radiowilco

As long time long time resident of Burlington, VT, I always pay attention to the bands that Higher Ground books around the time of SSF. Alex Crothers, the clubs owner, is also the longtime producer of SSF and Sky Blue Sky. So, Higher Ground has just booked King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard for a mighty two night stand at the club on the Wednesday and Thursday before the first day of SSF. Mdou Moctar, White Denim and Foxygen (amongst others) all played HG over the years either right before or right after the festival. So, I'm kinda' thinking we will see King Gizz in late May at Mass MoCA.

It's amazing... Blue Note has been reissuing some of their best titles under their Tone Poet imprint. Stunning quality and perfect pressings...all of them!

in no particular order - 1) Brittney Howard - Jaime 2) Freddie Gibbs and Madlib - Bandana 3) Sharon Van Etten - Remind Me Tomorrow 4) Big Thief - UFOF and Two Hands 5) Bill Callahan - Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest 6) William Tyler - Goes West 7) Vampire Weekend - Father of the Bride 8) Jeff Tweedy - Warmer 9) Purple Mountains - Purple Mountains 10) Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Ghosteen Reissues: 1) REM - Monster 2) Joe Henderson - State of the Tenor (and all of the Tone Poet reissues from Blue Note) 3) Prince - 1999

I bought GA tickets this morning - this festival comes highly recommended from some friends who have gone every year. $140 for both days is a steal for this type of festival and the terrific line up Shovels and Rope have assembled - this Platinum Pearl package thing is really ridiculous, however... Have never been to Charleston - gonna make a full week of it and hit up Savannah as well!

This is all wrong... it's a real misread from the band about what they think SS fest-goers want on the Friday night. Frankly, I wasn't expecting something out of this world - was kinda hoping for the Friday and the Saturday to be repeat-free shows with a few deep cuts. I haven't seen the band since the last Solid Sound so I am craving two big Wilco shows. 5 to 10 songs, as has been said, could take up to an hour of the show. Gonna try to join the glass is half full club on this one as I am still going for sure.

Angelique Kidjo brought her Talking Heads "Remain In Light" tour to Burlington this evening for a sold out show at the Flynn Center. This was one of very best shows I have seen in a very long time. Angelique has that similar quality to her that Mavis Staples has -- you just want to be in her presence...listening...watching...and soaking up all of the love! She's an amazing performer with a voice that possess huge range and brilliance. The band is sensational. The arrangements of the Talking Heads songs are superb and all of the players have extraordinary chops. I think this is toward

Thanks for tip - I watched this last night... also, it's streaming for free on Amazon for those who are Prime members. I really enjoyed it. The concert footage is excellent - it's an amalgam of all three nights from The Power Station. And, there is ton of songs that include the Wilco boys playing in a variety of set ups with the other musicians. Highlights include an incredible version of At Least That's What You Said and Reservations. Also, a killer version of Fake Plastic Trees with Jeff bringing amazing warmth and beauty to the song. After the song ends - Jeff thanks Ed O'Brien and P

A really enjoyable evening at the Corona Theatre in Montreal last night... Jeff/Wilco always seem to play really well in this great city, and if memory serves, this is the first time that either Jeff or Wilco has played this amazing old theatre across the street from Joe Beef which is one of the very best restaurants in Canada -- perhaps all of N. America? Jeff spent the better part of the evening playing his 1931 Martin, which he reminded the crowd that he used on every recording since the Mermaid Avenue sessions. He continued to tell the story of the "big bust" at the Canadian border. A

Yo La Tengo came through Burlington last night, and as always, really delivered the goods. No opening act and two amazing sets with a great three song encore... This is my tenth time seeing this band over many years and they never disappoint. A wonderful and dreamy first set of "quiet songs" and a deep and dizzying second set of "loud songs," which is such a great way to see them play their music. They played eight songs from their new record "There's A Riot Going On" and the rest were a smattering of their song book from a range of records spanning their entire career. A truly enjoyable e

Well - if there is an antidote to living in Donald Trump's America - it's spending a solid 90 minutes with Mavis and her incredible band! Tonight marked Mavis' first show of 2018 and Burlington showed up in full force for a sold out gig at the Flynn Center. This show marked her first live performances of "Who Told You That," "Build A Bridge," "Little Bit," and "No Time For Cryin'" from If All I Was Was Black. Each of these songs were great, but "No Time For Cryin'" as the encore was particularly powerful. You could feel the anger, frustration and hope in each word as urged the crowd to tak

If memory serves, I think Jeff suggested in St. Paul that bbop should consider touring with The National while Wilco take their much deserved break in 2018... After last night's show at the Metropolis in Montreal - it may be something he should consider doing... or, at least, catching them a few times as they continue to tour on Sleep Well Beast This is my fifth time seeing this band and I continue to be blown away by their live shows (I like their records a lot too). Last night's superb two-hour show was made even more special because the Metropolis is one of the very best rooms to see li

It's tomorrow... Friday at 10am. I'm certain about that - not certain about the password.

LOSEIT = Password for tomorrow's TM presale for Beacon shows???

