NYS Music 20​18

Author: Pete Mason

  • Umphrey’s McGee celebrate 20 Years with NYC run

    Umphrey’s McGee celebrated 20 years together as a band over January 17-19 with a trio of shows at The Beacon Theater in New York City, alongside stops at Sirius/XM Studios and The Cutting Room to promote the group’s latest release It’s Not Us.

    Umphrey's McGee 20For the January 19 show at The Beacon, Umphrey’s added songs off It’s Not Us – “Remind Me,” “Speak Up,” “Looks,” and “The Silent Type” – into a setlist that featured a “JaJunk” sandwich in set 2, a monster version of “Hurt Bird Bath” (see video below) and Talking Heads’ “Making Flippy Floppy” with guitarist Oz Noy joining in.

    Set 1: There’s No Crying In Mexico > Remind Me, Anchor Drops > Day Nurse > White Man’s Moccasins > Speak Up > Mulche’s Odyssey, Making Flippy Floppy[1]

    Set 2: JaJunk > Push the Pig[2], Looks, Hurt Bird Bath, 2nd Self, Conduit, The Silent Type > JaJunk

    Encore: Bad Friday

    [1] with Oz Noy on guitar and Brendan on percussion and keys
    [2] with Jake on keys; with Lose Yourself (Eminem) jam

    On night 2 of the run, Umphrey’s dusted off part of Guns n Roses’ “Paradise City” inside of “Utopian Fir” (see video below) for the first time in nearly 1500 shows. Acoustic versions of “Memories of Home” and “You and You Alone” followed “Fir,” and were joined by the horns of Peter Apfelbaum (TAB, saxophone) and Mike Maher (Snarky Puppy, trumpet) for a vigorous combo of “Attachments” and Sturgill Simpson’s “Call to Arms.” Set 2 was a gift that kept on giving, with little room to breathe amid “Wappy Sprayberry” > “Wife Soup,” “August” and “The Linear” > “In the Kitchen.”

    Set 1: You Got the Wrong Guy > Spires > Walletsworth, Utopian Fir > Paradise City[1] > Utopian Fir > Memories of Home[2], You & You Alone[2], Whistle Kids, Attachments[3], Call to Arms[3]

    Set 2: Maybe Someday, Wappy Sprayberry > Wife Soup, In The Kitchen > Little Gift, August, The Linear > In The Kitchen

    Encore: Hajimemashite > Pay the Snucka[4]

    [1] one verse
    [2] with Jake and Brendan on acoustic guitars
    [3] with Peter Apfelbaum on saxophone and Mike Maher on trumpet
    [4] with Eruption (Van Halen) tease

    For the 20th anniversary show, Brendan Bayliss spoke from the heart from the stage, opening the show up by saying,

    “On behalf of the band and the crew, I just want to say thank you for the last 20 years. It’s still very surreal to us, and because of you our dreams became our reality, so thank you so much. Tonight we’re going to take you backwards through time over the last 20 years. We’re going to play a song that we debuted each year. We’ll start with something new and end with something old. And we hope you like it.”

    And with that, Umphrey’s McGee journeyed 20 years in reverse, starting with the recent debut “Half Delayed” and ending with their classic “All in Time.” In between, the band let loose with fan favorites and heavy hitters that have been developed into jam vehicles over the past 20 years, a dream setlist for Umphreaks and an impressive way to mark the start of their third decade performing together.

    Set 1: Half Delayed, North Route > Draconian, Similar Skin[1] > No Diablo, Comma Later > Puppet String[2] > No Comment > 1348, Gulf Stream

    Set 2: The Floor[1] > Eat[1] > Higgins[3], Bridgeless[1] > Ocean Billy > The Triple Wide > Ringo[4] > 40’s Theme

    Encore: All Things Ninja[5] > All In Time[6]

    [1] unfinished
    [2] incomplete
    [3] with Can’t You Hear Me Knocking (The Rolling Stones) jam
    [4] with Voodoo Child (Jimi Hendrix) teases; unfinished
    [5] intro only
    [6] with Divisions, 10th Grade, and Nachos for Two teases; also with Thunderstruck (AC/DC) tease

    Setlists via Allthings Umphreys

  • Funk Night returns this February with members of Dopapod, Kung Fu and Wurliday

    Funk Night in Albany will return on February 15 at Parish Public House with members of Dopapod, Kung Fu and Wurliday. Featuring Rob Compa (Dopapod), Beau Sasser (Kung Fu), Adrian Tramontano (Kung Fu) and Justin Henricks (Wurliday), this night of funk will shake off any Valentine’s Day blues that may be lingering. Tickets available now or at the door.

    funk night dopapod kung fu

    Watch “Will it Go Round in Circles?,” from Funk Night in September featuring Starbird-Mazer/Skursky/Smith, Joe Davis from Formula 5, Scott Hannay of Mister F and Connor Dunn from Let’s Be Leonard.

