CR Avery vs Dead WeatherRound 1Perth FolkFest/Ottawa BluesFest2009-07-18 & 2009-07-19

On the surface it may look like a mismatch but on any given weekend anyone can win.

Helping his cause CR Avery has Legal Tender String Quartet & The Sojourners backing him up so it's not just him and his piano against Jack White's screaming banshee band. They are both playing the Bluesfest (19th) except the schedule has them opposite each other. Much as I love CR, I'm hoping to see Jack more often than I've seen Dylan and I'm lagging about a hundred shows behind at the moment.

This should be a fair opening round, both artists are on outside stages, competing against the 'festival' atmosphere and the natural surroundings. CR has the advantage of a nighttime set opening for Melanie Doane at the Perth Restaurant in the evening.

Which is why we find ourselves in the lovely town of Perth, ON., at a free concert in Stewart Park. We were on the road early out of Toronto to make CR's 12 NOON set time. Unfortunately we have a little rain. Truth be told it's much preferable to blazing sunshine. Nobody ever stroked out 'cause of too much rain. Umbrella's and folding chairs are in order.

The Sojourners and CR Avery were first paired up on CBC Radio's "The Fuse". That radio show brought together Canadian artists from disparate genres to see what would ensue. That is such a great idea that the show has been canned, effective September of this year. Leave it to the corporations to fuck up a good thing. You can catch an audio replay of their collaboration HERE.


CR's afternoon and evening set were pretty much the same, the biggest difference coming in the improvisational verses thrown in to make this show a little more Perth-cific. oh, and it didn't rain inside the restuarant.

Disc 1

Track 01 Clean Up (Canton Spirtuals)
Track 02 ?Rain Falls On Eternity
Track 03 Children, Go Where I Send Thee (trad. Jean Ritchie)
Track 04 The Ballad of Charlie Parker & Patsy Cline
Track 05 ?Ain't No Use Nobody Try To Turn Me Around
Track 06 Motel: 50 Miles Out of Town
Track 07 talk
Track 08 People Get Ready (Curtis Mayfield)
Track 09 ??Wasted The Morning Blues
Track 10 Farther Along

Disc 2

Track 01 ??Only Love
Track 02 Little Wing (Jimi Hendrix)
Track 03 Door By the River

First saw the Dead Weather at their impromptu Horseshoe gig last month. It was, ummm, dense. Today we start in the light. The release this week of the album is going to help me recognize the songs much easier...maybe even like more of them.

They are further aided by some much improved sound. Without the low ceiling and narrow space of the Horseshoe the mix was superior, almost excellent.

Pretty well the same set list. I'm not expecting a lot of variety on this tour. We did get an 'extra' Jack song when he stepped forward to cover Van Morrison's You Can't Win, and a song or two I couldn't identify.

I could watch that duet on Water in a loop, coupled with New Pony, great stuff.

Track 01 Intro
Track 02 60 ft Tall
Track 03 Bone House
Track 04 Hang You From The Heavens
Track 05 So Far From Your Weapon
Track 06 You Can't Win (Van Morrison)
Track 07 I Cut Like A Buffalo
Track 08 ??They Like To Watch Fire
Track 09 Rocking Horse
Track 10 No Hassle Night
Track 11 Will There Be Enough Water?
Track 12 audience/encore
Track 13 ??
Track 14 Treat Me Like Your Mother
Track 15 New Pony (Bob Dylan)

As for the versus part of this blog...who the f*ck am I to judge these artists? I'm grateful I'm going to see them 3 times each in the next couple weeks. But for your consideration here's a couple songs from the weekend.

I've got two versions, each distinct, of CR Avery's Motel: 50 Miles Out of Town.

No need to be shy, we're going to pit that against Jack's monster song, Will There Be Enough Water.

You choose.

If you're smart, you'll choose both.

Motel...afternoon version

Motel...evening version

Will There Be Enough Water?

Green DayCopps ColiseumHamilton ON2009-07-16

"do you have the time
to listen to me whine
about nothing and everything
all at once?"

Much like The Offspring, I first saw Green Day in the company of my pre-teen son back in '95. That show was at the cozy Phoenix Concert Theatre in Toronto (back when they played shows with the original three-man contingent). This one's a little less intimate and not so close to home. For reasons unknown they've passed on the big city this time through Canada. Been awhile since they've been about too but they've never dissappointed.

Bad news heading out of Toronto (usually an hour away from Hamilton), as the 403 going in the other direction was completely shut down since 2 pm for an accident with loss of life. Ironically this didn't affect our drive until we were about 200 yards from our highway exit...where we sat, for 20 minutes, without moving forward.

