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The Dead at Shoreline


Ok, my apologies for taking so long to post this.  I'm behind in my blogging, what can I say?  Too many gigs, too much travel.  Also, I'm updating some of the reviews to include updated videos.

At any rate, I did manage to see the surviving members of The Dead play at Shoreline Amphitheater on Thursday May 14.  I'm not a deadhead (this was my second dead show, last one about 20 years ago), but there have been times in my life where I thought The Grateful Dead were pretty good.  I've always enjoyed "American Beauty" and the "Grateful Dead" (e.g. Skull & Roses)  live CD.  That said, I think about half of The Grateful Dead's material is excellent and half is somewhat uninspired.  That may be sacrilege to those who have committed their lives to following the Dead, but even that's got to be getting old since Jerry Garcia died back in '95. 

The setlist was decent, including classics like "Ship of Fools," "Friend of the Devil," "Morning Dew," and "China Cat Sunflower," "I Know You Rider," "Scarlet Begonias" and "Fire on the Mountain."  I though the second number "US Blues" has always been fairly lame and it doesn't get any better live.  But as with most dead concerts, about half of it was brilliant and half of it bordering on dull. 

But even with that caveat, I gotta say when it works, it is pretty impressive.  I think a lot of people dismiss The Grateful Dead's musicianship and in that regard, the band is really unique in what they do.  And despite Jerry Garcia's passing, the four surviving members (Phil Lesh on bass, Rob Weir on guitar, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann on percussion) have a musical chemistry that is unique, inspiring and perhaps more resilient than anyone would have expected.   Add to that the impressive guitar and vocals of  Warren Haynes (Allman Brothers, Gov't Mule), and you have a band that still has as much firepower as they did twenty years ago.  To be clear, Warren Haynes isn't Jerry Garcia (and he's not trying to be), but he brings an intensity and freshness to the band that builds on the foundation that was layed down over many years.

I've posted some photos and videos online. And I'm grateful to the fan who swapped seats with me for the second set, getting me closer to the stage in the 103 section.  That's good karma, dude!

June 10, 2009 in Gigs | | Comments (3)

BB King at The Santa Cruz Blues Festival

Bb_king 

Following up on my earlier post on the Santa Cruz Blues Festival, the highlight of the day came when BB King arrived on stage to close out Saturday's show.  King had played two other bay area gigs that week.  At 83, he moves a bit slower than he used to, but he's still got the chops on guitar.  Many in the audience, myself included, felt priveleged to see such an historic  and influential musician live. 

BB King's influence on rock and blues guitar cannot be overstated.  Alongside Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters, BB King put his imprint on music in a fashion that paved the way for Eric Clapton, Jimmi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and many others.  With a career that spanned more than 50 years and 15,000 gigs, you can hear the influence of his minimalistic style and powerful vibrato in almost any modern blues rock guitar solo. 

Much of the power of King's set came from his 8 piece band including a great horn section and rhythm guitarist.  It's clear that these are top-rated veteran musicians who could be headlining venues on their own.  Nonetheless, they provide a great introduction and a tight musical groove for King to show off his stuff. 

At 83, you don't expect to see King dance around on stage.  And sometimes his vocals seemed to fade into the background.  But when he rips into a solo, it's clear that his musical abilities are still wonderfully intact, both on new songs as well as from his classic blues repertoire.  He told a few good stories along the way but not to the point of being a distraction.  In fact, I was surprised that he played a full 90 minute set and still offered to sign autographs.  You could tell he was getting a little tired on occasion, but the audience just adored him and I'm sure that's part of what keeps him out of retirement.

For me, the highlight of the show was his signature song, "The Thrill is Gone," which I was able to capture on video. 

BB King continues to tour through the summer in Europe and the US.  At this point you just never know how many more gigs there will be.  And if he's not playing in your town, pick up the re-released DVD Live at Montreux 1993.

