Upcoming/Recent Shows

Neal Francis with one of the most fun shows I've seen in a LONG time at the Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland last night. This band is tight and funky. I think my face was contorted in the "holy FUNK" face for most of the set.

I'd seen him open for Marcus King last year but this was night and day better.

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Carlile opened the show with a 3 piece bass/drums/vocals. Ok/mediocre bubblegum pop for the most part but on occasion she'd get broody and industrial and I wish she'd have done that more often because that's when she really impressed. Bass was way too heavy in the mix. Teeth chatteringly so. Dude had Thundercat talent though.

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Very late in uploading concerts experienced up to this point in the year. Won't be too descriptive for a few of these as my memory is fuzzy for a few of these outings.

Went to see R.A.P. Ferreira in Portland in early January, a very good start to the year. Underground jazzy hip-hop made for a solid night.

AJ Suede

Seen his name a few times on the Hip Hop thread here, and he was alright in a live setting. A lot of his songs were very samey though.

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R.A.P. Ferreira

Rory's stage presence with his idiosyncratic flow made for a very enjoyable performance, combined with quirky jokes here and there. He performed most of the songs from his newest project 5 to the Eye with Stars and some choice cuts from the excellent Purple Moonlight Pages from a few years back. Set went for about an hour.
Roughly halfway through the set, someone in the front casually tossed a few rolled blunts to the side of the stage while Rory was performing "mythsysizer instinct." Rory acknowledged these about two songs later, picked up the wraps off to the side, and casually smoked a few of 'em while simultaneously performing the remaining songs in the set.
A very good night.

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Video of the excellent "CYCLES" to close the show:

 
eXTC ~ The Casbah, San Diego.

eXTC is Terry Chambers (Original drummer for XTC) plus Steve Hampton (guitar / vocals) and Matt Hughes (Bass, vocals) playing songs from the XTC catalog. I went as you don't get a chance to hear these songs live all that often and was expecting a very technical set. Steve Hampton is a great frontman, and elevated the show considerably. You wouldn't think that a majority of the XTC catalog were singalongs, but he got the audience into it and made it a communal experience and celebration. Plus all three of these guys are technically amazing and fun to watch play. They are just starting a US tour, if you have passing interest in XTC well worth checking out.

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Saturday, holy crap!

Got a soundcheck meet and greet with White Reaper through the radio station. Good guys. Very low on sleep, but were extremely gracious and welcoming. Signed our records and took a group photo with us.

Missed both of the openers while watching Xavier get crushed in the Big East Championship in a nearby bar, but made it over for the main event and once again they did not disappoint. New album is a rocker, and they mixed a healthy dose of each of their other albums. A must see band. My 4th time.

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Also went to see Sam Prekop & John McEntire a couple days later, with Jeremiah Chiu providing an opening set. Was mostly excited to hear Chiu's music in a live setting considering how he and his partner Marta Sofia Honer put out a phenomenal ambient record from last year, Recordings from the Åland Islands. I had been given on offer for a free ticket by the venue for a select list of upcoming shows in their email list with this show being included as an option, as the show was nowhere close to selling out. On top of that, this is only the third show where Holocene (venue) implemented the installation of their new sound system...was very excited to hear the upgrades.
Love the way the seating arrangements were set up, never been a part of something similar before:

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Jeremiah Chiu

The photos do not lie, this was the closest I've ever been situated next to a live music performer. Could've extended an arms reach out from my seat and touched Jeremiah Chiu's analogue synthesis equipment.
His set was, for the most part, nothing at all like what was performed on Recordings from the Åland Islands. Rather, the music mostly mirrored that of what Sam & John would perform for their set; unexpectedly outsider house/ambient techno. Pretty good overall, I'd say.

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Sam Prekop & John McEntire

Sam and John's set went for exactly one continuous hour, with seamless transitions of electronic passages and no stops in between music. Beautiful and spacey segments as well, with a moody blue/green slideshow backdrop against the wall of the DJ floor. Very good, even if some segments ran for a bit longer than I would've liked. More than satisfied for the price of free.

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An 11min segment near the end of the set:




Post-show

Took a photo of the equipment used, thought about staying after to hang out and chat with the musicians, but decided against it and headed home.

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this is cool: Nominate Your Favorite Local Music Venue for Hometowns of Consequence

I nominated the following, which I would recommend highly to all of you:

Haw River Ballroom (Saxapahaw, NC) - this place is a hike, but seriously the best venue I have ever been to. Only Wolf trap and the Kennedy Center even compare, but this is a small venue.

NC Musuem of Art (Raleigh, NC) - a nice intimate amphitheater located in the middle of a sculpture garden.

The Pinhook (Durham, NC)- Kym Register's venue. A great intimate venue. Like 50 people could be there and it would not seem empty.

Cat's Cradle - legendary. there's not much to it, but they pull some big names into a small venue.
 
We finally made it to our 10th Goose show last night, at The Met in Philly. Had tickets to three previous shows, but life got in the way. Their lighting is gorgeous - the Goeddes do a phenomenal job. Great to see them again, though I have to admit, I'm getting too old for this - second set started at 10:55pm. :sleep:

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Matt M said:
King Tuff at Mississippi Studios - Portland 3/6.

I'm not sure there's an artist that puts me in a better mood every time I see them more than King Tuff. Fantastic and fun show again last night. Love when myView attachment 168923 gal really enjoys the show too.
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saw him last night in Brooklyn, it felt like it took a little bit for both the crowd and band to fully warm up, which seemed weird especially since the opening band, Tchotchke, put on a tremendous set... the crowd was cheering them for an encore but that didn't happen.

the worst part is when things got on track and was going really great they got hit with a hard curfew and had to leave before playing all the old, crowd pleasers.

it was a good show, just some stiffness with the crowd, light technical issues, and poor time management affected what could have been a killer evening.

TCHOTCHKE
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KING TUFF
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that said, had to pick up the Tchotchke record simply off their performance last night, I haven't listened to it yet but I'm looking forward to it!
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Great little night out at the big arena in Cleveland for John Mayer solo. Pleasantly surprised at how engaging he made a solo acoustic arena tour.

Joy Oladokun opened the show. I had seen her before at Railbird in 2021 with a full band, but her solo was waaaaaay cooler.
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Then Johnny Boy. Had 3 stations that he switched between. Sitting guitar, standing guitar, and piano. Played a great mix of hits and deep cuts. Only eye-roller he played was Your Body is a Wonderland. Did a great cover of Friend of the Devil.

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Yesterday evening was the 6th annual 330 Day, a celebration of local artists from the 330 area code here in NE Ohio. 23 artists each performed 1 song over the course of 3 hours. While I have 23 pictures from the show, I won't clog this page with all of them. Here's the highlights:

I've been a big fan of local jazz pianist Theron Brown for a while. He's got a slick as heck trio, but it was just him solo for his song here. Lovely.
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Benny Lava & the Guavas was a nice surprise. The lead singer owns one of the recording studios in town so I'm sure he had his pick of great musicians to form this band. This was also one of saxophonist JT's many appearances throughout the night.
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Jen Maurer did a solo song channeling her best Joan Baez. It was stunning.
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I know a few people are fans of The Shootouts on here.
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And then finally The Kidney Brothers from The Numbers Band. #1 highlight of the night for me and I go into more detail why in D's AOTM thread for Numbers Band.
 
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