2013 has been a great year. We have expanded our staff and coverage to bring more bands and live acts to the attention of fans and readers, and are looking forward to 2014 with great anticipation as we focus on the music coming out of all corners of New York State. The best of 2013 Music festivals and incredible tours and jams pepper the Upstate New York music calendar, giving broad musical choices for the 8 million New Yorkers who call Upstate their home.
Our staff writers and photographers were asked to look back at the full year of music in Upstate New York and beyond, and weigh in with their best of 2013. We looked at 10 categories – Best Upstate Show, Best Show, Best Upstate Album, Best Album, Best Upstate Festival, Best Festival, Best Upstate Venue, Best Venue, Best Band on the Rise and Jam of the Year – and came up with the best music we have seen and heard this year. Here’s part 5 of 5, looking at the Bands on the Rise and our Jams of the Year
2013 has been a great year. We have expanded our staff and coverage to bring more bands and live acts to the attention of fans and readers, and are looking forward to 2014 with great anticipation as we focus on the music coming out of all corners of New York State. The best of 2013 Music festivals, venues and incredible tours pepper the Upstate New York music calendar, giving broad musical choices for the 8 million New Yorkers who call Upstate their home.
Our staff writers and photographers were asked to look back at the full year of music in Upstate New York and beyond, and weigh in with their best of 2013. We looked at 10 categories – Best Upstate Show, Best Show, Best Upstate Album, Best Album, Best Upstate Festival, Best Festival, Best Upstate Venue, Best Venue, Best Band on the Rise and Jam of the Year – and came up with the best music we have seen and heard this year.
Here’s part 4 of 5, looking at the Best Venues of 2013
2013 has been a great year. We have expanded our staff and coverage to bring more bands and live acts to the attention of fans and readers, and are looking forward to 2014 with great anticipation as we focus on the music coming out of all corners of New York State. The best music festivals of 2013 and incredible tours pepper the Upstate New York music calendar, and give broad musical choices for the 8 million New Yorkers who call Upstate their home.
Our staff writers and photographers were asked to look back at the full year of music in Upstate New York and beyond, and weigh in with their best of 2013. We looked at 10 categories – Best Upstate Show, Best Show, Best Upstate Album, Best Album, Best Upstate Festival, Best Festival, Best Upstate Venue, Best Venue, Best Band on the Rise and Jam of the Year – and came up with the best music we have seen and heard this year.
Here’s part 3 of 5, looking at the Best Festivals of 2013
2013 has been a great year. We have expanded our staff and coverage to bring more bands and live acts to the attention of fans and readers, and are looking forward to 2014 with great anticipation as we focus on the music coming out of all corners of New York State. Music festivals and incredible tours and albums pepper the best of 2013 Upstate New York music calendar, giving broad musical choices for the 8 million New Yorkers who call Upstate their home.
Our staff writers and photographers were asked to look back at the full year of music in Upstate New York and beyond, and weigh in with their best of 2013. We looked at 10 categories – Best Upstate Show, Best Show, Best Upstate Album, Best Album, Best Upstate Festival, Best Festival, Best Upstate Venue, Best Venue, Best Band on the Rise and Jam of the Year – and came up with the best music we have seen and heard this year.
Here’s part 2 of 5, looking at the Best Albums of 2013
2013 has been a great year. We have expanded our staff and coverage to bring more bands and live acts to the attention of fans and readers, and are looking forward to 2014 with great anticipation as we focus on the music coming out of all corners of New York State. Music festivals and incredible tours pepper the Upstate New York music calendar, giving broad musical choices for the 8 million New Yorkers who call Upstate their home.
