Phish returned to Watkins Glen International Raceway on Aug 21-23 for their 10th festival, Magnaball. The sold out event gathered more than 40,000 fans to the gorgeous hillsides of the Finger Lakes Region of New York for 3 days of camping, art and the musical jam stylings of the Vermont quartet.
Magnaball was not just some mash-up of two random words, but simply the best way to describe the current state of Phish, a band sounding as fresh as ever, even after 32 years. The first third of that definition was in the books.
Holly Bowling performed her piano arrangements and jam transcriptions of Phish songs with five stops in New York this past August. The first was a brief set at Relix, followed by a performance at The Cutting Room that night. She then headed to Syracuse to perform two sets at Funk n Waffles Downtown.
For those lucky enough to be at Magnaball in the RV section, you may have heard her hour long set at 1:30am, late Friday night/Saturday morning. A second under the radar performance was held in the Wetlands camping area after Phish finished performing “You Enjoy Myself” amid a spectacular display of fireworks.
UPDATE: Master lyricist Nas has been announced as the replacement for Snoop Dogg by New York State Fair officials hours after Snoop’s cancellation announcement.
Nas has been frequently named as one of the best in the game and will no doubt satisfy many fans who were hoping to see Snoop Dogg at Chevy Court on Wednesday.
Snoop Dogg’s performance for tomorrow, Sept. 2 at the New York State Fair has been canceled due to illness.
New York State Fair officials were informed late this afternoon by Snoop’s management that he was ill and unable to perform. Fair officials are hopefull of finding a replacement and are for schizzle searching for last minute alternatives to fill the 8 p.m. slot at Chevy Court.
Salt-n-Peppa are set to perform at the matinee show at 2 p.m.
Snoop Dogg’s tour is set to continue at Riot Fest on Sept. 13 in Chicago.
Keep an eye on NYSMusic for all your NYS Fair updates.
Residents of the North Country are mourning the loss today of one of the most legendary concert venues around. The Waterhole closed last night after decades of serving up amazing music along with countless beers and strong cocktails.
Hope remains that the Saranac Lake watering hole will reopen soon under new ownership, but for now, the dim lights of the downstairs bar and the bright stage lights will be dark for the future.
For a venue of its size in such a small town — Saranac Lake has around 5,000 residents, and it’s a strong population center in the middle of the sparsely settled Adirondack Park — the Waterhole’s stage has been graced with some heavy hitters, as well as nurturing plenty of local talent.
In 2013, the venue held a two-month-long celebration to mark 20 years since owner Billy Allen converted the second level of the bar (which was open for more than 40 years) from apartments into the Upstairs Music Lounge. Since then, some significant bands have filled the two-level concert hall with music: moe., the Del McCoury Band, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Soulive, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Man Man, Gov’t Mule, Leftover Salmon, the Infamous Stringdusters, Max Creek, and Donna the Buffalo, among many others.
It’s also been a regular gathering place for locals and visitors during the village’s popular Winter Carnival, with music every night and often two acts a day, as well as its Party on the Patio series that meant a free show every Thursday night, usually from May through October.
On Friday night, EMEFE played the last show there for a while, and near the end of the show they dedicated the song “Good Future” to the Waterhole and the crew who have been running it.
Traveling bands have appreciated the Waterhole as a venue with character as well as an opportunity to build up their fan base in the Adirondacks, but few have appreciated it as much as the local bandswho got their start there. Lowell Wurster, percussionist for Lucid, posted kind words yesterday on Facebook:
“So tonight marks the end of a North Country legacy. The beloved Waterhole in Saranac Lake is closing its doors. It really makes me sad, but I understand the reasons. Lucid first played there about 10 years ago and to this day, its one of our favorite venues. Thank you Brenda and everyone who has worked there over the years.”
Eric Munley, mandolin player for the Blind Owl Band, also booked music there for the last handful of years.
“The Waterhole is temporarily closing its doors tonight, between change of ownership. While it is a sad day for the bar, town and Upstate music community, we all look to the future with hope that soon enough the doors will reopen and live music will again fill its walls. The Waterhole has always been a blessing. A true music venue with focus on nothing besides music. Every musician that has gotten to play there knows the love that exists with in its walls. We all want to thank Brenda and her crew for so many great years of music. I know I would not be where I am today if the Waterhole was not there to inspire my path.”
This drawing was seen on the chalkboard at the Waterhole the last few days it was open. Photo courtesy of Katrina Lauber. Drawing done by John?
