Now this had me grinning ear to ear. Last weekend at Hyde Park, Neil Young was closing with “A Day In The Life”, and out strolls Paul McCartney. The look on Neil’s face while they’re singing together is just priceless. Pure joy. And they don’t call it a night until they’ve done a duet on the vibes. Killer!
I had nary a clue that Wilco had a video for “Outta Mind (Outta Sight)”, a tune from disc 2 of their 1996 album Being There
It’s a fun one.
Wilco
Wilco
Wilco will love you baby
Wilco (The Album) hits real & virtual shelves today.
Pick it up on Amazon
Fist clenching, goosebump inducing stuff!! The Boss joined the Gaslight Anthem onstage at Glastonbury. This 2 minute clip is enough to get me revved up! Gahhhhrrrr!!!
And I just read that Bruce opened his set with an acoustic version of Joe Strummer’s “Coma Girl”. This is too much!!
The Church
Varsity Theater in Minneapolis
June 21st
“I’m ready!” my friend Steve exclaimed loudly after taking a bong hit whilst standing on his head. It was the dead of winter in Minnesota in early 1988. Steve, my roommate Matt and I were about to listen to the new album by the Church entitled Starfish- purchased only hours earlier.
Steve had been into the Church way before I had. When I first met him in the fall of 1982, he had already worn out his copy of The Blurred Crusade…a drippingly wonderful psychedelic chestnut reminiscent of late 60s jangly guitar water colours. I’ll never forget the first time he played “You Took” for me. Talk about a shovel to the head stunner of a track.
As we sat blissfully stoned in the dead nut cold of 1988 and listened to what would be the biggest album the Church would ever make, we were in heaven. Starfish is a gorgeous piece of music that will always stand the test of time. A few months later, Steve and several of his friends went to see the Church when they came to town. For whatever reason, I didn’t go. It was probably a girl.
As the years went on, I followed the Church as they made album after album. I always dug every one. They came to Minneapolis many times and I just never got around to seeing them. That’s just how it is sometimes with bands. So when my friend Brian called me up and asked, “Hey, do you want to see the Church on Sunday?” I knew that God had sent me a message.
Still basking in my last trip to the Varsity for Doves, Brian and I walked in to the theater to find a very sparse crowd. I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised given our state population’s reticence to go anywhere other than the cabin or the chair in front of the TV but…MAN…did many people in Minneapolis miss a great show.
They opened with “Tantalized” from Heyday -letting us know straight from the start that this was going to be seriously tight. Drifting between new and old material, focusing on their quite good new album Untitled #23, The Church brought us all on a galactic journey that soothed my mind and heart with cosmic dust. “You Took” was loud and amazing. I thought of Steve’s grinning face, of course, as he watched me dig it for the first time 27 years ago. “A Month of Sundays” was gorgeous. “After Everything” was quite sad but exceptional. “Deadman’s Hand” and “Pangea,” both from the new record, stood up against any song from Starfish.
They closed the set proper with “Under the Milky Way” and “Reptile” which sounded so lovely and beautiful that any regret I had had about never seeing them vanished in thin air. My mind drifted back to the Elm Street apartments in 1988 and without so much as a drop of alcohol or a puff of smoke, I felt marvelously high.
Check out The Church’s latest album, Untitled #23:
Web Site: The Church
The Church is playing next on…..
JUN 24 WED THE INTERSECTION * GRAND RAPIDS, MI
JUN 25 THU THE MAGIC BAG * FERNDALE, MI
JUN 26 FRI BEACHLAND BALLROOM * CLEVELAND, OH
JUN 27 SAT REX THEATRE * PITTSBURGH, PA
JUN 28 SUN THE STATE THEATRE * FALLS CHURCH, VA
JUN 30 TUE RAM’S HEAD ONSTAGE * ANNAPOLIS, MD
JUL 1 WED THE TROCADERO * PHILADELPHIA, PA
JUL 2 THU SHOWCASE LIVE * FOXBOROUGH, MA
JUL 3 FRI TUPELO MUSIC HALL * LONDONDERRY, NH
JUL 7 – TRALF MUSIC HALL *BUFFALO, NY
JUL 8 WED IRVING PLAZA * NEW YORK, NY
JUL 9 THU THE RIDGEFIELD PLAYHOUSE * RIDGEFIELD, CT
JUL 10 FRI SWYER THEATRE * ALBANY, NY
JUL 11 SAT – CISCO OTTAWA BLUESFEST
JUL 12 SUN – IMPERIAL THEATRE, QUEBEC CITY.
