Smashing Pumpkins live in 97 :: dark with the occasional beam of iridescence

Tonight after several days of torrential rain, there was a shift at sunset. The clouds were still black and heavy, but all around the edges and breaking through the middle were rosy cantaloupe-colored streaks of light, as the sun set behind Pikes Peak.

As the sky showed off like that a few hours ago, I was listening to this 1997 bootleg from my Smashing Pumpkins at my beloved acoustic Bridge School Benefit in California. Somehow this set fit perfectly – a bit shimmery, dark with the occasional beam of iridescence. I was at this show during the autumn of my freshman year of college. It probably rained that night too. It often does at Bridge School, and we all shiver in the rain to enjoy the oft-sensational lineup of music.

This is an excellent set.

SMASHING PUMPKINS
BRIDGE SCHOOL BENEFIT 10/19/1997
Introduction
Behold! the Night Mare
Eye
Set the Ray to Jerry
Ava Adore
To Sheila
1979
X.Y.U.
Heart of Gold/Cinnamon Girl (tease)
Bullet with Butterfly Wings
Porcelina of the Vast Oceans (with John Popper on harmonica)

ZIP: SMASHING PUMPKINS, BRIDGE SCHOOL

[thanks to the original taper]

Sing along with the Fleet Foxes at the Hi-Dive

If you read my Fleet Foxes concert review from their show a few weeks ago at Denver’s Hi-Dive, you know how mightily impressed I was with their “gorgeous golden harmonies and near-ethereal shimmering songs, firmly rooted in a sort of Appalachian wilderness.” Luckily I’ve stumbled upon this bootleg of their set from a few months prior at the same venue, from when they played with Porlolo and Blitzen Trapper. For your distinct listening pleasure:

FLEET FOXES
APRIL 14, 2008
HI-DIVE, DENVER
Sun Giant
Sun It Rises
Drops In The River
English House
White Winter Hymnal
Your Protector
Oliver James
Mykonos
Blue Ridge Mountains

ZIP: FLEET FOXES AT DENVER’S HI-DIVE

[photo by the radtastic Laurie Scavo]

Wilco plays someone else’s songs, Part II

Hey do you like Wilco? Of course you do. And most everyone likes covers (especially me). This is part two of a jawdropping treasure trove of lovingly-assembled covers that Wilco has performed in concert over the years.

In this batch, you get covers of everyone from Neutral Milk Hotel (!!) to Herman’s Hermits, an even better version of that lovely lovely “Be Not So Fearful” song that I posted a while back, and you also get to hear Tweedy’s improvisational singsong verse about Grateful Dead fans (“You’re scaring me very much now / I always suspected that a lot of this crowd smoked a lot of pot, and dropped a lot of acid back in the hippy days / Oh, it’s so so sad that you’re Wilco fans.”)

WILCO: SOMEONE ELSE’S SONGS [via]
DISC 2
Give Back the Key to My Heart (11/22/99): Doug Sahm
Kingsport Town (1/4/00): Bob Dylan
Lookin’ for a Love (1/4/00): Neil Young
King of Carrot Flowers, Part 1 (1/9/00): Neutral Milk Hotel
Rock Salt and Nails (5/14/00): Bob Dylan
Organ Blues (5/14/00): T. Rex
Reflections in a Crystal Wind (9/12/00): Richard & Mimi Farina
I’m Into Something Good (9/13/00): Herman’s Hermits
Colon song (11/16/00)
Stairway to Heaven (12/20/00): Led Zeppelin – (Golden Smog)
Ripple (2/25/01): Grateful Dead
I Wish I Was Your Mother (9/15/01): Mott The Hoople
No Depression (11/18/01): The Carter Family
It’s Alright to Cry (2/17/02): Rosie Grier
Three Is a Magic Number (2/17/02): Schoolhouse Rock
Yellow Submarine (2/17/02): The Beatles
We Will Rock You (2/17/02): Queen
Be Not So Fearful (4/6/02): Bill Fay
TV Eye (5/26/02): The Stooges
Henry & the H-Bombs (6/10/02): Mott The Hoople

ZIP: SOMEONE ELSE’S SONGS (DISC TWO)

[photo from Louisville Slugger Field, credit Richie Wireman]

Wilco plays someone else’s songs

Hey do you like Wilco? Of course you do. And most everyone likes covers (especially me). This is a jawdropping treasure trove of lovingly-assembled covers that Wilco has performed in concert over the years.

