The Meters’ show yesterday was perhaps the most highly-anticipated festival set of the year in New Orleans (up there with the Rads’ final Jazz Fest blow out) and the holy funk quartet did not disappoint, far exceeding expectations with an hour long funk session alongside a horde of special guests including Cyril Neville and members of Bonerama. Art’s voice was a bit hoarse, but the band managed to press on and find their groove in the fairly early going. Bass legend George Porter Jr. was the undoubted ring leader of the set, and each of his bandmates seized the opportunity to step up to the plate and deliver the goods.
Last Friday night The Low Anthem closed their Fall Tour at the historic Somerville Theatre. This wasn’t just any “end-of-tour” show though, this was an all-out homecoming. Playing to a packed house of friends and fans alike, the Low Anthem culminated years of creativity, experimentation and pure musical genius at a venue made for a band with their sound.
Showcasing their catalog in chronological order, the band played an assortment of songs off each of their albums. They began with songs from What the Crow Brings
(2007), took us through Oh My God Charlie Darwin
(2008) then lead us to their newest material off of Smart Flesh
(2011). I could have heard a pin drop as the room sat completely still, captivated by the four musicians. Each song felt like it’s own musical masterpiece from beginning to end. They toyed with sound, filling the room with rich layers, perfect droning notes and breathtaking acoustics. Throughout the show the band employed countless instruments to demonstrate their musical expertise. Guitar, drums, dulcimer, clarinet, wood saw and (most creatively) audience cell phone reverb, to name a few. The Low Anthem’s ability to produce such structured, elegant “noise” resulted in musical perfection; theoretically dotting each “i” and crossing each “t”. READ MORE
This weekend was full of Halloween revelry at the annual Voodoo Experience festival down in New Orleans, which I can’t wait to hear more about once our very own LMB NOLA crew gets their act together and gets some posts published from the weekend. I did get a few texts here and there saying “eclectic…you should definitely come next year” but I haven’t gotten the full lowdown yet.
Our very own Julia Pretus just hyped me to this, though; it appears that the dudes in ODD FUTURE weren’t having all of this “media” access on their set so they decided to rough up the photographers in the media pit during their set. They made this clear from the get-go… READ MORE
Battles @ Pitchfork Music Festival Chicago 7/15/11
We just got hit with the first snowfall of the season here in NYC. Even though the weather’s starting to chill out, the live shows are keeping up the heat. Check out my preview of the week’s shows with some videos of my top picks, including Ween, Battles, and Steve Kimock & Friends. READ MORE
Ben Sollee kicked off his 4th-ever bike tour last night in Preservation Hall, playing an intimate set alongside his percussionist Jordon Ellis to a crowd of roughly 100 folks inside the hallowed French Quarter room.
In case you missed it, Phish dropped a little nugget (only 35 minutes worth) of a preview from the Hampton/Winston-Salem ’97 release that’s due out in December. The 7-CD box set is bound to get tons of airtime on this here blog as the band’s team continues to feed us bloggers with little treats to share with the rest of the fans. They put out a ton of previews when the Live in Utica and Coral Sky DVDs were put out.
And for the first teaser from the box set, the band put out the insane “Mike’s Groove” opener from the second night of Hampton from the run…
MP3: Phish – “Mike’s Song > I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove” (11/22/97 Hampton, VA)
That moment they start to hit on around 13:00 minutes, arguably the early discoveries of sonic force that would become moments like “What’s the Use?” — man, that is the good stuff. This is a must-download.
Happy Friday, dudes.
