Last weekend, I caught another solid concert at the Charlottesville Pavilion. The Black Crowes were in town to help celebrate the July 4th weekend.



This was the 6th time that I’ve seen the Crowes, which is hard for me to believe. I am not a hardcore Black Crowes fan, but am probably more of a fan now than I was 18 years ago when I first caught them on the Shake Your Money Maker tour. My enthusiasm for the Crowes waned after their first couple albums, but was refueled when I caught them 2 years ago at the Pavilion. The reason? First off, their live catalog has obviously grown (both originals and covers), and second, all those years sharing the stage with jam bands and Jimmy Page has transformed the bar band sound I heard in 1990-1991 into a unique form of southern hippie rock.

Unfortunately, we missed almost all of Grace Potter & the Nocturnals due to another torrential rain storm. We got in as they were finishing up a cover of the Rolling Stones’ Sweet Virginia. The Crowes came on to only about a half-filled venue, but we were treated to a great set list. Highlights for me were Seeing Things, Wiser Time, Thorn in My Pride, and The Band’s The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.

If you missed the Black Crowes last weekend, you can buy a copy of the show here or catch them in October when they will play a 2 night stand at The National in Richmond.

Setlist: Movin’ On Down The Line, Goodbye Daughters of the Revolution, Hotel Illness, Thick ‘n’ Thin, Walk Believer Walk, Young Man Old Man, There’s Gold In Them Hills, Boomer’s Story, Seeing Things, Welcome to the Goodtimes, The Mighty Quinn, Wiser Time, Thorn In My Pride, Wounded Bird

E: She, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down


Seeing Things For The First Time - The Black Crowes from The Butter Room on Vimeo.

The music from the lot grew louder and our anticipation built as we walked amongst the crowds descending on the Roanoke Coliseum, destined to see what has been dubbed the perfect blend of two of music’s most powerful forces… That’s right, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss visited Roanoke, VA last night, June 2nd, for one spectacular and very special evening of bluegrass, rock, and a little bit of everything else in between.

It was a special night for my family too. We don’t always get together as often as we’d like but last night we were celebrating my mom’s 60th birthday so all six of us grabbed our seats and excitedly watched the night unfold, and did it ever…

The opener, Sharon Little, got the crowd warmed up with her resonating and soulful vocals. Little was hand picked from hundreds of others to open the legendary show, and it’s amazing to see just where true talent can show up. According to her site, she was waiting tables at the beginning of 2008 and within just a few short months she’s now touring internationally with some the best-known names in music. I think it is definitely only a matter of time until the world catches on, just as Alison Krauss and Robert Plant did, to her uniquely powerful voice! For more about Sharon Little or to take a listen, click here!

After the opening act, the energy in the coliseum continued to build as the stage crew quickly changed and tested the instruments. The lights dimmed again and this time from either side of the stage the two people that everyone had come to see appeared. Alison looked just like the delicate and rare flower that she is and Robert Plant arrived in true rocker style, hair askew, in jeans. They wasted no time getting comfortable on the stage, singing, in impeccable harmony, everything from Townes Van Zandt’s “Nothin,” where Plant was able to stretch his lungs and soar, to revitalized Zeppelin classics including “The Battle of Evermore” and “When the Levee Breaks.” They even managed to squeeze in, last minute I’m sure, a version of “Who Do You Love?” as a tribute to Bo Diddley who sadly died yesterday at the age of 79.

Two songs during the show that I will not soon forget and are still resonating with me today are an a cappella “Down To The River To Pray” that literally brought the house to a hushed and peaceful silence and Alison’s “Trampled Rose” from their Raising Sand record. Her voice and stage presence during this song can only be described as simply angelic.

And not to be forgotten, the acclaimed writer/composer and producer of the “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” soundtrack (just to name one), T Bone Burnette, did his own wailing on the guitar and even interjected a few of his original tunes in between Krauss and Plant’s songs. As Plant mentioned about halfway through the show it was, after all, Burnette, who scheduled the meeting between, Krauss, Plant, and destiny.