In this batch, you get covers of everyone from Bob Dylan to the Replacements to The Stooges. Oh, and a sweet hip-hop version of She’s A Jar, bitch.

WILCO: SOMEONE ELSE’S SONGS [via]
DISC ONE
Listen to Her Heart (9/10/95): Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Peace, Love and Understanding (4/17/96): Nick Lowe – (Golden Smog)
Love & Mercy (4/17/96): Brian Wilson – (Golden Smog)
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (1/11/97): Jane Taylor
Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow (2/15/97): Carole King
Color Me Impressed (5/10/97): The Replacements
I Wanna Be Sedated (5/10/97): The Ramones
Drown (5/23/97): Son Volt
True Love Will Find You in the End (9/4/97): Daniel Johnston
Ever Fallen in Love (10/30/97): The Buzzcocks
Sunday Bloody Sunday (11/4/97): U2
Sugar Baby (11/7/97): Doc Boggs
Tear Stained Eye (11/7/97): Son Volt
If It Makes You Happy (11/7/97): Sheryl Crow
Won’t Get Fooled Again (11/7/97): The Who
Ingrid Bergman (3/26/98 ): Woody Guthrie/Billy Bragg
John Wesley Harding (3/26/98): Bob Dylan
100 Years from Now (6/12/98): Gram Parsons
James Alley Blues (8/30/98): Richard “Rabbit” Brown
A Fool Such As I (10/19/98): Elvis Presley
I’m Only Sleeping (11/12/98): The Beatles
Yesterday (11/15/98): The Beatles
Rainbow Connection (12/30/98): Kermit The Frog
She’s a Jar, hip-hop version (6/15/99): Wilco
Oklahoma USA (10/20/99): The Kinks
Thirteen (10/20/99): Big Star
Dreaming (10/21/99): Blondie
Any Major Dude (11/5/99): Steely Dan
Cock in My Pocket (11/5/99): The Stooges

ZIP: SOMEONE ELSE’S SONGS (DISC ONE)

Stay tuned for Part 2!

[image from St. Louis, credit Charles Harris]

Independence Day with Elliott Smith

. . . and sixteen other songs. On the 4th of July in 2000, Elliott Smith performed this superb quality set at the Embryo Festival in Gothenburg, Sweden. Not your standard BBQ / beer / fireworks soundtrack for today — but better.

ELLIOTT SMITH
JULY 4, 2000
EMBRYO FESTIVAL (FM BROADCAST)
Ballad of Big Nothing
Independence Day
Junk Bond Trader
Son of Sam
Everything Means Nothing
Cupid’s Trick
LA
Strung Out Again
Sweet Adeline
Bled White
Between the Bars
Color Bars
Stupidity Tries
A Question Mark
2:45 AM
In The Lost and Found
Can’t Make a Sound

Kings of Leon wrap 4th album

The June 12 issue of Rolling Stone carries a bit of welcome news from news from Fuel/Friends favorite sons Kings of Leon: they’ve been drinking, and they just wrapped their fourth album. Only By The Night will be released September 23rd on RCA Records. It was recorded at Blackbird Studios in Nashville, TN, and was produced by Angelo Petraglia, Jacquire King and Kings of Leon.

If you don’t have supersonic vision (I do) the article reads:

“‘I know I sound like a fucking cock right now,’ says Kings of Leon frontman Caleb Followill, ‘But this is the first time I’ve really been proud of myself track for track.’ After a grueling 2007 tour, and Caleb’s recent surgery to repair his arm after a fistfight with brother Nathan (‘Nathan won’), the Kings planned to take a well-deserved break. But when we called them, they were at Nashville’s Blackbird Studio, wrapping their fourth disc, out in September.