Towards the end of last summer, in my usual cock and balls shaft worship of each and every issue of NME, I downloaded the “Track of the Week” for August 4, 2008. More often than not, NME’s track of the week is a little clubbie, a lot indie avant garde emo shoe gazing and just alright. On that particular week, however, I knew I was beginning yet another sacred quest. Because the song I downloaded on that day, my friends, was absolutely spectacular.
I love following a UK band when they first start out. I’ve done it with so many groups and have a ton of fond memories. I recall the day back in 2000 when I purchased the “Yellow” single by Coldplay and then proceded to hyper frantically playing it for anyone who would listen. And then to watch them just blow up….so unbelievably cool! Hell, I think I was the first kid on my block to buy the “Supersonic” single by Oasis back in 1994. So when I first heard “Make This Work” by Magistrates, I felt that feeling…of nostalgia for a time that I had not yet experienced.
Though, I knew there was something remotely familiar about the song, and when I went to their MySpace site my deja vu was quite understandable. The Essex lads bill themselves as being a cross between Prince and The Talking Heads. First of all….what a combination. And second…they actually sound exactly like that! Quite a feat indeed.
They have spent the better part of the last nine months in the studio and last month released their second single, “Heartbreak”…also a corker. And, if you live in the UK, Magistrates are slated to open up for mother fucking Blur (!) at a series of shows this summer.
I am getting that same feeling that I got when I heard “Yellow.”
As a Bruce and Phish fan for more than a quarter century and almost 20 years respectively, my mind was just about blown last night when I was reading through my Twitter feed, and saw this from Bruce’s official Twitter:
I guess the opportunity was ripe, with Phish and the Boss co-headlining the festival, but it just didn’t seem within the realm of possibility that these two forces in popular music – different realms of the spectrum, one could argue – would collide and collaborate. But it happened. At the end of Phish’s 1st set on Sunday night, Trey Anastasio introduced his “boyhood and still hero”, Bruce Springsteen.
They tore through “Mustang Sally”, “Bobby Jean”, and “Glory Days”. And suffice it so say, I’ll be scouring the interwebs for any and all video of this moment. Bruce was also spotted taking in Band of Horses earlier in the day as well. It just keeps coming together, doesn’t it?
As a music lover whose listening habits tend to lean heavily in favor of male artists, it’s always refreshing to stumble upon some quality female rockin’ and rollin’. Girl in a Coma are a trio of heavily inked young ladies from San Antonio, Texas, and these girls rawk.
They rock so hard that they caught the ear of one of the genre’s matriarchs: Joan Jett. She snapped them up quickly, signing GIAC to her Blackheart Records label. Their second album on the label is Trio B.C., just released on June 2nd.
They get it all started with “BB”, a power packed tune with a hint of that tex-mex twang amidst the madness. Lead singer and guitarist Nina Diaz immediately shows off her sassy, f–k you vocals. Backing her up are sister Phanie on drums, and Jenn Alva on bass. Don’t let the lo-fi first verse fool you. The hi-fi immediately follows.
The album is full of great power trio pop-rock-punk with a ton of catchy hooks – and Nina’s vocals really shine through it all. Impressive.
Hear: BB (mp3) – Also highly recommended is “Trail
Buy Trio B.C. on Amazon (click the cover) or :
Visit: Official Site | MySpace
I found this nice live performance of “Trail”…
Tonight Dave Matthews Band will celebrate the release of their new record Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King with an intimate show at the historic Beacon Theater in New York. The show will be broadcast live beginning at 9:00 PM EST on the Fuse network as well as online over at Hulu. Through a twist of fate (and the amazing detective skills of my better half) I will be in attendance tonight and will be sure to post a full review of the show as well as the new album in the coming days.
You can listen to the Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King in its entirety over at Pandora.
Buy Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King: Amazon
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