Click to enlarge.

Last night, the Derek Trucks Band won their first Grammy award for “Best Contemporary Blues Award” with their album Already Free.  Congrats to the members as well as everyone else that worked on the album.  Other nominations for this category included Derek Trucks’ wife Susan Tedeschi which was nominated for her album Back To The River. 

Now you may be asking yourself why I might be posting about this…. Well for one, they have been one of my favorite bands since the first time I saw them a decade ago but also because I had the great opportunity of having one of my live concert photos used in the album and my name mentioned in the liner notes as a contributing photographer. 

I have been following this band for a long time and have seen them countless times live.  I have seen the strides the band has taken and the continual musical growth that they all have had over the years.  To watch Derek Trucks growing up from a shy and skinny little kid with long hair to being one of the most proficient guitarists in the world, a great band conductor, and an amazing music writer has been an awesome experience for everyone.

Congrats to the Derek Trucks Band!

Click here to see the photos.

Mike Doughty played the Harrisburg Midtown Arts Center (HMAC) on 11-24-2009  in Harrisburg, PA as part of the Question Jar Tour.  

Mike Doughty and Scrap Livingston were on tour promoting the new Mike Doughty solo album, Sad Man Happy Man.  The last time Mike and Scrap were in Harrisburg they were just a few blocks away at the Appalachian Brewing Company but this time the promoters, Greenbelt Events: http://greenbeltevents.com/, used HMAC for the venue.  It was a cool venue, they were set up with a bar but it had more of a relaxed coffee shop look and feel with small round tables and a cozy setting,

It was a stripped down intimate tour which Mike Doughty and Scrap Livingston play an acoustic set of music and allow the audience to write questions and put them in the “Question Jar”.  Throughout the evening Mike and Scrap take the questions out, read them, and then answer them in front of the audience.

Though it was a stripped down arrangement, the duo had enough substance that the songs are still really well structured and performed well.  Their big hits such as 27 Jennifers, Madeline And Nine,  White Lexus, Looking At The World From The Bottom Of The Well, Tremendous Brunettes, Busting Up A Starbucks, etc were all played.

The questions from the audience ranged from the mundane, technical, ridiculous, and not quite suited for the PG-13 crowd.  A lot of the answers provided were made up and humorous but at times bordered the territory of: If you are not going to answer them seriously, what is the point of us asking?  But after seeing several of his shows, I was prepared for Mike’s sarcastic/dry humor so it did not really bother me.

This was one of the first of many concerts promoted by the great people at http://greenbeltevents.com/.  Check out their upcoming shows on their site to see an impressive list of bands coming up.  Currently on their list: Toubab Krewe, North Mississippi Allstars, Hackensaw Boys, The Heavy, and so many more great bands are already booked.  In addition to the impressive list, I’ve been told there will be a big show announcement coming soon so keep an eye on their sight and bookmark it while you are there.  I hope this Mike Doughty show was a kick off for a successful concert promotion company.

Click here to see the photos.

Pearl Jam played the Wachovia Spectrum on 10-31-2009 in Philadelphia,PA.  Pearl Jam had the great honor to bring the entire building to a close by performing four shows in one week (10-27-09, 10-28-09, 10-30-09, 10-31-09), with the run concluding on Halloween night.  Pearl Jam’s ties to Bad Religion ties have been around since Bad Religion’s album Recipe For Hate, on which Eddie Vedder sung backup vocals on a few songs. Those ties led to Bad Religion the opening slot on 10-30-2009 and 10-31-2009 and their photos can be found here.

I was fortunate to be able to photograph two of the four (but attend all four) last shows ever to be held at the Spectrum.  I photographed Pearl Jam and the opening bands on the nights of the 27th and the 31st.   The Spectrum in Philadelphia has long been holding historical sporting events, concerts, movie moments, and  millions of other memories for a worldwide audience.  One of my earliest memories is one of the most popular moments for the Spectrum was when Rocky boxed to win his first title of the Rocky movie series.

