A Show of Force as the Fighting Foo Rock St. Lou -- Concert Review: Foo Fighters

Concert Review

Foo Fighters
w/ Rise Against, Mariachi El Bronx
September 17, 2011
Scottrade Center, St. Louis, MO
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When you take a 6-hour bus ride to attend a concert, you appreciate when the band you went to see plays for nearly 3 hours and is supported by a pair of solid opening acts.

But 16 years down the road from being hatched as Dave Grohl's post-Nirvana solo project--as celebrated in James Moll's fine recent documentary, Back And Forth--the Foo Fighters are one of the surest things in rock 'n roll.

Seeing them for the first time back in 1996 and several times since, I have never been disappointed by Grohl & Co. as they have consistently delivered ferocious, fan-friendly concerts. They are pretty much an automatic in terms of wanting to see them anytime they hit Chicago, and their new album, Wasting Light, is one of their best in years (my review here), even if it covers much of the same territory as their past 6 records.

Having appreciated how the band has grown in popularity over its surprisingly enduring career--who would've foreseen Grohl fighting Foo for more than 5 times longer than his Nirvana tenure?--it was cool to see them hook the Sunday night headlining slot at this year's Lollapalooza festival. However, my days of comfortably standing in a field for hours have long since passed--even without withstanding thunderstorms, as occurred during Foo's Lolla set--so I took a pass on Foo Fighters' only Chicago-area appearance (aside from a pre-Lolla set at Metro). Plus, Lollapalooza tickets were about $90 + fees for a single-day pass; opting instead to catch Foo Fighters' arena show in St. Louis, I spent less than that for the show and the Mega Bus to get there and back.

Mariachi El Bronx, an outfit that blends hard rock with mariachi music (while dressed in mariachi uniforms) opened they show. Although clearly quirky, it was soon apparent that the musicianship went beyond the gimmick, and the half-hour set was rather enjoyable. 

Then came Rise Against, a Chicago-based punk(ish) band, that has enjoyed a fair amount of success, but with whom I was largely unfamiliar. What I had heard before the show sounded fine, but well short of fantastic, and I would categorize their 45-minute set the same way. Another concertgoer who I had met on the Mega Bus had raved about Rise Against and the depth & social awareness of their lyrics, but especially in a hockey arena, the songs and any messages were largely indistinguishable to the uninitiated. Rise Against rocked hard and seemed earnest and appreciative, but this song was the only one I kind of knew. If there's something phenomenal about this band, I haven't caught onto it yet, but for a support act, they were sufficiently solid.

A little after 9:00pm, the Foo Fighters took the stage. And other than the encore break, they didn't leave it until 11:50pm.

As Dave Grohl said from the stage, "We're not one of these bands that plays for just 90 minutes."

I'm not sure why such proclamations need to be made, rather than simply proven, but for all his eternal alt-rock cred, Grohl does at times venture into arena rock parody. But as Foo Fighters' humorous videos would attest, Grohl doesn't take himself too seriously and his silly stage patter is much more amiable than irritating.

Plus, Grohl proved the power of a good laugh the day before in Kansas City (I wasn't there) when in the face of having the Foo Fighters' show there picketed by the nutjobs of Westboro Baptist Church, the band did this:



So, cheap tickets, long shows and a band that is clearly a force for good add up to rock 'n roll that is worth traveling for. Onstage, Foo Fighters delivered a fairly standard setlist--I wish they would mix things up a bit more and bring back "I'll Stick Around"--but what they lacked in spontaneity was made up for aplenty by good old fashioned firepower.

Old songs like "My Hero," "Learn to Fly," "Monkey Wrench" and show closer "Everlong" blended nicely with tracks from Wasting Light such as "Bridge Burning," "Rope," "Arlandria," "Walk" and "Dear Rosemary." Ironically, the quietest of the new cuts, "I Should've Known," in which Grohl is supposedly singing about Kurt Cobain, came off as the most powerful.

Which gets to the one weakness of the show, which is that although the Foo Fighters delivered their music about as well as I could have hoped, I couldn't avoid noting the relative lack of depth and diversity among their many fun-yet-facile songs. The Foo do what they do better than 99% of their peers, but two weeks after seeing Pearl Jam and in a year when I've also given @@@@@ to concerts by Paul McCartney, U2, Soundgarden, Arcade Fire and Roger McGuinn, the 1/2@ deduction is more substantial than it may seem and due not to onstage execution, but to the relative simplicity of the songwriting.

For all his myriad talents--one of rock's best drummers ever, a highly successful singer & guitarist, an extremely personable front man and a seemingly all-around good guy--Grohl could stand to dig quite a bit deeper as a composer and lyricist. But perhaps to get closer to Nirvana, he'd have to go to places in his psyche he'd rather not mine or reveal. Few things are as potent in rock 'n roll as a tortured soul, and while in most ways it's a good thing he seemingly doesn't have one, Dave Grohl's art is suffering for it.

So while this Foo Fighters show may well make my year-end list of favorite concerts of 2011, it won't be all that close to the top. But it will definitely go down as the best show I'll see in St. Louis. And as the impetus for a rock 'n roll road trip that included going to the top of the Gateway Arch and to the St. Louis Art Museum, it was well worth going "Back and Forth."

Here's to Foo; may you keep fighting the fight.

Rocking Out on the Streets of Skokie -- A Celebration of My Hometown

Fastball shows "The Way" at Skokie's Backlot Bash

Today marks the fourth anniversary of moving into my Skokie condo. Although it is now worth about half of what I paid, I still really like it.

While I had enjoyed living in the Western 'burbs of Chicago--Glen Ellyn to be exact--for the previous 12 years, spent 3 years out in L.A. in the early '90s and have traveled far & wide, I genuinely relish being back in my hometown of Skokie.

Sure, it's where I grew up, and as my Mom still lives in the same house, I've never been too detached.

So certainly, much of my fondness for Skokie has to do with familiarity, but it also isn't a case of not knowing anywhere else. Between my time living in DuPage County, long having relatives & friends in the south suburbs, many years of working in the far north suburbs and spending substantial stretches in northwest suburban areas, I feel I am fairly well acquainted with a wide swath of the greater Chicagoland area.

And though it would be rather presumptuous and clearly centric for me to call Skokie "the best Chicago suburb"--our neighbor, Evanston, offers much more in the way of history and cosmopolitanism, as does Oak Park, Naperville and elsewhere--the village offers sufficient reason for me to feel proud to live here.

No, Skokie isn't going to be the epicenter of excitement on a typical Saturday night--which is actually one of the reasons I like it--but last weekend's Backlot Bash, which I'll expound upon below, is an example of how the community can come together for a fun yet not intimidatingly overwhelming celebration.

I went to the Bash on all three of its days and am happy to highlight what I feel is a very well put together event. Skokie also has its annual "Festival of Cultures" each May, a fireworks event--often with live music--on Independence Day and at least a couple sizable art fairs each year, but the Backlot Bash--so named because what is now downtown Skokie was once used as a filming location for early movies, back in the Essanay Studios days--is my favorite festival in town. And it's not just a matter of location and (lack of) cost that brought me to Oakton Street for 3 days of live music in a year when I consciously skipped much larger fests like Lollapalooza, Pitchfork and even more sprawling suburban festivals.