WTF?

Taking a chance I opt to enter the city from another highway exit a couple kilometers further along. This is a risk because I have no maps and Hamilton is an upside-down-one-way-street-mofo to get around in. Happens that accident forced all westbound traffic into the city...all day long. By 7 pm it was one massive grid-lock. We finally make our way to the general vicinity of the arena where I make my next error. I don't park on King St, but on Bay St. This will add 45 minutes to my egress at the end of the show.

The Bravery in the opening slot, was a bonus. Too bad we missed about a third of their set as we had to meander through a 30 minute line up to gain entrance with the 'forced will call' policy in place.

With Green Day having been away so long they had ample time to build a show...and that they did. Big screen videos, pyrotechnics and too many opportunities for audience participation. Nobody just does a concert anymore.

The set comes in at a staggering 2 hours and 15 minutes, long by any account. Back in the day this band would have played around 60 songs in that time period. 'Course, I also remember when Green Day was a 3-man outfit. Tonight we get 23 songs or so, depending on how you count the intro and the medley. About a half hour of that time was filled with Billy Joe exhorting the audience to chant in variance cadences...mostly the old fall back "Aaaaa, Ooooo". Twenty-five call outs to "Hamilton" and "Canada" filled another half dozen minutes. Three trips to the stage for kids under 10 to participate in various ways with the show took up 17 minutes. "Guest" singers filled about 3 and a half minutes. Don't forget the t-shirt toss. When you boil it all down you're still left with an awesome 70 minute set.

There were highlights, low lights, and things in between.


The definite low was the aforementioned incessant chant mongering.

The encore was a distinct highlight as it was delivered with little unneccesary interuption. The kid pulled out of the audience to play lead guitar on Jesus of Suburbia was great. Had me smiling as I watched him cavort around the stage trying to interact with Mike on bass. He was having nothing of it. I mean as big as you are when you're Green Day, it's gotta be weird to see a kid from Sect 5 Row B Seat 12 play your songs as good as you could.

The medley was terrific too. Billy Joe started out doing his best imitation of Carla from Cheers with the opening segment of Shout, which was explosive. The band then laid on the stage for the middle section of ballads/slow songs before springing back to life for the reprise of Shout. Great use of the horns which were around for a couple of songs from the new record.

In between was Longview, sung by two tone-deaf kids out of the audience. On the upside there's no mistaking what a great experience this must have been, to be belting out this song with Green Day backing you. Both the young girl and boy who took part relished the chance and played it to the hilt. Sent goosebumps up my arm. Technically, though, they murdered the song, sent a chill down my spine. Even-Steven.

This tour is really the 21st Century Breakdown Opus with a light smattering of thematically related songs from American Idiot. The other hits were rather random, or expected, and the band really didn't pay them as much heed as I'd have liked.

I spent half the night thinking, "I don't get it, what is this shit?" Each time the chants threatened to get repetitive or the special guests made the show drag. In the end it wasn't shit...I just didn't get it, at first. This is a band of modest talent and big heart. As Billy Joe said during one of his rants, it's NOW that we have to enjoy, so get off your ass, put down your computer, your cell phones or your ritalin and find your groove. He seemed pleased to see the kids sharing the spotlight and really sees his job as head cheerleader for anyone who wants to let loose. That might be incongruous with the epic (for Green Day anything over 4 minutes is epic), political songs they're flogging and maybe it's that dichotomy that made this show strange.


Here's the set list and a few mp3 samples.

Song of the Century
21st Century Breakdown
Know Your Enemy
East Jesus Nowhere
Holiday
The Static Age
Before the Lobotomy
Are We the Waiting
St. Jimmy
Boulevard Of Broken Dreams
Hitchin' A Ride
Brain Stew
Jaded
Longview
Basket Case
She
King For A Day
Shout/Earth Angel, I'll Be There, and Stand By Me snippets (The Isley Brothers cover)
21 Guns
American Eulogy

Encore:

American Idiot
Jesus Of Suburbia (Sam from Toronto on lead guitar)
Minority
Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)

The OffspringMolson AmphitheatreToronto ON2009-07-02Shit Is Fucked Up Tour

It's been awhile since I've seen these guys...they seem shy about playing North American dates; first time through here since 2005. Perhaps that retro-stuff goes over better on the Continent. First time I saw The Offspring I was sitting on the rail at the KOOL HAUS with my pre-teen kids. It hasn't gotten better than that... 'course it hasn't gotten much different either.

We have the distinct pleasure of having Pennywise open the show, their only appearance on the tour. We won't be lacking any Orange County feel tonight.

