I saw Bob Seger in 2019 at his last-last-seriously-final show at Pine Knob. I knew going in I wasn't about to watch a redux of Live Bullet, but by NO means was I disappointed! Obviously some of the songs were a touch slower, and a key or 2 lower to match his then 74 year old vocal cords, and he played quite a few ballads I didn't recognize for the older ladies. Even with all that taken into account, Bob still looked like he was having fun and played a lot of songs that I DO know and love. I went by myself on short notice and got a pretty good pavilion seat. Very glad I did, because Seger is a musical hero of mine (mostly in regards to lyrics and vocals) and that was quite literally the last chance I'd ever have to see him live. And at his "home venue" no less.
To your last point, Jack, I do wonder: who's the next Seger? Who will write the next Night Moves, the next Roll Me Away?
Edit to add: FIRST!
2nd edit to 2019, thanks Ronnie for the correction
My friend David Haas was a DJ at CBN and I spent some time in the broadcast booth with him, cueing up records. They called the place Children Building Noise.
On a fly and ride to the southwest a few years ago, my brother cued Roll Me Away up on the jukebox in Barstow one night and announced to the bar that it was dedicated to his brother, me. Still chokes me up.
At the time, I hadn't met my wife yet (we went to highschool together but didn't KNOW each other), I was trying to figure out what hell I was gonna actually do with my life, and I certainly didn't want to live with my parents and work at a dealership for $20/flat rate hour. That song was giving me ideas to pack my Charger with the essentials and head somewhere else, in the old tradition. These days, I'm glad I didn't!
Thanks for the suggestion! Have to admit he doesn't do much for me, though. Something about any modern artist -or even old ones still making new music- just doesn't hit right. One technical reason I can think of is the production sounds too clean. Too perfect. Possibly because of that I have an admittedly unwarranted strong skepticism about new artists being "legit." There's a lot of reasons some of my old favorites probably aren't "legit" either, but somehow I can let it slide because I love their music. I just can't let Mr. Fallon in, I'm sorry. The first track on his spotify profile sounds like mid 2010's "boom-clap" and I can't stand that shit. I did try some other songs, and I just don't feel it. I like my music to sound shitty in other ways. Like how AC/DC's pre-Highway albums sound like the whole band was stuffed in a closet and recorded on a single cheap microphone. I love that. I love the early Sabbath albums, too. They have a raw unrefined vibe that I just don't hear anymore. Seger had a very special gift for writing about yearning, nostalgia, angst, midwestern melancholy, and woman and their tight asses, that I don't think will ever be matched. Plus I find his voice uniquely interesting and Fallon's just isn't. Not that I like or even know every last Seger track either, but the ones that hit me REALLY hit me.
His earlier (and also current after hiatus) stuff with The Gaslight Anthem may hit better for you then, and I should’ve been more specific when I brought him up.
The ‘59 Sound is their most famous album, and it’s a great one. Even earlier work like Sink or Swim and Senor and the Queen err a bit more on the punky side, but are more raw and the production values are bit.. worse. lol.
I like his solo work, but it’s less impressive in the aggregate than TGA.
Oh he's their singer?? I love the song '59 Sound! And 45! The rest of the album never hit super hard but it's not bad. I'll check the other ones out now.
I was at that show and have the poster. It was 2019, not 2018. He sat for the slower songs and when the big screen was focused on his hands, they looked a bit arthritic. Alto Reed, the sax player, who used to fly over the crowd in a flying harness or play solos from the railing of the 3rd deck at Cobo, simply climbed up on a riser at stage left. We didn't know it but he was dying of cancer.
All in all I was glad I went. Fine show. The only show I've been to where most of the crowd stood for the whole show and sang along with every word.
Mildly depressing, which I totally get and have experienced myself with other performers in whatever stage of decline they find themselves in. Myself included!
I think this is why I am not very interested in seeing anyone perfom lately, or over the past decade plus - for example, all those 80s/90s bands that you thought you'd missed the boat on, and would never, ever imagine them back together touring again 30+ years later. I would rather remember them when these people/bands were in their prime, not as semi aged-out, retirement circuit throwback/nostalgia.
I have noticed a general uptick in 'tribute' band activity that I think is a pretty big by-product of all this.
Also glad I saw AC/DC in 2016 before Malcom lost his abilities and Brian went fully deaf. That show was the closest thing I've had to a truly religious experience. I wasn't alive in 1978, or even 1982, so 2016 was probably the best year for me to see them in my lifetime. Angus still did all his The Jack antics and spun around on the floor during Let There Be Rock. They're still touring right now but... I'm afraid that would be disappointing indeed. I also saw them in 2009. Arguably sounded better, but I was 9 and we had nosebleed seats. In 2016 I was 18 and got pretty close to the stage on general floor admission with my friends (who were 28 at the time), so that alone made it way cooler.
I took our kids to two different venues to see "artists" who were not to be missed.