More on the Bash in a moment, but it isn't just the fest or the 4th anniversary of my local homeownership that has put a salute to Skokie on the docket.

The "You Know You're From Skokie If..." Facebook Group page

Digging Up Memories,
Sharing Them Online

In just the past month, I caught wind of--and joined--a Facebook group called "You Know You're From Skokie If...". Though I had to opt out of getting an email everytime any of the 234 members posted (or someone commented), it has been fun following threads having to do with the schools, camps, stores and restaurants I grew up with.

I posted that Skokians of a certain age would remember restaurants like the Candle Wick--which was Acres and Zwieg's before I came to know it--Chandelier, Sam 'N Hy's, Tower Garden and LaRosa Pizzeria (the one on Golf is still there). 

Undoubtedly, similar Facebook groups exist for myriad other cities and towns, with their own native nostalgia, but this one has been fun for me to tinker around with.

Now, beyond an occasional fest and a new Facebook page, Skokie really has a whole going for it. Although I rarely go there despite living across the street, in Old Orchard we have one of the best shopping malls in the Midwest. The wonderful Skokie Public Library doesn't have to take a back page to any I've visited. The District 219 high schools, Niles North (my alma mater) and Niles West, were selected in 2007 as having the best arts programs in the country. The Northlight Theater delivers many fabulous productions (including this year's fantastic The Outgoing Tide, which just earned many Jeff nominations). After years of being a haven for Holocaust survivors--who famously battled to keep neo-Nazis off the village streets in the late '70s--in 2009, Skokie became home to the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center. And while I wouldn't describe Skokie as a fine dining mecca--despite some decent restaurants in Old Orchard and elsewhere--it does boast two of the best hot dog stands you'll find anywhere: Poochie's and Herm's Palace, located within blocks of each other on east Dempster St.

A Local Celebrity That's Making Us Look Good

While there was a 1981 TV movie named Skokie (starring Danny Kaye) about the planned Nazi march and large Jewish community, today the village is notable for its vastly multi-ethnic population. Hence, The Festival of Cultures. And although the Skokie Wikipedia page doesn't list any famous Skokie residents or natives--for a long time, Robert Reed (a.k.a. Mike Brady) being buried in Memorial Park Cemetery was the closest we came to having a celebrity in town--we now can claim a bona fide football star: the Steelers' Rashard Mendenhall, a Niles West grad.

Erin Heatherton, the Skokie supermodel

And as I learned through a number of articles noting her recent visit to launch a new line of Victoria's Secret athletic apparel, there is even a supermodel named Erin Heatherton (formerly Erin Heather Bubley) who hails from Skokie.

Not only, as you can see at left, is Heather one of most attractive human beings on the planet--a nice Skokie counterbalance to yours truly--but I really liked the answer she gave in an interview with Trib Local's Brian L. Cox about growing up in Skokie:

"I think Skokie’s one of the best places anyone could grow up. It’s a very multicultural town. In my high school you’re exposed to every single culture and race. I think that’s very important when growing up because you’re really not shocked by moving to New York, where it’s kind of a melting pot."

Perhaps she isn't all that famous yet--she's been a Victoria's Secret model since 2006, when as a Niles North student & basketball player she was discovered on a trip to Miami, but I  just learned of her last week--but in adding to Skokie's Q rating, we could do worse.

And yes, I am hoping to interview her one day for a profile piece for Seth Saith. Unless she gets an injunction precluding it.

Anyway, Facebook pages, supermodels, football stars, festivals...things are really happening in Skokie.

"Tramps" like us...

Which brings me back to the Backlot Bash. 

It certainly wasn't the highest profile festival of the summer--as kind of a double-edged sword, it's not all that massively attended--but the music I saw & heard over August 26-28 was as personally satisfying as much I imaginably could have heard at Lollapalooza or elsewhere.

On Friday night, I saw Tributosauras become the Who. Tributosauras is a group of skilled musicians who "cover" a different artist at each performance, employing any additional players needed to get the sound exactly right. I had recently seen them for the first time at Martyrs'--a Chicago club where they play every month--when they "became" Bruce Springsteen. That show cost me $20, but their Backlot Bash performance was every bit as good--actually, a bit better--for free. 100 minutes of great Who songs without "Baba O'Riley," "My Generation" or anything from Tommy. My only tip to the guys is to learn an extra song in case you earn an encore; they were forced to repeat "The Seeker." But on my @@@@@ scale, I give this Tributosauras gig a solid @@@@.

Before Tributosauras, there was a band of likely teenagers called Riddum Secure. I guess they had won a local Battle of the Bands, and deservingly so, as they rocked through a couple Stones songs, a few other covers and at least one original that sounded pretty good. It was really a pleasure to see.

Saturday, upon arriving at the fest around 4:00pm, I went into the venerable, recently refurbished Skokie Theater, where in keeping with the Fest's cinematic theme--which was otherwise largely underenunciated except for some Charlie Chaplin standups--they had silent films running with a live piano accompaniment. The three short films starring Buster Keaton--two with Fatty Arbuckle--were quite fun and pianist David Drazin was excellent. 

On the mainstage at 6:30pm were Smoking Popes, a band I would see anywhere. Hailing from the far northwest suburbs, they were one of my favorite bands of the '90s. In the coming weeks, I'll be seeing some of my others--Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, Smashing Pumpkins--and while the Popes weren't quite at that level, their ultra-catchy punk pop sound was also a great throwback that came across as good as ever on Oakton St.

I was sorry the crowd was more sparse than it should have been for such a great band, but I think Smoking Popes made some new fans with their energetic set and affable demeanor. This was a @@@@1/2 performance. A clip of "I Need You Around" is below:



Smoking Popes would have been a more than suitable headliner--and were my favorite act at the Backlot Bash--but following them on Saturday night was Fastball. Yes, on August 27, 2011, the answer to the "Where Are They Now?" question about the Austin, Texas band that had one of the most ubiquitous hits of 1998 with "The Way," was literally: "Skokie, Illinois."

Although they had had a couple more minor radio hits back then, I can't say I'd heard of them since or knew much of their music, but they played an entirely enjoyable set. "The Way" is still Fastball's best pitch, but "Fire Escape," "Out of My Head," "Little White Lies" and the rest of the show sounded good, including nice covers of The Kinks' "Sunny Afternoon," The Rolling Stones' "Honky Tonk Women" and a crowd-pleasing "Sweet Home Chicago." With a very impressive comeback gig, at least in terms of my awareness, Fastball delivered a @@@@ performance.

Here's a bit of "The Way":



I really don't know how the organizers of the Backlot Bash dug up or decided upon Fastball--I've been to and/or seen listings for many local festivals over the years and never noticed them around town--but I have to commend them. Especially piggybacking on Smoking Popes, this was a much more unique bill than trotting out American English, as much as I enjoy the area's best Beatles' cover band. And even Tributosauras noted that the Backlot Bash is the only outdoor festival they play.

