Taking in a show at the Masonic Lodge located within the famed Hollywood Forever Cemetery is always a treat. It’s a small room seating roughly 200, with tall ceilings, two hanging chandeliers and seated cushioned benches to the side. To keep it a little more hip, the walls feature film posters like A Clockwork Orange, while Harold & Maude greet you upon entering. It’s one of the more unique rooms for an acoustic performance in Los Angeles, especially considering you just walked past a few gravestones to get there. Last night we were all very fortunate that M. Ward (real name, Matthew Stephen Ward) decided to play a solo gig there. Having Norah Jones sit in doesn’t hurt either.
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Coming off the 1st Annual Anniversary yesterday of one of the better Phish shows from 2010, the October 20th show at Utica Memorial Auditorium in upstate NY (the famed “Guyutica” set), we’re pleased to announce we’ve got a copy of the Phish: Live in Utica 2010 DVD to give away to one of our lucky readers! READ MORE
Megafaun @ McCabe’s Guitar Shop | Santa Monica, CA | 10.9.11
In this day and age we as concert goers don’t get to enjoy gigs like Sunday night very often. I’m talking about Megafaun’s performance at McCabe’s Guitar shop in Santa Monica, CA. It’s a venue that certainly brought out the best in everyone — band & audience. I see why smaller venues don’t succeed. A large part of it is the bottom line and the paychecks involved. The venue needs to make money and the best way to do that is to label it a club/theatre, sell stiff drinks, and fit as many standing people in as the firemen deem suitable.
Well, Sunday night’s show was the exact opposite of everything I just mentioned. READ MORE
Over the weekend, while taking a walk in the Santa Monica neighborhood I passed by @McCabesGuitar shop, and as I normally do, stopped to check out their “Upcoming Shows Wall.” One of the posters that caught my eye was the simply titled MEGAFAUN. It rang a bell. At some point I had heard or seen their name somewhere else, yet couldn’t place it. Once I got home I searched the cobwebs in my brain and had a quick chat with @jasonspang. We traced it back to the connection with Bon Iver and Justin Vernon. Did they open up for Bon Iver this year? More googling brought me to the handy site Aquarium Drunkard and their archive of Megafaun articles and samples. Discovering a new band after having only seen a poster in a window was about the closest thing to an organic new find as you’ll get these days. Thumbs up! READ MORE
Let’s just get this out of the way right now. I’m a sucker for anything Brad Barr. If he owned a diner — I’d let him cook me breakfast. If he drove a bus, I’d be the first one on board. The appreciation for his work goes back to 2001 when I first saw The Slip play Boston, but it really blossomed in 2006 when our group made the trek to California’s best kept secret – High Sierra. Little did I know that the festival was basically a one-stop shop for everything Barr related. Surprise Me Mr. Davis, The Slip, solo workshops, stealth sets at Camp Harry. You name it. The four day festival featured so much of his trusty green guitar, I got spoiled early on. The July 4th weekend was my fix for the year. But unfortunately in 2011, Brad and Co. took a break from Quincy, CA for the first time in 10+ years! As fate would have it, I also had to skip this year’s festivities. It was weird not knowing when I’d see and hear their music again. READ MORE
Phish = pot of gold? | Photo by @phortin
When Phish decides to completely blow your mind with three straight shows, six sets, 70 songs, and over 9 hours of music, it’s tough to write about the experience. It really is. I’ve written a few now deleted paragraphs that just can’t do the Labor Day Weekend justice. It was truly some of the best Phish I’ve ever seen.
A few weeks ago I wrote about the Gorge and the most defining jam of 3.0 (to these ears) in the Rock and Roll and now I write about the most defining three-night Phish run since, well, I can’t really think of one. Phish delivers regularly, especially in 2011, but in the past we’ve usually had a show which always hurts the three-game hit streak. Even the UIC run, closing out the 2nd leg, energized even the most cynical fan — yet still had its ups and down musically.
But not Colorado.
In September, each event, whether it’s the “S” show, next night’s “Tweezer” or the “Guy Forget” finale cannot be overlooked. There isn’t a set you can skim through…browse over. This is the real deal, the cream of the crop, no filler, and especially no junk. There isn’t just one must-listen-now jam from Colorado, there are at least 15. Yes, that is a remarkable statement that I have no trouble arguing…
Actually I’ll do that for you right now. READ MORE
Only three dates remain in Phish’s reinvented and redefined Summer of twenty-eleven. Before we look forward to the turquoise (okay, maybe they’re closer to purple) mountains of Colorado let’s take a glance back at what Phish served up to the West Coast and Chicago. Instead of dissecting every nook and cranny, let’s cut out the red tape and hit the high notes. >>>
This weekend Phish will continue their 2011 summer tour at the aptly named Gorge(ous) Ampitheatre in George, Washington. With a first leg down and a festival that surpassed most people’s expectations, the band looks to continue the good fight with nine shows in August at some historic venues in the West and Midwest.
8/5-8/6 ~ The Gorge Ampitheatre
It’s called breath-taking for a reason. Walk over the hill, shed a tear, then let Phish take you on a journey amongst the cosmos. Never has a venue evoked such a strong reception from this author. In 2009 at the Gorge, Phish played arguably the best jams of their return year. There aren’t many replay-value (RV) shows from 2009 but the “Bathtub Gin,” “Sneakin’ Sally,” “Light,” and “Rock and Roll” from 2009 all evoke the “This is what I follow the band for” reaction. It had the same quality of 2003 and earlier gems in ’97 and ’98. I’ll take another stretched out “2001″ second set opener! With the band at peak form, and most likely rehearsing as they did for the Bethel run (some of which contained the best jams of the first leg), I wouldn’t bet against these shows taking on a different feel than your average “opener.” There are very few things one can count on — Death, Taxes and Phish at the Gorge. How about another “Hood” in the dark or maybe a fog machine “Steam” for it’s West Coast debut?
Notable Videos from the last time they played there: Sneakin’ Sally Jam, Tweezer at Sunset
8/8 ~ Hollywood Bowl
Wait, really? After years and years of off and on again rumors…Phish will make their long awaited debut at the Hollywood Bowl in 2011 — one of the venues you can’t help but admire for it’s location and history. The stage’s architecture is the outspoken gem and obvious allure of this venue. One person who will hopefully utilize the “shell”, a set of concentric off-white arches is Phish’s lighting director, Chris Kuroda (Happy Belated Birthday!). After the “same-old” in stage architecture at most outdoor amphitheaters, there is a little more room for creativity on the 2nd leg. The Hollywood Bowl is unfortunately the ‘skip show’ for some since it’s a big leap down south, on a Monday, and then no off-day before Phish rolls into Stateline, Nevada. Bottom line, the audience will know once they set foot inside, take the escalator up into a hillside…this won’t be “just another show.” Situated in the Hollywood hills for the first shows in the proper Los Angeles area since 2003 (Goodbye Forum!) fans are ready to go! Either the band plays it safe and pops off the classics for the tinsel town agents or we get something special, “Tube” opener or not… >>>
