So because of ACL I am WAY behind on posting! I want to try and keep things in chronological order so... you may not see any pictures from Halloween until Christmas!
BUT I did have to interrupt my chronological events to share some HUGE news....
My sister Rachel is pregnant and is expecting a baby BOY! The family was officially told that she was pregnant back in September but I guess now that she has had the ultrasound and knows what she is having I can announce it to the WORLD (even though technically she has not given me permission... opps)!
She is due April 5th, right in the middle of tax season (great timing guys) and Anthony is actively looking for jobs in Houston, since he will graduate in December from A&M, WHOOP!.
The doctor told Rachel and Anthony today that the baby was 'big and healthy' which is good to hear!
A funny little story that goes with this... This year for Christmas my siblings and I decided to draw names for Christmas presents. Because Rebecca is the go-getter that she is, she wanted to draw names Labor Day weekend while everyone was in Houston together. Matthew drew Rachel's name. A few days later Matthew was asking my Mom what he should get Rachel for Christmas. My mom said she didn't know. Matthew said he would get her baby stuff (this was before she had announced she was pregnant). My Mom was shocked and wondered if Matthew knew something she didn't. She asked why he wanted to get her baby stuff and he said "cuz she is bound to have kids soon because she is married now." Little did he know, or should I say I guess he did know!
Congrats Rachel and Anthony I am so happy for you both! Love you guys!
Oh, and I have been trying to get Rachel to set up a blog. I told her that I was not missing any pictures of my first nephew. She said she didn't know how to. I told her it was easy and that it would be our 'little project' at Christmas and Thanksgiving, so hopefully you will see it soon!
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
A Drunk Eddie
The Big headliner of ACL was Pearl Jam. I was excited to see them play but also a little nervous at the same time. I was nervous because Eric’s brother Joe said he had seen them play several times and every time Eddie Vedder was so drunk that he could barley perform.
The first couple of songs went well. Eddie Vedder even thanked Austin, and said that they hadn’t played here since the ‘90s and was glad to be back. He then thanked C-3 Productions and ACL and the Fans. Than after all that and another song, Eddie pulls out a bottle of wine and starts chugging it! And that’s when things started to go arye. After chugging that entire bottle of wine, he then played 2 more songs and then went on a 10 minute ramble of how he had stayed up until 8:00 am that morning with Ben Harper trying to wirte a speech for the audience. He then polled out a napkin and tried to read ‘this speech’ only to go on this long rambling fit that didn’t make sense at all but I guess that is to be expected coming from a drunk guy who was slurring his words! Ben Harper then played a song with the Pearl Jam and then Eddie Vetter drank another bottle of wine, jumped of stage and slid through the mud! It was quite the show but my fears did come true about him being drunk and trying to perform.
We did leave about 15 minutes before the end and heard the last few songs play as we were leaving. As we walked out of the park the security guards and police stop us all so that a line of vans could leave and guess who was in the vans, none other than Eddie Vedder and the band Pearl Jam (that was as up close and personal that we got to them)!
We were not to far back for the show but we were kind of off to the side and a large tree was blocking my view so these are the best pics I got of Pearl Jam (and of course when we saw them driving by at the end my camera was dying so I didn’t get any pics then)!
Band Bio:
At first considered the pariahs of Seattle’s grunge scene because songs like “Alive,” “Even Flow” and “Jeremy,” though dark and often disturbing, sounded great in arenas and helped sell millions of albums, Pearl Jam proved to be the standard-bearers for a genre formed as a reaction to rock-star excess and rooted in the ideal of not selling out. Eddie Vedder, Jeff Ament, Stone Gossard and Mike McCready earned respect by refusing to make videos for years, by capping ticket prices and by eventually boycotting Ticketmaster and taking the behemoth agency to court (nearly killing the band’s career in the process). Fiercely political, they’ve also supported too many causes to list (Vote for Change, reproductive choice and Habitat for Humanity, to name a few), covered songs by their heroes and paid proper homage when they could, recording, for instance, with “Godfather of Grunge” Neil Young. Preferring to give fans high-quality versions of their performances rather than letting sub-par bootlegs suffice, they released copies of every concert from their Binaural tour — 72 in all, and still offer recordings of concerts deemed worthy. Back with longtime producer Brendan O’Brien, Pearl Jam is recording its ninth studio album. In March, it released a commemorative edition of its debut album, Ten, marking the first in a series of re-releases in advance of the band’s 20th anniversary in 2011. Among their more notable side projects was Vedder’s first solo album, the soundtrack for director Sean Penn’s 2007 film, Into the Wild.