In addition to a suggestion that festival organizers attempt to increase the audience's diversity--despite a wide range of ages, those attending seemed much more homogeneous than Skokie's varied population--hopefully they can entice more actual Skokie restaurants to operate food booths. Festival purveyors of funnel cakes and corn dogs were more prevalent than actual restaurants, though Lincolnwood's erstwhile Myron & Phil's did a nice job. From them, I enjoyed a generous portion of BBQ ribs for just $7, along with a great ear of corn. I can't recall who served the Falafel sandwiches, but I had a good one of those as well.

Lil' Ed & the Blues Imperials

Although I hadn't initially planned on going to the Bash all three days, given the great price and comfort level, there was no reason not to catch some blues on Sunday night. A fine 2-hour set from Lil' Ed & the Blues Imperials was warmly received by the crowd and brought the Backlot Bash to an end on a high note. This too was a solid @@@@ performance, and my friend Ken actually bestowed an extra 1/2@.

All in all, it was a really enjoyable weekend in Skokie, even if I didn't play bingo, ride the Tilt-A-Whirl or lose money on any carnival games. With plenty of great music, decent food and lots of space to sit down, I couldn't really ask for more. Thank you to all who helped deliver another first-rate festival in Skokie.

I think I just may stick around.

(Over time, I hope to write some more profiles of Skokie people and places. Here are links to a few on Shalom Klein, Bob Katzman and a Skokie Park District production of Rent.) 

U2 Returns to America With a Mile High Performance -- Concert Review

Photo Credit: John Leyba, Denver Post

Concert Review

U2
with The Fray
Invesco Field at Mile High, Denver, CO
May 21, 2011
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In catching U2 at Denver's Invesco Field on Saturday--as part of an excursion to visit a recently transplanted friend--I have now had the pleasure of seeing them live 14 times over the course of 25 years (with tickets to see them on their return to Chicago on July 5).

The last time I saw them--twice in September 2009 at Soldier Field, the kickoff shows of their still-running, most lucrative ever (by anyone) U2 360 tour--the gigs did not rank in the upper echelon of those I'd seen by Bono, the Edge, Adam and Larry.

Touring with the four-legged behemoth known as "The Claw" as their stage set, back then the legendary band seemed a bit dwarfed by their creation and were beset by pacing & technical glitches tied to lighting & video cues.

With the Denver show being the 89th of their current tour--which saw last summer's U.S. leg postponed after Bono suffered a back injury--the band has had plenty of time to get comfortable with their stage, props, lighting/video cues and setlists.

Thus, U2's first performance on U.S. soil since 2009 felt considerably better than their tour-opening gigs, and the quality of the music and overall production more than fulfilled the $35 paid for nosebleed seats (face value at the box office on the night of the show).

And while I, as a persnickety curmudgeon still found a few flaws, the three U2 newbies who joined me were completely wowed by the band's performance, including considerably strident social activism (such as celebrating the recent release of Burmese dissident Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, whose long-term imprisonment the band decried earlier on tour).

It is about time the band wrote some great new songs, as I put only a handful over the last 20 years in that category (Beautiful Day, Vertigo, Walk On and Elevation, all played). So every U2 show I see pretty much features the same highlights (Sunday Bloody Sunday, Where the Streets Have No Name, With Or Without You, etc., and I was quite glad that Pride (In the Name of Love) was played, as it's often been omitted on the 360 Tour).

I don't suppose Bono and the boys will see this by the time they reach Chicago, but if they do, I ask them to remember some great songs they seem to have long ago forgotten, such as A Sort of Homecoming, Exit, Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses and In God's Country. And I know its kitschiness helps justify the mammoth stage set, but the disco version of I Know I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight continues to be a waste of 5 minutes that could be way better utilized, while Moment of Surrendur (also off 2009's No Line on the Horizon) is a bit too long and languid to serve as a show closer.

That said, All I Want Is You, Stay (Faraway So Close), Miss Sarajevo and I Will Follow were nice inclusions, so the setlist was pretty satisfying, even if the pacing remains a bit disjointed at times.

In sum, there are few artists who do a big show better than U2 and the one I saw at a Mile High altitude was pretty damn great. On the night the world was supposed to end, this wouldn't have been a bad note to go out on. But that doesn't mean I not hoping for some first-rate new material and the rediscovery of some other first-rate old material to elevate U2 to even higher heights.

Setlist:

Even Better Than The Real Thing
I Will Follow
Get On Your Boots
Magnificent
Mysterious Ways
Elevation
Until The End Of The World
All I Want Is You
Stay (Faraway, So Close!)
Beautiful Day
Pride (In The Name Of Love)
Miss Sarajevo
Zooropa
City Of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Scarlet
Walk On

Encore 1:
One
Where The Streets Have No Name

Encore 2:
Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me
With Or Without You
Moment of Surrender

(YouTube clip of Where The Streets Have No Name at Invesco Field, Denver. Not shot or uploaded by me.)

The Cars Reignite (Somewhat), Part II -- Concert Review

Concert Review

The Cars
Riviera Theatre, Chicago
May 18, 2011
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I've liked the Cars for as long as I can remember, probably since first hearing "Just What I Needed" off their fantastic self-titled debut album in 1978, or certainly by the next year when I bought Candy-O.

The Boston-based quintet--now reunited as a foursome after bassist/singer Benjamin Orr died of pancreatic cancer in 2000--were never quite my favorite band, nor particularly close, but I really enjoyed their string of heyday hits and feel they've held up rather well. I don't recall specifically having passed up a chance to catch a Cars show in their original incarnation, but I had never seen them in concert. But from clips, I always got the impression that they weren't much of a live act, seemingly standing stiff as posts on-stage.

And whether or not that was the case in 1984, with the band members now in their 60s, the Cars didn't exactly give a high-octane performance Wednesday night at the Riv. It was still fun hearing the classics, even if--aside from a couple cases where Ric Ocasek handled the vocals on tunes originally sung by Orr--they basically just replicated the recorded versions. (For those wondering, the talented Ocasek remains a homely and boring beanpole, yet remains married to former model Paulina Porizkova.)

Songs off the surprisingly strong new album, Move Like This (review here) didn't sound out of place, but the show really only came alive when the Cars rolled through harder rocking relics like "You Might Think," "Let's Go," "Just What I Needed" and the show closer, "You're All I've Got Tonight," the only occasion on which the band stretched things out a bit.

Otherwise, over a 19-song, 88-minute show (with no opening act) that hewed to the same setlist as all their recent gigs--besides the wise addition of "You're All I've Got Tonight"--the Cars were pretty much on cruise control. I realize that they were never a fervent live act and just a few shows into their first tour in 24 years isn't the time to "Shake It Up." But it would've been nice had they rotated in that tune and/or a few other missing gems like "Bye Bye Love," "Magic" and "It's All I Can Do." And while "Good Times Roll" is a great song, "Hello Again" (off 1984's "Heartbeat City") not only would've made a more thematic opener, it would've got things off to a more rocking start. By the time the Cars kicked into high gear, the show was over.