Our staff writers and photographers were asked to look back at the full year of music in Upstate New York and beyond, and weigh in with their best of 2013. We looked at 10 categories – Best Upstate Show, Best Show, Best Upstate Album, Best Album, Best Upstate Festival, Best Festival, Best Upstate Venue, Best Venue, Best Band on the Rise and Jam of the Year – and came up with the best music we have seen and heard this year. We’ll bring you two categories each day this week
Here’s part 1 of 5, looking at the Best Shows of 2013
Colby Dix puts his talent and experience front and center on his first standalone album, i am. it is. you should be. Showcasing his singing and songwriting abilities, Dix conveys deep emotion through his acoustic guitar and his humbled, yet steadfast vocals. Having grown up in Southern Vermont, Colby showed early musical promise and was proficient with multiple instruments at an early age.
Returning to guitar and finding his way to Berklee College of Music in Boston, he received a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Production & Engineering and then spent time on the road with national artists such as Brooks & Dunn, Brad Paisley, Matt & Kim, Sonia Kitchell, Jazz Mandolin Project, The Breakfast, Touchpants, Soulive, and Spookie Daly Pride, either as a sound engineer, producer, or as a musician.
i am. it is. you should be. never gets too loud but is bold in the direction of some songs and the ambitious length of the 11 tracks on the album showcase Colby’s range. “Two” starts the album with soft ’70s rock, ala Jim Croce and Don McLean, with a long and paced acoustic melody binding the music to the lyrics. A little country grit is exhibited on “Forget This”, but not too much; there’s even a hint of Bon Jovi in this track.
“I Know I Know I Know” is in the vein of Bon Iver, but without the hipster baggage while “Too Far” features eerie keyboards and languid, lingering lyrics from Dix, “And I’ll turn the outside into wind, I’ll blow you away with the darkness of my sin”, then embarking on a guitar solo worthy of your full attention. “Away”, while short, rings of a Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds duet. Sounding very Pet Sounds-ish is “Try as you Might”, one of the best songs on the album, while the closing song, “20 June”, features soft flute in the background, almost pulled right out of studio “Stairway to Heaven”.
Colby Dix has a solid musical resume and this album features profoundly entrancing vocals and fantastic acoustic guitar work. Give a listen below to “Too Far”, and if you’re near Burlington on Saturday, stop by Nectar’s starting at 7pm for the Official CD release party.
In very exciting news this week, Mike Gordon band will be releasing a new album, Overstep, on February 25 and supporting it with a tour that crosses the country. The tour will start at the fabulous Westcott Theater in Syracuse, NY on February 28th and the next night at Webster Hall in New York City. The tour will see Mike and his band go across the United States before coming back a month later to wrap up the tour at MASS MoCA in North Adams, MA on April 5th and Higher Ground in Burlington, VT on April 6th.
The new album will be his first since Moss in 2010. Mike shared songwriting duties with guitarist and longtime collaborator Scott Murawski (Max Creek) and handed over the producing reins for the first time in his solo career, enlisting Paul Q. Kolderie (Radiohead, Uncle Tupelo, Pixies). He also invited a few new players into the studio, including legendary drummer Matt Chamberlain (Jon Brion, Fiona Apple). Mike will be joined on the road by his longtime band – Scott Murawski (guitar), Craig Myers (percussion), Tom Cleary (keyboards) and Todd Isler (drums). It was also announced that the band’s new repertoire will be augmented by hints of secret synesthetic mad scientist gadgetry on and around the stage. This can only mean very exciting things to come from these shows.
In March of 2012, the original lineup of Strangefolk reunited for the first time since 2000, performing four shows in Brooklyn, Burlington and Portland, Maine. With additional appearances at Gathering of the Vibes, The Capitol Theatre , snoe.down and a recent set of four shows in Boston, Burlington and Portland, Strangefolk is back and treating fans to long awaited songs and shows that recall the vibe of the late 90’s Jamband scene in the Northeast. The fan base is excited for the potential each show brings and the band is showing no signs of cooling off in between performances. Reid Genauer, Jon Trafton, Erik Glockler and Luke Smith talked to Pete Mason about their recent tour, improvisation and what lies ahead for Strangefolk.
Pete Mason: This past run of Strangefolk shows found the band breaking out older songs that haven’t been played in years, some not since 1999. What brought about the trip to the vault?
