Hartamophone

Just said this in an e-mail, about the shows I saw: Really engaging stuff. And a little more restrained and deliberate than what is often seen with psychedelic bands. I zeroed in on the bass player more than any of the other players, which is unusual for me, but he was great. Creeping all over the fretboard but not in a wanking kind of way, while continually coming back to the main riff to keep everything grounded.

This band will just not stop crushing it. I did a three show run last week: Albany, Philly, and NYC. Wicked fun to hang with edger and c-towns in Albany, the venue in Philly (The Met) was brand new and spectacular, and in NYC they sold out their first ever show at The freakin' Beacon. So great. And in a nod to the ghosts of Beacon past, they encored with Midnight Rider. Classy. Obviously I'm a bit of a gushing fan boy over here, but the skill and intensity of this band is still rising. Their songwriting is spot on, and their jams are increasingly adventurous and go deep into unexpected territory. As I've said before, they're a five-headed, twenty-nine-stringed monster with no sign of slowing down. Their new album All For Money drops today (January 18th), and as a special bonus they're doing a free webcast of their show in St. Louis tonight. Get on it: http://nugs.tv/free/?showID=21.

Saw these guys three times last week opening up for Greensky. Great shows, as expected. Funky and playful but just a little bit dark, almost spooky (technical musical term there), and they are all deadly players. They didn't mix up their short setlist at all over the three shows, but that didn't bother me too much as the songs were hardly formulaic. Bottom line: four heady crystals out of five, would recommend (especially for something longer than an opening set).

See you there! I’ll be at the Beacon on Saturday, too.

Winter tour starts this week, along with a new album! I’ll be at Albany on Thursday (1/10) and the freakin’ Beacon (!!!) on Saturday. So pumped to see them headlining that room, and Circles Around the Sun are openeing both shows, which should be a nice treat.

I really enjoyed this one, and I’m no Tweedy fan boy by any stretch.

I`ve never seen anything quite like it. There are plenty of tickets still available from the venue (including GA pits), so I`m thinking my buddy was right and that the flood of cheapies on StubHub was an attempt to boost numbers at a undersold show.

I've been following StubHub prices for this show for a few days. That whole time there were literally hundreds of tickets on StubHub, all over the building, most for well under face. I bought a pair of floors for ~$30 all-in, shipped with UPS, which surprised me (the price, the fact they were hard tickets, and the free UPS). I just checked again (it's Thursday night now, the show is Saturday) and almost all of the tickets are gone. There are a few dozen still up, all well above face. There is no way that all of those tickets sold since the last time I checked. Something is off, or at least there's more going on than people trying to unload extras or brokers cutting their losses. I talked to a buddy who knows the industry better than I do, and he suspects that the venue / promoter unloaded a ton onto StubHub for a pittance to try to boost attendance, then pulled them after a few days. That seems like the only logical explanation to me. I just checked again before posting this and now it seems the StubHub website is down. So maybe this is a glitch on their end? Who knows. Anyway...ummm...something something tinfoil hat.

I know a few people around these parts were pleasantly surprised with Dave Matthews Band's set at Bluesfest this year. They're playing Montreal this Saturday and tickets on the secondary market are dirt cheap. Like, nine dollar floor seats kind of cheap. Lots to be found on StubHub. I think I may do a down-and-back for the occasion.

Filed under “Well, let’s just do it and see if anyone will pay for it.” None of these artist announcements excite me, but I like that the buzz is starting so early this year. Bluesfest really is something this city can be proud of, regardless of how you may feel about the lineup in any given year.

Reminiscent of the threee-day cover band festival at the Bluesfest site at the end of the summer. Did anyone hear how that went?

Fake news.

I’d like to be mad but let’s be honest, you just upgraded. Also I’m not sure if I’m going to be there, either.

The TTB convoy - would those be Derek’s trucks? Aloha, Hart

So who’s doing what? I’ll be there Wednesday night for Steve Earle and TTB(!). Unsure beyond that.

Lotta good attitudes in this thread. The band just announced that all Curveball ticket holders will be able to redeem the code on their wristbands for a free webcast of all three nights of Dicks. They'll also be launching an online store to sell the Curveball gear, with proceeds being donated to flood relief and recovery. http://phish.com/news/an-update-for-curveball-ticket-holders/

12 Songs that have come and gone since this thread went into hiberation (July 3rd, 2011) 1. America! - Bill Callahan  2. Grenade - Bruno Mars 3. Somebody That I Used to Know - Gotye 4. Wrecking Ball - can't recall the artist  5. The Miracle Of Joey Ramone - U2 6. Blurred Lines - Robin Thicke 7. Hotline Bling - Drake

Sweet groovin’ drums and organ duo tomorrow night. Make BradM proud and get on it.

Cancelled on account of unsafe drinking water resulting from flooding. What an absolute bummer. My heart goes out to those of you who were looking forward to it, especially those who planned your summer around it. Here’s hoping people can find something else fun to do with the time away from home / work / etc. Still, brutal. Link: http://phish.com/news/curveball-forced-to-cancel/

“Tell you what, Jeffrey, if you really want that guitar then you’ll let your mom cut your hair in the kitchen for a year. After that you can take the money we saved on haircuts and wander on down to music store and buy yourself a six string.”

Also JRAD would be perfect for the Black Sheep stage.

I always would have thought Macca was too big for Bluesfest. But the Foos played to 50,000(ish) people at SkyDome the same week they were at Bluesfest, so clearly it’s capable of handling stadium-sized acts and attendance. Obviously Sir Paul is a bigger draw than Grohl and Company, but given that he doesn’t have a massive stage production, I don’t see why it would be unattainable. Yes, it would be a near-instant sellout, but so what? I suppose the one concern would that be it would overshadow the rest of the festival, but I don’t see that as a major issue. And they could charge whatever they wanted for single day tickets that day, and even have them exempt from full festival passes if they wanted. I realize it’s a long shot, but with the way the festival has gone in the past couple of years (fewer stages and bigger headliners) it seems more doable now than ever. But yeah. Greensky, please.