing. He was very precise, heavy handed and clean sounding. It really made the sound in my opinion. I saw him watching headliners …And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead after he was done playing (they had two drummers) and it made me think he was a student of his craft. Secret Machines haven’t really made it just yet though. Naturally nobody is playing their music on the terrestrial dial and they were their own roadies last night. I stopped both Brandon and Phil to tell them how much I enjoyed the show as they were wheeling their equipment out, but they would never remember even though the crowd was obscenely small. I’m guessing maybe 250 people were there last night. That’s just sad, but then again that’s life on the road for fledgling bands I guess.
…And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead apparently weren’t enough of a draw to fill The Paradise on a September Monday night, but in fairness a little known act called U2 was performing in the area last night as well. I went to see U2 Sunday night complete with monster staging and glitter, but everyone knows stadium shows are purely for the social aspect of the group attending of concerts. It’s like a football game in many respects, after all most of these stadiums are football stadiums in the U.S., but you don’t just whistle up the gate just before the band takes the stage. You get there three hours early to beat traffic, drink and eat like there is no tomorrow, walk a mile plus to get into the stadium only to watch 1000 foot monitors instead of the tiny creatures known as the band. It’s kind of comical really. I think I paid $252 face value to watch them play from roughly 75 yards as the crow flies. Throw in the $10 beers and $50 parking and you wonder why you bother.
Shows like last night’s Secret Machines show even up the score as we were maybe twenty feet from the band at any one time with open access to the bar and facilities. You can’t ask for anything more. Secret Machines are better in concert than on CD, but that’s a complement because the CDs are really very good. Now Here is Nowhere is one my sleepers of the present decade. I hope you like it. I’m posting “Nowhere Again” because it is around four minutes and representative of their sound, but there are four to five other tracks on this record I’d have no problem posting. Some of them are close to ten minutes so I didn’t want to lose you, but I love them just as much. I hope they find eventual success in a very tough market. I’m a fan. Hopefully we’ll make a few more out there.
Secret Machines – Nowhere Again.mp3
Your Tour Guide – The Black Crowes
Aug 28th
Last night I saw The Black Crowes and The Levon Helm Band. Nice double bill. I’ve been seeing the opening act a lot more at the concerts I’ve been attending lately, but I think it’s more of a coincidence than anything else. I love a good double bill, don’t get me wrong, but trying to fit in dinner and other issues can sometimes lead to skipping the opening act. Maybe it’s the $10 beers, maybe it’s the lack of real food in the venue, but it’s rare that I sit through two or more acts at a given concert. Nobody knows better than I do that this is my loss, but it is what it is. I want to say right here that I am a huge fan of The Band. I’ve come to appreciate their brand of countrified folk rock more and more as I get older. I realize that they have some Canadian blood in them, but I just feel like they represent a real slice of Americana. It’s always a good time to go back and reacquaint yourself if you feel it’s necessary. I don’t seem to ever get tired of listening to them.
Levon Helm is a living legend. The man is 69 years old. Born in Arkansas in 1940, Helm’s voice is unmistakable. Whenever I hear songs like “The Weight” or “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” I see this guy’s face in my mind. What soul. You feel like you can just picture Chester or Luke from “The Weight” or Virgil from “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” when you hear him tell those stories. How great is “Virgil quick come see, there goes Robert E. Lee?” The imagery is just outstanding and so very southern. It just boggles the mind that The Civil War was a mere 150 years ago (give or take of course). It seems like it happened centuries ago. Levon Helm brings it right into your living room. Hopefully you’ve all seen The Last Waltz, but if you haven’t get right on that. You need a good three hours, but it’s worth it. Last night Levon, unfortunately, was under doctor’s orders not to sing so we didn’t get the full effect, but the man was drumming his heart out. I’m sure many of you are aware he battled throat cancer about a decade ago and his vocal chords require constant maintenance. Hopefully he’ll be back on the beam soon. They say he recorded his last CD, Dirt Farmer, at 80% of his former vocal range. I didn’t know this. I’ll have to go back and re-listen. He’s much more diminutive than I imagined. This was the first time I got the chance to lay eyes on him. He’s not a big man. Then again, maybe I’ll have done a fair amount of shrinking over the next twenty years. Hopefully around the waist line, but I’m not holding my breath there.
Levon’s Band played several Band chestnuts. Chest Fever, It Makes No Difference, and The Weight were all tackled plus they covered The Grateful Dead’s Tennessee Jed, a personal favorite of mine. I really enjoyed the whole experience. Chris Robinson came out and took a verse or two of “The Weight” as the band shared the song. Amy Helm, his daughter, was front and center all night and Al Kooper, famous for any number of groups and sessions (most famously for playing the organ on Bob Dylan’s epic “Like a Rolling Stone”), made an appearance as well. I guess he lives in Somerville, MA relatively around the corner from me. Overall it was a thoroughly enjoyable show and great to see Levon doing what he loves. I envy that and it was very heart warming to watch.
The Black Crowes-Levon Helm tour connection most recently comes from their idea to record at Helm’s recording studio at his home in Woodstock, NY known as “The Barn.” He hosts “Midnight Rambles” every Saturday night to help pay for his medical bills. Apparently local musicians drop in quite often and jam. Woodstock is still a haven for artists. I’m not sure my local police would go for weekly midnight concerts, but there is more space out that way. Anyway, I want in. I want to go to Yasgur’s Farm and the Baseball Hall of Fame on the same trip. That would be my idea of a great road trip. The Black Crowes recorded their latest record, Before The Frost, in front of a live studio audience. The CD comes out Tuesday, but they played the bulk of it in concert last night and it sounded great. There is a tandem CD with 8 new songs (with one cover I understand) called Until The Freeze that legal procurers of the CD can download with proof of purchase. I’m told it sounds great and their is light audience clapping in the background after each song as if maybe twenty people were there. I don’t think it’s ever been done before, but I’m sure I’m wrong. I’m looking forward to it.
