STS9 / Tauk – Orpheum Theater
STS9 / Tauk – Orpheum Theater
Lafayette, Indiana – © Phierce Photo of FX Media Solutions – Oct 25th, 2015
STS9 / Tauk – Orpheum Theater
Lafayette, Indiana – © Phierce Photo of FX Media Solutions – Oct 25th, 2015
Iration at The Moon
10/13/15
Robbey Pye
Iration came to Tallahassee to start the leg of their Florida tour last Tuesday at The Moon Venue. The band originates from California so it is interesting to see them over here on the East coast. The Moon is a great venue, a very spacey and unique vibe inside the doors. It is perfect for smaller shows, where a lot of seating is not needed. Iration stopped in Tallahassee Tuesday, then had a day off followed by four straight nights in a row. So, the Tallahassee fans definitely got a good show as far as timing is concerned. The band seemed well-rested, energetic, and ready to party, considering a day to relax was following!
In regards to their performance, they played some solid reggae rock. It was my first time seeing them live, but was similar to a Slightly Stoopid, Rebelution, or Soja sound. I recognized a few of their popular songs, such as “Time Bomb”, “Falling”, and “Summer Nights” that were played. They also covered the Bob Marley song “Is this Love”, which seemed to really hook the crowd. They seemed to stick to their originals for the most part though, which all sounded good. At the end, the band brought a guest performer on stage with a ukulele, which was fun to see and would have been nice to see more like-wise entertainment. Ultimately, Iration played some quality tunes and The Moon did a great job providing those tunes to the city of Tallahassee!
Twenty One Pilots Blurryface tour with Echosmith and Finish Ticket
September 20, 2015
Farm Bureau Insurance Lawn at White River State Park
(Harrison College Concert Series), Indianapolis, IN
Images by Tony Vasquez of Vasquez Photography
Full galleries can be found at:https://jamsplus.smugmug.com/TonyVasquezPhotography
Widespread Panic release “STREET DOGS”, the bands 12th album. Street Dogs was recorded at Echo Mountain Studios in Asheville, NC with long time friend and producer John Keane at the helm. Drummer Duane Trucks (Hard Working Americans), who has been performing with the band on the road since late-2014, sat in for the Street Dogs recordings.
While listening to the new Widespread Panic album “Street Dogs” I have come to enjoy it very much. Especially – Cease Fire – that is a good one, also digging the movements in – Angels Don’t Sing the Blues & Jojo’s – Poorhouse of Positive Thinking. The entire album is just flowing so good from a well seasoned band. John Keane has really help them polish this album well. It definitely takes me back to an earlier WSP feel and overall “satisfied” sensation. Widespread Panic tips the hat to old masters on tunes such as Alan Price’s Sell Sell, Murray McLauchlan’s Honky Red and Willie Dixon’s Taildragger, made famous by Howlin’ Wolf.
If you have not added this jewel to your collection, I would suggest the vinyl version, as I am partial to the wax. Pick it up at your nearest record shop!
Words by Clayton Roberts
Top Photo by Jason Thrasher
☻ 2016 marks Widespread Panic’s 30th Anniversary
☻ In celebration of the band’s 25th Anniversary, Widespread Panic took part in the first-ever joint South By Southwest Music Conference showcase and Austin City Limits television program taping on March 17th 2011. “We’ve had Widespread Panic on ACL twice, but we wanted to do something special with them for their 25th anniversary,” said ACL Series Executive Producer Terry Lickona. The show aired in Fall 2011.
☻Widespread Panic has been featured on ABC Good Morning America, CBS Sunday Morning, CNN’s Showbiz Today, and has performed on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Late Show with David Letterman, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Austin City Limits, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and A&E Breakfast with the Arts.
☻2008: Inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame.
☻ Widespread Panic has headlined most major US festival, including Bonnaroo (2002-2 days, 2003, 2005-2 days, 2007 and 2008, 2011), Lockn’ Music Festival, Counterpoint Music Festival, Summer Camp, Lollapalooza, 10,000 Lakes, Austin City Limits, Jazz Aspen, Mile High Festival, The Forecastle Festival, Rothbury Festival, All Good Music Festival, Outside Lands Music Festival, Phases of the Moon, Gathering of the Vibes, Vegoose and The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.