  • Ampevene Debut “Valencia” off Upcoming Album “Ephemagoria”

    Prog rockers Ampevene have released the first video, “Valencia,” from their upcoming live album Ephemagoria, set to be released on February 9. The live album featured classic and never before recorded Ampevene songs as well as covers, capturing the feel of a live performance at The Recording Company in Esperance, NY, and mixed by Tim Lynch with mastering by Alan Douches of West West Side Music.

    Ampevene will hold an album release party on February 9 at The Hollow Bar and Kitchen in Albany, with Brooklyn’s Cousin Earth joining for the night.

  • The Lizards Tour Through New York and Mass This Winter

    The Lizards they have….. arrived! Toronto-based Phish tribute band The Lizards will tour throughout New York and New England this winter, with the first show taking place on January 26 at The Westcott Theater in Syracuse, followed by February stops in Ithaca, Rochester and The Hollow in early March. Phish fans in need of a winter fix can catch one of Canada’s finest exports and let their 20+ minute jams warm you up as you await Phish to announce Summer 2018 dates.

    Known for recreating the authentic Phish experience for dedicated phans, and even featuring their own light show directed by the infamous TG5, The Lizards put on a must-attend show. For their first foray throughout the Northeast, The Lizards guitarist Rich Grossman talked to NYS Music to chat Baker’s Dozen, the origins of The Lizards and what the scene is like north of the border.

    the lizards new york tourPete Mason: Let’s get the backstory on The Lizards – you’ve played the states a bit already, but when did the band first get together and start playing?

    Rich Grossman: We started up in 2013 right after Phish had come to Toronto. It was the first time they had been here since 2000 and I was stoked to get to see them in my hometown. After a cancelled and rescheduled show, it got me thinking about the “state of affairs” of the jam scene in Toronto. There used to be a number of clubs that serviced the scene in TO, but they had long closed and we eventually found ourselves having to travel stateside to see this music often. Not that we don’t love making the pilgrimage, but the real heart of the jam world has always been the community. By Canadians being nomadic, and not rebuilding at home, we weren’t strengthening our side of the community. I thought starting a Phish tribute would be an amazing way to bring new life into the scene.

    I had known Ben (drums) for years and we had played together in a number of bands, jam and not, so I contacted him first. Neither of us had real candidates for piano or bass so I went to Facebook. I posted something like “does anyone know a piano player who wants to jam some Phish tunes?” and a buddy tagged Joel, our keys player. We’d never met, but I got his number and asked him if he was into it. Not only did he say yes, but when I mentioned we couldn’t find a bass player, he brought Phill to the table. The first time we jammed was the first time a lot of us met each other. We charted out a lot of material, rehearsed it even more and booked a show at The Comfort Zone. Back in the day, this was the hub for jam music in TO. Growing up I would see Charlie Hunter, Ominous Seapods, Merl Saunders and other jam acts there, but management changed over the years and it became a late night rave scene. For whatever reason, they let us put on a show there for next to nothing and we must’ve had 250 people show up the first time. A lot of friends for sure, but a lot of people that just caught word of it showed up. Since then, we’ve done countless more shows in Toronto and in the past year, have started to take it down to you guys. The response is always the same. No matter what country we’re in, people are so grateful that they get to hear this treasured music. It’s very endearing to me, and I know that if I had seen a Phish tribute band and not started one, I would react the same way.

    PM: What aspects of Trey’s guitar playing and tone drew you into honing his sound?