Official Set List:
Why Go?
Corduroy
Got Some
Not For You (plus a verse from “Modern Girl” by Sleater Kinney)
Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town
Given To Fly
World Wide Suicide
Evenflow
Unthought Known
Daughter (with transition into first verse of W.M.A.)
Hail Hail
Insignificance
Present Tense
State Of Love And Trust
The Fixer
Go
(encore)
Red Mosquito (feat. Ben Harper)
Do The Evolution
The Real Me (cover - The Who)
Alive
(encore 2)
Mountain Song (cover - Jane’s Addiction with Perry Farrell on vocals)
Rockin’ In The Free World (cover - Neil Young)
The first couple of songs went well. Eddie Vedder even thanked Austin, and said that they hadn’t played here since the ‘90s and was glad to be back. He then thanked C-3 Productions and ACL and the Fans. Than after all that and another song, Eddie pulls out a bottle of wine and starts chugging it! And that’s when things started to go arye. After chugging that entire bottle of wine, he then played 2 more songs and then went on a 10 minute ramble of how he had stayed up until 8:00 am that morning with Ben Harper trying to wirte a speech for the audience. He then polled out a napkin and tried to read ‘this speech’ only to go on this long rambling fit that didn’t make sense at all but I guess that is to be expected coming from a drunk guy who was slurring his words! Ben Harper then played a song with the Pearl Jam and then Eddie Vetter drank another bottle of wine, jumped of stage and slid through the mud! It was quite the show but my fears did come true about him being drunk and trying to perform.
We did leave about 15 minutes before the end and heard the last few songs play as we were leaving. As we walked out of the park the security guards and police stop us all so that a line of vans could leave and guess who was in the vans, none other than Eddie Vedder and the band Pearl Jam (that was as up close and personal that we got to them)!
We were not to far back for the show but we were kind of off to the side and a large tree was blocking my view so these are the best pics I got of Pearl Jam (and of course when we saw them driving by at the end my camera was dying so I didn’t get any pics then)!
Band Bio:
At first considered the pariahs of Seattle’s grunge scene because songs like “Alive,” “Even Flow” and “Jeremy,” though dark and often disturbing, sounded great in arenas and helped sell millions of albums, Pearl Jam proved to be the standard-bearers for a genre formed as a reaction to rock-star excess and rooted in the ideal of not selling out. Eddie Vedder, Jeff Ament, Stone Gossard and Mike McCready earned respect by refusing to make videos for years, by capping ticket prices and by eventually boycotting Ticketmaster and taking the behemoth agency to court (nearly killing the band’s career in the process). Fiercely political, they’ve also supported too many causes to list (Vote for Change, reproductive choice and Habitat for Humanity, to name a few), covered songs by their heroes and paid proper homage when they could, recording, for instance, with “Godfather of Grunge” Neil Young. Preferring to give fans high-quality versions of their performances rather than letting sub-par bootlegs suffice, they released copies of every concert from their Binaural tour — 72 in all, and still offer recordings of concerts deemed worthy. Back with longtime producer Brendan O’Brien, Pearl Jam is recording its ninth studio album. In March, it released a commemorative edition of its debut album, Ten, marking the first in a series of re-releases in advance of the band’s 20th anniversary in 2011. Among their more notable side projects was Vedder’s first solo album, the soundtrack for director Sean Penn’s 2007 film, Into the Wild.
Official Set List:
Why Go?