☻Widespread Panic has remained in Pollstar’s Top 50 Tours of the Year for the past decade.
☻ In 2003, Widespread Panic sold out 2 nights at New York’s Madison Square Garden and in 2005 sold out 3 nights at the prestigious Radio City Music Hall in NYC.
☻ The Widespread Panic business model has been featured in a wide variety of press outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Fortune, Small Business Magazine, Variety, CNN, CNBC Squawk Box, Fox Business and Billboard Magazine.
☻ In 2005, Widespread Panic launched their own charity ‘Tunes For Tots’ A Benefit for the Arts, with an annual benefit concert raising over $1.5 million to date for the purchase of musical instruments and computer music labs for Public Schools.
☻Widespread Panic has joined the effort to rebuild post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans by sponsoring a house in the Lower 9th Ward area of the city through the Make It Right foundation; inspiring their fans to spearhead a house of their own, ‘The House that Widespread Panic Fans Built’.
☻Panic has sold over 3 million albums, and released a total of 55 records – 11 Studio, 1 Compilation & 43 Live.
☻ The band has an extensive online fan base –their website currently averages over 115K+ visitors a month.
☻Widespread Panic holds attendance records at major venues across the country, including – Light Fuse Get Away Record Release Party, April 18, 1998 – the largest album release party on record with over 110,000 people in attendance. – New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival – WP headlined 8 years and hold the single one-day attendance record 63,000 in 1999. – Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Golden, CO – 2015 marks WP’s 48th sold out show. – Philips Arena in Atlanta, GA- December 31st, 2006 marked the band’s 15th sold out show at Philips Arena. In honor of this milestone, a permanent banner has been raised displaying the achievement and naming them the arena’s house band. The Official count is now at 18. – Lakefront Arena in New Orleans, LA – headlined 26 shows. – Oak Mountain Amphitheater in Pelham, AL- 20 Sold out Shows.
☻In 2000, the band formed their own record company, Widespread Records to release their own material. This includes a website dedicated to digital downloads of the band’s live shows that are available the day following the performance. To date, over 6,700,000+ Widespread Panic songs/files have been downloaded through LiveWidespreadPanic.com. In 2008, WR began an archival release series.
☻Feeding People Through Music is a volunteer organization that hosts food drives at shows to benefit the local food bank in that market. To date, FPTM has collected over $151,000, 18 tons of food in 30 cities.
☻On September 25, 1998, Athens, GA Mayor Gwen O’Looney gave the band a key to the city in recognition of the April 18th show celebrating their album “Light Fuse Get Away” and Panic’s contribution to the Athens music scene.
☻ October 31st, 2002 was proclaimed “Widespread Panic Day” in New Orleans, LA by Mayor C. Ray Nagin.
☻ In honor of Widespread Panic’s 25th Anniversary, the State of Georgia’s Senate & House of Representatives each passed resolutions to commemorate the achievement. On February 15, 2011 members of the band stood before the General Assembly to be recognized and honored for their music, service, charity and longevity.
☻2008: – Received first-ever Road Warrior Award at the 5th Annual Billboard Touring Awards.
Warren Haynes Ashes and Dust Tour
10-08-15 The Warner Theatre, Washington, D.C.
Words and Photos by Stuart Dahne
Last night, Washington D.C. got their first look at Warren Haynes’ new project based on his latest release “Ashes and Dust” on Concord Records. I had the opportunity to listen to Warren’s performance from the week before at The Tower Theater in Upper Darby Pa. so I had a little insight as to what to expect. From the moment that this show started my expectations were exceeded! First off, The Warner Theatre is just a beautiful place to experience a show, and this show was true to that beauty! The show opened with Chessboxer and then Justin Townes Earle, wow, what a way to attempt to get us ready!
These guys were both great and a real treat to start off the evening! After a slight break with just enough time to see some old friends, the stage started to fill up! Out came; Warren Haynes – guitar and vocals, Jeff Sipe – Drums, Matt Menefee – banjo, Royal Masat – bass, Sterling Masat – mandolin, guitar, and banjo, and Ross Holmes – fiddle
Opening up with Bob Dylan’s “Tough Mama” with its melodic entrance and then that infamous “How Ya Doin” and the game was on and the crowd exploded!!! The energy was so high that you had to wonder where they could go next but that seemed to be no problem for any of the players!!! WOW!