June 04, 2009 in Gigs | | Comments (0)

Kenny Wayne Shepherd at the Santa Cruz Blues Festival


Memorial day weekend held the annual Santa Cruz Blues Festival with one of its best lineups ever including Jackie Greene, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and BB King --and that was just the first day.  The festival is put on by Bill Welch, owner of Moe's Alley in Santa Cruz, and has run for 17 years at Aptos Village Park.   I managed to catch Saturday's show, which I'll cover here in two separate postings.

First of all, I'm not a big fan of hanging out all day at a festival, but Santa Cruz is a pretty laid back place.  Officially gates opened at 10:00 am, the first act was on at 11:00 and I got there sometime around 1:00, just in time to catch the tail end of the second act, Ruthie Foster.  While all tickets are general admission, I splurged for a "Gold Circle" ticket ($100) which gets you a folding chair somewhere within 50 rows or so of the stage.  Despite the fact that I wasn't particularly early, I was able to find an empty seat in the third row, which was far better than I would have expected and made it all worthwhile.

Local San Francisco blues rocker Jackie Greene did a great set including original songs from his recent albums "Giving Up the Ghost," "Gone Wanderin" as well as a covers of The Velvet Underground's "Waiting for my man," The Beatles' "Taxman" and even some Grateful Dead.  (Green toured with the Dead a few years back, so what the heck.)  I managed to get some photos of Jackie Greene and his band, but unfortunately, I didn't shoot any video.  Nonetheless, here's a link to a nice acoustic number on YouTube.

As good as Jackie Greene was, it was just a taste of what was to come from Kenny Wayne Shepherd, one of the greatest southern blues guitarists I've heard in a long time.  I managed to capture a couple of decent videos of KWS ripping it up on YouTube.  It was a phenomenal set, from the very start.  Lead vocalist, Noah Hunt, has a perfect voice for this band, with a style that is reminiscent of Jimi Hendrix and perfectly complements Shepherd's guitar playing. 

Everyone in the band was having a great time and the crowd was totally energized by the performance, especially on Shepherd's searing solos.  Key songs included Dylan's "Everything is Broken" and the radio hit "Blue on Black."  Kenny Wayne Shepherd's 90 minute set alone was worth the price of admission for the whole day.  The band is touring through the US this summer, so be sure to check them out.


The closing act on Saturday was BB King, and I'll cover that in a separate posting.

June 01, 2009 in Gigs | | Comments (0)

Springsteen Plays Louie, Louie - Toronto Goes Wild

Springsteen_band

When you are among nearly 20,000 committed fans at a Bruce Springsteen show, it's hard to not have a great time.  Or so it seems when the night is clearly in the hands of a stellar performer. And that was the case this week in Toronto for his umpteenth visit in a city he has been playing regularly since 1975 when he played Seneca College.

Springsteen and the full 12-piece accompanying E Street Band put on a solid show that lasted nearly three hours. The music was strong, with the big man Clarence solid as a mountain and guitarits Nils Lofgren soaring on the occasional solo.  Little Steven frequently shared the spotlight, on vocals, guitar and mandolin.

They served up a bit of something for everyone, including early songs like "Badlands," "She's the One," "Prove it All Night", "Rosalita," a couple from the new album, "Working on a Dream" and "Outlaw Pete," and radio hits from the '80s that all the greying oldsters stood up for and sang along to.

Toronto is a bit of a sleepy town and regrettably it sometimes takes a lot to get people up from their seats, but that was the result when Bruce and crew played "Glory Days," "Born to Run" and "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out" and several other hits. Twice Springsteen teased the audience with calls of "Is there anyone alive out there?"

Bruce clearly is still having balls of fun on stage and he puts it all out, song after song. He also played a few requests from audience posters and signs, including an impromptu version of  The Kingsmen's classic "Louie, Louie" which was captured on video below.

:

 

It's hard to get tickets to a Springsteen show in Toronto and I gotta give credit to a strange bit of technology. I had been using a free Ticketmaster program on my BlackBerry to check for seats for the past four weeks and it was always sold out. Strangely, just two days before the show, while sitting in a hotel bar traveling on business, I checked again and some last minute stage-rear seats popped up.  Maybe as the promoters get into town they're able to free up some extra seats.  Who knows.