And fortune it was to see the two of them at their best, without any ego attached. Numerous times throughout the show the humble and generous pair would simply step out of the light to let the band shine and Krauss applauded the band almost as much as the audience did. There was a polite, yet playful energy between the entire group that seemed to reverberate through the show so you just knew that these folks weren’t playing for the fame or the money but for the music itself, a true appreciation for the art of collaboration to which the audience responded with several standing ovations and awe.

I feel honored to have seen such musical luminaries perform together. And I look forward to seeing what future collaborations they may have in store! This is one birthday that I doubt my mom will soon forget! Thanks Robert Plant and Alison Krauss for one amazing date with destiny.

There are tour dates left… some as close as DC (the Merriweather pavilion, a wonderful outdoor space), as well as Asheville and Raleigh, NC. For more information, check out robertplantalisonkrauss.com

The Butter Room was well represented at the Radiohead show from Nissan Pavilion last night (5/11/08). So much so that we decided to do two reviews. Cheers.



Review #1 by Brian Chenault
Exactly how do you measure the dedication of a band’s fans? Is it by the number of bootlegs or import versions of albums they own? Is it by the amount of merchandise they purchase? Their willingness to shell out top dollar for anything related to the band, tickets or otherwise? If dedication is measured by fans literally enduring the elements for a concert, then you’d have to give Radiohead fans an A+. It rained nonstop yesterday, from morning through the night, and as I was driving 29 North to the concert I wondered to myself if the concert would even happen, and if so how many ticket holders would even bother to come out? Judging from a scan back from my very fortunate spot in the general admission pit, I’d say that that it barely hurt the turnout at all. I have to admit, had I not been so fortunate, and had been stuck with a lawn ticket, I probably would have stayed home. Not only was it windy and the rain torrential, but the temperature was in the lower 50s, which made for some serious cold or even pneumonia-inducing weather.



After staying in the car and hoping for the rain to subside a little before entering the venue, I finally made my way inside around 8 pm, in time to catch the last few songs by the opener, Liars. I am not familiar with the band so am in no position to give a fair critique, but I thought the sound was pretty muddy and it was hard to make out what was going on on stage. Otherwise, they seemed interesting enough and it sparked enough interest for me to want to check them out further.

After what must have seemed like an eternal break between bands to the people on the lawn, the roadies dispersed and Radiohead took the stage. The lighting set for this tour is absolutely the coolest I have ever seen for any show. It consists of rows of thin white lighting strips 6 deep and 12 wide that effectively turn the stage into a cave surrounded by these things. At the rear of the stage is a row of video displays that throughout the show displayed candid closeup shots of the band members. These shots were also unlike any I have seen at any concert. They were less your typical concert shot views of the band and more like you were spying on the band members, seeing their inner thoughts as the show progressed. I never could figure out where the cameras were set, and sometimes there would be angles that seemed impossible without invisible cameras. My favorite shot of the night was seeing a closeup of Johnny Greenwood at his laptop, peering from underneath his locks back at Thom Yorke. Video screens at most concerts are there to let the audience better see the band. These screens seemed more designed for a glimpse into the psyche of the band. Throwaway footage it was not. It’s telling that the band requested that the venue not use the screens available for people on the lawn to better see the band.



Despite a somewhat muddy mix for the first few songs (the bass on “All I Need” was practically indiscernable), it all came together by the third song of the night, the gorgeous “Lucky” from OK Computer. They gave fair play to their entire catalog, with the exception of Pablo Honey, which I doubt anyone missed, and Hail To The Thief, which only got one visit for the night, with the schizophrenic “Myxomatosis”. The Bends, OK Computer, Kid A, and Amnesiac were all represented, with 3 or 4 great choices off of each. When the achingly beautiful “The Pyramid Song” was over, I decided that if I ended up catching pneumonia after the show, it would have been worth it to hear that song alone. Thom Yorke not only seemed in high spirits, joking with the crowd, but his voice was in incredible shape. He hit all of his high falsetto notes with what seemed like no effort at all. There is no question that his voice has strengthened and improved over the years. I never thought I’d say this, but in my mind he’s one of rock’s great singers in the prime of his career and his abilities.

