Click here to see the photos.

The Hold Steady played a SOLD OUT show at The Abbey Bar inside of the Appalachian Brewing Company in Harrisburg, PA on 04-16-2010. The Hold Steady are on tour to promote their upcoming album “Heaven Is Whenever” that as yet to be released.  For this portion of the tour, the band is playing small clubs and making the shows all about the fans.  The Oranges Band traveled from from Baltimore to open the show.

This show has been three years in the making and planning for Jersey Mike at Greenbelt Events whom is arguably their biggest fan.  Since the first time The Hold Steady played at the Abbey Bar in 05/12/2007 the man ate, slept and breathed The Hold Steady’s music.  He repeatedly asked them over the years to come back and play and it finally came true on 04-16-2010.  The night was well planned and well thought out, the night was complete with a custom made hand stamp at the front door with the Hold Steady infinity logo to let you in the doors.

The Hold Steady took the stage and thanked Jersey Mike for making the show possible and then wasted no time getting the crowd into the party mood with the 1-2-3 punch of “Sweet Part of the City”, “Hornets Hornets”, and “Hurricane J”.  The venue was rocking, the room was hot, and the band was on fire.  Arguably the best 1-2-3 punch however was the “Banging Camp”, “Constructive Summer”, “Hot Soft Light” though.

Make no mistake about it, The Hold Steady came into Harrisburg, Pa to rock and when you couple that with a great crowd in a small venue you get an epic show.  The band fed off the intense and loyal fans up front all night long.

The entire Hold Steady show is a party and they acknowledged this fact and closed out the night with “Killer Parties” complete with confetti canons blasting making this a night to remember.

Thanks again to everyone involved that night!

The setlist for the night was as follows:
Sweet Part of the City
Hornets Hornets
Hurricane J
Chips Ahoy
Magazines
Charlemagne in Sweatpants
Banging Camp
Constructive Summer ->
Hot Soft Light
Criminal Fingers
Most People are DJ’s
Rock Problems
Sequestered in Memphis
The Swish
Barfruit Blues
Ascension Blues
Stuck Between Stations
Stay Positive
Weekenders
Southtown Girls

Encore:
You Can Make Him Like You
Your Little Hoodrat Friend ->
Killer Parties

Click here to see the photos.

Goo Goo Dolls played a packed Hershey Theatre in Hershey, PA on 04-13-2010. They are on tour to promote their album “Something for the Rest of Us” which has yet to be released and this was only the 4th show of the tour.  The Hershey Theatre is a very nice theatre to see a show, it was my first time inside the building and I hope to have more opportunities in the future.  Unfortunately this show was a soundboard shoot, so you will not get close ups of the band in this set of photos.

The Goo Goo Dolls played a fair amount of material off the new album, but they still had a nice mix of fan favorites and older material.  The fans were on their feet for the whole show but they really got into the groove when they got to the third song and played the hit “Slide” off the multi-platinum album Dizzy Up The Girl.

It was a laid back atmosphere this night, the house lights often turned on in between songs so that Johnny would talk to or with the audience which brought some humor and some connection with the audience.

Johnny was telling the audience that the new record will be on the Warner Brothers label and that “they are moving their plant down to Mexico to make records cheaper even though no one buys them”.  This topic sure hit home for many of the locals since Hershey have been in talks over the last few years about relocating jobs to south of the border as well.  Johnny was visably annoyed about all of this and he started talking about how he was in a cynical mood that night and maybe he was having his “man period”.  Just imagine 5 guys all traveling around having their man period at the same time he joked.  He said growing up with four sisters and his mother in the same house he could remember how his dad handled his man periods.  About once a month he would say something along the lines of:

Johhny’s Dad: “C’mn we are going.”
Johnny: “Where are we going?”
Johhny’s Dad:”Shut the f@#$ up and get in the car, we’ll be home in like 4 days just don’t ask any questions.”

Another funny part of the show was when they brought on stage a sign that a fan made for the band and it said “Shmier Schmier Pupen” (pronounced shmeer shmeer poopin’) when Johnny found out that it meant Goo Goo Dolls in German he said they should have picked a better name for the band and he joked that he does not think he will ever be able to play Germany again.

