TimmyB

Unfortunately I'll be missing this gig but I have to make my choices especially when there are so many to make. Being such a big fan of The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Gram Parsons and The Eagles, I'll be seeing Chris Hillman and Bernie Leadon do the tribute to Gram Parsons as the Burrito Brothers that night.

But like many bands that are soon coming to the area and I'm missing for somebody else at least I saw them recently at bonnaroo. Artists like Taj Mahal tonight where I'm seeing Eric Clapton and Robert Randolph and the Family Band at the HSBC Arena instead. Gomez where I'll be checking out the tour opener of Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson. And the aforementioned Los Lobos show. I really don't understand why some people don't want to go to bonnaroo each year. Even if you only go to the headlining sets and a a couple of other of your favorite artists you still get your moneys worth.

God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost.

That's a great shot, secondtube. You didn't take that at the ACC, did you?

Bruce Hornsby in Toronto is now sold out! I hope all of you planning on getting a ticket, gottem.

I sent a prayer out to him tonight.

I hope this doesn't sound too selfish secondtube but I hope to see him perform again like we saw him at the John Labbatt Centre a couple of months ago. How great was that gig?

It was my third time seeing the Thin White Duke and it was the best of the bunch. I love how all these old artists are still pulling off great concerts and they're all nearing their sixties or already are there. Rock gods like Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton and Bowie too.

It seems like posting another roll call for Eric Clapton at the HSBC Arena would be a bit of a waste of time as I don't think anyone off this forum went other than me.

But for anyone who can afford it and like Clapton even just a bit and are able to cross the border, I hope you read my review of the ACC show and it helps you decide to go. Trust me you won't be disappointed.

To those that have seen one or both of Clapton's last couple of tours, this show is different, and by different I mean better. Not just because of the inclusion of Clapton classics like "Badge," "Let It Rain" and "Got To Get Better In A Little While." But also he is not playing any of his weaker material off his last few records like "Change Your World" and most of the tunes off of "Reptile."

But the main reason this tour is better than the last few tours is because of one man, and his name is Doyle Bramhall II.

I don't want to diminish what Andy Fairweather Low did in Clapton's band in previous tours. I fondly remember Andy's amazing playing during their cover of Big Joe Turner's song "Got You On My Mind" in 2001. Andy is a great compliment to any player in the genre of rock and blues.

It's that Doyle is around a quarter of a century younger than Clapton and has shot some youth into Clapton's playing. I read about while he was touring Europe in a spring and I got to witness it myself on Wednesday at the Air Canada Centre.

Also Doyle being an American born and raised from Austin, Texas. Where at sixteen was playing with Jimmie Vaughan in the Fabulous Thunderbirds. Growing up in a family where his father was a drummer with Lightning Hopkins and collaborated with Jimmie and Stevie Ray Vaughan, he obviously knows how to kick the guitar into overdrive.

Clapton reminds me right now of when he was performing with artists that were mostly from the American south and he was on Tulsa time.

Anyway I said I wasn't going to do a roll call and now it seems I have. Who's coming to see God?

I saw Taj Mahal recently at bonnaroo. It was the first time I saw him and it was fantastic! He has such a unique style to the blues, that many try and copy.

Since I'm seeing Eric Clapton and Robert Randolph and the Family Band at the HSBC Arena on the same night I won't be able to see Taj Mahal again this summer. But to all that go I know you will enjoy him.

(AP, 07/08/2004 10:16 PM)

By The Associated Press

Musician David Bowie underwent an emergency angioplasty to open blocked heart artery in Germany and is recuperating, his spokesman said Friday.

Doctors discovered the blockage after the 57-year-old Bowie sough treatment after performing in the German town of Scheesel on June 25, according to the spokesman, Julian Stockton.

A pinched nerve was initially cited as the cause of shoulder pain that forced Bowie to shorten a June 23 performance in Prague and eventually to cancel the remainder of a European tour.

Stockton did not specify the date of the procedure but said it was after the June 25 show. Bowie left the clinic in Hamburg, Germany early this week and is now with his family in New York.

Stockton quoted Bowie as saying, "Can't wait to be fully recovered and get bact to work again. I tell you what, though, I won't be writing a song about this one."