Are you a musician or a music lover with fond Waterhole memories? Tell us about it in the comments!
Milking Diamonds is an indie/alternative duo formed in 2007 by husband and wife team: Katherine Scholl, vox/keys, and Sam French Jr., vox/guitar. Their new EP, Migratorius follows up their debut release, 2009’s SAMMY nominated Surface When It’s Clear. Migratorius was recorded at WAAV Studios in Syracuse and mastered by the magic hands and ears of Jocko (Jason Randall) at More Sound Recording Studio, also in Syracuse.
Their Bandcamp page reminded me of a genre-splitting name from the nineties, dream pop. I discounted it at the time because it was always coat-tailed with shoegazer, to me that wasn’t a match. Dream pop works well when you have a duo creating sounds like these. There’s a distinctly atmospheric feel that runs through all of it, counterpoint with guitars, keys, and voices, all leaning on the “echo” modulations and layers.
“Obvious” opens with a staccato guitar line that quickly takes the role of a beating heart in a “new love” song that won’t say the word. Katherine and Sam’s voices fit so well together, it’s almost as if she’s telling the story and he’s following her lead, just slightly behind. It’s wonderful. Katherine’s voice is ethereal and emotive while Sam’s is rich and strong like so many new romantics were. While the couple chooses a “wait and see” attitude against the majority, they’re allowing time to grow and seem quite happy in doing it their own way.
Sam takes the vocal lead on ‘The Sway” setting another clear path, it’s somewhat Bryan Ferry with splashes of New Order or Interpol. The airy space given to the vocals here is amplified by the sustaining guitar lines, each reaching out only slightly, just enough to accent until the build at the end. Very impressive. The keys do a lot of the heavy-lifting overall, providing beats, textures, and some bass, definitely adequate considering the vocal leanings and melodic richness of the songs.
“Scars” may be my favorite track, it’s focused and well mixed, the call/response vocals are almost like Kate Bush with The Edge riffing behind. The keys fill and lift the harmonies in a way that makes the listener question the number of musicians contributing to the whole. Katherine’s voice soars on the orchestral string sounds while Sam counterpoints the melody on the guitar and harmonizes through the swelling close.
The penultimate song, ‘Tracks,” embodies the statements — “Dream pop tends to focus on textures and moods rather than propulsive rock riffs” in the view of Simon Reynolds, dream pop, “celebrates rapturous and transcendent experiences, often using druggy and mystical imagery.” This is anthemic to Milking Diamonds throughout this EP and even their previous release. Especially here with the upbeat drum pattern and Sam’s guitar seamlessly switching moods for Katherine’s poppy reading.
With the flair of The Raveonettes and White Stripes, “Human Cannonball” is relentless in its beat and topic, railing against the norm while establishing their realities. It yearns and strives for more, from here it seems there could be a long way to go for them. You can feel the heart of the songs, while each has a level of familiarity, they also possess individuality while leaving room for listeners to relate.
The many strengths of Milking Diamonds are evident, their style is ear-candy to any lover of 80s and 90s post-punk romantics and more. While the drum programming provided in the keyboards works, it would be remarkable to hear these tracks pushed by a live rhythm section. You can see, hear and buy music from Milking Diamonds on their Facebook page, Twitter, CDBaby, and their aforementioned Bandcamp page. Give ‘em a spin and check ‘em live, my plan is to do the same.
The Apple Jam festival is in its sixth year, though its first at a new venue set on the beautiful grounds of Camp Moses in Russell, MA.
The Apple Jam festival was last held two years ago. The organizers took a year hiatus to reorganize and plan for a larger festival. The last event was on a much smaller scale, with many of the artists performing being friends and family of the organizers. This years Apple Jam exploded, with a new, spacious venue and the inclusion of performers who play on a much bigger stage, some nationally known. In other words, Apple Jam just stepped up its game and took the festival to a whole new level.
Photo Credit: Jacqueline M. Sidor
Apple Jam is family friendly, with many of the events encouraging interaction by all ages. A kids tent was set up, offering arts and crafts, face painting and a scavenger hunt. An art wall was available inviting attendees to paint and show off their creative flair. A paved basketball court was taken advantage of by many attendees, while several others enjoyed playing, and being part of, the human sized foosball game. Later on in the day, the court was turned into a large work of art with chalk drawings splashed over the black top. With so many activities available for festival goers, the fun kept going all weekend.
