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stc

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13 hours ago, nolongerU2horn said:

 

 

Crap.  I couldn’t go last night.  Will see them today but afraid Matt will either mail it in or be too drunk given what seems to be a great show last night.  

Last time he had an early evening slot like this at ACL (2009 or so) he was shitfaced.  They were really good in their afternoon set in 2013.  

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I saw Shellac last night at my favorite venue, Great America Music Hall. Incredible. One of the best shows I've seen this year.

Gary Clark Jr was Tuesday at the Fillmore. I'd never seen him live before, he killed it.

Monday was a metal show at Elbo Room with Satan headlining. Great show but got a little long after 3 metal bands. Place was fucking packed with headbangers.

We had Hardly Strictly Bluegrass over the weekend. I only went Saturday after the game and caught Los Lobos, Graham Nash, and Steve Earl. All were decent for an outdoor fesival, but I really liked Graham Nash's set.

 

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Saw Car Seat Headrest this Friday at Showbox Market by Pike Place Market. For personal reasons it was a transcendent experience.

They opened up with Bullet With Butterfly Wings which rocked. I have video of it but it’s a little grainy. But sounds is good if people request.

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Saw Jamey Johnson. Good but interesting show. All about the music with with just a little talking, very similar to Chris Stapleton. Show was interesting in that the first ½-⅔ was his material and the remainder was covers and then he closed with a gospel medley.  It almost felt like three distinct sets/shows  

 

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On a whim, I went to see Ages and Ages at Polaris Hall in Portland friday night.  I had listened to a couple of their new songs and thought they had a Portugal, the Man meets Broken Social Scene vibe.  Wow, they were so much more than I had expected.  Everybody but the drummer sings and there is a lot of harmonizing.  I was really impressed. 

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After their set they walked of the stage and milled about next to the stage.  After a short pause they came back up and played one of their more well known tracks "Divisionary (Do the right thing)".  After finishing they walked off stage again and stood there.  This venue has no backstage for the band to retire to.  The singer got back on the mic and said that they hadn't prepared anything else but there was nowhere for them to go.  He called out to a bunch of former members of the band that were in the audience, grabbed an acoustic guitar, and told them to meet him in the middle of the floor.  The current and former members of the band met under the chandelier and performed an acoustic version of the song "No nostalgia".  It was a moving experience.  I think I might have been the only person in the audience that didn't know the words because everybody else joined in and sang their hearts out.

I know this picture doesn't do justice to the moment but it was an incredible experience and I'm glad I got to witness it.

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On 10/21/2018 at 5:09 PM, Rip76 said:

White Denim killed last night at White Oak.

And the opener was bad ass.

Rotem Sivan Trio.  Jeez dude can play guitar.  Sort of Steve Howe-ish.

Seeing them in Austin Friday night. Seeing Ghostland Observatory the night before at Stubbs. Gonna be a nice long weekend. 

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On 10/17/2018 at 11:03 AM, OkieLite Fan said:


Should be a great show. They’re really coming into their own as live musical performers. Have fun!


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Mentioned this upthread, but CSH at Brooklyn Steel recently was probably a top 10 show for me. Here is a decent clip of their opener (a bad ass Lou Reed cover).

 

 

 

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All them witches at antones. I guess their keyboard player quit the band recently. They played a short set, barely an hour, mostly songs off the new album. It was very good, weird to hear those songs without keys though.

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Just returned from Bass Hall Ft. Worth where Dwight Yoakam played a show benefitting the UNT Health Science Center.  His Bakersfield country was as on point as always featuring tributes to Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, and Ferlin Husky. Always enjoyed his catalog and hearing A Thousand Miles from Nowhere still reminds me of how great country music can sound when performed by a great performer. Having seen him at Billy Bob's on a number of occasions, it was refreshing to hear that nasal twang voice echoing off the ceiling of the Bass, dubbed the Carnegie Hall of Texas by Yoakam.  His backing musicians were outstanding as well and the 90 minutes with one two song encore gave all who attended their money's worth. 

