Latest Phish News | Live Phish DVD, Mike Gordon Album, and Trey Graduates Drug Court
Although we haven’t heard any new rumors of a reunion, we have gotten a few updates from the Phish camp this week. Check it out…
Mike Gordon has announced the release of his new solo effort, Green Sparrow, to match that summer tour he’s been setting up. The pre-order of the new disc includes a contest with an interesting grand prize:
One Grand Prize Winner will be the beneficiary of two tickets to any of the shows on Mike’s summer tour plus a bona fide Rendez-Mike™: A bass lesson, chess game, a vegetarian feast, it’s your call.
I think an evening with Mike could be a rather odd yet interesting endeavor. But I digress.
Big news, of course, was Phish announcing a new DVD release from the band’s performance at Walnut Creek in Raleigh, NC on July 22, 1997. Although I don’t really know this show all that well, word around town is that it’s pretty killer. Phish.com says:
Rather than cancel the gig, the band played on with the music mirroring the peaks in the storm’s intensity. Highlights include “Down With Disease” that slowly segues into “Mike’s Song” – the first and only time these two classic tunes were ever paired together in such a way-as well as “Taste,” complete with near Biblical thunder and lightning display.
Plus, being a summer ’97 show with a decent setlist like this, we figure it’s got to be a solid selection…
Bonnaroo Videos: Metallica, Raconteurs
Yesterday, we listed a few different ways to keep tabs on this year’s Bonnaroo. Here’s one more.
It’s only Saturday and Kurt654 has compiled some solid cuts from Metallica, the Raconteurs, and the Fiery Furnaces from the festivities down in Manchester so far. Here’s a little sample from the Raconteurs:
The Raconteurs – Bonnaroo – Consoler of the Lonely [YouTube]
Hat tip to Stereogum for the link.
Heady Links
This year’s Bonnaroo has already begun. So if you’re not already there, you’re probably like me and only able to check out this year’s festival from afar. Luckily for folks like us, there are even more opportunities in 2008 to enjoy the festival without actually being there. Here’s a quick list of your options:
- Webcast: The AT&T Blueroom webcast is already on.
- TV: FuseTV will be broadcasting portions of the weekend.
- Satellite Radio: you can hear selections on XM radio.
- Words/Photos: check out the Bonnaroo blog, read Jambands.com’s updates, or follow the play-by-play on Twitter.
In non-Bonnaroo news updates, here’s some more linkage:
- From “Improg” to blog: Umphrey’s McGee has started a band blog called “The Floor”, and they’re off to an interesting start.
- Pearl Jam has expanded its offering of live downloads, now including mobile via Verizon. Get ‘em at http://pearljamconcerts.com.
- Newport Jazz fest is rounding out its 2008 lineup, including Aretha Franklin, Wayne Shorter Quartet, Lettuce (w/ Fred Wesley), and Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey to name a few.
- Wilco has expanded its summer tour schedule.
- Black Kids have mapped out a fall tour.
- New Frank Zappa Concert Album called Wazoo.
- Band of Horses will open some dates for Beck for an interesting pairing.
And we can’t end the week without a little more speculation on a Phish reunion. Todd from Jamtopia has dropped a rumor that Steve Lillywhite (who produced the band’s BIlly Breathes) is on board to produce a brand new Phish album.
Anything else going on out there? Talk to me, Goose.
My Morning Jacket to Play MSG on NYE
I just saw this news in the LMB inbox and was rather impressed:
2008 already looked like it would be a big year for My Morning Jacket, but I can’t say I thought they’d already be playing Madison Square Garden on New Year’s Eve. It looks like all the buzz around their latest release, Evil Urges, has really started to pay off.
If you’re a frequent LMB reader, you have probably noticed our love of MMJ for a while now. Since so many of the LMB contributors seem to dig this band, lately it has become a bit of an inside joke around these parts. Hey, almost a week had gone by without a My Morning Jacket post here at LMB. I guess we just couldn’t let that happen.