The first was a Laker game against the New Orleans Jazz featuring Pete Maravich. I told them. "You have to see this guy because there won't be anymore like him for a long time." The Lakers won even though Pistol Pete rolled 44.
The second was a football game featuring Cal State Fullerton and Grambling. I told our kids, "If you want to see what a real marching band looks like, this is the one." The Tigers blew every one away!!
Regarding performers unwilling or unable to recognize when the whistle has blown, I saw Dylan years ago and he stunk. I saw Gordon Lightfoot years ago and the magic was gone from his voice.
I had a student once ask me if he should see the Michael Jordan Bulls or Isiah Thomas Pistons. My advice was don't miss your chance to see Michael play.
Perhaps it was bittersweet but it was good for them to see someone who's music was and is so important to you and bonus, they also enjoy. Beats all hell standing in line at some lame cosplay convention waiting in line for a has been actor from your favorite childhood movie to sign a free poster.
I shall be eternally grateful that I got to take my teenaged boys to see Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Ozzy Osbourne, and Megadeth while they still sounded good.
Megadeth is one of my favorites. Their album from 2021 ("The Sick, the Dying, and the Dead") was great, a couple fillers but mostly original winners. They even had hard copies at Wal-Mart. Latest one ("Megadeth") is almost all filler, but still decent. One of my favorite albums is "Washington is Next" from 2007, pretty much Alex Jones on a rock album. I was dragged to concerts a few times as a kid, could not hear or see anything other than a cocophany, ears ringing, just wanted it to be over. Also, a core genre of mine is rap, and most rap artists just crank the volume to 11 and "yeah! uh! let's go! hands up!" over the studio recording. I don't really appreciate live recordings (Judas Priest is the notable exception, Heading Out To the Highway, Metal Meltdown, his voice got better in the 90's), the studio version was the final take for a reason, so live stuff has little appeal to me.
I'll have to check out their newer albums. I've been a fan since Peace Sells.
That's funny you mention Heading Out To the Highway - I agree the live version is better than the studio. The first time my wife heard it she thought it was the studio version until the crowd cheered at the end.
I inexplicably did not appreciate Maiden during their prime. Now I'm seeing them in September for the first time. While I'm nervous the show isn't going to compare to what I've heard on the live albums, there can't be many more chances left to see them.
Adding to my nerves is the memory of seeing Ozzy at one of the early 00s Ozzfests; he sounded tired to me then, and he was about 15 years younger than Bruce will be in September. Fingers crossed.
Jamshied Sharifi (You can tell by his name, that he was born in Kansas City) wrote a wordless sad ballad called "A Prayer for the Soul of Layla." (Having nothing to do with Eric Clapton.) Sharifi is of Persian heritage, but "Layla" is Arabic for "Night."
"The 1,001 Nights," in Arabic, is "Alf Layla wa Layla." So, the given name "Layla" has nothing to do with lying down, it merely connotes a woman with dark hair and dark eyes.
The relevance being that Pedro Aznar's live-encore performance of Sharifi's "A Prayer for the Soul of Layla" should make tears come to your eyes. If not... get help.
Agree with taking your son to see Metheny play live while it’s still possible. I did go with mine in 2024, in Clearwater FL.
Another artist who my son and I got to see playing live: Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, earlier this year. It’s a minor miracle that Alpert can still play and tour at all at 90, let alone still play reasonably well.
And by reasonably well this is what I mean (and I am likely understating his current playing level): The concert opened, they played the first 4 songs back to back, and only then did he take a minute to talk to the audience. He showed no signs of fatigue playing until the last half hour of a 2 hour concert.
Would absolutely pay to see him and the TJB play again.
I went to Willie Nelson’s Outlaw Festival last spring to see Willie. He was great. Also on the bill was Bob Dylan. He shuffled out on a dimly lit stage and hid behind a piano. When he started singing I started laughing because I thought he was making a joke. He wasn’t. He also played the piano like he was wearing mittens. But the boomers in the audience were eating it up.
This was the show that Billy Strings came out and played Along the watchtower.
I was there too, seated just about in same row but on the left side. The Commander has to have been the youngest person in attendance by a considerable margin, MDG aside.
Your assessment of Chris Fishman is spot on. I had an even better view and just found his playing and persona to be joyless. The "synth sounds like Pat's guitar" move was my first indication that we were likely going to be covering up some deficiencies on the guitar side. Leonard Patton was excellent and saved the show for me, but I think my expectations were just lower going in. I preferred the Dreambox/Moon Dial show in Columbus a year or two ago since it ditched the Side Eye concept temporarily and had a better performance from Pat as I recall. I feel like we are at 2007 Van Halen world tour quality now. Here's hoping we don't end up at present day DLR.
All that said, I went with my dad and seeing Pat (and Steely Dan, and a few other acts) is our excuse to get together and share an experience. As we both advance in age that's more important to me than anything Pat could have done on stage, even if he had somehow managed to execute a Travels-grade Are You Going With Me? performance.
