Don’t mean to push, but I’m being shoved :: Twelve years of live Pearl Jam

So it’s not like I light a candle or get a tear in my eye, but I do always smile when I write the date on November 4th because the dork in my brain will always remember that as the first time I saw Pearl Jam live in concert.

Nov 4th 1995 was the rescheduled make-up Bay Area date for the aborted Golden Gate Park show five months earlier where Vedder bailed after seven songs due to food poisoning and the remaining members played a scorching set with Neil Young, dubbed “Neil Jam.” As you can see above, this was their alternate ticketing tour using non-Ticketmaster venues. This translated into really cool [Ames Bros] ticket art.

It was my junior year of high school and I had been waiting for almost two years to see Pearl Jam live. The show was held at San Jose State’s Spartan Stadium, an outdoor amphitheater. I remember joining the front end of a snaking line around the venue with my friends early in the day for the 2pm show, after purchasing a Mr. Point t-shirt (that I still wear on rare occasion).

In the late morning, the garbled but powerful melody of a soundcheck chorus and thundering drums rose through the autumn air. Hence I’ll always remember that the first song I ever heard Pearl Jam do live was “I Got Id” during the soundcheck.

[photo credit]

We had arrived early enough to wedge ourselves right up in the front section, and settled in for some hours of waiting. Ed came on for the pre-show before The Fastbacks and Ben Harper, playing a hushed acoustic version of the then-unreleased song “Dead Man.” He wore a fedora and smiled at all of us wryly, remarking, “So these are the faces I would have seen if I could have lifted my head up in San Francisco.”

As for the show itself, I hung on for as long as I could in the roiling masses of circa-1995 PJ fans — as it turned out, my capacity was about six songs. Once “Not For You” kicked in, I thought I was going to die and had to get pulled out in favor of a spot a bit further back.

I know.

SELECTED TUNES, SAN JOSE 11/4/95

Release (live 11/4/95) – Pearl Jam
unexpectedly languid opening song for the main set, but hearing this even tonight I get little tingles and can feel the electric excitement in the air and the whole sea of people ebbing and churning against me

Corduroy (live 11/4/95) – Pearl Jam
I remember facing the cooling dusk air and singing along with my full lung capacity, especially for the opening lines, “The waiting drove me mad . . .”

I Got Id/Shit (live 11/4/95) – Pearl Jam
After hearing it a few hours before at soundcheck, I got the full treatment of this almost eerie, soaring song with some of those great visceral screams

Leaving Here (live 11/4/95) – Pearl Jam
still one of my favorite covers they do, a feisty feministic anthem with kick and (dare I say) sass. A Holland-Dozier-Holland tune from 1963, the PJ studio version was released two months after this performance, on the Home Alive benefit album

Porch (live 11/4/95) – Pearl Jam
memorable because this is an excoriating version, and Ed returned to 1992 form and climbed an enormous tower of scaffolding, hanging in a way to make me hold my breath a bit. There’s also a “Three Little Birds” tag thrown in here as well – every little things gonna be alright indeed

Indifference (live 11/4/95) – Pearl Jam
from the opening tambourine shakes and the near-mystic melody, this was the perfect final song in an exhilarating concert. My first of many PJ-induced exhausted/euphoric-bliss moments. When everyone chorused “I’ll swallow poison until I grow immune, I will scream my lungs out ’til it fills this room. . .” I was right there in the thick of that. As I walked out, I remember feeling urgently within my 16-year-old self that everything was going to be okay if that kind of connection existed in the world.

Looks like the whole show is available here
[and thanks jake for loaning me the CD!]

In other Pearl Jam news –

A new hardcover book was announced last week on the fantastic topic of Pearl Jam artwork: Pearl Jam vs. Ames Bros. PJ’s been blessed as a band to have longstanding partnerships with artists Ames Brothers (Jeff’s brother Barry Ament, and Coby Schultz — they actually designed the Mr. Point shirt & ticket stub above) and since 1999 with Denver-bred artist Brad Klausen. Collectively these guys have produced some of the most unique and energetic original posters of any other band I know.

The new book is 264 pages, and features commentary on individual posters from all five members of Pearl Jam and from the poster designers — offering insight into the inspiration, concepts and process of poster creation. There was a little excerpt of the new book in the most recent PJ magazine Deep, and it was fascinating even to me (a very-very-non-artist) to see the way that the poster concept develops and emerges, and reflects something of the music and the mood of the city. Your coffee table will be 86% cooler.

PREORDER:
PEARL JAM VS. AMES BROS

The Alternate Routes: “Aftermath” (live in Colorado Springs last night)

So I’ve verified it, The Alternate Routes are good and reckless and true, and last night in concert at the Black Sheep their catalog of expansive, soaring melodies really took flight, as the crowd sang along and yelled requests.

