All the Concerts Fit to Print

We used to see a lot of bands at Summerfest, but now it's more about people-watching. We took our cameras but were denied entrance because the lenses were too big. We made a couple of circuits of the park, stopping only to watch Lil' Rev. He's kind of a folkie, and he likes to educate. He's got a story (or two) for every song. In fact, I think he often talks a bit too much. He plays ukekeke, guitar, Appalachian dulcimer, harmonica and other such instruments, but he's known for his uke. He does various folk and blues tunes, as well as Yiddish music, plus a few of his own songs. He plays Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Josh White, Sonny Terry, Cicso Houston, Leadbelly and many more.

The Femmes played a great show! It was the Harley stage at Summerfest, so it was back to balancing on the benches. It's been a few years for me, so my calves were feeling it the next day.

They started out with the usual, "Blister in the Sun" and "Kiss Off". After that they mixed it up a bit, including several new songs. The audience didn't get into them very much, of course, but soon they were back on track. They played an assortment of audience favorites - "American Music", "Gimme the Car", "Country Death Song", "Prove My Love", "Gone Daddy Gone", "Black Girls", "Jesus Walking on the Water", "I Held Her in My Arms", "Old Mother Reagan", "Freak Magnet" (I love that one!). Newish songs included "Good For / At Nothing" off last year's EP, Happy New Year, "I Could Be Anything" from their new album and "Rules of Success" from Something's Wrong. They also did "Color Me Once" which appeared on The Crow soundtrack. Probably my favorite of the night! As usual, they ended with "Add It Up". Checking with Setlist.com, I see that the first song of two in the encore was "Memory." They also did "Love Love Love Love Love" and "Issues" (all new songs) plus "Life Is an Adventure."

Ritchie played acoustic bass for the first half, and then electric for much of the second. Gano switched between electric guitar and electric banjo a lot. He played fiddle for two songs, and acoustic guitar for at least one. John Sparrow played a small kit - snare, tom and Weber Kettle, with two cymbals. He played cajon once or twice. Blaise Garza played tenor and subcontrabass saxophones. Also a melodica and the occasional percussion. Jeff Hamilton on electric guitar, mandolin and ukelele. When I first saw him with a trumpet during Black Girls, he was using it as a bottleneck slide, but I did see him blow it. Special guest Kevin Hearn of the Barenaked Ladies flew in for the show. He played accordion. I think he came out for the third song, and stayed. The various Horns of Dilemma members played various small horns, including an alto trombone. A couple of those guys filled in on bass and cajon in places.

The guys seemed to be having fun. That always makes it a fun show. The crowd slowly thinned out over the course of the show, so I ended up having about three spots to dance on by the end of the show. I was using most of it for "Color Me Once". Backing vocals were usually a bit off key. The sound wasn't always mixed well enough that I could hear all the instruments. Though the big sax sounded great, sometimes it was hard to hear when it was doubling Ritchie's bass. It was usually hard to pick out the accordion. Ritchie had a couple of good solos. He's added space for solos in a few songs, and plays the hell out of them.

My only complaint about their shows is that they only play for 90 minutes.

Opener was Midwest Death Rattle. They didn't sound as dark as you'd think based on their name. Good, solid rock. I need to pick up the album.




Gano and Hearn

( more photos )

After a five-year hiatus, involving a lawsuit, the Femmes are back together for a handful of reunion shows. Bandmembers say they've buried the hatchet. I'm unsure as to the outcome of the lawsuit.

As per previous headline gigs, the Femmes were tacked onto an existing tour's stop in Milwaukee. It used to be some alternative rock bands. This time it was more of an alt.country thing. The Avett Brothers were the big draw. There was a certain amount of concern that more people were there to see the Avetts than the Femmes. I think this concern was not unfounded.

The show was originally supposed to start at 7:30. Or was it 7:00. Different sources (published at different times) listed different times. What actually happened was that Ivan & Aloysha went onstage at 6:30.

We arrived around 7:30, which was shortly before Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros took the stage. This was a twelve-piece band, including guitars, basses, drumses, percussion, banjo, horns, keyboards. Ten guys, two girls. The lead singer was Alex Ebert. A girl sometimes sang lead or duet with him. The band was countryey, folky, gospely. A bunch of people having fun, making fun, upbeat music. Kinda laid back, kinda earnest.

