On Thursday, April 4, with a spectacular fusion of raw energy, lyrical prowess, and dynamic emotion, Kevin Gates took the stage of Irving Plaza for his “The Ceremony Tour,” leaving the New York City audience amazed. The tour stop was filled with heartfelt yet raw emotion, furthermore solidifying Gates and his status as a rap heavyweight, as he commanded the stage with the same unapologetic attitude that has defined his career.
After a series of DJ playlists to warm up the crowd, the opener of the night was DJ Chose, who has collaborated with Kevin Gates on some of his greatest hits and has a few of his own. DJ Chose lauded his accolades and made sure the crowd had the right energy before Kevin’s arrival. After DJ Chose, Kevin Gates’s DJ executed a final round of musical wind up with some industry favorites ensuring the crowd was ready for Kevin Gates to take the stage.
After an astounding ovation upon taking the stage, Kevin Gates opened with “Speed Dial” to which the crowd recited word for word. Kevin went on to perform songs “In God I Trust,” “Free At Last,” “Arm and Hammer” and more. A southern classic that got everyone up off their feet was when Kevin Gates performed “TWMD” which went viral during New Orleans Mardi Gras last year. As the song came on, the entire arena erupted into a frenzy as his fans belted the lyrics, completely losing themselves in the song.
Notably, Gates’ crowd control and poise was evident, as he purposefully took moments to talk with his supporters over the mic. Moving at a brisk but necessary pace, he took a minute to evangelize his fans. Speaking about his time incarcerated and having to miss his daughter’s birthday, Gates focused on having the work ethic and drive to make his situation right, as he encouraged his fans to keep their head held high even in the darkest of times. Bringing the show to a close with popular tracks such as “Me Too,” “2 Phones,” and “Breakfast”, Kevin went out with a bang amongst a flurry of smoke from CO2 cannons, as he mysteriously disappeared behind the set. Tickets for the rest of the “The Ceremony” tour are available here.
Kevin Gates Setlist: Speed Dial, Facts, Push It, Yonce Freestyle, Arm and Hammer, TWMD, Wassup With It, In God I Trust, Scars, Imagine That, Free At Last, It Won’t Happen, Healing, Birds Calling, Power, Great Man, Fatal Attraction, Breakfast, Luv Bug, Posed To Be In Love, Heal You, Lil Yea, Me Too, One Thing, All Thee Above, Bad For Me, Time for That, 2 Phones, and Broken Men.
Calling all Swifties! Plunge into a 17-year journey with Taylor Swift and the launch of Channel 13 (Taylor’s Version), SiriusXM is putting on the red carpet for the pop queen, available from April 7 to May 6.
Fans can enjoy Taylor’s complete discography on this special channel, offering more than just her hit songs. Channel 13 will be the place to go for everything Swift, from her upcoming album The Tortured Poets Society to her greatest hits.
Fans of Taylor Swift will have the chance to share their heartfelt stories and connections with Taylor. Together, they’ll create the ultimate Swiftie community on Channel 13.
“The versatility of Taylor’s music and the phenomenal impact she’s had in her career across so many musical genres will be on full display on Channel 13 (Taylor’s Version). We’re all experiencing a legend at work and are so thrilled to work with Taylor to present a one-of-a-kind channel that connects her fans with her extraordinary body of work.”
President and Chief Content Officer of SiriusXM Scott Greenstein
The icing on the cake? Taylor Swift’s most recent album will make its exclusive debut on the channel on April 19 and be played nonstop all weekend long. For more information, click here.
Channel 13 (Taylor’s Version) is your golden ticket to the Taylor Swift experience, whether you’re driving or using the SiriusXM app to jam out. Click here to sign up and experience all that SiriusXM has to offer.
Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams officially released their brand new album entitled All This Time on April 5. This is the duo’s fourth album, and follows their 2023 release Live at Levon’s!.
Photo Courtesy of Shore Fire Media
The 10 track LP was produced by Larry Campbell and Ray Clifford and was recorded and mixed by three-time grammy award winning sound engineer Justin Guip at Milan Hill Studios. The album features Larry Campbell (vocals, guitar, mandolin, pedal steel guitar, bass), Teresa Williams (vocals, guitar), Justin Guip (drums, percussion), Brandon Morrison (vocals, bass) and Brian Mitchell (accordion, organ). The album most notably features Bill Payne of Little Feat on piano and organ, and Levon Helm from The Band on drums for “That’s All It Took.”
