Fall Tours: Wilco/Neil Young, The Hold Steady/Drive-By Truckers

It seems like a new trend these days is for big name acts to team up and tour together. Maybe the price of gas is causing this, or maybe they just want to attract larger crowds to the shows. Whatever the reason, it is to our advantage for sure.

The big one is Wilco teaming up with Neil Young to play a handful of dates. Neil Young is also going to tour with Death Cab for Cutie, another great opener. Unfortunately for me none of the dates are in the SF Bay area, although BOTH Death Cab for Cutie and Wilco will be at this year's Bridge School Benefit in Mountain View, CA (http://www.bridgeschool.org/events.html).

Here are the Neil Young tour dates:

Oct. 14: St. Paul, Minn. (Xcel Energy Center, w/ Death Cab For Cutie)
Oct. 16: Winnipeg, Manitoba (MTS Centre, w/ Death Cab For Cutie)
Oct. 18: Regina, Saskatchewan (Brandt Centre, w/ Death Cab For Cutie)
Oct. 19: Calgary, Alberta (Pengrowth Saddledome, w/ Death Cab For Cutie)
Oct. 21: Everett, Wash. (Comcast Arena, no opener specified)
Oct. 22: Vancouver (GM Place, w/ Death Cab For Cutie)
Oct. 29: San Diego (Cox Arena, w/ Death Cab For Cutie)
Oct. 30: Los Angeles (Forum, w/ Death Cab For Cutie)
Nov. 1: Reno, Nev. (Events Center, w/ Death Cab For Cutie)
Nov. 4: Kansas City, Mo. (Sprint Center, w/ Death Cab For Cutie)
Nov. 5: Omaha, Neb. (Qwest Center, w/ Death Cab For Cutie)
Nov. 29: Halifax, Nova Scotia (Metro Centre, w/ Wilco)
Dec. 1: Montreal (Bell Centre, w/ Wilco)
Dec. 2: Ottawa, Ontario (Scotia Bank Place, w/ Wilco)
Dec. 4: Toronto (Air Canada Centre, w/ Wilco)
Dec. 7: Auburn Hills, Mich. (Palace of Auburn Hills, w/ Wilco)
Dec. 9: Chicago (Allstate Center, no opener specified)
Dec. 12: Philadelphia (Wachovia Spectrum, w/ Wilco)
Dec. 15: New York (Madison Square Garden, w/ Wilco)

Although not huge names like Neil Young or Wilco, Drive-By Truckers will be teaming up with The Hold Steady for a bunch of dates on what they are calling the "Rock and Roll Means Well Tour". These are two incredibly energetic live bands and this is one show I would love to see. Looks like Counting Crows will be joining them on a couple dates as well. The dates are:

30-Oct Louisville, KY Coyote's @ City Block
31-Oct Nashville, TN Ryman Auditorium
1-Nov Atlanta, GA Tabernacle
2-Nov Tallahassee, FL The Moon @ FSU
3-Nov Raleigh, NC Lincoln Theatre
5-Nov State College, PA The State Theatre
6-Nov New York, NY Terminal 5
7-Nov New York, NY Terminal 5
8-Nov Philadelphia, PA Electric Factory
9-Nov Boston, MA Orpheum Theatre
11-Nov Toronto, ONT Phoenix Theatre
12-Nov Pittsburgh, PA Carnegie Music Hall
13-Nov Bloomington, IN Bluebird
14-Nov Chicago, IL Riviera
15-Nov Minneapolis, MN First Avenue
16-Nov Minneapolis, MN First Avenue
19-Nov Boise, ID The Knitting Factory Concert House
20-Nov Seattle, WA The Showbox
21-Nov Seattle, WA The Showbox
22-Nov Portland, OR Crystal Ballroom
23-Nov San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
24-Nov San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
25-Nov Los Angeles, CA The Wiltern
16-Dec Den Bosch, NL Brabanthallen (w/ Counting Crows)
20-Dec Dublin, IE O2 (w/ Counting Crows)
21-Dec Belfast, UK Odyssey Arena (w/ Counting Crows)

Concert Review: Wilco & more @ The Outside Lands Festival, San Francisco, CA, 8/24/2008

The stars were aligned for me on Sunday, Aug. 24. At the spur of the moment I decided to head down to the city, no ticket in hand, to check out Wilco at the Outside Lands Festival in Golden Gate park. I put a request on Craigslist for a ticket and got a call from a guy on my way down. I scored a ticket for $50, $35 less than face value. Nice.