‘We had to get drunk because we all have girlfriends to go home and deal with,’ he says, before passing the phone to drummer Nathan, who adds, ‘Caleb just blew a 1.2 on the Breathalyzer we have here.’“

KINGS OF LEON
JANUARY 9, 2008
SYDNEY JJJ RADIO BROADCAST
Black Thumbnail
Taper Jean Girl
King of the Rodeo
My Party
Holy Roller Novocaine
The Bucket
Milk
Arizona
McFearless
Camaro
On Call
Molly’s Chambers
Spiral Staircase

ZIP: KINGS OF LEON LIVE IN SYDNEY (re-upped)

[photo from Monolith 2007]

Got forty-fives to play at night :: M Ward / Jim James / Conor Oberst live in 2004

This earthy, warm, rich bootleg is from a shared evening of music that included sets from M. Ward, Jim James of My Morning Jacket, and Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes.

Billed as the “Monsters of Folk” tour, after individual sets it closes with a six-song jam session where they all play together and sometimes (like for the closing Dylan cover) take turns with the verses. The sound quality here is sparkling and pristine with some choice song selections in the mix. Any of their single sets would be a treat in its own right; together they blow my mind a little bit.

Notable track: that Willie Nelson cover! “Always on My Mind” is one of my favorite sad songs as is, but with Jim James taking the lead vocals it aches and ebbs in a new way. There are so many wonderfully melancholy songs in this bunch – in addition to the lonesome starter of “Fuel for Fire,” the way M. Ward’s voice cracks on Undertaker (“Ah, but if you’re gonna leeeeeeaaaaave, you better call the undertaker, take me under undertaker, take me home“) is practically the sound of a heart breaking.

MONSTERS OF FOLK TOUR:
M WARD, JIM JAMES, CONOR OBERST
Feb 20, 2004, Pantages Theatre in Minneapolis

M WARD
Fuel For Fire
Duet for Guitars #3
Let’s Dance (Bowie cover)
Undertaker
Helicopter
O’Brien/O’Brien’s Nocturne
Vincent O’Brien
Outta My Head

JIM JAMES
One In The Same
Like It Should (unreleased?)
I Can’t Wait (unreleased?)
Where To Begin (from the Elizabethtown sdtrk)
How Could I Know (b-side from Off The Record)
The Bear
Bermuda Highway
Golden

CONOR OBERST
Train Under Water
Going for the Gold (from the Oh Holy Fools comp)
Soon You Will Be Leaving Your Man
A Celebration Upon Completion
We Are Nowhere And It’s Now
Landlocked Blues (oh how I love this song)
Lua
Waste of Paint

ALL THREE (WARD/JAMES/OBERST)
Seashell Tale (M Ward song)
Always On My Mind (Willie Nelson cover)
Laura Laurent (Bright Eyes song)
At Dawn (MMJ song)
At The Bottom Of Everything (Bright Eyes song)
Girl Of The North Country (Bob Dylan cover)

ZIP UP THE NIGHT
(re-upped, the individual links are removed)

(Note: Mike Mogis and Nick White also performed at this show)

[thanks to the original taper]

The Raconteurs deafen Washington D.C. (what?)

Two of the strongest recommendations I received of places I needed to see while I was in Washington DC last week were The 9:30 Club and The Black Cat. The latter was partially accomplished on Friday night when I found myself at the downstairs part of the club, Red Room. No live music at The Black Cat that night, but Red Room has the best jukebox I’ve ever seen in a venue. I spent many dollars.

