Author Topic: The Concert Thread  (Read 399063 times)

Wayback

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Re: Boz Scaggs project
« Reply #915 on: September 30, 2009, 09:42:35 AM »
In today's Chron:
Boz Scaggs forms an All-Star group just for 'Hardly Strictly' fest and a fundraiser for fellow rocker:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/09/30/DDU319U4AB.DTL&tsp=1

ggould

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Re: Boz Scaggs project
« Reply #916 on: September 30, 2009, 07:28:12 PM »
In today's Chron:
Boz Scaggs forms an All-Star group just for 'Hardly Strictly' fest and a fundraiser for fellow rocker:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/09/30/DDU319U4AB.DTL&tsp=1
I'd love to see this, but have parents' back to school night tomorrow, and am watching hawks all day on Saturday w/Exploratorium.
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Gazoo

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Re: The Concert Thread
« Reply #917 on: September 30, 2009, 08:38:40 PM »
Bruce Hornsby and his current backing band, the Noisemakers (yes, he's now Range-free, chickens) were the tightest live unit I've ever seen.  They played and sang marvelously.  But the show, at the Town Hall, was somehow unfulfilling.  Their chops came off more as show-offy than passionate.
Did he do any Dead songs?

No, but he co-wrote a new song, "Cyclone," with Robert Hunter.  (There were a few deadheads yelling out requests - the same requests, song after song - throughout the show.)
“The choir of children sing their song.  They've practiced all year long.  Ding dong.  Ding dong.  Ding dong.”

mshray

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Re: The Concert Thread
« Reply #918 on: October 01, 2009, 10:02:17 AM »
So, is anyone going to Hardly Strictly?  If so what times for what performances?

I wanna go & bring the kids to one or two things, would love to see Little Feat in particular.
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Tinka Cat

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Re: The Concert Thread
« Reply #919 on: October 01, 2009, 10:13:02 AM »
So, is anyone going to Hardly Strictly?  If so what times for what performances?

I wanna go & bring the kids to one or two things, would love to see Little Feat in particular.

yes, I'll be there all three days.  working half day tomorrow to get a head start and hope to see MC Hammer.  I know I can't touch him, I just want to see him!

there are so many good acts, as always.  I'll have to start deciding what to see and where to put my "base blanket" down soon.  The plan is to get there early as possible, and camp out in one spot in front off a stage that offers the most consistent good stuff.  But then we always do some sorties out to see other acts.  You'll always miss something good.  You can't win, but you can't lose either!
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urth

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Re: The Concert Thread
« Reply #920 on: October 01, 2009, 11:41:05 AM »
So, is anyone going to Hardly Strictly?  If so what times for what performances?

I wanna go & bring the kids to one or two things, would love to see Little Feat in particular.

yes, I'll be there all three days.  working half day tomorrow to get a head start and hope to see MC Hammer.  I know I can't touch him, I just want to see him!

there are so many good acts, as always.  I'll have to start deciding what to see and where to put my "base blanket" down soon.  The plan is to get there early as possible, and camp out in one spot in front off a stage that offers the most consistent good stuff.  But then we always do some sorties out to see other acts.  You'll always miss something good.  You can't win, but you can't lose either!

I would recommend either the Star, Tower of Gold, or Rooster stages for a Saturday home base, and Rooster, ToG, or Arrow for Sunday. Wish I were gonna be there, but I've been seeing far too much of PDX lately and really just wanna stay close to home. (Besides, there's a big cheese wingding in Portland tomorrow, so I'll be down there slingin' the chevre.)
Let's get right to it.

Tinka Cat

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Re: The Concert Thread
« Reply #921 on: October 02, 2009, 10:27:53 AM »
KFOG reported earlier that Robert Plant is in town to sit in w Buddy Miller tonight (at GAMH maybe?). Expect him to appear at Hardly Strictly this weekend.
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radical347

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Re: The Concert Thread
« Reply #922 on: October 04, 2009, 08:23:14 PM »
I saw:

Lyle Lovett
Okkervil River
Boz Scaggs
Natalie MacMaster
Nick Lowe
World Party
Galactic
Marianne Faithful

My favorite was Lyle Lovett, followed closely by World Party, then Natalie MacMaster who was surprisingly delightful.

Alicat

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Re: The Concert Thread
« Reply #923 on: October 04, 2009, 08:42:43 PM »
So, is anyone going to Hardly Strictly?  If so what times for what performances?

