Music
Concert notes, set lists and personal impressions fill this category. From the dreamy Americana of Lord Huron to Coldplay’s stadium spectacle and intimate performances at the Dakota jazz club, I share what moved me in the moment.
Daft Punk “Alive” may be one of the best electronica AND best live albums there are.
Girlyman with Edie Carey at City Winery ← That’s us! 😊
Driving out of town with American Pie by Don McLean playing! 🎶
Watching Wilco on Austin City Limits.
Preener's Eve 2011 with The New Standards
Many friends at The New Standards “Preeners” show at Dakota Jazz Club & Restaurant.
Been listening to The Decemberists all night.
Foo Fighters in Council Bluffs
It has been a day since the Foo Fighters show and my ears are still ringing. This had to be one of the loudest shows I’ve been to, and it was great.
Let me start with the bad news. Kent and I had talked about going to this show specifically because Motörhead was opening for the Foo Fighters. Yeah, we wanted to see the Foo Fighters but we also really wanted to see Lemmy and the gang. Kent put it all together and added a couple of other guys to our gang to head down to the show. Sadly, when we got to the Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs there was a sign on the door saying that due to travel problems Motörhead would not be performing. Ugh!
The silver lining though was the 2nd line that said the Foo Fighters would play for 2.5 hours! When Grohl was on stage he said
We’ve got 16 years and a hundred ******* songs. How many of those do you think we can play tonight?
They played all the best of them! I grabbed a couple of video snapshots from the show to give a sense of what it was like. Did I mention it was loud?
I had seen the Foo Fighters play on the Skin & Bones tour. That was nothing like this one. This was a hard, I might even say metal, show. Grohl and the Foos put on an amazing show.
The stage set was pretty cool. They had these 6 “video orbs” on cables that moved around and showed a variety of effects. The stage itself had video projected from underneath on the floor which I still can’t figure out how they did.
There was also a small stage on a platform that lifted about 15 feet in the air toward the back of the main floor. Grohl made a few trips out there and did the solo acoustic songs in the encore on that stage.
I just love this picture that makes the stage look like it’s exploding in light.
If you dig the Foo Fighters, go check out this tour.
The Black Keys: Brothers
I heard an interview with The Black Keys on Fresh Air on MPR. That is probably the least hip way I could describe discovering a cool band like The Black Keys. I picked up their new album Brothers and am loving it. I highly recommend it! Make sure to turn up the volume, especially on “Black Mud”.
Listen to “Calamity Song” off of the new Decemberists, and then listen to “South Central Rain” on R.E.M. Reckoning. First 30 seconds.
Bob Mould at The Dakota
Bob Mould blasting it at The Dakota! Awesome! Start with Wishing Well.
Bob just put away the acoustic. Time for electricity! Is this The Dakota? 🙂
At the Dakota for Ruthie Foster show. Nice!
Preener's Eve 2009 with The New Standards
Just seated at The Dakota for The New Standards show with Tammy, Phoebe, and Dave-O! Their cover of “Androgynous” is awesome. Competes with the original. It is hard to not sing along when they play “Snow Day”.
Simply great song from the The Avett Brothers, I and Love and You.
Aaron Kaercher & His Crazy Neighbors playing outside at Northern Grounds Cafe in Ely, MN.
Waiting for Coldplay to take the stage at Alpine Valley!
Listening to Bad Religion “Generator”. Watch out everyone! 🎶
Preener's Eve 2008 with The New Standards
Just ordered a Blue Monk Lemonade. Seated for The New Standards at The Dakota. Waiting the arrival of Phoebe and Dave-O!
Phoebe after the show.
Following the Blue Monk Lemonade with a Love Supreme. Awesome.
My friend Greg Merkle got his first album on iTunes – it’s really great.