2009 Unity Tour: 311 with Ziggy Marley
Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
July 3, 2009

The Deal: 311 brings back it’s annual Unity Tour, this time with Ziggy Marley.

The Good: Ziggy Marley followed The Expendables and packed his hour-long set with plenty of his own stuff — “Look Who’s Dancing” and “Love is My Religion” among them, saving a couple of Bob Marley tunes for the end of the show, including “Is This Love?”

If you were looking for a greatest hits show from 311, this wasn’t exactly it. While the band did play a handful of their more well-known songs, the setlist was heavy from the band’s new album, Uplifter. They played nine songs from the new album, including one — “I Like the Way” — from the deluxe edition. The band sprinkled in some favorites, but saved a few of them for a medley during the encore that included “Do You Right,” “Hive” and “Stay Home” sandwiched between full versions of “Omaha Stylee” and “Down.”

The Bad: It looked a lot like the last tour — singer Nick Hexum once again wearing all white and resembling a milk man. And, on a related note, is it ever a good thing to wear your own band’s shirt in concert? Hexum was seen wearing a 311 tank top for a good portion of the show. The band all joined in on Chad Sexton’s drum solo, much like last year. The venue was about half-full which was not all that surprising considering the holiday weekend.

The Verdict: An entertaining show, but I wish they’d change it up a little more so it didn’t look so similar to last year. Aside from a new lighting setup, it felt like deja vu with Hexum all in white and jumping around as usual.

311 Setlist
1. Never Ending Summer
2. Beautiful Disaster
3. All Mixed Up
4. Mix It Up
5. Come Original
6. It’s Alright
7. Freeze Time
8. Daisy Cutter
9. Amber
10. Applied Science
11. Something Out of Nothing
12. Beyond the Gray Sky
13. I Like the Way
14. From Chaos
15. Hey You
16. India Ink
17. What Was I Thinking
18. Jackpot
19. Creatures (For a While)

Encore
20. Omaha Stylee
21. Do You Right/Stay Home/Hive Mash-up
22. Down

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

Loser Life If people aren’t sufficiently sick of seeing the whole Bastard Baby musical analogy yet, allow me to say that Loser Life could be the John Doe spawn of the Riverdales and Minor Threat, if, say, the Riverdales had also slept around with Black Flag circa My War, and maybe some random, mustached college kid with an armload of Suicidal Tendencies sides and the original vinyl of Zen Arcade. Fun shit, regardless. With Lowbrow, Meth Mountain. Lunchbox Records (Timothy C. Davis)

Benji Hughes Kid Crooner does a two-night stand at a venue that affords him serious home-court advantage. What that means live, as any who’ve seen him in Snug’s snug confines know, is a loosey-goosey Hughes free to wander off the script (and stage) because his crack East coast band – ex-Muscadine mate Stacy Leazar on bass, time-keeper extraordinaire David Kim, keyboards whiz kid Jon Phillips and guitar hero Peter Gray – is good enough to reel him back in. If you haven’t heard Hughes’ summer-iffic A Love Extreme yet – what the hell are you waiting for? With the Poontanglers on the 3rd, and the Troublewalkers on the 4th. Snug Harbor (John Schacht)

311 The rap rockers are returning on the band’s annual summer Unity Tour. This time around, they’re bringing along Ziggy Marley. While one hopes that an onstage collaboration would be done with some of the tour partners, I haven’t witnessed it the last two years. The band plays a variety of hits from their albums over a long set, but they’re sure to break out tunes from their new album, Uplifter, too. I can guarantee the new single, “Hey You,” will be in there somewhere. Now, if I could only guarantee that they would still end their show with “Fuck the Bullshit”… It’s just not the same without it. Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre (Jeff Hahne)

Sugar Glyder Sugar Glyder is proof that UNCC can produce more than architects and business majors. Following in the footsteps of other UNCC alum, The Sammies, Sugar Glyder seem poised to become one of the next big things in music. Surely it won’t be long before we hear them in the background while one of our favorite TV characters has a revelation, dances around in their underwear, or well, something. You’ll hear some tunes off the band’s new CD, too, since this is the release party. With Terminal Reynaldo and Atriumantra. Tremont Music Hall (Sam Webster)

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

311
Uplifter
Volcano; Release date: June 2, 2009

The Deal: Now in its 21st year of existence, 311 has released its ninth studio album and first disc in four years.