At any rate, the seats were great, Bruce and the band frequently played to the rear audience and the BlackBerry program came through flawlessly: Fair price, instant transaction, tickets via email.  If you're hunting for tickets for other sold out shows, it may be worth checking out.

May 18, 2009 in Gigs | | Comments (0)

Nico Georis & Sarah McCoy at Brookdale Lodge

A couple of weeks ago  I went to see Kaki King play at the Brookdale Lodge out on Highway 9 in Santa Cruz county.  King was the headliner so I wasn't expecting much with the two opening acts, Nico Georis and Sarah McCoy.  But both put on tremendous performances.  The combination made for a great evening despite the late start and lack of heat.

Georis led a full band with a set of up-tempo freak folk Highway 1 music with a vocal style reminiscent of Donovan or Lou Reed on a better day.  Georis is primarily a keyboard player, but also played guitar on a couple of numbers which I caught on video. 

After some delay, Sarah McCoy took the stage with a series of blues-belting numbers playing piano and occasionally guitar.  She has a powerful vocal style that is authentic and moving.  She played mostly original songs from her CD "Songs from Under the Bridge" including the extremely clever "Use Caution" and finished the set with a cover of "Mad World" that was riveting.

Both bands are from the bay area, and if you have the chance to see them live, you will enjoy it immensely.  Hopefully the promoter Folk Yeah will get some more gigs for these artists in the coming months.  A heated venue would be nice also.

March 02, 2009 in Gigs | | Comments (0)

Alejandro Escovedo Live Acoustic Show

Alejandro Escovedo comes from a musical family including brothers Pete and Coke Escovedo and his niece, long time Prince collaborator Sheile E.  I discovered Escovedo recently after a feature story on the Sound Opinions public radio podcast.  That prompted me to pick up his latest CD,  "Real Animal," a musical autobiography of Escovedo's formative years listening to bands like Mott the Hoople, Iggy & the Stooges, The Clash and others.  It's a killer album.  If you haven't heard it, head straight to Amazon; you can get it for under $10.   I'll write up a seperate review in the coming weeks.

At any rate, I was thrilled to see that Escovedo would be wrapping up a short acoustic tour (Tourette?) with a final gig in Santa Cruz.  But I had some aprehension: first of all The Rio Theater doesn't have a license, and nothing goes better with roots rock than a good cold beer.  Secondly, I wondered whether an acoustic set would do justice to the power of the songs on "Real Animal."  Escovedo's guitar player Dave Pulkingham assured me the evening would rock, and it did. 

Amy Cook, an alt-folkie with a beautiful voice opened the show with a short set.  Then Escovedo and Pulkingham played their first number, "Five  Hearts Breaking," coming down the aisle of the theater.  It was a fitting start for a splendid evening.  Once on stage, they launched into several songs from "Real Animal" starting with "Always a Friend" and then recent songs "Sister Lost Soul," "Chelsea Hotel '78" as well as some older material. 

Between songs, Escovedo talked about his life growing up as a musician, playing with Iggy Pop, and hanging out with Sid Vicious at the Chelsea Hotel.  They also played "Castanets" a song Escovedo disowned for several years when it was reported the song was on Geoge Bush's iPod.  Now that Bush is out of office, the song has made its way back into Escovedo's set list. 

 The evening finished with a few more songs from the audience, this time with Amy Cook joining on backing vocals.  They performed a beautiful rendition of "Sensitive Boys" a song about the band the True Believers that Escovedo formed with his brother Javier in the 1980s.  Escovedo's vocals were as haunting as ever, but this was truly a mesmerizing performance.  

I had a front row seat and managed to get some photos and video with my trusty Canon G9. (Not all of the videos have been uploaded yet, so check back.) 

Escovedo will be touring again in March and April in the midwest and southern US.   Don't miss an opportunity to see one of the pionneers of indie rock.