    RG: Once we started the band, the game was on to get the sound. On the first gig, I played a PRS Santana III.The guitar has a very different sound than Trey’s Languedoc, but I could mask the differences with some of the other gear Trey would use like specific pedals. He’s famous for using 2 tubescreamers going into a compressor, so I started there. Over the year or two I amassed almost all pieces to recreate his mid 1.0 sound (93-97) including the Mesa Mark III red stripe, the ross compressor, the whammy II and more. I then started using a Languedoc clone that was built by a luthier in Toronto. It was based off of the Koa 98 model. Once I got that, the tone was really happening. After that, I would add pieces here and there that came later in his career like the boomerang, super tremolo, supa-puss, black cat vibe, etc. I haven’t really “updated” my rig in a few years, because I feel like I have enough pieces of the puzzle to make the gig happen. Trey changes his rig so often these days, to keep up would put me in debt.

    PM: How much of Baker’s Dozen did you get to see?

    RG: I was one of the lucky ones this summer 🙂 Bought my tickets well in advance and lucked out pretty good. I’m a full time musician and to take weekends off in the summertime can prove to be challenging, so I bought tickets to the first Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday show. Red Velvet, Jam Filled and Powdered night. Thank you Phish!

    PM: For those of us down south, what’s the scene like in Toronto and elsewhere in Ontario and Quebec for Phish and jam fans?

    RG: To be honest, it’s the best I’ve seen it in years. Since The Lizards started, there have been a few Dead and Allman Brothers tributes that have started to perform as well. The other American “Phishy” tributes like Pink Talking Fish and Jazz is Phish have started to come up as well. Toronto has over 2 million people in it, but the jam band community is pretty niche, so we usually see a lot of the same happy faces at shows. Outside of Toronto, I’d say the scene is pretty small. There’s a dedicated group of heads out in Southwest Ontario like Hamilton and St. Catherines but not much else in our province or in Quebec. We have a huge country, but only 35 million people live here so an already small community gets smaller up here and more sprawled out.

    PM: How do The Lizards stand out among phish tribute bands?

    RG: I think what sets us apart from the other bands is that we really try to recreate the live experience aurally and visually. We have a dedicated lighting director (Toby) and sound engineer (Kory) that tour with us, bring, set up and tear down their own gear and work just as hard as us to make the show as much of a spectacle that it can be. Musically, everything is subjective. Some people will like us and some people won’t, but the show looks and sounds amazing, so that’s where I think we stand out.

  • Ominous Seapods reunite for first shows since 2011

    It’s been six years since the last Ominous Seapods show, but after two sell out shows in Cohoes and a first time performance at Brooklyn Bowl, you’d be remiss not to wonder why they don’t reunite more often. With fans flying in from as far as the Carolinas, Germany, and the west coasts of America and Australia (where gitarist/vocalist Dana Monteith has made his home in Perth), three impressive reunion shows found audiences reuniting and excited for all that was in store. As Mike Wren mentioned in passing that night “Every so often, it’s a bookmark you come back to,” and perhaps that best describes the audience support and reverence for the Seapods. 

    ominous seapods reuniteThe Ominous Seapods have a lasting legacy of influence on musicians in the jam scene. They are held with reverence by fans and music journalists who are still enamored (and rightly so) by the jam scene of the ’90s, and continue to inspire awe and musicians today. Promoter Greg Bell of Guthrie/Bell Productions spoke on January 12 about his history with the band dating back to 1992, and was all smiles throughout the night, having brought back to Albany the elder statesman of the jam scene. Despite it being a warm night outside, it was far from a warm up night inside, as the band hit the ground running and hit all the marks, right off the bat.

    Cohoes Music Hall was the perfect venue for this show, as it has been for Max Creek, Garcia Project, and soon Turkuaz and Melvin Seals with JGB. The fourth oldest music venue in New York, the 1871 hall has undergone a transformation in the past two years and become an excellent show location that fits perfectly between clubs like The Hollow and Putnam Den, and larger rooms such as The Egg. So with two sold out shows, bassist Tom Pirozzi’s 50th birthday and a reunion of Plattsburgh Mutants on tap, the Music Hall was abuzz early thanks to Stone Brewing’s DidgeriDoom IPA, a nod to Monteith, who moved to Perth, Australia following the last Seapods show in 2011 at Valentines. Monteith also sported an AC/DC shirt, perhaps a subtle reference to their then-final show where they performed “It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘N’ Roll).”

    Opening up with “I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon,” the first big jam of the night came from “Theme for Another Enlightened Rogue” and the segue into “The Guide to Roadside Ecology” with Dana getting down to business early, and often. A few acoustic numbers came next, notably “Branch’s House” which grew smoothly into “The Pull from Adirondack Blue” and “Waiting 4 the Bomb to Drop” and Pirozzi and guitarist/vocalist Max Verna driving the set ending sandwich of “Sally” > “Cali” > “Sally.”