We initially had D4 and D6 plus D13 on the far side, but MDG charmed the D2 person into trading with her. So you would have been over with her!
I liked being able to take the kids to a jazz gig but I think the next one we do will be at the Vanguard or Blue Note, with any luck catching someone in their prime.
"I feel like we are at 2007 Van Halen world tour quality now. Here's hoping we don't end up at present day DLR."
Back then, you could play bass in a band, and wait tables, and live a dream life of hot women, cold beer, boats on Lake Travis, drives in the Hill Country, flying gliders in some field, and have money left over for nice things.
I remember dancing with this smokin’ hot chick at Antone’s to “Omar & The Howlers” and having the time of my life. Then, around 1:00am, Springsteen snuck in and starting playing harmonica with them.
About thirty minutes later, Bono showed up.
Five minutes later, Bruce Willis appeared.
Then Joe Ely joined the jam, followed by a host of others.
It was a glorious time to be a college student at UT.
I remember many times thinking to myself that I should see as many shows as possible, because one day, this will end.
I have one regret. For some reason, and I don’t know why, I had a million chances to see Stevie Ray and I never went.
My biggest regret from that period in my life.
Well, other than trusting that smokin’ dance partner wasn’t fuckin’ every dude on campus.
I saw SRV and Jeff Beck a few months before the helicopter crash. Sadly for SRV, Jeff Beck was "on" that night and Jeff can't be upstaged when that happens.
"But here’s the problem: after Pat, there is no one. There are no young jazz guitarists, no heirs to the fusion throne, no one writing and performing at this level."
its the same way in many genres of music we regard as legacy but are nothing more than a blip in the radar when you zoom out. no one is filling the shoes and there is no pipeline, so the young acts that get hyped are mediocre at best.
i can only really speak for "jam" as its the only genre i follow like this, but there really is only a small handful of arguably b and c tier bands (goose, PPP, daniel donato, dogs in a pile, eggy) with zero "heir to the throne" which is why college students are still entering ticket lotteries to watch 60 year old trey and phish dodder on and off the stage on acid. i had a conversation with a very nice group of HIGH SCHOOL students at freakin melvin seals who was so out of shape three years ago, they didnt pull the curtains up until he was seated behind the keyboard, and then waited for curtains to fall before he was helped off the stage.
part of it is lazy and cheap producers prioritizing "high volume" """music""". part of it is teh death of young work ethic. part of it is the death of young adult autonomy. and then part of it is the New Americans.
I dig Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country. I hope I can see him live in the near future. His singing is not great, but his picking and extended jams are great.
agreed, he is great to see live, but ultimately its still a derivative dead act. i forgot to mention billy strings on that list, who is certainly NOT C tier.
meanwhile, two decades ago you had: moe, disco biscuits, widespread, umphreys, SCI, govt mule, and then a lower tier of like yonder, leftover salmon, etc.
some of these guys are still great to see (moe. was fantastic on their 35th anni tour) but its very obvious that the new crop is never going to capture what they had.
You can't take a kid through a good high school music program without being impressed with the work ethic and skill of young musicians, so don't blame them. We just don't have a strong pipeline or business plan to turn prodigies into pros.
I think mass-market music that one has to seriously listen to has been dying since the VCR came out. For stuff to pay attention to, people prefer watching over listening. See also: living rooms no longer have hi-fis.
While I deplore the widespread use of weed (the ever-present smell of it on highways scares me), I can hope that it may lead to a revival of music that one has to pay attention to.
“While I deplore the widespread use of weed (the ever-present smell of it on highways scares me), I can hope that it may lead to a revival of music that one has to pay attention to.”
Unfortunately, I suspect it will just stone them out of fully building the skill / attaining genius and subsequently producing worthy music.
Thankfully, it doesn't need Americans to remain vital and thriving. Pat's first label was German, and ECM is still around. Most of Pat's tour dates are international. I've heard him say that his support in Japan has done the most to allow him to operate on such a large scale. This is nothing new. Remember how the old Blues performers went to Europe in the late fifties when they could make more money and get better treatment than here. Clapton and the Stones learned their tricks and brought the Blues back to us bigger than ever.
Or they work nearly in isolation with limited opportunity to learn from other musicians. There is no substitute for playing live and in person with other talented people. It's nearly impossible for a young talent to develop in the same way as, say, Derek Trucks. Someone please point out where I'm wrong.
Too many young “musicians” submitting tracks to Spotify for it to train it’s dreadful AIs, too few performing live for a crowd intent on the performance
There is a permission aspect here however; and I’m sure many feel like they’re “not worth it” when many club promoters with a small bandstand who charge a 0-$10 cover would love to have them
Make a proportionally, culturally, economically equivalent "baby boom 2.0" happen, then wait 20 years. Odds of that happening? Zilch. That's why. WWIII will not a baby boom make.
exactly how i felt watching them wheel bob weirs corpse out to be stage decoration for dead & co while john carried the whole show. i started seeing bob play close to 20 years ago with ratdog and occasionally phil lesh & friends. towards the end of his life it was getting sad watching him try to wheeze through samson & delilah.
i dont know that i was glad i saw him at the end. it felt more like fan service for the 19 year old festival girlies he would have so loved to molest, so that they can say in their childless twilight years that they saw bob live.