Then the Avett Brothers. Not exactly what I expected, after having seen a couple of their videos. Mostly acoustic, contryish. Rootsy. To start with, they were nowhere near as mellow as I thought they'd be. The first four songs or so, they were crazy excited. I think the music suffered for it, to be honest. Then they played "Laundry Room," which sounded like I expected them to sound. It sounded really good. I think they hit their stride with that one.

They were Scott Avett (vocals, banjo, guitar), Seth Avett (guitar, vocals, keyboards), Bob Crawford (basses, backing vocals), Joe Kwon (cello), probably Mike Marsh (drums) and possibly Paul DeFiglia (keyboards). After "Laundry Room", they went electric for some songs. The first of those was just plain rock, after that, the electric ones were very rock and roll. Scott, Seth and Bob did an old fashioned gather-'round-the-mic version of "Just a Closer Walk With Me." Their finale, "I and Love and You" came during the finale of the nearby Big Bang fireworks show.

The audience was really into the show. It was hard not to be.

Cyn told me that she heard the Avetts were booked on opening night before the Violent Femmes were added to the bill, but I didn't believe her. I mean, I'd never even heard of them before. But now I see how that could be true. They've probably sold more albums than the Femmes. But we were still wondering how many people would leave after the Avetts were finished. Which brings us to our featured attraction...

The Violent Femmes got back together! Woo woo! Earlier this year, they were approached by Coachella for a reunion show. Summerfest decided to get in on the action and also made them an offer, and they were added to the opening night lineup on the main stage. This year is the 30th anniversary of the release of their debut album, so they decided they'd play it straight through. That's not too exciting, since they normally play most of the songs on it, but hey, it was Violent Femmes!

Victor Delorenzo, Gordon Gano, Brian Ritchie and John Sparrow took the stage. It was kind of odd to see John there, but he keeps time, and also fills in some of the drum sound for the songs where Victor played a full kit on the original album. Victor had a tom, a snare and a high hat. Brian played his acoustic bass, for the most part, the electric once or twice, and xylophone for "Gone Daddy Gone" of course.

So they opened with... "Blister In the Sun," and played almost without stopping until the end of side 1, when Gordon spoke a bit. He apologized for not thanking us for our applause, with the excuse that they were playing the songs as they appear on the album, and there's no talking in between songs on the album.

So, "Blister," "Kiss Off," "Please Do Not Go," "Add It Up," "Confessions," "Prove My Love," "Promise," "To the Kill," "Gone Daddy Gone" and "Good Feeling." "Confessions" included the noise jam by the Horns of Dilemma. This featured Sigmund Snopek, who played various instruments on various songs throughout the show, including keyboards, like on "Good Feeling." Gordon played violin on that song.

After the album was over, they did a few more early songs. First, was "Jesus Walking On the Water," followed by perennial favorite "Country Death Song," for which Gordon played banjo. "I Held Her In My Arms," "Gimme The Car." "Black Girls" and "American Music." The encore (the word, which Brian reminded us, means "again") was "Blister In the Sun." I was guessing (or just hoping) it would be "Add It Up." "Black Girls" included Snopek on alpenhorn. Peter Balestrieri on baritone sax, for "I Held Her In My Arms." Jeff Hamilton played guitar or mandolin on most of the later songs. For "Jesus Walking," Gordon played violin, and his sister Cynthia came onstage for vocals. They didn't introduce her, but she sounded exactly like the voice on the record, so I have to assume it was her.

After the Avetts were finished, a lot of people left, but the place still looked pretty full (but there were few bleacher seats sold). My friend Steve mentioned that the age of the crowd had gone up. That's probably true, but there were still a lot of kids there. The two teenage girls behind us were singing along with every song. After the Femmes started, the remaining audience went wild. But since three of the first four songs were their biggest hits, and the fifth song was kindof obnoxious, that's when people started filtering out.

So... musicianship. As mentioned earlier, Sparrow was onstage to provide the beat. Enough said. Gordon's guitar playing actually sounded pretty album-like, at least early in the show. He hasn't exactly done a lot to advance his practice over the years, though. Ritchie has. His bass guitar solos are always changing and improving. He must be out of practice, though, after the five-year hiatus. He seemed to be off his game. A couple of solos just didn't have the magic.

The show let out shortly before midnight. They started somewhere around 10:30, so they played for barely over an hour and a half. Too short. (I think the Avett's played for over two hours.) It was so much fun!

I'm surprised that they're on tour. It seemed like they didn't used to like touring. At least Neil didn't. And this time, they don't even have a new album. They were in the studio in the spring, and recorded a couple of new songs. Geddy says they'll resume recording when the tour is over. Maybe they wouldn't have gotten the album released until fall, and then summer touring season would be over.