They are currently touring with Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers (who, as always, put on a sweaty tequila-soaked show of exceedingly enthusiastic proportions) which is a good pairing; I would love for them to also come back through on a solo tour in 2008 — or maybe I’ll just convince some promo folks to send me on the Rock Cruise. I’ll work on that.

THE ALTERNATE ROUTES: AFTERMATH (live 10/12/07)
I think Aftermath is probably my favorite song on that album. Just fantastic.

With this next video, the sound and shooting skill is a bit worse (sorry), but definitely worth watching to get a feel for their new material — and to see how very very cool this amplified toolbox sound effect is! As frontman Tim Warren lifts and drops it to the beat, hear that huge earthy whooomp. It kinda made my stomach jump, and I loved it. This is a new song (with sexy-dramatic Latin flamenco vibe) called “The Future Is Nothing New.” It’s allegedly about a fortune teller, and the intro reminds me of Justin Timberlake’s “Senorita.” Oh, I’ll admit it.

THE ALTERNATE ROUTES: THE FUTURE IS NOTHING NEW
(live 10/12/07)

I know, I stopped recording too soon. Then there’s also one other video here (I believe this is the other new song they performed for the first time last night, a scorching rocker called “Toe The Line”), and some still shots from the concerts can be seen here.

They’ve got about a dozen more tour dates listed for this year; they are an excellent, affable, talented group of musicians – and if you go see them, make sure to stop by the merch table to get one of their free EPs with 4 tracks from their debut album (Good and Reckless and True, Vanguard Records).

Now the only question that remains is whether I should head up to Boulder for tonight’s sequel.

ALTERNATE ROUTES TOUR DATES

(With Will Hoge)
Oct 17 – The Pub – Harrisonburg, VA
Oct 19 – Visulite Theatre – Charlotte, NC

(With Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers)
Nov 7 – The Bottleneck – Lawrence, KS
Nov 8 – Blueberry Hill – St. Louis, MO
Nov 9 – The Music Mill – Indianapolis, IN
Nov 10 – The Blind Pig – Ann Arbor, MI
Nov 11 – Cambridge Room House of Blues – Cleveland, OH
Nov 23 – Tupelo Music Hall – Londonderry, NH
Nov 29 – Birchmere – Alexandria, VA
Nov 30 – High Fidelity – Rochester, NY
Dec 1 – Iron Horse Music Hall – Northampton, MA
Dec 21 – Ridgefield Playhouse – Ridgefield, CT
Jan 19-24, 2008 – The Rock Boat – Miami, FL

I can feel the earth begin to move, I hear my needle hit the groove

[2003 Glastonbury photo credit]

Two nights ago I watched the 2003 Britpop documentary Live Forever (more on that later), which begins by laying a foundation of the music scene in Nineties England from the initial impact of the Stone Roses — so I smiled today when this fantastic cover version came up on a mix I’d made.

Yorn: “So like I said, this is hot shit for us to be over here at Glastonbury. We come from the U.S. of A and this is a very exotic festival that we love and we’re happy to be here and we’re huge fans of the music over here and blah blah blah . . . This is from Manchester, okay?“

She Bangs The Drums (Stone Roses cover, live at Glastonbury 2003) – Pete Yorn
(apparently this is encoded at a rate that streaming doesn’t agree with. Until I can fix it, if you download it, it sounds fine; if you click the blue arrow, you get Alvin & The Chipmunks singing the Stone Roses, which is actually a whole different kind of interesting)

Speaking of she bangs the drum, I could not stop my own personal rhythm section pattered out onto my legs last night at the screening of the Pearl Jam documentary. Seeing and hearing Immagine in Cornice on the big screen with all the glorious surround-sound was an immense experience of live PJ fabulousness. My personal highlights were the renditions of Blood (ugh, love that song), Come Back (sheerly absurdly gorgeous), and a compelling ending of Rockin’ In The Free World with every single Italian audience member’s hands raised in the air, clapping along in unison.

In addition to the beautifully-done cinematic treatment of their live shows, the documentary also offered some very interesting behind-the-scenes glimpses: the urgent reorganization of the encore setlist backstage while the crowd screams for more, Jeff skateboarding at some deserted Italian skatepark, Ed and his daughter Olivia talking on the tour bus (and how cute is she?), a bunch of Italian kids sitting on the street belting out a passionate acoustic rendition of Porch. Stone barely made an appearance (it’s all Stone’s fault) and not surprisingly I would have liked for it to be longer so they could have shown more of what goes on that we don’t see onstage. But overall, solid A. If I can’t see PJ live this year, heck I’ll settle for last night. Thanks to all who came out for an awesome experience, it was moltissimo fun.