As I left the venue, and waded through the muddy pond that the concession area had become (ankle high in some places), I had to marvel that in a world that seems increasingly complicated and fragmented, music still has the power to not only bring people together, but also to do so under the worst of conditions.


Weird Fishes/Arpeggi - Radiohead from The Butter Room on Vimeo.

Review #2 by Todd Wickersty
Expectation is the seed of disappointment. These 6 words comprise one of my favorite sayings because it’s true 99% of the time. My expectations for Radiohead at Nissan Pavilion last night were extremely high. I knew that they were too high. Couple that with the fact that Nissan Pavilion is the WORST venue in Virginia (more on that later) and last night had the makings for an enormous letdown.

After some food and spirits in the armpit of the Commonwealth, also known as the Virginia Gateway Center, we arrived at the venue in a torrential rainstorm. At least we made it. After sitting in hours of traffic, many people could not get to the venue due to flash floods. I’ve been there before. After traveling hundreds of miles from Virginia to Vermont to see Phish’s final live performance, we were denied access 5 miles from the gate due to a similar weather related incident. It sucks. Unfortunately, those of you who couldn’t make it last night missed a much much better show than I did at Coventry.

We got inside in between the opening act, Liars, and Radiohead. Good timing considering the traffic and rain. It took us 45 minutes to get in, which is really nothing compared to the thousands who traveled west on I-66. However, we only had 4 miles to go! The rain continued to pour from the sky. We needed cash. The ATM line was 15 deep and only one of the two machines was working. Then that one broke down. Luckily, one of the guys in line just happened to work for the venue and was able to fix the problem. Whew. Withdrawl made. A round of $10 Tecates followed (are you kidding me?!?!).

One reason for my sky high expectations was our tickets. We were fortunate to be in the general admission pit and after looking at Brian’s photos, I think he and I were right near each other and didn’t even know it. We settled in during “15 Step” after listening to the first three songs from the ATM and beer lines.

The stage set up was unlike any other I’ve seen before. The band played beneath what looked like lighted icicles. The sound was crystal clear and at the perfect volume. Then I looked back in amazement at the lawn. It was full. Five inches of cold, steady rain couldn’t stop the thousands of concert goers with lawn tickets. Radiohead did not disappoint and delivered a memorable 2 hour plus, 25 song performance that might be the best show I’ve seen this decade. I can’t declare it the best quite yet, not until the afterglow wears off.



My favorite musical moment of the night (although it was all fantastic) was towards the end of the set. After the mellow In Rainbows duo of “Faust Arp” and “Videotape”, Radiohead launched into “Paranoid Android”, which provided a much needed energy boost. Thankfully, the band let the crowd frenzy continue with “Just”. The hypnotic “Reckoner” followed, probably my favorite track from In Rainbows, which was a perfect way to cool down the crowd.

The show concluded at the House of Horrors with “House of Cards”. Nissan Pavilion is by far the worst venue I’ve ever been to. I swore it off 8 years ago because of it’s location, the traffic, and the lack of character. All music venues have character, just like ballparks. While Red Rocks might be the Fenway Park of music venues or MSG the Yankee Stadium, Nissan Pavilion is the Vet or any of the vanilla ballparks built in the 60s and 70s that were perfectly symmetrical in shape and artificial in experience. Still, that’s not a reason alone to boycott the place. However, the traffic is. It took us almost as long to get from the Pavilion lot to our place in nearby Gainesville (total trip distance about 5 miles) as it did friends who parked outside the lot driving to Charlottesville (total trip distance about 100 miles).

Even with the traffic, the weather, and the venue, I would do it all again in a heartbeat. It was the best concert I’ve seen in years from a band that has amazingly been in its prime for quite a while now. From the comments and reviews I’ve read online today, it’s clear that no one in the venue last night was disappointed. Only Radiohead could deliver such a performance that would lift up thousands of fans after dealing with the wrath of Mother Nature, the wrath of impatient D.C. area drivers (I am not sure which wrath is worse), and the sh*thole known as Nissan Pavilion.

