09 Year in Review

Top 9 shows I saw in 2009:

9. Derek Trucks Band @ Water Street Music Hall
Derek Trucks. Chuck Campbell. Nothing more needs to be said.

8. Ponytail, Phantogram @ Bug Jar
Two of the best new finds of the year played about 20m apart from each other. Even if Yeasayer was a disappointment, this show still stood apart from the rest for the openers alone.

7. Rochester International Jazz Fest Day 8
A night that included guitar master Pat Martino, the most inventive musician I saw all year, Arve Henriksen, and pedal steel wizard Robert Randolph throwing down with the Campbell Brothers, Susan Tedeschi and Ryan Shaw. Yeah, that's making this list.

6. David Rawlings Machine/Gillian Welch @ Newport Folk Fest
The whole folk fest was a fantastic treat, but the standout sets were both David Rawlings and Gillian Welch under different monikers. Also would love to throw in here the Avett Brothers who I finally got to see this year, twice!

5. Akron/Family @ Mohawk Place
There was no show this year that saw me dancing harder.

4. El Ten Eleven @ Bug Jar
Third time was the charm, they brought it to the next level.

3. Wilco @ Artpark
Best Wilco show in by far the best venue I have seen them.

2. Bill Frisell @ Kilbourn Hall (early and late)
There was a 10m or so segment in the late set that was easily the best music I heard all year.

1. Phish @ Syracuse War Memorial
God I hate to waste space here espousing love for Phish when that's the last thing the blogosphere needs, but after seeing average-at-best shows at Fenway and Darien Lake, there was no denying that this was the real deal. Phish is back baby!

Catching up: August and September

A quick rundown of some stuff from late summer, boiled down to one (mostly run-on)sentence recaps.

Newport Folk Fest
It was one of the most stacked lineups in recent memory for the fest, celebrating its 50th year, with a great mix of old and new (take a listen over at npr.)

The zoom on my camera broke that week so video offerings are limited.

Ben Kweller: They were missing their bassist, but it didn't bother me one bit, quite enjoyable set.

Avett Brothers: They continued to impress in advance of their fantastic new album from the big stage, and then gave a select few (not I unfortunately) a treat from atop the Fort Adams. (They perform about 3:30 into the coverage)


Del McCoury Band: Surprisingly and a tad disappointingly, the only bluegrass heard all weekend, here mixing it up with a some sousaphone from Preservation Hall Jazz Band.


David Rawlings Machine/Gillian Welch: Gillian Welch, as expected, was phenomenal on Saturday with her husband David Rawlings, and then he, with Gillian at his side, equaled and then surpassed her set on Sunday. Together, they were the hands-down highlight of the weekend.



Iron & Wine: Never met a Sam Beam song I didn't instantly fall in love with, remarkable.

So much more to get excited about from the weekend, but let's leave it at that for now. Hope to make it again next year.

Phish @ Darien Lake
I've been to all four of Phish's Darien visits, and this was probably the worst, which isn't saying much since the first three were some of the best shows I have ever seen. (Saved by a late but GREAT GREAT Antelope, and this Drowned wasn't too shabby either)


Felice Brothers @ German House
The German House seems to suck the energy out of a show, maybe it would be different if it were packed, still they are a ton of fun to see live, with a tad too much tossing water into the crowd. (insert Gallagher joke here)

Akron/Family, Slaraffenland @ Mohawk Place
(It's official, I drank the kool-aid and it tastes like Akron/Family... LOVE LOVE LOVE) As much as I enjoyed Slaraffenland's rhythmic pop tapestries in their opening set, they didn't do too much (or not nearly as much as Megafaun previously I should say) to add the Akron's set and were somewhat underutilized (considering their multi-instrumental prowess I wondered why they were only used as a horn section.)



David Grisman Quintet @ Water Street Music Hall
Man, I haven't seen Grisman in ages, I think I figured it's been about 8 years, and the man's still got it.

08 Year in Review

Aught-eight was a surprisingly good year for live music both in quantity and quality. I knew a move from Boston to Rochester would diminish my musical choices quite a bit, but I did have a hopeful feeling that there would still be enough to sate my live music addiction. My feeling was indeed correct. The choices were fewer, but all that did was make it easier to decide which shows to see, and even got me out to see some great bands I definitely would have missed in a more saturated environment. Anyway, here is my list for the best 8 shows of 08, with a mix of the second half of the year thrown in at the end. Click the links for original reviews.

8. El Ten Eleven @ Bug Jar
I had never heard of El Ten Eleven but after reading a brief preview of the show in the paper, I thought it might be something I'd like to check out. And I was right! Hot damn! It was a Monday night, and a long freaking wait inside the small club for their headlining set, but well worth it. Probably the only time I have ever walked out of a show and bought 2 albums from the same band.

7. My Morning Jacket @ Radio City Music Hall
6. David Byrne @ Landmark Theatre
5. Wilco @ Auditorium Theatre
The only thing these 3 had going against them were high expectations. Met and exceeded for all 3. Also they happened to be the 3 longest encores of the year. MMJ did it all in one break, Wilco and Byrne forced 2 and 3 standing O's respectively from their audiences.

4. Apollo Sunshine @ Beat Kitchen
So happy to get to see Apollo Sunshine this year, what with their outstanding new album and all. I had to go all the way to Chicago to do it, and stay out way late on a weekend work night, but completely worth it. Not the best AS show I have ever seen, but I have a hard time ever missing an opportunity to catch these guys.

3. Phil Lesh/Levon Helm @ Highland Bowl
Best venue I attended this year, helped tremendously by the gorgeous summer afternoon, but also just a great spot right in the city with a super-chill outdoor party atmosphere both on stage and in the crowd. Seeing Levon was a great treat, and I really loved the new version of Phil's band, a lot more than others seem to. The song selection was great and the playing even better.