'i dont know that i was glad i saw him at the end. it felt more like fan service for the 19 year old festival girlies he would have so loved to molest, so that they can say in their childless twilight years that they saw bob live.'
We saw BB King at ravinia around 2020 and he needed a second stool on which to rest his gunt. All he did was mumble into the mic for 45 minutes and played about 3 songs very poorly. I wished we had left beforehand because it's pretty much all I think of when his name comes up.
On the other hand Joan Osborne opened for him and she was excellent in every way.
I never went on tour but I probably saw each configuration (minus Pigpen) of the Dead over the years, the first time in 1972. I saw Dead & Co. in 2022 with my two older kids and it was about on level with the Dead in the '90s. My younger daughter, who is in her mid 30s, is a huge fan of Bobby's. When the remnants toured as The Other Ones, I happened to be supplying Steve Kimock with embroidered merchandise and was able to get a couple of backstage passes (not all access, though). I took my daughter backstage and she still talks about it seeing Weir.
You can't go home again, mostly. Pat did come home and was loudly welcomed back. I think you may be a little harsh on the specifics of your review. not wrong just harsh. I graduated same year as Pat. No way in hell am I able to do anything as well now as I was even 10 years ago. And with the great acoustics at Kauffman nothing, good or bad, is missed. So yeah there were technical imperfections in some of the playing. If I want perfection I'll listen to the tracks from 20, 30, 40 years ago. For me this current tour is about maybe having a last chance to see a Master at work even if somewhat reduced in his physical capability. Dude is still playing at a level most younger pros can't touch. And at 71 he's composing, playing and touring. AND, seems content with his place in music. Thanks Pat, see you next time. And you will play Phase Dance, please.
I’ll see your French Muppets and raise you Japanese plush toys playing Offenbach’s “Galop Infernal” - the CanCan to you musical heathens - by beating the snot out of a marimba. Maybe it’s just me but I can’t watch it just once. Oddly compelling it is.
This IS more weird, well done--and I bet their neighbors in that tiny Japanese apartment complex must absolutely hate them. But can it save the future of jazz musicians? The song itself seems rather pedestrian.
To my ears, their music would be unlistenable with jazz time signatures. That driving beat and the thousand fret guitar doing, as Beato calls it, microtones makes my feet tap.
"$108 with all fees. Which is sadly about the same price, really, that $75 was in 2021"
pain.
"which marked a personal low point in my morally vacant wife-banging existence"
actually hilarious story. the subs are decent but given their (possibly) largest competition is subway its a low bar.
i saw a recording of knaye west live at sofi and that might have been cool to see irl even though im not that familiar with his newest stuff. he ended with a number of his best ones though and the stage design was rad.
I saw Bob Seger in 2019 at his last-last-seriously-final show at Pine Knob. I knew going in I wasn't about to watch a redux of Live Bullet, but by NO means was I disappointed! Obviously some of the songs were a touch slower, and a key or 2 lower to match his then 74 year old vocal cords, and he played quite a few ballads I didn't recognize for the older ladies. Even with all that taken into account, Bob still looked like he was having fun and played a lot of songs that I DO know and love. I went by myself on short notice and got a pretty good pavilion seat. Very glad I did, because Seger is a musical hero of mine (mostly in regards to lyrics and vocals) and that was quite literally the last chance I'd ever have to see him live. And at his "home venue" no less.
To your last point, Jack, I do wonder: who's the next Seger? Who will write the next Night Moves, the next Roll Me Away?
Edit to add: FIRST!
2nd edit to 2019, thanks Ronnie for the correction
Respectfully, amigo, there won't be "...a next Seger" nor another Night Moves. Genius is unique unto itself and not to be replicated.
Agreed! But I didn't mean LITERALLY. Jack is a better writer so he was able to pose the question properly and I did a poor job re-asking it.
Apropos, WCBN-FM Ann Arbor introduced me to this gem by Michigan's own Wally Pleasant: https://youtu.be/sVQWbV6CwLA
I've liked every cover of a Dylan song more than the original.
Houses of the Holy Moly is one of Wally's best!
My friend David Haas was a DJ at CBN and I spent some time in the broadcast booth with him, cueing up records. They called the place Children Building Noise.
Whenever I need a good boost I hunt up Roll Me Away on YT and go for a ride.
Someday I need to dig out Live Bullet and listen to the entirety, at 11.
On a fly and ride to the southwest a few years ago, my brother cued Roll Me Away up on the jukebox in Barstow one night and announced to the bar that it was dedicated to his brother, me. Still chokes me up.
