Out of nowhere and completely on a whim, I decided to scan through YouTube lately for a chance that someone would have videos up from the first Phish show I caught: October 4, 1999 in Normal, IL. Man was I late to this party.
Sure enough, there are two videos up from the show that made it to the internet. They were both shot from where my point of view was so I got a nice hint of nostalgia today when I checked these out. Plus, I went back to the Phish Friday from a year ago where I featured the second set highlight for me in “Makisupa Policeman,” with a nice little “Stir It Up” tease and a double-time mini-jam at the end. This guy like the show, too…
…NORMAL blew my mind, almost literally. For the first (and only time), I ate mushrooms at a Phish show and evidently consumed way too much…as I could hardly move; I felt as if I were suffocating with all the people bouncing into me and yelling….it was not an enjoyable experience, but once we went back outside into the cool Illinois fall, I mellowed out. Oh, and the Uncle Pen opener was freakin’ awesome, as was the DWD.
We’ll be back next week with another Phish Friday, and in the meantime, feel free to email us if you’d like to submit your own PF in the future. We only saw the band so many times between the lot of us, and we’d love to make this a feature that’s a bit more community-focused.
They’ve broken free of their past, free of their own expectations, free of themselves. The pieces have fallen into place and Widespread Panic is free somehow.
Try as I might, I’ve never really been able to become a big fan of Widespread Panic. I understand the appeal of the style of jamband that they embody — straight-ahead Southern blues rock with room for improvisation — but that appeal never seemed to be something I could grasp on to. I usually land on the electronica based stylings that the Disco Biscuits and STS9 have been leading the charge on for the past few years, as plenty evidenced from our past posts (and the interests of our other team members like Andrew and Whitperson).
Regardless of our tastes, these guys deserve all the coverage they can get on LMB. It’s not like they really need it. These guys have been carrying a flock of hippies with them ever since the demise of the other two majors that carried the scene before them. They never followed in the shadows. They forged their own scene and helped build Bonnaroo to the festival that it is today. And their scene is still kicking after all the recent turmoil that the band had to experience. They’ve got dates booked this Spring and plan to follow those appearances with headlining slots at Rothbury Fest and All Good 2008 (with a slot booked at Jazz Fest, too). They’ve also got a new album out called Free Somehow, which features the track below as the intro to the release:
This being the first release with Jimmy Herring, I’m curious as to what the WSP fans think of this. Is this the classic, “jambands still suck in the studio” disc or is this (traveling) light years ahead of what other bands are doing in the genre? Should they just stick to headlining festivals or what? Anyone hitting any dates on the upcoming tour? Let us know, ya’ll — and read on for the tour dates.
Main support March 4th to April 10th will be Philly homies/fellow facial hair aficionados The Extraordinaires, while the second half of the tour will feature the band who celebrate communal ecstatic revelry, the not-to-be-missed Yeasayer.
I hope to catch a set or two by both bands while I’m down in Austin for SXSW ’08. Can’t wait.
I went back to Madison for the night last Thursday to see a show at my drawing teacher Kendra’s new venue, the Project Lodge. She opened the venue with her boyfriend and fellow Portland, Oregon transplant, Chris. Both people are outstanding, so it’s no surprise that the venue seems to be doing well in its infancy. This particular show was of special interest to me because it was curated by my friend and fellow Madison Pop Fest collaborator, Kyle Pfister. His site, JustSayinIsAll, is a non-traditional music blog that juxtaposes various forms of art to create something completely original. He arranged for local Madison dabbler Icarus Himself to open for Seattle’s Say Hi. Another local favorite of mine, Vid Libert, was on hand to do the sound, while local artist Melanie Kehoss’ work pickled the walls. An overall beautiful night for community-based arts.
Usually before I go to a concert I like to get extra familiar with the music I’m about to see performed. I’ll read a bit about the band, listen to their albums a few times, and prepare for what I’m going to hear. Most of the time that concert is the culmination, I’ll hear the songs in a live setting, hopefully they’ll be really good, and then I’ll give the band a break for a few days or weeks. But sometimes, when the show is really good, it makes me want to delve even deeper in the studio recordings immediately.
I saw The National play the Brooklyn Academy of Music last Friday, and come Saturday morning I cued up their last two albums, Boxer and Alligator, and hit shuffle. That’s my rather long-winded way of saying the show was good. Really, really good.
I heard the Mannequin Men were a very drunk and very loud band that liked to drink and play their instruments loud. I also heard the band’s live show described as drunk and loud. For everyone who is as bored as I am with the obvious adjectives, here’s a new one: dynamic. The Mannequin Men are definitely brash and energetic, yet the most intriguing thing about the quartet from Chicago lies not in their presentation but in their objective approach to being in a band.
Did you guys get a chance to check out the latest LMB podcast yet? If you haven’t, make you sure you check that shit out and throw this address into iTunes so you get all the new podcasts in the future:
I was psyched when I heard the idea from Whit, and I think it really came out well overall. Jamband music itself and any long stretches and expanses of instrumental music lend themselves nicely as workout background music, and at times you’d find yourself clicking your iPod up to 11 when the jam starts to get heavy. Hell, Nike and LCD Soundsystem teamed up last year to create a 45-minute track designated specifically for workouts. I think Whit might be onto something here.
While we work to continue to kick around some ideas on future mixes, keep commenting or emailing us new ideas for what you’d want playing in your ears when you hit the treadmill. When I eventually work one up, I can guarantee that you’ll get part of this jam shown in the video below.
Following last week’s uber successful five-night residency here in Chicago, Wilco is set to make a few appearances live this week that all of us at home can take advantage of. On Wednesday, they’re playing the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. and NPR is webcasting the entire show. These recordings always come out great, and I’ve been subscribed to the podcast for a while and regularly listen to the old shows that are still posted for the taking.
After that, the band is going to New York this weekend to be the musical guest on Saturday Night Live, with Ellen Page, star of Juno, as the host. That’ll be one to pay attention to. I’d really like to see if they could work Jeff Tweedy into a regular SNL skit.
I heard great things about the shows and can expect that they’ll do something like this again, be it another city or right back here in Chicago sometime next winter. In the meantime, I’m hoping we have plenty more shows to choose from during 2008. Anyone see the residency shows or catching one of the upcoming dates they have booked? Is any currently touring guitarist better than Nels Cline? Could Tweedy carry his weight during an SNL skit? Drop some comments and let us know what’s up.
When Jason Isbell announced that he was leaving Drive-by Truckers to work on his own material, I was looking forward to seeing what would come next. I am a huge fan of the Truckers and his songs are some of the highlights of their catalog. His solo album, Sirens of the Ditch, came out last [...]