Photo by Gregg Roth
Larry and Teresa’s musical and romantic partnership are one and the same. They first met in a Manhattan rehearsal studio in 1986, where according to Williams’, “it was love at first note.” It was this love, now 38 years later that would inspire most, if not all of the songs on All This Time. Campbell states that this release “feels more intuitive to me than the earlier records, less experimental, evidence that we’ve grown more aware of who we are and what we have to offer.” These “love letters” shared between Campbell and Williams are the foundation for this “intensely romantic album.”
The first single, and opening track on All This Time was originally released in January. “Desert Island Dreams” is a rocking country song with an ear-worm guitar hook and catchy chorus. Williams’ vocal power is on full display and her harmonies with Campbell further exemplify their chemistry with one another. The song eventually transitions into a high energy, country guitar solo that tastefully showcases Campbell’s fluidity and talent.
“The Way You Make Me Feel” is a bouncing love song with Campbell’s country guitar lines and vocals at the forefront. The blues-influenced single touches on the excitement related to newfound feelings of love. Campbell sings “So if you see me roll up to your door doin’ cartwheels, I can’t help it that’s the way you make me feel.” A recurring theme throughout the album, Campbell and Williams’ sing of the willingness to do anything for each other.
Photo by Gregg Roth
The third and final single “Ride with Me” is a catchy country inspired pop song and lyrically focuses on surrendering to the moment. Williams sings that even though she’s unsure of what the future holds, she knows she wants her “baby” there for the ride.
All This Time is a celebration of their love. Williams’ smooth and incredibly professional vocal delivery mixed with Campbell’s song writing and multi-instrumental expertise are the secret ingredients to this incredibly well-rounded release.
Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams are currently on tour across the entire United States with stops in Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, Arkansas and more. All of their New York tour dates are listed below.
Photo Courtesy of https://www.facebook.com/LarryandTeresaMusic Photo Courtesy of https://www.facebook.com/LarryandTeresaMusic
Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams 2024 New York Tour Dates:
04/11 – The Falcon – Marlboro, NY
05/18 – The Capitol Theatre (w/ Tommy Emmanuel) – Port Chester, NY
06/07 – Caffe Lena – Saratoga Springs, NY
06/08 – Caffe Lena – Saratoga Springs, NY
06/11 – City Winery – New York, NY
06/16 – Stephen Talkhouse – Amagansett, NY
07/20 – Arrowood Farms (Larry & Teresa’s July Jam) – Accord, NY
Buffalo jam stalwarts Organ Fairchild have released the first track off their upcoming album, Songs We Didn’t Write, featuring creative re-arrangements of some favorite music by other artists.
The first single is a breezy instrumental romp through Bob Marley’s “Them Belly Full,” and was released on April 5. The full album will be out on June 7, on 180-gram vinyl, CD and digital formats.
Recorded, mixed and co-produced by Justin Guip (Hot Tuna, Levon Helm) and mastered by Alan Evans (Soulive) – the pair behind Leisure Suit – Songs We Didn’t Write includes instrumental reworkings by Organ Fairchild of Grateful Dead’s “Lost Sailor,” Otis Redding’s “Hard to Handle” with very special guest Jorma Kaukonen, a Harry Styles song, and many more.
It was actually my son who suggested a full album of cover songs! Why not? We love rearranging material in our organ trio format, and our shows always include some choice covers – we had a ball making this!
Organ Fairchild guitarist Dave Ruch
Songs We Didn’t Write will be released on June 7, with album preorders shipping on May 31. Pre-Order here
Songs We Didn’t Write Tracklist Them Belly Full (Bob Marley) Lost Sailor (Grateful Dead) Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen) Canyon Moon (Harry Styles!) Hard to Handle feat. Jorma Kaukonen (Otis Redding) Eleanor Rigby (The Beatles) Lazy River Road (Grateful Dead) I Wish feat. The Brass Machine (Stevie Wonder) Redemption Song (Bob Marley)
Uncle Ebenezer played an incredible set of Phish jams including an unforgettable “Tweezer” featuring a saxophone player. Walrus opened up the night with their psychedelic interpretation of The Beatles, most notably a fully mind melting “Lucy in The Sky with Diamonds”.
The Williams Center is a phenomenal venue in Rutherford, NJ. It is an old theatre renovated into a truly happening venue featuring hidden gems like a record store with some incredible selections.