At the time, I hadn't met my wife yet (we went to highschool together but didn't KNOW each other), I was trying to figure out what hell I was gonna actually do with my life, and I certainly didn't want to live with my parents and work at a dealership for $20/flat rate hour. That song was giving me ideas to pack my Charger with the essentials and head somewhere else, in the old tradition. These days, I'm glad I didn't!
Yeah, glad it worked out for you. I made the opposite choice at 21, packed the car and left MI for a job on the west coast.
No one is the next Seger, but you might find something to like in Brian Fallon
Yeah, I was about to say Brian Fallon
Thanks for the suggestion! Have to admit he doesn't do much for me, though. Something about any modern artist -or even old ones still making new music- just doesn't hit right. One technical reason I can think of is the production sounds too clean. Too perfect. Possibly because of that I have an admittedly unwarranted strong skepticism about new artists being "legit." There's a lot of reasons some of my old favorites probably aren't "legit" either, but somehow I can let it slide because I love their music. I just can't let Mr. Fallon in, I'm sorry. The first track on his spotify profile sounds like mid 2010's "boom-clap" and I can't stand that shit. I did try some other songs, and I just don't feel it. I like my music to sound shitty in other ways. Like how AC/DC's pre-Highway albums sound like the whole band was stuffed in a closet and recorded on a single cheap microphone. I love that. I love the early Sabbath albums, too. They have a raw unrefined vibe that I just don't hear anymore. Seger had a very special gift for writing about yearning, nostalgia, angst, midwestern melancholy, and woman and their tight asses, that I don't think will ever be matched. Plus I find his voice uniquely interesting and Fallon's just isn't. Not that I like or even know every last Seger track either, but the ones that hit me REALLY hit me.
His earlier (and also current after hiatus) stuff with The Gaslight Anthem may hit better for you then, and I should’ve been more specific when I brought him up.
The ‘59 Sound is their most famous album, and it’s a great one. Even earlier work like Sink or Swim and Senor and the Queen err a bit more on the punky side, but are more raw and the production values are bit.. worse. lol.
I like his solo work, but it’s less impressive in the aggregate than TGA.
Oh he's their singer?? I love the song '59 Sound! And 45! The rest of the album never hit super hard but it's not bad. I'll check the other ones out now.
Wow, this thread got sidetracked!
That's the second best thing about acf :)
I was at that show and have the poster. It was 2019, not 2018. He sat for the slower songs and when the big screen was focused on his hands, they looked a bit arthritic. Alto Reed, the sax player, who used to fly over the crowd in a flying harness or play solos from the railing of the 3rd deck at Cobo, simply climbed up on a riser at stage left. We didn't know it but he was dying of cancer.
All in all I was glad I went. Fine show. The only show I've been to where most of the crowd stood for the whole show and sang along with every word.
Indeed, thank you for the correction and adding the fact about Alto Reed.
Also I bought the 3/4 sleeve shirt for that tour on my way out.
Mildly depressing, which I totally get and have experienced myself with other performers in whatever stage of decline they find themselves in. Myself included!
I think this is why I am not very interested in seeing anyone perfom lately, or over the past decade plus - for example, all those 80s/90s bands that you thought you'd missed the boat on, and would never, ever imagine them back together touring again 30+ years later. I would rather remember them when these people/bands were in their prime, not as semi aged-out, retirement circuit throwback/nostalgia.
I have noticed a general uptick in 'tribute' band activity that I think is a pretty big by-product of all this.
Also glad I saw AC/DC in 2016 before Malcom lost his abilities and Brian went fully deaf. That show was the closest thing I've had to a truly religious experience. I wasn't alive in 1978, or even 1982, so 2016 was probably the best year for me to see them in my lifetime. Angus still did all his The Jack antics and spun around on the floor during Let There Be Rock. They're still touring right now but... I'm afraid that would be disappointing indeed. I also saw them in 2009. Arguably sounded better, but I was 9 and we had nosebleed seats. In 2016 I was 18 and got pretty close to the stage on general floor admission with my friends (who were 28 at the time), so that alone made it way cooler.
I took our kids to two different venues to see "artists" who were not to be missed.
The first was a Laker game against the New Orleans Jazz featuring Pete Maravich. I told them. "You have to see this guy because there won't be anymore like him for a long time." The Lakers won even though Pistol Pete rolled 44.
The second was a football game featuring Cal State Fullerton and Grambling. I told our kids, "If you want to see what a real marching band looks like, this is the one." The Tigers blew every one away!!
Regarding performers unwilling or unable to recognize when the whistle has blown, I saw Dylan years ago and he stunk. I saw Gordon Lightfoot years ago and the magic was gone from his voice.
Tom Wolfe was right, "You can't go home again."
I had a student once ask me if he should see the Michael Jordan Bulls or Isiah Thomas Pistons. My advice was don't miss your chance to see Michael play.