I'm glad I finally got a chance to see the Cars live, but especially given that I could hardly see them over all the heads in front of me, the reunion tour DVD will probably be every bit as satisfying. If my well-worn copy of The Cars' Greatest Hits isn't already.

The Cars Reignite, Part I - Album Review

Album Review

The Cars
Move Like This
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I think my Facebook post, shown below, will suffice for the album review. Part II will be a concert review after I see them live for the first time, next Wednesday at Chicago's Riviera Theatre.

Alejandro Escovedo Faithfully Rocks the True Believers; Jason & The Scorchers Still Burn A-Blazingly Bright -- Concert Reviews

Alejandro Escovedo; photo by Seth Arkin

 Concert Reviews

Alejandro Escovedo & The Sensitive Boys
with The Incurables
October 11, 2010
Lincoln Hall, Chicago
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Jason & The Scorchers
with Stacie Collins
October 12, 2010
Double Door, Chicago
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I feel safe in assuming that if I looked at your music collection, whether on iTunes, CD or vinyl, it would be split between artists I've heard of and artists I haven't.

That's what's so great about music; we typically have tastes that are communal with the masses, or even just our group of friends, and then there's stuff we love that seems like almost a secret.

Jason & the Scorchers at Double Door; photo by Seth Arkin

Alejandro Escovedo and Jason & The Scorchers have been two of my favorite "secrets" for quite some time now.

Although both have had lengthy and relatively successful careers, during which they've earned critical acclaim and adoring admiration among loyal fans, neither can exactly be considered a household name.

While I believe their music is so good as to merit a much larger audience, it was wonderful to see & hear both over the course of two consecutive nights in cozy & comfortable Chicago venues. Along with opening acts and special guests, Alejandro Escovedo--now recording & touring with a backing band dubbed The Sensitive Boys--and Jason & The Scorchers combined to provide over 6 hours of music for a sum total of $35 (perhaps I should be happy they're not more popular).

Escovedo played Tuesday night at Lincoln Hall, a venue I had first visited just last Wednesday for a Teenage Fanclub show. A meeting I attended in the Loop precluded me from arriving until midway through the set of the opening act--The Incurables, led by Jimmy Griffin--but I liked what I heard enough to pick up their CD after the show.

I came to know Escovedo via his excellent 1996 CD, With These Hands, and have seen him several times, although not nearly as often as Tribune writer Steve Johnson, who wrote of his unapologetically rabid fandom in this piece. But before becoming a solo act from whom I've liked almost everything I've heard, Escovedo was in bands since the mid-'70s, including The Nuns, Rank & File and the True Believers.

Three months shy of turning 60, about five years since Hepatitis C threatened his life and 35 years down the rock 'n roll road, Escovedo needed a few songs before his voice seemed to settle in, but he delivered an extremely satisfying 100-minute set split between old songs and cuts from his excellent new album--Street Songs of Love. His repetoire, culled from a tremedously deep catalog, was also nicely divided between hard-charging rockers like "Anchor" & "Always A Friend" and beautifully delicate ballads like "The Last To Know" and "Rosalie."

Backed quite strongly by The Sensitive Boys, Alejandro also introduced a new song called "My Name is Horizontal," that sounded very good, spoke of writing "Down in the Bowery" for one of his sons with whom he shares a love of The Ramones, revealed that his kid said he "plays old music for old people," and dedicated the instrumental Fort Worth Blue to the late Stephen Bruton, who had produced his first three solo albums.

Despite being championed by, among others, WXRT--which included him in this year's 4th of July concert at Taste of Chicago--and Bruce Springsteen, who has dueted with him multiple times on-stage and record in recent years, Escovedo--who comes through Chicago fairly regularly--didn't quite fill Lincoln Hall, which I believe has a capacity of 250.

His CD--one of the year's best--may rank #2,166 on Amazon, his website may have a paltry traffic rank per Alexa.com and you may not know his name. But I'm glad I do, as there aren't many much better--at writing great songs and playing them live--than Alejandro Escovedo.

And if crowd size on Wednesday nights a week apart is any indication, compared to Jason & the Scorchers, Escovedo's present popularity is positively Gagaesque.

But in terms of putting on an exciting show--as part of a thoroughly satisfying evening, excepting a personal technical snafu--Jason & the Scorchers were even more sizzling.

I didn't precisely count, but it seemed like about 40-50 people, tops, came out to the Double Door to see a band that hadn't toured for 12 years and to me defines the term "country rock" like no other. While the Austin-based Escovedo can also be somewhat considered as such, the Nashvillians led by Jason Ringenberg have significantly more country twang yet also rock a whole lot harder. (This is a link to a 1993 clip that illustrates this well)

I learned about and loved Jason & co. initially through their 1989 album, Thunder and Fire, but they had already garnered considerable acclaim through material that would be compiled on 1992's primer-set, Are You Ready For The Country: The Essential Jason & The Scorchers. I saw them in 1993 at a long-gone Chicago club called China Club and remember them being awesome, and didn't know they had reformed and released a new album this year until I saw the concert listing for last night.

Boy am I glad I did. Not only did they sound great, with two new members accompanying Jason and original guitarist Warner Hodges. Not only did a good helping new songs off Halcyon Times mix perfectly with a healthy dose of classics. Not only is Jason still an extremely warm, charismatic and kinetic frontman. Not only did they play for 2-1/2 hours and wisely had special guest Stacie Collins perform with them, rather than have her do a traditional opening set. And not only did Jason sign the copy of Halcyon Times I bought during a set break, as well as signing my ticket stub, but they even played one of my favorite songs--by anyone, ever--When The Angels Cry (from Thunder and Fire) as the first song of their encore, specifically because I had asked Jason to do so. And it sounded fantastic.

I could almost prove it to you, as I recorded When The Angels Cry on my iPhone, but after having caught basically the whole song, my iPhone informed me that I was out of memory and didn't save it. Bummer.

But I couldn't let that ruin an otherwise fantastic night--pair of nights at that--and was probably inadvertently saved from getting sued by the band for posting it on YouTube.

At right is a pic I snapped of Jason after the show and below is the CD he signed for me.








I don't expect, or even want, us to all have the same musical "secrets."

I just hope that when yours come to town, they satisfy you every bit as much as two of mine just did.

Fortunately, even though my iPhone crapped out and didn't let me save Wednesday night's version of When the Angels Cry, played due to my request, Jason & The Scorchers also played it a couple months ago in Sweden--they seemingly don't often--as caught in this clip:



This is a clip of Alejandro Escovedo covering the Rolling Stones' Beast of Burden with special guest Bruce Springsteen at a show earlier this year at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ. Minus the Boss, it was also one of Al's encore's on Tuesday.

