Hey all. I wanted to get up a post to apologize for our sudden drop off the face of the live music world without announcing anything ahead of time. That was bad form. See, I’m on vacation this week for the holidays and I have recently been forced to make some tough decisions about the direction of the site and what sort of projects I’d like to focus on in the near future. But I didn’t really communicate all of this to all of you; turns out I just ignored the inevitable and decided to take off for vacation early.

Yeah, I’m pretty awesome like that.

At any rate, in case it wasn’t obvious already, I’ve made the decision recently to cease day-to-day operations here on Live Music Blog.com to free myself up for more exciting and interesting things in the very near future. We’ve had a great run together, but recent changes in my life have caused me to drift apart from running the site and enjoying the time spent online as much as I used to. At first I thought I was burnt out on live music in general, but I still go see as many concerts as before if the timing is right (it all depends on who’s in town and when…always). So I did some more soul-searching and the overwhelming feeling that I was left with was that it’s simply time for me to move on from the site and the great community of friends that I got to meet from around the site over the past couple years. The contributors that have helped out over the years have proven invaluable to me and my inspiration level, and I’m grateful to have met so many awesome people as a result of operating the blog. But the waning of interest has certainly been obvious over the past couple months and it was doing us all a great disservice to try and continue on with something that is less than passionate where it needs to be.

So what does this mean for the site and the great authors currently gracing our hallowed halls? Well I think we’re all just going to head off our separate ways in the short term, especially considering how busy all of our lives have become over the past year or so. We’re going to let the site stand for now and we’re going to just chill and take some time to figure out what’s next. I have a few ideas cooking up but I also really want to start getting back into skateboarding, so I’m trying to keep an open mind about how much time I’ll be spending on the interwebs.

I want to thank each and every visitor that stopped by to hang out, each and every commenter that tried to call us on our bullshit, and each and every person that emailed us offline to say “what’s up” or “keep up the good work” or whatever. And I want to thank Forbes.com for writing up one of the most entertaining descriptions of the site ever assembled (and still referenced even to this day):

Choosing from among the scores of genre-specific blogs is no mean feat, but Live Music Blog, edited by Justin Ward, is a cut above many. Devoted to live music, with an emphasis on jam bands, it mainly serves as a clearing house for “jamcasts” from favorites like String Cheese Incident and Government Mule, to popular summer jam festivals like Bonnaroo. (These downloads are virtually unavailable outside this blog and a handful of fan sites.) Search from a drop down menu of some thirty bands for group-specific news and music, Austin City Limits also among the list. Archives go back to July 2004 and are searchable by month, band or headline. The blog, updated almost daily, generates a good deal of commotion dispensing, then analyzing the scuttlebutt in the live music scene. A recent headline screamed that Cream might play at Madison Square Garden in the fall, though that remains unconfirmed. Another speculates that Phish, the now-disbanded king of all jam bands, would release a box set of the “epic 1998 Island tour.” Needless to say, the site caters to serious live music lovers.

BEST: The rumor mill. While there is no telling what is true or not, these fun posts generate a lot of excitement and discussion.

WORST: Like the parking lot of a Dead concert, the site is disorganized and difficult to navigate

I still consider the site’s comparison to a Dead lot as one of our proudest accomplishments. Thanks for all the good times and please keep in touch.

Very sincerely,

Justin Ward
Editor/Founder
vibes@livemusicblog.com

The hardest working man in music, Warren Haynes, is back with the 20th year of his annual Christmas Jam. Though I’d pay a lot of money to go back in time and see all of the canadian tuxedos that people wore in 1988, this year looks like it could be a great event. This year’s X-Mas Jam will span two nights for the first time in its history and as always proceeds from the shows will go towards Habitat for Humanity, a great cause.

The event will take place on December 12th and 13th down in Asheville, a wonderful little city full of like minded people. The lineup consists of a great blend of blues, rock, bluegrass and folk including the headliners Gov’t Mule and the Allman Brother’s Band. On top of the bands slated to perform each day, there are a whole slew of special guests who will no doubt join in on the fun. I promise that no one plays with more people than Warren, the “sit-in” is his go-to move and always a Christmas Jam staple. Read on for more info and the lineup.

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Phish Friday came a little early this week. Tune in to http://www.livephish.com/radio/listen.m3u or stream from Phish.com to hear the upcoming live album At The Roxy. The site should be streaming each night today and tomorrow, though I’m not sure how much of the album, or at what points in the day, or if it’s in its entirety or scrambled. Whatever, I’m listening to “FOAM,” how about you?