Perhaps it was bittersweet but it was good for them to see someone who's music was and is so important to you and bonus, they also enjoy. Beats all hell standing in line at some lame cosplay convention waiting in line for a has been actor from your favorite childhood movie to sign a free poster.
I shall be eternally grateful that I got to take my teenaged boys to see Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Ozzy Osbourne, and Megadeth while they still sounded good.
Megadeth is one of my favorites. Their album from 2021 ("The Sick, the Dying, and the Dead") was great, a couple fillers but mostly original winners. They even had hard copies at Wal-Mart. Latest one ("Megadeth") is almost all filler, but still decent. One of my favorite albums is "Washington is Next" from 2007, pretty much Alex Jones on a rock album. I was dragged to concerts a few times as a kid, could not hear or see anything other than a cocophany, ears ringing, just wanted it to be over. Also, a core genre of mine is rap, and most rap artists just crank the volume to 11 and "yeah! uh! let's go! hands up!" over the studio recording. I don't really appreciate live recordings (Judas Priest is the notable exception, Heading Out To the Highway, Metal Meltdown, his voice got better in the 90's), the studio version was the final take for a reason, so live stuff has little appeal to me.
I'll have to check out their newer albums. I've been a fan since Peace Sells.
That's funny you mention Heading Out To the Highway - I agree the live version is better than the studio. The first time my wife heard it she thought it was the studio version until the crowd cheered at the end.
Last time I saw Maiden was during the 2015-ish Seventh Son tour and I felt they were still "there". Haven't been since.
Saw Maiden in 2018, the rest in the following year or two. Bruce's voice was probably 80%. The juice was definitely worth the squeeze.
I inexplicably did not appreciate Maiden during their prime. Now I'm seeing them in September for the first time. While I'm nervous the show isn't going to compare to what I've heard on the live albums, there can't be many more chances left to see them.
Adding to my nerves is the memory of seeing Ozzy at one of the early 00s Ozzfests; he sounded tired to me then, and he was about 15 years younger than Bruce will be in September. Fingers crossed.
My favorite Metheny trivia bit is:
Pat Metheny is the only person to have won Grammy Awards in ten different categories. (20 Grammys total.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Metheny#Grammy_Awards
Jamshied Sharifi (You can tell by his name, that he was born in Kansas City) wrote a wordless sad ballad called "A Prayer for the Soul of Layla." (Having nothing to do with Eric Clapton.) Sharifi is of Persian heritage, but "Layla" is Arabic for "Night."
"The 1,001 Nights," in Arabic, is "Alf Layla wa Layla." So, the given name "Layla" has nothing to do with lying down, it merely connotes a woman with dark hair and dark eyes.
The relevance being that Pedro Aznar's live-encore performance of Sharifi's "A Prayer for the Soul of Layla" should make tears come to your eyes. If not... get help.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMGOef06WlM
Agree with taking your son to see Metheny play live while it’s still possible. I did go with mine in 2024, in Clearwater FL.
Another artist who my son and I got to see playing live: Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, earlier this year. It’s a minor miracle that Alpert can still play and tour at all at 90, let alone still play reasonably well.
Wow, I had no idea he was still alive.
And by reasonably well this is what I mean (and I am likely understating his current playing level): The concert opened, they played the first 4 songs back to back, and only then did he take a minute to talk to the audience. He showed no signs of fatigue playing until the last half hour of a 2 hour concert.
Would absolutely pay to see him and the TJB play again.
I remember my parents had the whip cream record in the console stereo. I’m sure it was a first edition, which means it was a year older than me!
Ditto!
I went to Willie Nelson’s Outlaw Festival last spring to see Willie. He was great. Also on the bill was Bob Dylan. He shuffled out on a dimly lit stage and hid behind a piano. When he started singing I started laughing because I thought he was making a joke. He wasn’t. He also played the piano like he was wearing mittens. But the boomers in the audience were eating it up.
This was the show that Billy Strings came out and played Along the watchtower.
https://youtu.be/5_6g5eF9um0?si=c7yVxs6JTtZGJ4_V
I was there too, seated just about in same row but on the left side. The Commander has to have been the youngest person in attendance by a considerable margin, MDG aside.
Your assessment of Chris Fishman is spot on. I had an even better view and just found his playing and persona to be joyless. The "synth sounds like Pat's guitar" move was my first indication that we were likely going to be covering up some deficiencies on the guitar side. Leonard Patton was excellent and saved the show for me, but I think my expectations were just lower going in. I preferred the Dreambox/Moon Dial show in Columbus a year or two ago since it ditched the Side Eye concept temporarily and had a better performance from Pat as I recall. I feel like we are at 2007 Van Halen world tour quality now. Here's hoping we don't end up at present day DLR.
All that said, I went with my dad and seeing Pat (and Steely Dan, and a few other acts) is our excuse to get together and share an experience. As we both advance in age that's more important to me than anything Pat could have done on stage, even if he had somehow managed to execute a Travels-grade Are You Going With Me? performance.