All in All, Roger Waters Reconstructs a Solidly Entertaining 'Wall' - Concert Review: Roger Waters: The Wall Live in Chicago

Concert Review

Roger Waters: The Wall Live
Monday, September 20, 2010
United Center, Chicago
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(Performances also 9/21, 23, 24)

We all have differing opinions about what constitutes quality, worthwhile entertainment. But to be fairly obvious, any performance that's enjoyable enough to justify the money and time we spent seeing it would seem to qualify.

And by that measure Roger Waters: The Wall Live--celebrating (and cashing in on) the 30th anniversary of the landmark Pink Floyd album for which Waters was the chief creative force and primary singer--was more than sufficiently satisfying. If you're thinking of trying to catch one of the three remaining performances at Chicago's United Center this week (Ticketmaster link), or when The Wall hits your town, there is no reason why you shouldn't, especially as you're just as apt to enjoy it from $55 seats as from the $250 seats. (In fact, an usher came by and said that we could move from the upper-300 level to the 200 level, and we didn't take him up.)

For with the 67-year-old Waters supported by an anonymous band--though I think one of the guitarists was G.E. Smith, the old Saturday Night Live musical director--replicating the sound of Pink Floyd, appreciating  the visual spectacle and sonic flashbacks certainly didn't require being up close and personal.

Photo credit: Scott Strazzante, Chicago Tribune

And as a seminal album from my youth was reproduced reasonably well live on stage--not that I would've been old enough to go in 1980, but the very limited original Wall tour never came to Chicago--with Waters sounding roughly like his old self, a stand-in for David Gilmour covering his vocal parts sufficiently in limited doses and an actual wall going up, and being torn down, before my eyes, I was much more delighted than not, even if the show won't rank as one of my all-time best.

Knowing going in that Waters would be playing The Wall in its entirety, and nothing else, I didn't expect a whole lot of spontaneity (here's the setlist for those who don't know the album by heart). And while I can't say I've ever fully grasped the profundity of Waters' rock-star-craving-isolation epic, I liked that he brought the album's anti-war messaging more to the fore with several blatantly compelling visuals including photos of soldiers lost in recent battles and, quite prominently, this Eisenhower quote: "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed."

Modernizing the "propaganda" certainly helped make Waters' Wall reconstruction feel a bit less like pure nostalgia, nor merely a way for him to collect the kind of paychecks his former bandmates did when they continued to tour as Pink Floyd without him from the late-80s through mid-90s. If nothing else, you have to credit Waters' understanding of the marketing power of The Wall, one of the five best-selling albums ever in the U.S.   In 2007, Waters toured the states playing Dark Side of the Moon and other classic songs. Although I may have enjoyed that show better than this one, I didn't bother to go when he played a single night at the United Center. But embarking on The Wall 30th Anniversary Tour earned him 4 nights of adoring fans at the UC.

As I said up top, enjoyable entertainment is enjoyable entertainment. And if you try to remain too pure about things, you won't have anything to see.

Yes, on some level, last night's show felt wrong for not being a full Pink Floyd reunion (now impossible since keyboardist Rick Wright died in 2008), though to be fair, seeing PF without Waters in 1987 also was amiss. And yes, in large part, the fully scripted and synchronized performance came off more as theater than a buoyant, super-charged rock concert--and don't be surprised if The Wall doesn't soon become a Broadway show, with someone replicating Waters almost as effectively as his substitutes for Gilmour, et al.

But yes, it was well worth my $55 (and those in the expensive seats didn't seem to be booing either).

I loved hearing the classic tunes, I sang along, I had a great time with the friend I was with, I felt sentimental, I appreciated what Roger Waters was trying to say, I applauded, I went home happy. And thus, although it wasn't the most emotionally fulfilling concert I'll ever see, I'm certainly in no position to tear down The Wall. 

(Here are a couple clips already on YouTube. Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2 and Run Like Hell.)

Arcade Fire Burns (Relatively) Bright

Album Review and Artist Analysis

Arcade Fire
The Suburbs
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In many respects, Arcade Fire seem to be poised on the precipice of--or may have already made the jump into--rock 'n' roll mega-stardom.

A level of popularity achieved by relatively few rock  acts, especially at a time when musical tastes are more fragmented than ever and mainstream success is often transient at best, it is defined by multi-platinum album sales and sold out arena shows, high-profile slots headlining major festivals and ultimately, for the biggest of the big, concert tours that fill football stadiums. More intangibly, it is about becoming seemingly ubiquitous in the modern zeitgeist, as likely to be playing on the iPhones of thirtysomethings on their way to work as displayed on t-shirts in high school hallways. And while mass success and critical favor are often mutually exclusive, or at least not achieved in unison, many of the acts who have reached the strata that Arcade Fire may now be entering--U2, Radiohead, Coldplay--have similarly enjoyed both respect and riches.

The Montreal-based band's excellent third album, The Suburbs, was preceded by a considerable amount of hype and dozens of rave reviews. The album currently has a composite Metacritic score of 86 that I feel is about right; I've been wavering between @@@@ and the @@@@1/2 that I awarded. It is an extremely accomplished album, and one that I've enjoyed listening to several times over the past two weeks, but perhaps akin to my infrequent revisiting of their first two albums, it may not be a work compelling enough to long remain in my regular rotation. It's quite good, but I don't think it's near the level of The Joshua Tree, Nevermind or Born to Run, although it can't fairly judged in those terms this soon.

I'll get back to some subjective commentary in a bit, but as evidence of Arcade Fire's escalation in popularity, within the same week that the new album was released, the band played two sold-out shows at New York City's famed Madison Square Garden--the second of which was streamed live on YouTube-- and according to friends, attracted a crowd on the closing Sunday night of Lollapalooza that was as big if not bigger than a reunited Soundgarden.

In its first week of release, The Suburbs went straight to number one on the Billboard charts, selling 156,000 copies in the United States. It was also #1 in Canada--not surprising for a Montreal-based band, although lead singer Win Butler and his guitarist brother Will's upbringing in the suburbs of Houston prompted the album's theme--and the United Kingdom, where the band just announced a December arena tour.

But while going to #1 is impressive for anyone, particularly a band that still officially qualifies as "indie"--it's signed to Merge Records--and it doesn't appear anyone will have to "pass the hat" for Arcade Fire anytime soon, a closer look at the sales figures shows that the band may not be quite so mega just yet, and that perhaps as a corollary, "mainstream popularity" may largely be a pinnacle of the past for modern artists of a rock ilk (still my personal preference).

Keeping in mind that album sales are not the only barometer of popularity, and that until now Arcade Fire has been bigger in terms of press and buzz than in units shipped or downloaded--their first two albums have sold only 1 million copies combined--the reality is that 156,000 in first week sales is 7,000 copies short of the preceding week's #1 debut by Avenged Sevenfold, an album that didn't received the type of adoring press that preceded The Suburbs. It it also only about 20% of 2010's top first week sales leader, Eminem's Recovery, which sold 741,000 (it has eclipsed 2 million in 8 weeks and per some reports, is likely to overtake Arcade Fire this week by a 3-to-1 margin).