Once in the festival, the scope of the thing was a bit overwhelming. It must be close to a mile from one end of the place to the other. There were six stages, and tons of vending, food and drink. I started off at the Twin Peaks stage to check out Stars. I must say I was not blown away. I am familiar with their music from Set Yourself on Fire, and I do like the group, but in this setting I just wasn't feeling it.

I then had to make a tough decision as Andrew Bird and Bon Iver were playing at the same time on separate stages. I decided to go with Bon Iver since I had seen Andrew Bird not too long ago at the Hollywood Bowl. I was happy with this choice, since Justin Vernon & co. put on a fantastic set. The arrangements of the songs were an improvement on the album tracks due to the fuller band (he had four multi-instrumentalists accompanying him on guitars, keys, drums, percussion and baritone guitar). The kicker though were the gorgeous harmonies they were able to accomplish, which were not present on the album. They even played a new song called Blood Bank, which sounded really good. This was a great set all around.

Next, I ran over to the Sutro stage to catch the set by Drive-By Truckers. Having secured a spot off to the side, up on a small hill, I had a pretty good line of sight of the stage. The sound was also good and the Truckers came out and did a scorching set. They were incredibly tight and energetic, with dueling guitars and passionate vocals from Patterson Hood, Mike Cooley and John Neff. Hood also commented on how great he thought the people were that he has met so far in SF. Nice of him to say! These guys don't have any pretensions. Just raw rock & roll with a country twang.

I decided to pass on catching the whole Broken Social Scene set in order to take a breath and explore the surroundings a little bit. I was able to catch a bit of Sharon Jones and the Dap King's set and man, she had the whole friggin' place shakin' their booties. I walked away accompanied by a fantastic cover of JB's "It's a Man's World".

I stopped briefly at the Avenues stage for hip-hop group Little Brother. I lingered long enough to have my intestines practically vibrated out of my body by the bass, and to witness the humorous spectacle of parents hurriedly ushering their children away before the next massive tirade.

I caught the last portion of Broken Social Scene before checking out local Bay Area band Rogue Wave on the Panhandle stage. They were very impressive. So much so that I think I am going to go out and check out some of their stuff. I would definitely recommend them to anyone who is into god Indie rock.

Next was the highlight of the whole day for me. Wilco on the Twin Peaks stage. Of couse I made the mistake of waiting until 5 minutes before showtime to get in the unbelievably long Porta-potty line. As I stood in the line I helplessly watched a non-stop wave of people making their way to teh Wilco stage. By the time I had finished my duty, Wilco had started the first song and the crowd was jam-packed. I was able to slowly wiggle my way closer and I did get about even with the soundboard.

Wilco was fabulous, as usual. The only complaint I have is that their set was too damn short. One thing I really noticed since the last time I saw them was how well Nels Cline was sounding. He was on fire. And he has been playing long enough so that he is really now making some valuable contributions to the songs. He had some great solos, especially on Impossible Germany (albeit after a couple of false starts where Tweedy started before Nels was ready). His energy and musicianship truly on display this day. Here's a clip from YouTube:

After Wilco I wandered over to the last set of the day on the main stage, Jack Johnson. I enjoy his music, but I'm not a huge fan of his stoned-surfer sound so I did not stick around. In my opinion I think Wilco should have had the long set on the big stage and not JJ, but that's just me. I left before his set was over to get a jump on the crowd and head home.

All in all a fantastic day and a fantastic festival. I hope that this continues every year. From what I've heard the turnout was bigger than expected and the city of SF for the most part was happy with the crowd (there were a few complaints from neighbors about the noise). Bring it back next year! Here are some more pics of the scene.

Concert Review: The Hold Steady @ The Mezzanine, San Francisco, CA 07/29/2008

I just saw The Hold Steady at The Mezzanine in San Francisco, and I get the feeling that this may well be the last tour that they are playing venues of this size. These guys are blowing up and soon they will be playing arenas, if not stadiums.

The Mezzanine, located in the SoMa district, holds about 500, tops. It has a large floor area and on the side, you guessed it, a mezzanine (with some seating, a bar and a decent view form the rail if you can find space).

The show started off with support act The Loved Ones. They are a pretty straight-forward punk band from Philly with a decidedly Green Day-ish sound. The lead singer, Dave Hausse, stalked the stage with a ton of energy and sang the original songs with conviction. However, one noticeable thing was the lack of any worthy guitar solos. That is, until Tad Kubler of The Hold Steady came out for a couple of songs and ripped a few smoking solos off. Franz Nicolay also joined the fun.