BTW, my new favorite 6 word saying is “See Radiohead as soon as possible.”


SET LIST:

I: All I Need, Jigsaw Falling Into Place, Lucky, 15 Step, Nude, Pyramid Song, Weird Fishes/Arpeggi, Myxomatosis, Idioteque, Faust Arp, Videotape, Paranoid Android, Just, Reckoner, Everything In Its Right Place, Bangers and Mash, Bodysnatchers
E1: Like Spinning Plates, Optimistic, Karma Police, Go Slowly, Planet Telex
E2: Fake Plastic Trees, The National Anthem, House of Cards


Karma Police - Radiohead from The Butter Room on Vimeo.

More Photos from Radiohead at Nissan Pavilion on 5/11/08:
  

Diver Down was one of the first rock albums I ever owned. “Mean Street” was the first guitar solo to blow me away. “Hot for Teacher” was the best video ever made (at least from the perspective of a 13 year old male, but it’s not too shabby at 37 either). I loved Van Halen and then David Lee Roth left. Enter Sammy Hagar and you know the rest of the story. Even though I bought 5150 and OU812, Van Halen was dead to me.

Other than Led Zeppelin, there is not a band on earth that I have wanted to see reunite more than Van Halen with their original front man, Diamond David Lee Roth. After two postponements earlier this year, the show finally went on last Friday, May 2nd at the John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville. My expectations were low, very low. The postponements left me with a sour taste, but not sour enough to miss this event.

Show time was 8:00. We rolled in about 8:45 without tickets. There were plenty available at the box office and after dropping serious coin to see The Boss on Wednesday, I was not going to pay top dollar for Van Halen. Instead the plan was to buy from a scalper and sneak down to a better section if necessary. We did just that. A pair of $35 tickets in the upper tier were used to get us in the door, but we ended up watching the show about 25 rows from the stage. The arena was about 3/4 full, which was more than I expected given the size of Charlottesville, the high ticket price, and the postponements.

We missed “You Really Got Me” as the beer garden called once we made it in the door, but were settled into our seats one song later for “Runnin With the Devil”. The volume was cranked up to 11 all night long. Since we sat on the side of the stage, it wasn’t as crystal clear as the Springsteen show the other night and you’ll hear that on the video we captured.

The night was filled with nostalgia, cheese, comedy, and kick ass rock and roll. Diamond Dave is all cheese, but he still can sing. His leg kicks aren’t as high, but he has some 6 pack abs. Not bad for a 54 year old rocker. He told a couple stories, the first was about an ex-girlfriend who lives in Staunton. Unfortunately, the story sucked and to add injury to insult, Dave butchered the pronunciation of Staunton. If you are going to go local, then make sure you know how to speak like the locals. He redeemed himself with the second story of the night as he recalled memories of Saturday nights in Pasadena during 1972 (see “Ice Cream Man” video below).


Ice Cream Man - Van Halen from The Butter Room on Vimeo.

Dave’s antics at the end of “Mean Street” and beginning of “Jump” were just plain stupid, but you expect to take the good with the bad from the original Van Halen front man. He walked around the stage pretending to aim a gun while wearing white sunglasses at the end of “Mean Street” and then wore some revolutionary style hat while waving a large red flag at the beginning of “Jump”. Fortunately, he finished the song on a much better note by wearing his classic sea captain hat while riding an inflatable microphone (video below).


“Jump” - Van Halen from The Butter Room on Vimeo.

The crowd, at least where I sat, was eating it up. We sat right below a luxury box and it was not your typical suite stuffed with corporate types. There was one twenty something male wearing a black headband and an old school VH tee-shirt that had a nice rip at the arm pit. He was doing his best Eddie Van Halen impersonation on a bottle of Budweiser, leaning over the railing and head banging like nobody’s business. As you would expect, males outnumbered females 10 to 1, but the crowd was much younger than I would have guessed. It was good to see a younger generation taking in one of the classics of rock and roll.