After a blistering set of music by Bad Religion during which Eddie Vedder came out to sing “Watch It Die”, Pearl Jam come out to the stage with the Rocky intro music blasting through the speakers.  The building’s legendary tale was about to end with a finale as part of a historic four night residency by Pearl Jam and friends.

Jeff Ament came out wearing a devil mask for Halloween and Eddie Vedder came out on the stage wearing boxing gloves and raised his hands high while the Rocky theme was playing and then quickly threw them in the audience at the start of the first song.  The first three songs of each night have been rockers and this night was no different.  This night, they opened with “Why Go”, “Last Exit”, “Corduroy” which was an awesome and rocking way to start this historic show.

Rare songs was a theme of the four shows.  Some gems were dusted off after many years of dormancy and some songs were played that have never been played live before.  Ed noted that one fan offered up a large sum of money to a charity if the band would play “Out Of My Mind” and so the band obliged and played it for the first time since 04-06-1994…. Time to pay up!  The band also showed a vulnerable side by playing these live for the first time ever: “Sweet Lew” (with Jeff Ament on vocals and Eddie Vedder playing the basketball as a percussive instrument) as well as the quirky and odd “Bugs” (complete with Vedder on accordion) from Vitalogy.   And of course since it was Halloween, the whole band came out for the second encore dressed as Devo (yellow suits, red flower pot hats, and Eddie carrying a whip) and played “Whip It”.

The crowds during this four night stand were epic and loud, not only for the concerts themselves but the Philadelphia Phillies were also in a battle for the World Series against the New York Yankees.  Many “Let’s Go Phillies” chants took place at random parts of the concert, Pearl Jam embraced the energy by dedicating songs to Phillies players and also providing score updates to the fans throughout the residency which only got the fans stirred up even more.  Eddie Vedder is big Chicago Cubs fan but he knows how to entertain an audience and keep them happy (even though the Phillies lost the series the game this night, and the series days later).  And this is what brings them back four nights in a row.

Before “Rockin’ In The Free World”, the house lights came on as they always do and part way in the song a seemingly endless supply of red, white, and blue confetti filled the air.  The stream of confetti was blown into the air for a few minutes and then red, white, and blue balloons dropped from the ceiling.

It was a party, a finale to a legendary stadium, a rock show, and an amazing night by one of the best touring bands in the world, Pearl Jam.

The setlist for the night was as follows:

Main Set: Why Go, Last Exit, Corduroy, Severed Hand, The Fixer, Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town, You Are, Amongst The Waves, Even Flow, Pilate (First since: 2000-10-25), Unthought Known, Daughter/Call and Response/Another Brick In The Wall, Johnny Guitar, Rats, I’m Open (first since: 2008-06-28)/I Got Shit, Glorified G, Out Of My Mind (first since: 1994-04-06), Black/We Belong Together, Insignificance, Life Wasted

Second Set: Just Breathe (w/ Philadelphia String Quartet), The End (w/ Philadelphia String Quartet), Low Light, Speed of Sound, Jeremy (w/ Philadelphia String Quartet), Inside Job, Bugs (w/ Philadelphia String Quartet, first time played live), Spin The Black Circle, Porch

Encore: Whip It! (Devo), Got Some, Crown of Thorns, Satan’s Bed, Sweet Lew (First time played live), Do The Evolution, Betterman/Save It For Later/Call and Response, Smile, Alive, Rockin’ In The Free World, Yellow Ledbetter/Star Spangled Banner

Click here to see the photos

Bad Religion played the Wachovia Spectrum on Halloween, 10-31-2009, in Philadelphia,PA.  Pearl Jam had the great honor to bring the entire building to a close by performing four shows in one week (10-27-09, 10-28-09, 10-30-09, 10-31-09), with the run concluding on Halloween night.  Pearl Jam’s ties to Bad Religion ties have been around since Bad Religion’s album Recipe For Hate, on which Eddie Vedder sung back up vocals on a few songs. Those ties led to Bad Religion the opening slot on 10-30-2009 and 10-31-2009.