The weather held out on Friday, with the threat of rain in the air. The festival eased into the music and featured many Massachusetts’ home-grown acts on the bill, such as Dead Collective, California Widows and Opel. Blue grass wound its way onto the bill with the first performance of the festival by Cricket Tell the Weather. Holy Ghost Tent Revival and Spirit Family Reunionbrought Friday’s opening night to a close, as crowds continued to stream their way in throughout the evening.
Saturday not only had a beautiful day in store, but a jam-packed schedule full of high-energy performances as well. The morning started off with some feel good bluegrass Americana jams by Livestock. Sugar Blood Jinx followed with their bluesy southern charm of a sound that featured growling vocals commanding your attention and begging you to put on your dancing shoes. Otis Grove, a band that’s been starting to make waves around the New England festival circuit, gave an energy-packed performance and continued to turn up the heat on stage. Groovy jams and feel good vibes were thrown out as The Sun Parade took the stage. Lucid had a Dave Matthews Band meets Rusted Root with horns tone as they cranked out their intense set. With the double stage setup, the audience didn’t have to wait long between bands as the gorgeous day continued to rotate acts without missing a beat.
The Mutherload, another band from the local Massachusetts area, provided a solid rock and roll groove. Gary Phelps, the man behind the entire Apple Jam organization, cranked out a crunchy guitar sound as his band jammed out to the delight of the crowd. A festival and crowd favorite, Primate Fiasco, did not disappoint as they blew everyone away with their funky Dixie sound. Known for cranking out the grooves down in the field area, this time, they took their funkiness on stage where everyone could hear them throughout the venue. The concert field began to get packed as the sun started to go down and the jams turned up the vibes.
Photo credit: Jacqueline M. Sidor
Fresh off tour, a throwback vintage band, with a hint of the 10,o00 Maniacs sound, took to the stage as The Blind Spots belted out the tunes with powerful female vocals. The evening wrapped up with Parsonsfield, a get on your feet and dance jam band that filled the air with mandolin and banjos.
The first big headliner of the three-day run took the stage after the sun went down. Amy Helm and the Handsome Strangers wowed the audience. With Helm’s smokey and sultry blues tone, the set was off to a steamy start. Sprinklings of the steel guitar added depth and it was nonstop dancing during their set. Helm, the daughter of the famous Levon Helm, of The Band fame, is currently on tour promoting her debut album. Her set did not disappoint. Apple Jam was also the debut appearance for Ryan Scott, the guitarist with the Handsome Strangers. He was noticeably having a blast during the performance as his excitement shined through. Here’s a clip from their set:
The final performance of the evening was Anders Osborne. Everyone was waiting for him to take the stage. Wow. His energy was addictive. Osborne’s raw performance was no holds barred. The soulful, bluesy guitar work tapped into his New Orleans roots and he did not hold back as they eased into their set. The attendees were thrilled to be able to catch him perform at the newly expanded festival, and felt it a true honor to have him be a part of the bill this year. Osborne performed for a solid two hours as he kept the party going to a concert field full of dancing fans. As the last notes dropped, cheers could be heard throughout the venue, to include campers that were set up in the forest area behind the stage. It was an incredible end to a fantastic day at Apple Jam.
Photo credit: Jacqueline M. Sidor
Sunday’s performances were more relaxed and cooled down as bluegrass filled the air at the Stone Temple stage, located near the lake on the edge of the venue. Acoustic Brew, The Rambling Kind, and a second performance by Cricket Tell the Weather closed out the festival. Overall, if you haven’t been to Apple Jam, put this on your must see festival list next year. With beautiful, spacious grounds and plenty of activities for all ages, this is one not to be missed. The music is nonstop and attendees will walk away on Sunday refreshed and recharged with a pair of worn out dancing shoes as a souvenir of the amazing experience.
Not many bands are worth fighting the traffic to get to the Darien Lake Performing Arts Center. But Friday night was worth the battle when Darius Rucker performed to a nearly sold out crowd.
Rucker, on tour promoting his newest CD “Southern Style,” opened his set with “Lighter Up,” Strapping on his guitar, Rucker said, “Let’s go old school,” and played “Time.” Here and there he added “Only Wanna Be With You,” “Hold My Hand” and “Let Her Cry” from his Hootie and the Blowfish days, which the audience loved.
Rucker played covers of Blackstreet’s “No Diggity,” which the set could have done without. A highlight came when Rucker had the Brothers Osborne and Brett Eldredge, his opening acts, join him on stage for a rendition of “Hold My Hand.”