While the cheese and people watching were worth the price of admission alone, it was expected. What I didn’t expect was Van Halen to put on an over the top performance. Highlights from the night included “Beautiful Girls”, “Dance the Night Away”, “Everybody Wants Some”, “Jamie’s Cryin’”, “Hot for Teacher” and “Panama”. But the best segment of the night was Eddie’s guitar solo, which featured “Eruption” (of course), followed by “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love”. Eddie was on all night long. There was no signs of fatigue, frustration, or carelessness. He was having a great time and so were the rest of the band members. While it was weird seeing another bass player other than Micheal Anthony, I got used to Wolfgang rather quickly. He filled in rather nicely on the bass and was a great addition to the background vocals. The band got better and better as the night went on and they rarely strayed from the original versions, which was one of my biggest complaints of The Police tour. “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love” was a perfect set closer as the band sounded best on those songs with strong background vocals. The crowd helped out with the vocals at the end of the song, which was the most energized point of the show.

I had forgotten how great of a rock and roll band Van Halen was in the late 70s and early 80s. They took the torch from Zeppelin as the best hard rock band of their era, and their performance on Friday night showed they still have enough to light the flame (sorry for the cheezy ending, but I figured I would do it in the spirit of Diamond Dave).

More videos from Friday:


So This Is Love? - Van Halen from The Butter Room on Vimeo.


Beautiful Girls - Van Halen from The Butter Room on Vimeo.

I consider myself part-Jersey. You see, my whole family is from Jersey. My Mom and Dad were the first to fly the coup a few years before I was born, and moved to the South from the Garden State. I grew up a Florida boy from Jacksonville. However, we spent at least 80% of our vacation time in Jersey visiting family and the Jersey Shore.

One specific memory from our vacations was my first impression of Bruce Springsteen. My cousins who lived in Waldwick were all older than me, and I looked up to each one of them. But, I idolized the cousin closest in age. Everything she did, I had to do. Everything she liked, I liked, except for one thing - this guy, Bruce Springsteen. When I first saw my cousin’s posters of The Boss in 1978, I was seven years old and knew nothing about Rock n Roll. I was busy playing with my Star Wars action figures, so the looks of Springsteen were quite the contrast to Luke Skywalker. I was not impressed.

Time passed and passed. I never became a huge Bruce fan, but I always appreciated his music. Granted, I only knew the hits, but he has always been on my list: the list of classic rockers who I just have to see. The list is getting shorter. I knocked out The Police last fall and Van Halen last night. That leaves U2, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, and CSN, but I digress. Back to The Boss.

A couple years ago, I bought “The Wild, The Innocent, and The E Street Shuffle”. Wow. It’s good. It’s not good, it’s phenomenal. I had no idea.

This leads me to Wednesday. The Boss came to little ‘ol Charlottesville to play the 16,000 seat John Paul Jones Arena. When tickets went on sale, I did not blink at the price. It was the most expensive concert ticket that I have ever purchased by at least $50, and I bought another for my wife.

We were not disappointed. I probably knew about 5 songs from the entire set list and no songs from “Born in the U.S.A.” were played, but it did not matter. I left the show wanting to purchase the latest Springsteen album, “Magic”, and any one of his classics from the 70s. Even at their age, Springsteen and the E Street Band rock. A very simple description, but it’s true. I was told to expect quite a performance, and these expectations were met. Not knowing the majority of the songs, I am not qualified to give a detailed review of the performance, but my favorites from the night were “Prove It All Night”, “Badlands”, and “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out”. However, the show did not seem to meet the standards of hard core Springsteen fans. Backstreets.com, which is the website for a quarterly Springsteen magazine since 1980, writes about the Charlottesville show, “…just as “Roulette” and “Don’t Look Back” started the night on a high at the previous barnburner in Greensboro. “Mary’s Place” turned up again, too — but that’s where the affinity between the two shows end, Charlottesville being one where things didn’t quite click. Hard to say, but it could be that after more than a week of channeling so much into the performance, an emotional drain has understandably taken its toll. Whatever the reason, this was a shorter show, with a less inspired setlist and a performance coming up short of others on this astounding recent run. The penultimate show of a leg has been one to watch on Springsteen tours, often turning out to be the stand-out… not so this time.”.