Uncle Ebenezer opened up the night with my personal favorite Phish song “Golgi Apparatus”. This got the crowd going and ready to dance to “Gotta Jibboo” which followed. The set was filled with Phan favorites like “No Me in No Men’s Land”, “Fluffhead”, “The Lizards”, and even included vocal heavy songs like “My Mind’s Got a Mind of It’s Own” and “Tela”. The epic “Tweezer” with a sax player was truly legendary.
They ended their set with a funky, spacey “2001”. The encore include “Cavern”, “Lonesome Cowboy Bill”, and the return of the sax for an explosive “Tweezer Reprise.”
Setlist: Golgi Apparatus, Gotta Jibboo, Stash, My Mind’s Got a Mind of Its Own, Tweezer, The Lizards, Tela, No Men in No Man’s Land, Split Open and Melt, Fluffhead, 2001
Long Island natives – Steve Vai and Joe Satriani (a.k.a. Satch) – legendary shredders still at the top of their game, joined cosmic forces on the iconic Beacon Theatre stage this past Saturday night (April 6) in a show for the ages. The concert, which was the 11th stop on their 38-date ‘Satch/Vai Tour’ which embarked on March 22 in Orlando, Florida, shook the historic venue nestled on Manhattan’s Upper West Side to its foundation as the long-time friends of more than five decades authored a master class in guitar instrumental compositions.
Steve Vai | Photo Credit: Michael Dinger Photography / Pit Perspectives
Like many of you out there, music became one of my greatest passions as a teenage boy in the throes of puberty. It was the mid-1980s, and bursting onto the scene was Steve Vai with his 1984 debut studio LP Flex-Able. This was an album that I listened to religiously on my Walkman (remember those?) while mowing neighborhood lawns for some spending money – money that I spent on buying more rock music, including the single “Yankee Rose” – an MTV hit recorded by David Lee Roth (DLR) for his first full-length solo LP (Eat ‘Em and Smile, 1986) – featuring the prominent electric guitar of its co-writer, none other than Steve Vai. Around this same time, the movie Crossroads hit theaters. This was an impactful film for my musical exploration, that in the climactic guitar duel, saw Vai play the part of Jack Butler (the villain who sold his soul to the devil for his fiendish guitar skills) against Ralph Macchio’s Eugene Marton (fighting to save his mentor’s soul). Fun fact. Although Macchio was able to paly guitar, both audio parts in the duel were played by Vai, showcasing his immense versatility as an axe-man.
Before Saturday night’s show, I had witnessed Steve Vai play live one other time. I was two weeks shy of my 16th birthday when I attended my second ever concert – DLR’s ‘Skyscraper Tour’ at the Hartford Civic Center (now known as XL Center) on April 8, 1988. Although I do not remember the experience particularly well, maybe because it was the first time I ever smoked weed, I still have the ticket stub to prove it! Vai would go on to part ways with DLR the following year.
Known by fellow guitarist for his intense practice regimen and music theory aptitude, Vai took the stage shortly after 8:00 pm where he unleashed “Avalancha” and “Little Pretty,” both from his tenth studio album (Inviolate, 2022), along with “Building the Church,” a number recorded back in 2005 for the album Real Illusions: Reflections.
Before erupting into “Tender Surrender” from his 1985 EP Alien Love Secrets, Vai introduced his talented touring band of Phillip Bynoe (bass), Jeremy Colson (drums) and Dante Frisielle (guitar/keys), followed by a warm greeting to the nearly 3,000 souls in attendance:
Oh, my goodness! What is going on here tonight in New York City? You look beautiful. It’s so nice to be out on this tour with Joe and it’s so nice to be here in New York City, my home. Well, my home for the first 19 years of my life, [and] I still love this city. Thanks so much for coming to the show, enjoy!
Succeeding “Lights Are On” (Modern Primitive, 2016) came my favorite part of Vai’s set, two more songs collected from Inviolate which saw the master immediately tear into a fiery “Zeus in Chains” and then break out his three-necked Hydra guitar (which he designed in conjunction with Ibanez) for the aptly titled “Teeth of the Hydra.”
Watch Steve Vai perform fan favorite and closing number of his set, “For the Love of God,” lifted from his second studio album (Passion and Warfare, 1990) below:
Satch, the professor and elder statesman to Vai by 4 years, was up next to perform the second co-headlining set and melt the collective faces of the sold-out Beacon Theatre with his instrumental rock mastery of the electric guitar. Similar to Steve Vai’s Flex-Able, I also discovered Satriani around the same time, when he dropped 1987’s Surfing With The Alien, his second studio album and one of the first compact discs I ever owned.
He led off his 90-minute set with “The Extremist,” the title track from his fourth studio album released in 1992, which showcased not only his guitar prowess, but also plays a mean harp too! With his second song of the night, the title track from Surfing With The Alien, I was transported back in time, to my childhood bedroom, as if I were listening to the studio take of this amazing song on headphones, but even better!
Joe Satriani | Photo Credit: Michael Dinger Photography / Pit Perspectives
Preceding the only snafu of the night, Satch tore through a career-spanning trio of numbers from his prolific discography comprised of “Satch Boogie” (Surfing With the Alien), “Sahara” (The Elephants of Mars, 2022), and “Nineteen Eighty” (Shapeshifting, 2020). However, before launching into “Big Bad Moon” (Flying in a Blue Dream, 1989), Satch’s guitar cable broke. As the band carried on without him via an impromptu “theme song,” a team of three techs did their best to resolve the issue, including swapping out his pedal board. Despite their valiant efforts, the song had to be scratched from the set as Satch jibed, “Forget about that other song, we’ll just do [the title track] “Flying Blue Dream” and get on with it.”
As Satch’s 13-song set headed for home, he gifted additional tracks from The Elephants of Mars (“Blue Foot Groovy”), Surfing With the Alien (“Always With Me, Always With You” and “Ice 9”), and 2004’s Is There Love in Space? (“If I Could Fly”). Next, following the introductions of his band – Rai Thistlethwayte (keys), Bryan Beller (bass), and Kenny Aronoff (drums), Satch addressed his loyal followers:
So, not too far from here, but a very, very long time ago, a little kid came to my front door. He had a stringless guitar in one hand, and a pack of strings in the other and was looking for lessons. There was something about him, I thought, this is gonna be fun. I like the look in his eyes. It looks like he’s got that passion and desire, even at 12 years old. I’m telling you the truth, at 12 years old, he had it. We quickly became comrades, with one goal, which was to just keep playing electric guitar as long as we could. And thanks to you, we were able to live that dream, and we’ve stayed best friends ever since. So please help bring out to the stage Mr. Steve Vai.
Joe Satriani & Steve Vai | Photo Credit: Michael Dinger Photography / Pit PerspectivesSteve Vai | Photo Credit: Michael Dinger Photography / Pit Perspectives
His pupil then returned to the stage for an epic encore jam comprised of “The Sea Of Emotion, Pt. 1” – a collaboration between the two buddies, recently released on March 29, that sees the two icons seamlessly trading solo sections – “You Really Got Me” by The Kinks and Metallica’s “Enter Sandman,” the latter two numbers rendered from their axes with a personal flair, of course.
Watch Joe Satriani perform the soaring and uplifting “Always with Me, Always with You” (Surfing With the Alien) here:
After the Satch/Vai Tour wraps on May 12 in Santa Rosa, California, Vai and Tool drummer Danny Carey will be joining the newborn supergroup Beat, additionally comprised of King Crimson’s guitarist/singer Adrian Belew and bassist Tony Levins. The foursome will be setting out on a special fall tour kicking off September 12 in San Jose, CA, culminating November 8 in Las Vegas, Nevada, paying homage along the way to the progressive English rock band’s trio of iconic studio albums from the ‘80s – Discipline, Beat, and Three of a Perfect Pair. If you are like me and cannot get enough of Steve Vai, he is featured on the May 2024 edition cover of Guitar World magazine (already in print on newsstands), along with an in-depth article celebrating the 25th anniversary of Flex-Able.
Up next for Satch is “The Best Of All Worlds 2024 Tour” with Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony and Jason Bonham. The tour, which will feature music from every phase of Hagar’s career (including Van Halen, Chickenfoot, and The Circle), runs from July 13 in West Palm Beach, Florida to August 31 in St. Louis, Missouri.
Steve Vai Setlist: Avalancha > Building the Church > Little Pretty > Tender Surrender > Lights Are On > Zeus in Chains > Teeth of the Hydra > For the Love of God
Joe Satriani Setlist: The Extremist > Surfing With the Alien > Satch Boogie > Sahara > Nineteen Eighty > Flying in a Blue Dream > Blue Foot Groovy > Always With Me, Always With You > If I Could Fly > Ice 9 > Encore: The Sea Of Emotion, Pt. 1 (with Steve Vai) > You Really Got Me (The Kinks cover, with Steve Vai) > Enter Sandman (Metallica cover, with Steve Vai)
UPCOMING TOUR DATES
April 10 – Collingswood, NJ @ Scottish Rite Auditorium
April 11 – Washington, DC @ Warner Theatre DC
April 13 – Northfield, OH @ MGM Northfield Park
April 14 – Rochester, NY @ Kodak Center Theater
April 16 – Detroit, MI @ Fisher Theatre
April 18 – Chicago, IL @ Chicago Theatre
April 19 – Cincinnati, OH @ Andrew J. Brady Icon Music Center
April 20 – Fort Wayne, IN @ Embassy Theatre
April 21 – Indianapolis, IN @ Murat Theatre (Old National Centre)
April 23 – Milwaukee, WI @ Riverside Theater
April 24 – Minneapolis, MN @ State Theatre
April 25 – Des Moines, IA @ Des Moines Civic Center
April 26 – Springfield, MO @ Gillioz Theatre
April 28 – La Vista, NE @ The Astro
April 29 – Salina, KS @ Stiefel Theatre
April 30 – St. Louis, MO @ The Factory – St. Louis
May 1 – Kansas City, MO @ Uptown Theater
May 3 – Austin, TX @ ACL Live at The Moody Theater
May 4 – Dallas, TX @ Music Hall at Fair Park
May 5 – Houston, TX @ 713 Music Hall
May 7 – Denver, CO @ Paramount Theatre – Denver
May 8 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Delta Hall at Eccles Theater
May 10 – Valley Center, CA @ Harrah’s Resort Southern California – The Events Center
May 11 – Wheatland, CA @ Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
May 12 – Santa Rosa, CA @ Luther Burbank Center for the Arts
Just eleven days after the release of their fifth studio album, Hoist, Phish arrived in Binghamton for a show at Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena, just down the road from the Broome County Forum. The show quickly became known among fans for a funk-filled soundcheck, as well as creative placement of “Little Drummer Boy” throughout the second set.
Students from colleges across the state – Cornell, Syracuse, Albany and Binghamton among them – headed down to Binghamton on this evening, making for a lively lot scene. The marquee reportedly read “Reba McEntire” with “Phish – Sold Out” below it, perhaps the muse for “Reba” showing up in the second set this evening.
The soundcheck of “Makisupa Policeman” was indeed funky, although a full recording has yet to surface. All that we have so far is the clip below.
A reported “really difficult ticket,” Binghamton is no stranger to great Phish shows, with an early show at Campus Pub in 1988 and two shows at Broome County Forum in 1992. This 1994 show would unknowingly be the band’s penultimate show in The Parlor City, with only the notable December 14, 1995 show following, leaving Binghamton Phish-less for nearly 30 years – aside from two Trey Anastasio Band shows in 1999 and 2014.
A venue upgrade, this would be Phish’s first show at Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena, a minor league hockey arena, just down the road from the Forum. Opening up with “Magilla” for the first time, the GA show would hold a few songs that are ‘jamcharts‘ worthy, as well as some fun with “Little Drummer Boy” during the second set.
A pre-chant version of “Wilson” would follow this horns-less “Magilla,” a unique listen now after nearly three decades of fans chanting “Willllll-son” with each intro guitar riff. “Rift” would be met with great cheers in a typical early Set 1 slot, doubling as the title of the band’s prior album to Hoist.
“Bathtub Gin” would feature notable improv, giving way to “Nellie Kane” and the first track of the night off Hoist, a ripping “Julius,” also the first track on Hoist. “Fee” featured a piano outro from Page McConnell that bridged the way into the now ultra rare “All Things Reconsidered,” last played in 1997 and deserving of a return to the Phish rotation. The “Stash” that would follow is not one to sleep on, featuring ‘a gnarly and heavy-duty power rocking jam’ that paved the way for “The Squirming Coil” and set break.
Set two would open with another Hoist track, “Sample in a Jar,” to a brief crowd reaction. A hefty “Reba” that is well executed gives way to the Frank Zappa composition “Peaches en Regalia,” pairing Zappa-esque with a true Zappa tune, with an ending that featured a tease of “Little Drummer Boy” before shifting into the now-retired “Big Ball Jam.”
The debut of “Demand” would follow, and while a “Split Open and Melt” jam akin to the Hoist version was not paired with the short song, it did serve as a perfect bridge to “Mike’s Song.” This version of “Mike’s” finds Trey Anastasio using his pedals to create other-worldly sounds that are at times menacing and metallic, accented by LD Chris Kuroda’s strobes flashing through on-stage fog. A breather would be needed in the “I am Hydrogen” that followed, particularly because “Weekapaug Groove” would be chock full of teases – “Little Drummer Boy,” a latter portion of “Divided Sky” and even “Dave’s Energy Guide.”
Closing out this fun filled set were a calming “Tela,” “Slave to the Traffic Light” which featured a serene build and an outstanding peak, capped off by a well placed “Cavern.” For an encore, the band would start without microphones for an acapella rendition of “Amazing Grace,” followed by “Highway to Hell” – likely not exactly what the fans in the front row were looking for when they were chanting for “AC/DC Bag,” but a heck of a cover to drop on fans just as the show was coming to a close.
Listen to the show from Binghamton here (second set SBD). Phish would head west the next night to perform at Alumni Arena at SUNY Buffalo – stream that show here.
Set 1: Magilla, Wilson > Rift, Bathtub Gin > Nellie Kane > Julius, Fee -> All Things Reconsidered, Stash, The Squirming Coil Set 2: Sample in a Jar, Reba, Peaches en Regalia > Big Ball Jam, Demand[1] > Mike’s Song > I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove[2], Tela > Slave to the Traffic Light, Cavern Encore: Amazing Grace, Highway to Hell [1] Debut [2] Vocal jam
Texas singer songwriter Ruthie Foster brought her incredible cross-genre versatility to a standing-room-only house at Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs on Thursday, April 4.
Combining a long set of her own songs of contemporary blues, Americana, gospel and country blues, including “Singing The Blues,” “Brand New Day,” and “4am” with her truly unique arrangements of covers like Pete Seeger’s “If I Had A Hammer,” June Carter Cash’s “Ring Of Fire” and Patty Griffin’s “When It Don’t Come Easy,” interspersed with crowd-pleasing stage banter that ranged from where the ideas for some of her songs came from, to family stories, she delivered a truly energetic show to a highly appreciative crowd in an intimate setting.
With her brilliant flatpicking and fingerpicking on a hollow body electric guitar, which she introduced as “Pearl”, she delivered her well-crafted original songs in a solo performance that matched the legendary intimacy of the room at Caffe Lena, giving the audience a clear understanding of what lies behind her multiple Grammy nominations, Blues Foundation’s Koko Taylor Award, and induction into the Texas Blues Hall of Fame.
The show marked the start of a six-month tour for Ruthie Foster, covering the US and parts of Canada, immediately followed with an April 5 show at The Folkus Project in Syracuse, with other shows in the region in Massachusetts and New Jersey. The tour is followed by a multi-day blues cruise out of Florida.
Ruthie referred to herself at one point as a country girl who grew up on a farm in Texas where she learned how to drive a car at eight years of age in the fields by sitting on phonebooks on the seat of her dad’s pickup truck, moving it slowly at his direction as farmhands loaded hay bales onto the back of the truck. She then segued into her beautifully fingerpicked rendition of Mississippi John Hurt’s “Richland Woman’s Blues” that brought her audience in for chorus sing-alongs.
Throughout the show, Ruthie’s energy fed the crowd and, in turn, was fueled by her audience’s response, both by her playing and singing as well as her eye contact and facial expressions. At the end of her single long set when she said she had only time for one more, she acceded to the the audience request of “Phenomenal Woman” saying “Okay, but that’ll be the encore,” and gave a stellar and moving performance that brought the crowd to its feet where they stayed and cheered until she returned for an a cappella gospel type tune with her appreciative audience joining in on.
There is something very special about a talented solo performance of well-crafted songs delivered to an audience in an intimate venue setting and this was just such an experience.
The Disco Biscuits came to the Town Ballroom in Buffalo over March 30-31 for two nights on theirWhy We Dance Tour. Just the night before they debuted their new album, Revolution in Motion at Webster Hall in New York City.
The Disco Biscuits have a rich history at the Town Ballroom, New York’s most underrated club venue. The room is perfect for the Biscuits as the many levels and circular setup makes a Disco Biscuits show there feel like an mini Bisco coliseum. They’ve played many great shows there and they added another on Saturday, while Sunday’s show was a more laid back affair.
On Saturday, the first night of two, you could tell the band was feeling great after a successful and probably pressure filled album release party the night before; as they looked to be in high spirits all night. Even though the previous show was all new songs, they still had enough new material to still have a good mix of old and new. The whole first set was a highlight, and was certainly up there with one of the better sets they’ve played in Buffalo. The room absolutely lost it when Orch Them appeared out of a stellar Buy The Time Jam. As far as second set highlights, Mindless Dribble > Fire Exchange > Confrontation was the meat of the set. It’s pretty hard to top ending a set with Confrontation, the crowd chanted along the words and all was right in Biscoland.
The Disco Biscuits have been trying their whole careers to blend live instruments and club music together, and it seems like they have finally perfected it in 2024. Besides setbreak, the music on Saturday did not stop once. The whole show was moving and pulsing forward, they didn’t get lost or falter once. Sometimes when bands focus too much on improv it can feel like the band is jamming just to jam, but that was night the case at all. The band played with purpose and direction, something that is hard to do when the majority of the night’s music was improv.
Sunday night’s show was a little bit of a step back from the previous night’s energy. Maybe the wave of energy crashed the night before, maybe they were in party mode celebrating Jon Gutwillig’s birthday, but they weren’t able to top Saturday. That being said, that’s what you get with improv. They are playing with such consistency nowadays that a show that let off the gas a little bit is still a great night of music. The improv on Sunday oscillated between dark and dirty Biscuits, some throwback trance and some happy Biscuits mixed in. I’m a sucker for happy Biscuits, and after a lot of dark, plodding improv throughout the night, the M1 > Cyclone section really scratched that itch for me.
The Disco Biscuits are playing lights out right now, so get your ass to a show if you can. They are due back in New York State for 4th of July weekend at their own festival Biscoland, just outside Syracuse.
Soundcheck: Wet, Mr. Don Set 1: Buy The Time 1 > Orch Theme 2 > Helicopters > Dino Baby > Rock Candy 3 Set 2: Bombs > Mindless Dribble > Fire Will Exchange > Confrontation 4 > The Deal 5 > Confrontation Encore: Rockafella > Helicopters
1 with ‘Boom’ (Tiesto with Gucci Mane and Sevenn) samples 2 with âPerfect (Exceeder)â (Mason & Princess Superstar) samples 3 ending only 4 Techno version 5 1st time inverted
March 31, 2024 – Town Ballroom – Buffalo, NY
Set 1: We Like To Party > Spacebirdmatingcall > No Recollection 1 > Pilin’ It High 2 3 > We Like To Party Set 2: Jam > Voices Insane 4 > Ring the Doorbell Twice > And the Ladies Were the Rest of the Night 5 > M1 6 > Cyclone > Spacebirdmatingcall Encore: Mulberry’s Dream 7
1 with âSidewindahâ (Gorgon City feat. Flirta D – Interplanetary Criminal Remix) samples 2 LTP 7/19/23 (50 shows) 3 Perfume version 4 unfinished 5 inverted 6 with âWatermelon Sugarâ (Harry Styles) samples 7 LTP 7/12/23 (55 shows)
He is one of the most underrated guitarists and producers to come out of the ‘70s British music scene. But now Phil Manzanera, best known as the long-running axe man for glam-cum-art rockers Roxy Music, is telling the story of his globetrotting life, in music and beyond, in a new memoir, Revolución to Roxy(Wordzworth Publishing)
Manzanera’s autobiography goes well beyond the usual, dumbed-down VH-1 “Behind the Music” rise-fall-rise template. As he states in his introduction below, it’s a very personal exploration of his life – one made as much for music fans as it is for his far-flung family.
“I’ve written this memoir for my English and Colombian family, dear friends and music fans, who have followed my musical twists and turns for over half a century. It spans from my 50’s childhood in Cuba, Hawaii and Venezuela, when everything seemed in the brightest technicolor, to grey but very cool ‘60’s London and the start of a music career that continues to enrich my life, some 50 years later. Roxy Music is an important part of the story and I will be forever thankful to the doors it opened for me to a global world of music and musical collaborations. But I hope you’ll find my family history every bit as fascinating as my music adventures, I’m proud to be related to a Colombian pirate, a spy and an Italian opera musician.”
On the musical front, Phil is best known for his 50 years with Roxy Music, from its incredible 1972 debut disc to its final 50th Anniversary tour. In the band’s early days, it was the two Bs – Bryan Ferry and Brian Eno – who sucked up most of the limelight. But it was Manzanera’s searing, melodic and uniquely treated guitar riffage that brought the fire to Roxy’s post-modern mélange, along with the Bonham-like thump of the equally-underrated drummer Paul Thompson.
Roxy Music “Ladytron” on BBC 1972
But outside of Roxy, Manzanera has plied a productive career as a solo artist, producer and collaborator. He has worked as a sideman, producer and songwriter partner with greats like Bob Dylan, Brian Eno, Robert Wyatt, John Cale, Split Enz and David Gilmour, both solo and in the final works of Pink Floyd. He also became one of the most prominent producers of Rock En Espanol.
The story of Phil’s much-traveled youth is one of the more engaging parts of the book. Phillip Targett-Adams was born in England to a British father and Colombian mother whose surname he would take for his life on the stage. His father’s work for a British airline company (and maybe as a spy?) would take young Phil to Venezuela, Hawaii and, most notably, Cuba where he witnessed the Fidel Castro-led revolution. He would become fascinated with the guitar while living in Cuba and make his first forays into playing while at board school in England, with the purchase of a Hofner Galaxie which he still has. There, he would form a musical partnership with bassist Bill McCormick which would fully flower in the collaborations with Eno and with an album by his immediate pre-Roxy prog band, Quiet Sun.
Manzanera’s memories of the early Roxy Music days will provide plenty of juice for glam music fans. Phil would fail his first audition with the band and get his signature “look” – the bug-eye sunglasses – when the band’s stylist pulled them out of a bag of accessories during the first album photo shoot. Wearing them while playing guitar would prove a challenge Phil would have to endure through the band’s early rise.
Roxy Music fans will enjoy his description of the band’s unique working style. The detail-oriented control freak leader, Bryan Ferry, would come up with all the music first and, only after it was recorded, would he write lyrics. After the basic tracks were laid down, Phil would take them home and work out different guitar parts on tape, which would then be assessed and the best recorded. He also discussed the inevitable parting of Eno from the band, perhaps due to the fact that Brian had much more success with the ladies than Ferry? We also hear how he purchased his signature guitar, the “Cardinal Red” 1964 Gibson Firebird VII. And also how he broke his leg falling off the six-inch platform shoes that were required wardrobe in the glam rock days.
As with all too many musician memoirs, Phil’s demonstrates how an artist’s fortunes can suffer from bad management. According to Manzanera, Roxy only received 5% of the monies earned from early albums, a sum that would be divided equally amongst the six members. It would be 12 years before he earned anything meaningful from his recording and touring with Roxy Music.
There is great context about his collaborations with Brian Eno on his legendary early solo album, their work in the band 801, the Quiet Sun project and Phil’s acclaimed early solo albums, Diamond Head, Primitive Guitars and K-Scope. It’s a tune from the last album than would pay huge and unexpected dividends decades after its release.
Phil would go on to be the director of Guitar Legends, a 5-day concert extravaganza featuring B.B. King, Brian May, Steve Vai, Joe Walsh, Jack Bruce, Keith Richards, Bob Dylan and many more, produced in tandem with Expo ‘92 in Seville, the birthplace of the guitar. His Latin roots would make him the choice producer for many of the biggest Rock En Espanol acts including Heroes de Silencio and the later solo work of its leader, Enrique Bunbury. Also discussed are the many productions created at Gallery Studio at his home in Sussex, St. Ann’s Court. These included latter-day Roxy Music albums like Avalon, their biggest commercial success.
Manzanera also elaborates on his extensive role as a co-writer, guitarist and producer for the post-Roger Waters era Pink Floyd and the solo work of its guitarist, David Gilmore. Phil would earn composer credit on tracks like Floyd’s “Learning to Fly” and producer credit on albums like their final work, The Endless River. He would serve as producer of various David Gilmour solo albums from 2006 – 2015, including On An Island, Live in Gdansk and Rattle That Lock. During Covid, he would remotely wax three albums with Tim Finn of The Split Enz.
Roxy Music fans will get Phil’s take on the many fits and starts of their career, including three big breakups and reformations through their final world tour in 2022 and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction. He compares Roxy to one of his vintage cars, a Rolls Royce, saying – It’s beautiful to look at, but very hard to drive.”
Manzanera’s biggest financial windfall would come not from rock but rap. That would arrive in 2011 when a beat-maker named 88 Keys would sample a guitar riff from a tune on his 1978 album K-Scope for use in a Jay-Z/Kayne West track, “No Church In the Wild” on their album, Watch the Throne. Manzanera was allocated one-third of resulting royalties and publishing revenue for the song, more than either of the rappers. The album went Gold in the UK and Platinum in the US, and the song was used in the film The Great Gatsby and various tv commercials.
In his book, Manzanera states that he earned more from “this brief sequence of maybe twenty notes” than he had in his 50 years with Roxy Music.
