Set 1: Golgi Apparatus, Maze, Driver, The Connection, Wolfman's Brother, Ocelot, Reba, Access Me, The Divided Sky, Cavern
Set 2: Kill Devil Falls > Tweezer -> Prince Caspian > Gotta Jibboo > Wilson -> Gotta Jibboo -> Heavy Things > Also Sprach Zarathustra > Slave to the Traffic Light
Encore: Sleeping Monkey > Tweezer Reprise
After the first night, I was pretty excited about the second show of the New Year's run. They
hit it full on with an uptempo Golgi Apparatus to open and then got into the jamming quickly with Maze.
A couple of slower, shorter ones followed including only the second performance of the lone single from 2004's Undermind album, The Connection. The rest of the set was mostly either long jam or long composed songs broken up by another second-ever performance of an Undermind track, Mike Gordon's Access Me, one of my favorites from that album. The Wolfman's Brother and Ocelot on the front-half felt like 1997 again as they pulled out the funk (yes, Ocelot is new, but the jam out of it could easily have been from summer 1997). The Reba and Divided Sky after were fairly tight, with a quite good solo in Reba. I particularly enjoyed this bit of the set, as it was Reba that first really got my attention. At the time I heard it, I was listening to a lot of Frank Zappa and Trey's composition at that time was heavily influenced by Zappa's work. Divided Sky is similarly constructed and as a bonus is a song I hadn't heard since my first Phish show.
The second set started out with a high-octane Kill Devil Falls, from the new record which slammed straight into Tweezer. Tweezer was an example of the concise jamming that Phish is engaging in. There was little long-windedness in the jams on the entire run. Tweezer faded into Prince Caspian which kind of stumbled into Gotta Jibboo. Jibboo picked up the tempo and eventually wandered its way into Wilson. Trey teased Jibboo in the Wilson outro and eventually they segued back into the ending of Jibboo which in a kind of sloppy fashion gave way to Heavy Things.
Liz was definitely enjoying the poppier tone of the previous night, what with all the pop classics on display, as opposed to this show which featured the two overplayed Phish singles from 2000 and 2004. She spent a lot of time home in Virginia Beach, a place where Phish is actually heard on the radio, those years and had her fill of The Connection and Heavy Things. I have no such problems, but I thought Heavy Things was a little on the sloppy side. The set got back on track with the funky cover of Deodato's arrangement of Also Sprach Zarathustra. This, much like Tweezer was concise. There was nothing wasted as they laid down some funk, dropped into the theme and then built up to big crescendo, falling away into a pretty Slave to the Traffic Light to end the set.
The encore went into silly with Sleeping Monkey before the inevitable Tweezer Reprise to end the show.
We finished the evening at the arena with a trip to the merch booth, where some girl had just bought a shirt, walked away from the counter, dropped the shirt and had someone grab and run off with it. We all talked about how lame that was. It was eerily prescient as we arrived home to find someone broke into our house while we were a the show and stole some stuff. So, then instead of getting some sleep after another good show, we spent some quality time with the police before spending the rest of the night unable to sleep. Unfortunately, the memory of this show may always be marred by this (mostly) unrelated event, and definitely affected us for the remaining shows.
I pushed off the post I was going to write for today because Sarah Glassmeyer posted a link on Twitter to Steve Lawson's Fifteen things about me and books and it looked like fun.
1. I don't really collect books, but my tastes are so odd I feel compelled to keep lots of books for fear of never being able to find certain titles again.
2. In first grade, they sent me to second grade for "reading class" because I read too fast for everyone else.
3. In sixth grade, I had to read and give an oral report on 'The Yearling.' I hated it so much that I stopped halfway through and just winged the report.
4. The only non-assigned book I've ever given up on was J.R.R. Tolkien's
'The Silmarillion.' It reads like The Bible, only more confusing.
5. I say the above as someone who has read The Bible, cover to cover.
6. When I worked in my junior high library, I was the first person who checked out a newly released biography on Ernie Davis, the school's namesake. I was very excited to be the first person to check out the book although I wasn't a football fan. I think I was just interested in learning about the person whom the school was named after.
7. I can't remember the last time I read a novel. I've been reading non-fiction books almost exclusively for several years, though I do read short stories. (OK, make that a non-Harry Potter novel-I read those).
8. I read the book '1984' in 1984. I probably didn't understand all of it, but the book had a profound influence on my thinking about a lot of things.
9. A book with an even more profound influence on my thinking was Douglas Adams' 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.' I thought the worldview of the person behind that book had to be very interesting, indeed.