Not only are they touring in between albums, they developed a new stage show. The stage was decked out in steampunk, with a bit of alchemy. For the first time in about fifteen years, there were no washers or other large appliances onstage. Instead, Geddy had a "time machine" behind him. With sausages being extruded. Alex, instead of his usual wall of amplifiers, had three large amplifier-looking things. They were reminiscent of old-time console radios, with sci-fi accents. Does this mean that Alex was feeding his guitars straight to the board, like Geddy has been doing for many years? The wall behind them was one huge screen. They showed their usual videos, some new work, some on-stage video, or no video for many songs. Sometimes video of the band was surrounded by steampunk frames. I was amazed at the resolution of that screen.

I had had trouble logging onto the presale to buy tickets, so I was a little disappointed that our seats were so far back. We were near the back of the reserved seats, but I was happy that we were almost dead center. We had a great view. Rush fans are a dedicated bunch, and the crowd was a curious mix of old and young. The average age keeps going up, but there are always teens, twenty- and thirty-somethings there. There were several families around us. One family of four - mom, dad, girl, boy - all in various tour shirts from years past. A mother and her teenage son, a couple with a four year old girl (okay, that seems a bit young), and in front of us was a man and two (probably) nine-year-old boys. One of them was air-drumming during one song. Either he knew the song, or was good at air drumming in general. It was cute. The guy next to us shot some video. I hope he posts it on YouTube or something.

The set list: The Spirit of Radio (the perfect high-powered intro), Time Stand Still (for the Time Machine Tour), Presto, Stick it Out (hard rocking), Workin' Them Angels (overtime), Leave that Thing Alone (the most "different" of their instrumentals), Faithless, BU2B (a new song, Brought Up to Believe), Freewill (crowd pleaser), Subdivisions. Intermission. Tom Sawyer, Red Barchetta, YYZ, Limelight, The Camera Eye, Witch Hunt, Vital Signs, Caravan (new song), Love 4 Sale (drum solo), Closer to the Heart (with new acoustic guitar solo intro), 2112: Overture/Temples of Syrinx, Far Cry. Encore: La Villa Strangiato, Working Man (with extended reggae into).

The first thing that an astute reader will have noticed, is the second set includes all of Moving Pictures straight through. Aside from being a surefire way to get people to show up when there's no new album out (as if they needed the boost), there are a couple of songs that they don't play. They haven't played "The Camera Eye" since the Signals tour in 1983. They also played Vital Signs. I thought I had never heard them do that one, but I apparently did, as late as 1992.

There were the two new songs, that I hadn't heard. They've been out for a few weeks, but I hadn't gotten around to buying them. I was impressed with BU2B. Very heavy. I was not as impressed with Caravan. It was very heavy, but it seemed a throwback. Rush of 1974 would have creamed their pants if they'd heard this song. Alex followed up Neil's drum solo with a new acoustic solo, which led into "Closer to the Heart".

I thought Neil's drum solo was a little different. The first part, on his acoustic kit was very different. Instead of his usual rhythmic pounding, it was somewhat atmospheric. More like waves of sound. The second part, on the electronic kit, was all African and Asian sounds. I liked it a lot. The third part, was his usual (as of late) big band bash, with full orchestration on backup tape.

I really didn't care for Geddy's bass sound. He's getting harsher. He played a four-stringed Fender. He had a really hard attack, going for a funky sound, but it didn't suit much of their music well. It was a hammer and chisel, compared to the jacknife of most of their work (Alex has the scalpel). For the most part, it lacked musical tone. On top of that, it was too loud in the mix. Just plain too loud, really. The plonk actually bothered my ears on occasion. The drums and guitar seemed to be mixed well, but the bass sound was overpowering. The attack was too much, and the bass fill was too little. It wasn't just Geddy, I don't think - it was the sound crew too. It's kinda been brought on by the subwoofer culture. Too much bass oomph. You know that sound - less musical than simply percussive. Boom... boom... boom... It's kinda cool if used properly, but for a band like Rush it can become annoying.

On the other hand, Geddy's voice sounded great. He's really becoming a better singer. Yes, for you anti-fans, you still wont like the sound of his voice, but he's definitely been working on his voice. And he can still hit some high notes. Not all of them, but I thought he did really well. Geddy didn't seem to be in a very good mood. He wasn't smiling or clowning around like he usually does.