Corduroy
Got Some
Not For You (plus a verse from “Modern Girl” by Sleater Kinney)
Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town
Given To Fly
World Wide Suicide
Evenflow
Unthought Known
Daughter (with transition into first verse of W.M.A.)
Hail Hail
Insignificance
Present Tense
State Of Love And Trust
The Fixer
Go
(encore)
Red Mosquito (feat. Ben Harper)
Do The Evolution
The Real Me (cover - The Who)
Alive
(encore 2)
Mountain Song (cover - Jane’s Addiction with Perry Farrell on vocals)
Rockin’ In The Free World (cover - Neil Young)
Saturday, October 31, 2009
A Few Ramdom Peeps
Eric is very much the 'social butterfly'. He talks to anyone, anywhere. We will be standing in line at the grocery store, or waiting in the waiting room at the doctor's office, or sitting waiting for a movie to start and he will strike up a conversation with anyone there! Concerts and festivals are the best because you meet such random and 'weird' people. Here are just a few of the people Eric 'befriended' at ACL:
Just sittin' in some random person's chair:
Joe is just as bad and this lady would not stop talking!
Dana too, got in on the fun:
That random lady popping up again!
This ART sign was our meeting place if we got separated. It came in handy because we got separated a few times. One time, after we got separated, when I was walking up to the ART, this is what I saw:
Eric had become friends with some random dude! Thanks random dude for keeping Eric company while he was waiting for me to find him! The above pic Eric doesn't see me yet and is just talkin' away and the bottom pic is after I yelled at him, I mean to him (to get his attention of course)!
Just sittin' in some random person's chair:Joe is just as bad and this lady would not stop talking!Dana too, got in on the fun:That random lady popping up again!This ART sign was our meeting place if we got separated. It came in handy because we got separated a few times. One time, after we got separated, when I was walking up to the ART, this is what I saw:Eric had become friends with some random dude! Thanks random dude for keeping Eric company while he was waiting for me to find him! The above pic Eric doesn't see me yet and is just talkin' away and the bottom pic is after I yelled at him, I mean to him (to get his attention of course)!
In Chill Mode
Passion Pit put on an amazing performance (even if we were in the nose bleed section). They are a fairly new band but are growing popularity fast. I like them a lot because the are very chill and relaxing (which was very much needed by this time on Day 3)!
Can you tell I am running out of steam blogging about ACL! I love to take pictures and always have a TON from pretty much EVERY vent in my life, but that is why I have to blog them so I can order one of those cool books! (Man I should listen to Passion Pit now to help me through these last few ACL posts!)
Band Bio:
In lieu of a box of chocolates, Michael Angelakos recorded an EP of sunny, playfully eclectic electronica tunes for his girlfriend as a belated Valentine’s gift. We can only assume she loved it, because soon Angelakos was passing the same record around to friends and, next thing he knew, Chunk of Change was released by New York’s Frenchkiss Records, and Passion Pit was born. The video for the EP’s “Sleepyhead” was named one of the Top 40 music videos of 2008 by Pitchfork, and anticipation is high for the Cambridge, Mass.’-based Passion Pit’s full-length debut, Manners, due May 18. Live, Angelakos reproduces his one-man keyboard and samples symphonies with a full band comprising Ian Hultquist, Ayad Al Adhamy, Jeff Apruzzese and Nate Donmoyer.
Official Set List:
To Kingdom Come
Make Light
I've Got Your Number
Let Your Love Grow
Little Secrets
Better Things
Eyes as Candles
Folds In Your Hands
Sleepyhead
Smile Upon Me
The Reeling
Can you tell I am running out of steam blogging about ACL! I love to take pictures and always have a TON from pretty much EVERY vent in my life, but that is why I have to blog them so I can order one of those cool books! (Man I should listen to Passion Pit now to help me through these last few ACL posts!)
