The live music universe is a world filled with ebbs and flows of energy; when things get busy, they really get busy and then there will be a down period. Suffice to say that in Chicago, right when that 90 day limit Lollapalooza puts on its performers finishes, October is busy. Everyone is touring. In addition, there have been a number of announcements of late pertaining to New Years Eve. So gathered here is a pretty solid compendium of who’s playing where on December 31st. The venue link will get you to ticket information for the mentioned shows.
- San Francisco may be the queen of NYE this year with eight shows slated for 12/31/08. Tea Leaf Green is setting up at Mezzanine while ALO will be at The Independent. The two heavy hitting shows are Les Claypool and Zappa Plays Zappa at the War Memorial Opera House while George Clinton and his crew will finish what The Greyboy Allstars start at The Warfield. That’s a tough decision.
- In CO, Widespread Panic and Yonder Mountain String Band are holding down the Pepsi Center, while Lotus will fill the Fox Theater up in Boulder.
- If San Fran’s got quantity then Atlanta has got the quality. STS9 sets up at The Tabernacle for another four night run; this has become the gold standard in NYE shows. Band of Horses has got two nights at the Variety Playhouse. Just up the road in Athens, Perpetual Groove plays the Georgia Theater.
- Chicago’s got two nice shows: Umphrey’s McGee moves their annual romp to the Auditorium Theater and at the Congress Theater, Justice will be making sure the hipsters get down — note: this is a DJ set.
- Some great jazz acts are heading home for the New Year’s. Soulive will be at the Paradise in Boston, Galactic will “laissez les bon temps rouler” at Tipitina’s Uptown and Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey heads home to the Blank Slate in Tulsa, OK.
- In New York, the home of New Year’s Eve, the big show is My Morning Jacket at Madison Square Garden. Yet, the Disco Biscuits will drop the heat on Nokia Time Square Theater for five nights and Gov’t Mule is playing the Hammerstein. Late night, the Duo and Surprise Me Mr. Davis will keep you up until the wee hours at B.B. Kings.
- The show of the evening may be Brothers Past making their return at The Note in West Chester, PA. Word is that this will be their last show. It is sold out, so have fun those of you attending; I caught a late night NYE show back in ’05 – ’06 and it was fire. Still the best cover of “Love Will Tear Us Apart” I’ve ever heard.
You guys thinking about New Years Eve yet? Drop a comment about the shows that are making you giddy with anticipation. Keep each other informed and we’ll pick up the slack. Hope everyone had a great weekend.
The Duo are one of those bands. They sing barely a sound during their entire set, but they converse with each other through casual banter with the audience. They drink Maker’s Mark convincingly. They turn cartoons themes into anthems. They are addictive. This only my third time seeing the two Italians, Andrew said it was near his tenth. All glory aside, there wasn’t a huge crowd at the north side venue. Even still, everyone who was there stayed past midnight on a Sunday, which Benevento acknowledged right before he told everyone where to stash the drugs (under his van’s left tire). It was a perfect way to cap off a long and strange weekend in Chicago. READ MORE
Apollo Sunshine announced some tour dates last week in support of their new album, Shall Noise Upon, a fantastic piece of music front-to-back and one that I’ve already spent a lot of time on. I even got to buy Jeremy, the drummer, a beer at the Benevento/Russo Duo show at the Mojito. I complimented him on the new album and how I was truly grateful to be able to get an album like that early. I asked him if they had any dates booked coming up and he had mentioned that this tour was in the works and that they planned on playing San Francisco sometime in November. Expect more dates to get announced.
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Benevento/Russo Duo, Jam in the ‘Dam 2006 | Photo © Justin Ward
Last night I got to see a great show and I’m fortunate to have gotten in for free — that perk will never get old, by the way — but I’m definitely looking forward to the show that I’ll be hitting tonight in the neighborhood immediately east (and over a hill) from my current place of residence. The Benevento/Russo Duo is starting a four-night residency at the Mojito in the North Beach neighborhood, and I couldn’t be more excited to get up close and personal with the guys again after first getting comfortable with their repertoire over in Amsterdam during Jam in the ‘Dam 2006. The band is promising some treats, some surprises, and a dip into the back catalogue, which inevitably means they’ll be blowing minds for four nights in a row before playing a sunset-lit stage at Outside Lands on Friday. Can’t wait.
The Duo will be playing four consecutive nights at the Mojito in San Francisco August 17, 18, 19, and 20. The comfortable and intimate setting will certainly remind some of the old Tap Bar days, and we’d guess that the experience might lead to some old-school musical explorations on stage. All this will exploration will blossom into a huge, blooming festival set at the simply amazing Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival in Golden Gate park on August 22nd.
For those that didn’t read it the first time through, go back and get a look at the editorial that Andrew wrote up on the current state of touring and how many artists are looking at interesting approaches to saving money on the cost of getting their show on the road. The residency is something I wouldn’t mind seeing more of, assuming the artists themselves don’t mind being gone from home for longer. Thankfully a lot of us are in an environment that supports such things and doesn’t work to take them away.
See you in the beer line.
Photo © Nicholas Tolson
I haven’t read the book but thanks to Oprah Winfrey I’ve been led to believe that sportswriter Mitch Albom used to spend Tuesdays with his ailing mentor Morrie. This past January in New York, Sullivan Hall featured a more uplifting series of get togethers that we liked to call “Thursdays With Marco.” Over the course of his mostly improvised weekly shows, five in total, keyboard maven Marco Benevento shared the stage with the likes of Steve Bernstein, Calvin Weston, Skerik, Billy Martin, Joe Russo, Mark Friedman, Brad Barr, Bobby Previte and Stanton Moore. This past Thursday, the final show of the Sullivan Hall residency doubled as record release celebration for Benevento’s upcoming solo album, Invisible Baby. For the occasion, Benevento assembled a part of the core group that assisted him on his recent effort: bassist Reed Mathis of Tea Leaf Green and the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey and drummer Andrew Barr of The Slip.
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A few weeks back, I got introduced to a fellow live music fan and online media colleague, John Parsons. He blogs about music all the time on his personal site, big microscope, and we’re fortunate enough to welcome him to Live Music Blog to file some reports from the 2007 Bonnaroo Music Festival. He’s going to have a blast down there and he wanted to share his plan of attack with the rest of us.
For those of us not attending Bonnaroo this year, there’s always the AT&T Blueroom Webcast showing highlights from all three days. Have fun with that if you’re so inclined…and check back next week to see if John was kind enough to send us some more thoughts on the festival.
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