Track listing and album info after the jump.

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According to the Rock n’ Roll Daily blog over at Rolling Stone, the upcoming movie based upon Grateful Dead roadie Steve Parish’s book, Home Before Daylight, is starting to take shape.  Though first announced in summer 2007, Rock Daily reports that the movie has some potential actors on board as well as a preliminary soundtrack:

The Grateful Dead biopic adapted from Home Before Daylight already has a shortlist of hot directors including Oliver Stone, Sean Penn, Jonathan Demme and Larry Charles. “Those are the guys that would really knock it out of the park,” producer Stephen Emery tells Rock Daily.

Several musicians, including Jefferson Airplane, Neil Young and Bob Dylan, have already signed on for the soundtrack, with guitarist Bob Weir as the music director. “I’m very proud to have Bob on board,” says Emery. “He wants to write new stuff for the film, too.”

While I read Phil Lesh’s Searching For The Sound, I haven’t had a chance to plug through Home Before Daylight.  Anybody think it’s a good adaptation for the screen?  I’m wondering how they’re going to integrate the live Dead experience into the movie in a realistic fashion, and how much this movie is going to focus on Jerry’s health/drug problems through the 80’s and into the 90’s.  It should make for an interesting piece; let’s hope they treat it with the respect it deserves.

moe. announced a while back that they needed to take a bit of a break from the road in 2008, and they’ve already announced their return dates for early 2009. They’ll be doing three different two-night runs in their major markets and I’m sure more tour dates will be following soon. Check it.

moe. will hit Denver, New York and Chicago with 2-night stands in each city beginning January 30th, 2009. The Winter tour will consist of ONLY these six shows, and pre-sales start Wednesday, November 5th through moe.ticketing. General on-sale begins on Saturday, November 15th through Ticketmaster. More details to follow - stay tuned!

Part of me really just wonders if this is a band that is a clear example of one that is running its course. Even though the band can support themselves and the infrastructure that they’ve built on, they don’t seem to be breaking out at all past the mold that they’ve been living in for the past couple years. Has their music really gotten progressive and interesting past their 25-minute jams and/or solos?

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If there is a worse night of the week to see a gig than Wednesday I don’t know what it is. Wednesday is hump day; three days of work have already tired you out, but you still have two more staring you down, so it’s not always best to go all night. That said, the right show can change all that. A great concert with the band and the crowd feeding off each other’s energy can make you forget about all your midweek woes.

I was really hoping Wednesday night’s Apollo Sunshine show at Mercury lounge was going to be one of those gigs. I hadn’t actually checked out much of Apollo Sunshine’s music prior to the show, but I had heard enough people sing their praise that I was really looking forward to checking out a new band. When I heard that in the spirit of the season they would actually be appearing as The Apollo Sunshine Experience, donning costumes straight out of Hair and playing Hendrix covers I was totally sold.

Unfortunately it was the spirit of Wednesday that owned the night. I’m not entirely sure if it was a lack of energy from the crowd that through the band off, or if their was something slightly off with Apollo Sunshine that led to a weak crowd. Whatever it was, something wasn’t quite clicking at Mercury Lounge. Read more…

Happy Halloween, party people…

I’m quite psyched to be heading out in a few hours to catch Umphrey’s McGee and The New Deal play here in San Francisco at the Warfield, even if I’m totally and completely lame by deciding to just skip dressing up in a costume this year. I’m just not feeling it. I’d be faking it too much — I guess that’s the point — but I just couldn’t come up with something that I was cool with that I felt was fun and original. So I just said fuggit. I knew my plans were revolving around the show tonight anyway, so I’ll go and people watch and dance my butt off to the band that I’ve seen more than any other. I think the opener is going to help us get the party started right, too.

Hopefully I’ll have some updates tomorrow morning or tonight even; I’ve obviously been way out of the live music loop lately and I know it’s been obvious by my lack of posting. The worst kinda bloggers apologize for not blogging, so I’ll just stop and make sure I focus on continuing to work on a quality site with a bunch of awesome and loyal readers. Seeing the band kinda made me nostalgic for some of the writing I’ve done on UM over the years, especially on this site, and I think I need to remember that the blog and this band has really helped me to get where I am today with my career and geographical location. That’s pretty sweet.