Band Bio:
In lieu of a box of chocolates, Michael Angelakos recorded an EP of sunny, playfully eclectic electronica tunes for his girlfriend as a belated Valentine’s gift. We can only assume she loved it, because soon Angelakos was passing the same record around to friends and, next thing he knew, Chunk of Change was released by New York’s Frenchkiss Records, and Passion Pit was born. The video for the EP’s “Sleepyhead” was named one of the Top 40 music videos of 2008 by Pitchfork, and anticipation is high for the Cambridge, Mass.’-based Passion Pit’s full-length debut, Manners, due May 18. Live, Angelakos reproduces his one-man keyboard and samples symphonies with a full band comprising Ian Hultquist, Ayad Al Adhamy, Jeff Apruzzese and Nate Donmoyer.
Official Set List:
To Kingdom Come
Make Light
I've Got Your Number
Let Your Love Grow
Little Secrets
Better Things
Eyes as Candles
Folds In Your Hands
Sleepyhead
Smile Upon Me
The Reeling
An Oldie But Goodie
The B52s gave a classic performance even though they are all getting up there in age; they all looked young at heart! Eric and I knew the majority of the songs. The B52s defiantly grew the ‘older’ audience as well which provided for some great entertainment in and of its self!
So I had more fun with music trivia with this band; and a lot of gloating from it in front of Eric. The B52s are also from Georgia, Eric knew this. But what he did not know was that they are specifically from Athens, Georgia (home of the fighting bulldogs, and the University Of Georgia and where Eric went to school). I also informed Eric that the music video for the Love Shack was actually filmed at a bar in Athens.
Band Bio:
“Rock Lobster,” “Planet Claire,” “Private Idaho” — who turned Athens, Ga., into a dance-crazy party scene as the ’70s segued into the MTV ’80s? It wasn’t R.E.M. It was the impossibly high-haired chicks and retro-geeky guys in the B-52’s, so named because of those beehive bomber ’dos worn by singers Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson. They made up for their lack of early musical finesse with campiness and an unhinged sense of humor, and turned out nonsensical, surf-meets-new-wave rave-ups that were all about fun. (The book, Party Out of Bounds, is named after a cut on their Wild Planet album.) Until Cindy’s brother, guitarist Ricky Wilson, died of AIDS in 1985, that is. The girls and band mates Fred Schneider and Keith Strickland eventually bounced back with 1989’s Cosmic Thing, which gave them their biggest hits, “Love Shack” and “Roam.” It was followed by Good Stuff in 1992, and then it took 16 years for them to release their next studio album, 2008’s Funplex. But they’ve kept their touring chops sharp, and they’ll still “Dance This Mess Around” like nobody’s business
We were kind of off to the side and too the back so my pics are not that great:
So I had more fun with music trivia with this band; and a lot of gloating from it in front of Eric. The B52s are also from Georgia, Eric knew this. But what he did not know was that they are specifically from Athens, Georgia (home of the fighting bulldogs, and the University Of Georgia and where Eric went to school). I also informed Eric that the music video for the Love Shack was actually filmed at a bar in Athens.
Band Bio:
“Rock Lobster,” “Planet Claire,” “Private Idaho” — who turned Athens, Ga., into a dance-crazy party scene as the ’70s segued into the MTV ’80s? It wasn’t R.E.M. It was the impossibly high-haired chicks and retro-geeky guys in the B-52’s, so named because of those beehive bomber ’dos worn by singers Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson. They made up for their lack of early musical finesse with campiness and an unhinged sense of humor, and turned out nonsensical, surf-meets-new-wave rave-ups that were all about fun. (The book, Party Out of Bounds, is named after a cut on their Wild Planet album.) Until Cindy’s brother, guitarist Ricky Wilson, died of AIDS in 1985, that is. The girls and band mates Fred Schneider and Keith Strickland eventually bounced back with 1989’s Cosmic Thing, which gave them their biggest hits, “Love Shack” and “Roam.” It was followed by Good Stuff in 1992, and then it took 16 years for them to release their next studio album, 2008’s Funplex. But they’ve kept their touring chops sharp, and they’ll still “Dance This Mess Around” like nobody’s business
We were kind of off to the side and too the back so my pics are not that great:
Saturday, October 24, 2009
...The Mud Comes Up!