10. The book is always better than the movie. The only one that comes close is 'Goodfellas.'
11. While most of the fiction I've read comes from the Sci-Fi/Fantasy section of the book store, very little of it is actual Science Fiction. It's always seemed so dry.
12. I'll read an autobiography written by just about anyone if they look like an interesting person.
13. I found so many of the novels I was required to read for school boring (still can't read Steinbeck and Hemingway), but the short stories (and sometimes the poetry) very interesting.
14. When I was in high school and my family took summer vacations, while everyone else was swimming I would be sitting on the beach with a book.
15. I read Douglas Adams' 'The Salmon of Doubt' very slowly because I knew it was going to be the last one of his I would ever be able to read.
Set 1: Sample in a Jar, NICU > My Soul, Roggae, Undermind, Bouncing Around the Room, Poor Heart, Stash, I Didn't Know, Beauty of a Broken Heart, Possum
Set 2: Mike's Song > Light -> I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove, Alaska, Backwards Down the Number Line, Makisupa Policeman > Harry Hood > Contact > Character Zero
Encore: First Tube
This was my first Phish show since the debacle at Coventry five years ago. We, along with thousands of others, told to turn back from the disaster area that was the farm where it was being held, parked our cars and hiked in. Though the band was obviously touched at this display by fans, it was their announced last show as their problems, in particular, as we would soon find out, leader Trey Anastasio's drug problems, had spelled the end for the band. The resulting show was reminiscent of a wake: an attempt to celebrate the life of the band, but ultimately sad at the same time.
Following Trey's drug bust and resulting rehab and community service, the stage was set for the band's return. They finally reunited this spring with a series of well-received, but tentative, shows at Hampton Coliseum. They followed these with a summer tour and a new album. Reviews were good, but not great as the band re-acquainted themselves with each other and their music. The band's Halloween festival in California and fall tour received much better reviews and it was about this time the Miami New Year's Eve shows were announced. I entered the ticket lottery and somehow managed to score tickets for all four shows.
I was never a full-on obsessive Phishhead. This was my twenty-first Phish show, which is a bit more, but still in line with other bands I've seen live as often as I've had the opportunity. And though I was less than excited by their latest album, I was still excited by the prospect of the shows as this band has almost always been better live than on record. And I am happy to report that this band can still bring it live. They may have needed the better part of a year to get back up to speed, but they've still got it.
The first set started nice, uptempo and poppy then got quiet with the first Roggae since the breakup. The composed part at the end was a touch sloppy but otherwise the song was very well-played and well-placed, slowing the tempo down a little before the second performance of Undermind and the pop of Bouncing. A slamming fast Poor Heart got the tempo back up before a nice, dark Stash and I Didn't Know, featuring what Trey referred to as "the last vacuum solo of the decade." That was fun, especially as I'd seen the last vacuum solo of the previous decade, at Big Cypress. They upped the tempo again they rocked up the opening (and best) track from Page's snooze-fest of a solo album and then closed out the set with Possum.
After the Roggae and Poor Heart/Stash combo, I was pretty excited about the next set. That was the best set of Phish I'd seen since 2003. Easily beat all of the 2004 shows I saw. Mike's opened up the festivities. The transition into Light was interesting and unexpected and the jamming from Light into Hydrogen was especially good and along with Stash, the highlight of the show. A couple more new ones followed and then a Makisupa where Trey sang about going to Mike's House. And it was Mike's set, as his playing stood out as being particularly good. From there they went into Hood, which was again well-played. The Contact was unexpected, but fun, and Character Zero is always a good way to end the set as far as I'm concerned.
By the end of the set I was excited for the next three days of shows and expecting a quick encore before we went on our way, but it was not to be. No, I was finally going to see a First Tube. Somehow, of all the songs on Farmhouse, this one, my favorite, had eluded me to this point. They revved it up and then pulled it back to end the night on a high note, leaving everyone ready for the next show.
Best of 2008? Isn't is 2010? Shouldn't I be writing a best of 2009? While I'm all for year-in-review, I often think that albums released late in the year get short shrift on year-end lists. A lot of year-end lists are published before the year's last albums have been released and many more were written earlier for publication at the end of the year. Also, as someone who is not a professional reviewer (and no longer a record-store employee), I don't hear everything as soon as it's released. I don't get to a lot of albums until well after release. I also like to give it some time. Sometimes things that don't impress me at first do so ultimately. Sometimes I'm all over an album when it's new and then set aside when the next thing comes along.