They better bring it though, they are playing in a cavern, not the Cavern Club.

Caught a break during the day as it rained almost non-stop. Ontario Place is open now and if it's sunny and warm parking can be a problem. I'm late getting out of a downtown meeting, had to rush home to feed the family (or at least arrange for them to be fed), then rush back down to the lakefront for what promises to be a night of power-pop-punk that should release all the pent up frustrations.

Luckily I wasn't looking at my ticket of the 6:30 pm doors would have had me even more concerned as I left home at quarter past the hour. We end up inside the venue at 7...just in time to miss Frank Turner's opening song. This was a pleasant surprise. Very much in the Billy Bragg mold with a young man's anger still present.

It's a band like Pennywise that makes a band like The Offspring necessary...and possible. That's no diss. They embody the spirit and soul of Second Wave punk movement that spawned rock-gods Green Day and the Princes' of Power Punk, The Offspring. They are not as accessible as those bands and it appears they have no desire to change that. As noted from the stage: "We've been a thorn in their (Offspring's) side for 20 years." That alludes to the grief The Offspring used to take in the press about being punk-lite. That's a press thing though. Dexter was Fan #1 sitting along side-stage for the complete set.

Nothing lite about the Pennywise set as they joked going into their 3rd song; "Here's another slow one for you."

Lots of jawing with the audience. They wouldn't start their set until everyone in the Amphitheatre stood. The instant mosh-pit set the tone for the evening...it was gonna be raucous. We got a couple covers via the "t-shirt" request method...a Misfits shirt was spotted...don't know why we got the Beastie Boys cover but it was cool.

Sample Track: You've Got To Fight For Your Right To Party/Pennywise

The sun goes down and Dexter is finally touring his 2008, prescient record, Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace.

If only those guys at the Fed were listening to Stuff Is Messed Up last summer...when there might have still been time to avoid the panic. Ya, right, as they say.

We get a generous helping of tunes from Americana, Ixnay and three from Smash so the old-goat's happy with the set list. The new record, first in five years, is more to the familiar formula we all came to love.

With this band it's not about the flash, though their backing screen was filled with images most of the evening and the lights were intense. They are definitely a case where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Even with the serious subjects they tackle they remain a 'feel-good' band...there's just something about the way they do it that makes you want to smile.

Here are some samples and the set list.

The Offspring
Molson Amphitheatre
Toronto ON
2009-07-02


Track 01 Stuff Is Messed Up (Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace)
Track 02 Bad Habit (Smash)
Track 03 You're Gonna Go Far Kid (Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace)
Track 04 Come Out And Play (Smash)
Track 05 The Meaning of Life (Ixnay on the Hombre)
Track 06 Have You Ever (Americana)
Track 07 Staring At The Sun (Americana)
Track 08 Dexter's Amazing Piano Solo
Track 09 Gone Away (Ixnay on the Hombre)(Dexter on piano)
Track 10 Kristy, Are You Doing OK? (Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace)

Track 10a Gotta Get Away
Track 11 Half-Truism (Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace)
Track 12 Get A Job (Americana)
Track 13 Intermission (Ixnay on the Hombre)
Track 14 Americana (Americana)
Track 15 All I Want (Ixnay on the Hombre)
Track 16 Noodle's Talks Beavers
Track 17 Pretty Fly (For A White Guy) (Americana)
Track 18 (Can't Get My) Head Around You (Splinter)
Track 19 The Kids Aren't All Right (Americana)
Track 20 (encore break)
Track 21 Hammerhead (Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace)
Track 22 Want You Bad (Conspiracy of One)
Track 23 Self Esteem (Smash)

1958-2009

The Hank and Lily Show NXPO Stage (NXNE)2009-06-19

Just missed seeing Hank and Lily when their start time at the Silver Dollar was moved from 8 pm to 10 pm last week. What can I say? It was a week night and I'm getting old. Today, however, I had the good fortune of having a few free hours in the middle of the day when they were playing a free showcase at the NXNE headquarters in the Hyatt Regency.

Cozy little set up, about 30 chairs in front of a small stage. It's crowded as Hank and Lily have a big band today with an added bass player and three wigged (and wigged out) backup singers. Add a couple clowns and a dancing girl...well, it's easy to see the circus is in town.

Short set, under 40 minutes. Most tracks come from their North America project. Always great to see Lily with the saw, the show opens with the wonderfully spooky, Don't Be Afraid. We get the twins, We Can Take You Apart and the ode to Toronto, We Can Build You. Long Black Snake Moan is a muddy trip into voodoo territory. The show closes with a nicely rounded out, courtesy of the back up singers, Someone Out There For You.