Against the "break really, really big" album of other bands seemingly at similar points in their careers, The Suburbs also comes up somewhat surprisingly short in initial week sales. Coldplay's X&Y, likewise their third album, sold 737,000 week one copies in the U.S. The Killers' second album, Sam's Town, sold 315,000 and though their next one, Day & Age only debuted at #6, it sold 193,000 copies in week one. Radiohead's Kid A, which followed OK Computer but was relatively experimental, sold 210,000 units in the U.S. in its first week, and back in 1995, The Smashing Pumpkins double CD set, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, opened with 246,000 albums sold.

Certainly, times are different than they were even a few years ago. In a recent Time magazine article, Pitchfork.com editor Scott Plagenhoef is quoted as saying, "There isn't really such a thing as mainstream rock anymore." The same article reveals that in 2009, only 11 artists released new albums that received a platinum certification (representing 1 million albums sold) from the Recording Industry Association of America; as recently as 2006, there were 56. It also states that whereas 50,000 albums were released in the U.S. in 2005, that number had risen to nearly 100,000 in 2009.

But though it would seemingly be easy to say that the segmentation of today's music purchasers--coupled with the increased prominence of people buying only single songs from iTunes and a good number undoubtedly still downloading music for free--readily explains the relatively low sales burst for The Suburbs, the album also benefited a great deal from modern technology, including an Amazon promotion offering digital downloads for $3.99. Nielsen SoundScan reveals that 62 percent, or 97,000 copies, of Suburbs sales came from digital purchases.

Also, though few purveyors of the lyrical, guitar-driven rock that I most relish have established, built and maintained mainstream American relevance in the '00s--to varying degrees of success and personal preference, I think only Coldplay, The Killers, The White Stripes, Kings of Leon and Muse really qualify; album & concert sales show Nickelback to be rather huge, but I've never heard a single person, whether friend or critic, who claims to like them--acts like Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift and the Black Eyed Peas have clearly broken through to mega-stardom. And beyond Eminem's huge sales, artists as disparate as rapper Drake and country band Lady Antebellum have sold over 450,000 albums in their first week out over the past few months. Album sales may be way down, but some acts still sell them in bunches. 

I'm not saying any of this should be held against Arcade Fire. Although I don't yet consider them a historically great band--I didn't include them in a recent ranking of My 100 All-Time Favorite Artists of Popular Music--and probably don't like any of their three albums quite as much as many others do, I consider them not only one of the best of today's bands, but probably the one on the biggest upswing. Unlike years back, not many artists build from one album to the next the way Arcade Fire has; most get some pub for a critical lauded album in a given year, but don't manage to maintain popular interest (or particularly my own) one or two more records down the road.

In terms of looking forward to seeing them live--I never have, other than the recent YouTube stream--, anticipating future albums and following their ascent to super-stardom, no matter how high or low its apex, The Arcade Fire excite me more than The National, MGMT, Phoenix, LCD Soundsystem, The Hold Steady, Death Cab for Cutie or other relatively recent quasi-rock acts that have garnered some acclaim and popularity (and these are among those that I somewhat like). I don't think they're as good as The Killers, in terms of the best bands of current vintage, and I even prefer some smaller acts that I've heard out of England (this year, the Len Price 3; Maximo Park over the last five).

So I suggest you give The Suburbs a listen; if you don't want to buy it you can hear it in full on MySpace Music. It probably won't be the best album you've ever heard; at an hour in length it can drag in spots, and even after listening while reading through the lyrics, any great profundity about growing up in the suburbs is largely lost on me (although "We Used To Wait" makes an observational statement that I endorse). But especially if you give it some time, you may agree that it's one of few new things in a rock 'n' roll vein worth tapping into.

And that's saying something, for if one looks at the chart at left, of the top concert tours of the first half of 2010, not only is it largely devoid of any new rock acts (except Muse), one really has to wonder who will be filling arenas 10 years from now. Maybe it will be Arcade Fire, but even that seems like an uncertain bet.

(The video below is Ready To Start, my pick as the best song on The Suburbs, taken from the recent concert streamed from New York, where it opened the show.)

Still Not All That Keane

Concert Review

Keane
with Ingrid Michaelson
and Fran Healy
Riverside Theatre, Milwaukee
August 10, 2010
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Although I've enjoyed the British band Keane, to a certain extent, since seeing them on Live 8 in 2005, I took a pass on attending their concert when they played in Chicago a few weeks ago.

Even after my friend Paolo and sister Allison raved about the Chicago show, I didn't feel any great remorse about missing it. I had seen Keane in 2007 and felt the crowd was a bit too adoring, as to me the trio had a few really good songs and filled their set with a bunch of songs that struck me as just lesser duplications of the better ones. And though they have a new EP out, I hadn't gotten it and didn't love the one song I heard.

But I received a number of emails promoting their Tuesday night show in Milwaukee's comfortable Riverside Theatre, so after going to Milwaukee to see an Evel Knievel exhibit at the Harley-Davidson museum, I was able to get a great seat for Keane an hour before showtime.

In a nutshell, they weren't bad and I wasn't sad I went, especially supported by a couple solid opening acts, but very similar to my feeling when I saw them in 2007, I can't say that I found them phenomenal. Of 90 minutes on stage, only about 30 were really first-rate, with the rest mostly filler from a band that doesn't seem to be pushing themselves as hard as they could.

First up on the triple bill was Fran Healy, singer & songwriter of the Scottish band Travis. He interacted quite affably with the crowd in delivering an enjoyable 45-minute solo acoustic set. Per his song intros, he played a few Travis cuts, but I was disappointed he omitted the one I know (Why Does It Always Rain on Me). In addition to citing recorded collaborations with Neko Case and Paul McCartney, he did give a somewhat apt overview of the last 15 years of British rock. "Oasis + Radiohead spawned Travis, Travis + Radiohead = Coldplay, Coldplay + Travis = Keane, etc." 

Next up was Ingrid Michaelson, a singer I didn't really know except one song Allison had played for me. But she winsomely led an equally coed six-piece band through a pleasant set, with engaging humor in her stage patter. Mid-set, she did a solo rendition of Creep that I thought could have been greatly enhanced had she gotten Healy to duet with her.

After about 20 minutes of Keane anticipation (sorry, couldn't resist), the headliners took the stage around 9:10. They opened strong, with three good songs including Bend And Break and Everybody's Changing from their 2004 debut, Hopes and Fears. But from there on out, the only songs I acutely remember two days later are their hit singles, "Is It Any Wonder?" and "Somewhere Only We Know" (setlist).

Lead singer Tom Chaplin has a really good voice and the band has written a handful of decent pop songs, but they just come off as far too clean. The addition of a touring bassist and Chaplin's occasional guitar-playing has punched up their live sound (previously consisting of keyboards & drums) but there's never any sense of daring, danger or much consequence in their music. I know Chaplin has been through rehab in the past, but he still comes across as someone without much soul (which is a shame given his voice). Wearing a polo shirt and shiny white sneakers on stage doesn't make one a bad guy, but Chaplin and the rest of Keane might do well to force themselves to write songs on the streets of New Orleans, Memphis or somewhere that might give them some edge.

