imtheocean
Well-Known Member
Absolutely the best kind of show.
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Endtro
Well-Known Member
The family and I camped with a huge group of friends again this weekend in Winfield, KS for the 50th Walnut Valley bluegrass festival. It was oppressively hot but I saw a bunch of amazing musicians and had quality hangs with people I hadn’t seen in a long time.
Highlights:
The Steel Wheels are one of my favorites that play the festival a lot. I caught three of their sets and might catch them in KC later this month.
The Tim O’Brien band was also really enjoyable. The guy is a monster and he apparently spent the weekend camping with the attendees all weekend which makes him even cooler.
The headliner was Béla Fleck and his amazingly stacked band playing My Bluegrass Heart. His band included Sierra Hull, Justin Moses, Billy Contreras, Shaun Richardson, and Mark Schatz. Just a ridiculous group of some of the best players at their instruments. It was incredible.
Stage 5 is a campground stage that hosts a ton of players including some of the actual official festival bands. This band was The Bus Company which were a ton of fun, but we saw so many great sets here.
Highlights:
The Steel Wheels are one of my favorites that play the festival a lot. I caught three of their sets and might catch them in KC later this month.
The Tim O’Brien band was also really enjoyable. The guy is a monster and he apparently spent the weekend camping with the attendees all weekend which makes him even cooler.
The headliner was Béla Fleck and his amazingly stacked band playing My Bluegrass Heart. His band included Sierra Hull, Justin Moses, Billy Contreras, Shaun Richardson, and Mark Schatz. Just a ridiculous group of some of the best players at their instruments. It was incredible.
Stage 5 is a campground stage that hosts a ton of players including some of the actual official festival bands. This band was The Bus Company which were a ton of fun, but we saw so many great sets here.
mrjoshuamccormack
Active Member
Went on a last minute whim to the Black Country, New Road and black midi show in Tucson.
I'm only a bit familiar with black midi (even though I have Cavalcade on vinyl, I should apparently listen to it more!) and have heard the first BC NR album.
I'd read a bit about their principal singer/guitar player leaving right before their second album got released, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I did not know that they weren't doing any songs from their albums, so when I was trying to compare the songs to setlist.com to find what albums they were on I was a bit confused at first. However, I think I enjoyed what they did last night, compared to what they were doing previously, as they now don't seem so "male dominated" to my ears. Also, their keyboard player had a pretty wonderful voice, so now I'm looking forward to whatever they do in the future.
I loved black midi live. Their proggy-ness was more apparent, as well as a general heaviness that doesn't translate on record. The, um, complete lack of melody and traditional song structure still throws me a bit, as there is a lot of "speak-singing" but I still was pretty inspired after the show. Lots of cool time signatures, as well as some general dance-strutting from the singer/guitar player. The drummer was pretty much a badass.
I'm only a bit familiar with black midi (even though I have Cavalcade on vinyl, I should apparently listen to it more!) and have heard the first BC NR album.
I'd read a bit about their principal singer/guitar player leaving right before their second album got released, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I did not know that they weren't doing any songs from their albums, so when I was trying to compare the songs to setlist.com to find what albums they were on I was a bit confused at first. However, I think I enjoyed what they did last night, compared to what they were doing previously, as they now don't seem so "male dominated" to my ears. Also, their keyboard player had a pretty wonderful voice, so now I'm looking forward to whatever they do in the future.
I loved black midi live. Their proggy-ness was more apparent, as well as a general heaviness that doesn't translate on record. The, um, complete lack of melody and traditional song structure still throws me a bit, as there is a lot of "speak-singing" but I still was pretty inspired after the show. Lots of cool time signatures, as well as some general dance-strutting from the singer/guitar player. The drummer was pretty much a badass.
Tillman
Well-Known Member
I'm very jealous you got black midi at your BC,NR show.
My Neighbor Brotoro
Active Member
For reasons that I'm still trying to figure out myself, I bought a ticket to a Bleachers & Carly Rae Jepsen show in Cleveland. Carly was originally supposed to get an hour long set but she ended up taking the stage early and was up there for about 90 minutes. Bleachers went on stage later than their posted set time, so there was a good hour lull between those sets. Both acts were great, though!
folsom_lives
pretty_lil_dirt_boi
Haley Heynderickx tonight. Once again dragging my wife to a show where she knows nothing about the artist or the music. She's a good sport. I'm also expecting that since the bill shows Haley with someone called Illegal Son, whose only image I can find is a guy with a trombone, is that he will be doing some of the backing horn parts. At least that's what I hope, and that he does not in fact turn out to be a solo trombone artist opening for an hour...
My Neighbor Brotoro
Active Member
I believe that her tour poster advertises it as a solo show with Illegal Son as an opening act so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
folsom_lives
pretty_lil_dirt_boi
Well there it is. I guess I'll give them a listen.
I believe that her tour poster advertises it as a solo show with Illegal Son as an opening act so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Digging deeper, Mendoza from Illegal Son was the backing trombone player on I Need to Start a Garden. So I guess my suspicions were correct that there is a link here. Kind of bummed it will be a solo show since some of Haley's songs sounded so good with the backing instrumentals. I guess I'll be happy either way.