Erik Glockler : We’ve had requests from fans and friends to play the older stuff. It was fun to revisit and it felt good to bust out some of the OTHER old stuff.
Jon Trafton: For me it was mostly driven by wanting to revisit the tunes that haven’t seen much light of day, even since the reunion. We have so many songs in our repertoire but in the last several shows prior to this past run we’ve tended toward the same song base, kind of the ones we know we can pull off with confidence. I wanted to dive a little deeper. I think we were all happy to go there and we hoped our fans would be happy for us to shake it up a bit, too.
Luke Smith: We decided to delay performing the new material – most of which is still under construction – before a live audience. Some of those older songs like “Caleb”, “Blues Tune”, “Woke Up” … those are songs from some of the earliest years of our playing together as a band. There were requests for many older songs and covers from the early days, tunes like “Midnight Moonlight” and “What Goes On”. I really enjoyed playing all those tunes; they took me back to the old days of the group – in a way not unlike looking at old photos. The gift is our opportunity to bring today’s experience into those songs. After all, isn’t that what “vaults” are for? I am grateful we have one!
Pete Mason: What has been the difference between the shows in 2012 and the shows in 2013 in terms of improvisation?
Jon Trafton: In most of 2012 I was still reacquainting myself with the songs, the changes. I think in 2013 I’m feeling more at home inside the music. The more comfortable I feel, the more out on a limb I’ll go. I think there were some really great moments in this past run where we were in pure improv mode, just making it up as we went along.
Pete Mason: Why the earlier time on stage this run? In the past, most shows started at 8, done before by midnight, a departure from past Strangefolk runs.
Reid Genauer: There was no profound reason. To be honest I rarely ever know what the start time is until the day of the show or soundcheck. I suppose its just because we did every night as “An Evening With” so there was no opener and thus an early start. It would be weird to start at 10 and just have the bar in limbo. I like it though. That’s when most shows start at a theater. We play relatively long shows and I find when it gets too too late the band and the crowd start to get a little slack-jawed. If you’re slated to rock, might as well get on with it me thinks.
Pete Mason: This is the second run of four shows that ended in Portland, Maine. What is it like finishing off four shows in your hometown?
Erik Glockler: I think we all love playing at The State Theater. It a great room and it looks awesome from the stage when it’s filled with people. The crowds for the last two shows there had a lot of energy for us to feed off. The first three nights of shows had no song repeats but for the State we played whatever we wanted to play.
Pete Mason: Are there any late fall or early 2014 dates on the horizon for Strangefolk?
Jon Trafton: Nothing is on the books at the moment but we definitely plan to keep playing. We’re just trying to come up with a game plan that fits everyone’s schedules.
Luke Smith: That sounds like an excellent question for the I Ching. It appears we have made our Strangefolk Reunion statement for the time being, but anything can happen!
Reid Genauer: We don’t have any other dates locked and loaded but we’re having a blast and intend to keep on keeping on. I felt particularly inspired after this last run. It felt like it was the first time, in the second coming, that we were totally in the moment and not thinking about what the twists and turns were in the song or distracted by the nervous energy about getting back together. I listened to a few songs from the run and in some ways I felt like it was the best we ever sounded. My measure of that is obviously not objective but I often find when I listen back to shows from our early days I cringe at one thing or another. We are our hardest critics but these shows had low cringe factor – they just felt relaxed and mature – in a good way. Let there be folk rock.
Buffalo’s favorite intense groove rock experience Aqueous has announced an extensive fall tour that brings the band to many new markets as well as established ones. The band has been hitting the road harder then ever this year and this new batch of dates will bring them to over 120 shows for 2013.