Here's the full set list and some mp3 samples.

Track 01 Intro
Track 02 Don't Be Afraid
Track 03 We Can Take You Apart
Track 04 We Can Build You
Track 05 North America
Track 06 Xanadu
Track 07 Long Black Snake Moan
Track 08 A-P-O-C-A-L-Y-P-S-E
Track 09 Someone Out There For You

Dead WeatherThe Legendary Horseshoe Tavern2009-06-13

Having already booked 3 Dead Weather shows for July I was happy to receive an email from silverjetz notifying me there was a surprise show at the 'Shoe. And it fell on a night off.


'Course they're not making it easy on us. I'm in line outside the Horseshoe at 8:00 am. Except for the guy sleeping on the bench, and I think he's not here for the show, I'm alone. Hard to gauge the hype around this band. These small-venue warmup shows are being announced a day in advance, but they are no great secret if you turn on an electric appliance with a receiver or log onto the web. Driving into downtown Toronto, along Richmond St, I'm horrified to see thousands of kids in queue along the curbs. Good news is they are there for the Much Music Video Awards and the Jonas Brothers. A couple blocks away there is no one waiting on Jack White.

Proof, if you needed it, that this world is fucked up beyond comprehension.

The line starts to fill in but by 1 pm, when the wristbands are handed out, it still looks like everyone who showed up is going to get in. The excruciating part in lining up with those wristbands, waiting for the lottery that determines who gets in first, and hoping the confusion that ensues doesn't affect you're getting in. I've got wristband #1. The only thing that guarantees is I'm unlikely to be first in. The random lottery started at #230 up to the capacity of 460. Ironically, though these people got to pay ahead of us the venue was not open, only the bar. Many had to back out of the club and wait for actual doors...thereby rejoining the line up outside. When our number was called we waltzed in at the exact moment they opened access to the venue and I found myself where I'd hoped to end up...20 feet from the right stacks.

Just prior to joining that line I was out back watching the tour buses with a handful of fans. Didn't seem like nothing was happening so I made my way through the alley towards the front when I was cut-off by a white panel van. Out piles Allison, followed by Little Jack and then the frizzy-headed Jack White stumbles out. He makes a slight detour to shake hands, chat inanities and take a picture with a cutie who'd been waiting about. It took 20 seconds but he was smiling and friendly.
LittleWhiteGhost from the fansite "The Little Room" got a good 15 seconds of that sunshine.

Opener tonight is Hollorado, hand-picked from myspace auditions by Jack his'elf. They did well. High energy. A few of the songs were very promising.

Back behind the drums, for the first time since his stint in Goober and the Peas, is Jack White. Weird don't begin to describe that. He's brought along a couple friends from his Raconteur days; Jack Lawrence on bass and Dean Fertita, tour keyboardist, is taking the lead guitar role. Manning the mic, she-devil from The Kills, the sultry and slightly bitchy, Alison Mosshart.

I haven't listened to a single tune, figuring I'd get a handful of opportunities to check out Jack's new project live. They are not nearly as instantly accessible as The Raconteurs. The whole sonic feel is one of a muddy-slightly-distorted booze joint on the banks of the lower Mississippi. It's not an accident. The mics and pickups are set to reverb. The volume is set to 11. It made for a dicey night inside the 'Shoe as we were blasted with feedback about 4 times through the evening. Three times I'm sure it wasn't planned. Not so sure about what Dean was doing with the keyboard at one point.

It'll take a while to find the comfort zone with this band. Perhaps after I've had time to digest the record. Some members of tonights audience didn't seem to want to wait that long as there was a steady stream of couples leaving the pit at about the half-hour mark muttering; "I liked the old Jack better." I figure if somebody doesn't walk out of your show you aren't challenging the audience enough.

On first look it appears Jack is the star.

Little Jack, that is.

He's relentless as the rain, playing the bass like it was a lead instrument.

The OTHER Jack's drumming is concussive and less than intricate though by shows end he was playing some mighty fine runs.

Dean's guitar work was excellent but the keyboard seemed like an annoyance most times he went to it.

As for Alison, well, she's got something going on. At times it's hypnotic and totally in synch with the show. At other times it seems like petulant posing. While her attempted sexual liason with the mic stand on the opening number was tantalizing in a 'suicide girls' kinda way, her chain-smoking blues persona seemed less a sign of independence from the cultural norms and more a case of self-centered entitlement.

Here's the set list and some mp3 samples.