The show truly transported me back to the 80s. Everyone was dancing like Courtney Cox in the “Dancin’ in the Dark” video. It was hilarious, but even I was at the end!

The sound in JPJ (John Paul Jones Arena) was pretty amazing. We were sitting in the nose bleeds directly across from the stage and the sound was absolutely fantastic for an arena show. I also found out that JPJ has a beer garden! Here I thought that a university facility could not serve beer. Bonus.

All in all, it was a show well worth attending. My only regret is that I didn’t follow my cousins’ musical tastes thirty years ago. Better late, than never I guess.

Last night I made the trek from Cville to see some old friends in Richmond and catch Widespread Panic at the Landmark Theater. Being the dork that I am, I did a quick calculation of how many Widespread shows I had seen and figured it out that this was my 20th. A milestone show - Wow! (ok, I am only kidding). Twenty shows is not much for the average Spreadhead, but I have seen those twenty shows over a 16 year time span. I bought Space Wrangler in 1989 and actually like some of the newer tunes (post 2000) more than the older ones now. This has made seeing Widespread Panic just as enjoyable now as it was in the 90s.

Pre-Game
It had been a long time since I went out in the Fan, and Matt and Julia picked a fantastic place for the pre-game meal and drinks - Sticky Rice. Any place that serves sushi, a can of tots (that’s tater-tots), and tall boy PBR’s automatically gets a gold star in my book. We ordered several different types of sushi. I think our crew liked the Goochland and the Crazy Calamari rolls the best. (The Crazy Calamari is a “monster roll with tempura fried calamari, tamago, cilantro, cucumbers, and sriracha rolled in tobiko and panko flakes”. The Goochland is smoked salmon, goat cheese, and scallions.) A round of car bombs (well Graham had a tequila shot and Julia a sake bomber) and we were off to the show.



Set 1
Pilgrims > Ain’t Life Grand, Airplane > Genesis, Ribs And Whiskey > Goodpeople, Chainsaw City, Her Dance Needs No Body > Chilly Water

I was a bit disappointed with the song selection in the first set. I prefer Pilgrims as an encore or late in the first or second set, but regardless, it is a fantastic tune. ALG and Airplane are two songs I can do without; just my personal preference. The highlights for me were the jam out of Goodpeople and Chilly Water. I had not seen the latter live in 13+ years over a course of 15 shows. Genesis was a bust out; first time played in 155 shows (8/2/06).

Our seats were pretty good: 2nd row on Schools side in the grand tier, which is the first balcony. However, the Landmark Theater is one of the worst places to see a show. The only thing it has going for it is the architecture and interior design. I sat on the aisle in the first set and security paid our section a visit at least a half dozen times to tell people in the aisle to move back to their seats. Come on folks - it’s an Widespread Panic show, not the Richmond Symphony. Every time I have seen a show at the Landmark, this happens, regardless of what section I am in.



Setbreak
For the first time in four tries, we found the concession stand with the soda pop. Why was this critical? Well, the Landmark does not sell beer and we needed a mixer. The concession stand with the soda pop was in a separate room where hot dogs and other 7-11 staples were available. Not that I cared. In fact, the dogs smelled pretty good until some chick hurled after eating one at the table next to us and then proceeded to buy another one a few minutes post-puke.

Set 2 & Encore
Disco > Pigeons > Dark Day Program > You Got Yours > Jam > Tall Boy > Time Is Free > Drums > Climb To Safety, Holden Oversoul > Love Tractor

The Take Out > Porch Song > Postcard

Fantastic setlist. Aside from Dark Day Program and You Got Yours, I loved every choice. I will never tire of Disco, and it is one of the best second set openers. Pigeons was solid, but I actually favor the album version more than any live version that I’ve ever heard (yes, strange I know). The Tall Boy into Time Is Free was the highlight of the night. Took me back to the ARU days and it was only the 18th time ever that Widespread had played it. The long bass intro built up the anticipation - would it be a Time is Free Jam or the real deal? We got the real deal and then some. The Butter Room has the video. We’ll post it in a few weeks.

