Tampa Calling

Shitty concert etiquette can destroy what could otherwise be an out-of-this-world concert experience. I’ve attended hundreds of metal, rock, and punk shows and witnessed all manner of drunken douchebaggery. The more intense the show, the more idiocy you’ll have to put up with.

I’m not a people person. I don’t go to shows to get shitfaced. I don’t go to shows to intentionally collide with people galloping in a sloppy circle while shadowboxing. There’s nothing wrong with either of those things, and I have no problem putting up with people who engage in them — I just want to enjoy an awesome live show.

Gogol Bordello played the Ritz Ybor last Monday. They were just as amazing as their last Bay Area appearance at the State Theatre, and I had an awesome time. Early on, however, I feared my evening would be ruined by the most egregious concert etiquette faux pas. An error so heinous it transcends rock shows and infringes upon normal everyday life: exceptionally awful body odor. Read the rest of this entry »

Based on sheer numbers, Bonnaroo is a beast.  70,000 people invade Manchester, Tennessee, making it the 6th largest city in the state for over three days. Now your average Bonnarooian is quite a bit different than   your typical Tennessean — full of booze, THC and god knows what else.  It’s a crazy place.

Where else could you find Jimmy Buffett, Ani Difranco, Snoop Dog, Al Green and Bruce Springsteen? For better or worse, Bonnaroo is biggest and baddest of the American music festivals. With 13 stages and tents, hundreds of vendors, and a pretend Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the well-oiled machine of Roo is now in it’s 7th year and going strong.

Simultaneously a radiant clusterfuck and glorious throwdown, it’s hard to imagine a bigger party. And with any party, there’s always the good, the bad and the ugly. For our purposes here, let’s focus on…

The Good Read the rest of this entry »

“I got to play with Bruce. That’s my hero.”

Trey Anastasio said that. After Phish jammed with Springsteen at Bonnaroo. The unlikely pairing joined forces for the R&B classic “Mustang Sally” as well as Springsteen’s “Glory Days” and “Bobby Jean.”

Added Phish bassist Mike Gordon, after witnessing Springsteen’s three-hour set at the festival, his first time: “It’s great to know that it’s not all hype or anything, there’s such a solid musician and songsmith standing there, and then to be so nice and such a gentleman at the same time.

Read a more detailed account.

Check out CL’s main music site.

Bonnaroo has averaged just under one death per year during its eight year run. Last year there were no fatalities. This year, a body of a man in his 20s was found by the cleaning crew on Tuesday after the festival. The body showed no signs of trauma, and police speculated that the man’s death was either drug-related or from a pre-existing medical condition.

Read more

Tonight, May 31, 2009, Phish returns to the road and kicks off the first leg of their summer tour at Fenway Park, home field of the Boston Red Sox and the oldest of all current MLB stadiums. Phish, the band that inspired this ongoing column (and changed the lives of me and everyone who reads this thing and plenty of others who don’t), will hit the stage at 6:55 p.m. and fill upwards of 30,000 fans (including my good friend AAAlex) with joyous satisfaction. (Screenshots of the first-night-back video — with Fenway’s organist playing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” then cracking his knuckles and launching into “Tweezer” while various appropos shots of the stadium flash by — after the jump.) The rest of us will watch from the sidelines, checking the regularly updated From the Road setlists, watching various #Phish Tweets from the show (my own not from the show here), and eagerly awaiting our own upcoming Phish adventures.

With a new spat of Phish shows to be reported on, Phish Saves America (PSA) is officially off hiatus. Not that it was ever really on hiatus, but I’ve admittedly took a bit of a break since Hampton, letting all the little Phish news bites fall through the cracks while I set some things in order. (Translation: I’ve been busy.) But the upcoming weeks will find both me and Tampa Calling contributor B.Treotch (also of Coventryblog.com) at several different upcoming Phish shows, which means plenty of coverage. B.Treotch will be at Asheville (maybe?) and Knoxville, and will serve as Creative Loafing’s on-site reporter at Bonnaroo with various Tweets and whatever else we can manage at the Tennessee fest, and a post-fest wrap with all the media we can manage. I will be road-tripping up to Knoxville in an RV with some Bonnaroo-bound friends and other taggers-on next Tuesday (look out for plenty of Tweeting and a post), then I’ll be hitting the last three shows (in Indiana and Wisconsin, respectively) the following weekend. The Gorge will follow in August if my husband and I can juggle the finances as planned.

But for now, let’s start with something fun — a “What If” of sit-ins that has Phish performing with a select roster of other Bonnaroo artists.

Phish Sit-Ins I’d Like to See at Bonnaroo: Read the rest of this entry »