I was honored to be asked to review this weekend’s Phish shows at Dick’s by the fantastic Denver paper the Westword. The review went live, read it here: Westword review of Phish at Dick’s
Finally got to see Said the Whale last night, and they surpassed my pretty high expectations. The success of their single “I Love You” brought quite a few teenagers and every pretty young lawyer that lived in the area. While their latest album has a very polished sound, their live show is much more raw, intricate and careful sounds coming from everyone, often leading up to moments of distortion and reverb that I didn’t expect from them. I don’t get a chance to shoot females often, but when I do, I shoot their shoes. They are currently on tour with Kopecky Family Band, go see them if you like sweet pop rock that gets a little chaotic.
Cultivate Fest by Chipotle in City Park proved to be wildly successful once again. The production coordinators really have the free festival logistics down, easy to get up close to the stage, tons of food options, celebrity chef tents, and you could bring your dog. Cold War Kids put on a note perfect set, mixing the setlist with old hits like “Hang Me Up to Dry” and new material from their latest release. The last few times I’ve seen them have been little SXSW shows, kind of forgot they are really, really popular, everyone knew every word. Expect to see more of Cultivate Fest here in the future, looks like a keeper.
Last night, Donna the Buffalo played to a full, happy crowd at the Oriental Theater in Denver. These veterans of the Americana scene are a group of highly professional and technically talented musicians, and the onstage unspoken language between them is a comfort and joy to watch. With the help of the psychedelic lights the Oriental has, I was able to get some fun shots of the band while they took turns showing off their prowess.
photo by leslie loudspeaker
It rained every night of the Phish three night run in Chicago, and I found out I love Phish in the rain. Walking to the venue the first night was exciting, the park and museums along the water are a great way to enter a show. No Shakedown, but I rarely go anyway so it wasn’t an issue, and was running into most of my favorite people from Denver everywhere I look (way to represent, Colorado, between the guys in The Clinic shirts and the CO flag hats, I sometimes forgot I wasn’t at home). First thing I noticed when entering the gates was that this was going to be a free for all, the people that worked there didn’t do a pat down, barely looked in my bag, and barely even acknowledged me, really. Woohoo! Time for fun.
First night, they come back from setbreak, open with “Down With Disease”, and as Trey starts up “Prince Caspian” next, the crowd notices Page get up and walk over to Trey. Guys around me thought Page was mad at Trey for cutting that DWD jam, nope, the venue is making us evacuate because of a storm coming. While disappointed, it wasn’t the end of the world, I had just flown in before the show, at least got to hear Phish for the first time in almost a year, and we still had two more days. Pearl Jam down at Wrigley Field was delayed as well, but they ended up coming back on and some tour pros were able to catch both concerts. Impressive.
photo by leslie loudspeaker
Saturday afternoon my phone starts going off like crazy, a friend who knows people was texting us to get to the show early, we are getting three sets to make up for the lost one from the night before. All of a sudden the lawn tickets people couldn’t give away the night before are rare and going for $100. Glassy eyed guys walking Michigan Avenue light up when I tell them the news, Phish officially announces on Twitter and Facebook, and suddenly we have a mega show.
They started the night by finishing “Prince Caspian”, then proceeded to play what I only assume was the planned set 2 of the night before. Coming out full cylinder, Trey just destroys each song with energy and force, to the point that after “Ocelot” people were cheering their fool heads off like I’ve never heard for what normally is a bathroom break song for many. As “My Friend, My Friend” starts up, a thick cloud of low lying fog engulfs the Chicago skyline, and people on the Pageside stands were dancing at the city, conducting the storm. Rain starts up again, but they don’t kick us out this time, as tremendous peaks after seering guitar solos come from the stage, never taking a breather. The Weekapaug gets so down and dirty, “Waves” is perfect song for setting, and “Piper” has takeoff. After three sets of madness, I had never felt so alive and exhausted at the same time. Paid a jitney guy $40 to bike us the 1/4 mile to the hotel and it was the best forty bucks ever spent.