The Apollo Sunshine tour rolls on further with three nights (starting tonight) as The Apollo Sunshine Experience, a tribute-esque performance with costumes and music celebrating the art of Jimi Hendrix. Sam’s going to be there tonight and I’m sure it’s going to rule. Then the band rolls through the rest of the country supporting their fantastic release, Shall Upon Noise, as the opener for Dead Confederate, a band I saw at SXSW and didn’t really think too much of.

Apollo Sunshine Fall 2008 Tour Dates

Oct 29 - New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge*
Oct 30 - Cambridge, MA @ The Middle East (Downstairs)*
Oct 31 - Northampton, MA @ The Iron Horse Music Hall*

Nov 02 - Belfast, NORTHERN IRELAND @ Mandela Hall (w/Dirty Pretty Things)
Nov 03 - Dublin, IRELAND @ Academy (w/Dirty Pretty Things)
Nov 05 - Cork, IRELAND @ Cyprus Avenue (w/Dirty Pretty Things)
Nov 06 - Wicklow, IRELAND @ Greystones Theatre (w/Dirty Pretty Things)
Nov 07 - Galway, IRELAND @ Roisin Dubh (w/Dirty Pretty Things)

With Dead Confederate
Nov 08 Austin, TX @ The Mohawk (Fun Fun Fun Festival After Party…w/White Denim)
Nov 11 Tucson, AZ @ Plush
Nov 12 San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
Nov 13 Las Vegas, NE @ Beauty Bar
Nov 14 Los Angeles, CA @ Spaceland (Co-headline)
Nov 15 Visalia, CA @ The Cellar Door (Co-headline)
Nov 16 San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
Nov 18 Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge
Nov 19 Seattle, WA @ Chop Suey
Nov 20 Boise, ID @ Neurolux
Nov 21 Park City, UT @ Sidecar
Nov 22 Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge

*performing as the Apollo Sunshine Experience

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A few weeks back I went to go see David Byrne at the Davis Symphony Center for the first of two nights here in San Francisco and I’m surprised I never got around to writing something up on it. It was an absolutely incredible show for a Monday night affair, and it was my first time getting to see David Byrne perform musically (I saw him speak at SXSW 2007 about the death of record labels; that was pretty cool). On this tour, he’s performing new music from his recent album Everything That Happens Will Happen Today along with some of the classics while being surrounded by a largely nondescript set of session musicians and three performance dancers that improvise ballet pieces around the stage set to the music piping out of the PA. It was kinda weird, to be honest. But then again, it was also incredible. Seeing “I Zimbra” live was straight-up powerful, and they even played a few real bonuses that I never thought I’d hear like “The Great Curve” off Remain in Light. The new stuff sounded pretty good, too.

For the encore, the Extra Action Marching Band came out by playing down the aisles and bringing the crazy drumline / burlesque show to the stage, which culminated into an epic performance of “Burning Down the House” with the full Byrne band. It was a seriously awesome time. Check out this clip from that encore:

David Byrne Burning Down the House [YouTube]

I was so pleased to see Byrne has continued to play with the same boyish enthusiasm that made him such a magnetic figure in the first place. Go catch him on this tour if you’re a fan at all. Great stuff this time around. I need to pick up that new album once and for all.

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I remember seeing some rumors posted a while back about the fact that Led Zeppelin was going to return to the stage for a tour and/or a new album to support it, but I’ve never really given too much weight to anything I saw written. It all seemed to be the British tabloids just going overboard on something they know would get easy headlines, but late last night I caught wind that the BBC is reporting that Led Zeppelin is indeed going to return, with or without Robert Plant as the front man. I’m not sure I expected that either.

Rock legends Led Zeppelin are planning to tour and record but without frontman Robert Plant. Bassist John Paul Jones told BBC Radio Devon that a new singer was being sought after Plant ruled himself out.

How can this be anything that fans would even come remotely close to wanting? To go on and suggest otherwise and even suggest that you don’t want to become a “tribute band,” this just seems like weak sauce to me.

I just got done watching something kinda interesting and it’s kinda live music so I thought I would share. Plus I got the link from my music blog crush (aka Carrie Brownstein’s fantastic Monitor Mix blog).

Two young Swedes go into the woods and record a cover of “Tiger Mountain Peasant Song” by Fleet Foxes. Thus proving, yet again, that Scandinavia is a magical place to which the rest of us cannot relate.