Finally, the road to Denver will again be my buddy tonight as I head back up to see the Ike Reilly Assassination at the Larimer Lounge. Last time he was here it was acoustic and still mind-blowing, so I am very excited to get the full band baptism. I highly recommend this show if you can make it out.

Josh Rouse: “Love Vibration” (live in Denver last night) and bonus EP tunes; new Jason Collett

Josh Rouse kicked off his current tour last night in Denver in support of his excellent new album Country Mouse, City House. I’ve been trying to catch Rouse live for over two years, but this was my first success – I very thoroughly enjoyed his unique fusion of soulful songwriter rock with elements of jazz, blues and funk, along with his velvety smooth voice. It was excellent and I highly recommend catching him when you can.

The Bluebird was very full for a Tuesday night, with lots of enthusiastic fans — and Josh’s family who came in from Nebraska for the show. I randomly found myself talking to his mom after the concert, who was charming and just pleased as punch at both the show and the support. It was sweet. Here was the setlist, and it’s always dim in the Bluebird but I tried with a few still shots also:

I’ve been really digging the little bonus EP of nine songs that comes with the new album. It’s called Country Mouse Companion, and it digs up demo versions, lost tunes, old recordings and different versions of songs that made it to the album. Here’s a sample, it’s for sale at the shows too:

It Looks Like Love (live in studio demo)
Clear Coast (again with band at Eric Fritch’s house)
Hollywood Bass Player (demo in Valencia at home)

Support was provided by the wonderful Jason Collett from Broken Social Scene, whose lyrical imagery is amazing, and has a lovely voice with an unexpectedly sharp, raw crackle to it that pierces me. Here’s a short clip of him performing Hangover Days last night, which he’s also duetted with Feist on. He has a new album due in January on Arts & Crafts, and he told us the title last night for the first time and I am a failure to you all and I forgot it.

Sorry Lori – Jason Collett (new song from forthcoming album)
Hangover Days (with Feist) – Jason Collett

JOSH ROUSE ON TOUR
(first eleven dates with Jason Collett)
Sep 19 – Urban Lounge, Salt Lake City, UT
Sep 21 – North Shore PAC, Seattle, WA
Sep 22 – Night Light, Bellingham, WA
Sep 24 – Plaza Nightclub, Vancouver, BC
Sep 25 – Aladdin Theater, Portland, OR
Sep 27 – Independent, San Francisco, CA
Sep 28 – El Rey, Los Angeles, CA
Sep 29 – Hotel Congress, Tucson, AZ
Sep 30 – Golden West Saloon, Albuquerque, NM
Oct 3 – Workplay, Birmingham, AL
Oct 4 – Variety Playhouse, Atlanta, GA
Oct 5 – Exit/In, Nashville, TN
Oct 6 – Exit/In, Nashville, TN
Oct 23 – Southgate House, Cincinnati, OH
Oct 25 – Park West, Chicago, IL
Oct 26 – Turner Hall, Milwaukee, WI
Oct 27 – Fineline Music Cafe, Minneapolis, MI
Oct 28 – The Annex, Madison, WI
Nov 1 – Somerville Theater, Boston, MA
Nov 2 – Gramercy Theatre, New York, NY
Nov 3 – Gramercy Theatre, New York, NY
Nov 21 – Theatre, Murcia, Spain
Nov 22 – Joy Eslava, Madrid, Spain
Nov 23 – Cormoran, Valencia, Spain
Nov 24 – Bikini, Barcelona, Spain
Nov 26 – Aula Magna, Lisbon, Portugal
Nov 27 – Theatro Circo, Braga, Portugal
Nov 29 – The Plug, Sheffield, United Kingdom
Nov 30 – Academy 2, Manchester, United Kingdom
Dec 1 – QMU, Glasgow, United Kingdom
Dec 3 – The Sage 2, Gateshead, United Kingdom
Dec 4 – Rescue Rooms, Nottingham, United Kingdom
Dec 5 – Academy, Bristol, United Kingdom
Dec 7 – Academy, Oxford, United Kingdom
Dec 8 – Concorde 2, Brighton, United Kingdom
Dec 9 – Shepherds Bush Empire, London, United Kingdom
Dec 11 – The Village, Dublin, Ireland
Dec 12 – Dolan’s, Limerick, Ireland
Dec 13 – Cyprus Avenue, Cork, Ireland
Feb 4 – Cayamo Music Cruise, Caribbean

Photos from Monolith, Day Two

In addition to the independent acts I profiled on Monday and the big names from Friday at the Monolith Festival this past weekend, I enjoyed an absolutely packed lineup on Saturday and some gorgeous weather. I was wishing all afternoon that I had worn shorts instead of jeans, and in September in Colorado, that’s a good day when it’s that warm and delicious.

BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE
Okay, so even though I’ve had the DiG documentary (about the BJM, eccentric frontman Anton Newcombe, and their love/hate relationship with the Dandy Warhols) sitting in its pert little red Netflix envelope staring at me from the kitchen counter for about a week before Monolith, I didn’t get the chance to watch it until Monday. I sooo would have appreciated this performance more if I had.

The Brian Jonestown Massacre was more influential and buzzworthy in the mid-90s than I previously knew, mixing psychedelica guitar rock, Britpop, and shoegaze into a unique San Francisco-grown blend. This concert represented at least a partial reunion of original members of a band that dissolved several times, actually, as Anton Newcombe is surly, egotistical and notoriously hard to work with (verbally destroying and punching out members of his own band on stage, kicking audience members in the head, and basically thinking he’s some kind of son of God). We were marvelling a bit about his diatribes even during the Monolith set (“How about you give me a F*CKING D?“) and now, oh now it’s all clear. If you were at all wondering during the set who this guy thought he was, rent the documentary and it will all make sense exactly who he thinks he is.

There he is, looking like Neil Young off to the left, with original tambourine man Joel Gion front and center again. Joel says he’s quit the band dozens of times, and he retains that same odd panache of years past, that blase smirk on his face as he jangles his stuff – not bad, just kind of looks like a monkey. Or a Gallagher brother.

Not to let the personalities obscure the music – I thought they were really good and I seriously need to check out a few of their back catalog albums. They have a retrospective called Tepid Peppermint Wonderland out now, and also have a new album called We Are The Radio available on TeePee Records.

Wisdom – Brian Jonestown Massacre

ART BRUT
London’s Art Brut played as the sun was starting to set, and they put on a fun show with lead singer Eddie Argos’s spoken/sung lyrics in the Streets-meets-Sex Pistols vein, and general frolickery, all running out into the crowd. They were another one that I thought I might have appreciated more in a smaller venue where the energy would have been more concentrated and refracted.

Moving To L.A. – Art Brut

EARL GREYHOUND
I was anticipating this set, and Earl Greyhound from NYC didn’t disappoint. We saw this threesome walking around during the day and man alive they just carry themselves like rockstars. I mean seriously – those are some pink velvet pants. We had it stuck in our minds that Earl Greyhound had said about themselves that they were “as heavy as Led Zeppelin, but way less obnoxious,” but in reality, SPIN wrote that, so now I feel relieved that I can like them without secretly holding that statement against them. They were blistering, just oozing confidence and rock ‘n’ roll strut with a lush heavy sound. I also loved what Kamara Thomas brought to the band with her intense basslines and vocals that perfectly complemented Matt Whyte. I didn’t get any pictures of drummer Ricc Sheridan, but he was unrelenting.

S.O.S. – Earl Greyhound

SPOON

VIDEO: THE WAY WE GET BY (LIVE AT MONOLITH)

Spoon was fantastic, absolutely one of my favorite acts that I saw all weekend. I love their varied and soulful rhythms, the howling lyrics, the general cleverness of their music. You can see how they rocked “The Way We Get By,” as well as my favorite song on the new album “You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb” (when was the last time you heard a modern day lyric reference a dressing gown? Here, that’s where), and “I Turn My Camera On.” I love you Britt Daniel.

I Turn My Camera On – Spoon

THE FESTIVAL “SCENE”
Merry Swankster has also written some commentary on the fest and, although the overall review from those shores is positive, the writer said, “However excellent the lineup was, nothing about Monolith conveyed the feeling of a real ‘festival’. If the long term goal of Monolith includes efforts in making it a destination festival which attracts audiences located outside immediate driving areas, organizers will need to seriously think how something unique can added to the experience. . . I don’t know if kettle corn, funnel cakes, and hippie knick knacks (none available at Monolith) change things, but slapping the word festival on all day music concerts doesn’t either.”

My personal opinion of Monolith would be completely different — I thought it was top notch, and I got what I came for. What else should be added? It had a fantastic, formidable lineup of artists to both rival other fests last weekend like Austin City Limits and Treasure Island Music Festival (in fact, there were a lot of overlapping appearances). As a Colorado festival, it also set itself apart with roughly fifteen acts hailing from our own great state. I loved the blending of the hot indie buzz bands along with a very solid sampling of our own finest. There were some cool diversions — local artists . . .

An interactive music exhibit in the Visitor’s Center (congas and keyboards; we saw all of Earl Greyhound playing around on it before their set) . . .

Frankly, I kinda think adding more festivally “fun things” (whatever those may be) would just distract me even further from my goal of seeing as much great music as possible. I am looking forward to seeing how the festival will grow in future years as word gets out about this little gem. I think this guy (Matt Fecher) did a top notch job in bringing a classy festival experience to one of the most stunning venues in the U.S.