Side skits and comedies aside, this was a great rock show.  Everyone in the audience was on their feet for the entire show, this nice theatre in Hershey was converted into a full-blown rock show for one night and it was great.  This band has been around for a long time and they are still pulling off a great live show.

The setlist for the night was as follows:

Sweetest Lie
Big Machine
Slide
Dizzy
Here Is Gone
Another Second Time Around
Smash
Can’t Let It Go
Black Balloon
Home
One Night
Better Days
Stay With You
Now I Hear
Tucked Away
Name
Let Love In
As I Am
All Eyes On Me
Acoustic #3
Iris
Encore:
Sympathy
Flat Top (Did Not Play but was on the setlist) 
Broadway

Click here to see the photos.

Hackensaw Boys played the Abbey Bar at the Appalachian Brewing Company in Harrisburg, PA on 04-09-2010.  Greenbelt Events brought this band back the fans in the area once again and they showed up in numbers.

When the Hackensaw boys come into town you know there will be a lot of beer and whiskey swilling while the fans dance and sing to their old-time bluegrass music.  While the music is old-time, they are also a high-octane band with punk ethics and rowdy uptempo songs.  In fact, after a tour with Modest Mouse years ago one of their band members left the band to join Modest Mouse.  This opportunity opened a spot for a native of Altoona, PA.  He took over the spot three years ago or so and has been bringing the band back to PA.

The Hackensaw Boys are a hardworking band that are flying under the radar somehow but put on exceptional live shows.  When playing fan favorites such as Cannonball or Radio the audience screams and stomps to the beat on the floor like it it were a dirt floored saloon in the wild west.  They interact with the crowd in between songs but most notably, they play the ends of their shows acoustic amongst the crowd.

Towards the end of the night, they unplug all their instruments and head to the center of the floor and play songs and yell the words for everyone to hear.  The crowd at this point are already hot and sweaty from the long show but now they all circle the band on the floor and it gives them their last jolt of energy being face to face with the band on the floor.

Hackensaw Boys shows are always HIGHLY recommended if you like high energy bluegrass, go out and see them when they are in your town!

The setlist was as follows (I am missing a few songs but these were played):
End Times
Over The Road
Keep It Simple
Tough Luck
Sweet Petunia
Cannonball
Oh, Girl
Too Much Time
Just One
Radio
Wherever You Are
Nashville
Knoxville Blues
Whiskey
Lookout Dog, Slow Train

Click here to see the photos.

Toubab Krewe played at the Abbey Bar inside of Appalachian Brewing Company in Harrisburg, PA on 03-19-2010.  It was another night of intense music in front of a packed house at the Abbey Bar.  The Heavy Pets opened the show for Toubab Krewe and put on an impressive set of music.

Toubab Krewe returned to their faithful fans in Harrisburg again and came back to another packed house.  I was especially excited about this show after seeing Bela Fleck: The Africa Tour a month prior to this show.  There has been a great month of music in the area lately and an odd amount of great African and Malian inspired music in particular.  As many know by now, Toubab Krewe utilizes some instruments on that are not traditionally used by bands in the U.S. such as the kora and the kamelengoni.

Toubab Krewe play a complex set of music thanks in part to percussionists Luke Quaranta and Teal Brown.  Their rhythmic changes and synchronicity really keep this band moving all together as one and the fans really feed off that.  There are no vocals in Toubab Krewe songs they are all instrumentals and their instrumentation speaks for themselves.

In addition to the instruments listed above, Harrisburg was offered a rare treat when the guitarist played a cigar box that was hand made from a local in the Harrisburg area.  The maker was in the audience to watch them play his instrument on stage.  He was just as happy that they used it as the guitarist was to use it.  The guitarist played it with a slide and seemed to really like it.

The audience once again turned the Abbey Bar into a full on party with dancing and plenty of ABC brew of course.  Yet another incredible night at ABC.

The band members are:

Teal Brown – drum set
Drew Heller – electric guitar and soku
Justin Perkins – kora, kamelengoni, and electric guitar
David Pransky – electric bass guitar
Luke Quaranta – percussion

Thank your local tapers for making shows like these available to everyone.  Toubab Krewe’s set can be downloaded or streamed here: http://www.archive.org/details/toubabkrewe2010-03-19.wklitz.sbd.schoeps.flac16