As of right now, here are my favorites from last year, in no particular order:
Deerhoof-Offend Maggie
Terakaft-Akh Issudar
Stereolab-Chemical Chords
David Byrne & Brian Eno-Everything That Happens Happenss Today
R.E.M.-Accelerate
Von Sudenfed-Tromatic Reflexxions
Radiohead-In Rainbows
Hawnay Troof-Islands of Ayle
Dengue Fever-Venus on Earth
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds-Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
Best New Old Music:
Frank Zappa-One Shot Deal
Best Box Set:
2 Skinnee J's-Big Green Book
Best Reissue:
Nick Lowe-Jesus of Cool
Honorable Mention:
Bob Mould-District Line
A few notes on the above:
Bob Mould gets the honorable mention because I just bought the record last week. I missed it when it came out. I recently heard a track on the radio and at first I wasn't impressed. I didn't like the effects on the vocals and it just didn't seem great. The song ended and I was humming the chorus over the DJ. I bought the album two days later.
It took me a long time to decide whether or not I liked Deerhoof. I eventually heard enough tracks I liked from Offend Maggie that I got it, and when I heard the whole thing i was a lot more impressed. Terakaft is a couple former members of Tinariwen, who started their own group. The music is very similar, but they also have their own sound. The latest Stereolab is fabulous. I think it's the best thing they've released in years. It's very poppy, with a lot of shorter, catchy songs. Too bad it might be their last. A lot of people were disappointed in the Byrne and Eno album because it was so dissimilar to My Life In the Bush of Ghosts. Everything That Happens Will Happen Today is a much different project with a completely different sound. Byrne described it as a sort of "electronic gospel" and that's not too far off. I enjoyed it and the accompanying tour quite a bit. Accelerate is the first R.E.M. album I've been excited about since 1989's Green. There are a couple of duds late in the album, but up to that point, it's just as solid as they come, with more energy than the band has displayed since Monster. Von Sudenfed is a collaboration between The Fall's Mark E. Smith and Mouse on Mars. It sounds a lot like the Mouse on Mars guys put some tracks together and then Smith came into the studio, got loaded and just went for it. With In Rainbows, Radiohead turns out another good one. It feels less like a progression than leftovers from Hail to the Thief, but they're good leftovers. I don't know quite what the Hawnay Troof are doing, but it's a lot of fun. It's kind of a hip-hop version of XBXRX. Definitely worth checking out if one is into crazy electronic stuff. Dengue Fever were the darlings of NPR for a while. We kept hearing pieces on them on various shows. It took a long time, but in mid-2008 I finally found their albums in a shop in Durham, NC. I bought all three. Venus on Earth had just come out and might be my favorite of the three. Dengue Fever update classic 60s Cambodian pop music. Their older albums contain covers of Cambodian tracks and originals in Khmer. Their newer albums have more originals, including several in English. it's all good stuff. Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! sounds more like 2007's Grinderman album than a Bad Seeds record, but with the full group. Either way, it's all Nick Cave and it's all great.
One Shot Deal is based on a build reel found in the Zappa archives. It was apparently from a lost, never completed project from the mid 70s. Frank's build reels were usually one album side. This particular reel had no corresponding other side, so it was filled out with a couple of tracks from the Royce Hall show in 1975 and, randomly, the recording of "Illinois Enema Bandit" from the 1981 Halloween show. The last track notwithstanding, the rest of the CD is some really good mid-70s FZ including an excellent performance of the Yellow Snow suite from Australia and a great guitar solo from Heidelberg. Yep Roc re-released Nick Lowe's debut solo album, Jesus of Cool in 2008. The CD also includes B-sides and the alternate tracks from the U.S. version, called Pure Pop for Now People. It sounds great and there are liner notes explaining the circumstances behind the album and the two versions. And the music is still fantastic 20 years later.
Continuing my year-end wrap-up, here are my ten favorite live performances I saw this year.
Jesus Lizard, Variety Playhouse, Atlanta, GA, November 6, 2009
My top choice reflects my musical biases. As much as I liked the next two performances on the list, I find it difficult to not list an amazing rock act first. Ten years after their breakup and coinciding with the reissue of their first four albums, The Jesus Lizard reformed to play a couple of summer festivals and a short fall tour. I missed this band the first time around and have regretted it ever since. Their live reputation was stellar and as much as I enjoyed the records I always wanted to see the live show. I was certainly not disappointed. One song in, I was thinking "This band is fucking awesome!" A couple more in and I was convinced it was the best show I'd seen all year. By the end of the set, I had decided they are the best rock band I've ever seen. Period. I'm convinced they reformed just to show up a bunch of guys half their age. The tour is over now and allegedly they will be returning from whence they came. If they hit the road again, there is no question I will be there. They are everything great rock and roll should be: intense, loud, slightly dangerous and unrelenting.