I wanna go & bring the kids to one or two things, would love to see Little Feat in particular.

yes, I'll be there all three days.  working half day tomorrow to get a head start and hope to see MC Hammer.  I know I can't touch him, I just want to see him!

there are so many good acts, as always.  I'll have to start deciding what to see and where to put my "base blanket" down soon.  The plan is to get there early as possible, and camp out in one spot in front off a stage that offers the most consistent good stuff.  But then we always do some sorties out to see other acts.  You'll always miss something good.  You can't win, but you can't lose either!

I would recommend either the Star, Tower of Gold, or Rooster stages for a Saturday home base, and Rooster, ToG, or Arrow for Sunday. Wish I were gonna be there, but I've been seeing far too much of PDX lately and really just wanna stay close to home. (Besides, there's a big cheese wingding in Portland tomorrow, so I'll be down there slingin' the chevre.)

So wish I coulda popped into the Park. Drove through 19th to 25th this morning and back in the afternoon and got too tied up with family chores. :'(
It was a gorgeous day in SF. Windy, sandy out at the beach.
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ggould

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Re: The Concert Thread
« Reply #924 on: October 04, 2009, 10:26:17 PM »
rode our bikes over around 4, but forgot bike locks, and couldn't get in.  Spent time on the periphery

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Tinka Cat

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Re: The Concert Thread
« Reply #925 on: October 05, 2009, 09:14:45 AM »
rode our bikes over around 4, but forgot bike locks, and couldn't get in.  Spent time on the periphery

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=38842&id=1317875387&l=ec8a4b8b08

oh man, they had free valet bike parking sponsored by the SF Bike Coalition down near the Porch Stage (east end).  You didn't need a lock.    :(  But I'm sure it was chaotic and you were prob coming from the west, so it wasn't that obvious where to park them. 

I saw several acts, some in their entirely, some only partially:

Friday:
Poor Man's Whiskey
John Prine - his version of Angel from Montgomery brought a tear to my eyes, but maybe it was the wine and dust
Tom Morello - fairly sympathetic to his politics, but maybe I'm getting older b/c when he dropped the f-bombs I was thinking, can't you keep it clean?  if you say f*** too much it loses effect.  brought Steve Earle and Alison Moorer to sing This Land is Your Land -- complete with the little known verse about "my people" lining up at "relief office."
Lyle Lovett - very professional, his backup singers were amazing, but he left me a bit cold.  I don't dig his voice that much

Saturday my faves were:
Marshall Crenshaw - I'm not a fan, but really enjoyed the several songs he did.  He had a steel guitar player with him, nice touch. He was in good voice, and he did Someday Someway, too!   as heard on the radio!
Buddy Miller (Emmylou Harris came out for a couple songs, and Robert Plant sat in for the last 20 minutes or so.  KFOG reported he was in town, so I figured the odds were good that Percy would appear).  good times.
then we skipped around aimlessly for a bit hearing bits of several acts. Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women were really fun, Reckless Kelly, Billy Joe Shaver was a nice surprise (to me, even though he's a legend to those who aren't as ignorant as I), Rosie Flores and the Pine Valley Cosmonauts.
Marty Stuart was amazing! the guy is 5'4" with a world class achy-breaky mullet, but boy-howdy! can he pick that Telecaster, mandolin and Martin acoustic!  One of my best discoveries this year. And we got very close to him at the Towers stage, since most folks were back at Rooster listening to Richie havens plays his three chords or Gillian Welch at Banjo.

I heard a few songs from World Party.  They sounded good, just the main guy on acoustic, a violin player and a guy on electric guitar.  Of the four songs I heard, I was impressed that two of them I recognized (Put the Message in a Box was their opener).

back at Rooster, Robert Earl Keen was a rowdy party, he finished his set w encores w a couple straight covers: White Room -- the steel guitar did a fine job replicating the orig Cream version's haunting chorus part in the opening ... and as I was leaving he started into Ripple. 
On the way out, I caught the last few songs from Steve Earle and his Bluegrass Dukes.  got right up near the stage, close enough to see Steve Earle's beard swaying in the wind.  Tim O'Brien was on mandolin. fun, but I left before they did Copperhead Road, dangit!