February 22, 2009 in Gigs | | Comments (0)

Guitar God Kaki King on Tour

Kaki King is one of those guitar players whose talent greatly her exceeds her popularity.  Beyond a certain core audience, King is relatively unknown.  So in a way, it was not surprising to see her play a dive (and I mean it in the best sense of the word) like the somewhat haunted and barely heated Brookdale Lodge, in Santa Cruz a few weeks back.  There were also two local acts opening the show, Nico Georis and Sarah McCoy, and I'll post some videos and photos of them in the next week.

King played a solo set consisting mostly of instrumental music with a wide range of innovative tapping, slapping and other crazy rhythmic sounds from her acoustic guitar.  I managed to shoot some photos and video, posted on PicasaWeb and YouTube.  The colors are a bit washed out due to the relatively dark lighting, but the sound came out quite well.  It's amazing to see King coaxing an amazing range of sound out of a guitar.  And because it was a small venue, it had the intimacy of a private concert.  King was quite serious during her playing, but warmed up with the audience with some riffs on Amy Winehouse, Courtney Love and tales of late night debauchery. 

King's latest album "Dreaming of Revenge" wull be released in March and accentuates catchier melodies than the more experimental instrumental style for which King is most well known.  King is on tour through the US, Australia and Europe through March and will also appear at the Bonnaroo festival in Tennessee in June.  If you find yourself in Katoomba with nothing to do, you could have a memorable evening with Kaki King.

February 17, 2009 in Gigs | | Comments (2)

Moonalice Live in Felton

Moonalice, a jam band led by tech investor Roger McNamee, pulled into Don Quixote's in Felton last week for a great evening of psychadelic rockin' blues and laid-back grooves.  The band includes all-star musicians GE Smith on lead guitar, Pete Sears on keyboards, Barry Sless on guitar & pedal steel, Jimmy Sanchez on drums, Ann McNamee on vocals and pretty much anyone anytime playing bass. 

In the year and a half since I last saw Moonalice at Moe's Alley in Santa Cruz, the band has improved tremendously.  As Roger "Chubby Wombat" told me, they've now done 150 gigs as a band and it shows.  The setlist has evolved to have a better flow, the vocals were more controlled, songs have been reworked, heck, even the lighting system has been upgraded! 

The band kicked off on-time at 8:00 pm with a cover of Canned Heat's "On the Road Again" sung by Ann McNamee.  This was followed by GE Smith singing "Down the Road a Piece" which included some great guitar work.  Other songs included a mix of covers and original songs by all of the band members including "Up in the Clouds," "Empire State," the romantically trippy "Happy Endings," "Fair to Even Odds," a cover of the motorcycle manifesto "'52 Vincent," and a unique arrangement of "Whiter Shade of Pale," that blew me away. 

While the words were immediately familiar, Moonalice did this song in a frenetic style that brought a new sense of urgency.  I don't know if this was T-Bone Burnett's hand at play, but it was one of the highlights of the evening.   They wrapped up the first set with "Tell Me It's Okay" including an extended pschadelic jam that showed off some mighty-fine Jerry Garcia inspired guitar work by Barry Sless.  I could have sworn there were lasers going on during this song, but maybe it was just the ambiance. 

After a break, the band came back with another full set including classic songs "Somebody to Love," "Nick of Time," "Like a Rolling Stone" (always a favorite) and "Stella Blue."  They finished off with a Dead-tribute version of "Goin' Down the Road," which has got to be a theme song for the band as they prepare for a US tour that takes them through the South in February and back in the west in March.


I've posted photos on PicasaWeb and a few videos on YouTube.  That said, I don' t know that video quite captures the magic this band has when they get on stage in front of an audience.   You can also download music from their site.  But I think this is a band that you have to see live to really appreciate.  It was a night of uplifting musical vibrations, great memories and even a few select readings from the book of Moonalice. 

 

February 04, 2009 in Gigs | | Comments (5)

AC/DC Concert Videos & Photos

Here's a report on last week's AC/DC concert at Oakland Coliseum. This was a great concert, perhaps the best of the year.  The band delivered a performance with the energy & enthusiasm of men half their age. 