Night three started with the concession stands taking the caps from drinks like they usually do, but this time they then covered it with tinfoil. I have never seen a venue do this and if someone knows why I would love to hear it:
Earlier in the day, some guy told me they were going to play Gamehendge tonight, that it was planned and he knows someone. Some guy always says this, but we did discuss the possibility of them dropping Harpua because of the storms and how they still had almost all GH songs left on the table still. (I thought of this guy instantly later that night and wondered who he knew). Once again, a storm rolls in during the show, but this time I was completely prepared, and they weren’t kicking us out. When they went into “Boogie On Reggae Woman”, something flipped a switch in everyone. The crowd was dancing like their life depended on it, punching fists into the sky as huge raindrops slammed into us sideways, Chris Kuroda’s lights lighting up the whole spectacle like an aerial shot from World War Z. Just awesome.
Finally they had to have a rain delay, I hid behind the stands for awhile, then went dead center where wonderful new friends from tour last year were. Go time, just like the night before they are playing with tons of energy, straightforward ripping rock and roll. I’ve noticed throughout the night that they’ve played “AC/DC Bag” and “Wilson”, and when they start “Lizards” (which was such a crowd sing-a-long, but not in the cheesy way, it felt like we were all unified after dealing with the weather together, like a bunch of lizards), I knew that guy did in fact hear something. Suddenly “ooom pah pah, ooom pah pah” comes out of their mouths and the crowd just flips. The storm’s gone. Harpua.
photo by leslie loudspeaker
Trey points to a guy with a sign that says “Poster Nutbag- the RIGHT way!!”, discussing how apparently they’ve been playing it the wrong way. They pull the guy up on stage and the guy to my left starts saying “Holy shit! Chris! I work with that guy!” and I’m thinking “how cool! Your friend is lucky!” then “No!! He’s not from Philly! He’s an actor at Second City!” And that’s how I knew it was a bit before the actors barely opened their mouths, funny coincidence. The crowd was a little confused, they knew something was going on when they started rapping up there, and I fell in love with this band even harder. Many people hated on this but I think a bunch of the best improv players in the country are a great guest artist for Phish to have on stage, the members of Phish are total cornballs, why NOT have some improv during the narration. Anyone who was irritated immediately was back to flipping out once Mike Gordon started telling the story anyway. “Mike speaks!”
All in all, an unpredictable, energetic, exhausting weekend that ended up being even more fun than I expected due to the weather. Phish give me a sense of freedom that nothing else can, and I’m ready for more next week in California. Added bonus, the Chicago Tribune got a pic of my friend dancing on the top of the stands and I’m just below him in my Jaws tank top (which caused a zillion guys to call me Sharknado when I walked around):
by Alex Garcia
Oh, and Page gets the VIP award for doing this sweet keys 360: Page’s sick 360 move
photo by leslie loudspeaker
Last night I was invited to the Westword Music Showcase Pre-Party by Vices I Admire, a quirky, rocking local band. They’ve got a genuine punk energy while writing great songs with interesting changes. The lead singer has some really pretty vocals too, try to catch him sound checking.
photo by leslie loudspeaker
photo by leslie loudspeaker
photo by leslie loudspeaker
Listen to their song Sweetest Girl , love the guitar tone. Also, check out this song and read the comments, “the new Slipknot” cracks me up. They are much better than that: Heartbreaker
photo by leslie loudspeaker
photo by leslie loudspeaker
I had no idea Kyle Hollingsworth was so fancy, check out the detailing on that jacket.
LoHi Festival was even stronger this year than last year! Even though it was pretty jam-packed with people, the logistics were wonderful, and a great mood was in the air. The day started out really, really hot. Too hot to really be hanging out on the asphalt. Eforquestra kicked things off with a bang though. I wasn’t expecting that much awesome organ at 1:00p.m.!
photo by leslie loudspeaker
photo by leslie loudspeaker
Immediately following their set, Springdale Quartet started up on the smaller stage. I went into this festival pretty blind, and assumed they were bluegrass. Nope, pretty seering rock and roll, actually. The crowd that had seemed roomy before was now crowded together, but the staggering in the time of the sets worked well, no one was in a rush.