    The energy continued to flow out of the setbreak with “Leaving the Monopole” getting checked off everyone’s ‘must hear’ list. The Seapods’ signature song still finds fans today who visit the ‘Single Stick’ in Plattsburgh and explore the lore that influenced the band’s writing. A debut of “Cumberland Blues” caught a few off guard, but it was pleasantly surprising that the band chose to throw a new cover into the mix this weekend. The jam of the set was around “Schizophrenic Rain,” which bookended “Oberon and Titania” and “Passengers En Route” and served as the most fluid and dialed in portions of the night, with a keys/bass/drums jam in the midst of the medley. A rockin “Sneakin’ Sally Through the Alley” kept the flow of the night going, with “Hey Donnie Osmond” closing the set out. An encore of “That’s How they Got Along” and “Michael Murphy 3” left a great deal of tunes in the tank for Saturday night.

    Setlist, January 12, 2018
    Set 1: I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon, 1/4 lb. Hot Dog, Theme For Another Enlightened Rogue ->
    The Guide To Roadside Ecology, Millworker’s Lament*, Long Black Veil**, Guardian Angels*** -> Candy Cane Flame***, Branch’s House**** -> Jam -> The Pull From Adirondack Blue, Waiting 4 The Bomb To Drop, Sally Simpson -> First Day In California ->. Sally Simpson,

    Set 2: Econobrain intro^ -> Old GP, Leaving The Monopole -> Counting Time -> Cumberland Blues^^, Schizophrenic Rain -> Oberon And Titania -> Passengers En Route -> Schizophrenic Rain -> Sneakin’ Sally Through The Alley, Hey Donnie Osmond

    Encore: That’s How They Got Along, Michael Murphy 3

    *Max solo acoustic
    **Lefty Frizzell cover, first time played, without Mangini, Verna on acoustic guitar and Pirozzi on upright bass
    ***Verna on acoustic guitar
    ****Monteith on acoustic guitar
    ^with Doug Burns
    ^^Grateful Dead cover, first time played

    Entering night two with much colder weather at their back, fans returned to Cohoes Music Hall sporting a variety of flannel on par with an L.L. Bean outlet.  “Jet Smooth Ride” lifted the crowd up and into the night. “Cary Suite” and “Final Destination” had the band finding the pocket and staying there, jamming without the drawback (or benefit, if you will) of ADD. The jams were even more on point and didn’t let up or evaporate before their time. The set ending pair of “Anything is Possible” with Monteith on egg beater and “Blackberry Brandy”

    A second set that flowed freely was on tap, starting with a more than 15 minute “Jump for Joy” opener. Monteith took some time to mention how hard it was for him to leave Perth to get to New York for these shows, but expressed casual gratitude for the response from fans. A string of segues led to a 12 minute “John Henry’s Hammer” and a second “Pull from Adirondack Blue” in as many nights. “Bong Hits and Porn,” one of the best song titles ever, was slid into a sweet groove and held on for nearly 15 minutes and found Monteith back on eggbeater.

    For the final song of the night, Pirozzi took over on guitar for “Ship,” and led the crowd in the sing-along. With fans cheering for one more, my friend David leaned over and said “You can’t finish the weekend without “Leaving the Monopole,” and lo and behold, they would not. Once again, we got the Seapods tune, and the fans who were only there that night revelled, danced and sang the words as easily as they did in 1995.

    Setlist: January 13, 2018
    Set 1: Jet Smooth Ride, Cary Suite, Final Destination > She Makes the Journey, Serpents in the Sand, Railyard Scene > Somedays > Stephen O’Rourke > The Fiesta, Anything Is Possible (w double Eggbeater jam) > Blackberry Brandy

    Set 2: Jump For Joy, Sad Corner > What’s the Buzz, Keep in Mind > Waiting Room > Gunshot Static > John Henry’s Hammer > The Pull from Adirondack Blue, Bong Hits & Porn*

    Encore: Ship, Leaving the Monopole
    * with Monteith on eggbeater

    For the final set of the reunion, a performance at Brooklyn Bowl was the perfect closing to the weekend. Owned by former Wetlands owner Pete Shapiro, having Ominous Seapods perform at Brooklyn Bowl brings them full circle and to a stage built on the shoulders of former Wetlands staples like themselves. The performance was an opening slot for the Zen Tricksters, and would be a distilled, “best of” set compared to the previous two shows. Fan Gabe Sasso noted that the crowd ate up how tight the band sounded, with one standout highlight “Josephine’s Grand Motion” which was not played the previous two nights. And with the final note of “Bong Hits and Porn,” Mutants are back to waiting for the next reunion shows to be announced, and based on response from these shows, one would hope it will be less than six years between shows.