Highlights include the tour kick-off at the esteemed Brooklyn Bowl with Turkuaz and Jimkata for the Catskill Chill music festival pre-party. Several Upstate NY dates follow as well as the band’s second international date in Montreal. October features a four-show North Carolina run and will also bring them close to one of their mentors; performing an after party for the Rochester Phish show (w/ Jimkata). Washington D.C. and Brooklyn will be treated to some undoubtedly well planned Halloween antics to start off November before a pilgrimage to jam-mecca Nectar’s in Burlington and another pair of upstate dates in Buffalo and Rochester.
The summer may fade, but the rage lives on. Check out the full schedule below!
Aqueous Fall 2013 Tour Dates with Upstate NY highlighted
Saturday was another beautiful blue sky summer day at Gathering of the Vibes 2013, jam packed with a diverse lineup of legendary artists. The Funky Meters started their set on the Main stage with sound troubles during the first few songs but this didn’t deter them from laying down a funky set. Bassist George Porter, Jr. wore a bright smile as he dropped the heavy beats while dancing with the crowd and his bandmates. Another legend, famous at Vibes as The Master of Ceremonies is Wavy Gravy, who was on the scene, sporting a lot of tie dye, red clown nose and chicken hand bang.
Mr. Gravy told stories from back in the glory days of Woodstock and gave advice to concert goers such as “balancing on a unicycle equals a balance life.” Rock guitarist Steve Kimock was joined by Bernie Worrell and friends such as Bill Evans and George Porter Jr., making for a super killer set early in the day. The musicians covered The Beatles “Come Together” and an epic closer of Talking Heads “Take me to the River.” Kimock mentioned in an interview later in the day that it was his son’s idea for the collaboration with Worrell and it was easy to perform with friends when they are all here at Vibes, stating, “It’s all about circumstance and convenience.”
Funky Meters
The Roots, best known for playing as Jimmy Fallon’s Band on Late Night, proved to be a bunch of jazzy, energetic, jungle, hip-hop animals, covering a wide array of genres that kept the crowd on their dancing feet through the set. The Roots hip-hop-ifyed classic hits such as “Jungle Boogie”, Guns and Roses’ “Sweet Child of Mine” and Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song.” The tunes went from spacey beeps and boops containing robust rap lyrics, only to go back into a full swinging cover of Curtis Mayfield’s “Move on Up”. Keyboardist Kamal Gray went off on almost every song with hard hitting solos as the band members danced all over the stage. This was The Roots first performance at Vibes and hopefully not the last.
The Roots
Back by popular demand this year was the sensational Grace Potter and The Nocturnals. Grace took the stage, wearing a gorgeous white toga-like dress, showing off her womanly figure that was made for the spotlight. “Medicine” opened the set, proving that Potter and The Nocturnals can cure anything that ails you. Grace serenades fans with a wide range of vocals that are sincere and slightly heartbreaking. Throughout the set, Potter reminisced about her first Vibes experience, a very rainy weekend when she was 15 years old, which made for incredible memories and has made her who she is today, saying “This is what inspires us.” Paying tribute to JJ Cale, who had passed away earlier that day, GPN performed “Can’t Look at the Stars” off their newest album, The Lion The Beast The Beat, a passionate song that brought everyone close to tears. Potter never missed a beat as she switched instruments from her electric and acoustic guitars to tambourine and electric piano making her the ultimate threat in today’s music industry. To the delight of the audience, Warren Haynes made a guest appearance and the set concluded with another tribute to the late JJ Cale with an authentic performance of Eric Clapton’s “Cocaine.”
