Click here to see the photos. (There are more than normal in this set since it was my  first time photographing DMB)

Dave Matthews Band played the Hershey Stadium located at Hershey park in Hershey, PA on 07-09-2010. The opening band was Grammy the award winning Zac Brown Band.  Dave Matthew Band have played Hershey 13 times since 1996 (once every year except 1997 and 2007) and as always, they played yet another great show in the wonderful chocolate town.

It must be summertime, Dave Matthews Band is hitting every market once again on their never ending streak of touring. Well, scratch that….. The touring juggernauts are taking next year off from touring for the first time in 20 years. Most bands do not last 20 years let alone constantly tour for that long.  That is a feat that few bands can claim and certainly not to the intensity of their schedule at which they toured.

I have seen the Dave Matthews Band countless of times over the years and have seen them nearly every year since my first time I ever saw them on 10-07-1996 in University Park, PA.  From their initial rise in fame to their eventual plateau, through sunburned and rainy concerts, through good albums and bad, and unfortunately through the loss of a band member I have returned to their shows year after year.  It will be odd not seeing them next year and hope they return to touring even stronger as a band than they are now.

Dave Matthews Band have been busting out great setlists this tour knowing that their fans are going to want something good to last them for another year.  The setlist for the night was very solid but had an odd trend of playing songs off Dave Matthews’ solo album.  They ended up playing a total of four songs from “Some Devil” which made it the first time more songs have been played from Some Devil than from any other album at a full band show.

One of the more humorous “Dave Speak” of the night was when Dave Matthews talked about how scaring people is his favorite thing to do in the world and that he will stalk someone for hours to scare the sh*t out of them……  On the day of the show, a popular  Dave Matthews Band online forum was reporting where the band was staying and when they had arrived, etc.  I am not sure if the band members or their crew read the forums or if they had a bad experience that day, but it seemed to be poking fun at “stalkers” in general or at least politely sending a message to those that follow their whereabouts.

With a vast catalog of songs and their appetite to make setlists vary each night, it is remarkable that the Dave Matthews Band are not known to have a lot of flubs during the concerts. This is a testament to their great musicianship and their ability to gel as a group night after night.  However, when Dave Matthews performed Some Devil solo he accidentally hit a wrong note in the beginning that made everyone cringe. He made an awkward face, stopped the show and said, “Let’s see if I can recover from that.”.

Without a doubt, the two greatest highlights for me were the nine and a half minute version of Warehouse and the Recently > Corn Bread > Recently (reprise) sandwhich which lasted for over fifteen minutes.  Both songs were scorchers and were enough to keep me happy until the next time the band decides to tour again.

The setlist for the night was as follows:

Everyday
Pig
Stay Or Leave
Big Eyed Fish >
Say Goodbye
Grey Street
Gravedigger
Lying In the Hands of God
Still Water
Don’t Drink the Water
You & Me >
Water Into Wine (Tease)
Recently >
Corn Bread>
Recently (reprise)
Eh Hee
Warehouse
Stay (Wasting Time)
Ants Marching

Encore
Some Devil (Dave Matthews performed solo)
So Damn Lucky >
Shake Me Like a Monkey

Click here to see the photos.

Zac Brown Band played the Hershey Stadium located at Hershey park in Hershey, PA on 07-09-2010.  They were the opening band for Dave Matthews Band this night.

While I am not an avid country music listener (see previous post on Brooks And Dunn), the Zac Brown Band plays from a more versatile pallet band than just country music (including a cover of Rage Against The Machine).  Their first song of the set, Toes, reminded me of a Jimmy Buffet song with its bouncy steel drum rhythm and laid back vocals/lyrics:  “I got my toes in the water, ass in the sand. Not a worry in the world, a cold beer in my hand.  Life is good today.”.

The second song was their rendition of Neon, a John Mayer song, which was co-written by the guitarist, Clay Cook, in the Zac Brown Band.  Clay Cook was one of John Mayer’s co-writers early on in his career.