Post drums could have been better, a lot better. Holden Oversoul was short, too short for my liking, but Jimmy Herring did lead a nice and quick transition into Love Tractor to close the set. The Tractor was disappointing too. It just never reached the climax I was hoping for that I’ve experienced at many shows before.

Looking back at the encore, the highlight was The Take Out. Jimmy played it as close to the original version as I have ever heard. Of course, Porch Song was next and while I was hoping for a Lawyers, Guns, and Money closer, we got Postcard, which ain’t half bad either.



Some random thoughts … The sound was LOUD, real loud or I’m just getting old … I’ve seen three shows with Jimmy Herring on lead and none have blown me away. I am not saying (I mean, writing) he should be ousted like George McConnell, but I’ve been amazed by Jimmy as a member of other bands and hope to experience the same as a member of Panic. Last night and the other two Jimmy shows I’ve seen (9/26 and 27/06) were middle of the road shows out of the 20 I’ve seen now, but they don’t come close to my favorite Michael Houser shows and my favorite George McConnell show … JB flubbed some lyrics last night. Time for the teleprompter?

Regardless, this has always been my experience with Widespread Panic. While most jambands that I’ve “followed” seem to decline steadily over the years, Panic always keeps me guessing. I never know when I’ll be floored or left standing for more. Unfortunately, last night was the latter, but I’ll be back for show #21 the next time they come through town without hesitation.

***

Here is video of the opener, Pilgrims, from last night’s show. We’ll have more in Baked Virginia Jams over the coming weeks.

Pilgrims - Widespread Panic from The Butter Room on Vimeo.

Setlist and show stats courtesy of everydaycompanion.com.

Last night was the second of two consecutive sold out nights at Washington D.C.’s 9:30 Club for Wilco, on a short tour that is seeing the band play some surprisingly small venues like Tipitina’s in New Orleans and 9:30 Club. The concert was broadcast live by NPR and can be streamed at the following link:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19271953

The opener, John Doe, took the stage around 8 pm to a half-full venue and polite applause. In retrospect I get the sense that most people, like myself, had no idea that the man is a godfather of the punk scene as a founding member of the band X. Although his music is far from punk these days, he was certainly an interesting choice of artist to accompany Wilco on this tour, with simple songs that did not stray far dynamically from their base and lyrics that, from what I could make out, seemed rather direct and simple compared to Jeff Tweedy’s often deep metaphor. Wilco’s lead guitar man, Nels Cline, joined them onstage for a quiet number on lap steel as well as a raucous, yet superfluous, cover of The Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter”. The tune, however, did give Cline a chance to warm up a right arm, which often flails, jerks, and generally aids his spastic attacks on the guitar during some of his more intense solos with Wilco.

After a short break, Wilco took the stage and eased their way into “Sunken Treasure”, the same song that they opened with when I last saw them, at the Charlottesville Pavilion in October 2007. Despite the fact that much of the crowd seemed to be drinking quite heavily (hence the tortuously long wait at the bar between acts), I was quite impressed with the restraint that was exercised during the near-whisper, quiet sections of this song, with hooting and hollering happening only near the end of the song, to the line “Music is my savior, and I was maimed by rock and roll”. I love the fact that Wilco isn’t afraid to come out and start a show off with a longer, soft number, and then follow it up with two more deeper, reflective numbers - “Remember The Mountain Bed” (from Mermaid Avenue Volume 2 !) and “Company In My Back”, building momentum up before launching into their more rocking numbers.

I had heard that Wilco was taking requests for songs for this tour through their website, but I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. Was this going to be a show of obsessive-fan-only numbers? A best-of show? I was duly impressed with the mix of crowd pleasers and songs that, despite this being my 3^rd Wilco show, I haven’t heard them play before. All of their albums were represented, and I personally was glad to see them lay off of some of what I consider to be weaker tracks from A Ghost Is Born that they played in Charlottesville, like “Spiders (Kidsmoke)”, in favor of pleasant surprises like “Pieholden Suite” from Summer Teeth.

