For the second week in a row, I am kicking off the weekend with my all-time favorite band. Saw them last night and after 60 years, they still rock hard! Midnight Rambler is always a show highlight.
UP NEXT!
I'm both kicking off and starting up the weekend with the band I am seeing next week!
My wife and I were supposed to see Jackie Venson tonight. Unfortunately, the show was cancelled due to illness. But I'm still kicking off the weekend with Jackie and her incredible guitar playing. Get well, Jackie, and we will catch you next time.
Pitchfork Music Festival July 15, 2022
I attended Pitchfork Festival on a rainy July at Union Park in Chicago. This was my fourth time at Pitchfork, although I’ve only done the full three days one time (2015). Despite the persistent rain, it was still a fine day of music and the rain did not deter attendees from having fun. Bands I saw included:
Indigo De Souza - Nice Indie sound. Lot’s of raw emotion in her vocals and lyrics.
Camp Cope - Fine alternative band from Australia. Front woman Georgia McDonald is very entertaining. I really enjoyed their set.
Parquet Courts - My favorite band of the day. Third time seeing this band. They are just amazing. An added show was the dude standing in front of me that danced the entire set with some awesome herky-jerky movements to match PC’s quirky sounds.
Spiritualized - My son Dylan got me into this band. I love their albums so it was great to see them live. They played a fine set and their neo-psych sound fit in well with the raindrops, foggy skies, and impending dusk.
The National - Second time I have seen this band. (First time was at Riot Fest.) I don’t listen to them a lot, but their sound is well-blended and captivating. I thought they were a better suited for Pitchfork.
Dead & Company Wrigley Field Chicago, Illinois June 24, 2022
I’ve been to a dozen Grateful Dead concerts from 1975 to the early 90’s. (Most of those shows at Alpine Valley in Wisconsin in the 80’s.) Jerry Garcia died in 1995 and after that, I never saw any of the Grateful Dead spinoff bands. By 1995, I was well into full adult mode, owning a home, raising kids, and managing a career. My concert activity slowed down at that time in my life, and by the time it picked up a bit of steam again (2003, thanks to the Dandy Warhols), I had basically moved on from the Grateful Dead. My concert attendance reignited like a jet-propelled rocket once my kids were raised. Aware that Dead & Company had become a draw on par with the original band, with a couple of exceptions (Rolling Stones and Pearl Jam), I had mostly moved on from most stadium and arena shows preferring theaters, clubs, and outdoor festivals. However, when my wife expressed interest in seeing Dead and Company, I thought, “Why not? It’s been about 30 years, and Wrigley Field (Chicago) is an awesome concert venue. Let’s do it!”
DAMN, I’M SO GLAD I WENT!!! It was just so fucking awesome. I was back in the mood the moment they opened the show with Man Smart, Woman Smarter. The first set began at 6:45 in the beautiful sundrenched summer evening. They played 75 minutes before intermission. At 8:45, as the evening had transitioned to dusk, they returned to the stage and played a 130-minute set, finishing up just before 11:00. Having spent much of my lifetime in Wrigley Field (a few concerts, scores of Cubs games and even a Bears game), I used my knowledge of the old ballpark to select the perfect seats. Upper deck above home plate on the third base side provided an excellent view of the stage in center field. We also had the roof for cover, but it wasn’t needed with dry conditions, temperatures in the low 80’s, and a delightful breeze from Lake Michigan.
The band included original Dead members Bob Weir (guitar, vocals), Mickey Hart (drums) and Bill Kreutzmann. (Bill only played on two songs as he had suffered a minor injury a few days earlier.) The rest of the band included John Mayer (guitar and vocals), Oteil Burbridge (who I had seen once before in the early days of Tedeschi Trucks Band), Jeff Chimenti (keyboards and vocals) and Jay Lane (drums, sitting in for Bill). John Mayer is quite a competent replacement for Jerry Garcia. He is an excellent guitar player, although not as fluid as Jerry was. Bob Weir sounded and played great and seems to have not lost anything to age. Keyboards and the rhythm section were excellent. My overall impression was that they were a bit tighter and a bit more polished than the original band. Not to take anything away from the original band, because in those days, it wasn’t necessarily about being polished. It was more about the feel of the music. At this point in their career, the band has much better technology which aids their sound. Also, compared to my early concert days of the 70’s and 80’s, I think the audience has a greater expectation for the live bands to be at the top of its game, so there is that factor. On the other hand, Dead and Company have not been making any studio albums. Without that pressure, they can focus exclusively on honing their live sound. All-in-all, it was a wonderful night. My only regret is wondering why I didn’t see Dead and Company sooner.