The British Bowie, who was born David Jones, gained stardom with his grounbreaking 1972 album "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust," following it up with albums including "Young Americans" a few years later and "Let's Dance" in 1983, another huge seller. His latest album "Reality" was the centerpiece of his tour.

He is married to the supermodel Iman.

I just saw Gomez for the second time at bonnaroo and they were a lot of fun. I still feel their first album is their best, but their newest one "Split The Difference" (Hutt/Virgin, 2004) is still great stuff.

I like many of you was planning to see Gomez along with Wilco, The Flamining Lips, The String Cheese Incident, etc. at Lollapalooza on August 6th before it got cancelled.

But after it got cancelled I picked up a tickets for the opening of The Bob Dylan Show tour. Where Dylan is headlining with Willie Nelson through out Minor League ballparks through the month of August. The opening of the tour on the 6th of August is in Cooperstown, New York the home of the Baseball Hall Of Fame.

What I'm saying is I can't make it to Gomez, but if it weren't for my favorite artist (along with Neil Young) I'd be at the Opera House with all of ya'll.

I made a valiant effort to make it after the Eric Clapton concert which ended relatively early 10:24pm! But the line up to get out of underground parking screwed me big time.

When I ran up to the Casbah's doors Best had just gotten off.

On a funny side note, my girlfriend Rachael called me from her work a couple of days ago and said to me that she just served Pete Best, or at least she thought she did. A few regulars at the bar said it was him. She replied to them "You mean the first drummer in the Beatles?" They were so impressed, I'm so proud of her.

I forgot to mentions the end time to the Eric Clapton show.

The set ended 10:24pm (Total time 1 hour and 51 minutes)

Hey bouche,

Looks like you're right infront of me, nice work, I'll definitely introduce myself at the show.

Unfortunately I'll be in the crappy seats for Prince, SEC 319 ROW 11 SEATS 18 AND 19. So I won't be able to get on stage at Prince. But I'll definitely be getting on stage with Bruce if he lets us. In Buffalo two years ago I ended up dancing right beside Hornsby during "Jacob's Ladder."

Hey MarcO,

I told Laurie about the gig a couple of days ago and told her to tell you about it. I even said that if she called me last night while I was at Eric Clapton I would have gotten you guys tickets.

After service charges the ticket came to $39.10.

Wilco's show at the Mod Club is already sold out! This is the first time to my knowledge that Wilco sold out a gig in Toronto in one day.

I hope everybody that wanted a ticket got one.

Hey bouche, I agree with your "Holy Crap" comment, I too will be attending both shows.

I got a ticket in section LFTFRT row B seat 12! I checked after I got back home and the tickets were selling not too quickly. I checked again now and it looks like it's selling better now.

If anybody wants to go to the show they better get tickets soon, before it sells out.

I had seen Eric Clapton five times before last night and Clapton being my favorite guitarist of all-time I thought each show was great. We'll last night was the greatest yet! But first the opener.

Going to the last three bonnaroo's you're bound to see Robert Randolph somewhere even if you didn't go to his own set. This is what happened to me. Each year as Robert Randolph was playing his set I was seeing someone else. The first year I was seeing Ben Harper and Galactic during both of Roberts sets. The second year I saw a bit of his set with Susan Tedeschi on lead vocals performing "Devil In Desguise" and "Purple Haze," between Emmylou Harris and Leo Kottke and Mike Gordon. The last year I missed him again because I was tired, wet and cold. Though in the first year I did see him perform "Meat" with moe. and the second I saw him play with Widespread Panic with Warren Haynes, they did J.J. Cales "Ride Me High" and Panic's "Chilly Water." So finally last night I saw Randolph perform a whole set even if it was only an opening slot for a Clapton concert.

Like all Air Canada Centre show openers Randolph came out within a minute or two from the start time, which was 7:30pm. The crowd unfortunately sat the entire set but for an older crowd they were still respectively receptive. I've always felt that Randolph is the Jimi Hendrix of pedal steel guitar, and he doesn't hide it by performing an intrumental version of "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)." The set also included a cover of Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready." For the final song "I Don't Know What You Come To Do" the band changed intruments over and over again which was fun to watch.

Eric Clapton took the stage a little after 8:30pm casually walking out playing his new graphitti guitar. Then the show opened with "Let It Rain" from Eric's much overlooked debut solo album released in 1970. The band with Eric had many players that have been with Clapton for years.