I was fortunate to be able to photograph 2 of the 4 last shows ever to be held at the Spectrum.  I photographed Pearl Jam and the opening bands on the nights of the 27th and the 31st.   The Spectrum in Philadelphia has long been holding historical sporting events, concerts, movie moments, and  millions of other memories for a worldwide audience.  One of my earliest  memories is one of the most popular moments for the Spectrum was when Rocky boxed to win his first title of the Rocky movie series.  And now the legend of the building ends with a historic 4 night residency by Pearl Jam and friends.

Bad Religion took stage and won over the crowd with their punk rock anthems and sing along vocal harmonies.  They mixed songs of old and new spanning their whole career.  From the old school “Only Gonna Die From Our Own Arrogance” to the newer rocker and anthemic “Los Angelas Is Burning”

Greg Graffin is a university professor off the stage but caries teaching on stage with him as well.  Bad Religion’s music has been called “punk rock for the thinking man” in the past because of the lyrical content.  Greg and Brett Gurewitz have a knack of fitting some words into songs that other lyricists would never be able to (or even know what they mean).

For example:
Ameliorate – “Germs Of Perfection”
Anechoic – “Delirium Of Disorder”
Denouement – “F**k Armageddon… This Is Hell”
Epicene – “Automatic Man”
Ersatz – “The Surface Of Me” 
Inchoate – “1000 More Fools”
Irascible – “Hooray For Me…”
Nascent – “Strange Denial”
Oligarchy – “Oligarchy”
Pusillanimous – “Hear It”
Reprobate – “A Walk”

While the vocabulary in the songs may be impressive, it is not the focus of the songs. The center and focus of many of Bad Religion’s songs is a message of conviction, and stay true to your beliefs, question everyone and anything, and of course to learn as much as you can.  This message is spread out over themes of politics, consumerism, propaganda, religion, and anything else that has lit a fire under Greg Graffin.

As an old friend and a collaborator to the original recording, Eddie Vedder took the stage to alternate verses and sing back up on “Watch It Die” from the Recipe For Hate album.  It was certainly the highpoint for the fans that were not familiar with bad Religion’s music, as soon as Eddie took stage the fans cheered and quickly got on their feet.

The complete setlist for the night was as follows:

Los Angelas Is Burning
Them And Us
Struck A Nerve
new Dark Ages
Suffer
Atomic Garden
Dearly Beloved
21st Century Digital Boy
Anastesia
No Control
Man With A Mission
Watch It Die (Featuring Eddie Vedder on Vocals)
Only Gonna Die From Our Own Arrogance
Infected
Sorrow

Click here to see the photos.

Pearl Jam played the Wachovia Spectrum on 10-27-2009 in Philadelphia,PA.  Pearl Jam had the great honor to bring the entire building to a close by performing four shows in one week (10-27-09, 10-28-09, 10-30-09, 10-31-09), with the run concluding on Halloween night.  Pearl Jam have been long time fans of Social Distortion and so they gave Social Distortion the opening slot on 10-27-2009 and 10-28-2009 while Bad Religion had the honor of opening up on 10-30-2009 and 10-31-2009.  Social Distortion opened the show and their photos can be found here.

I was fortunate to be able to photograph two of the four  (but attend all four) last shows ever to be held at the Spectrum.  I photographed Pearl Jam and the opening bands on the nights of the 27th and the 31st.   The Spectrum in Philadelphia has long been holding historical sporting events, concerts, movie moments, and  millions of other memories for a worldwide audience.  One of my earliest  memories is one of the most popular moments for the Spectrum was when Rocky boxed to win his first title of the Rocky movie series.

 It was great to see Pearl Jam come out to the stage with the Rocky intro blasting through the speakers.  And now the legend of the building ends with a historic 4 night residency by Pearl Jam and friends.  The first three songs of the night (“Corduroy”, “Whipping”, “Hail Hail”) were an awesome rocking way to start a four night stand.

This series of concerts was all about the fans and Pearl Jam having fun together.  Eddie Vedder quipped that the show on the 31st would last until 2AM and that they will try to play every song they know in the 4 shows.  While neither was true, Eddie Vedder has long been the sarcastic joker and most fans knew not to take him too seriously.   Eddie Vedder noted that one of his idols, Bruce Springsteen, played the Spectrum a week before them and heard that he really rocked the place and no disrespect to them but “We did not come here to be the clean-up crew” noting that Pearl Jam will be ones tearing the building down.