    Setlist, January 14, 2018
    Set 1: Blackberry Brandy, Sneakin’ Sally Through The Alley, The Guide To Roadside Ecology, Michael Murphy 3, Josephine’s Grand Motion, Sally Simpson > First Day In California > Sally Simpson, The Pull From Adirondack Blue, Leaving The Monopole, Bong Hits And Porn

  • Rob Compa announces side-project Oval Sandwich, shows in Syracuse and Rochester

    Dopapod may be taking 2018 off, but guitarist Rob Compa is keeping busy, unveiling a new side project, Oval Sandwich, which will debut on February 22 at Flour City Station in Rochester, with a follow up show on the 23rd at Funk n Waffles in Syracuse.

    oval sandwichOval Sandwich includes Compa on guitar, Paul McCardle (guitar – Doja, English Project), Will O’Riley (keys- The Niche, Swooners), Tristan Greene (drums – Doja, Ocular Panther) and Justin Rister (bass – Moho Collective). With some originals and covers on tap, the history these musicians have from years of performing and writing music in Rochester will come together for two can’t miss shows. Rob spoke to NYS Music about the band name, how the lineup came together and how Dopapod’s New Years show went.

    Pete Mason: So why is the band called Oval Sandwich?

    Rob Compa: Ok, good story. When I was going to MCC (Mohawk Community College) around 2005-06, I used to go see Willy’s band The Niche in Rochester all the time. I probably saw them fifty times. After a show one night, I went to Jay Schreiber’s (Niche drummer) house with Willy. I knocked back a few of beers with them, and had never really drank at all. Much to my chagrin, I got, well….drunk, for lack of a better word. We called The Niche’s bassist Todd (Nestor). I told him I’d been drinking and he asked how I felt. I told him I was hungry, and he asked what I would want to eat if I could eat anything in the world. In a slightly slurred, not-so-sober manner, I told him I wanted “one of those oval shaped chicken sandwiches from Burger King (you know the ones I’m talking about). They all cracked up at that, and 15 minutes later Todd showed up, burger king bag in hand. So when we started booking shows, I couldn’t think of a name and asked if anyone had anything in mind, and that was the first idea Willy had.

    PM: How did you bring this act of local Rochester musicians together?

    RC: The project started with some phone calls between Paul McArdle and I. Without exaggeration, Paul is one of my favorite guitar players ever, and a huge influence for me, so I’ve always wanted to put something together with him. I’m excited to see what we come up with when we’re both playing together. We actually played a little gig at Temple a few weeks back together, and in between songs he said “Man, I can’t not play like you when I’m on stage with you,” and I just thought that was funny because as far as I’m concerned, a huge amount of my guitar personality is just stuff that I soaked up from listening to him for years. So he was really just playing like himself and I was the one playing like him if that makes sense hahaha.

    Paul also suggested Justin as the bassist. I don’t know Justin at all, but he sent me some videos of him playing and had great things to say about him. I checked out some videos, and was sold right away. I love bass players who are focused on the pocket and holding the groove together, but can still take some liberties and play ear grabbing, exciting stuff when it’s appropriate. That’s my ideal kind of player, and I Justin had that in the stuff I watched.

    Willy, who I also play with in our other group, Borg Party, was really just a no brainer. He’s one of my favorite musicians, keyboardists, and humans ever, and he’s also written some of my favorite music I’ve heard. I’ve never met anyone else who writes music as fluidly and as naturally as him. For these initial shows, we probably won’t have too much original stuff since it’s our first shows, but I’d love to write some stuff together in the future.

    Finally, Tristan Greene was a drummer I was just so stoked to play with. Like Willy’s band, I used to see Tristan and Paul’s band Doja at Milestones (now Flour City Station) all the time when I was a teenager, and I was just in awe of those guys musicianship. I even had Tristan play drums for Dopapod at a really early Rochester show of ours in about 2008 that our drummer at the time (Michelangelo Carubba, who is now in Turkuaz and also plays with me in Borg Party) couldn’t make. I love his pocket, and how he doesn’t overplay.