I managed to get quite a few decent photos and videos from my smuggled Canon G9 camera.  The G9 is ideal for smaller concerts, though our seats in Section 113 were a bit far from the stage given a 6x zoom lens.  So some of the photos and footage is shot from the big screen.  But the sound is great and these videos have been viewed by more people than anything I've ever posted.  So I guess AC/DC fans are a pretty dedicated lot!  I recommend watching the videos in YouTube's high quality mode for best results.

The set list has not varied much on this tour, but here's what was played in Oakland:

  1. Rock N' Roll Train *
  2. Hell Ain't a Bad Place To Be *
  3. Back In Black *
  4. Big Jack *
  5. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
  6. Thunderstruck
  7. Black Ice
  8. The Jack
  9. Hells Bells *
  10. Shoot to Thrill
  11. War Machine *
  12. Anything Goes
  13. You Shook Me All Night Long *
  14. T.N.T. *
  15. Whole Lotta Rosie
  16. Let There Be Rock
  17. Solo *

    Encore:
  18. Highway To Hell *
  19. For Those About To Rock (We Salute You) *

* = Video posted on YouTube. 

It was a good mix of AC/DC's hits along with some new material.  I suppose no set list is perfect, and I would have preferred to skip "Hell Ain't a Bad Place to Be" or "Anything Goes" in place of "Jailbreak" or even "Decibel" from "Black Ice" but that just reflects my personal opinion.  I'm sure others would have their own quibbles.  With a catalog of 30 years, I think this was about as good as it gets and I'm really just nit picking at this point.  Bottom line: this was a great concert.  Or as many AC/DC fans have commented on Youtube it was "the best ever, man. I was there!" 

While some are critical of AC/DC for sticking to a formula, I think it's a pretty successful one.  If Buddy Holly were still around, I wouldn't expect him to change a whole lot either.  Of course, AC/DC's got 30 years of this formula, but the more I listen to their recent "Black Ice" CD, the more I think it's better than 90% of the new music out there today, Coldplay included. 

Singer Brian Johnson (now 61) was in great form.  I thought his voice was better than I've heard on videos from more than 10 years ago.  Perhaps by allowing a day's rest between gigs, they've found a way to keep things going until he's 71.  I sure hope so.  He's belting it out with energy to spare and can still hit the high notes.

Angus Young put on a great show dressed in his usual Aussie schoolboy outfit ripping guitar solos throughout the evening.  He's not running around on stage quite as much as he did in the past, but he's not phoning it in either.  He worked the audience into a frenzy and sweated more than many a marathon runner in this nearly 2 hour show.  Honestly, I don't know how he manages to play as well as he does while running around, spinning on the floor and never missing a beat.  It may be a bit of showmanship, but its still impressive.  Unfortunately, I ran out of memory and could not get the full version of his guitar solo on video.  Sorry 'bout that!

Overall, it was a great concert and tribute to the fact that old guys can still rock.  If you've caught AC/DC on tour or are planning to, let me what you think.

December 08, 2008 in Gigs | | Comments (6)

Coldplay - Live in Phoenix


Coldplay wrapped up their 2008 US tour in Phoenix last week, where I was on hand to take it all in.  My wife is a much bigger Coldplay fan than I am, and if it weren't for her, I probably wouldn't have gone.  It's pretty hard to miss Coldplay, especially with their radio friendly hooks and catchy melodies.  Live, they're even stronger. 

We missed the opening act, but did catch the somewhat boring trance DJ with his mega bass and various blips and beeps set to acid-induced Dr Seuss cartoons.  Maybe this could be good background music, but I didn't think it really matched the vibe for a Coldplay concert.  When Coldplay took to the stage after an opening waltz, it was a whole different show.  Singer Chris Martin was a whirling dervish, spinning around on stage, leaping, dancing, singing, playing guitar and piano with boundless energy.  