Another light hearted moment was before Mankind. Eddie Vedder announced that he read on the Pearl Jam message boards that Stone had quit the band in order to spend more time as a father.  They said it was all true and that they plead with Stone to stay with the band and the only way he would stay is if they let him sing “Mankind”.  “Mankind” is a song that is written and sung by Stone and it is very rarely played.  Stone jokingly agreed saying that he liked to be the a**hole in the band but glad he got to play his song.

Rare songs is another theme of the four shows, some gems were dusted off after many years of dormancy and somesongs were played that have never been played live before.  One of those rarely played songs which was last played in 2003 is “Rival” off the album Binuaral.  In addition to rare songs, they also started the second set of music off each night with the addition of some some of Philadelphia’s own string orchestra players.  On this night only two songs were accompanied with strings,  ”Just Breathe” and “All Those Yesterdays”

The crowds during this four night stand were epic and excited, not only for the concerts themselves but the Philadelphia Phillies were also in a battle for the World Series against the New York Yankees.  Many “Let’s Go Phillies” chants took place at random parts of the concert, Pearl Jam embraced the energy by dedicating songs to Phillies players and also providing score updates to the fans throughout the residency which only got the fans stirred up even more.  Eddie Vedder is big Chicago Cubs fan but he knows how to entertain an audience and keep them happy.

Another nice change in the setlist was that they played only a few cover songs during the residency, one cover song that I am glad they played this night though is The Who’s “Love Reign O’er Me”.  This is a perfected cover of an already awesome song.  Eddie Vedder’s screaming howl during the choruses nearly tore down the Spectrum on its own.  You wonder how he can sing a song like that on night one and still have a voice left over for the 4thand final show…. Incredible, amazing, and astonishing night by one of the bes touring bands in the world, Pearl Jam.

The setlist for the night was as follows:

Main Set: Corduroy, Whipping, Hail Hail, Supersonic, Dissident, Unthought Known, Faithfull, Parachutes, Unemployable, Immortality, Green Disease, Not For You/Modern Girl, Rival, Nothingman, Ghost, Do The Evolution, Why Go

Encore 1: Bee Girl, Just Breathe (w/ Philly String Quartet), The End (w/ Philly String Quartet), All Those Yesterdays, State of Love and Trust, Mankind, The Fixer, Go

Encore 2: Daughter, Love Reign O’er Me, Black/We Belong Together, Leash, Rearviewmirror, Rockin’ In The Free World

Click here to see the photos.

Social Distortion played the Wachovia Spectrum on 10-27-2009 in Philadelphia,PA.  Pearl Jam had the great honor to bring the entire building to a close by performing four shows in one week (10-27-09, 10-28-09, 10-30-09, 10-31-09), with the run concluding on Halloween night.  Pearl Jam have been long time fans of Social Distortion and so they gave Social Distortion the opening slot on 10-27-2009 and 10-28-2009.

I was fortunate to be able to photograph 2 of the 4 last shows ever to be held at the Spectrum.  I photographed Pearl Jam and the opening bands on the nights of the 27th and the 31st.   The Spectrum in Philadelphia has long been holding historical sporting events, concerts, movie moments, and  millions of other memories for a worldwide audience.  One of my earliest  memories is one of the most popular moments for the Spectrum was when Rocky boxed to win his first title of the Rocky movie series.  And now the legend of the building ends with a historic 4 night residency by Pearl Jam and friends.

The lights went dimmed and Social Distortion took stage close to 7:30.  Mike Ness and company were ready to impress their old school punk rock on the Pearl Jam fans entering the Spectrum.  They did a great job of picking songs from their older part of their catalog as well as their newer material.  Kicking off the set was their hit “Making Believe” from the album “Somewhere Between Heaven And Hell” which starts out with Mike Ness singing and playing his guitar solo and later the band kicks into the song at full tilt.  The title track from their 1983 album “Mommy’s Little Monster” followed as the second song and then played “Sick Boys” from their self titled album released in 1990. 