Paolo, whose musical tastes I respect and even share to a large degree, called Keane's Chicago show "the best concert" he's seen this year, two weeks after giving Hole that honor and two before awarding the crown to Green Day. Maybe they lost their mojo between Chicago and Milwaukee, but I tend to doubt that's why Keane wouldn't come anywhere close to the top of my list, and I haven't seen half the shows that Paolo has. But I guess that's what makes music great; everybody hears it a different way. And one person's "eh, so-so" is bound to be another's "quite Keane." 

(Here's video I shot of Keane's best song, Somewhere Only We Know, at least until my memory ran out.)

After 25+ Years of Success, Bon Jovi Still Only 'Halfway There.' But That Ain't Half Bad.

Concert Review

Bon Jovi
Opening Acts: Kid Rock, 7th Heaven
Soldier Field, Chicago
Friday, July 30, 2010
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The best--and worst--thing I can say about Bon Jovi's sold out concert at Soldier Field on Friday night is that it was about as good as I could have expected.

I have enjoyed the earnest but edgeless New Jersey rockers--to an often vacillating degree--since hearing their first single, Runaway, back in 1984 and seeing them open for the Scorpions that same year. But they have always been quite far from ranking among my favorite rock artists (as illustrated by their omission from this 2005 list and most likely the updated version I will post soon ). After first seeing them headline in 1987 at the height of their initial "Slippery When Wet" popularity, I never felt a compunction to see them again until 2005, and then again last night.

Bon Jovi deserves much admiration for maintaining massive worldwide success for almost 25 years. Of acts that arose in the '80s, I think only U2 and Madonna have been consistently comparable as concert draws both in America and around the globe. And in a summer concert season plagued by cancellations and poor ticket sales, Bon Jovi will have played to nearly 100,000 people in Chicago after tonight's show (for which tickets are available).

But the band have never been critical darlings, often IMHO for good reason. Although they have a solid handful of fun, good time songs that made last night's show enjoyable, their songwriting is often hokey, rudimentary and trite. Many of their tunes traipse the same ground--namely individuality, perseverance and/or devotion--in only slightly different ways. And if their messages weren't hammy enough, they accompanied their latest pseudo-prosaic anthem, We Weren't Born To Follow with U2esque video imagery (clip from a recent show), mixing words like Unite, Act Now, Stand Up, Resist and Believe with pictures of Bob Dylan, JFK, John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, Muhammad Ali and Oprah(??) that only served to highlight their relative banality and inconsequence.

But all that said, I didn't go to last night's show--I only paid $40 for a decent upper deck seat, but folks on the field paid up to $500 face value; kind of steep for a band who in another rousing-yet-vapid anthem exhorts "Who's going to work for the working man?"--expecting Jon Bon Jovi to have transformed into Bruce Springsteen nor his band to have become Guns 'n' Roses (when they were all together, grimy and great).

Although I didn't absolutely love every song they played, I very much enjoyed myself on a beautiful, breezy night in Chicago (fortunately, forecasted rain held off despite cloudy skies) and have to give the show @@@@ because Bon Jovi did an excellent job of doing what they do. Professional and well-paced, the generous 2-1/2 show was highlighted by "You Give Love a Bad Name" (my abbreviated video below), It's My Life, Runaway, an acoustic duet with Jon and guitarist Richie Sambora on an unfamiliar song called Diamond Ring and a cover of Bob Seger's Old Time Rock & Roll, along with opener Kid Rock and members of his band. (Not even one of Seger's very best, this rousing crowd-pleaser again showed how Bon Jovi pales against true rock greatness, but this was meant to be a complimentary paragraph.)

After opening their encore with a cheesy ballad called Always, which sounded slightly better earlier in the night when it was called I'll Be There For You, the band let the enthusiastic crowd sing the first verse of a pleasing Wanted Dead or Alive and then, in a move too obvious to avoid but cheered by me and everyone else, Jon donned a Blackhawks jersey that had been thrown onstage earlier in the show as the band delivered a rousing rendition of Living On A Prayer.

To his credit, Jon, who certainly doesn't look 48, comes off as an affable and appreciative performer and though more solid than technically sensational, the band long ago acclimated well to playing football stadiums (although only Jon & Richie had any real visibility, even on the video screens). So after the curfew-breaking performance, which followed a fun but clichéd hourlong set from Kid Rock (who in covering/riffing on many classic rock hits, also demonstrated his relative inferiority) and a not awful but inconsequential show-opening set from Chicagoland rockers called 7th Heaven, I went home happy, as I imagine did most of the much more adoring crowd.

In a line hackneyed enough to perhaps make its way into a future Bon Jovi anthem, sometimes it's more than alright to be great at just being good.

(Photos from the Chicago Sun-Times and BonJovi.com; video below shot by me of the opening of You Give Love A Bad Name)

A Fabled Reconstruction

Album Reissue Review

R.E.M.
Fables of the Reconstruction
25th Anniversary Digital Remaster
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I don't relish buying the same thing twice, especially at a time when money isn't exactly rolling in. Although I now own a Blu-Ray player and have appreciated the far superior quality Blu-Ray discs offer over standard DVDs, the improvement will likely never be enough to compel me to replace the hundreds of DVDs I already own, especially as another even-more-advanced technology is likely always just around the corner. And having bought numerous new release DVDs over the years, it always has rankled me when an "enhanced version" with additional features (such as director commentary, deleted scenes, etc.) comes out just a matter of months after I have been pushed to buy the original version.

But in moderation, I have found it worthwhile and justifiable to invest in "newly remastered," often deluxe (i.e. extra songs, spiffy packaging) reissued versions of some of my favorite albums, usually released in commemoration of a milestone anniversary of the original release. I have done so for Springsteen's "Born To Run," "Who's Next," U2's "The Joshua Tree," the Stones' "Exile on Main Street," R.E.M.'s "Reckoning" and a handful of Beatles' albums.

In all cases, I had owned the original CD for more than 20 years, dating back to the just about the introduction of CDs, when, despite promotional claims, they did not really sound significantly better than LPs and could very much become scratched (although at the time, my music collection had already transitioned from records to cassettes, which were inferior to CDs). And whether because of the original recording, mixing and/or mastering of the music or the methodology for transferring records to CDs, the sonic quality of many early CDs was especially poor (I have a nice, but not high-end stereo system, do not consider myself an "audiophile" and now do most of my listening via mp3s).

For all the albums cited above, hearing the newly remastered versions--even if only in mp3 form--has been a treat, as the music I have long loved now sounds even better. But still, more than 90% of the joy in listening to the upgraded versions is in the brilliance of the original music. Modern engineers can make all kinds of sonic improvements, but they can't write Baba O'Riley, Backstreets or A Day in the Life.