Set 1:
· Man Smart, Woman Smarter (King Radio cover)
· Eyes of the World (Grateful Dead cover)
· Bertha (Grateful Dead cover)
· Next Time You See Me (Junior Parker cover)
· Dark Star (Grateful Dead cover - preceded by a Wharf Rat jam)
· Dear Mr. Fantasy (Traffic cover)
· Hey Jude (The Beatles cover - coda only)
· Althea (Grateful Dead cover)
Set 2:
· Throwing Stones (Grateful Dead cover)
· Brown-Eyed Women (Grateful Dead cover)
· Estimated Prophet (Grateful Dead cover - with The Other One tease)
· Sing Me Back Home (Merle Haggard cover)
· Truckin' (Grateful Dead cover - brief "Foxy Lady" reference
· Drums (Grateful Dead cover with Bill Kreutzmann and Oteil Burbridge)
· Space (Grateful Dead cover)
· All Blues (Miles Davis cover - D&C debut)
· Cumberland Blues (Grateful Dead cover)
· Stella Blue(Grateful Dead cover)
· Not Fade Away (The Crickets cover with Bill Kreutzmann)
Square Roots Festival Chicago, Illinois July 8, 2022
A very nice Chicago Street fest is the three day Square Roots Festival that takes place in Lincoln Square. We met up with friends and enjoyed some excellent live music on a beautiful Chicago summer evening. My wife and I attended one day each in 2017 and 2018 seeing headliners Meat Puppets and Matthew Sweet respectively. We missed 2019 due to a scheduling conflict and then 2020 and 2021 were cancelled due to the pandemic. Now, in 2022, it was great to be back.We saw headliner Bob Mould. As always, he and his power trio played a great set. We also saw The Reminders and Deep Sea Diver.
Bob Mould plays with endless energy and always crams as many songs as he can into his set, with virtually no pause between songs. This night was no exception as he plowed through a 23 song set list drawing on his songs from Husker Du, Sugar and his solo career.
Set List:
1. The War
2. Flip Your Wig (Hüsker Dü song)
3. I Apologize (Hüsker Dü song)
4. Hoover Dam (Sugar song)
5. Stand Guard
6. Siberian Butterfly
7. Sinners and Their Repentances
8. The Descent
9. Forecast of Rain
10. Next Generation
11. See a Little Light
12. Never Talking to You Again (Hüsker Dü song)
13. Hardly Getting Over It (Hüsker Dü song)
14. Hate Paper Doll (Hüsker Dü song)
15. Celebrated Summer (Hüsker Dü song)
16. Voices in My Head
17. Sunshine Rock
18. If I Can't Change Your Mind (Sugar song)
19. The Ocean
20. Black Confetti
21. Something I Learned Today (Hüsker Dü song)
22. Chartered Trips (Hüsker Dü song)
23. Makes No Sense at All (Hüsker Dü song)
The only bad news about this awesome lineup is that I have to wait four months to see these bands!
Tedeschi Trucks Band - Chicago Theatre - January 21, 2022
It has been two years and three days since my wife and I last went to a concert together, thanks to the virus whose name shall not be mentioned. We finally returned to the concert scene to see and hear the same band we last saw in January, 2020. Tedeschi Trucks Band play four shows at the Chicago Theatre every January, and we go to see them every year.
On the way to the show, we had dinner at Nepal House in Chicago’s Little India neighborhood. Influenced by Harald Baldr’s YouTube series of videos covering his trek along the Langtang Trail in Nepal, we had some delicious chicken momo as an appetizer and aloo ra seemi ko tarkari and aloo tama bodi for entrees. Perfect Himalayan sustenance for a cold January night in Chicago.
Susan Tedeschi came out in stage using crutches. She said, “Apparently I had too much fun last night. We were at the Green Mill (Chicago) and I was dancing and I tore my meniscus.” She had to sit for the entire show. They opened with a cover of The Beatles song I’ve Got A Feeling. It was so cool to hear that song performed live after recently watching the Get Back documentary. At the end of that song, they segued into one of my favorites, Don’t Let Me Slide. They always have a varied set list that includes many originals and covers. For this show, they went with many deep cuts, so I missed hearing a few of my favorites like Midnight In Harlem and Anyday (Derek and The Dominos cover). However, as usual, they played a fantastic show. A 12 piece jam band with Derek and The Dominos and Allman Brothers pedigree, the phenomenal vocals of Susan Tedeschi and Mike Mattison and the other-worldly guitar playing of Derek Trucks, the talent runs deep and the blended sound is pure euphoria. This band makes January in Chicago come alive.
