Archive - Aug 2008

While Houston is not known for its music scene, it does have several small, relatively-unknown musical retreats that always facilitate a good time. One of the spots that has helped us survive here over the past several years is the Last Concert Cafe. You always know what to expect when you walk in the door. The cramped entryway, which also serves as the restaurant's seating area and bar, leads you to a colorful outside dining patio. While it is one of Houston's most respected live music venues, it also serves up some damn good enchiladas (or guaco's if you're Cereal). After passing by the old hippie that you'll always find peddling his wares, you end up in an outdoor, sand-filled area surrounded by picnic tables and bookended by a large hand-crafted stage (which seems to get larger every time I visit).

What led us to LCC this time was Austin newgrass group Green Mountain Grass. We'd heard tons of great things about this quartet leading up to the show, and were looking forward to seeing what they had to offer.

Read more about the show after the jump

State Radio frontman Chad Urmston made his way to Denver during the week of the Democratic National Convention, but did so in an unique way. State Radio played along side another politically driven musical act, Rage Against The Machine, at a protest against the war in Iraq. But Urmston didn't make the trip through conventional means. Instead, he opted to hop freight train to freight train from the Boston area to make it in time for the event. In a recent interview, Urmston explained:

“You sleep when you can and hide from floodlights and switch trains at dawn. It’s wild. I’m with my brother and two friends who are going to California, but we’re all going to stop off for the show at the DNC.”

Chad Urmston of State Radio
Read more after the jump!

Recently, I read a pretty good article on Jambase about two of Wilco's August shows; one taking place on the east coast (8/12 in Lenox, MA), and one on the west coast (8/22 in Bend, OR). While it was a good short article featuring some nice photography, one particular passage stood out to me.

Wilco really turned up the heat late in the set with a spectacular triple threat featuring smoking versions of "Heavy Metal Drummer," "Hate It Here" and "Walken." The final encore let the crowd relax a bit as the Fleet Foxes joined in on the Dylan classic "I Shall Be Released."

After a quick Youtube search, I found a nice, high-quality capture of that said event for you all to enjoy:

I have always had much love for "I Shall Be Released," especially after first seeing the version on the seminal rock film The Last Waltz years ago which features The Band backed by a slew of guests including Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and Dr. John among others. With my current love for Wilco and Fleet Foxes, I think this version might trump the greatness of the one on that film (at least for now...). I can't get enough of Tweedy's attempts to go soprano. Actually, it really works for him.

Nederland, CO-based newgrass quartet Yonder Mountain String Band will be appearing at the Democratic National Convention today:

We're pleased to announce that Yonder will take the stage at this year's Democratic National Convention to be held at INVESCO field at Mile High on August 28. Yonder will perform on the last day of the convention prior to Barack Obama's highly-anticipated acceptance speech for the nomination. Other performers on Thursday include: Stevie Wonder, Sheryl Crow, Will I Am, Michael McDonald and Jennifer Hudson. This is the first convention to be held in Denver in one hundred years and Yonder is proud to be performing at such an historic event in their own community. The convention anticipates 75,000 people in attendance.

YMSB are an across-the-board BOT favorite, so we're excited that they're getting the chance to participate in this event.

Also appearing at the DNC will be diesel-thighed Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson, who will lead the Pledge of Allegiance while performing a balance beam routine.

Okay, not really, but wouldn't that be nifty? She will be leading the Pledge of Allegiance, but I assume it'll be from an upright standing position.

You can view the full DNC schedule for today here.

Recently, we posted news of Kings Of Leon's new album, Only By The Night, and single from that album, "Sex On Fire". We were very excited, as the song is quite good, which even led us to post a video of it in our All Points West Video Omelette. Today came the release of the video form of "Sex On Fire", which finds the band in a dingy warehouse. There is no sex and no fire, actually the exact opposite of that is featured - male angst and a bunch of water...and chicken wings.

I am not too sure what the whole chicken theme is all about, but the song is rocking so it doesn't really matter. The parts where front-man Caleb Followill is on that bed remind me of the heroin withdrawal scene in Trainspotting. The only thing missing is that creepy baby crawling on the ceiling.

My Morning Jacket's August 24th performance at Stubb's was undoubtedly one of the most anticipated shows of the summer for Eggs and myself. It's no secret that we're huge fans of MMJ; every time we see them live our appreciation deepens. Sunday in Austin, our expectations were met and the bar was raised a little more: armed with pirouettes, a cape, and a pancho-clad bear, the band delivered a consistently high-energy set that left the crowd happily dripping sweat in the Texas heat. They seem to leave it all on the stage every time they play, a quality that has deservedly boosted them to the top of our shortlist of the best live acts in existence.

MMJ recap, setlist, photos, and videos after the jump

Coachella

Bonnaroo

Rothbury

Lollapalooza

All Points West

Outside Lands

There were several missteps at this year's Wakarusa Music & Camping Festival, but the foolproof plan of inviting the Flaming Lips back turned out to be one of the promoters' best decisions of the weekend. Wakarusa's largest crowd of the weekend laughed, smiled, cried, played, and rejoiced together while the quartet from Oklahoma City ripped through their back catalogue. One clear standout from the above-average Lips set was the somewhat rare "Mountain Side" from 1990's In A Priest Driven Ambulance. Before starting the song, they mentioned that they "put together a list of all the old songs that all of [their] wonderful fans wish that [they] would play," also adding that "Mountain Side" was "at the top of that list for the longest time."

Recently, Vimeo user Stong posted some stellar videos from the set including one of "Mountain Side" from a front row perspective:

Check out a few sidestage, backstage and soundcheck videos from the Flaming Lips set at Wakarusa after the jump

After spending the weekend regularly checking the updates on Live Music Blog, Hidden Track, and Coventry Music & Phish Blog, which all featured quality content throughout the weekend, I realized that I should have been in San Francisco for the inaugural Outside Lands. Hell, the only reason we chose to stay here is because My Morning Jacket were stopping in Austin on Sunday, and we aren't too fond of passing up the opportunity to see their show when it comes around. Thank goodness for high quality point-and-shoot cameras, and festival-goers who forgo that seventh beer so they can keep a steady hand, because they captured a whole bunch of great videos to share with the world!

Cold War Kids - "Hang Me Up To Dry"

Check out the weekend in videos after the jump

Talk about beginner's luck. A friend of mine saw My Morning Jacket for the first time last night in Dallas (well, she caught a few songs from their epic set at this year's Bonnaroo, but left when it started raining, so I don't really count that) and was treated to something special, indeed: Erykah Badu joined the band onstage to perform her song "Tyrone."

More MMJ/Badu details and a full video of the occasion after the jump

Badu & James (Photo: Linda Park)