2. Fiery Furnaces @ Bug Jar
When it popped up on the calendar that the Fiery Furnaces would be playing the teeny tiny Bug Jar I was floored. When I popped up at the venue and the Fiery Furncaces were actually on stage at the teeny tiny Bug Jar, well I was just floored. Just a crazy crazy show in a crazy crazy atmosphere. I had to remind myself I was in Rochester.

1. Akron/Family @ Boulder Festival
These guys got inside my head and just turned up the happy juice, I was in heaven. Mindblowing.

Biggest disappointments: Mike Gordon @ Thursdays in the Park. I never got around to reviewing this one, but let's just say, booooooring. Way too jammy with a way underpar band.
Other than that, having to miss Dr. Dog the day after Akron/Family at the Boulder Festival, missing not one but two local MMW shows, arriving too late for Earl Greyhound, and getting sold out from the Felice Brothers.

Best new discoveries: El Ten Eleven, Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band, Syme, Wax Fang, Le Loup, Cornmeal

Download my 2nd half mix here. My first half mix can be found here.
1. Sympathy for the Devil (w/ Jerry Joseph) Widespread Panic 8 July 2008 Rochester
2. Hey Jude Derek Trucks Band 11 July 2008 Rochester
3. The Other One > Phil Lesh & Friends 12 July 2008 Rochester
4. Another Reason to Go Vetiver 6 December 2008 Detroit
5. Raising the Sparks Akron/Family 21 February 2007 Edgar's Club Clemson, SC
6. Wonderwall Ryan Adams & The Cardinals 27 September 2008 Rochester
7. Dirty Black Nag Cornmeal 9 October 2008 Syracuse
8. The Doctor Will See You Now Wax Fang 2007-11-17 - Headliners Music Hall
9. Better Change Your Mind Apollo Sunshine Daytrotter Session
10. k10 El Ten Eleven Sunset Tavern 5 June 2008 Seattle
11. Impossible Germany Wilco 6 December 2008 Rochester, NY

Akron/Family, Vetiver @ Boulder Festival

I thought I had a good idea of what I was in for, but I had no idea what I was IN for. Long story short, Akron/Family blew my mind last Friday evening. (Keep reading for the long story) They wiped our palates clean and then built a musical universe from the ground up until it was towering over us, awesome in scope and power. Excuse the excessive use of superlatives herein, but there is no other way to get across the excellence other than a complete "-est" fest. I knew that I really wanted to catch them--still I almost missed this show for various reasons--but really I didn't quite know why. As in I really didn't know much about them. As in, when they came on stage 6 strong I had no idea that half the band was actually Megafaun (who had played earlier and who I am disappointed I couldn't get there early enough to see in retrospect) I have no idea how they could pull this show off with only 3 guys, let's just hope they somehow manage to always tour as this 6. It was a circus up there. The show started modestly enough, a lot of slow builders that began spacey but morphed into raging noisy rockers. After a few songs in I was thinking that it was growing a bit repetitive, great, interesting, but repetitive in structure. And lacking the all out energy I was expecting. Then they toss in this instrumental piece that had the sweetest little infectious guitar lead, on par with Rana's "Whenever You Can", the type of riff you could just listen to all day and never grow tired of.
Here's video proof:

From there they drifted into a spacey vocal/rhythm interlude and the bass player (who was a badass btw) handed off to the Megafaun guitarist and grabbed the mic. A Lovelight bass groove was produced and before you knew it we were engaged in a full-on Pigpen-esque Lovelight. The energy kicked up a notch onstage and in the small but packed-in crowd. I thought this was a showstopper. But in reality it was the show starter. Immediately after Lovelight came a groove that was so funky it nearly caused widespread instantaneous booty implosion. Think late-70s Stevie. This lasted for a while and I just never wanted it to stop. Insane. The crowd was now full into it and the stage show just getting crazier. At some point a young child who had interrupted the opening of the show by banging some drums at a vendor tent had made it on stage, dancing and banging on his drum. The crowd became a member of the band on multiple occasions with plenty of vocal participation and claps and snaps. The drummer from Vetiver joined in for a 3 drum attack for the 2nd half too. It was a cacophony of sound with tons of percussion, pipes, flutes, recorders, recording devices even, and some hilariously over the top all-out screaming. The show ended with Ed is a Portal that had the crowd in a frenzy, explosive. Then that fizzled out into another vocal jam with vocals regarding the Vetiver drummer's playing of the triangle. This turned into an impromptu song about triangles, circles and squares with hand motions and all. As the song neared its end a small display of fireworks went off somewhere off in the distance. Fitting.

They came out for a quiet, past-curfew encore of I Know You Rider, with the entire band front of stage, mostly acoustic, and with the guitarist from Vetiver joining in on harmonica. Akron/Family's guitarist expertly evoked Jerry Garcia for a beautiful ending solo, and the crowd dispersed in glee.


Akron/Family were the headliner in the first of a three night festival put on by the Boulder Coffee Company. It was a fine little festival, but unfortunately I couldn't catch any more of it. In addition to some great local talent on tap, Dr. Dog was headlining the second day. It was a tough pill to swallow to have to miss that set. Oh well.

I did catch Vetiver though. They get thrown in the freak folk scene a lot, and as such I was not expecting to like them too much. But they really weren't all that "freaky." Pretty straightforward retro-folk rock. Great vocals, good songs, quite enjoyable.


Also took in the set by the local group Baby Shivers' Boutique. They had a unique set-up and showed a lot of potential, but it was so very rough around the edges, and not even just on the edges. I'd like to see how they develop their sound more. A couple of songs fell flat, but others held great promise. I'll keep my eye on those guys...