Grace Potter & The Nocturnals
Before taking the stage with Gov’t Mule, Warren Haynes took some time to chat with the press in the media tent about Gathering of the Vibes, best described to him as a “family reunion”, where people take music very seriously and it’s a great opportunity to see everyone in one spot. Fans asked about the various groups and their setlists, which he responded, “In The Allman Brothers, and The Dead and Gov’t Mule, we don’t really worry about arrangements too much. A lot of times we are doing it on the fly and sometimes where the verse begins is where you want it to begin…it’s about trying to achieve balance between your band and your friend’s band.” When asked on his thoughts about the passing of JJ Cale, he said “It’s a huge loss. He’s an amazing writer and artist and for people that don’t know, he wrote so many amazing songs that you’ll probably hear a bunch of them over the course of tonight….and I’m really sad to see him go.” Unfortunately, the duo never had the chance to perform together despite Haynes being a big fan of Cale’s. Still shaking off the previous musicians, I asked him what it was like to perform with Grace Potter and The Nocturnals. “Grace and I always have fun playing together. She’s wonderful and we’ve played together dozens of times at this point. She’s one of the guest featured vocalists on the new Gov’t Mule bonus disc that’s coming out this September and we always look forward to playing together.” Feeling recharged after the interviews, Warren took the stage with Matt Abts on Drums, Danny Louis playing Keyboards and Bassist Jorgen Carlsson, to form the last minute addition to the GOTVs ineup, Gov’t Mule. It’s understandable why this band is in high demand for shows, given their hard rock performance with a dash of blues. Not to anyone’s surprise but there were fantastic sit ins from George Porter, Jr., Bill Evans & John Scofield, individually as well as the powerhouse group encore of “After Midnight”, dedicated to JJ Cale.
Gov’t Mule
It was an “all too familiar” feeling, waiting in the crowd for the second night of Phil Lesh & Friends final set of the Gathering of the Vibes weekend. Given the wide fields at the Main Stage, half the crowd has their own setup with families lingering towards the back with blankets and chairs, leaving plenty of dance room up front for the diehard fans. Whether hustling up close to the stage or being content with the two large TV screens, concert goers were able to get an actual view of the chemistry that Phil shares with John Scofield, John Medeski, Joe Russo and John Kadlecik. Besides drifting in and out of their jams, the musicians are constantly watching each other perform for the “signals” and feeling for the vibes that they each are giving off. Bill Evans joined in on the fun during the entire second set with his saxophone and clarinet, particularly for “He’s Gone.” When asked how he felt the show went, Evans laughed, “Oh, I had no idea what was going on.” He was hearing all this music for the first time, so he had to take in the information quickly and just play, making for a fresh and innovative set, the way the Phil likes it.
With the end of the festival just around the corner, Saturday night makes for the perfect excuse to let loose and rage hard. The Green Vibes Stage kept the party going with separate DJ sets of Rob Garza from Thievery Corporation, James Murphy from LCD Soundsystem and jambanders Papadosio. Each act provided the dark dance jams that festival goers crave after midnight and still have you wanting more when you see the sun come up.
It seems that it’s over even before it started as Sunday arrived with no delay. Concert goers can be seen everywhere beginning to pack up their campsites and plan their remaining day at Gathering of the Vibes. Staying true to the old motto, “Never miss a Sunday show,” Vibes had saved for last. Blues Traveler made their debut at this year’s Vibes, showcasing their style of uncontrollable New Jersey rock. John Popper wasted no time blasting fans with his wide range of harmonica solos while Ben Wilson smoked the keys with fingers ablaze. Bassist Tad Kinchla and Brendan Hill kept a steady, light hearted rhythm of blues going with Chan Kinchla strumming solid 90’s guitar chords. Bill Evans joined Blues Traveler for a unique jazzy cover of Sublime’s “What I Got”. Blues Traveler pulled off a serious game changer when they performed a spin on the classic Charlie Daniels song “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”, by having Popper ferociously play the harmonica in place of the fiddle. The band was joined by guitarist Mihali Savoulidis from Twiddle for a ripping version of “Carolina Blues”.