Alex seemed to be his usual self, save for the lack of goofing around with Geddy. There were two songs where either his guitar didn't work, or he had the wrong one, and he had to run offstage and grab a new one.

My favorite songs from the set list are "La Villa Strangiato" and "The Spirit of Radio". La Villa seemed a little loose for my taste. "Far Cry was one of my favorites of the show. I wasn't all that excited by "Tom Sawyer" (as usual), and "Red Barchetta" didn't thrill me (unlike usual). "The Camera Eye" was enjoyable. I'm guessing the reason the band hasn't wanted to play it is that it's long and a little dull, but I like it a lot.

The films... The intro film was pretty good. Who writes these things? Geddy played a way-over-the-top, old-time Jewish sausage store owner. Neil was an Irish cop, and Alex was an enormous eastern European... inventor? It involved a Rush-like trio of kids (playing "Tom Sawyer" on drums, tuba and accordion), and a time machine that changed the style of music they played. Damn funny. The into to the second set involved a similar group of people shooting a video. They had another film at the end of the show. Two uber nerds got into the band's dressing room after a show, and the band came in, and... hilarity ensued. Okay, this one wasn't all that funny. After that, there was a recorded version of "Closer to the Heart" played by the band in Polka style. It seemed almost like it was made for Milwaukee. :-)

We were going to see Tom Petty at Summerfest. To do this, we had to get down there before the gates opened, and get in line for wristbands to get us into the lawn for free. I had planned on getting there sometime between 1:30 and 12:00, but it was not to be. And even if we had gotten there by noon, we might not have gotten wristbands. We were walking past the main gate at 12:15, when we heard an announcement that they were out of general admission seating. It turned out that they were not available in the first place. The lawn seating at the amphitheater used to be free, but this year, it was free only for four of the eleven shows. Actually, the bleachers used to be free too. :-(

So we wandered around the fest for a couple of hours. Got some ice cream and wandered through the vendors' tents (I bought a shirt). We sat and watched Roster McCabe for a while. I liked them. A guitarist like Santana, and a singer like Stevie Wonder. A little Latin sound, some soul, a dash of reggae. Then we watched the first part of Rumbrava's set. My favorite Jazz duo, Mrs. Fun was joined by a conga player and a singer/electric cellist, doing Latin music. Not bad, but not great.

There was another band playing at 5:00 that I wouldn't have minded seeing, but I didn't want to stick around there for another three hours. And Cracker would have been fun, but they weren't on until 10:00. We left around 3:30. Would have had to stay twelve hours to get my twelve bucks-worth. We walked around the lakefront for a bit, and then went home and grilled some steaks for dinner.

Willy Porter at Summerfest. I believe it was his usual band of the time - Dave Adler, Dave Schoepke, and ... still can't remember the bassist's name. Steve Kleiber, right? The be-fezed Biff Blumfumgagnge joined the band for some of the show. Seems like he played a small guitar and a violin.

Also caught some of BB King's show, down at the south end of the grounds.

It was a late show, starting at 11:00. I guess that was because of the fireworks show at 10:30. Opening day of the fest.

My memory is pretty bad. I'd forgotten half the stuff by the time it happened. I'll see what I can remember.

They started out as the trio plus John Sparrow on cajon. They did a song off their debut album. Umm... "Promise." For the second song, "Out the Window" a guy joined them on washboard (didn't catch his name). The next song was also from Why do Birds Sing?. "Hey Nonny Nonny." To continue with the country flavor, the next song was "Country Death Song." A little bit into the song, Jeff Hamilton came on stage, quickly trying to plug in his mandolin. Ritchie seemed amused.

They did "Jesus Walking on the Water," with a country sounding bass solo, a mandolin solo and a violin solo. They did "Color Me Once," "Freak Magnet," "Hallowed Ground," and "Children of the Revolution." Hamilton played a lot of guitar, often taking solos, and sometimes duetting with Gano. Gano often sounds irrelevant with his guitar, but he stood out in a couple of spots, showing that he still knows how to play. The first song of the encore was "Kiss Off," and he and DeLorenzo played it by themselves. Gano was able to fill in the high and the low parts.

It was the smallest Horns of Dilemma I've seen in many years. Aside from Sparrow, Hamilton and the washboard player, there were only Darren Brown (tour manager and "big man on a little horn"), somebody Kaminski on trombone and Silas Ritchie on harmonica. They did "Black Girls," as usual, and followed that up with a different song than usual (can't remember what).