I’d like to thank the folks who decided to give me a photo pass for the Monolith Festival. I have a secret desire to be a rock photographer (now I just need a better camera for low light) and so I had a ton of fun taking some halfway decent shots this past weekend, having time to compose what I wanted, and passing the joy on to you.

Y’all come next year!

Photos from Monolith, Day One

I’d call the Monolith Festival this weekend a rousing success in terms of quality, diversity, and incorporation of local musicians and artists. Here’s some highlights from my Friday.

CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah played in the daylight to a 1/3-full main stage audience. We all know that the lead singer Alec Ounsworth has an unusual warble, to say the least, and after seeing them I was kinda lamenting the way that the “Saaaatan, Saaaatan…” line stuck with an iron will in my brain all afternoon. But all the reasons that made them the blog sensation superstars are still in full effect – their exuberant and melodic sound, the catchy, solid, danceable tunes. The Talking Head comparisons are unavoidable in my mind, and I really enjoyed their show. Next time, smaller venue for me.

Upon This Tidal Wave of Young Blood – CYHSY

KINGS OF LEON
Oh Kings of Leon. I’ve been waiting for you guys. After seeing them at the Ogden Theatre a few months ago and being completely converted, this was one of my most anticipated sets and they didn’t fail me, bringing an hour of excoriating rock (okay, 56 minutes) which was more than I expected for a festival act at 7pm.

They played a fantastic set, including the claptastic Spiral Staircase, Four Kicks (which always makes me feel all pugilistic), and a slightly-sped-up version of Fans which sounded great to these ears — it’s one of my current favorite tunes. I took a video of Charmer that regrettably starts with some too-loud audio and an out of focus bit, but then it shapes up and ain’t too bad — it gives you a sense of the swagger in their show and how they project a huge enough sound to challenge those red rocks.

I think they were one of the best-suited bands to the huge venue; as I wrote in the little blurb for the festival program, “Their live show pulls songs from all three of their full-length studio releases, a catalog of material that grows and shimmers in a live setting. The songs seem to pull air from the ether around them in a supernova of raw and unbridled Southern garage rock.”

Fans – Kings of Leon


Black Rebel Motorcycle Club electrified the second stage in a set that I’ll talk more about when I post that interview soon. The Decemberists also played the main stage and it sounded superb from up above, but I regrettably didn’t make it back down those billion stairs until Cake, who I thought played a great show as usual. There was some skepticism from folks who haven’t followed their consistently fun, intelligent, clever output since the “Going The Distance” hit, but I think they converted a few. I only got one picture – John McCrea rockin the white-rimmed sunglasses, fedora, and track jacket like a child molestor on vacation (sorry but come on).

You Part The Waters – Cake

Saturday dawned clear and lovely. More pics coming.

Interview with Nate Ruess from The Format

All you need to know about what a show from The Format is like can be learned by watching this (bouncy, sometimes too loud) video that I shot on Friday night at the Gothic Theatre:

THE FORMAT: “THE FIRST SINGLE” (live 9/7/07)

Don’t you just want to be a part of that? Yes, yes you do.

The concert was every bit as fantastic as I was expecting (a few more pics here) and I was pleased to get a chance to catch up with Nate Ruess, the frontman of the group. The Format was formed in 2001 by Nate and his longtime friend Sam Means; they make great music.

A FEW QUESTIONS WITH NATE RUESS
Me: One of my favorite songs from you guys is “The First Single,” where you sing “You know the night life is just not for me.” However, you have chosen this nightclub-rock&roll-saturated 2am lifestyle, at least for now. Do you find it draining or do you love it? Or both?

Nate: We are fairly boring people so I’m still sticking to our guns on this one. And because we are so boring I think the “rock n roll” lifestyle gets to us really quickly. Unless it involves watching a good movie. Then I am game.

Denver is honored to be the last proper show of the long-running tour for Dog Problems. What’s next for you guys after this?

Gonna take a break from touring and being in a band, and try to write and make a record all at the same time I’m looking forward to it. But the first thing on my mind is finishing the tour.


Now, no pressure (who am I kidding, I’m eager) — but are you already working on writing a follow-up to Dog Problems?

Yeah we have five or so songs in their incubent stage. I’m anxious to hear what it’s going to sound like. In my head they’re great songs so far, but we have so much work left.

Here’s a possibly hard question – Everyone always asks me to “describe the sound” of The Format when I rave about you all to whoever will listen. How the heck do you usually answer that same question when people, doubtlessly and ad nauseum, propose it to you? How then shall we refer to you?

It’s the question that angers me most. I say pop if I’m not scared of the person asking me. But I’ll say rock if I think they pose a threat. But really I don’t know.