Day 3 of ACL was sunny, hot, humid, and very, very muddy. Because of all the rain on Saturday Zilker park became a giant mud pit. And it smelled!!! I thought it smelled because of all the inconsiderate people who were just using the bathroom wherever they felt, or because of the port-a-potties (and that all helped in the smell) but we learned on Monday after the festival that the soil used to plant the “NEW” grass for Zilker Park (which by the way cost over 2 billion dollars and had Zilker Park shut down for the majority of last year) was dillio dirt (or cow dung)!
Luckily for me (and I am sure Eric too) I was prepared on Sunday and wore an old pair of tennis shoes that I was ok with to chunk at the end of the day. Oh, and this lady is trying to sue C3 Productions (the company that puts on ACL) because she clams that she received a rash from the dug mud all over her feet (Eric said we should jump on that ban wagon)!
Sunday had the most bands I wanted to see and luckily for me (and everyone else in our group) the majority of them were on stages right next to each other. So we found a fairly dry spot on dry ground in between the two stages and stayed there for 4 bands (just turning from one stage to the other). By day 3 I was WAY to tired to get up close and personal with the bands and rush the stage (so luckily for all you guys not that many pics). All the bands were good even from a safe distance back!
Bands I wanted to see:
Pearl Jam
Ben Harper and Relentless7
The Dead Weather
Toadies
The B-52s
Arctic Monkeys
Clutch
Michael Franti & Spearhead
Girl Talk
Passion Pit
Rodriguez
Bands we got to see:
Pearl Jam
Ben Harper and Relentless7
The B-52s
Arctic Monkeys
Michael Franti & Spearhead
Passion Pit
When we were taking our daily walk from where we parked on Town Lake to Zikler Park we saw the swans in the lake. They were so pretty and posed perfectly for their pics!
Sunday before we went to the festival we met up Albert and Christy for breakfast at Denny's. They had a balloon artist going around making balloon animals for the kids. Albert tried to embarrass Eric by asking the balloon artist to come over and make Eric a giraffe. Of course Eric wasn't embarrassed and just played along!
Remember this picture and how green and beautiful the grass looked on day 1:
This is how it looked day 3. Nothing but mud. You would walk around and see people who had just abandoned their shows to go barefoot. Eric didn't abandoned his shoes he just took them off and went barefoot. The shoes he is standing by are ones that were abandoned. I am so happy I wore my old sneakers that day!
The mud was so bad that you either got stuck or it was slippery. All day we watched people slip and fall and were careful not to and of course at the end of the day Albert totally ate it and was covered in mud! All I can say is EWWW!
On Day 3 our good friends Chris and Aviva came to go see Pearl Jam:
Luckily for me (and I am sure Eric too) I was prepared on Sunday and wore an old pair of tennis shoes that I was ok with to chunk at the end of the day. Oh, and this lady is trying to sue C3 Productions (the company that puts on ACL) because she clams that she received a rash from the dug mud all over her feet (Eric said we should jump on that ban wagon)!
Sunday had the most bands I wanted to see and luckily for me (and everyone else in our group) the majority of them were on stages right next to each other. So we found a fairly dry spot on dry ground in between the two stages and stayed there for 4 bands (just turning from one stage to the other). By day 3 I was WAY to tired to get up close and personal with the bands and rush the stage (so luckily for all you guys not that many pics). All the bands were good even from a safe distance back!
Bands I wanted to see:
Pearl Jam
Ben Harper and Relentless7
The Dead Weather
Toadies
The B-52s
Arctic Monkeys
Clutch
Michael Franti & Spearhead
Girl Talk
Passion Pit
Rodriguez
Bands we got to see:
Pearl Jam
Ben Harper and Relentless7
The B-52s
Arctic Monkeys
Michael Franti & Spearhead
Passion Pit
When we were taking our daily walk from where we parked on Town Lake to Zikler Park we saw the swans in the lake. They were so pretty and posed perfectly for their pics!