The radio hits (Toes and Chicken Fried) for the band went over really well for the crowd but the cover of Rage Against The Machine’s “Killing In The Name” took them by surprise and bowled them over.  From the first note, I knew what the song was and was sure they would not cover the whole song and much to my surprise, they did.  The did a faithful cover of the iconic and intense song, even complete with the barrage of expletives at the end of the song.  This show was just five days after Phish covered the song (July 4th in Alpharetta, GA) so I was taken back by the sudden popularity to cover the song by bands that are far from the RATM genre.

The setlist for the night was as follows:

Toes
Neon (Isn’t She Lovely intro/outro)
It’s Not OK
Free
Settle Me Down
Who Knows
America the Beautiful »
Chicken Fried
Colder Weather
Killing in the Name

Click here to see the photos.

Brooks And Dunn played the Giant Center arena in Hershey Park, PA on 06-17-2010 as part of their last tour together as a band.  The name of the tour is appropriately named “The Last Rodeo Tour” and promises to please fans of old and new.  The venue was packed…. I am not sure if it was a sold out show, but it had to be close if it was not.  Newer country star Gary Allen opened the show and warmed up the crowd with his current hits.

I was happy I decided to do something a little different than my norm by going to a country music concert.  While country music is not my first, second, or even third choice for music genre… I recognize that some music I like (bluegrass for example) has been derived from country music and I always appreciate great musicianship regardless of the genre.

Brooks and Dunn had a huge stage set up with a big catwalk jutting into the floor seats, a large cattle steer atop their lighting rig, a large screen projecting the show in the dead center of the stage, and amazing lights…. In short, it was a great setup and production that accents their music well and made for a great show that they should be happy going into retirement with.

While they started off with a newer hit, “Play Something Country”, Brooks And Dunn were happy to oblige the older fan base by playing them some older material, “We said we’ve played Hershey so many times, let’s pull out some old stuff. Even if we don’t even know it, they’ll know it better than we do.”

After a solo Brooks song, Brooks brought out the Calder Cup and the members of the Hershey Bears hockey team.  “He started off saying that he had no idea what it (the trophy) was and that they don’t have ice to play hockey down in Tennessee, but  he heard it was a “big deal”.  The crowd was electric at the appearance at the sight of the cup and even louder when they wanted to show appreciation for the team.

Dunn had a sore throat that night, it did not impede him much but he did have to follow a bunch of the next scheduled shows in order to get better.

The setlist for the night was as follows:
Play Something Country
Can’t Take The Honkey Tonk
Mama Don’t Get Dressed Up for Nothing
Cowgirls Don’t Cry
She’s Not the Cheatin’ Kind
Put A Girl In It
I’ll Never Forgive My Heart
You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone
Ain’t Nothing Bout You

Last Rodeo – Sitting Down
Lost And Found – Sitting Down

That’s What She Gets For Loving Me – Sitting Down
Getting Better
Next Broken Heart
How Long Gone
That Ain’t No Way to Go
Red Dirt Road
Believe  – Sitting Down

Hard Working Man
Neon Moon
Rock My World
Only In America
My Maria

Brand New Man
Boot Scootin’ Boogie

Click here to see the photos.

Phish played the Hershey Stadium in Hershey, PA on 05-14-2010.  This is the first time since 2000 that Phish has been back to Hershey.  Even though Hershey is a sweet smelling chocolate town, chocolate is hardly the only olfactory hue that is in the air when Phish is in town.  It was a hot and humid day that would likely melt a chocolate bar in a minutes inside  Hershey Park happy land that day.  Fortunately Hershey had set up misting water stations outside as well as inside the venue to keep fans cool.

Phish hit the stage early (around 7:30) to keep them from going past the stadium’s curfew and went right into “Gotta Jibboo” from the album Farmhouse.  This was the first song of an amazing night of Phish tunes. The first set included a lot of old school phish jam songs that put me right back into high school like Chalk Dust Torture, NICU and Fluffhead.  It also included “Bouncing Around The Room” which is usually a favorite for casual fans.  And then, the first set ended with a blistering “Split Open And Melt” which has been one of my favorites ever since I heard the version on their live album “Slip, Stitch, And Pass”.