What new and distant horizons would you like to explore musically with your next album? I read something about steel drums?

Maybe a little bit, I tend to throw crazy words and instruments around but in the end it comes down to what’s best for the songs. With that being said…I hear a gospel choir.

[New song] Swans is fantastic, and I gotta say I loved the fact that there are jingle bells in there. Far underused outside of December festivities. I am curious to know what your studio space looks like, in terms of the dozens of instruments you use. You’ve got some awesome wacky stuff, eh?

Yeah for awhile before Dog Problems was recorded we spent a lot of time collecting crap, but the studio we recorded at in California had so many great instruments that we never used our own stuff. We are toying with the idea of make the next album in Arizona so I guess we might get to put 5 out-of-tune pump organs to use.

I am very interested in hearing about any new developments with your Vanity Label. Are you planning on adding some other artists to the roster? It must be a pretty cool feeling to be able to help and actually get good music heard by the general populace.

Yeah, we tend to forget we have the ability to sign other artists because we are so wrapped up in running the label for The Format. But once we hear something great or get a significant amount of time to work with someone, it’s something we would take very seriously.

[Me and Nate and my friend Jill after the show]

Bonus reading: A highly entertaining two-part tour blog written by Nate for Spin Magazine, wherein they crash a frat party and hone their skills in competitive drinking. [Part One] [Part Two]

Wilco @ The Fillmore in Denver: A fireworks display raining down on me

“Jeff Tweedy is some sort of crazy genius,” I found myself thinking as I watched my first Wilco show from front and center, pressed up against the barricade on Saturday night at The Fillmore. I had prepared myself for a really good show, but I was completely blown away by this band. There was the warm and rich display of the alt-country sound I’d expected, but also raw, real, fantastic rock blended with intelligent melodies and retro pop sensibilities. I’ve listened to them casually before last night, and holy cow now I understand what I’ve been missing out on. Their catalog is so much better than I had ever imagined, even just the two hour glimpse we got last night. I stand 100% converted.

They opened with a blue and gorgeous “You Are My Face,” and then launched right into this, which literally left me standing there with my mouth agape in wordless pleasure by the time it was over:

WILCO: I AM TRYING TO BREAK YOUR HEART
(watch out for the unavoidable loud fuzzy spots in the audio)

[direct link]

I took several videos from my prime real estate location (Nels’ relentless pogoing in a snippet of “Shot in The Arm” and the engagingly playful sound of “Hummingbird“) and drank in the set that ran a full two hours.

Tweedy has an ineffable charisma, and makes something inside of me wince with recognition when he chisels out his best icy aching lyrics. I wasn’t expecting the power and range of his voice. He was letting it fly, with a soulful edge that to be completely honest brought to mind something like Black Crowes on a couple of occasions, which surprised me. I love this man.

I resolutely held my place on the railing so I had a clear view between the monitors of drummer Glenn Kotche, who is insanely good on drums — inventive and exacting, possessing a true joy in his playing. He was absolutely drenched in sweat by the third song (maybe also because it was twelve million degrees in the venue).

Nels Cline is face-meltingly amazing on the guitar — that man needs to be added to my pantheon of best guitar players. He plays with a class and a dignity of some middle-aged British duke (he had jaunty red pants on) but then absolutely shreds it. Check this video of him and Tweedy doing the dueling guitars on “I’m The Man Who Loves You.” The band was a full six people strong, lush and potent and shattering. It was a sheer delight to behold.

For me the most visceral song of the night was “Via Chicago” — it kicked me in the gut. It starts out with the casually sung lyrics, “I dreamed about killing you again last night, and it felt alright to me.” What a way to catch your attention, with those stabbing lyrics that aren’t afraid to speak out loud your deepest and ugliest thoughts. But the melody is fairly typical, a rustic and warm ballad-type. I’d like it well enough the way you think it’s going to go.

But about hafway through the live performance, the back end of it completely falls out, things fall apart. The drums go all dischordant, the backing melody splinters off, I had bright lights shining directly in my eyes — except Tweedy and bassist John Stirratt kept on with the regular melody, the regular harmonies as if nothing was happening. I thought something went wrong, I was confused – did the post-show music sound system come on or something?

Then the overpowering craziness stopped and the song continued. I realized it was intentional, and it truthfully made a weird hot burning come to my chest just because of the power of a song to do that to me. It’s brilliant — Tweedy works out (what I understand as) his feelings about “coming home” through these bursts within the song of crazy, deceptive, controlled anarchy. It was so unexpected, and therein lay the power and the genius.

