It has been awhile since my last post…certainly an understatement. I hope you enjoyed the summer, I know that I did. Although as I look back on it there was not enough live music. Summer is the time to see music, especially outside. This weekend I will certainly get my musical fix for outdoor music. Friday and Saturday I will be at The Hide Out Block Party and what a line-up they have for the event. Friday Iron & Wine and Glen Hansard are the final two acts. Saturday will be a marathon of a day – the Waco Brothers play at 1pm, Kelly Hogan at 2pm, Wye Oak at 5pm, Lee Fields and the Expressions at 6pm and the block party closes out with WILCO at 7:30pm.
What a great weekend!!! But it is not over yet. On Sunday I am volunteering for Riot Fest Chicago. After my six hour shift I will get to enjoy Elvis Costello, Gogol Bordello, Alkaline Trio and Iggy and the Stooges!
The Hide Out Block Party is sold out; I think you can still get tickets for Riot Fest at Humboldt Park. If you don’t have plans for Saturday my suggestion is attending Oaktoberfest in Oak Park. At 8pm Bonerama is taking the stage and it is absolutely FREE. I saw these guys a few years ago at Fitzgerald’s American Music Fest and they were a great time. Here is a link to their version of War Pigs.
Monday will be a time for sleeping, but that is one helleva way to close out the last week of summer!!
So that is what I have going on this weekend, I now want to discuss some of the music that I was able to see over the summer.
Living in the Chicago area there are weekend festivals throughout the city almost every weekend. The majority of my summer was coaching baseball, so I did not get to as many of these festivals this year. In fact I just made it to the Northside Summerfest in the city and Summerfest in Forest Park.
Chicago is also home to a number of larger festivals – Pitchfork, North Coast, Riot Fest and the way too crowded for me Lollapalooza. I usually try and go to Pitchfork, but just didn’t make it this year. This will be my first time at Riot Fest and I am looking forward to it.
In reflecting on the bands that I did see during the summer the theme would be “jamming” and the Park West. The bands I saw were – Bruce Hornsby (no Range), Phish, Dark Star Orchestra, Jack Straw and My Morning Jacket with Band of Horses. With the exception of Phish and MMJ all the others were at the Park West, an intimate venue in Chicago. The first time I went to a show there was in the late 80’s to see Big Twist & The Mellow Fellows.
Bruce Hornsby, Park West – June 17
Bruce Hornsby was different because my wife went along with me. Usually I am the third, fifth or even seventh wheel. We went with my friend Dave O and his wife. Dave and I used to go to a lot of shows together especially the Grateful Dead and Phish. He and I saw many shows in which Bruce played with the Dead after Brent Mydland died.
It was a good evening out and a couple of the highlights for me were the set opener The Great Divide and when he performed Scarlet Begonias into Mandolin Rain. Here is the complete set list.
PHISH, Alpine Valley – June 30 & July 1
Phish played Alpine Valley this summer and it was my 19th & 20thtime seeing them. The first time I saw them was in 1993 at the Aragon Ballroom. A number of friends and I camped out for the weekend near the venue. I had a lovely 4×6 pup tent (see picture).
I love seeing shows at Alpine Valley and for the two shows I had lawn seats. The nice thing about lawn seats is that you have plenty of room to dance. The one problem I have with Alpine Valley is that it is owned by Live Nation and they have a contract with Budweiser – which is just wrong to drink, but especially wrong in Wisconsin! At least 312 is now part of Imbev that owns Budweiser, so I could drink that when I did not feel like climbing the top of the hill and getting a decent craft beer like Spotted Cow from New Glarus. But $12 for a beer is way over the top! Beer is a very important ingredient to the concert experience, in case you did not know!!
OK- back to the shows- Here are my highlights from each so. Saturday’s 15 song first set was amazing. ACDC Bag, Reba, a cover of Los Lobos When The Circus Comes to Town was fantastic and the set closer of Suzy Greenberg rocked. The second set kicked off with Backwards Down The Number Line, I just love that song. Steam was very trippy and who doesn’t love a good Harry Hood. The encore was Good Times Bad Times which was the encore back in 1993 at the Aragon. Here is a link to the complete set list.
Sunday we danced to Gotta Jibboo, Meat, and Maze into The Squirming Coil during the first set.The second set opened with the Talking Heads opener Cross-eyed and Painless into the very trippy Led Zeppelin cover No Quarter. I always enjoy hearing Julius and it was the first time that I had heard Meatstick in concert. For a complete set list click here.
Dark Star Orchestra, Park West – July 7
I had never seen Dark Star Orchestra before. If you have not heard of them before they recreate a Grateful Dead show from the past and play it completely. This night they went back to 1977 to recreate a show from the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago. The set included Brown-Eyed Women, a Scarlet-Fire, Going Down The Road Feeling Bad and US Blues. Complete set list.
Jack Straw, Park West – August 11
Jack Straw is my friend Jon Gram’s band and every August they do a salute to Jerry Garcia. This would have been Jerry’s 70th birthday. It’s a great night of celebrating Jerry’s life and his music with friends. Now I always tell Jon that I want to hear Standing On the Moon to me it is the best Jerry song, but it was not to be this night. I did hear Sugaree, Deal, Brokedown Palace, Althea, and one of my favorites Shining Star. What a great night.
My Morning Jacket, Pritzker Pavilion – August 22
My Morning Jacket played the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park. A great place to see any concert, but again beer problems. They only had four places that you can buy beer and the lines were 20 to 45 minute wait time. Good thing I ran into some friends who snuck in some of their own.
This was my first time seeing MMJ and I was not disappointed. Jim James is an amazing frontman. My highlights included “Holding On to Black Metal, Off the Record, Outta My System, a cover of Elton John’s Rocket Man and the closing tune One Big Holiday left me wanting more. Complete set list.
So that was my summer of music. How was yours and what was some of your highlights?
I promise to be back soon with another post. Thanks, Kevin
kevpinions 
Great to see you back on the Blog! Definitely some good times, good music, and good friends
-Betsy