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One of the reasons I’ve been so out of the loop in recent weeks is that I’ve been packing and moving from my first apartment here in San Fran. I’ve wanted my own place for a while now. I wanted to start setting myself up in a more proper setting to record podcasts (and/or start practicing drums again). Having my own apartment is definitely the way to go in helping to make some of that stuff happen. At any rate, moving has meant that I now have my own control over the multimedia setup in the household. I’ve got cable going again, which means that I get to actually watch TV while some good stuff is going to be coming back soon (uhm, Lost anyone?). I’m also quite a fan of The Colbert Report, and I’m psyched to see that he’s starting to feature musical guests on the show.

Coming up this Thursday, one of my my favorites, Wilco, is going to be the guest on The Colbert Report before they head to Madison for a free concert in support of Barack Obama. Then they’re going out on the road with Neil Young in December.

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The Breeders have announced a few dates on the West Coast still supporting their latest album released earlier this year, Mountain Battles. I saw them in March at SXSW at the Mess with Texas 2 party and didn’t manage to get photos myself (but Prefix Mag has me covered there). I was totally blown away by what I saw, though. The band opened up with “Overglazed” and went right into “Bang On,” which is exactly how the album opens. It was an incredible start to the end of my day before heading over into an absolutely incredible set by Simian Mobile Disco. Which reminds me, why the hell haven’t I written about any of this before?

The Breeders Fall 2008 Tour Dates

November 2008
11 - Seattle, WA - Neumos
12 - Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom
14, 15 - San Francisco, CA - Slim’s
17 - Los Angeles, CA - Wiltern Theatre

[via LiveDaily]

A few Sundays back, I was among the lucky few to attend the Fleet Foxes show here in Chicago. It was a perfect a show for a Sunday  – tangible energy from the crowd and melodic music from the band. Yet, I caught Fleet Foxes back in July at Pritzker Pavilion and was a little underwhelmed with the direction of their live show. They would hit on some amazing sections and I would be in folk heaven but rarely would they stay in that place. It was like listening to CSNY if Crosby had ADHD. In Fleet Foxes’ case the potential was there and that’s all I need to give a band a second chance.

This second live show affirmed the group as the force many claim them to be musically; they quickly enveloped me in an array of sound and I found myself lost — in a good way — for the first half of the show. But they failed to put together the entire package a great live show must claim. The second half was more stage banter than music, which I can’t endorse as a way to maintain a concert. The crowd seemed to be enjoying themselves and there were a lot of laughs but it was somewhat lost on me. Some of the band even seemed annoyed at these numerous misdirections.

Over the course of the night I took some photos from the bird’s eye view I found myself in but I was lucky enough to have any view at all because Metro was packed with people. If you’ve seen Fleet Foxes before let us know what you think about their approach to the onstage conversation. Follow the jump for some more photos from the night. Read more…

Mike Swanson is heading out for us again this week to see a solid up-and-comer, Telepath. Here’s the lowdown…

Telepath will be kicking off the Halloween weekend here in Charlottesville, playing host to the Hallow’s Eve Ball at IS this Thursday. After feeling the effects of two primary local venues closing over the past year (Star Hill and Satellite Ballroom), things are starting to look up around here. The former Star Hill has recently renovated reopened as IS, having basically the same setup- an upstairs venue with a downstairs restaurant and bar (Si Tapas). Telepath will be my first show at IS; a coincidence I am more than happy about.

I first heard Telepath when they opened for Lotus at Satellite Ballroom in February, which Marc covered for the site. In the three sets I have seen since then, and in listening to their latest release, Contact, Telepath has really made a lasting impression. They have progressed further into a unique fusion of sound, loaded with heavy bass, synth, and dub-infused progressions, breakbeat rhythms, and sampled vocal and instrumental passages from all over the world.

The only thing that I have taken into consideration with this group is the proverbial “don’t judge a book by its cover.” While I personally feel that their studio work is well-crafted and a listening pleasure, I feel like a lot of people are not completely hooked until they experience the intensity and atmosphere of their live performances.

Here are their remaining tour dates; I would highly recommend catching this trio if they are coming through your town.

Telepath 2008 Tour Dates

October 29th The Jewish Mother Virginia Beach, VA.
October 30th Si Tapas Charlottesville, VA.
October 31st Highline Ballroom New York, NY.
November 1st River Street Jazz Café Plains, PA.
November 13th Bear Creek Music Festival Live Oak, FL.
November 14th Georgia Theatre Athens, GA.
November 15th The Orange Peel Asheville, NC.
November 26th Chameleon Club Lancaster, PA.
November 28th Mr. Smalls Theatre Pittsburgh, PA.