We initially had D4 and D6 plus D13 on the far side, but MDG charmed the D2 person into trading with her. So you would have been over with her!
I liked being able to take the kids to a jazz gig but I think the next one we do will be at the Vanguard or Blue Note, with any luck catching someone in their prime.
"I feel like we are at 2007 Van Halen world tour quality now. Here's hoping we don't end up at present day DLR."
Very accurate IMO.
I was lucky to grow up in Austin, Texas.
I lived there from 1972 to 1992.
The music. The musicians.
It was paradise on earth.
Back then, you could play bass in a band, and wait tables, and live a dream life of hot women, cold beer, boats on Lake Travis, drives in the Hill Country, flying gliders in some field, and have money left over for nice things.
I remember dancing with this smokin’ hot chick at Antone’s to “Omar & The Howlers” and having the time of my life. Then, around 1:00am, Springsteen snuck in and starting playing harmonica with them.
About thirty minutes later, Bono showed up.
Five minutes later, Bruce Willis appeared.
Then Joe Ely joined the jam, followed by a host of others.
It was a glorious time to be a college student at UT.
I remember many times thinking to myself that I should see as many shows as possible, because one day, this will end.
I have one regret. For some reason, and I don’t know why, I had a million chances to see Stevie Ray and I never went.
My biggest regret from that period in my life.
Well, other than trusting that smokin’ dance partner wasn’t fuckin’ every dude on campus.
Sigh.
I saw SRV and Jeff Beck a few months before the helicopter crash. Sadly for SRV, Jeff Beck was "on" that night and Jeff can't be upstaged when that happens.
I saw him open for Men At Work in Seattle in 1983. We had no idea who the dude in the hat was.
"But here’s the problem: after Pat, there is no one. There are no young jazz guitarists, no heirs to the fusion throne, no one writing and performing at this level."
But why?
its the same way in many genres of music we regard as legacy but are nothing more than a blip in the radar when you zoom out. no one is filling the shoes and there is no pipeline, so the young acts that get hyped are mediocre at best.
Every variant of jazz is effectively dead now.
It's just too complex for the New Americans.
i can only really speak for "jam" as its the only genre i follow like this, but there really is only a small handful of arguably b and c tier bands (goose, PPP, daniel donato, dogs in a pile, eggy) with zero "heir to the throne" which is why college students are still entering ticket lotteries to watch 60 year old trey and phish dodder on and off the stage on acid. i had a conversation with a very nice group of HIGH SCHOOL students at freakin melvin seals who was so out of shape three years ago, they didnt pull the curtains up until he was seated behind the keyboard, and then waited for curtains to fall before he was helped off the stage.
part of it is lazy and cheap producers prioritizing "high volume" """music""". part of it is teh death of young work ethic. part of it is the death of young adult autonomy. and then part of it is the New Americans.
I dig Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country. I hope I can see him live in the near future. His singing is not great, but his picking and extended jams are great.
agreed, he is great to see live, but ultimately its still a derivative dead act. i forgot to mention billy strings on that list, who is certainly NOT C tier.
meanwhile, two decades ago you had: moe, disco biscuits, widespread, umphreys, SCI, govt mule, and then a lower tier of like yonder, leftover salmon, etc.
some of these guys are still great to see (moe. was fantastic on their 35th anni tour) but its very obvious that the new crop is never going to capture what they had.
Ever seem Steve Kimock? Great player and a nice guy too.
You can't take a kid through a good high school music program without being impressed with the work ethic and skill of young musicians, so don't blame them. We just don't have a strong pipeline or business plan to turn prodigies into pros.
I think mass-market music that one has to seriously listen to has been dying since the VCR came out. For stuff to pay attention to, people prefer watching over listening. See also: living rooms no longer have hi-fis.
While I deplore the widespread use of weed (the ever-present smell of it on highways scares me), I can hope that it may lead to a revival of music that one has to pay attention to.
“While I deplore the widespread use of weed (the ever-present smell of it on highways scares me), I can hope that it may lead to a revival of music that one has to pay attention to.”
Unfortunately, I suspect it will just stone them out of fully building the skill / attaining genius and subsequently producing worthy music.
Similar, “no Tolstoys post-internet”
That's a point! I was thinking more of the demand side than the supply side.
"Video killed the radio star," after all...
Thankfully, it doesn't need Americans to remain vital and thriving. Pat's first label was German, and ECM is still around. Most of Pat's tour dates are international. I've heard him say that his support in Japan has done the most to allow him to operate on such a large scale. This is nothing new. Remember how the old Blues performers went to Europe in the late fifties when they could make more money and get better treatment than here. Clapton and the Stones learned their tricks and brought the Blues back to us bigger than ever.
Or they work nearly in isolation with limited opportunity to learn from other musicians. There is no substitute for playing live and in person with other talented people. It's nearly impossible for a young talent to develop in the same way as, say, Derek Trucks. Someone please point out where I'm wrong.