Some artists do stuff like that all the time to shock you – or their world is so chaotic that it is a part of every song, that experimentalism, that avant garde chaos. But precisely since I would never have expected to have that happen, the performance of the song becomes a wonderful two-faced illustration of deception and conflicting feelings through singing one thing and half the band playing a complete other. He stands there, being the troubadour, oblivious in his deception.

* * * * * *

I told several friends today about the show with the hushed and breathless wonder usually reserved for religious pilgrimages or transcendental journeys. Everyone kind of shrugged and was like, “Yeah, Wilco’s cool.” I pressed them, “Yes, but have you ever seen them live?” None of them had, which explains why they could be so casual about it. If any of them had seen Wilco like I saw them last night, they’d be radiantly glowing too. The people standing on either side of me on the barricade were from Iowa and California, respectively, and had followed Tweedy like he was their prophet. I was kind of chuckling at them at the beginning of my night (“wilco has crazy fans!” I texted a friend). But by the time the band ripped out a thirteen minute version of Spiders (Kidsmoke), I was ready to pack up and follow them too.

Full setlist, Wilco in Denver 9/1/07
You Are My Face
I Am Trying To Break Your Heart
Pot Kettle Black
Handshake Drugs
A Shot in the Arm
Radio Cure
War on War
Side With The Seeds
Shake It Off
Too Far Apart
Jesus, etc.
Walken
I’m The Man Who Loves You
Hummingbird
On and On and On
———————————-
Impossible Germany
How To Fight Loneliness
Spiders (Kidsmoke)
———————————-
Via Chicago
Hate It Here
Heavy Metal Drummer
I’m Always in Love
Outtamind (Outtasite)

Remaining Wilco tour dates here
All my photos from last night here

Both are good and reckless and true: The Alternate Routes to tour with Roger Clyne

This news just made my day – The Alternate Routes have just announced a fall tour with another Fuel/Friends favorite, Roger Clyne and The Peacemakers! This is most excellent news.

I have been waiting to spring on an Alternate Routes tour since I first learned about them a few months ago, and have been listening to their Good and Reckless and True album non-stop ever since. I’m sold on their expansive, golden, rootsy-rock sound and smart lyricism.

And I think you know how I feel about Roger Clyne; together with his band The Peacemakers, they definitely put on one of the best, heartfelt, sweat-drenched, rocking shows I’ve seen. Ticket prices range from like $8 to $20 — an absolute steal for this much heart. I guarantee you will enjoy the show.

Aftermath – The Alternate Routes
I Don’t Need Another Thrill – Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers
Banditos (live) – A Roger Clyne song from his previous band, The Refreshments

THE ALTERNATE ROUTES
Fall Tour Dates
with Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers
Sep 25 – Tasty World, Athens, GA
Sep 27 – 8 x 10 Club, Baltimore, MD
Sep 28 – The Iron Horse, Northampton, MA
Sep 29 – Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY
Oct 2 РHard Rock Caf̩, Pittsburgh, PA
Oct 4 – The Magic Bag, Ferndale, MI
Oct 5 – Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland, OH
Oct 6 – Joe’s Bar, Chicago, IL
Oct 7 – The Annex, Madison, WI
Oct 10 РFine Line Music Caf̩, Minneapolis, MN
Oct 11- Knuckleheads Saloon, Kansas City, MO
Oct 12 – The Black Sheep, Colorado Springs, CO
Oct 13 – Boulder Theater, Boulder, CO

With Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers
Nov 7- The Bottleneck, Lawrence, KS
Nov 8 – Blueberry Hill, St. Louis, MO
Nov 9 – The Music Mill, Indianapolis, IN
Nov 10 – The Blind Pig, Ann Arbor, MI
Nov 11 – Cambridge Room/House of Blues, Cleveland, OH

It’s just madness. Boulder madness.

Freshly back from the annual summit of record label and radio folks up in Boulder (I didn’t fit into either category; I just happily observed and chit-chatted, gratefully partaking in a bunch of good showcase shows).

First up was the side-achingly-hilarious Matt Nathanson, rocking through a solid set of mostly new material which sounded fantastic. Even though he had to face an oddly pugilistic audience, he handily slayed them all with his sharp wit, leaving one golf-shirted middle-aged heckler kind of speechless (the guy made some random crack about Matt “giving it up” in prison, to which I believe Matt called him a big hairy beast and told him to wear something frilly so he had something to grab on to).

Despite all the distractions (or maybe because of them), I thought it was a great show. The full band sounds tight and energetic, and the new material has a razor-sharp emotional edge to it that smacks with a welcome realism about long-term relationships. I hope to have a little interview-dealie with him sometime this week, for those of you playing along at home. Matt’s new album Some Mad Hope comes out August 14th — here’s one song off it that alternately sounds like his own special Prince nu-wave ditty, mixed seamlessly with the Ryan Adams song “Gimme A Sign.” I like it.