Concert Industry Roundup
It’s been a while since I covered the Concert Industry on LMB. I don’t have much of an excuse as I am arguably much closer to it on a daily basis after my last career move. Whatever mental block I had has now faded, so I thought it was time for an industry links post to start getting back into it. Yeehaw.
Live Nation has dropped the “Fillmore” Name from Philly’s TLA. A while back, I was pretty critical of Live Nation’s move towards re-branding well-established venues with new brands like the Fillmore. As it turns out, that didn’t work so well for the Theatre of the Living Arts in Philly, as they’ve gone back to the good old TLA original naming. I said it a year ago and I’ll say it again: let’s leave the well-established venue names alone. If we want to set up new venues under the Fillmore, HOB or other venue brands, that’s fine. A new Fillmore East could actually be really cool. But if it’s an established venue like the TLA or Irving Plaza, the re-naming is simply a marketing ploy. How about we focus our “re-vamping” on the things that fans actually see and care about: the bands that are booked, the prices of tickets and drinks, and the physical facilities (bars, bathrooms, stage set-up, webcasting/recording functionality, etc.)?
Eliot at Listening Post seems pretty impressed with FanPrice, the new name-your-own-price site for concert tickets. I do like the idea that unsold tickets can help bring the price down…remember, not all secondary ticketing raises the price.
Last.fm, has partnered with Bowery Presents for concerts. Pretty cool to see more online partnerships between venues and music-oriented social networks. Expect to see more of these kinds of deals in the future.
JamBase is now syndicating its concert database to imeem and Fuzz.com. Good stuff. After all these years, JamBase is still one of my go-to sites for checking concert listings. Nice work, JamBasers.
Ticketmaster debuted its “Paperless Ticket,” allowing for fans to enter concerts with an ID and a credit card rather than dealing with paper tickets (that can be stolen, sold, or lost). Good to see Ticketbastard doing some innovating of their own.
Live Nation has teamed with AT&T Blueroom for concert webcasts. Better later than never. Schedule for June:
– June 6: John Mayer
– June 13: Coheed & Cambria
– June 20: Seether
– June 27: The Black Crowes
“Playable Search” site, Seeqpod, has launched playable event guides for festivals, concerts, and other events with audio. Here’s an example for the upcoming Bonnaroo festival, featuring festival headliners:
Hat tip to Listening Post for the link.
Any other concert industry news we should be reporting? Drop a comment and let us know.
Heady Links
In a continued set of signals that Trey is back, Mr. Anastasio showed up at a Clapton gig last night at Jones Beach to sit in with opener, Robert Randolph. Big Red joined Randolph and his Family Band for a few tunes, including “Deliver Me” and “I Need More Love,” and a cover of “Hey Bo Diddley,” (complete with a moment of silence for Diddley, who passed away earlier this week).
In other news, festival updates galore:
- iClips.net continues to offer up some great webcasts. This weekend, they’re webcasting select sets from the Wakarusa Music Festival barring any further issues with weather. Apparently, the festival had to cut off the music last night due to inclement weather. Word is they are resuming music today, so hopefully that means iClips will resume too.
- The inaugural Slow Food Rocks Festival will kick off August 30-31 with sets by Gnarls Barkley, G. Love & Special Sauce, the John Butler Trio, the New Pornographers, Medeski Martin & Wood, and Ozomatli.
- The all-night rave-style Starscape Festival takes place this weekend in Baltimore. The stage schedule has been posted and includes a killer 12-4AM slot for headliners, The Disco Biscuits, along with sets by a slew of other electronic dance bands and DJs.
- Speaking of the Disco Biscuits and late-night, the band’s own festival, Camp Bisco, just announced the addition of a late-night tent with sets by 2020 Soundsystem, The Egg, The New Deal, Lotus, Pnuma Trio, Telepath and Orchard Lounge.
- The inaugural Rothbury Festival has released its schedule as well, including some solid late-night slots and generally just a ton of music. Will this be the new “Northern Bonnaroo?” Maybe, but they better pray for decent weather.
- The Monolith Festival has also released its a daily schedule. This is a solid lineup at an amazing venue. But don’t these guys know they need to have a customizable grid these days.