The 9:30 opportunity presented itself earlier in the week, when after the conference meet & greet, I found myself with not much to do around 7:30pm. Never one to sit when I could listen to something good, I cabbed it over to the sold-out show at The 9:30 and bought a ticket off some guy standing outside looking vaguely lost and somewhat interested in selling the ticket he clutched in his hand. I think he’d been stood up. I wanted to apologize on behalf of whomever’d done it, but gave him a few crisp bills instead and was on my way into the mysteriously completely unmarked door.

After missing most of the Black Lips’ set, I got a spot up near to the front in a location so close to the speakers that my clothes literally vibrated with each thrum of the bass and kick of the drum. After their fedora’d roadie crew set the stage, The Raconteurs sauntered on a bit before 10pm. The last time I’d seen them was in the overwhelmingly huge chaos of Coachella, but in this concentrated and intimate setting their music scorched and flayed each of us. The riffs were excoriatingly raw but tight, their songs were all blues grit and swagger, and they looked like they were having quite a bit of fun.

WATCH: STEADY AS SHE GOES


LISTEN:
The Raconteurs Live at the 9:30 Club (May 27, 2008)

SETLIST
Consolers of the Lonely
Hold Up
Level
Keep It Clean
Top Yourself
Switch and the Spur
You Don’t Understand Me
Rich Kid Blues
Yellow Sun (rockin’ version)
Attention
Steady As She Goes
Blue Veins

ENCORE
Shades of Black
Intimate Secretary
The Stones Will Shout
Salute Your Solution
Carolina Drama

[you can stream it on NPR]

Radiohead live on the BBC

Sometimes in life you arrive at the train station to find that the express that you had counted on waiting until you got there had actually gotten weary of waiting for you, and gone ahead to pull out to the next station. And really, who can blame it?

I thought that maybe since this fantastic Radiohead show happened almost two months ago, the mp3s would be gone off most of my favorite online haunts by now — but luckily I wasn’t too late. For a variety of debatable reasons, I am just arriving to listen to it now.

RADIOHEAD
APRIL 1, 2008 – EVENING SET
LIVE AT THE BBC RADIO THEATRE IN LONDON
Intro
Bodysnatchers
All I Need
Nude
Airbag
Reckoner
The Tourist
House of Cards
Weird Fishes
Lucky
Everything In Its Right Place
Outro
(encore Faust Arp not broadcast)

ZIP: RADIOHEAD BBC EVENING
(please someone let me know if the zip is incomplete. I’m obv having uploading difficulties with the dodgy net access I have on the road)

[192 stereo kbps mp3s, originally found on Sixeyes]

D.C. travel update: After eating dinner last night with some friends at Polly’s (which I hear also fed dinner to the Raconteurs on Tuesday night), I found myself alone in this jazz club on U Street (the historic jazz district of DC). Under the heady velvet curtain of that music, it seemed like an appropriate place and time to drink alone, and I taxied home feeling sedated.

Ryan Adams at SXSW in 2001

In early 2001, Ryan Adams was riding high on the critical acclaim of his debut solo album Heartbreaker (Sept 2000), while simultaneously letting off some punk steam through the recording of the excellent Pink Hearts sessions (starting in December of that year).

The set that he played at South by Southwest that year was heavy on Pink Hearts selections, some of my favorite unreleased songs by him. In my book, the 1-2-3 punch in this set of “Candy Doll,” “Gimme A Sign” and “Mega-Superior Gold” would be one that I’d pay good cash to see again. I love those songs.

RYAN ADAMS at SXSW
March 16, 2001
Introduction
Candy Doll
Gimme A Sign
Enemy Fire
I Don’t Wanna Work
Starting To Hurt
Mega-Superior Gold
Red Red Red Red Wine
Testy, Testy
Charmed

ZIP: RYAN ADAMS AT SXSW 2001

[stream it here, thanks to the original taper]

Travel notes from D.C.: Saw Raconteurs last night at the 930 Club; more on that super-loud awesomeness later. And hey, you know what’s really nice? Waking up East-Coast early in a hotel room and crawling a few inches from the bed over into one of these things. Yeah. That’s what I’m talkin about.