photo by leslie loudspeaker
photo by leslie loudspeaker
Toubab Krewe was up next. Fantastic band, with interesting stringed instruments, they continuously played ever layered grooves This was only 3:00 p.m. and it was full and everyone was getting down. I love my neighborhood.
photo by leslie loudspeaker
After being out in the heat since the get go, I went home and took a breather. Which meant living around the corner from the OTHER Highlands Festival, very interesting trying to navigate two multi stage street festivals in a two mile radius. When I came back the weather was all nice, the sky was pink, and the whole place turned up a notch for Kyle Hollingsworth Bandwith Michael Kang from String Cheese Incident.
photo by leslie loudspeaker
photo by leslie loudspeaker
All in all, the festival was a total success. Seemed like everyone in there was one degree of each other, I guess as to be expected in a block party! I even forgot my wristband when I came back for Kyle, and got me a VIP wristband. Thank you, everyone, it was great seeing all of you!
photo by leslie loudspeaker
photo by leslie loudspeaker
Last night I saw the perfect mix of artist and venue, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes at Red Rocks. I had only seen them live once before, at Belly Up in Aspen, and had positive hopes that it would be a good show. Totally underestimated them, it was one of the best shows I’ve seen there, the theatrical spirituality of the band just worked so well in the amphitheater. Opener Alabama Shakes were solid as always, they had the audience much more than when I saw them open for Neil Young and Crazyhorse. It was packed even in the reserved seats, and some of the audience thinned out after their set. Meanwhile, the whole sky was pink and the weather was the most perfect I’ve ever seen up there. Colorado, you’re beautiful!
photo by leslie loudspeaker
As soon as they started setting up the massive set for Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes, you knew it was going to be stepped up a notch. Wow! I have never heard vocal microphones sound more crystal clear, you could hear his every murmur. Starting the night off with 40 Day Dream, the audience knew every word and clapped almost too enthusiastically. This one guy in front of us was slapping his hands together on his leg like Spoon Man, and lo and behold it was Kevin Connolly from Entourage. Then I realized the guy who looked like Josh Lucas WAS Josh Lucas, we were sitting in the middle of the cast and crew for the Leonardo DiCaprio produced movie Dear Eleanor that is filming right now in Colorado. Funny. I thought Liana was a rich teenage model at the beginning of the show, Hollywood starlet isn’t too far off, she’s beautiful and had some awesome gold metal toed brown booties on. *update! She told me the boots, I love these babies.
Edward and his crew played two never been heard songs with him quipping “well, you gotta start somewhere”, and asked the audience if they had heard this rumor that everyone dies, but then ended the night asking if we’d heard the one that said you could live forever. I eat this stuff up. So does everyone else apparently, when they finished the set with “Home” the whole place became a celebratory hands in the air, clapping hootenanny. They encored with “Lean on Me”, asking the Shakes to join them then “well, we don’t know where they are” as people put their arms on each other’s shoulders. It was like Girl Scout Camp but BETTER.
photo by leslie loudspeaker
Last night ZZ Ward played her heart out to a sold out audience in Denver, and everyone left wanting to be her. What a cool, talented chick. She can belt the blues, rage a soulful blues guitar, rock the keys and play a wild harmonica. We needed an exciting blues musician like this. The audience was packed into the Gothic over an hour before she even hit the stage, volume buzzing ever higher as the great Ft. Collins opener, You, Me and Apollo finished.
photo by leslie loudspeaker
She started the show with her hit single “Put the Gun Down”, and the audience of mostly females freaked out. Above you can see ZZ’s interpretive dance for the lyric “I’ve got ten fingers to the sky”.
photo by leslie loudspeaker
I love when artists have a huge backdrop of their name, and I thought ZZ’s looked great.
photo by leslie loudspeaker
I’d say ZZ Ward is one to watch, but I think everyone’s already watching! I can’t wait to see what happens in her future, a collaboration with Gary Clark Jr. would be amazing….
photo by leslie loudspeaker
photo by leslie loudspeaker
….and of course, there were a ton of hats in attendance. Don’t miss ZZ Ward when she hits your town, but go early for a good seat, she’s in the big time.
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