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dansomeone
Well-Known Member
WAND, earlier this month in the back room of a bar in Atlanta. Bonus the mad alchemist liquid light show. It was phenomenal.
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My Neighbor Brotoro
Active Member
The National never seem to disappoint.
Rip_City
Well-Known Member
Went to Roseland Theater in Portland last night to see Stereolab, who have wowed me since I started listening to them back in pandemic season. Sold out, and as lively a crowd in a packed Portland venue should be.
Having waited in line ~15min to doors, I made sure to head to the merch table in the corner before more funneled in. All of their 3xLP reissues were available for $32 (except the most recent compilation at $35), a mug for $15, button for $1, and a variety of shirt options. This is the one I went with:
After getting situated on the balcony to ensure a good view of the stage, I saw that the merch line went for what had to be 50 people long at least.
Fievel is Glauque
This band is a perfect accompaniment to Stereolab. They are strikingly similar to them in sound, but in bite-size pieces, with each song 1-3min in duration. Lineup comprised of a guitarist, bassist, electric keyboardist, a young gal on vocals, and a alto saxophonist/flautist. An incredibly enjoyable 35min opening set with a creative variety of songs, they played at least 12. One of the better openers I have seen.
Before the penultimate song in their set, the keyboardist announced that they would be also playing in a secret location the next day as a free show raising money for abortion funds.
Stereolab
Wonderful show. Set ran for a healthy 90min, including encore.
The band played a bunch of songs that I didn't recognize, but also a few oldies including two from Dots and Loops, my fave. I was so excited to hear the wonderful "Refractions in the Plastic Pulse" near the beginning of the setlist, all 17.5min of it!!
All of the songs were lovely...groovin' and boppin' to all of them. Happy to check this performance off of the bucket list.
Not sure if I'd include this show in my top10 from this year, but it'll be close.
EDIT: grammar
Having waited in line ~15min to doors, I made sure to head to the merch table in the corner before more funneled in. All of their 3xLP reissues were available for $32 (except the most recent compilation at $35), a mug for $15, button for $1, and a variety of shirt options. This is the one I went with:
After getting situated on the balcony to ensure a good view of the stage, I saw that the merch line went for what had to be 50 people long at least.
Fievel is Glauque
This band is a perfect accompaniment to Stereolab. They are strikingly similar to them in sound, but in bite-size pieces, with each song 1-3min in duration. Lineup comprised of a guitarist, bassist, electric keyboardist, a young gal on vocals, and a alto saxophonist/flautist. An incredibly enjoyable 35min opening set with a creative variety of songs, they played at least 12. One of the better openers I have seen.
Before the penultimate song in their set, the keyboardist announced that they would be also playing in a secret location the next day as a free show raising money for abortion funds.
Stereolab
Wonderful show. Set ran for a healthy 90min, including encore.
The band played a bunch of songs that I didn't recognize, but also a few oldies including two from Dots and Loops, my fave. I was so excited to hear the wonderful "Refractions in the Plastic Pulse" near the beginning of the setlist, all 17.5min of it!!
All of the songs were lovely...groovin' and boppin' to all of them. Happy to check this performance off of the bucket list.
Not sure if I'd include this show in my top10 from this year, but it'll be close.
EDIT: grammar
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dansomeone
Well-Known Member
Awesome! I saw Stereolab in 1996, at The Blue Note in Columbia, Missouri. They played a great show to a sparse crowd.Went to Roseland Theater in Portland last night to see Stereolab, who have wowed me since I started listening to them back in pandemic season. Sold out, and as lively a crowd in a packed Portland venue should be.
Having waited in line ~15min to doors, I made sure to head to the merch table in the corner before more funneled in. All of their 3xLP reissues were available for $32 (except the most recent compilation at $35), a mug for $15, button for $1, and a variety of shirt options. This is the one I went with:
After getting situated on the balcony to ensure a good view of the stage, I saw that the merch line went for what had to be 50 people long at least.
Stereolab
Wonderful show. Set ran for a healthy 90min, including encore.
The band played a bunch of songs that I didn't recognize, but also a few oldies including two from Dots and Loops, my fave. I was so excited to hear the wonderful "Refractions in the Plastic Pulse" near the beginning of the setlist, all 17.5min of it!!
All of the songs were lovely...groovin' and boppin' to all of them. Happy to check this performance off of the bucket list.
Not sure if I'd include this show in my top10 from this year, but it'll be close.
Oddly, it was the venue's weekly "Disco Night," to be held after Stereolab's set. Disco dancers poured in towards the end of the concert. Bewildered by the heavy droning lock-grooves, they proceeded to boo the band mercilessly. Sigh...
Poly-Rythmo
Well-Known Member
Dylan tonight in Oslo and I thought his voice was as good as I've heard it in decades really. (It is the first show of the European leg of the Rowdy Ways tour so I guess it's had a rest; it took a couple of songs to warm up but then was v clear). The set list is a bit too heavy towards that last album, but given that I loved it I'm not particularly complaining (even though my better half did a bit). He even tried out a bit of Norwegian to say thanks. Just wish he could mix up his set lists a bit more...