The second set was packed with great jams…. Tweezer–>Twist–>Piper had some amazing interplay between all of them and some great solos and they rounded it out with the amazing “Free” off the album “Billy Breathes”.  “You Enjoy Myself” off “Junta” rounded out the second set complete with trampoline jumping and intense jamming as you always expect.

For an encore, I could not have asked for anything more.  As tribute to my all time favorite musician, Jimi Hendrix, Phish played “Bold As Love”.

Set I:
Gotta Jibboo
Chalk Dust Torture
Fluffhead
Funky Bitch
Runaway Jim
NICU
Horn
It’s Ice
Bouncing Around The Room
Sparkle
Split Open And Melt
Set II:
Drowned
Tweezer–>
Twist–>
Piper
Free
Velvet Sea
You Enjoy Myself

Encore:
Bold As Love

Click here to see the photos.

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals played a FREE show at Long’s Park Amphitheater as part of their Summer music series on 06-06-2010 in Lancaster, PA.  Grace Potter is a young blues/rock artist from Burlington, VT that finally got the attention deserved when the album “This is Somewhere” was released and Warren Haynes of Gov’t Mule selected them as an opening spot for their tour.  Now, the band is over 5 years old and have a new self-titled release album, “Grace Potter and the Nocturnals”.
 
One thing that is apparent on the new album is that the band was looking for a more slick and produced album than the previous offerings.  The band played a show last year in which they covered the entire 80′s soundtrack to the Top Gun movie, and it feels as though this album was written with that show as inspiration.  “Only Love” is a good example of the 80′s sounding streamlined pop offerings with high soaring choruses a la Top Gun music.    Grace has admitted in interviews that she likes the Hollywood sounds and would love to be Hollywood so this maybe the band’s new direction for the immediate future.

While Grace’s CD’s are great listening, her live performances shadow them by far in my opinion.  Her pitch perfect bluesy voice really comes to life and her band, the Nocturnals, have a lot more room to improvise and jam off one another. Songs like “Only Love” transform from a pop song into a rock song with a lot of emotion when played live.  Grace and the band let it all out on the stage, night after night which means lots of guitar solos, lots of rocking, and of course Grace tearing up the vocals.  Last year, the Nocturnals replaced their bassist with Catherine Popper (formerly of Ryan Adams and the Cardinals) which added an opportunity for Grace to write in some fantastic harmonies. 

This band really blossoms on the stage, go see them live when they are in your area and you will see what I mean.

Click here to see the photos.

Shemekia Copeland played the Abbey Bar inside of the Appalachian Brewing Company on 05-21-2010 in Harrisburg, PA.  Shemekia Copeland is a young blues artist growing up in the footsteps of her father, Johnny Copeland, who was a Grammy award winning blues guitarist.

Shemekia looks like she has a blast every time she is on the stage, she looks like she sincerely loves singing the blues.  She interacts with the audience and even fulfilled a request or two during the set.  her voice is undeniable and her smooth vocal deliveries and her huge smile make her a great performer.

Many of her songs are about busted up and broken past relationships.  While that is nothing new, her brutal honesty makes the songs very personal.  One such song about her being cheated on refers to the day she found out she was the “other” lady and that her boyfriend was actually married.  Her honesty does not stop with relationships, Sounds Like the Devil is a strongly opinionated song the past presidency by George bush.

Three tracks I recommend you listening to are:
Never Going Back to Memphis – A very loose groove drenched in tremolo and reverb and sultry singing.
Who Stole My Radio? – A great pop blues song that leaves you humming the tune for a week.
Sounds Like the Devil – Shemekia shows she is not afraid to speak her mind about politics.