Dead Weather
The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern
Toronto ON
2009-06-13

Track 01 60 ft Tall
Track 02 Treat Me Like Your Mother
Track03 Bone House
Track04 You Just Can't Win (Van Morrison cover)
Track 05 So Far From Your Weapon
Track 06 Child of a Few Hours
Track 07 Rocking Horse
Track 08 I Cut Like A Buffalo
Track 09 No Hassle Night
Track 10 Will There Be Enough Water?

Track 11 encore--audience

Track 12 Forever My Queen (The Pentagram cover)
Track 13 Hang You From The Heavens
Track 14 New Pony

Here's a link to another blog with a review of Horehound.
Horehound Review from The Forty-Nine Percenter

Nine Inch Nails & Jane's AddictionMolson AmphitheatreToronto ON2009-06-02

I wasn't going to see NIN in 2009, having caught them 4 or 5 times over the past few years. Then Trent starts thinking outside the box and books Jane's Addiction to headline his show as he prepares for a hiatus. Toss in Tommy Morello's new project, Street Sweeper Social Club, and that makes the NINJA Tour all the rage.

The Amphitheatre is a struggle even when the weather's warm. Exposed to the wind that whips in off the lake it's often colder than you'd like. Nestled inside Ontario Place there's nowhere to go and limited locales for pre-show meets. Parking's exhorbitant and traffic's a bitch. Seats wide in the bowl have terrible sight/sound lines. Security at the doors is as stringent as any venue in the city...it's a close personal check you go through. If the sun is out it sets in your eyes and guarantees you'll have a sunburn on the left side of your face, neck and arms. Other than that, it's a joy.

SSSC takes no prisoners during it's energetic 30 minute warm up set. Tommy Morello was the best guitar player onstage tonight and this new incarnation is much more palatable than Rage...who are a little intense for my tastes. MIA's Paper Planes gets a runthrough.

What can you say about Trent? He deserves a rest...hopefully not another 5 years though. This show is not as complex as the 'light' show he toured last year (shame we're not getting a DVD of that tour) and there's no new record so there's some opportunity to mix up the songs a little, and that's what we get. "New" songs in the rotation are Heresy, Metal, I'm Afraid of Americans, The Becoming, I Do Not Want This, The Way Out Is Through and Mr Self Destruct. Not one to miss a trick Trent has trotted out his Lolla '91 intro to start the set.

Perry Farrel's place in the rock pantheon is secure...if difficult to define. Gotta love his attitude. He was through town with Satellite Party last year and treated us to a couple of Porno's tunes. This go round it's all nostalgia, all Jane's all the time.


Street Sweeper Social Club

01 Intro
02 Fight! Smash! Win!
03 Somewhere In The World It's Midnight
04 Paper Planes#
05 The Oath
06 100 Little Curses
07 Promenade
08 Tom Morello talks
09 Nobody Moves (Til We Say Go)


NIN

Disc 1

01 Now I'm Nothing (Lollapalooza '91 Intro)
02 Terrible Lie (Pretty Hate Machine)
03 1,000,000 (The Slip)
04 Heresy (The Downward Spiral)
05 March of the Pigs (The Downward Spiral)
06 Metal (Gary Numan cover)
07 The Becoming (The Downward Spiral)
08 I'm Afraid Of Americans (David Bowie cover)
09 Burn (Natural Born Killers Soundtrack)
10 Gave Up (Broken)
11 I Do Not Want This (The Downward Spiral)

Disc 2

01 The Fragile (The Fragile)
02 The Way Out Is Through (The Fragile)
03 Wish (Broken)
04 Survivalism (Year Zero)
05 Mr. Self Destruct (The Downward Spiral)
06 The Hand That Feeds (With Teeth)
07 Head Like A Hole (Pretty Hate Machine)
Encore:
08 Hurt

Jane's Addiction

Disc 1

01 Intro
02 Three Days (Ritual De Lo Habitual)
03 Whores (Jane's Addiction)
04 Ain't No Right (Ritual De Lo Habitual)
05 Pigs in Zen (Jane's Addiction)
06 Then She Did (Ritual De Lo Habitual)
07 Up the Beach (Nothing's Shocking)
08 Mountain Song (Nothing's Shocking)
Disc 2

01 Been Caught Stealing (Ritual De Lo Habitual)
02 Had a Dad (Nothing's Shocking)
03 Ted, Just Admit It (Nothing's Shocking)
04 Ocean Size (Nothing's Shocking)
------------
05 Summertime Rolls (Nothing's Shocking)
06 Stop! (Ritual De Lo Habitual)
07 Jane Says (Jane's Addiction)