Rucker ended his set with the upbeat “Homegrown Honey,” with shadows of a cornfield projected on the backdrop. For part of his encore, he performed “Wagon Wheel” and had the whole crowd sing the last verse.
The opening act was the Thousand Horses has a country rock vibe to them. They were heating up an already warm night when they sang their rising single “Smoke” to a packed amphitheater.
Brothers Osborne. Their music, while country, has a certain air that gives it a more modern feel thanks to the guitar playing by brother John Osborne — most definitely a talented musician — with brother TJ at the vocals.
Following was Brett Eldredge, another up-and-coming country singer. Performing his “Lose My Mind,” Eldredge had the crowd on their feet and rocking out and, perhaps, making some of the women lose their minds.
This concert brought many genres of people under one roof. That night we all came together as one and enjoyed a night filled with country rock and roll and rising stars that one day will be headlining
Genre-hopping and genre-defying singer/songwriter Norah Jones is embarking on a few-week-long tour that will be closing with a three-show run through New York state.
The nine-time Grammy winner has collaborated with everyone from Ryan Adams to Billy Joe Armstrong to Bill Frisell on her way to selling over 40 million records. Her latest solo album, 2012’s …Little Broken Hearts, was produced by Dangermouse, whom she had previously worked with on Italian composer Daniele Luppi’s spaghetti Western project, Rome.
Fans can expect to hear songs from across Jones’ entire catalog on her fall dates.
The tour makes a stop at KodakHall at Eastman Theater in Rochester on Nov. 6, then moves on to the State Theater in Ithaca the next night before concluding at the Capitol Theater in Port Chester on Nov. 8. Ticket presales start today, and general on sales have not been announced at this time. Full tour dates are listed below.
10/20 – Wilkes Barre, PA – FM Kirby Center
10/21 – Pittsburgh, PA – Carnegie Music Hall
10/23 – Columbus, OH – Ohio Theater
10/24 – Bowling Green, KY – SkyPAC
10/26 – Memphis, TN – Orpheum Theater
10/27 – Tulsa, OK – Brady Theater
10/29 – Wichita, KS – Orpheum
10/30 – Ames, IA – Stephens Auditorium
11/1 – Milwaukee, WI – Riverside
11/2 – Ann Arbor, MI – Michigan Theater
11/4 – Rama, Ontario – Casino Rama
11/6 – Rochester, NY – Kodak Hall at Eastman Theater
11/7 – Ithaca, NY – State Theatre
11/8 – Port Chester, NY – Capitol Theater
Anyone yearning for rhythmic, hearty roots music, should grab a shovel and start digging their way to Funk ‘n Waffles downtown and get there on Saturday, August 29 for Root SHOCK and Mosaic Foundation to soothe their soul. It has been a productive summer for local Syracuse reggae soul band Root SHOCK, who have kept themselves busy playing gigs all over New York State, and were specially requested to headline the Critz Farms Blueberry Jam mid-August. September will bring another round of excitement as the band begins recording their first album. The whole crew, including Jessica Brown on lead vocals and percussion, Bill Eppel on bass, Nick Czarkam on keyboards and electronics, Dan Valvassori on guitar, Phil Grajko on guitar and vocals and Fafa Fain on drums and vocals will be excited to return to their stomping grounds surrounded by friends and a growing fan base.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcRTRkTY_wI
Rochester-based roots reggae group Mosaic Foundation will be joining Root SHOCK. Lead vocalist and percussionist Yao Foli aka Cha Cha has a vibrant stage presence that will energize the room and get people smiling and dancing without hesitation. Joining Foli are his musical comrades John-Paul Nawn on drums and vocals, Michael Corey on lead guitar, Aaron James Sprague on bass, Ken Luk on keyboard, melodica and vocals and Bryan Davis on percussion. Mosaic Foundation has also been heavily touring the great state of New York and will be making their first Syracuse appearance in quite a while. It would be a mistake to miss out on this double header of regional reggae talent. Get tickets here
Many Magnaball attendees were foggy rather groggy Sunday morning after an epic Saturday of music, so it was good that fans had all day to recover and gather their strength for a final night of revelry with Phish.
