Tampa Calling

(All photos by elawgrrl)

This past Saturday night, the Cuban Club Bandshell played host to a long awaited and twice-delayed show by the Avett Brothers. Once for the birth of Scott Avett’s daughter, the other due to a scheduling conflict as the North Carolina foursome opened for the Dave Mathews Band earlier in the summer. Accordingly, fans packed into the charmingly-neglected Cuban Club awaiting a trademark, knock-you-on-your-ass Avett Brothers’ performance — and they delivered.

The Avetts opened with a track from their upcoming release, I and Love and You (September 29, American Recordings) — “Laundry Room,” an entrancing song with a refrain I still can’t get out of my head. Then the band traversed through their entire catalog, with highlights that included “Distraction #74,” “Gimmeakiss,” “I and Love and You” and “Shame.”

As NPR’s Bob Boilen recently pointed out, Scott Avett sings as if he swallowed an amplifier. The long-haired, banjo thrashing hillbilly yells love songs at the top of his lungs. It’s a sweaty mess, but still ends up being captivating, raw and beautiful. The younger (and only other brother), Seth Avett, plays George to Scott’s John, Paul and Ringo, as the older Avett will sometimes take to the drum kit and keyboard. Often when drums are interspersed within a set, the music lacks punch and suffers inconsistencies — but the energy of Avetts made up for it. Not to mention the brothers, along with Bob Crawford on upright and electric bass and Joe Kwon on cello, pound the hell out of the back of their respective instruments. (Setlist and more after the jump…) Read the rest of this entry »

As an addendum to my recent column, “Traveling to see music without losing your money (or your mind),” I’ve put together this small group of shows and fests that provide some good selections for music-motivated travel. If you haven’t already made travel plans this summer, here are some of your best bets.

Grizzly Bear and TV on the Radio
Saturday, June 13, The Tabernacle, Atlanta
If you wanna go, get your tickets now — it’s a Saturday night co-headlining bill featuring of two of Brooklyn’s most hip and beloved bands, both with recent albums — Grizzly’s just-released Veckatimest, TVOTR’s fantastic Dear Science from last year — so the show will most definitely sell out. I would be at this show, front row, if I wasn’t just returning from a music-motivated vacation that same Thursday.

The Decemberists (pictured) with Andrew Bird and Blind Pilot
July 18-19, Edgefield, Portland, Oregon
The chamber rock quintet only comes as close as Atlanta and plays that date on Wednesday, June 3 — not at all convenient for a road trip unless you plan on taking that week off. But the tour also includes this appealing Saturday-Sunday run in Portland, and with whistling singer/songwriter Andrew Bird, and Portland’s own indie pop duo, Blind Pilot. Read the rest of this entry »