- The Gathering of the Vibes festival made some recent lineup additions, including Umphrey’s McGee, Tom Hamilton’s American Babies, David Gans and Nate Wilson.
- The Whistler Music Festival, slated for July 19-20 in Whistler, BC, has announced its initial lineup including: Elvis Costello And The Imposters, Broken Social Scene, Robert Randolph & The Family Band, Medeski Martin & Wood, The Roots, Bedouin Soundclash, and Serena Ryder. More acts TBA.
It’s been almost four days since our last post on My Morning Jacket. You knew we couldn’t wait long for another one with all this new music they keep putting out there. Speaking of which, you can now stream their new album, Evil Urges, on their MySpace site. The album officially drops on Tuesday, June 10, and they recently posted a great video about its creation. Check it:
My Morning Jacket – Evil Urges [YouTube]
Hat tip to the folks at JamBase for digging this one up.
So what else is going on?
2008 Festival Schedule Wars | 10KLF, ACL, Bonnaroo, HSMF, Wakarusa
It’s that point in the summer festival season where we stop hearing about massive lineup announcements and start getting the final schedule grids for all the big fests. This brings the all-too-familiar issue of scheduling conflicts. With so many great bands playing, there are bound to be some tough decisions to be made.
A few of the major summer fests have now posted their full schedules. Many of them have those nifty customizable grids so you can at least save your choices. Good luck making those tough calls:
10,000 Lakes
Check out the nifty Jambase scheduling grid for added customization.
Austin City Limits
And if you’re a bit on the geekier side about your festival scheduling, check out the ACL SCHED site for further scheduling fun. Justin geeked out with this for SXSW and said it basically saved his life down there. SCHED was created by one of the dudes over at Hype Machine, and I have a feeling we’ll be seeing more festival schedules from this SCHED site as the festival season expands.
Bonnaroo
With so many damn bands, Bonnaroo raises some tough quandaries. But Superfly does surprisingly well setting up these grids. Don’t forget to check out the the “More Stages” option; it’s easy to miss.
High Sierra
Yep, another nifty Jambase scheduling grid.
Wakarusa
And yes, this also gets a Jambase scheduling grid.
Happy scheduling!
Toubab Krewe @ Satellite Ballroom, Charlottesville, VA, 5/9/08
Although I was really hoping to be in Chicago this past weekend to catch the Police with Elvis Costello, I did get one benefit of having to stick around Charlottesville for the weekend: I caught another fantastic Toubab Krewe show on Friday night. I saw these guys last fall at the same exact place (the Satellite Ballroom), but this time around they really kicked it up a notch and impressed me.
Podcast #061 | Hippie Workout Mix, Vol. 2
photo by headylife
A while back, I put together a little workout mix of some high-energy improv by the Disco Biscuits and added a tongue-in-cheek name just to have some fun. Although we knew it was a decent mix, Justin and I have been surprised at the warm reception we’ve gotten from it.
As a result, we’re back with another version of the “Hippie Workout Mix.” Per your recommendations we’ve lengthened this version substantially. Beyond that, we definitely stuck with the original theme: splicing together moments of high-energy improv to get you off your butt and really moving.
Siren Music Festival 2008 | Initial Lineup Announced
Despite some rumors that the event might not happen again in 2008, the Village Voice has announced the initial lineup for the 8th Annual Village Voice Siren Music Festival at Coney Island. The free event will take place on Saturday, July 19, and includes a solid initial lineup:
STEPHEN MALKMUS AND THE JICKS
BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE
THE HELIO SEQUENCE
BEACH HOUSE
TIMES NEW VIKING
JAGUAR LOVE
THE DODOS
ANNUALS
FILM SCHOOL
PARTS & LABOR
DRAGONS OF ZYNTH
THESE ARE POWERS
+ more TBA
In this year of festival glut, it’s nice to see some decent free options emerge in NYC and other big cities. Considering this is a free event, having Broken Social Scene, Helio Sequence, and Stephen Malkmus is a pretty darn good start.