Set 1:
1. I've Got a Feeling (The Beatles cover)
2. Don't Let Me Slide
3. Part of Me
4. Life Is Crazy (Mike Mattison cover)
5. High & Mighty
6. Don't Keep Me Wonderin' (The Allman Brothers Band cover)
7. Ball and Chain
8. Outside Woman Blues (Blind Joe Reynolds cover)
9. Idle Wind
Set 2:
10. Bell Bottom Blues (Derek and the Dominos cover)
11. Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad? (Derek and the Dominos cover)
12. When Will I Begin
13. Anyhow
14. Gin House Blues (Bessie Smith cover)
15. Just Won't Burn (Susan Tedeschi song)
16. Made Up Mind
17. Angel From Montgomery (John Prine cover)
18. Helpless (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young cover)
19. That Did It (Bobby “Blue” Bland cover)
Encore:
20. Bound for Glory
At long last. Back in the saddle.
It has been a tough year for music venues and it got a little tougher for Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom when part of a wall collapsed under the weight of 17 inches of snow. According to the Chicago Sun Times article, the 95-year-old building is still structurally sound, so hopefully this will be a minor setback. The Aragon is one of the coolest music venues in the city. It is in Uptown near the intersection of Broadway and Lawrence, just a block away from two other music venues, The Riviera Theater and The Uptown Theater. While the Uptown has been closed for several years and faces an uncertain future, the “Riv” and the Aragon were still going strong up until the pandemic hit. I have been to some great shows at all three venues. My last show at the Aragon was Psychedelic Furs in July 2019.
The Dandy Warhols will live stream a performance featuring their seminal album Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia on December 30.
Tickets and info:https://dandywarholslive.com/
This weekend on YouTube
For the fourth consecutive year, my wife and I started our new year live music shows by seeing Tedeschi Trucks band at the Chicago Theater. This was their fifth consecutive January “residency” at the Chicago Theater. (I had also seen them back in 2011 in Rochester, NY.) Their dates this year (2020) were January 17, 18, 24 and 25. We attended on the 18th. They were excellent as usual. Derek’s guitar, Susan’s voice and guitar, the top-notch 10-piece back-up band and the outstanding jamming. Mike Mattison was excellent as usual on lead and back-up vocals. And back up vocalist Alecia Chakour performed an outstanding solo on Bound For Glory. The last three years we saw them, the shows were all somewhat similar. This year, they changed it up considerably. While I missed hearing a few of my favorites, the change was mostly good. They did two sets as usual, but the first half of Set 2 was acoustic which was very cool. They always do at least one each of a Derek and The Dominos song and an Allman Brothers Band song. This time, both were included in the acoustic set. (The only down-side for me was that the Dominos song was I Am Yours which for me was kind of “meh.” I would have preferred to hear Anyday, or just about anything else off the Layla album. But then again, it’s not my band.) The other change I liked was that Susan got more guitar solos than the last couple of shows. Her voice and Derek’s guitar are always the main attraction of the band, but she is an excellent guitar player and I was pleased to see her stretch out a bit more. They are such a terrific band. As long as they keep coming to Chicago every January, I will continue to see them every time
Set 1
Laugh About It (Let Me Get By - 2016)
High & Mighty (High & Mighty EP)
Don't Know What It Means (Let Me Get By - 2016)
The Letter (Joe Cocker version of The Box Tops original)
Life Is Crazy (Mike Mattison cover)
Don't Let Me Slide (Revelator - 2011)
Don't Drift Away (Live from the Fox Oakland - 2017)
The Sky Is Crying (Elmore James/Stevie Ray Vaughan cover)
Idle Wind (Made Up My Mind - 2013)
Set 2 - Acoustic
Calling Out to You (Made Up My Mind - 2013)
When Will I Begin (Signs - 2019)
Done Somebody Wrong (Elmore James/Allman Brothers Band cover)
I Am Yours (Derek and the Dominos cover)
Meet Me at the Bottom (Howlin’ Wolf cover)
Set 2 - Electric
Leaving Trunk (Sleepy John Estes cover)
Shame (Signs – 2019)
Midnight in Harlem (Revelator - 2011)
How Blue Can You Get? (Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers cover)
Encore
Good to Your Earhole (Funkadelic cover)
UP NEXT!
I’m kicking off the weekend with Tedeschi Trucks Band, who my wife and I will see this weekend, as we do every January, at the beautiful Chicago Theater.