So next Warren took us through 3 new songs from the Ashes and Dust release, “Is It Me or You”, “Company Man”, and “Beat Down The Dust” and by this time it was obvious how much fun that the band was having!!! There were grins on every face! Out of these 3 songs it was “Beat Down the Dust” that really grabbed my attention! Warren told his little story to introduce this song, “He was traveling through America and He stopped to get a bite to eat. He was sitting at a table when he overheard a conversation from a booth around the corner; Some pretty heavy sh*t about keeping our country, keeping America Great! They were saying some pretty harsh things about anybody who wasn’t one of them! Not wanting to give up the power that they feel entitled to! So Warren was wondering, Who Are These Guys? So He walks around to get a glimpse and he says; Oh Sh*t, that’s Donald Trump!!!” The song is so political yet so inviting at the same time! Nice job Warren!!! Yes It Is Time To Beat Down The Dust!
The next shift took us into some of Warrens other endeavors, Banks of the Deep End from the Gov’t Mule’s recording “The Deep End”, Jessica from Warrens days with The Allman Brothers Band, and then “No Celebration” from Deja Voodoo!! By this time the vibe was electric, people are sweating and needing something to drink, OMG, so what do they do next but to play Stevie Nicks’ “Gold Dust Woman” and just floored everyone!!! Now that everyone had chilled out a bit they went into an amazing rendition of “All Along The Watchtower” that made me think that no one else should ever play this song, the song gradually built and built and built until it felt like we were all going to just take off!!!!
Dusk till dawn, a Warren Haynes song that was first performed live in March of 2013 with The Allman Brothers Band really highlighted Warren’s creative spirit as this song really is different from the norm of what I might expect from Warren, with a soulful yet haunting feel this song just lifted you up and carried you away. Following this was another song from Ashes and Dust called “Stranded in Self Pity” which has been waiting in the wings since it was first performed live in 2004 at The Cricket Pavilion, Phoenix, Az. The artistic juices were flowing here and the best way that I can describe this is “Progressive Bluegrass with a hint of Polka and some haunting New Orleans sides”! (check it out)
Now, just when you thought that they couldn’t do any better, what did they do but TURN IT UP!!!! They put the proverbial pedal to the metal! This is where they went into what I call an innovative overdrive with Warren’s 2004 Grammy nominated Instrumental Illness > Machine Gun (Jimi Hendrix) > Instrumental Illness, here it appeared that all eyes were on warren in order to manipulate through this intricately orchestrated funky jam! Next came the Drum Solo highlighting Jeff Sipe’s amazing talents and skill! This set up the band to go back to 1972 and pull out “Blue Sky” From the Allman Brothers “Eat A Peach” and play it in a manner that just paid tribute to such a great song and a great time! To end the set Warren chose “Spots of Time” off of the new “Ashes and Dust” release, a Warren Haynes and Phil Lesh collaboration from 2007; “Do you remember how young we were or is it just me, Imagining like I always do, When we were once wild and free… Wild and free”! Although many of these songs from this new project may be new some of these are decades old however Warren has successfully made them all feel brand new!
The encore of Little Feat’s “Skin it Back” with the amazing Ron Holloway sitting in was the perfect ending to a show that I could have never imagined would have moved me in such a way that it did! Ron’s funky tones, once again, made an old song feel real fresh!
Warren Haynes, Thank You!
I came to the show excited to see Warren’s new project and I was blown away by the great energy and Warren seemed really inspired with these new players. Great to see Warren having such a good time!!
Janet Griffin ~ Maryland
When they played Jessica the ushers got busy; everyone got up and into the aisles and started dancing By the end of the tune people were standing and screaming. I loved the passionate and energetic rendition of The Watchtower. Bob Dylans’s version should be retired.
Mary Olson ~ Virginia
Best Warren Ever. I love the new album and having heard a couple of live shows and couch touring the Tower, I was thrilled beyond belief with last night’s show. Jessica and Instrumental Illness were killer.