OK, I need to shut myself off because I could go on for a while here. I’m leaving you with the set list and gentle push to go see this double bill. I’ve probably seen six or seven Black Crowes shows and I always leave satisfied. I was listening to Warpaint in my car last night and I had forgotten how much I liked that CD. Here is Goodbye Daughters of The Revolution. Rock on Robinson clan.
Good Morning Captain. Make Glad. Let Me Share The Ride. Houston Don’t Dream About Me. Whoa Mule. Shine Along. Appaloosa. She Gave Good Sunflower. High Head Blues. I Ain’t Hiding. What is Home. Movin’ On Down The Line. A Train Still Makes A Lonely Sound. Sometimes Salvation. Twice As Hard. Been A Long Time (Waiting On Love). – Encore -She Talks To Angels. Shake Your Money Maker.
The Black Crowes – Goodbye Daughters of The Revolution.mp3
The Black Crowes – Goodbye Daugthers of The Revolution.mp3 YSI
Your Tour Guide – The Moody Blues
Aug 26th
My first exposure to The Moody Blues came when I first heard the single “Nights in White Satin.” That song was re-issued in the mid seventies for some reason and was a hit all over again. I think one of the proms I never attended at Voorhees High School in Glen Gardner, NJ used it as the theme song if memory serves. That’s usually enough to turn you off to any song, but I had a history with The Moody Blues. My best friend Jim had three older siblings and they all had Moody Blues records. We used to play the baseball dice game Strat-O-Matic and listen to these records endlessly. Finally, in 1974, The Moody Blues released This is The Moody Blues as a greatest hits package. It didn’t catch everything, but it sure was close. For a 14 year old on a grass cutting budget, this was the jackpot. A double album priced at no more than $7.99 at Korvette’s on Route 22 in New Jersey was nirvana. I haven’t thought about Korvette’s in years, but pow, just like that, I’m back in 1974. I guess E.J. (Korvette) declared bankruptcy in 1980 and folded the chain, but he was my music man for a couple of years. I was a Massachusetts resident by then so I didn’t get the memo, but God bless that chain.
Note the vinyl marks on the artwork above. You know this baby sat in a heavy pile of records for a long time. It’s not my copy, but it might as well have been. I love The Moody Blues. I know it’s not very fashionable to say as much these days, but I’ve always loved this band. I remember a friend of my father’s gave me a cassette copy of Seventh Sojourn in 1972. I played that thing like there was no tomorrow. I just loved it. This is The Moody Blues was one of the first greatest hits records I can remember where you didn’t get a break between the songs. Nearly every one of them was blended or had a few seconds of silence between the tracks. I didn’t mind it when I was playing the album, but digitzing the music is kind of a nightmare. Songs frequently get chopped unfortunately.
Last night The Moody Blues played the Bank of America Pavilion here in Boston. At 49 years young I felt like a toddler in this silver haired crowd. The Moodies released their first record, Days of Future Passed, in 1967. Many of these folks were obviously long time fans like me with the emphasis on the long. Aside from seeing 60 somethings Justin Hayward, John Lodge and Graeme Edge on stage looking every bit their age, it was interesting to see a crowd of folks pushing 60 trying to rock. Maybe this is how I look at a Kings of Leon concert I’m guessing huh? I know many of you folks out there probably know four Moody Blues songs at best, but these guys were pioneers. They mixed poetry and orchestral soft rock and produced some great music. Like Pink Floyd, there has never been anybody like them. Even with three of the original five on stage, it was like I was back in Boston Garden in 1980 or at Concerts On The Common in 1988 minus Michael Pinder and Ray Thomas. When they broke into “Tuesday Afternoon” about five songs in I was in nostalgia heaven. It practically was Tuesday Afternoon to boot. Great symmetry. I’m a sucker for symmetry.
The highlight of the show, for me, though was “Never Comes The Day” from 1969′s On The Threshold of a Dream. I sang that thing at the top of my lungs along with everybody else within earshot. I know most of you probably don’t even know the song, but it’s a great tune. I love Justin Hayward’s voice. It’s so soothing. I didn’t get to hear “Lovely To See You” or “Legend of a Mind” last night, but I didn’t really care. I’ve heard those first seven records hundreds of times. I was just happy to be there last night on a picture perfect late August evening. Our ten days of summer is coming to a close and even I, allergic to weather 80 degrees and above, was comfortable last night. The weather hasn’t quite broken yet, but you can feel it coming. I just love the cool weather of the fall season. I knew I was going to the show all along, but I didn’t grab a ticket until yesterday afternoon. I found a single in the 12th row center and had a tremendous view of their gorgeous new flute player dressed in black. She might have been talented, but I was too dazzled by her silhouette to notice.
I saw Bruce Springsteen over the weekend, but I felt like writing about The Moody Blues instead. I feel like these guys just don’t get their due in rock history. Thirty years from now the band and us fans will probably be gone so I’m doing my part to remind folks what great artists these guys were and are. I could leave you any number of Moody Blues songs and be happy about it, but I’m going to go with You and Me from Seventh Sojourn. Even if you are a reasonably big Moody Blues fan you might not know this one. I hope you like it.