Sunday’s show started out with a cheer as fans recognized the opening chords to “Punch You in the Eye.” That segued into a rarity, “Buffalo Bill.” The song hasn’t been played since Ohio in June 2012 and the set continued with “A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing,” then “Limb By Limb,” which featured a jam that built to a quick payoff. The melancholy “Waiting All Night” moved into “Theme From the Bottom,” with a beautifully melodic breakdown in the middle. That transitioned into “Maze,” the only song of the night off Rift, the album released on vinyl for the first time the previous day. “Maze” built to a frightening frenzy multiple times before breaking back into the dark, sparse end section.
The mood lightened with the lyric-heavy “The Line” while “Stash” got everyone dancing with a jam that included some great guitar/bass interplay and piano builds. “Reba”’s nonsensical recipe for disaster was super fun, as always.
Band members then sang “I Didn’t Know,” until Trey asked the Little Beast Boy (Fishman) to come forward and play the vacuum and “suck love” at a long list of people Trey read off that the band wanted to thank, ranging from the band’s crew and staff to local officials. The set finished off with a high-energy version of “Character Zero” that left the crowd hungry for more.
A loud appreciative roar from the crowd accompanied the opening audio segment of “Martian Monster” whose words of blasting off on a voyage of discovery undoubtedly rang so true for so many at Magnaball. An energized but fairly standard jam soon followed before the music shifted towards ambient spacey tones and, soon after, the opening bass notes of “Down with Disease.” As they’ve done regularly this summer, Phish stretched out a second set “Disease” jam into a beautiful one that started out with a slow ambient groove that slowly and surely evolved into a raging rock and roll blissed out jam.
After reaching an apex and stagnating for a few minutes, the music shifted seamlessly into a far less common song of late, “Scents and Subtle Sounds.” Although not played with the full intro section as it was in Philadelphia two weeks prior, this newly revived 2.0 gem ushered in a new wave of beautiful improvisational rock with standout fills from Page on piano and Trey repeating some soaring and beautifully dissonant chords on guitar. The short and power packed jam was not even finished yet as the opening chords to another rarity, “What’s the Use?” started up with Fishman still singing along to a petering out “Scents and Subtle Sounds.” This along with “Dirt” that followed seemed to serve as a chance for everyone to conserve some energy for the stretch run and for some to cross some rarer songs off their lists.
The final leg of a magical weekend began with a “Mike’s Song” that was played to perfection with Page again shining on the clavinet and Trey unleashing a relentless attach of high octave shock waves courtesy of the Echoplex. While some held their breath for another go round of the second Mike’s jam, instead, the group launched right into “Fuego” which brought its signature brand of powerhouse rock to the second set. While the composed section was run through perfectly, it was a fairly short version with no jam as the music immediately shifted gears into “Twist.” One of the true MVPs of this summer tour, “Twist” featured some of the more improvisational moments of the second set as a quick run through of the composed section gave way to a nifty guitar and bass breakdown between Trey and Mike. A quick blues based jam with the whole band involved soon followed which escalated into yet another full on rock barrage replete with “Immigrant Song” vocal teases from Trey and Fishman. Although it may not have been as stretched out or as epic as previous summer “Twist’s,” this version served as a clear example of how effortlessly the band can shift from one musical mode to another. The customary “Weekapaug Groove” that followed was also a prime example of this as some light-hearted toying around with the song’s tempo towards the end of the jam gave way to a reemergence of “Martian Monster” and all the audio samples that come along with it. If it was the band’s intention to pack as much different music and madness as they could into a short “Mike’s Groove,” then they succeeded most admirably.
A show and a weekend like this one could only have one fitting encore and the group’s seminal classic “You Enjoy Myself” fit that bill. This final musical sendoff gave Phish one last chance to delight the crowd with its mastery of ambient noise, blissful cohesiveness, trampolines and vocal jamming. At its completion, a majestic fireworks display went off to the right of the stage that left revelers with minds blown and mouths agape. It served as both the final page of a fantastic and memorable Magnaball and the initial call to arms for those fortunate fans ending the summer tour with the annual summer ending party in Colorado in two weeks.
Set 1: Punch You in the Eye > Buffalo Bill, A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing > Limb By Limb, Waiting All Night > Theme From the Bottom > Maze, The Line, Stash, Reba, I Didn’t Know[1], Character Zero
Set 2: Martian Monster > Down with Disease[2] -> Scents and Subtle Sounds[3] -> What’s the Use? > Dirt > Mike’s Song > Fuego > Twist -> Weekapaug Groove[2] -> Martian Monster
Encore: You Enjoy Myself
[1] Trey thanked the crew, production staff and local officials.
[2] Unfinished.
[3] No intro.
Their 