Leonard Cohen, BankAtlantic Center, Sunrise, FL, Oct 17, 2009
I came late to the party on Leonard Cohen. My friend Bill, who is a huge Cohen fan, turned me on to the I'm Your Man album a few years back and more recently I have started to explore the rest of his catalog. When I found out he was playing locally, I couldn't pass up what is likely to be my only opportunity to see a living legend. The show was all-around amazing. The lower bowl of the arena was turned into a makeshift theatre, giving it a bit better atmosphere for the music. The sound was incredible. Cohen's band is stellar, in particular Spanish guitarist Javier Mas. And Cohen himself is engaged, self-effacing and funny on stage. He played a two-and-a-half hour show from throughout his catalog, from first album to most recent.
Tinariwen, North Beach Bandshell, Miami Beach, FL (Heineken TransAtlantic Festival), April 25, 2009
I picked up on Tinariwen from Henry Rollins' radio show on Indie 103 in Los Angeles (he's now on KCRW). He has been playing tracks from them for several years. I finally found one of their albums in a store early this year. I played the disc incessantly and soon after found out they would be playing locally as part of the TransAtlantic Festival. They were opening for Cuban-American singer Cucu Diamantes and it was pretty obvious early on that it was her crowd and hardly anyone there had any idea who these guys were. Little matter as the band had the crowd all dancing within five or six songs. Group leader Ibrahim skipped the tour, opting to go into the desert to recharge. No matter, as his songs were sung ably by younger member Intidao. Tinariwen will be back in the United States early this year. We will be catching them in Brooklyn in February.
Phish, American Airlines Arena, Miami, FL, December 28-31, 2009
I cheated on this run and put the whole run as one show rather than have three shows by the same band in the list. In almost any other year, the December 30 show would have been at the top of the list. Barring performers I know personally, Phish is the one I have seen the largest number of times (24). I was in the swamp ten years ago for their New Year's Eve set, which began at five to midnight and ended at dawn. For a number of reasons, the band lost their way following this show. They took a hiatus after 18 years as a band to recharge, came back two years later and then broke up within two years. They reformed early this year and played their first shows in March. They've spent the year becoming re-acquainted with each other and regaining what they'd lost as a unit. These shows are proof that they are back one hundred percent. Reviewers are calling the December 30 possibly the best pre-New Year's Eve show of all time and the whole run found them playing well, having fun and pulling out all the stops. The complicated songs were tight, the jams were focused and well-developed, their sense of humor and spectacle were well intact and on display. Unlike some of their late pre-breakup shows, these were an affirmation of why I continue to return to see this band. There is simply no one else who can do what they do.
The Pogues, Pompano Beach Amphitheatre, Pompano Beach, FL, March 7, 2009
One of the crushing disappointments of Langerado's cancellation is that I wasn't going to be able to see The Pogues. That is, until they got a replacement booking in Pompano Beach. Liz and I spent our wedding anniversary with The Pogues and had a marvelous time. They haven't written any new music since reuniting a few years ago, but they're still getting on and still playing amazing shows. The music always felt older than the band and I feel like their age is just now catching up. That said, they're a lively bunch. The whole band is in great form, including singer Shane MacGowan, who was originally tossed from the band for being drunk and unpredictable.
Tussle, Revolution Live!, Fort Lauderdale, FL April 12, 2009
I saw these guys open up for Ratatat and ended up liking them a lot more than the headliners. Tussle play a more indie rock version of electronic music, stripped down and sparse. The songs are built over bass lines, filled out with percussion and electronics. I enjoyed the show so much, I bought all three of their albums and a number of singles, which were all excellent.