Overall, the band was in incredibly fine form. Their sense of band dynamics is as good as any live band you are likely to see these days, and they obviously have a great handle on their entire catalog. Visit http://www.wilcobase.com/ and you’ll get an idea how widely varying their set lists can be.

On a different note, there did seem to be some tension between the crowd at the band at a couple of points during the show. During one of the earlier songs, Nels seemingly intentionally threw a glass slide into the crowd. He looked visibly angry, although I never did figure out why. Jeff Tweedy asked the crowd at one point if we were having a good time and then followed up the response with “then quit yer yappin’!”. I said the crowd was polite for the opening number, but I can’t say so much for the rest of the show. I could easily write a short story about the couple that stood in front of me all night. Instead, I’ll wrap this up with a couple of pointers on concert etiquette:

1) It’s crowded in here. Nobody has much personal space, and yours isn’t any more important than anyone else’s. Don’t rudely, and without apology, push other people out of the way (“we’ve been standing here an hour!”) and then act indignantly when people try to squeeze past you.

2) PEOPLE…..PUT YOUR CELL PHONES AWAY!! Unless you are having an emergency, seriously, just leave them in your purse or pocket. Leave the light show onstage.

3) You are spending good $ to see a performance by an artist that you presumably like, so let the artist put on the show they want to put on. Nobody cares what song you want to hear. Whatever happened to the days when people actually GOT INTO the show and got carried away by the music, without chatting with friends, or text messaging people on their phone? Perhaps I am romanticizing the “good old days” of concert-going, or maybe I am just getting old. Sigh.

To sum, this was a really great show by a band in their prime (check out the stream if you haven’t already)! I’m not sure if the lack of new, unrecorded songs in the set means that we are a long way off from the next Wilco release, or if they are simply not testing new material out on the road currently. If the result is to be an album as solid as Sky Blue Sky, they should take their time.

(This show review comes a little late due to the Easter holiday, but I wanted to write it because the show was worth remembering.)

My wife and I and a bunch of our friends caught Third Eye Blind at the Ted Constant Convocation Center at ODU (03/20/08). In case you aren’t aware, 3EB is promoting a best-of album, called “A Collection.”

We were pretty fired up going into the show. After a $40 cab ride (5 passengers) from V.B. to Norfolk we pregramed at a little spot across the back street called “The Boar’s Nest.” It’s a BBQ joint by day and a college bar by night. Pretty good place, definitely convenient.

When we walked over to the show we found make-shift signs on the doors announcing that the opener, Graham Colton, would not be playing. Oh well. But when we got inside it was clear that they had set up the arena for a small audience. Was this forshadowing? A friend at concessions told us only about 1200 people came out of an expected 4000+. Come to think of it, I couldn’t shake a distinct thirty-something feeling whenever I thought about the show in the weeks prior. I wondered if 3EB fans in Virginia Beach amounted mostly to listeners of “adult contemporary” radio (ironic given the subject matter of their lyrics) who are less likely to go out on a school night as their kids.

But regardless of the circumstances surrounding this show, I’m here to tell you that 3EB put on a helluva good one. Given it was a greatest hits tour it won’t surprise anyone to know they pretty much played all of them. I’m not a dedicated-enough fan to have recognized everything I heard, though. My notables were Semi-Charmed and Slow Motion. Semi-Charmed was just super-pumped. Our whole crew was rocking out in a big sing along. Slow Motion was the encore with only Jenkins on guitar and Fredianelli on piano. It actually wasn’t the best sounding rendition but the mood was right and I’ve always been captured by the intensity and tragedy in that song. I wasn’t going to be disappointed.

I hope these guys will continue to record and keep touring for many years to come. And if that’s the case I certainly hope the low turnout won’t keep them away from our area. They are definitely entertaining and I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to see them locally. (Sure as hell wouldn’t mind seeing them in San Fran, either.) The Ted is a solid venue, but perhaps not the best venue for this band at this point. They’d be a great fit for The Norva.

Speaking of The Norva…anyone up for moe. on April 6?