    This is really sort of a dream band of Rochester guys for me. If I could have picked anyone, it still would have been these guys.

    PM: How was the final Dopapod New Years Eve before hiatus?

    RC: It was great! We had been torn between whether or not to play two sets like we always do and have an opener that would help us draw more, or do three sets and not have anyone else on the bill. We went with the latter, and all four of us were so thankful for that. We really wanted to have it be our night, and be able to play for as long as we wanted since it’ll be awhile before we get to do it again. We even played our whole Redivider album, with the weird interludes and everything. It felt great. After the show, our friends backstage were all verklempt and telling us how much they loved us. Some of them were even a little teary eyed. And we were all just tired and pretty satisfied! I think after that much playing and months of knowing this break was coming, we were all just pretty nonchalant about the whole thing. We just had a blast.

    PM: How do you see your 2018 panning out?

    RC: Lots of teaching guitar lessons, and lots of gigs. I’ve never had to book my own shows until now, so that’s a pretty crazy learning experience. But as I’m moving forward, I think I’d rather have enough students to relax financially, and let gigs come to me rather than me put all of them together. I’m not really a managerial/leader type. I obviously want to play as much as possible and in as many settings as possible, but I like just being the guy who other people call to play guitar for them. I’ve also thought about going back to school to finish my music degree. A major long term goal of mine would be to teach guitar in a college setting someday. I love teaching and get a lot out of it, so I would love to teach in a kind of more advanced setting like that.

  • Space Carnival release video for “Queen of Cups”

    Space Carnival has released the video for “Queen of Cups,” the result of the band’s 2017 songwriting that means new material in 2018. With pop aspects and a progressive vibe, “Queen of Cups” is the result of the band’s growth and focus and an infectious tune, and was recorded at SubCat Studios in Syracuse.

    Catch Space Carnival this winter throughout New York

    Queen of Cups space carnivalJanuary 20th: 7th Annual Wintercourse, The Knitting Factory, Brooklyn (with Cousin Earth, Bella’s Bartok and Space Carnival)
    February 2nd: Olive Ridley’s, Plattsburgh (with Formula 5)
    February 3rd: The Range, Ithaca (with Formula 5)
    February 10th: The Spinning Room, Tannersville
    February 15th: Garcia’s at The Cap, Port Chester
    February 23rd: The Hollow, Albany (moe. afterparty with Floodwood)
    April 14th: The Westcott Theatre, Syracuse (with Infected Mushroom)

  • Tommy Z Band brings the Blues to Funk n Waffles this Wednesday

    Tommy Z, an award winning blues musician from Buffalo will bring his swinging, rocking blues band to Funk n Waffles in Syracuse on Wednesday, January 10.

    tommy zTommy Z is a Top 10 Billboard Blues artist and 2007 inductee into Buffalo’s Music Hall of Fame. He has toured extensively around the world, and has served as sideman to Grammy winner Pinetop Perkins, as well as numerous USO shows in Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa, Europe, Asia and Micronesia. An award-winning guitarist, Tommy combines classic and contemporary blues with jazz, rock and funk influences. He has also composed music for the Red Hot Chili Peppers Biography on A&E, wrote the St. Louis Blues victory song in 2009, and is also the Sunday Blues host on Buffalo’s NPR affiliate WBFO 88.7 FM from 7pm-midnight.

  • American Beauty Closes its Doors

    American Beauty, the mid-town Manhattan venue that quickly became a staple for the Big Apple’s jam scene, is no more. In a statement on Friday, following the January 1st shuttering of their doors, American Beauty issued the statement below:

    It is with a heavy heart that we announce our doors closed after December 31st 2017. Our home at 251 West 30th Street was purchased by Herald Square Properties in 2016, who are renovating the building and renting to new tenants.  We’d like to thank our loyal staff, customers and every artist who’s performed on our stages for a magical run.

    Although it’s sad to say goodbye to our Midtown party factory for now, we are happy for the memories that will live on with those who experienced it. Fare Thee Well.