Ben Marks ~ Maryland
The Warren Haynes show was epic last night. He can play anything on guitar. He makes it look easy. All the great ones do. I didn’t know what to expect with his new style of band. Warren knocked it out of the park.
John Jurrius ~ Maryland
Warren’s new band and sound was great with the violin & banjo bringing a new dimension to songs like Jessica & the Instrumental Illness/Machine Gun medley. Bravo Warren on this new sound.
Scott Pendleton ~ Maryland
After listening to the show last night at the Warner Theatre and watching people in the isles stomping there feat bluegrass style, bluegrass is still alive like when my brother would take me at the young age of 10 years old to Bluegrass concerts with Doc Watson, Earl Scruggs , John Hammond, and Lester Flatt. Warren wrote “Company Man” based on his dad the working man. Encore with Warren dueling his Les Paul with Ron Holloway’s sax with a Liittle Feat song “Skin It Back” was exceptional.
Tom Libera ~ Washington D.C.
All photos courtesy of Phierce Photography, Keith Griner
Tauk, The Intersection, G Rapids, MI
October 7, 2015
Oak Ridge Farm, Arrington, VA
September 10-13, 2015
Lockn’ – Interlocking Music Festival 2015
Written by: Robbey Pye; Photos by: Joey Pye
Arrington, Virginia hosted the Lock’n Music Festival from September 11th to 13th, 2015. From what I have heard and now experienced, there is not much to do in Arrington, but Lock’n brings a pretty large crowd. The venue is a huge piece of land with limited trees and a horse track surrounding the main stages. This makes up a pretty neat spot to run a festival, due to the leeway the staff in charge has to organize. Unfortunately, the weather cannot be organized by the staff and the conditions were rough, although they adjusted to them very well. The first day was cancelled, the next day got rainy at night, and the last day was cold! (Maybe just because I’m from Florida, but I was freezing). As you could imagine, this led to some exciting camping scenarios. With that being said, this truly was an unbeatable festival, because the music was incredible. The security and staff did a great job. Everyone was nice and polite and helpful with any questions I had. The vendors had some quality products available, from the food and beverages to the posters and such, for a quality festival. I was also impressed with the taxis; every time I needed a ride there was one close by, which was a life-saver at times. Aside from the music itself though, the best part to me was the variety of the stages. The organization behind who played at what stage and the time was on point. This really sank in for me when I thought the first night was pretty much over after the last set on the main stage, just to experience Mickey Hart and Umphrey’s McGee separate after parties with their own light shows. It was epic. Nothing beats the music selection as a whole though at Lock’n. The best way I describe Lock’n to others is that it cannot be looked at and categorized by genres or anything else other than, in my opinion, just simply picking the best live performances, covering many varieties of music.
The absolute worst part of the festival was trying to pick out what shows you had to miss out on, sometimes because something else would be going on or just to simply rest your body. It is reasonable though, considering each day had 12+ hours of music. Day one set the tone high with the rescheduled Doobie Incident starting off the series of events. The late shows were Mad Dogs & Englishmen with Tedeschi Trucks Band and Jefferson Airplane with Bill Kreutzmann, all which contained some great jams. Personally my favorite was the North Mississippi Allstars show and the after show sets! North Mississippi Allstars busted out the washboard, which brought some fun vibes and topped it off by marching through the crowd in a drum line. One of my favorite performances of the show was “Psychedelic Sex Machine”; it was my first time seeing them and they could jam. The after shows on this night were Mickey Hart at the Woods stage and Umphrey’s McGee at the Blue Ridge Bowl. You physically could not catch all of both, but both were absolutely amazing based on what I saw and heard from others. Umphrey’s really knows how to jam out in all sorts of directions, I love it. They are very exciting, and there is honestly no telling what they will throw at you for your entertainment. Cannot forget the weather here either, it started pouring during the Umphrey’s show. The crowd just seemed to soak it in and literally not miss a beat though.