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tv on the radio at stubb's. it was cold and raining...but somehow that made it even better. the crowd for the most part stuck it out and braved the rain, even seemed to give people a little more energy. the band, in turn, seemed appreciative that people were willing to stand in the rain to listen to them so they put some extra effort into it. played pretty much the same setlist as when I saw them a few years ago, which is fine. thought the sound was not quite right for the first few songs and wasn't loud enough...they seemed to have solved all of that by the 3rd song though. good show, glad the weather didn't ruin it. 

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Simple MInds last Friday at ACL Live was outstanding. I think most people forgot about them after the Breakfast Club soundtrack, but they made some great albums in the 90's. The new album is also very good. JIm Kerr mentioned the last time they were in Austin was the 80's. It was my first show at the Moody and I had GA. It felt like a club show.  I really the size of the theater and the sound was very good. 

The best part about "heritage acts"? No one holds up their phone for the whole show.   

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Saw Jack Ingram and Hayes Carll with just the two of them on stage telling stories and playing songs, Jack was much more talkative and interactive than Hayes. The show was one of the more fun I’ve been to lately even though the set list was fairly limited. 

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On 11/9/2018 at 8:48 AM, stc said:

tv on the radio at stubb's. it was cold and raining...but somehow that made it even better. the crowd for the most part stuck it out and braved the rain, even seemed to give people a little more energy. the band, in turn, seemed appreciative that people were willing to stand in the rain to listen to them so they put some extra effort into it. played pretty much the same setlist as when I saw them a few years ago, which is fine. thought the sound was not quite right for the first few songs and wasn't loud enough...they seemed to have solved all of that by the 3rd song though. good show, glad the weather didn't ruin it. 

Sucks that they cut the setlist short by 2-3 songs though

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On 10/20/2018 at 12:15 AM, Archer said:

Saw Jamey Johnson. Good but interesting show. All about the music with with just a little talking, very similar to Chris Stapleton. Show was interesting in that the first ½-⅔ was his material and the remainder was covers and then he closed with a gospel medley.  It almost felt like three distinct sets/shows  

 

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Absolutely love Jamey Johnson.  Such a powerful voice. 

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9 minutes ago, Chad Fuck said:

He’s one of the best going. I love that (at least when I saw him) he essentially plays two shows in one. His own stuff, then a ton of classic country that emphasizes his is the best hard swinging bar band on the planet.

Pretty much.  One of the reasons he was more or less ostracized by the Nashville circuit (that and his drug arrests).  He won't slide into the mold, would rather play at Billy Bob's 50x per year than stadium crowds. 

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Saturnalia was once again a really good time. There must have been fewer than 500 people there each day, which is a shame because they clearly expected more, but it's also why it was so enjoyable. 

Friday:

Billy King and the Bad Bad Bad (Austin): Solid as always, their guitarist is incredible. 

Nolan Potter's Nightmare band (Austin): Zappa-esque jazz/rock fusion. Crazy time signatures and good hooks. Liked them a lot. 

Continental Drift (Austin): Funk mixed with latin psych, very talented musicians. Enjoyable but a little repetitive. 

Saturday:

Being Dead (Austin)- Two piece lo-fi pscyh folk. Not really my thing. 

Sunbuzzed (Denton)- Chicks playing garage rock with a lot of screaming. Not bad. 

Wild Bill and the Lost Knobs (Austin): Had a Dough Sahm groovy country vibe on some songs, more cow-punk on others. Did a killer cover of the Butthole Surfers "Pepper" that may have been the heaviest thing I heard all weekend. 

Octopus Project (Austin): They haven't done it for me the past couple times I've seen them but this set was excellent. Watching her play the theremin is great. 

Golden Dawn Arkestra (Austin): Always a good time. Like pfunk mixed with the cult aspect of polyphonic spree. Good psychedelic jazz/funk with about 20 people on stage. 