Sunday before we went to the festival we met up Albert and Christy for breakfast at Denny's. They had a balloon artist going around making balloon animals for the kids. Albert tried to embarrass Eric by asking the balloon artist to come over and make Eric a giraffe. Of course Eric wasn't embarrassed and just played along!Remember this picture and how green and beautiful the grass looked on day 1:This is how it looked day 3. Nothing but mud. You would walk around and see people who had just abandoned their shows to go barefoot. Eric didn't abandoned his shoes he just took them off and went barefoot. The shoes he is standing by are ones that were abandoned. I am so happy I wore my old sneakers that day! The mud was so bad that you either got stuck or it was slippery. All day we watched people slip and fall and were careful not to and of course at the end of the day Albert totally ate it and was covered in mud! All I can say is EWWW!On Day 3 our good friends Chris and Aviva came to go see Pearl Jam:
Dave vs Ghostland
I have so many pics from ACL I m still trying to sort through them and blog about them! I feel like it will take me all month! But I have to because I want to make one of those cool book thingies! (So if you are really bored or just can't sleep on night then cruise through all are ACL memories).
The big headliners for day 2 of ACL was Dave Matthews and Ghostland Observatory. Eric and I were torn as to which headliner we wanted to see (since they played at the same time). Eric really wanted to see Ghostland and I really wanted to see Dave. I love Dave Matthews and tried to go see them years ago but the show got cancelled, so I was looking forward to seeing them again.
Ghostland Observatory is a band from the Austin area and they play here a lot. And usually tickets to Dave Matthews are pretty expensive at least compared to Ghostland. So we developed a plan and worked it out to see both bands. Since Ghostland would be playing from 8:00 to 9:30 and Dave was going to Play from 8:00 to 10:00, we would go see Ghostland first for a little while and then go see the last half of Dave.
Well it didn’t quite work out that way.... Because I was so grossed out by the mud and the restroom line was so long I decided to ‘hold it’ and wait to use the restroom at home. I then started to be in so much pain that we didn’t know how long we (or should I say I) was going to last for the rest of the day at ACL. Eric said we could just go see Dave Matthews. So we went to Dave and stood kinda towards the back and I wasn’t that impressed. Maybe because we were towards the back and I couldn't hear that great or maybe because we were towards the back and I couldn’t see that great (even the big screens) I just didn’t enjoy the show as much as I would have hoped. I was so bummed out! After about 4 songs I said we could go.
Ghostland was playing on a stage near our exit, so as we exited we stopped and listened to Ghostland for a few songs (as long as I could stand it). Ghostland put on WAY better show than Dave (I cant’ believe I said that). Ghostland is kind of techno dance music but with singing. One song they even had the entire UT marching band on stage doing the instrumental part It was really fun to dance too. I wish that we could have stayed longer to hear them (but I had to go, literally!). I tried to get pictures of Ghostland because even though we were late we got a pretty good spot off to the side, but the my battery on my camera started to die.
Even though my face is chopped in half on this pic it still cracks me up every time I see it!
The Group:
These are the best pictures I got of Dave Matthews playing since we were so far back. But I love them since you see Austin's famous Frost Tower all lit up in the back ground.
Me, Christy, and Albert watching Dave:
Aww that' a better picture:
Eric dancin' to Dave:
The Dave Matthew's Band:
The big headliners for day 2 of ACL was Dave Matthews and Ghostland Observatory. Eric and I were torn as to which headliner we wanted to see (since they played at the same time). Eric really wanted to see Ghostland and I really wanted to see Dave. I love Dave Matthews and tried to go see them years ago but the show got cancelled, so I was looking forward to seeing them again.
Ghostland Observatory is a band from the Austin area and they play here a lot. And usually tickets to Dave Matthews are pretty expensive at least compared to Ghostland. So we developed a plan and worked it out to see both bands. Since Ghostland would be playing from 8:00 to 9:30 and Dave was going to Play from 8:00 to 10:00, we would go see Ghostland first for a little while and then go see the last half of Dave.