I do not know the setlist, but songs that I am pretty sure were played:
Sounds Like the Devil  
Dirty Water  
Never Going Back to Memphis  
The Truth is the Light
Born a Penny
Rise Up 
Big Brand New Religion 
Circumstances
Breakin’ Out
Who Stole My Radio?
Poor, Poor Excuse
All About You
Strong Enough
Givin’ Up You
Used
Honey Do that VooDoo
Something Heavy

Click here to see the photos.

The Infamous Stringdusters played the 2010 Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival inside of Granite Hill Camping Resort on 05-14-2010.  The Infamous Stringdusters were on the stage just before the headliner, Alison Krauss & Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas (which also included special guest Tony Rice), and they played after The Seldom Scene.  This was a record attendance for their 60th festival.  I believe they said attendance was over 4,000 this year.

The Infamous Stringdusters’ hard work is beginning to pay off as they are picking up a lot of notoriety in the bluegrass world.  Their instrumentation is articulate and fast, just like a good bluegrass band should be.  For a fairly young band these guys have a lot of promise. They are currently promoting their new album, “Things That Fly”.  While many people at the festival were there to see Alison Krauss, many left fans of the Sting Dusters.  They got a standing ovation by the crowd and they were swamped with people that wanted to talk to them after their set.

The infamous Stingdusters are:
Andy Hall – Dobro
Andy Falco – Guitar
Chris Pandolfi – Banjo
Jeremy Garrett – Fiddle
Jesse Cobb – Mandolin
Travis Book – Upright Bass

I am unsure if the Infamous Stringdusters have ever played a Jimi Hendrix song, but talking to Andy Falco before the show, he commented that he liked my Jimi Hendrix shirt and then during stage setup/soundcheck, bassist Travis Book saw my Jimi Hendrix shirt and warmed his vocals and tested the microphones by repeatedly singing a “Well, I stand up next to a mountain” which is of course a portion of Hendrix’s Voodoo Child.  It got me thinking, bluegrass players are pretty much all phenomenal players (Infamous Stingdusters certainly fall in this category) so I’d love to see some bluegrass Hendrix tunes or at least some Hendrix tags mixed in with some songs.

Click here to see the photos.

The Bridge played the Abbey Bar inside of the Appalachian Brewing Company on 05-14-2010 in Harrisburg, PA as part of ABC’s Anniversary bash.  Previous years brought in the likes of Mike Doughty and Cracker but this year ABC had a special double-headliner bill of Hoots And Hellmouth and The Bridge.  Four hours of fun organic music mixed with $3 craft brew beers made this a successful night for ABC.

The Bridge are a Baltimore based jam/bluegrass/blues group that is hard to define categorically.  They have been a band for some years now and have mastered several different styles of music.   The mandolin player does a great “beatbox” for example.  The highlight for me was when the guitarist sung and played lapsteel for a cool cover of the blues classic “Come On In My Kitchen” by Robert Johnson and the mandolin player beatboxed a modern rhythm over top….. Definitely something I am going to have to go back and listen to on the live recording (see link below).   They have a loyal regional fan base due to hard work, mixing up the setlists each night, and constant touring.

I am grateful that ABC has done so well over the years and provides their patrons with great music week after week.  From the inner plannings of the people behind www.greenbelts.com of these shows to the hops, barley and malts that are lovingly brewed on site, you know that Appalachian Brewing Company care about their business and their customers.

The show was recorded and posted so you can download or stream the show here.  Thanks to the tapers who get these shows out for everyone to hear!

The seltlist for the night was as follows:
Station Blues
Honey Bee
Brother Don’t
In Dreams
Texas Flyer ~
Colorado Motel
Chavez
Dream in Blue @ ->
Bad Locomotive
Rosie
Come On In My Kitchen #
Devil on Me
Geraldine
Good Rhythm
Stranger $
Cleaning Windows %
Dirtball Blues

Notes:
~ Freddie King cover
@ Los Lobos cover
# Robert Johnson cover
$ Live debut
% Van Morrison cover

Click here to see the photos.