I’ve been listening to Social Distortion albums for many years and to hear them play classics like “Ball And Chain”, “Bad Luck”, “Ring Of Fire” to a large venue is really cool.   Nothing beats seeing them play the smaller clubs that always sell out quickly, but at the same time this is a great opportunity for them to get their music out to some groups of people out there that might otherwise not have known them.  Pearl Jam have been fans of Mike Ness and Social Distortion for a long time so it was great to see Pearl Jam ask them to open two of these 4 historical nights.

As with any band that has been around a while, Social Distortion has made a few line up changes through the years.  I quickly noticed that the drummer looked familiar to me but it was not until later that I noticed him from seeing the band Rocket From The Crypt years ago.  I got to see Rocket From the Crypt several times in highschool and in college.   Social Distortion’s current line-up are:
Mike Ness – vocals, guitar
Jonny “2 Bags” Wickersham – guitar
Brent Harding – bass
Adam “Atom” Willard – drums

Click here to see the photos.

Dickey Betts And Great Southern played the Majestic Theater in Gettysburg, PA on 10-11-2009.  This was my first trip to Majestic Theater and hopefully will not be the last because I had a lot of fun at this show.

As one of the founding members of the Allman Brothers Band, Dickey Betts wrote many of the Allman Brothers Band hits so they play a predominant role in his shows.  Dickey Betts and Great Southern play some material that the Allman Brothers band rarely play which is only one reason to make sure that you see them.  Some of the Allman Brothers Band songs played included:  Statesboro Blues, In Memory of Elizabeth Reed, One Way Out, Jessica, Seven Turns, Blue Sky, and Ramblin’ Man.

Dickey Betts is a monster guitar player and a great writer, there are few people deny that.  He is a living legend and his 2-1/2 ~ 3 hour shows are nothing short of legendary as well.  The band played two full sets of music plus an encore.  While the first set was impressive, Dickey and his band were on fire during the second set.  Dickey’s guitar work during the jazz influenced In Memory of Elizabeth Reed was one of the better guitar performances anyone will ever see.

The whole evening was perfect.  I had the pleasure of meeting Dickey and Duane Betts, the show was amazing, the venue was very nice, the venue is located in the historic Gettysburg, PA which has a lot of tourist sites for the civil war buffs, and there are few pubs within walking distance.

I do not recall the order of the setlist, but I recall these being played:
Statesboro Blues
You Don’t Love Me
In Memory of Elizabeth Reed >
Drums >
Bass Solo >
Third Stone From the Sun (Jimi Hendrix tease)>
In Memory of Elizabeth Reed
One Way Out
Jessica
Seven Turns
Hoochie Coochie Man
Blue Sky
Having a Good Time (introduced as a song about Jerry Garcia)
High Falls
Ramblin’ Man

Dickey Betts and Great Southern are:
Dickey Betts – Guitar/Vocals
Duane Betts – Guitar
Andy Aledort – Guitar
Pedro Arevalo – Bass
Mike Kach – Keyboards/Vocals
Frankie Lombardi – Drums
James Varnado – Drums

Click here to see the photos.

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit played the Abbey bar at the Appalachian Brewery on 10-06-2009 in Harrisburg, PA.  Round Table Presents brought in yet another great band that is flying just below the radar to Harrisburg.

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit brought their brand of dirty southern rock to the northeast on a Saturday night.  The venue was decorated in Halloween decor and it also had additional stage lighting on the stage which made for a really cool stage. The venue is a very intimate place to see a great band like this to begin with, the additional stage props made the night even better.

The Former guitarist, vocalist and songwriter for the Drive By Truckers broke away from his band in 2007 (John Neff eventually filled Jason’s void) and started his venture as a solo artist.  His voice has a smooth yet raspy whiskey and cigarette soaked tone along with his trademark southern charm mixed in.

Many of Jason’s penned songs with the Drive By Truckers were performed including the fan favorite and title of one of the DBT albums, Decoration Day as well as an even selection of songs off his two solo albums Sirens Of The Ditch and the self titled Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit.