Best shows of 2016: Margo Price - Higher Ground - Burlington, VTJason Isbell - Flynn Center for Performing Arts - Burlington, VTYo La Tengo - Music Hall - Portsmouth, NHDinosaur Jr - Higher Ground - Burlington, VTBon Iver, Erykha Badu, Senywa, Mavis Staples, William Tyler, Beach House and Day of the Dead - Eaux Claires Festival - Eau Claire, WIPhish (w/Bob Weir) - Ascend Amphitheater, Nashville, TNBad Plus w/Joshua Redman - Lincoln Theatre - Washington, DC

The National played a terrific show last night at Joe's Field. It was great to see the field full of people enjoying a great night of music in the Berkshires to welcome in summer. Storms were predicted - but the thunder and lightning never came, which made for a lovely (if a little chilly) evening. This was my first time seeing The National and I was really impressed with the band. The mix was spot on and the overall sound was amazing. This is a band that is clearly on top of their live game. Matt Berringer's baritone is really something to behold - a truly unique and gorgeous voice. Th

www.relix.com/articles/detail/indie_is_dead_inside_the_massive_day_of_the_dead_compilation “Wilco is in the bag that the Dead were—as much as I don’t get from their records, I get from their live performances,” Weir says. “I’d always heard: ‘You’ve got to hear this band Wilco. They kind of remind me of you guys.’ When I finally heard them live, I was blinded. They play off of each other and they get the songs. When they’re playing, everybody in their band knows every word of that story. You can hear everybody watching the movie in their music.” Really looking forward to the release of "Da

For all of you Deadheads on the board - it appears that The National are very, very close to releasing their Grateful Dead curated tribute record... Will Hermes reports it is five and half hours of music! You can can see the bands and the songs they played in a series of tweets from Hermes in the link below... Hermes tweets that one of the songs on the monster LP is a live recording (presumbly from the AmericanaramA tour) of Bob Weir sitting in with Wilco on a version of St. Stephen. http://www.jambase.com/article/bob-weir-joins-wilco-for-st-stephen-in-2013

Well... I thought it was a good night all around. I was in the 12th row/dead center - and we stood all night. Being a long time Burlington resident, I am always conflicted about seeing rock shows at The Flynn. In some cases - I skip them altogether because the venue does not really lend itself to the full rock n' roll experience. With Higher Ground/Alex Crothers strong relationship with TMM and the band - it would have been way better to book them for two nights at the club instead of a theatre show... That said, I thought the sound was amazing! I will confess to be the being the guy who

Nice! Yes... Stand Tall! Enjoy your day - if you need some suggestions - just let me know.

Thanks bbop - as always, I really enjoy reading your reviews and thoughts on the shows. I will be at the Flynn Theatre tonight (hope you'll finally make a Burlington show) and will head over to Portland tomorrow as well. That will be it for me this winter... Having seen Star Wars indoors back at the Metropolis in September - I couldn't agree more that it is WAY better indoors. I am hoping Burlington brings some real energy to the show tonight. Like most theatre's - the Flynn can suffer from the stand up/sit down issue. I have found that if people get up early - and stay standing through

I agree Vacant Horizon. I think Mayer is just what these guys were looking - but took a while to find. As I said in my earlier post on the Albany show - Mayer really had the Garcia-like tone down cold. Couple that with the fact that he couldn't/shouldn't be a Garcia clone (think John K) - the whole thing really works. Again, there were some tempo issues last night that Weir was driving that don't serve the songs - in my humble view. Also, and again, would be much better if Weir gave all of the Garcia tunes to Mayer to sing... Oteil could be the hidden gem of this group. After listening

Just back from Albany - and I must say, I was really impressed. The first few songs of the first set were a bit shaky and the sound was muddy - they straightened that out by the time John Mayer took control of the He's Gone. The Birdsong - Music to close the first set was superb. The second set was really well played from start to finish. The Lost Sailor - Saint was terrific, but the Help-Slip-Franklin's was the highlight of the evening for my ears. Some Observations: 1) John Mayer can really play and really sing! His guitar had a superb Garcia-like tone throughout the entire evening,

So, Neil Young and Willie Nelson's boys dropped in on Vermont last night to play a show for 11,000 adoring fans of all ages. The show was a clear thank you to Vermont for passsing the nation's first and only GMO labeling law, which he sings about on his new record "The Monsanto Years." Neil was in extremely fine form last night and The Promise of the Real proved to be an excellent backing band on all counts. There were too many tracks played off "The Monsanto Years" for my taste last night, but what are you gonna do? If anyone else sang these songs -- people would shake their heads. But

I grabbed: The 101'ers Neko Case Miles Davis T Monk in San Francisco Johnny Cash Live in Prague Blitzen Trapper - Harvest Live Sun Records RSD 2015 Collection The Replacements The White Stripes A nice haul - glad to support Pure Pop here in Burlington. This place was about to go under until vinyl came roaring back...

I think this came the wrong way Phil, Mickey and Billy are terrific - I loved hearing those guys play during my time seeing the band (mostly 82 to 85). I just meant that Russo/Driewitz had a sound all ofg their own - and I liked it a lot!!! I know, right?!?!?!