On the Well we have a topic for shows we've just seen, maybe we can do the same thing here?
Just caught Marco Benevento, Reed Mathis and Matt Chamberlain at Yoshi's, both sets. Very good stuff. Benevento was playing the Steinway Grand all night and even though he delved into his effects here and there it was a very straight jazzy sound for him. Reed was holding down the low end and not doing his higher register/octave pedal stuff. I hadn't recalled seeing Matt Chamberlain before but the guy next to me in the 2nd set mentioned that he was the drummer for Critters Buggin' (who I saw a long time ago opening for MMW and didn't enjoy) as well as Bobby Previte's Coalition of the Willing which I've been meaning to see. They did a bunch of covers, including George Harrison's "Run of the Mill" and a Zeppelin tune. I remember some other songs which sounded familiar and Benevento did introduce a Beck tune that sounded familiar but I couldn't place it. There also were a couple more covers I think that I couldn't place. Reminded me a bit of a Bill Frisell show in that aspect.
Anyway they were pimping Benevento's new 3 CD set. They had cards at the table for 3 free songs, I grabbed a couple extra so if anyone wants the freebies PM me and I'll send the first couple folks a code.
I was talking to a friend at setbreak and she was saying it was the best music she'd heard since High Sierra. I haven't been going to a lot of shows but I'd heartily agree. I know Lumpy is going tomorrow (sorry I haven't called you back man!) and I might try to catch the 8PM show tomorrow and I bought two tix for January & I for Saturday. (she is up in Seattle at a conference.) Like it often is at Yoshi's when it's not totally sold out it was no trouble getting into the 10PM show w/o buying a ticket. Gotta love Yoshi's... though apparently they are under different management which I noticed because some of my favorite lower priced items on the sake menu were not there anymore Mixed drinks were a much better deal.
Hope to see you tonight Harry! I'm very excited to wrap up a ridiculous week of work, and rejuvenate with Marco and Reed. Glad to hear the show was good last night.
Our good friends, who recently made the move from Brooklyn to Berkeley, will be at Yoshi's for the first time tonight; glad to hear that while under new management, the venue is still a great place to catch some music. sushi + live music is a pretty winning combo.
i saw the virgin festival this past weekend. standout sets included:
lcd soundsystem: james murphy seemed a little disoriented. maybe he just woke up or was drunk, but he did a nice job on the vocals and band, especially the rhythm section was tight.
tv on the radio: pleasantly surprised with this band. i wasn't as into their latest cd as everyone else was but i enjoyed their set. one of the guitarist had a small wind chime hanging from the head of his guitar that he would drag across the cymbals. thought that was cool.
modest mouse: the sound was sorta bad at first, but the band and issac were on. this was my first time and i was impressed. they played a good mix of the new and past 2 albums.
explosions in the sky: definitely one of the best sets of the 2 days, imo. first time seeing this guys and they mentioned feeling strange playing at a festival. they were more melodic than i expected but the loud partys were intense. during the last song, which seemed like it easily was 10 minutes, one of the guitarist was thrashing so hard that fell over. hard! he got up and said thank you and they left. it was funny.
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
i bought live at tonic this week. i haven't been able to listen to the whole thing yet, but from what i have heard the trio stuff with mathis and chamberlin has been the most impressive. apparently those guys hit it off real well together.
i gotta agree with diesel, the virgin fest was a real good time. felix da housecat>peter bjorn and john>lcd soundsystem>tv on the radio was some of the best music i've seen all year. sunday was aight but not nearly as fun as saturday. spoon was good and wu tang was surprisingly solid. pretty bummed i missed dan deacon and girl talk earlier in the day but i couldn't get my ass out of bed before noon for the life of me...
diesel wrote:explosions in the sky: definitely one of the best sets of the 2 days, imo. first time seeing this guys and they mentioned feeling strange playing at a festival. they were more melodic than i expected but the loud partys were intense. during the last song, which seemed like it easily was 10 minutes, one of the guitarist was thrashing so hard that fell over. hard! he got up and said thank you and they left. it was funny.
that guy did the same shit when I saw them! he's only being intense for the show of it.
no but seriously. Explosions in the Sky is a one-trick pony, but it's a hell of a trick. great live show indeed.
Tonight I saw the movie The Devil and Daniel Johnston, then I saw Daniel Johnston play at the 40 Watt.
Pretty intense night overall. Crazy to see a movie about a musician who has been in and out of mental hospitals his whole adult life, then get to see him perform.
Before he played, a Japanese band, Elekibass, played. They were awesome too.
harrymcq wrote:
Just caught Marco Benevento, Reed Mathis and Matt Chamberlain at Yoshi's...There also were a couple more covers I think that I couldn't place.
they also did a brilliant, kinda tongue n'cheek, instrumental of "Nobody Does It Better" by Marvin Hamlish/Carly Simon (lyrics). classic.
yep, Reed was in his fine, bobbly, groovin form---really glad we went!
marco's teeeeeeny baby...soooo adorable, & baby mama were also in the house.
Harry, i spied u sittin up front...we were in one of the booths for the late show--good spot for my friends' 1st Yoshi's experience!
Dana
Caught a great show last nigh at the Fillmore. Medeski, Scofield, Martin & Wood. I hadn't seen MMW in a few years, they haven't been out here much but I have missed them a couple of times for reasons I forget. They are a long-time favorite of mine. Scofield I have also seen a few times, at Yoshi's once doing more jazzy stuff and with Phil Lesh a couple of times as well but I have never seen MMW w/Scofield before and it was wonderful! I really like their recent album "Out Louder" and the MMW-backed Scofield disc from the late 90's - "A Go Go".
Interestingly enough Scofield really tales the group in a much more straight ahead rock oriented styling, not necessarily what I would have expected with someone with his Jazz reputation. There were a couple of tunes when Sco went ballistic, tearing up his gutar like a mutant hybrid of Jimi and Wes with the band doing a fairly straight ahead way up-tempo groove. At one point I looked up and noticed that Wood wasn't even playing, just sitting out for a minute or two while the rest of the guys were making this cosmic racket.
Martin took at least one solo in each set which were great though he really didn't go super-far out with his percussion toys, one of my favorite parts of a MMW show. Possibly because the Scofield element was leading the show away from the total puddled MMW style freakouts and most likely due in no small part to the chatty San Francisco audience. During the first set I screamed "Shut the !@#$ up!" at some people, some wasted hipster types - I had asked them to talk a little quieter and they started mocking me! I guess screaming in their face wasn't the most civilized reply but it just really bugs me when people are literally yelling over the music. We moved more to the back of the venue where people were still chatting but at least they weren't yelling.
I didn't recognize a lot of the songs even though I know those two MSMW albums as well as the MMW catalog pretty well. There were a couple off "Out Louder" including "Buster Rides Again" and Medeski was teasing a couple of MMW tunes at points. The encore was "Mercy, Mercy Mercy" in honor of Joe Zawinul. All in all a wonderful show, good mental floss! I wish I was going again tonight but we are having a surprise bday party for a friend at our place today with her favorite local bluegrass band so things aren't all bad... next up Phil Lesh and Friends on Sunday for a 3PM show at the Greek! Gotta love a music packed weekend!
putty wrote:I saw Dr. Dog last Thursday. It was awesome. Great harmonies. Very beatlesesque. I think they have almost everything I want a band to have.
saw them last night and thought they kicked ass. high energy rock tunes that are fun and solid, even if their influences are a little obvious at times...
Mixed drinks were a much better deal.