The Regrettes @ Metro Chicago
I had a great evening seeing The Regrettes at Metro, one of my favorite bands at one of my favorite venues in Chicago. With temps in the 40’s and a strong wind, this was our first cold evening of the fall. Consequently, the short two-block walk from the Addison stop of the Red Line felt worse than it was. To distract myself from the chill, I walked along the outside walls of Wrigley Field and in my mind, I reviewed the career of each Cubs star who had an engraved brick on the walkway. It seemed rather strange to see a shuttered Wrigley Field and almost no people on the streets just three weeks after I was at a ball game. After a relaxing stop at Bernie’s Tap for a BLTA and a Green Line, I headed over to the Metro.
Having seen The Regrettes last year a Lollapalooza, I had told myself I would go see them again when they came out with a second album. Their recently released sophomore LP, How Do You Love? is a fine album. The first album, Feel Your Feelings Fool! was tremendous and thus created a challenge for their second effort, but they came back with solid set of songs. As expected, the bulk of the show was songs from the second album.
With this being an all-ages show and The Regrettes being a very young band, I was anticipating a very young crowd. I was pleasantly surprised to see people of all ages at the show. On the other hand, it’s not surprising that this band has such broad appeal. They are a pure Rock ‘n’ Roll band and their guitar-based Power Pop Garage Punk sound easily crosses over generations. Front woman Lydia Night is very entertaining on stage and I love her singing. Having just a bit of a rasp gives her a great sound as Rock singer. Genessa Gariano was solid as usual on lead guitar. New bass player Brooke Dickson was good and fits in well with the band. Along with Genessa, she provided fine backup vocals. And there is Drew Thomsen, who I think is a very good drummer. He gets overlooked as he drums in the background of the of this otherwise all-female band, but he does his job with enthusiasm and aplomb. I missed the opening act, Hala, but I did see the second act, Greer. Nice sounding band and they played a good rocking set. The Regrettes set list is noted below.
1. Are You In Love? (Intro)
2. California Friends
3. Dress Up
4. Come Through
5. Go Love You
6. Picture Perfect
7. Hey Now
8. Lacy Loo
9. Pumpkin
10. Here You Go
11. I Dare You
12. More than a Month
13. Fog
14. Seashore
15. Stop and Go
16. How Do You Love?
17. Coloring Book (encore)
18. Poor Boy (encore)
UP NEXT!
I’m kicking off the weekend with the Power Pop sounds of The Regrettes, a band I will be seeing perform live tonight.
Psychedelic Furs - Aragon Ballroom – Chicago - July 23, 2019
What a fantastic evening seeing the Psychedelic Furs at the Aragon. My buddy Dean was in town from Phoenix. We have gone to countless concerts and ballgames (and hockey games) since we met in Chicago 1980, and with a two-night window to once again hang out Chicago, we took full advantage by hitting up the White Sox game on Monday night and the Furs concert on Tuesday night. The Aragon Ballroom is a gorgeous old venue that opened in 1926. Back in the day, it was literally a ballroom where couples would go to dance. As attendance tailed off in the 1960’s, it morphed into a Rock concert venue. It is just a block from both the Riviera Theater (where I have seen many recent Rock shows) and the now closed Uptown Theater where I have seen a few shows.
While I have always liked the Furs, this was the first time I saw them live. For Dean, it was his 12th Furs concert. They have not released any new material since 1991, but throughout the 1980’s, they had tremendous string of great songs which gives them enough material to continue to perform shows on a regular basis. I think founding band members and brothers Richard (vocals) and Tim (bass) Butler are the only two original members. However, they have some fine musicians in the band and they sounded excellent. Richard was fantastic, sounding great on vocals and acting the impresario as the other band members would solo. We were close to the stage and a “shot and a beer” special of IPA’s and Jameson put me in a great frame of mind and body. The night opened with Dear Boy, a band from L.A. They were very good and played a wonderful set. James played before Psychedelic Furs. They have been around almost as long as the Furs. There seemed to be a fair number of people there that specifically came to see James. They were OK, but I really did not get into their sound that much. As for the Psychedelic Furs, I cannot believe it took me this long to see them. I hope to see them again some time. I also have not been to the Aragon in decades and had forgotten what a beautiful venue it is. I hope to be there again very soon.
Setlist:
1. Love My Way
2. Mr. Jones
3. The Ghost in You
4. Sister Europe
5. Highwire Days
6. Heaven
7. Into You Like a Train
8. The Boy That Invented Rock & Roll
9. Pretty in Pink
10. President Gas
11. Sleep Comes Down
12. India
13. Heartbreak Beat