Nathan East on bass, is now celebrating his 20th anniversary with Clapton being apart of every Eric Clapton tour since 1984, minus the "Nothing But The Blues Tour" in 1994. I have also seen Nathan perform with Phil Collins in the nineties. Nathan is also a co-founder of the jazz supergroup Fourplay with keayboardist Bob James, drummer Harvey Masson and guitarist Larry Carlton.

Chris Stainton on keyboards, is from from Sheffield, England. Chris started out playing bass with Joe Cocker in the original "Grease Band" in 1966 before moving to keyboards in 1968. Chris joined Clapton's for the 1979 tour and was also apart of Clapton's 1994 tour.

Steve Gadd on drums, is from Rochester, New York. Gadd was also apart of Claton's "Reptile World Tour" in 2001. Steve has also played with Paul Simon (who I saw him with), Steely Dan, Carly Simon, Paul McCartney, James Taylor, George Benson and Aretha Franklin.

Doyle Bramhall on guitar, is from Austin, Texas. Doyle started out in the Arc Angels in 1992, that consisted of Charlie Sexton on guitar with Stevie Ray Vaughan's rhythm section, Double Trouble. After they broke up Doyle started a solo career in 1996. In the late nineties not only Eric Clapton took notice of him being used on Clapton's last three albums, but Roger Waters did as well. Doyle played David Gilmour's part during Waters 1999/2000 "In The Flesh Tour". Andy Fairweather Low was also a guitarist with Waters on that tour and was the guitarist that Doyle has replaced as Clapton's second guitarist. This is Doyle's first tour with Clapton.

Billy Preston on keyboards, started his career playing with Ray Charles (may he rest in peace) and Little Richard. He went on to greater fame performing with the Beatles during the "Let It Be" and "Abbey Road" sessions and was apart of the famous rooftop performance. Billy has also toured with The Rolling Stones, the Jackson Five, Quincy Jones, Aretha Franklin and Sammy Davis Jr. Billy also had a successful solo career in the seventies and had a number one hit with "Will It Go Round In Circles" that the Trey Anastasio Band has been known to perform.

There were also two female backing vocalists, named Michelle John and Sharon White. Who were both apart of the recent Roxy Music reunion tours.

The next few tunes included my first "Walk Out In The Rain" which is a song Bob Dylan gave to Clapton for his "Backless" album in 1978. It's a song that Dylan has never released and was very happy to see it live.

After five songs Clapton and the band sat down and did an amazing set of Robert Johnson songs off his recent tribute to his favorite bluesman called "Me And Mr Johnson." The set included "Me And The Devil Blues," "They're Red Hot," "Milk Calf Blues," "(If I Had) Possession Over Judgement Day" and "Kind Hearted Woman."

The rest of the show was Clapton hits. Highlights for me lncluded the not often heard enough Derek And The Domino's song "Got To Get Better In A Little While." The song was recorded for the never finished second Dominos record and ended up on the live Domino's set "In Concert" that was later reissued as "Live At The Fillmore." It has the classic Clapton line "The sun has got to shine on my guitar someday."

Another highlight was my first time seeing "Badge" the song was cowritten with George Harrison for Cream's "Goodbye" album in 1968.

In the encore Robert Randolph came out to play on "Sunshine Of Your Love" and "I Got My Mojo Working." While Randolph was on stage the band was all smiles especially Clapton and Bramhall II.

During the course of the show I felt that Doyle Bramhall II really kicked Clapton into overdrive. It was great seeing Clapton perform a with a younger guitarist. If anyone missed this show and are able to cross the border, they should go and see Clapton at the HSBC in Buffalo, New York this Friday (July 9).