Sunday we planned better. I biked there, arrived at about 9:30 and got a decent spot at Rooster.  After gf and other friend arrived, I wandered a bit and found another buddy who got a spot at Banjo.  We got some coffee from a hippie caravan cart, then we went to Arrow and heard Moonalice for 1.5 songs and left, we weren't in the mood for their blues-rock thing.  They passed out some cool Fillmore quality posters for free, so they have some money behind them. GE Smith and Jack Casady are in the band.  My friend remarked "What a waste of a good bass player."  zing!

heard Elvis Perkins in Deerland for a couple.  vocalist just very slightly reminiscent of the Waterboys.. and I like what they did but I had to skeedaddle to get back for the days highlights:

Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3 (featuring Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey and Bill Rieflin);  he was great, loved it!  I could have left right then and the day would have been a success, but next up was Billy Bragg - another amazing set.  I might go see him tonight or tomorrow at GAMH.

...then I settled in for some gen-u-ine bluegrass at the Banjo Stage.  I knew my buds had a space fairly close to the sound board, and negotiating the crowds around the banjo stage is hell, so once I got to their spot, I knew I couldn't/shouldn't leave.  But doing that meant I missed Galactic, Marianne Faithfull (my gf said she was great). The spot was good, much better than the far back or clinging to the dusty crowded slopes near the roadway, but people congregated nearby enough that it caused us to stand a lot in order to see.  oh well, you're supposed to dance to that stuff anyway. yee-haw!

We heard the sets from Earl Skruggs and Ralph Stanley.  You have to see the legends. Earl turned 85 just recently, and Ralph is 82.  Then the Del McCoury Band came on. I had to see them this year having missed them the last time and regretting it.  they did 1952 Vincent Black Lightning and Nashville Cats, two of their best known and really two of the only songs I do know them.  Del was asking for requests, but I was unable to yell loud enough to request City Of Stone (I was sending telepathic waves to him, but I don't think they penetrated his truly awesome silver hair barrier.)

After they finished, I caught the last 10 mins of the Knitters from the far back of Rooster stage, then made my way down to see Amadou and Mariam, who started a full 45 minutes late!  which is amazing at this festival, which usually runs like an Fascist-era Italian train.  They were worth the wait, the hipsters were dancing their butts off, but I was fading and left after 30 minutes.

can't wait until next year..!


« Last Edit: October 05, 2009, 10:30:01 AM by Tinka_Cat »
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urth

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Re: The Concert Thread
« Reply #926 on: October 05, 2009, 09:45:29 AM »

I saw several acts, some in their entirely, some only partially:

<snip>

can't wait until next year..!


Nice, sounds like you did HSBG up right, sampling a little bit here and a little there. Wish I could have seen Robyn and Billy and Marianne and....a lot of it, but glad you were there for me to live it vicariously.

Had to laugh at your description of REK. I've called him the Jimmy Buffett of alt-country for a while now. He's really good, but his audience of Santa Cruz neohippies and Univ. of Texas frat refugees makes the experience somewhat harder to appreciate.

Hard to appreciate how far HSBG has come since the first one, when it was just two stages. Allison Krauss, Emmylou, and Hazel Dickens played on the main stage and a few local BG acts on the other, and maybe 8000 people all huddled in the fog. Good times then, good times now. Warren Hellman is a local hero.
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Tinka Cat

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Re: The Concert Thread
« Reply #927 on: October 05, 2009, 10:36:19 AM »
I saw:

Lyle Lovett
Okkervil River
Boz Scaggs
Natalie MacMaster
Nick Lowe
World Party
Galactic
Marianne Faithful

My favorite was Lyle Lovett, followed closely by World Party, then Natalie MacMaster who was surprisingly delightful.

The Chron story about HSBG mentioned Warren Hellman being really excited about Natalie MacMaster, saying something like she's plays fast and dances even faster.  She was on the Porch Stage this year, and I suspect she'll get a bigger stage next year.  :)
« Last Edit: October 10, 2009, 08:20:29 AM by Tinka_Cat »
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Wayback

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Re: The Concert Thread
« Reply #928 on: October 09, 2009, 11:42:34 AM »
The BeatlesFest West convention is today/Sat/Sun in SF, at the Scottish Rite Center, 19th Ave & Sloat.  Beatles tribute bands, swap meet, displays, etc: http://www.beatlesfestwest.com

Tinka Cat

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Re: The Concert Thread
« Reply #929 on: October 09, 2009, 11:58:59 AM »
saw Dean & Britta last night at Yoshi's in SF.  Short set -- maybe 70 minutes? -- but nice stuff.  Dreamy pop.
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