It was a good mix of material from their most recent "Viva La Vida" as well as older albums like "X&Y."  While Coldplay's set list doesn't change much show to show, it included most of the big hits like "Clocks" (my wife's favorite), "In My Place," "Fix You," "Viva La Vida" and of course "Yellow" to end the show.   For my nephews who were attending their first ever concert, it was a great introduction.  There were lasers, big screens, sing-alongs, and cool videos.  It was also nice when the bend went onto a smaller "techno" stage that put them closer to the audience.  And in the second encore, they played a short acoustic set up in the stands.  I managed to get some decent photos as well as some video of the show which you can view on PicasaWeb and YouTube respectively.

While this is likely sacrilege to the fanatical Coldplay fans, I don't think they are in the same league as U2 and other top-notch arena rockers.  But it was still a very good show with a lot of upbeat music and well worth seeing.  I think it could use a bit more guitar, but hey, this is GuitarVibe, not PianoVibe, right?  For those interested, "Viva La Vida" is on sale for $5 at Amazon as part of the Top 50 CDs.

Note: For some reason, YouTube wouldn't let me post a video of Chris Martin playing a solo piano to rendition of "The Hardest Part."  If anyone has a suggestion of another place to post this, let me know.  It's a great video and I'd love to share it.

December 01, 2008 in Gigs | | Comments (2)

Foo Fighters Live in San Francisco

I managed to catch the Foo Fighters who played a corporate gig in San Francisco last week at the Moscone Convention center.  I'm not a huge fan of the Foo Fighters; in fact I probably only recognized about half of the material.  But there were plenty of fans there. 

I managed to get jammed right up close to the stage.  Plenty loud, but I managed to get some good photos and a few videos.  If you're a Foo Fighter fanatic, enjoy.

November 11, 2008 in Gigs | | Comments (0)

Queen + Paul Rodgers Live in Latvia

It's just after midnight local time and my head is swimming from a great concert and lots of Latvian beer.  Quick summary:

  • Paul Rodgers was great
  • Brian May was superb
  • Latvian audiences don't sing along
  • Latvian beer is excellent
  • Arena hotdogs are awful
  • The prime minister of Latvia plays drums pretty darned well!

It was a great show, very hard rocking.  With a band like Queen it's hard to cover all the hits people would want to hear, but they did a good job selecting a broad range of songs that worked well with Paul Rodgers on vocals.  So don't expect to hear "Killer Queen" but Rodgers was more than capable on classics like "We Will Rock You" and "Crazy Little Thing Called Love."  Additionally the songs from Paul Rodgers' history with Free and Bad Company blended in great.  I was curious how they would tackle something as defnitively Freddie  Mercury as "Bohemian Rhapsody" and what they did was quite inventive: they had video footage of Freddie singing the introduction and then added the band and Paul Rodgers in later.  It was a very fitting tribute. 

Even though our seats were quite far back, the sound was incredibly loud. Luckily I had earplugs!    I managed to shoot some video and photos using my smuggled in Canon G9, but we were pretty far back and so they are quite grainy.  One weird highlight of the show: they brought out the Prime Minister of Latvia, Ivars Godmanis, to play drums on "Alright Now."  He must have played professionally because he did a great job. 

The setlist included:

  • One Vision / Tie Your Mother Down *
  • Fat Bottom Girls
  • Another One Bites the Dust *
  • I Want It All
  • Break Free
  • C-lebrity *
  • Love of My Life (acoustic)
  • '39
  • Drum solo
  • I'm In Love with my Car
  • Say It's Not True
  • Bad Company *
  • War Boys
  • Feel Like Making Love *
  • Guitar solo / Bijou / Last Horizon *
  • Crazy Little Thing Called Love *
  • The Show Must Go On
  • Radio Gaga
  • Bohemian Rhapsody
  • Cosmos Rocks *
  • Alright Now (with prime minister Ivars Godmanis)
  • We Will Rock You / Champions of the World *

* = Video posted on YouTube

Update: Note sure why it took so long for YouTube to process the videos, but I've finally posted all of them.  Again, sorry for the low quality.  I'm open to recommendations on a better compact camera.

September 22, 2008 in Gigs | | Comments (1)

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