Reviews
The environment; the space you are in externally and between your ears can make music magical. It can also make music sad, stressful, angry and every other emotion you can conjure up. But that is what always brings me back to the feeling of magic. It’s like a smell. There are certain smells that take you places. A faint perfume as you walk down a busy street can transport you back to summer camp and a first love.
Widespread Panic’s nearly thirty-year-old traveling carnival of crunched-out jam rock is a spectacle that’s anchored by a faithful following that grows with each seasonal tour. Crafted in the shrieking southern-rock of the Allman Brothers Band and the improvisational mastery of the Grateful Dead, Panic resides among the upper echelon of jam bands, and they’re built to last.
I had a plan of action – a solution to obviate an habitual problem. It was a good solution, too. At least I thought it was. In the end, it turned out to be myopic and futile.
While NASCAR superstar and eleven-year running fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. captured an irrelevant win last weekend at Martinsville Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. was hard at work racing down the road. The first leg of the glam-pop duo’s fall tour culminated in a voracious three-band onslaught at the Fox Theatre in The People’s Republic of Boulder, Colorado.
Last weekend Greensky Bluegrass hosted two sold-out shows at The Odgen Theater in Denver, Colorado. The shows were nothing short of spectacular - with killer sets that match the energy and skill Greensky fans love. The two performances showcased their new album, If Sorrows Swim, released last September. On Friday, Greensky mixed a few of those new songs with old songs, and a few old classics to boot.
“Music has always been a matter of Energy to me, a question of Fuel. Sentimental people call it Inspiration, but what they really mean is Fuel. I have always needed Fuel. I am a serious consumer.”
Hunter S. Thompson.
Note from gratefulweb.com management: We sent Jake Bendrick on assignment on Oct 22, 2014, with simple instructions. 1) Complete your concert review no later than 11:30 PM and turn it indirectly. 2) Keep it to 1000 words. Rather than complying with our request, he disappeared until late Sunday night at which point he returned to our office stinking of hydrogen peroxide, those rubber hot water bottles that people sometimes use for sore backs, and some kind of horrible Apple Candy Schnapps that supposedly came from Mexico. He turned in what he is calling a “review” that is over 5500 words long and has refused to edit a single word. He claims to have contributed this article at “great personal expense” and has threatened legal action if we edit “so much as a single goddamned comma, of which there are few, you dirty sonsofbitches.”
You know how our dads will turn us green with envy while casually mentioning seeing The Wailers or Led Zeppelin live? Nope? That’s just mine? Well the disappointment and jealous expressions on my future children’s faces was what was playing and re-playing through my mind on Sunday night as Pearl Jam took the stage.
Greensky Bluegrass returns to The Odgen Theater in Denver for an epic two nights this weekend to showcase their new album, If Sorrows Swim. It’s been an incredible past year for Greensky, with a spotlight during the world famous Telluride Bluegrass Festival, and a shared headline with Railroad Earth and The Wood Brothers at Red Rocks Amphitheatre.