    Touring bands, as well as pre and post show events surrounding Phish and Dead and Company shows at Madison Square Garden, were a huge draw to American Beauty, located just 2 blocks from MSG. Events held during these runs filled the bar’s three floors with vending, music, beer and free pizza, causing a great deal of surprise from fans, patrons, and the musicians who performed there. Seth Eisenstein, saxophonist at Polyvamp, called the venue home, and lamented its closing, saying “American Beauty always felt like our home away from home. Polyvamp was able to grow our sound playing that room, and always had a blast doing it. We want to thank American Beauty for everything and wish the great staff all the best in their next step.”

    american beauty

    While American Beauty is closed, the space has been a music venue under other names for years, leading to the hope that perhaps the room will open under another name, given the history of the location. The final show at the venue was a Phish after-party featuring Kung Fu and Wyllys and went late into the night.

  • Phish Sets Sail into 2018 bound for a Soul Planet

    For their 11th New Years at Madison Square Garden, Phish found a new way to combine their creativity within the World’s Most Famous Venue and their annual celebration of the beginning of a new year. In the past, Phish has moved the stage to the center (2013), and the other side of the arena (2015), and this time set sail upon a ship, with the stage serving as the bow of the boat that would chart the crowd into 2018 on a Soul Planet.

    soul planetFans arrived at their seats to bracelets that were designed to assist them on their voyage of cosmic discovery, and when this was learned early in the day, the buzz and potential for the participatory light show sent fans buzzing. In 2012, Coldplay used similar devices to engage fans on their Mylo Xyloto Tour, which had fans giddy with excitement leading into the waning hours of the year.

    Kicking off a more than 80 minute set was a powerhouse, no-let-up set that will serve as a standard by which other NYE first sets can be measured. “Carini” as set opener was the bellwether for a strong, full force set that chugged forward into the night. Diving into “Fluffhead” early into the set, the electric crowd was plugged in for the rousing “Fluff came to New York” announcement, a hallmark of a fiery MSG New Years Eve sets. “Reba” continued the stellar set, capped by heavy hitters “46 Days,” “Maze,” and “Character Zero.”

    soul planetFor set two, another six song second set, the third of the run, was on par with previous years that kept the Garden bouncing deep into the final hours of the year. “Possum” kept energy from set one up, and a Type II “Fuego” lit the room. “Gotta Jibboo” went Type II as well and stayed there for one of the best jams of the run, while “Golgi Apparatus” foreshadowed the audience using their bracelets, a memento of their ticket stubs, visibly on their hands for later in the show. As a twist, the audience was thrown for a loop into “What’s the Use,” the only thing close to a breather during this heater of a set. “You Enjoy Myself” served as the perfect closing to the set with a large, extended vocal jam.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BdZJq03n6dp/

    The curated third set featured rope access technicians coming to the stage shortly after the start of “Soul Planet,” a debuted catchy and jammy number that kicked things off right out of the gate. As the techs jugged up and down the rope, the sail began to unfurl and rotate to face each side of the crowd as the song’s refrain “Oceans are rough, Soul Planet” was repeated over a steady jam that grooved the audience through the last 15 minutes of 2017. With cannons exploding to countdown the last ten seconds of 2017, and the S.S. MSG headed full steam into 2018.

    soul planetWith fans a part of the art, the stage serving as both bow and stern of the boat, the crowd was the sea and glowed with changing light patterns from the LED bracelets. Fresh from “Auld Lang Syne” roared an invigorating “Free” that pushed forward into a nearly 20 minute “A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing,” mirroring the beauty of the Baker’s Dozen version. Seaworthy version of “Moma Dance,” “Prince Caspian” and “Wading in the Velvet Sea” followed, then a lifesaver in the form of “First Tube” constituted the finale for this well crafted set. “Loving Cup,” one of only two covers the entire run, closed the show with a beautiful buzz and capped 17 shows at Madison Square Garden in 2017. Only Phish, and only in New York.

    Setlist via Phish.net

    Set 1: Carini > Suzy Greenberg > My Friend, My Friend, Fluffhead, Reba, Poor Heart > 46 Days > Maze > Character Zero

    Set 2: Possum > Fuego > Gotta Jibboo > Golgi Apparatus > What’s the Use? > You Enjoy Myself

    Set 3: Soul Planet[1] > Auld Lang Syne > Free, A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing > The Moma Dance > Prince Caspian > Wading in the Velvet Sea > First Tube

    Encore: Loving Cup

    [1] Phish debut