Here are the setlists from the show:

Robert Randolph and the Family Band

Start time 7:31pm

1. Good Times

2. Nobody

3. People Get Ready

4. Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)

5. I Don't Know What You Come To Do

Finish time 8:08pm (total time 37 minutes)

Eric Clapton

8:32pm

1. Let It Rain

2. Hoochie Coochie Man

3. Walk Out In The Rain

4. I Want A Little Girl

5. Shot The Sheriff

6. Me And The Devil Blues

7. They're Red Hot

8. Milkcows Calf Blues

9. (If I Had) Possession Over Judgement Day

10. Kind Hearted Woman

11. Got To Get Better In A Little While

12. Have You Ever Loved A Woman

13. Badge

14. Wonderful Tonight

15. Layla

16. Cocaine

Encore: 17. Sunshine Of Your Love (with Robert Randolph)

18. I Got My Mojo Working (with Robert Randolph)

from, www.billboard.com

"Neil Young, Barenaked Ladies, Randy Bachman and his son Tal are confirmed for a Sept. 17 benefit concert on Vancouver Island. The show, to be held at the 2,500-seat Cowichan Theathre, will benefit the Crofton Airshed Citizens Group, a community-based organization currently battling a local pulp mill's proprosal to burn alternative fuels such as coal, tires and railway ties to reduce fuel costs.

"Tickets go on sale Firday (July 9), with proceeds supporting an independent study of the health and enviornmental impacts of the mill."

I remember talking recently about the greatest Canadian songs of all-time post here. I think one of mine will be performed at this show with Randy and Neil. They'll definitely be performing "Prairie Town" together. I wish I could go.

Wanna hear something funny? Well let me tell you, Ringo Starr was born on this day in 1940. Though his he wasn't known as Ringo Starr right away, he was born Richard Starkey.

I hope I can get back from the Eric Clapton show in time to see the Pete Best Band if only for a little bit on Ringo Starr's birthday!

I guess I'm the only one going to see Slowhand tonight? Hey secondtube, What about you? You said you might go, are you?

I saw Shannon Lyon for the first time a few weeks ago opening for Jay Farrar at Lee's Palace. I didn't know who he was at the time, even though my girlfriend and MarcO and his girlfriend had been trying to get me into him of quite some time.

I really enjoyed it and will definitely be going to the show at PJC next Thursday. And now that I have seen him and thought he was great, I won't be getting dragged in either.

I just found out there was a presale today at noon through www.wilcoworld.net when you hit on shows read the bottom where it says "If tickets are sold via wilcoworld/music today, it means they they go on sale here." Click on here to access. The password is foxtrot.

The mod club is a very small venue of under six hundred and the last time Wilco played here they sold out the Kool Haus which is over two thousand. So if you are going to go get them now.

HOUSE OF BLUES CONCERTS

ERIC CLAPTON

www.ericclapton.com

AIR CANADA CENTRE

WED JULY 7 2004 7:30PM

WITH SPECIAL GUEST ROBERT RANDOLPH AND THE FAMILY BAND

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Go to this show! Eric Clapton is in fine form and has an amazing band by his side. And for those worried about the material he is performing, don't fret. The set is all classic Slowhand and and a few songs from his recent album tributing the king of the delta blues, Robert Johnson, entitled "Me And Mr Johnson" (Duck/Reprise, 2004).

Plus the opener isn't too bad either.

If you can't make it to the ACC tomorrow night, Clapton will be at the HSBC ARENA in BUFFALO, NY on FRI JUL 9, 2004

Tickets will be going on sale at 10am this Thursday July 8.

Looks like Wilco and Bruce Hornsby tickets will be going on sale at the same time. What a great day for on sales!

I can not wait to see this gig! Hornsby is always an intimate show even if he is playing with his band. Now solo it will be even more so, with him changing things up mid-song and taking requests all night long.

As for the price of the ticket, I have no problem with it, and feel it's reasonable. I know someone who has spoken to Wilco's road manager in the fall of 2002. The manager said that Wilco will book themselves anywhere they can get, as they do not make much off their tours.

Now that they have a Top 10 album in "A Ghost Is Born," which debuted at number 8 in the Billboard 200 Album Charts, they have every right to try and cash in and allow themselves some comfort.

The Wilco show tickets will still be under $50 for a single, which in a world where the average is creeping up to $100 for a show, under $50 isn't so bad.

HOUSE OF BLUES CONCERTS

WILCO

LEGAL AGE 19

THE MOD CLUB

722 COLLEGE ST WEST

TUE AUG 3, 2004 DRS 8PM

CA $35.00 PLUS SERVICE CHARGES

The on sale date has yet to be announced but www.wilcoworld.com said that it will be on sale this week.

When I see the on sale date I will post it.

I am very happy that Wilco is still coming to Toronto after the the cancellation of Lollapalooza.