 

Sunday: 

Creation Factory (LA): 60's style garage psych. Not overly inspiring but pretty solid. 

Modular Sun (Austin): more garage psych, this time with synth. not bad. 

The Sun Machine (Austin): 60's garage psych again. good, but nothing to set them apart from anyone else. 

Lumerians (San Francisco): instrumental space rock, very synth heavy and droning. they performed in sequined robes and hoods with their faces fully obscured and two red lights for eyes. thought they were really good. 

Mystic Braves (LA): remind me a lot of the Allah Las, garage beach psych. they were awesome, definitely the best garage psych band of the day. 

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Ghost at Bass. That place is a terrible venue for rock shows. Fuck their militant security and $13 Karbach beers. It's like going through god damned airport security trying to get in there. 

As for the concert, 2 full sets with a 15 minute intermission. Played damn near everything I wanted to hear. The Papa Nihil sax solo in Miasma was awesome.  The banter is normally short and entertaining but he was a little long winded last night, and not in a good way.  They sounded excellent though, great show.  

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Saw Wavves at Revolution Hall in Portland.  This is a relatively new venue in Portland that they converted from an old high school.  Inside there are bars, restaurants and a good sized concert venue.  Really cool concept and property.  I was surprised that the show was as sparsely attended as it was with only 200-300 people in the audience.  There was plenty of space on the floor and I eventually strolled right up to the stage.

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This was the last show of their tour and things went off the rails towards the end of the show.  The lead singer, Nathan, was on his second bottle of Jameson and I was able to witness the lights going out in his eyes.  He asked for someone to provide him with weed.  Which, as you might surmise, happened rather quickly.  Shortly thereafter he decided it would be a good idea to smash his guitar.

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Looks like I got a new momento to go with the poster for my garage.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Ghost at Bass. That place is a terrible venue for rock shows. Fuck their militant security and $13 Karbach beers. It's like going through god damned airport security trying to get in there. 
As for the concert, 2 full sets with a 15 minute intermission. Played damn near everything I wanted to hear. The Papa Nihil sax solo in Miasma was awesome.  The banter is normally short and entertaining but he was a little long winded last night, and not in a good way.  They sounded excellent though, great show.  


That’s pretty much exactly my review from the Atlanta show. I loved it. The sax solo is the best thing I’ve seen on stage all year.

How does a band with eight members make any money?
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gary clark jr. i've seen him at sxsw and opening for other people, but this is the first proper set i've seen. it was good but i wasn't blown away. he does this thing where he gets stuck playing this one style of solo that's very staccato and choppy sounding, he did that for like 6 songs in a row at the beginning of the set and it was pretty tiring. it was refreshing when he brought out a couple of other guitarists to share solos...paul walker and some other guy? eventually he changed it up and got into more of a groove and that's where the set was at its best. definitely moments of greatness, also moments of boredom. 2 hours did pass very quickly though. was pretty surprised when he brought out the dude from think no think to play on bright lights during the encore...didn't know that dude could shred like that. 

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kurt vile at acl live. the place was not very full...floor was at maybe 75% and it looked like there were about 20 people in upper seating. his latest album is probably my least favorite of his stuff, but the song choices from that album were mostly the ones I like. the first three songs felt a little flat but the band seemed to pick things up a bit after I'm an Outlaw. the rest of the set was really good...kv crimes was the highlight for me. he played about 12 guitars over the course of the night and played acoustic more than i recall from the previous times i've seen him. 

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On ‎11‎/‎5‎/‎2018 at 10:48 PM, pch said:

Just returned from Bass Hall Ft. Worth where Dwight Yoakam played a show benefitting the UNT Health Science Center.  His Bakersfield country was as on point as always featuring tributes to Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, and Ferlin Husky. Always enjoyed his catalog and hearing A Thousand Miles from Nowhere still reminds me of how great country music can sound when performed by a great performer. Having seen him at Billy Bob's on a number of occasions, it was refreshing to hear that nasal twang voice echoing off the ceiling of the Bass, dubbed the Carnegie Hall of Texas by Yoakam.  His backing musicians were outstanding as well and the 90 minutes with one two song encore gave all who attended their money's worth. 