Craig Finn & Co. came storming out with "Constructive Summer" from the new album Stay Positive. The dichotomy of Finn's dark lyrics and his joyful, grinning expression, were an amusing contradiction. The band was firing on all cylinders, with Kubler's semi-distorted Gibson providing the sound foundation, and Nicolay's swirling organ and piano punctuating over the top. Finn's spoken-wordish singing style goes well with the song's lyrics which veer over into the realm of epic poetry.

The crowd was very enthusiastic, singing along and pumping their fists in the air. Although crowded, the size of the room provided for a relatively intimate experience with the band. This was a rare opportunity to see a rising star in action, before they become too big for their own good. See them now.

Setlist (according to http://sholtrox.blogspot.com/2008/07/positive-jams.html):

Constructive Summer

Chips Ahoy

Chicago Seemed Tired Last Night

Sequestered In Memphis

Girls Like Status

Massive Nights

Southtown Girls

Lord, I'm Discouraged

Yeah Sapphire

Knuckles

Hot Fries

One For The Cutters

You Can Make Him Like You

Your Little Hoodrat Friend

Crucifiction Cruise

How A Resurrection Really Feels

Slapped Acress

Encore:

Positive Jam

Stuck Between Stations

Most People Are DJs

Tom Waits - Bridge School Benefit 1999

This was one of my all-time great live show experiences. Tom reworking his songs to perfection. Good old Youtube has video of this epic performance.

Concert Review: Constantines @ Slim’s, San Francisco, CA, 07/02/2008

Traveled down to the city to check out one of the best bands you’ve probably never heard of, the Constantines. They’re from Ontario, Canada and I’ve loved these guys since I heard them on the Sub Pop website in 2005. Tournament of Hearts turned out to be one of the better albums that year. This year, they released the follow-up called Kensington Heights. Their formula can best be described as a multi-guitar “wall of sound” with some interesting rhythms and a nice melodic-sensibility. I was looking forward to seeing what kind of a show they put on live. Unfortunately one of the founding members of the band, Steve Lambke, broke his hand a few days before the show (apparently from playing Frisbee) and was absent. The Constantines had to make the best of the short-handed lineup.

I arrived at Slim’s 30 minutes before the 9pm start time in order to get some food and a good seat. Slim’s is a small to medium-sized venue with a rectangular space surrounded by an L-shaped bar and some small tables. It also has a balcony with more seating, but this was not used for the show (definitely not sold-out). The food was pretty good (I had a grilled chicken sandwich w/ fries) and it had a nice, relaxed vibe.

The first band, The Weather Underground, started right at 9pm. They are an up-and-coming band out of Los Angeles, led by Harley Prechtel-Cortez. I was impressed with these guys, having an edgy Indie rock sound and a beat-poet style to the lyrics. Prechtel-Cortez had an amusing stage-presence, twitching and squirming, something like a cross between David Byrne and Jim Morrison. These guys were fun. Keep an eye on ‘em.

Next up was Ladyhawk. They are also out of Canada (Vancouver) and feature the same kind of noisy rock sound that the Constantines are known for. The thing that stood out the most for me was the lead-guitar work, utilizing a Rickenbacker and many effects ands wingdings. Washes of sound, feedback, and ultra-fast strumming.

Finally, at about 11:15p, the Constantines take the stage. Even without Lambke, they created a sound that demanded attention, with crunchy guitar-work, pounding bass and Bryan Webb’s half-sung, half-screamed vocals. They played many tracks that I recognized from their three most recent albums, as well as some others that must be from their first album. They brought out the guitarist from Ladyhawk for the encore and pleased the crowd with a rocking version of “Shine a Light”. They concluded the encore with a rambunctious take on the Stones classic “Street Fighting Man” with many members of Ladyhawk joining in. They certainly looked like they were having fun.

All in all this was a really fun show with some ups and downs, and what must be some detraction without Lambke. Still, I was left with a smile on my face as I wandered back to the hotel. Whee.

Some links:

Constantines on MySpace

Ladyhawk on MySpace

Here's a video I took. I know, the sound is pretty bad. But, it gives you an idea.

Why Eminem is good

This is Eminem in the early days, freestyling on MTV with now-deceased D12 rapper Proof.

Flight of the Conchords

These guys are making me wish I had HBO. Funny as hell. Check it: