For the final installment of Albany’s Alive at Five summer concert series, the rain location at the Corning boat launch played host to local opener The Late Shift and Los Angeles based Indie band Sir Sly. Formed in 2012 by lead singer Landon Jacobs, Haydon Coplen and Jason Suwito, the group played a mix of alt-pop songs off their albums Don’t you worry, Honey and You Haunt me. For their encore, they played “Oh Mama,” a song Landon wrote about his mother who recently died of cancer. Sir Sly will be back in New York, performing at Warsaw in Brooklyn on October 20 with Joywave, and are also on the Austin City Limits Music Festival lineup.
Category: Photo Gallery
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Chicago Celebrates 51 Years
Chicago celebrated 51 years as a band on July 31, 2018 with REO Speedwagon and Michael Tolcher at Saratoga Performing Arts Center.
Photos by Shawn LaChapelle
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Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo Fire Up Del Lago in Waterloo
This summer’s concerts have been heating up for sure. Friday July 27 was no different when four time Grammy winner, Pat Benatar and her long time husband/guitarist Neil Giraldo co-headlined the Vine at Del Lago along with another 80’s icon, Rick Springfield.
Pat and Neil have been performing together since 1979 and have been an unstoppable husband and wife team since 1983. Together they have written and produced many gold and platinum and multi-platinum hits including “Hit Me With Your Best Shot”, “Love is a Battlefield”, “We Belong”, and “Invincible”.
At just about 9 p.m., the seasoned musical veteran performers hit the stage with their band and kicked right off into “All Fired Up”, “We Live For Love”, and “Invincible”. The dynamic duo of Pat and Neil had the sold out audience at Del Lago fired up for sure, as no one was quite sure who would be performing first on the bill, Rick or Pat and Neil.
Their sound was like pure vinyl. If you closed your eyes, it was as good as a recording. Flawless. Pat’s vocals were simply powerfully amazing as she hit all the high notes effortlessly, especially on “We Live For Love. Neil’s guitar work is just plain brilliant. His technique and playing style that has defined the Benatar sound for nearly 40 years remains perfect never missing a lick, bend or nuance.
Their set included a stripped down, acoustic side as well when they performed powerful “Shine” intimately for the audience. “Shine”, released in 2017, was written in support of the women’s rights movement, and the record reflects the Shine Together Movement, which is her voice to hopefully affect positive change in the world and government. This was a beautifully performed acoustic number.
Finishing out the twelve song set, was a very cool rendition of “Heartbreaker” with a few twists thrown in including a medley of Cash’s “Ring of Fire”, Hendrix’s “Purple Haze”, The White Stripes “Seven Nation Army”, and a cool little “Godfather Theme” instrumental.
After nearly forty years of making hit after hit, Pat and Neil have pretty much proved that they are in fact invincible.
Setlist: All Fired Up, We Live for Love, Invincible, Promises in the Dark, We Belong, Disconnected, Hell is for Children, You Better Run, Hit Me With Your Best Shot, Love is a Battlefield (Encore: Shine, Heartbreaker
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Photo Gallery: Rubblebucket at Troy’s Rockin’ on the River
What started out as a rainy day in Troy led to a beautiful night of music with Rubblebucket, And the Kids, and Onlyness. Rubblebucket band leader Kalmia Traver and Alex Toth lead the group with a mix of dance rhythms with colorful costumes and props. Check out their new album Sun Machine, due out on August 24.
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Phish wrap up West Coast shows, head East with eyes on Watkins Glen
Phish is back and headed east for the second half of their summer tour, which found them kicking things off in Stateline, NV on July 17 and 18. Over the course of nine West Coast shows and a show in Austin, TX on Tuesday night, Phish has dusted off some rust, debuted a few tunes and delved deeper on jams as the tour has progressed, more or less how the past few tours have gotten started.
There have been some high water marks: “I Always Wanted it This Way” from Stateline, “Simple,” “Wombat,” “Crosseyed and Painless” and “Chalkdust Torture” from The Gorge, “A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing” > “Mercury” > “Carini” and “Set Your Soul Free” from Bill Graham in San Francisco, “Kill Devil Falls,” “Gotta Jibboo,” “Fuego,” and “Soul Planet” from The Forum in Los Angeles, and “Everything’s Right” > “Down with Disease” from Austin360 Amphitheater. Debuts of “Set Your Soul Free,” “Infinite” and “Keepin’ it Real” have been welcomed by the fans, and teases from the band have been subtle but wide ranging, more so than previous tours. “Little Drummer Boy” and “Theme from S.W.A.T.” have shown up on multiple occasions, as well as “There is a Mountain” (Donovan), “Celluloid Heroes” (The Kinks), “Heartbreaker” (Led Zeppelin), and “Time Loves a Hero” (Little Feat) all making appearances ever so subtly throughout the shows.
There have been some head-scratchers too. The entire first set of Austin sounds like it looks on paper – a directionless smattering of usual first set options, but then second set they charge out with 36 combined minutes of “Everything’s Right” and “Down with Disease.” After a fiery “Tweezer” > “Golden Age” at The Gorge, and with the band dialed in, Trey dropped in a “Farmhouse;” the ripcord could be heard down the Columbia River valley for miles. Maybe they are throwing fans curveballs throughout the shows to keep fans on their feet, keeping things uneven, a stark contrast to 2017 when the band felt dialed in after just a few shows and went on to a historic Baker’s Dozen run of shows at Madison Square Garden. Perhaps they’re just getting warmed up and starting to catch fire the closer they get back to the usual stomping grounds of the East Coast. Or maybe they just play whatever they want, and at times hit a sweet spot of jamming that reaffirms their place on the Mt. Rushmore of Jam.
So what can we expect from Phish for the next 8 shows before they return to Watkins Glen for their 11th festival, Curveball? For one thing, a variety in the setlists – few songs have been repeated more than twice, and those are jam vehicles such as “Down with Disease,” an effect of the no-repeat Baker’s Dozen where the band played 237 different songs over 13 shows. They went five and a half shows without a repeat to start the tour, and the selection has been the most variation seen this far into tour, ever.
10 shows into 2018, #phish has played unique 141 songs – the most in the band’s history this many shows into a year. This tops the previous high of 139 (set back in 2012). The most frequent songs: DWD, Everything’s Right, Moma Dance, and The Wedge (all played 3 times) #tourstats
— Scott Marks (@bizarchive) August 1, 2018
And what about at Curveball? With the music and art installations at Phish festivals always well-guarded secrets, fans have begun to speculate that Phish play 9 sets, or 9 innings of music, with a possible ‘Casey at the Bat’ tie-in. Phish always packs a little something extra for their festivals, and Easter Eggs among the art on the grounds and hints in the song selection could give fans an idea of what to expect. Still, a Phish festival is a Christmas present wrapped in a ball of mystery, and that surprise is always worth the wait.
Phish next hits Alpharetta, GA, at a fan favorite venue located in the northern Atlanta suburbs and also one of the smallest venues of the tour with capacity of only 12,000. Then it’s off to Camden, NJ for two nights at BB&T Pavilion on August 7-8, then they head down to Raleigh on Friday, August 10 before heading north to wrap up the pre-fest end of tour at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD August 11-12. Curveball gates open on Thursday, August 16 and the music kicks off on Friday.
Stay tuned for more coverage from NYS Music of past Phish festivals and upcoming shows, as well as daily reviews and photos from Watkins Glen. Setlists and teases courtesy of Phish.net. Donate to the Mockingbird Foundation and support music education throughout the country.
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Photo Gallery: Yonder Mountain String Band at Alive at Five
For the penultimate Alive at Five at Jennings Landing in Albany, Colorado’s Yonder Mountain String Band brought out their jamgrass sound for the second time in four years at the free summer concert series. It was a hot Albany day, and as the sun set over the city, the crowd moved forward into the shade and closer to the rail for Yonder. Highlights from the set included the set opener “Lord Only Known (Part One)” and the segue into “I’m Lost,” the newer “Chasing My Tail” which featured an impressive jam that worked its way into “Frankenstein,” an audacious cover that perked up many in the audience. Closing out with “Sidewalk Stars” for another extended jam, Yonder Mountain came back for a fast-paced “Sharecropper’s Son” and bid Albany farewell until next time. Blind Crow, a local band from Albany, opened the night and performed an array of bluegrass, folk, and Dawg tunes.
Alive at Five concludes it’s 2018 Summer season on Thursday, August 2 at the rain location at the Corning Preserve Boat Launch with Sir Sly and The Late Shift.
Setlist: Lord Only Knows (Part One)> I’m Lost, High on a Hilltop, I’ve Got A Name, Landfall, Chasing My Tail> Jam> Frankenstein, Around You, Damn Your Eyes, Sidewalk Stars
Encore: Sharecropper’s Son -
Old Crow Medicine Show Brings Southern Country to New York City
Old Crow Medicine Show packed up their fiddles and Banjos and headed up to Central Park on Thursday, July 26. It was a beautiful July night at the summer stage. Old Crow’s show packs a high energy punch and brings a modern indie rock/alternative twist to a traditional blues and folk sound. The band has been around for a decade now, and in that time they have been inducted into the Grand Ole Opry, won a Grammy Award for Best Folk Album, and had a platinum single “Wagon Wheel” that was co-authored by frontman Ketch Secor and Bob Dylan. Old Crow Medicine Show has been on the road all summer in support of their new album, Volunteer. The tour included stops at Bonnaroo, the Outlaw Music festival, and a has a stop coming up at The Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado on August 17, just to point out a few.
Setlist: Child of the Mississippi, Alabama High-Test, Take ‘Em Away, Brave Boys All Night Long, Dixie Avenue, The Good Stuff, A World Away, Old Hickory, Tiger Rag*, See See Rider^, Motel in Memphis, In the Jailhouse Now#, Blowin’ in the Wind%, Cocaine Habit$, Firewater, I Hear Them All/This Land Is Your Land, Flicker & Shine, Wagon Wheel
Encore: Whiskey in My Whiskey, Stay All Night&, Spirit in the Sky!
*(Original Dixieland Jazz Band cover)^(‘Ma’ Rainey & Her Georgia Jazz Band cover)#(Jimmie Rodgers cover)%(Bob Dylan cover)#(standard cover)&(Willie Nelson cover)!(Norman Greenbaum cover) -
Third World and Mixed Roots Blend Genres During Alive at Five
Third World is one of the longest-lived reggae bands and one of Jamaica’s most popular crossover acts, mixing R&B, funk, pop, and rock creating a style of reggae fusion. Thursday, July 19 they brought their talents to Riverfront Park in Albany for Alive at Five. Third World has 10 Grammy nominations with hits that include, “Now That We Found Love,” “96 Degrees in the Shade,” and “Try Jah Love.”
Opening band Mixed Roots, from Ghana, now reside in Albany, NY. Their music is exotic grooves mixed with danceable beats. The band consists of Charles on keyboards, Arya on guitar, TT on percussion, Jared on bass and a horn section with Dave and Catherine.