Dwight is always awesome.  My favorite country artist of all time and it's not even close.  

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4 hours ago, stc said:

kurt vile at acl live. the place was not very full...floor was at maybe 75% and it looked like there were about 20 people in upper seating. his latest album is probably my least favorite of his stuff, but the song choices from that album were mostly the ones I like. the first three songs felt a little flat but the band seemed to pick things up a bit after I'm an Outlaw. the rest of the set was really good...kv crimes was the highlight for me. he played about 12 guitars over the course of the night and played acoustic more than i recall from the previous times i've seen him. 

Do you recall what time he went on and what time the show ended? He's playing here in Dallas tonight and I'm contemplating trying to hit part of his show and George Porter Jr. George Porter goes on later (10:30 listed showtime). 

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2 hours ago, hurricanebevo said:

Do you recall what time he went on and what time the show ended? He's playing here in Dallas tonight and I'm contemplating trying to hit part of his show and George Porter Jr. George Porter goes on later (10:30 listed showtime). 

He went on at 9:10 and played til about 10:45. 

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Friday night in Tyler:

100 minute set from Robert Cray, who came out swinging with a particularly groovy version of Phone Booth and never let up. 

He tiptoed nicely through his 40 year spanning discography, covering many moods and styles, constantly improvising solos and putting on an impressive Blues guitar clinic. 

Still a good looking, charming, and energetic dude, entertaining as hell and still sounds exactly the same vocally as he ever did. I’m guessing the guy either has good genes or really takes care of himself.

Left us waltzing out the door with the haunting strains of Time Takes Two in our heads. 

Sheer perfection...

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  • 1 month later...

built to spill at antone's last night. first time seeing them as a trio, the songs were fare more sparse than i'm accustomed to. doug martsch played some combination of rhythm and lead on most songs, for a few songs he never touched the lead part which was weird. the bass player was very talented, she filled in some of the guitar parts on bass...but i also felt like she rushed the tempo at times. good setlist, i would hurt a fly was killer. unfortunately no carry the zero. overall good, but needed more guitar.  

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  • 2 weeks later...

Saw The Lemon Twigs at Wonder Ballroom in Portland. Fun show. It's been awhile since I've seen a band with a great front man. Lead singer was the love child of Mick Jagger and David Lee Roth. Lots of high kicks and strutting about.676ec1025a451bea84dc0ccc195810af.jpg

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Caught B.J. Barham (leader of American Aquarium) on Sunday night.  200 seat music room in Atlanta.  Great show....funny as hell, but very introspective.  He treats his audience like Justin Townes Earle should.   HIGHLY recommend seeing him.  Songs are more like Ryan Bingham, with better, stronger vocals.    Reminds me of Jon Dee Graham.  Clip doesn't show how funny he is...but shows his songwriting talent and vocal strength.  

 

 

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Saw Thumpasuarus last night at the Doug Fir Lounge in Portland, Or.  This was the first night of their first national tour.

Hysterically Awesome!  Had a smile on my face the whole set.  I have no idea how to describe them.  They opened with the song posted below with the video playing in the background on a large screen.  That set the tone for the rest of the show - and they did not disappoint.  Loved their use and integration of video into their performance.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Caught Darden Smith at a house concert near Atlanta.  120 people there.  He did readings from his new book, "The Habit of Noticing" and played 16 songs, mostly newer stuff, relatively.  He actually flew out here from Austin just for the show.  I've been listening to him for over 30 years and seen him more times than I can count.  Dude has a great story about his life and how to impact others.     

 

Plus, Jeff Plankenhorn posted a cool picture that morning from the Austin airport.  Jeff, Darden and Sam Baker were all getting on flights to different towns for solo shows.  Darden said he almost missed his flight because they got caught up talking.  

 

 

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