Hoots And Hellmouth played the Abbey Bar inside of the Appalachian Brewing Company on 05-14-2010 in Harrisburg, PA as part of ABC’s Anniversary bash.  Previous years brought in the likes of Mike Doughty and Cracker but this year ABC had a special double-headliner bill of Hoots And Hellmouth and The Bridge.  Four hours of fun organic music mixed with $3 craft brew beers made this a successful night for ABC.

Hoots And Hellmouth are a Philadelphia based roots/bluegrass/folk group that is hard to define.  They have had regional success with the help of WXPN playing many of their songs over the years including “What Good Are Plowshares If We Use Them Like Swords?”, “Want on Nothing”, and most recently “You and All of Us”. The band promotes organic farming and supporting local businesses.  The organic beliefs have spilled into their music as well.  They are hard workers, always reward the local area with plentiful and energetic shows, and also help support other regional acts.

Hoots And Hellmouth area:
Sean Hoots – guitar, vocals
Andrew “Hellmouth” Gray – guitar, vocals
Rob Berliner – mandolin, vocals
John Branigan – bass  (They had a different bass player every time I have seen them though)

I have seen H&HM several times now and they never fail to get an audience started or get people moving.  Not only were they in the opening slot of the show but they also had to compete with the TVs in the back of the bar which had Game 7 of the Stanley Cup semi finals in which their hometown team, Philadelphia Flyers, won their 4th consecutive win to overtake the series 4-3. Why bring this up?  Not only is Harrisburg area full of Flyers fans but this was one of the biggest games of the season and Hoots & Hellmouth were able to steal the crowd’s attention and captivate them all at once.

Their new album, “The Holy Open Secret”, picks up right where the self-titled album left off but a little more refined.  I still love the classic staples and I am also glad they played my favorite from their first album, “The Good I Know You know”.  I had to request that song the last few times I saw them so it was great to see it on the setlist.

I am grateful that ABC has done so well over the years and provides their patrons with great music week after week.  From the inner plannings of the people behind www.greenbelts.com of these shows to the hops, barley and malts that are lovingly brewed on site, you know that Appalachian Brewing Company care about their business and their customers.

The show was recorded and posted so you can download or stream the show here.  Thanks to the tapers who get these shows out for everyone to hear!

The setlist for the night was as follows:
Dishpan hands
Forks and Knives
Antebellum Tree
You and All of Us
The Family Band
Watch Your Mouth
Rattle These Bones
Asleep on the Couch
Abattoir Altar Boy and Girl
Root of the Industry
If You Want It I Don’t Mind
Home For Supper
West of Where the Sun Goes Down
Three Penny Charm
The Good I Know You Know
This Hand is a Mighty Hand
What Good Are Plowshares If We Use Them Like Swords?
Roll, Brandywine, Roll
Encore Break
Oh Babe It Ain’t No Lie

Click here to see the photos.

The Felice Brothers brought their traveling RV roadshow to central PA once again as they played the Abbey Bar inside of Appalachian Brewing Company on 05-06-2010 in Harrisburg, PA.  They sold out a show in York, PA a year ago and the fans came out in numbers again for their show in Harrisburg.

The Felice Brothers put on a good show with some traditional picking as well as some modern picking.  They rocked, boogied, and picked on bluegrass fusioned tunes throughout the night and the crowd ate it up all night long.  “Run Chicken Run”, which is played very frequently on WXPN in Philadelphia was the biggest song of the night but was closely by “Whiskey In My Whiskey”.  “Whiskey In My Whiskey” included arm raising (and hence beer spill) sing along with a cowboy saloon feel. 

The crowd showed up in numbers and they all had a great time….. They always do when The Felice Brothers come in to town!

The setlist for the night was (roughly):
Opening Jam
Greatest show On Earth
Love Me Tenderly
Murder By Mistletoe
Katie Dear
Step Dad is so Bad
Jordan-F*ck the News
Frankie’s Gun!
Goddamn Jim
Whiskey In My Whiskey
Honda Civic
White Limo
Run Chicken Run
Endless Night
Take This Bread
Let me Come Home

Encore:
Saint Stephen’s End
Dance Hall
Helen Fry