Max Creek
After the show, John Popper and a few other members of Blues Traveler met with the press backstage for a brief interview. John Popper discussed how with so much traveling, each show feels like a reunion when you have friends in every city, making every night of the week a party night. He spoke of his inspirations that originated from Paul Butler, Blues Brothers and Jimi Hendrix. “On the harp there is such low expectations. On the harp you cover what you like.” When asked about Bill Evans and Mihali Savoulidis sitting in, he said, “Yea, that was fun. It was awesome. There was no warning. I just wish we had more time because both of them wanted to stretch. You just feel it…let’s just take it to a second gear but we’re just trying to cram all our songs in.” Blues Traveler is well known for establishing the H.O.R.D.E. (Horizons Of Rock Developing Everywhere) touring music festivals from the early 90s. When asked about festivals, Popper stated, “I think they made it a lot smarter making them destination festivals. When you have a giant whale carved out of a redwood tree, everyone wants to come and see it. It’s beautiful. But when you gotta load it on flatbed truck and haul it everywhere, you’ve just quadruped your price for everything…when you have a place where you know it’s going to be, you can just park the whale and it’ll be there next year. You can have big things…but it was a lot of things like that. You had to bring your attractions with you.” Naturally money plays into a big factor of putting on festivals but Blues Traveler is looking for locations for next year. “It’s a game of patience.” He brought up how major jambands like Phish and Dave Matthews Band don’t have to play major festivals since they can afford not to.” Why bother when you can throw your own? Why not just go to Disneyland? Why not just hire Disneyland to come on the road with Phish? That would be fun.” Popper compares Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo to Vibes, saying he really “digs the scene” at Seaside Park and how crucial it is for festivals to have basic amenities, not just to be located in the middle of nowhere.
Blues Traveler
The VibeTribe got a taste from Down Under as the John Butler Trio shook up the stage on Sunday with Guitarist John Butler, Drummer Nicky Bomba and Bassist Byron Luiters. The soft vocals and strumming from Butler gave way to a tribal beat from Bomba mixed with versatile notes from Luiters. JBT created a new sound of music with their Australian flair, somewhat like a Consider the Source vibes meets the Outback. They worked on their spacey build ups, holding them longer than anticipated with great intensity. As Butler thanked the colorful bunch, he said, “We’ll always come back if you’ll have us.” Hopefully the staff at the GOTV was listening. Last but not least, southern rock and roll legends The Black Crowes featuring Chris Robinson on lead vocals and harmonica, guitarist Rich Robinson, Steve Gorman on drums, Bassist Sven Pipien, Adam MacDougall on keyboards and newest member Jackie Greene on guitar, were greeted with a warm welcome after their recently ended two year hiatus. The Black Crowes have tremendous stage presence with multiple “off the wall” guitar solos, Chris Robinson’s vocals and groovy dance moves plus Gorman’s hard hitting rhythm. The band treated fans to songs from their newest album, Wiser for the Time, as well as remarkable such as The Rolling Stones “Jumping Jack Flash” and Joe Cocker’s “Feelin’ Alright.” Be sure to catch The Black Crowes in action on as the tour the country this fall.
The Black Crowes
Gathering of the Vibes continues to share a collective spirit and positive energy by honoring the music of the Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia and with new visitors and returning VibeTribe members of all ages each year. With over 20,000 attendees this summer, Vibes proves that good music and loved ones are always worth gathering for.
Eastbound Jesus
Brewery Ommegang, Cooperstown
Solaris Neon
Pearl Jam at First Niagara Center, Buffalo 10/2
Phish at Glens Falls Civic Center, 10/23
Rest of the Best
i am. it is. you should be. never gets too loud but is bold in the direction of some songs and the ambitious length of the 11 tracks on the album showcase Colby’s range. “Two” starts the album with soft ’70s rock, ala Jim Croce and Don McLean, with a long and paced acoustic melody binding the music to the lyrics. A little country grit is exhibited on “Forget This”, but not too much; there’s even a hint of Bon Jovi in this track.
Pete Mason: This past run of Strangefolk shows found the band breaking out older songs that haven’t been played in years, some not since 1999. What brought about the trip to the vault?
Pete Mason: What has been the difference between the shows in 2012 and the shows in 2013 in terms of improvisation?
Pete Mason: This is the second run of four shows that ended in Portland, Maine. What is it like finishing off four shows in your hometown?