Judas Priest, Hard Rock Live, Hollywood, FL August 17, 2009
Judas Priest was the headliner for the first arena rock show I ever saw (Broome County Arena in Binghamton, NY, Jan 1991). I actually went to see the openers, Megadeth, but I was interested in seeing Priest as I had liked their most recent album, Painkiller. New drummer Scott Travis, at 21 years old about half the age of the other members, was kicking their asses live and they were high energy, playing even their slower mid-80s material at a faster tempo. The band had a huge set of ramps on stage, which they would run up and down throughout the show. The stage was smaller and there was no running, on ramps or otherwise, but their set this year was every bit as good as that show eighteen years ago. The band was touring for the 20th anniversary of the classic British Steel album and as such the set consisted of the entire album and then a bunch of mostly 70s Priest classics, with one Painkiller track, a couple early 80s tracks and one from their newest album. Maybe the show was so good because the set concentrated on a lot of their best material. Or maybe they just still have a lot of energy in their 60s. A side note: I think Glenn Tipton is still wearing the same pants as the first time I saw them.
All the Saints, Variety Playhouse, Atlanta, GA, November 6, 2009
I saw All the Saints open for The Jesus Lizard. Having never heard of the band, I didn't know what to expect, but I was impressed with the show. All the Saints are noisy indie rock in the vein of Jesus and Mary Chain or A Place to Bury Strangers. Detached vocals, loud guitars and lots of feedback rule the day here. This was the second time in the year I was impressed with an opener I've never heard of.
Dangerous, The All Heavy-Metal Tribute to Michael Jackson, NorVa, Norfolk, VA, August 28, 2009
Dangerous was formed for one show by members of 2 Skinnee J's and Tragedy, the All-Metal Tribute to the Bee Gees. As 2 Skinnee J's are one of Liz and my favorite bands and Tragedy was one of the best bands I saw in 2008, when they added a couple extra shows including one at the NorVa, we made the trip. The trip was well worth it, as the metal arrangements of the King of Pop's biggest hits were as brilliant as Tragedy's metal arrangements of the Bee Gees disco hits. I'm still hoping they do an album.
Unwigged and Unplugged, The Fillmore at the Jackie Gleason Theatre, Miami Beach, FL, May 5, 2009
Not so much a concert as a bit of musical theatre, the Unwigged and Unplugged tour featured Michael McKean, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer playing songs from their various films and projects including This Is Spinal Tap, A Mighty Wind and Waiting for Guffman. The show featured only the three of them playing mostly acoustic, and included stories about the making of the films and the music as well as some concept pieces, including a dramatic reading of the NBC censor's report on This Is Spinal Tap. The tour was promotion for the new Spinal Tap record and was likely done in this fashion because it was easier to do than mounting a big arena rock Spinal Tap tour. However, it was actually a quite brilliant show. It was a lot of fun, funny as hell and well played and sung.
Honorable Mentions:
The Gray Girls
Mr. Entertainment and the Pookiesmackers
Both of these are local groups I saw this year. I'm pretty sure the Gray Girls haven't been around too long. The bands really aren't too similar although they share a member. Gray Girls owe a debt to the shoegaze of the 90s. Mr. Entertainment are more cabaret, I think. In any case, I'm looking forward to seeing more of both this year.
Dishonorable Mention:
Metallica
I always thought Lars Ulrich was overrated and now, having seen Metallica live, I know he's the worst drummer in metal. I've seen grade-school children with a better sense of dynamics. He hits full-force all the time, even during what are supposed to be the quiter songs (Nothing Else Matters, etc.) They kept away from most of their recent albums, barring the latest one, which made me happy, but the execution just wasn't there. Lars was crap, plain and simple, and the whole band seems like they're going through the motions a bit. A huge disappointment.
In December, I was already mulling over some goals for the coming year. Inspired by my colleague Tom Boone and by Chris Guillebeau, I decided to put them together in a concrete way. Not all of these goals have a plan as of yet, but some have dates by which I will have a plan in place.
Photography: I will stop slacking off and take more photos in 2010. I will produce at least five things I would be willing to submit to an exhibit or use on an album cover. I also will finish organizing all the photos I took in 2007 and 2008 and do some printing. In theory I should have 10 to 12 things I’ve already shot that are worth printing.
I had been fully intending to post a number of year-end wrap-up type posts this week, in between getting things done around the house and taking in Phish's New Year's run in Miami. Unfortunately, someone broke into our house and stole a bunch of stuff while we were at the second show. So, that wrecked our week. We went to the rest of the shows, but everything else that had been on the schedule got bumped in favor of window repair, serial number searching and other such tasks.
We strapped together a setup to watch the NHL Winter Classic today sans television and while it's on I'm getting caught up on the posts I was planning for the previous week. I'll be scheduling posts all day for the rest of the week. The first one will go out tonight. I will also be moving the site to a new domain and platform in the next week or two. Coming up first: my goals for the year, followed up by show reviews from this week and a year-end music wrap-up.
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