Ritchie started with his acoustic, then switched back and forth between electric and one-string basses. He had some kind of heavy distortion unit on the electric. Huge fuzz, and a high pitch. He used it mostly for noise, and often in places I thought inappropriate. Didn't seem quite in tune, either. His washtub bass was on stage, but he didn't play it. He did the conch during "Black Girls." His xylophone sounded really weird, for "Gone Daddy Gone." It sounded really... squeaky, and not quite in tune. He had some technical issues early in the show.

Victor was his usual zany self.

There didn't seem to be any animosity between the guys, but they didn't seem as close as they used to be.

The Femmes played the Miller Oasis at Summerfest in Milwaukee. It was a good show.
Earlier in the day, Cyn and I took my niece and nephew to the zoo. That was fun. In the evening, I went to see the Violent Femmes at Summerfest. I didn't get to bed until well after 1:00. And my throat was a bit scratchy from singing along. I was just dead the next day, at work. The show was really good. The weather was good. The crowd was not overly obnoxious (I kinda got a kick out of the drunk kids next to me).

I was down front on the benches. Steve and Michelle hung out with me. They found me just in time to still have a place to sit. Then some acqaintances of Steve's showed up. There wasn't room, but they stayed anyway. Then Joe and Alicia found us. There wasn't room for them so they left. One person really can't save enough room for four other people.

Modern Day Zero opened up for them. A run-of-the-mill metal band. they seem like they're on the verge of stardom. They also seem like they won't make it over the edge.

The best thing about the show is that the sound was good. The sound can really make or break a concert, and it certainly helped make this one. The other thing was that the guys were really on their game. They played well and had good chemistry.

They did the two songs with violin, that they've been doing lately, but they had a second violinist alongside Gordon.

There was quite a lot of sax that night. Their special guest was Steve MacKay of the Stooges (legendary Detroit punk band... Iggy Pop ring a bell?). He joined them for a few songs early in the night, and then joined the Horns of Dilemma for a few. The horns made two appearances. The earlier one was seven guys - one on maracas, one on trumpet, and the rest with saxophones. Later, for "Black Girls," There were thirteen, on various instruments, but still mostly saxes. They had a guy on harmonica for "Waiting for the Bus," which was cool.

Brian used his washtub bass once, his one-string once, his acoustic a few times, but mostly an electric. And a conch shell.

Victor's drum solo during "Black Girls" was shorter than usual.

They sounded very smooth during "Color Me Once." I kinda wish they'd drop "I Held her in My Arms" - it never sounds as good as it does on the records. "Freak Magnet" is always fun.

Good night. The bands were good, the weather was good, the crowds weren't bad.

Saw Michelle Shocked - blues/country/soul singer. Great voice. The show didn't really do much for me. The sound wasn't great, and her songs didn't really do it for me.

Then Hothouse Flowers. Their first couple of songs were really good. Great grooves. After that, they didn't excite me a whole lot. They were good, but I felt like moving on.

The Radiators were playing at the same time, and I'd always wanted to see them. They were good. Rootsy, bluesy rock, about like I expected but they rocked harder. Not bad for a bunch of old guys.

Then Joe Cocker. He put on a good show. I'd recommend him to anyone who thinks they might enjoy it. We stayed the longest at this one.

We also wandered by The Moody Blues, but it wasn't happening for me. They'd be great to see at an outdoor festival where everybody is lounging on the grass sipping wine, but here they were dancing on the picnic tables, swigging beer. While i was there, Hayward was calmly explaining that the song they were about to play was from 1969, off of Legend of a Mind (or something), and the place was standing room only, and it was just not right.

Maybe because it was a monday night, the crowds at the fest weren't bad and the streets weren't packed with rowdy drunks.

American Standard (previously the Chris Aaron Band) was a great, blues rock band. We hadn't seen them in a couple of years, so we were happy to have a chance to see them again. I had seen them once before (with Cyn), at Shank Hall.

So their return gig, at Summerfest was packed. But when the band came out, there was no Chris Aaron, and no Corey Sterling. Aaron was a great guitarist, and Sterling had a great bluesy voice, but they were gone! Instead of their bluesy rock, they were all modern funky. Their new singer was rather obnoxious. The whole audience seemed to be in disbelief.

The only thing I really enjoyed about the new band was seeing the other members (like Matt, the bassist) getting a chance to shine.

It turns out that Aaron was kicked out for his drug abuse, and Sterling for alcohol - he was causing real problems for the band.

Shortly after the show, they changed their name to Reversr (they should have done that before this show). I think they gave it up after about a year.