Well it didn’t quite work out that way.... Because I was so grossed out by the mud and the restroom line was so long I decided to ‘hold it’ and wait to use the restroom at home. I then started to be in so much pain that we didn’t know how long we (or should I say I) was going to last for the rest of the day at ACL. Eric said we could just go see Dave Matthews. So we went to Dave and stood kinda towards the back and I wasn’t that impressed. Maybe because we were towards the back and I couldn't hear that great or maybe because we were towards the back and I couldn’t see that great (even the big screens) I just didn’t enjoy the show as much as I would have hoped. I was so bummed out! After about 4 songs I said we could go.
Ghostland was playing on a stage near our exit, so as we exited we stopped and listened to Ghostland for a few songs (as long as I could stand it). Ghostland put on WAY better show than Dave (I cant’ believe I said that). Ghostland is kind of techno dance music but with singing. One song they even had the entire UT marching band on stage doing the instrumental part It was really fun to dance too. I wish that we could have stayed longer to hear them (but I had to go, literally!). I tried to get pictures of Ghostland because even though we were late we got a pretty good spot off to the side, but the my battery on my camera started to die.
Even though my face is chopped in half on this pic it still cracks me up every time I see it!
The Group:These are the best pictures I got of Dave Matthews playing since we were so far back. But I love them since you see Austin's famous Frost Tower all lit up in the back ground.Me, Christy, and Albert watching Dave:Aww that' a better picture:Eric dancin' to Dave:The Dave Matthew's Band: Official ACL Set List:
Don't Drink The Water
You Might Die Trying
Funny The Way It Is
Seven
So Damn Lucky
Shake Me Like A Monkey
Why I Am
Jimi Thing
Spaceman
Corn Bread
Burning Down The House (Talking Heads Cover)
So Much To Say
Anyone Seen The Bridge
Too Much (Tease)
Ants Marching
Two Step
Band Bio:
From their first gig at an Earth Day festival and their early days on the traveling H.O.R.D.E. Festival to their current status as the hardest-touring summer act since the Grateful Dead — not to mention frontman Dave Matthews’ status as the fourth performing board member of Farm Aid — the Dave Matthews Band is practically synonymous with festivals and outdoor concerts. A hero of the jam band nation, Matthews and his jazz/rock fusion outfit, formed in Charlottesville, Va., can be counted on not to stick to a formula. You want samplings from this June’s, Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King? Odds are good. You want “Tripping Billies,” “Crash Into Me,” “What Would You Say,” “Ants Marching” or his feverish cover of “All Along the Watchtower”? You might get lucky, but keep an open mind, because this band’s got a vast repertoire and isn’t given to delivering rote versions of the same old hits. Matthews, bassist Stefan Lessard, violinist Boyd Tinsley and drummer Carter Beauford, along with sax player Jeff Coffin of Béla Fleck’s Flecktones (replacing LeRoi “Groogrux” Moore, who died last year from injuries sustained in an ATV accident) and trumpeter Rashawn Ross, are given to flights of sonic fancy marked by the kind of tightness that only bands on a telepathic wavelength can achieve night after night.
Ghostland Observatory:
Band Bio:
Already legends in their hometown of Austin, the duo of Aaron Behrens and Thomas Ross Turner melds guitars, sequencers and programmed beats into a white-hot mix of punk rock, digitized funk and techno. Taking cues from disparate influences ranging from Daft Punk to Jerry Lee Lewis to Queen, Ghostland Observatory delivers with sweat and screams. Studio albums include 2005’s delete.delete.i.eat.meat, 2006’s Paparazzi Lightning and last year’s Robotique Majestique, but Ghostland’s calling card remains its high-energy live shows — a cathartic experience for the duo and their devotional crowds alike. And don’t be fooled by the act’s reputation for incorporating over-the-top light shows into their festival showcases; far from being a smoke and mirrors distraction, all those lasers are merely techno-gravy ladled onto the duo’s already explosive dynamic. Singer/guitarist Behrens may well be one of the most electrifying frontmen in rock working today, and the deceptively reserved-looking Turner is a veritable mad scientist behind his bank of keyboards, cooking up one sky-rattling jam after another.
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