Day two, which again started off with a killer side show of Melvin Seals and JGB at the Blue Ridge Bowl, was a great “sit-in day” for the later shows. There were just legends and other fantastic musicians coming together and playing with each other all night. One of the highlights in regard to this was Widespread Panic playing with Jimmy Cliff, which factored in a unique reggae spin to your typical Panic southern rock. This was followed by Billy and the Kids with Bob Weir, which is always epic to see members of the dead reunite. The final set of day two, was most likely the most exciting part of Lock’n was the Phil Lesh and Friends set with guests Warren Haynes and Carlos Santana. It just did not seem like there was ever a second of down time regarding one of them shredding the guitar. My favorite personally was when these three performed “Fire on the Mountain”. A close second to that was the Gov’t Mule show at the Blue Ridge Bowl afterwards. They had a fantastic ending with Doors cover “When the Music’s Over”. Other than being the last day, day three was easier to decide on shows, considering there were only nine total while the others had thirteen. Needless to say though, the staff picked nine great shows. A close second of my favorite performances was Keller Williams Grateful Gospel Sunday morning. To me it seemed like the most exciting church service i’ve experienced, with some classic Dead covers. Keller always knows how to brighten up the place whether he is providing some exciting tunes or his witty humor (for example, his 9lb 7oz baby Jesus reference had me laughing out loud). The early evening performances by Fishbone, the Oh Hellos, St. Paul and the Broken Bones, and Slightly Stoopid went well and transitioned smoothly to yet another exciting night. After that, it was Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Gov’t Mule, Widespread Panic, and Robert Plant & the Sensational Space Shifters to tie up the weekend. My personal favorite of the day was the Keller show, but I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the Robert Plant & the Sensational Space Shifters show. Their work was really intriguing and it was combined with a fair amount of old Led Zeppelin covers. I’ve seen many bands cover Zeppelin, some better than others, but the one thing that is the hardest to recreate when covering Zeppelin is Plant’s voice. Saturday night we had the best depiction of this, Plant himself singing the old Zeppelin covers, which put at rest a phenomenal weekend.
All in all, the weekend was an absolute great time in Arrington, Virginia even with some rough weather. The organization was great, from all angles within the venue. We were all bummed about missing a day, but that was ultimately a great executive decision and all went well. The security and staff handled matters professionally and smoothly, and the side stages at the venue provided some unforgettable performances. The tunes were three days of extraordinary music, ranging from multiple styles of jamming. One thing for certain is that I am already looking forward to next year’s festival!
Beach House
September 18, 2015
Bogart’s in Cincinnati, Ohio
Images by Vasquez Photography
We arrived early at Bogart’s, and there was already a long line to get into the venue. Everyone in attendance was in for a great set from both Beach House and the opening act Jessica Pratt.
Jessica Pratt a Los Angeles based singer-songwriter took the stage with an accompanying guitarist. Her soft vocals along with her delicate guitar playing created dreamy folk soundscapes. She mentioned later in her set it was her first time playing in Cincinnati, and the crowd responded kindly, welcoming the two piece band. She continued to play a few more songs with the stripped down arrangements and her raw vocals. Sadly, due to the rowdy crowd some of the magic that was occurring on the stage was drowned out.
Not having seen Beach House in concert I was excited to see how the stage props and lighting were going to be utilized for the concert. The stage setup had three tall rectangles on the back of the stage with translucent material, and twinkle lights. The band kept the crowd waiting, and the audience began to shift and chatter loudly with anticipation.
Victoria Legrand, the lead singer and keyboardist of Beach House, finally took center stage with the guitarist/keyboardist to her left and the bassist to her right. The drum-kit was out front on the stage to her left. Victoria’s vocals carried over the crowd as she played her mesmerizing notes on her keyboard. The beginning of the show was played under sparse color casts of blues, reds, and yellows. The lighting created the perfect mood for the band’s dreamy, mysterious sound. As the show continued they began to add projected images on the background rectangles. From a distance, the visuals enhanced the experience making it feel as though the atmospheric music was washing over the entire crowd.
The band is playing overseas for the next few months, but will be returning to the states for some west coast dates in December before heading to Australia early next year. For more info check out their website http://www.beachhousebaltimore.com/tour/
All images courtesy of Resonance Music and Arts Festival and Phierce Photography, Keith Griner.
Resonance Music and Arts Festival 2015
September 24-26, 2015
Legend Valley, Thornville, OH