Billy Strings is past 30 and is influencing another generation of 20 something pickers like Luke Black and Kyser George.
https://youtu.be/MfAfsj9Cd3w?si=Xf3_MTjhwrE7t3zO
You are not wrong.
Too many young “musicians” submitting tracks to Spotify for it to train it’s dreadful AIs, too few performing live for a crowd intent on the performance
There is a permission aspect here however; and I’m sure many feel like they’re “not worth it” when many club promoters with a small bandstand who charge a 0-$10 cover would love to have them
Make a proportionally, culturally, economically equivalent "baby boom 2.0" happen, then wait 20 years. Odds of that happening? Zilch. That's why. WWIII will not a baby boom make.
Also
https://youtu.be/yFYyCYP4RhE?t=55
DEAR GOD
exactly how i felt watching them wheel bob weirs corpse out to be stage decoration for dead & co while john carried the whole show. i started seeing bob play close to 20 years ago with ratdog and occasionally phil lesh & friends. towards the end of his life it was getting sad watching him try to wheeze through samson & delilah.
i dont know that i was glad i saw him at the end. it felt more like fan service for the 19 year old festival girlies he would have so loved to molest, so that they can say in their childless twilight years that they saw bob live.
'i dont know that i was glad i saw him at the end. it felt more like fan service for the 19 year old festival girlies he would have so loved to molest, so that they can say in their childless twilight years that they saw bob live.'
Harsh but ENTIRELY fair.
We saw BB King at ravinia around 2020 and he needed a second stool on which to rest his gunt. All he did was mumble into the mic for 45 minutes and played about 3 songs very poorly. I wished we had left beforehand because it's pretty much all I think of when his name comes up.
On the other hand Joan Osborne opened for him and she was excellent in every way.
B.B. was 5 years gone in 2020.
But I will say that there's nothing like a warm summer night at Ravinia.
Sorry 2010. Might have been more like 05. Always good time at ravinia. Especially if you took the train.
I never went on tour but I probably saw each configuration (minus Pigpen) of the Dead over the years, the first time in 1972. I saw Dead & Co. in 2022 with my two older kids and it was about on level with the Dead in the '90s. My younger daughter, who is in her mid 30s, is a huge fan of Bobby's. When the remnants toured as The Other Ones, I happened to be supplying Steve Kimock with embroidered merchandise and was able to get a couple of backstage passes (not all access, though). I took my daughter backstage and she still talks about it seeing Weir.
You can't go home again, mostly. Pat did come home and was loudly welcomed back. I think you may be a little harsh on the specifics of your review. not wrong just harsh. I graduated same year as Pat. No way in hell am I able to do anything as well now as I was even 10 years ago. And with the great acoustics at Kauffman nothing, good or bad, is missed. So yeah there were technical imperfections in some of the playing. If I want perfection I'll listen to the tracks from 20, 30, 40 years ago. For me this current tour is about maybe having a last chance to see a Master at work even if somewhat reduced in his physical capability. Dude is still playing at a level most younger pros can't touch. And at 71 he's composing, playing and touring. AND, seems content with his place in music. Thanks Pat, see you next time. And you will play Phase Dance, please.
'Thanks Pat, see you next time. And you will play Phase Dance, please.'
He played it this time!
Different set at Kaufman
Amen. To paraphrase the dearly missed Toby Keith via Scott Emerick: I ain't as good as I once was. I'm barely as good once as I ever was.
But have you ever seen French muppets perform live? Maybe there IS a future to jazz, you bitter, old, Gen X man, you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ssi-9wS1so
I think the band name is French for angina/chest pains. Delightfully weird to watch, but shocking good fun to hear.
I’ll see your French Muppets and raise you Japanese plush toys playing Offenbach’s “Galop Infernal” - the CanCan to you musical heathens - by beating the snot out of a marimba. Maybe it’s just me but I can’t watch it just once. Oddly compelling it is.
https://youtu.be/miFCWJDjL1w
This IS more weird, well done--and I bet their neighbors in that tiny Japanese apartment complex must absolutely hate them. But can it save the future of jazz musicians? The song itself seems rather pedestrian.
I imagine they do. There’s a whole playlist ranging from Mozart to Mario Brothers.
To my ears, their music would be unlistenable with jazz time signatures. That driving beat and the thousand fret guitar doing, as Beato calls it, microtones makes my feet tap.
Beato is a fan! He finally does a video because requests for it have been flooding his inbox.
https://youtu.be/zO8bt94-ybg
Somehow, I find Angine more listenable than Metheny.
"$108 with all fees. Which is sadly about the same price, really, that $75 was in 2021"
pain.
"which marked a personal low point in my morally vacant wife-banging existence"
actually hilarious story. the subs are decent but given their (possibly) largest competition is subway its a low bar.
i saw a recording of knaye west live at sofi and that might have been cool to see irl even though im not that familiar with his newest stuff. he ended with a number of his best ones though and the stage design was rad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGhKU1ToifQ