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Show Reviews
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Written by Richard B. Simon
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Monday, 28 April 2008 |
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Photo Credits: Josh Baron
The San Francisco iteration of the Green Apple eco-music fest caught a break April 20 from the high winds that had been whipping across the city over the weekend. The festival, sponsored by Zenbu Media (owners of Relix), fused acoustic music and drumming with eco-awareness in an attempt to raise consciousness and understanding—chiefly about global warming—in the old-school way, with a free concert in the park.
The show, in historic Speedway Meadow, featured sets by Mickey Hart and a new project, Mass Drums, featuring drummers from two local youth music programs; Yonder Mountain String Band; local guitar picker Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks; and Brett Dennen—with some guest turns by Motley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee and rapper Ludacris, who were on site filming for their television show on greening rock music, as well as folk icon Joan Baez and Phish drummer Jon Fishman.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 28 April 2008 )
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Written by Kevin Smallwood
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Monday, 28 April 2008 |
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Photo: Kristopher Marx
Generally celebrated for class trips and patriotic tourism, the National Mall doesn't generate much excitement in the DC area on a regular basis. So when word got around that DC would host the flagship of the 3rd annual Green Apple Festival, the city's denizens prepared to loosen up their neck-ties and unearth their Birkenstocks for a long day of free Earth saving performances. With line up changes occurring up until just days before, it was tough to wrap one’s head around specifics beyond live music by The Roots, O.A.R., Umphrey's McGee, Warren Haynes and a smattering of notable guest appearances.
The organizers of the event went to great length to ensure that the event was as Green as possible – going so far as employing bike valets, hundreds of groovy garbage receptacles and plenty of clean earth information for the tens of thousands estimated to show up. The only attendee they couldn't account for was Mother Nature herself.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 28 April 2008 )
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Written by Ian Stone
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Wednesday, 16 April 2008 |
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Eddie Vedder’s west coast solo tour swung by the City of Angels on April 12th and 13th for a two-night stint at the historic Wiltern Theater near downtown LA (dubbed "The Wiltern" due to its location on the corner of Wilshire & Western Boulevard). The venue was flanked with dedicated fans hours before the show as crowds lined the sidewalk in hopes of scoring what was quite possibly the hardest ticket in Los Angeles, even for well-connected industry folks. Inside, the theatre bustled with loud, rambunctious fans, eager to see the Pearl Jam front-man take the stage.
As Vedder appeared from behind the curtain to screams of “I Love you, Eddie!” he proceeded to settle in to his intimate stage setup, consisting of a reel-to-reel tape player, road cases, and a large amplifier. Vedder opened both performances with the Daniel Johnston cover “Walking the dog”, and although Saturday and Sunday’s set-lists contained mostly the same songs, he was able to create two totally different musical experiences on back-to-back nights.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 21 April 2008 )
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Written by Kevin Smallwood
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Wednesday, 16 April 2008 |
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Victor Wooten was welcomed home by a near capacity crowd at the State Theater in Falls Church, Virginia on Friday, March 28. The Hampton Roads area native allowed the incoming crowd to warm up under the cover of smooth jazz at the venue’s surplus of bars, though in about two beers time he bagged the leisure and turned up the funk.
Chemistry was the word of the night as the band ripped through a high energy set outfitted with a few sluggish numbers featuring Saundra Williams (a.k.a "The Voice") giving everyone a soulful break. Although Wooten has earned four Grammy Awards, he shared the stage as if he wasn't the billboard draw. Supported by a group of gifted and enthusiastic musicians, The Victor Wooten Band ran the show more like The Victor Wooten Circus.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 23 April 2008 )
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Written by Lauren Modisette
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Wednesday, 16 April 2008 |
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Photo: Sam Freidman
Umphrey’s McGee unleashed a funky but low-key performance full of teases on Thursday, April 10th in Troy, NY. While proceeding nights’ setlists looked significantly more exciting, the Revolution Hall performance was not the predictable small-venue show. To the delight of the 16+ crowd, the band played the cherished “Miss Tinkle’s Overture” and “Nemo,” and lucky for those fans that don’t get to many shows, about half the songs played were pulled from studio albums.
On the other hand, it was also disappointing that so much of the setlist came from prerecorded material, as Umphrey’s has a relatively large collection of songs that have not, and may never make it to the studio (“Bridgeless” and “All in Time,” among others). When I previously interviewed Stasik in October 2007, he noted that the band likes to fill its studio albums with new and fresh material (with the exception of The Bottom Half, a studio album featuring tunes that didn’t make it on Safety In Numbers); because of this, many of their songs simply float. Regardless, they teased Pink Floyd’s “In the Flesh” during “Wappy Sprayberry” and jammed out to “Billie Jean” during “Bright Lights,” and while this infusion of instrumental homage kept the kids on their toes, the words of Michael Jackson and Roger Waters’ failed to reach the lips of Umphrey’s frontman, Brendan Bayliss. The band kicked off the second set, however, with a full-on, timeless cover of The Police’s “When the World is Running Down You Make the Best of What’s Still Around,” in a nod to a group that has significantly influenced the Umphrey’s sound.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 21 April 2008 )
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More...
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Man Man, Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY, 4/10/08
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Paul Simon, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn, NY, 4/4/08
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Split Lip Rayfield, Kinetic Playground, Chicago IL, 2/16/08
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Jim Lauderdale, Station Inn, Nashville, TN, 2/13/08
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