Two choice covers were included in the setlist, the Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer” and Tom Petty’s “American Girl”.  The bass player kicked off Psycho Killer with the trademark bassline and the guitarist sung the quirky David Byrne vocals.  American Girl started with the instantly recognizable few high pitched chord strums and the fast drum beat filled in behind keeping its fast tempo for the duration of the song and ended with a great guitar solo.

The last song of the night was The Day John Henry Died and it was performed solo by Jason.  The song had been called out by the fans all evening and they finally got their wish.

These are songs that I think I remember them playing… There might have been more or less and certainly were not played in this order:

Try
Grown
Streetlights
Outfit
Goddamn Lonely Love
Danko/Manuel
The Blue
Chicago Promenade
The AssassinDecoration Day
Hurricanes And Hand Grenades
Cigarettes And Wine
Dress Blues
American Girl (Tom Petty)
Psycho Killer (Talking Heads)
The Day John Henry Died (Played Solo)

Click here to see the photos.

J Roddy Walston and the Business played the Abbey bar at the Appalachian Brewery on 10-06-2009 in Harrisburg, PA.  J Roddy Walston and the Business opened up for Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit this night at the Abey Bar. 

J Roddy Walston and the Business are no strangers to the Abbey bar, in fact they did a weekly residency for one month at the bar to grow their fan base.  Not only that but the week before that residency, they opened up for the Drive By Truckers in Baltimore, MD so also were not strangers to Jason Isbell’s style of music.

This is not a band for the weak necked, they may not play heavy metal but they head bang their way through songs like it is a thrash metal show.  These guys like to rock and they are not afraid to let everyone know it.  Their music is a mix of AC/DC’s big guitar riffs and Jerry Lee Lewis’ care-free piano riffing.

This is the third time that I have seen the band play and it is the second time I have seen them as the opening band.  The two times I have seen  times as an opening band they were able to get the rocking out so it will not be long until they will be headlining small shows and bringing large crowds.

Click here to see the photos.

Garaj Mahal played the Abbey bar at the Appalachian Brewery on 10-06-2009 in Harrisburg, PA.  As part of an awesome October schedule by Round Table Presents, Garaj Mahal made their return to Harrisburg on this Tuesday night.

Garaj Mahal are a jazz quartet that jams and improvises throughout the night which makes for a night full of amazing music.  All of the members of the band are accomplished musicians.  If you like jam/jazz music fusion, this band is really inspiring.  Every great jazz group has a great rhythm section and Garaj Mahal is no exception.  Kai Eckhardt,the bass player, and Alan Hertz, drummer, have been playing together for over 10 years together which makes for a really tight rhythm section.

Kai Eckhardt in addition to being a teacher at the prestigious Berkley School of Music has also played with an impressive list of musicians over his 30 year career including the famous jazz guitarist John McLaughlin which was Miles Davis’ guitarist during the Bitches brew era.  Kai’s bass playing style reminds me of Victor Wooten of Bela Fleck And The Flecktones which is a huge complement.

Guitarist, Fareed Haque, was named Guitar Player magazine’s “Best World Guitarist” for 2009.  His classical and jazz guitar licks had melody and were emotional unlike some classicl/jazz guitarists that think that the number of notes yo ucan play is more important.

This show happened to be on the birthday of the keyboard player, Eric Levy.  So the band made all the audience yell Happy Birthday Eric Levy several times during the first set.  After a few technical problems at the beginning of the set, Eric provided the backbeat for the band throughout the rest of the set while also taking on several solos.

You can listen to the show here on the archive by clicking this link.  Thank the tapers!  The setlist (as per the archive link) was as follows:

Set 1:
Banter
Never Give Up
Today *
Kai Bass Solo >
Fareed Acoustic Solo
Chester The Pester (w/Happy Birthday Eric ending)
The Paladin
Intro > Be Dope
When The World Is Running Down

Set 2:
Kai’s Creepy Story
Some Rules Are Meant To Be Broken
Eric Solo > Poodle Factory
Long Form
Who Knows

* w/o Eric who was having technicals with his keyboard.