MATT NATHANSON: To The Beat of Our Noisy Hearts
(new, live 8/1/07)

And this one always, always gets me. A perfect little song, which the audience appreciated and sang along with:

MATT NATHANSON: Angel (live 8/1/07)

After Matt Nathanson the place kinda cleared out to go across the street to the sweet little digs of Lulu’s Kitchen, a teensy venue with a warm vibe from the owner of Albums On The Hill. Fionn Regan had just completed his set (all I can say is he looked the rockstar part with floppy satin vest and skinny jeans) and Willy Mason was performing an affecting little tune that I understand is new, called “I’ve Been Waiting For You” (maybe). I’d seen him back at Noise Pop (come to think of it, on a night where I also saw Josh Ritter and ran into Matt Nathanson. WHOA glitch in the matrix).

So yes, then Josh Ritter had a late-night set back at the spa/hotel thing where the conference was based, in the Xanadu conference room no joke. I was extremely excited to see this show as the new album is rocking my socks. I sat there all barely-contained with friend Bodie, who was just as excited as me. Bodie lavishes credit upon me for helping to introduce him to Josh’s music with Thin Blue Flame back in 05. He owes me.

So Josh was circulating through the crowd (dapper, as usual, in his white suit — he said he likes to “dress for the occasion”) and I got a chance to talk to him. What a wonderful, happy human being. He glows with excitement about what he is doing.

He also TOTALLY copped to the similarities between new song “Rumors” posted in last week’s Monday Music Roundup) and Britney Spears’ Toxic. I wouldn’t have believed it –I thought it was just me hearing things and being a little too fond of the video– but I asked and he concurred. His new album The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter is out August 21 and Amazon just wrote that it “may be the best album of 2007, hands down, by the most under-accorded American musical genius.” He blew the crowd away with a set of mostly new material (aka rocking) but also the fantastic “Wolves” and desired “Kathleen” — oh, and “Girl In The War,” which I never tire of.

JOSH RITTER: Rumors (new, live 8/1/07)

In addition to Some Velvet Blog‘s Bruce Warren enjoying all the conference festivities alongside me (from the astoundingly good WXPN radio station out in Philly), Wednesday ended with me staying the night, coincidentally enough, at a hotel in Denver with lovely blogger C from Scatter O Light. She was taking a break from her Bono-spotting in NYC to come to Denver for work. It was a blogger bacchanalia.

Thursday brought more good live performances, first a luncheon with Robbers on High Street (more from them on Monday) and melodic and wistful Australian rockers Augie March. I mentioned Augie March this past Monday, and they were excellent live – nuanced and passionate and inventive. Their song “One Crowded Hour” fairly takes flight in live performance, and I absolutely adored it and the feelings it evoked in me. I think that song could be huge this summer (it was incidentally re-recorded for the U.S. release at the same studios in San Francisco that Creedence used to work at).

After the show Glenn Richards from Augie March used my cell phone to call my little brother at work in San Diego, as he’s a huge fan. “Hello Brian? This is Glenn, from Augie March.” Officially consider me the world’s best big sister now.

More pics from that luncheon and the conference here.

And finally, why not a third Ryan Adams show in two weeks? Why not. This one was shortened, acoustic, and OPENING FOR PAULA COLE. How did that happen? Maybe the artist with the most underarm hair got the top billing. Or something.

Ryan and The Cardinals delivered a very musically solid, professional, enjoyable set which is exactly what I think he needed to show these folks. Although the concert was open to the public, probably at least half the audience were records and radio folks, many of whom saw Ryan last in Louisville at another convention where he was apparently Silent Ryan again, not speaking, wearing a hoodie and allegedly a shower cap for the whole performance in the almost-complete darkness. So I was really glad that he demonstrated (again) for the doubters how good he can be. The setlist (thanks Mandy!) was:

Let It Ride kicked in the gorgeous slow way and I didn’t start recording fast enough, but look how well the band gels together for the rest of it:

RYAN ADAMS: Let It Ride (live 8/2/07)

The setlist was many of the same songs he’s been playing lately, none of The Big Hits. There was no face melting, no extended jams, but we did get some wonderfully self-effacing banter — this clip picks up with Ryan talking about some of the traits that have been associated with him over the years: “Professionalism, happiness….”:

RYAN ADAMS: Blue Hotel (live 8/2/07)

[direct link]

I ripped an mp3 of that video, it looked and sounded gorgeous:
Blue Hotel (live in Boulder) – Ryan Adams

UPDATE: The whole Thursday night show is now streaming at archive.org.

I was bone-crunchingly exhausted after the event was over, partly from the many shows and partly from just the constant talking to interesting people, but I am recovered now. Let’s do it next year.