Having recently downloaded the newly remastered, 25th anniversary edition of R.E.M.'s third album, Fables of the Reconstruction, I can hyperbolically say that I have never heard an album reissue that has so greatly enhanced the pleasure of hearing its source material.

Not that 'Fables' wasn't good to begin with; I have always found there to be much magnificence in the moody collection of tracks that the then still-nascent Athens, GA band struggled to record in London (from Wikipedia: The band members found the sessions unexpectedly difficult, and were miserable due to the cold winter weather and poor food; the situation brought the band to the verge of break-up.) But when the the gloominess of the music sounded even more so given the muddled production, among R.E.M.'s amazing first five albums (Murmur, Reckoning, Fables, Life's Rich Pageant and Document), their third album has long ranked a clear fifth, in terms of the frequency of my listening, my opinion and that of reviewers (such as AllMusic.com). 

While the songs themselves are still quite dark, the remastering that eliminated hiss, added clarity & volume and brought Michael Stipe's murky vocals a bit more to the fore, has made listening to them a whole lot brighter. To the point that I now find Fables to be very much the equal of any of their first five albums, all of which rank among my favorite albums by anyone (several of their subsequent albums are also quite worthwhile).

Unlike the reissues of Murmur and Reckoning (I only own the latter), the second disc of the Fables anniversary package does not include an R.E.M. concert from the period, but rather demo versions of the songs that made the album, plus two that were on subsequent releases and one--Throw Those Trolls Away--heretofore unreleased. These don't excite me much and thus I only chose to download the remastered 11-song album and not splurge ($26.98) on the full physical package.

As such, I imagine the CD version might sound even better than the downloads, but as I was apt to just import it to iTunes and then put it on my iPhone, even in digital form I'm extremely enamored with how well Fables has been reconstructed. Its abundant merits should now be a whole lot clearer to just about anyone.

In addition to hearing snippets of all the songs through the Amazon product page, there is also a customer video that includes several full songs. 

Old Hits Sound Just Fine Out on the Lawn

Concert Review

Cheap Trick and Squeeze
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, IL
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Both Cheap Trick, from Rockford, Illinois, and Squeeze, from London, England, technically date back to 1974, and while Cheap Trick especially has remained consistently active and has released a pair of solid albums over the past 5 years, it's fair to say that both bands' classic periods were pretty much over by the early '80s.

And I feel pretty safe in assuming that it is the hits from 1977-82 that the folks who packed the pavilion and lawn at Ravinia on Saturday night came out to hear--and speaking as a lawngoer--most appreciated.

For while I respect the fact that both bands went a bit beyond their greatest hits, from the lawn the new and otherwise unrecognizable songs all kind of sound the same. Or more correctly, they get lost among the chattering, eating, drinking, Scrabble games, etc. That's how it is at Ravinia, and with due deference to the bands and the fans who ponied up for pavilion seats, the open air, non-sloped lawn environment--i.e. no stage visibility unless you stand at the outskirts of the pavilion, which I did for a few choice tunes from each act--isn't exactly the place where an adventurous set list goes over real well.

So while both Cheap Trick and Squeeze, by virtue of their careers and the 75-minute set each played, deserve to be judged individually, based on being one of the laissez-faire on lawn, I am awarding @@@@ as a sum review of the evening--a completely beautiful night--and the performances of both bands.

Though neither act sounded quite as they did in their prime, both Cheap Trick's Robin Zander and Squeeze's Glenn Tillbrook did nothing to embarrass themselves vocally. And while both bands played a number of songs that seemed to meander to those of us on the lawn, when it came to the hits both bands delivered in quantity and quality, with Up the Junction, Tempted and Pulling Mussels from a Shell highlighting the Squeeze set and I Want You To Want Me, Surrender and Dream Police being CT nuggets. I also savored Cheap Trick pulling out "Voices" (off the Dream Police album) as their first encore, before closing the show with Dream Police.

All in all, a quite enjoyable evening, with enough great music to more than justify my $22 Lawn admission. And to the two people who told me that longtime Cheap Trick drummer Bun E. Carlos didn't perform with them because he had died, happily you are wrong. According to Wikipedia and all other sources, Bun E. is still alive and still a member of the band; he's just been replaced on this tour by Daxx Nielsen (son of guitarist Rick) because of back problems.

Rush Still Giddily (Geddily?) Rocking to the Power of 3

Concert Review

Rush
July 3, 2010
Marcus Amphitheatre, Summerfest
Milwaukee, WI
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I love Rush. If that makes me uncool, not hip, musically deficient, nerdy or anything else, so be it. Nothing I haven't heard before.

Mind you, I am not nearly as hardcore as many of the Canadian power trio's famously rabid fans. There are a number of Rush songs, both old and new, that I don't particularly enjoy and while I respect the band's right to indulge their own tastes by playing a healthy dose of obscure tunes in their concerts, this tendency has made their shows of late rather hit-or-miss affairs.

But given how much I like their 1981 album, Moving Pictures, as well as 1980's Permanent Waves--I still recall getting both on vinyl upon release--and other concert staples like 2112, when it was announced that Rush would be playing Moving Pictures in its entirety on their current Time Machine tour, I jumped at the chance to see them at Milwaukee's Summerfest (for a good bit less than tickets and parking cost for their shows tonight & Wednesday at Chicago's Northerly Island).

While there were a good deal more women at the show than might be expected--even Rush joked in a post-show video that seven is a record--and a good smattering of people under 25 or so, most of the audience were presumably longtime devotees, as indicated from the vast assortment of old concert tees on display. And from the response of the crowd (not quite packed, but well-sold), it would appear that most in attendance enjoyed Rush's performance as much as I did, if not more.

The first set of two was a bit heavy on lesser-known songs (see the setlist here), but once notoriously high-voiced lead singer and bassist Geddy Lee got past a bit of screechiness that opened The Spirit of Radio--the first song of the show, which followed a cheeky video showing that the band really does have a strong sense of self-deprecating humor--he settled in nicely to his now a-bit-lower register and everything sounded good.

As Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson and drummer Neil Peart are all fantastic musicians, the music itself was note perfect and when the Moving Pictures play-through kicked off the second set, the show really kicked into high gear.

Perhaps not for everyone's taste, but I loved it. Unapologetically.

Here's a bit of video I shot of Free Will, followed by a video on YouTube of Camera Eye, which I found to be a surprise standout (the video is actually from their Albuquerque show a few days ago).





---

In conjunction with going to see Rush, I also made a point of watching their just released documentary DVD (it also has been playing on VH1 and Palladia), Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage.

Featuring plenty of music and interviews with the three band members, their associates and famous fans like Trent Reznor, Billy Corgan, Les Claypool, Gene Simmons and others, it really was a fascinating look at the band's career. While seemingly devoid of the drug-infused drama that made for the best Behind The Music episodes, the band's beginnings and long run offers more than enough of interest, including how they dealt with the death of Peart's daughter and wife.

If you are a Rush fan like me, this is certainly worth your time. And if not, perhaps even more so. Available on Amazon and elsewhere, I heartily give it @@@@@.