The Good: Throughout the years, the one constant has been the message of positivity and love of music which is apparent right off the bat with the first single, “Hey You.” The band continues with the lack of the rap-rock that they helped originate on the second track, “It’s Alright.” They find time to bring more of a metal edge in moments, but for the most part they’ve abandoned the heavy sound for more of a reggae feel. The lyrics were never something unbelievable in the arsenal of 311. The band’s always been about having a good time and I’m sure some of these tunes will be getting the crowd going during a live show. “Mix It Up” builds into a nice groove at the end that is ripe for a sing-along. “India Ink,” “Jackpot,” “Something Out of Nothing” and “Never Ending Summer” try to capture the distortion-fueled groove of Grassroots.

The Bad: It seems like ever since the band recorded “Amber,” they’ve slowed things down in an effort to appeal to the masses instead of sticking with the upbeat funky rap-rock that brought them legions of hardcore fans. The band’s recent albums have had a good single or two, but the rest sometimes sounds like filler. It’s not bad filler — even some of the less unique 311 tracks are better than a lot of the crap that’s on the radio these days.

The Verdict: Definitely not one of the band’s best efforts, but fans will be happy with a handful of the tracks. Check them out live on July 3 at Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre on the annual Unity Tour, with Ziggy Marley supporting.

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

Here’s a quick rundown of some of the new albums being released today:

311 Uplifter

Bourbon Crow Highway to Hangovers

Jeff Buckley Grace Around the World

Chickenfoot Chickenfoot (June 5 release)

Elvis Costello Secret, Profane and Sugarcane

Dave Matthews Band Big Whiskey and the Groo Grux King

Rancid Let the Dominoes Fall

Neil Young Neil Young Archives, Vol. 1: 1963-1972

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

311’s Unity Tour will once again hit the Queen City this summer. This time around, the tour will bring Ziggy Marley as a supporting act to Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre on July 3.

Tickets will go on sale later this month.

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

Unity Tour w/ 311, Snoop Dogg, Fiction Plane
Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
July 24, 2008

The Deal: 311 brings along Tha Doggfather and Sting’s son for musical variety.

The Good: Fiction Plane may not have had a big crowd, but they did their best to get the energy level up. Fans started filing in for Snoop Dogg and the place was rocking by the time 311 hit the stage.

Snoop played a variety of his hits — “Gin and Juice,” “Drop It Like It’s Hot” and “What’s My Name?” among them — snippets of some Dr. Dre songs and even a brief cover of House of Pain’s “Jump Around” during his one-hour set. No surprise that there was a giant pot leaf on the backdrop and the smoke came wafting in from the crowd once his set started. Tha Doggfather had his slow groove going as he bounced around in a blue jumpsuit. (Ric Flair was spotted in the pit up front signing autographs for a portion of Snoop’s set.) His Uncle Junebug was present as Snoop performed with a DJ and live band featuring keyboards, guitar, bass and drums giving a much fuller, live sound to his show.

311 played for an hour and a half as they played a set that featured a bunch of older songs. Although, when was the last time they had a few new hits? The band’s set was peppered with older tracks such as “All Mixed Up,” “Come Original,” “Feels So Good,” “Down” and “Unity.” Like last year’s tour, the band all came out during the drum solo on “Applied Science” for a five-way drum circle. They ended the show with encore that kicked off with a P-Nut bass solo and finished with “Creatures.”

The Bad: Few people were around to see Fiction Plane. A huge fight broke out on the lawn during 311’s encore. That’s about it… Although I’d prefer if the band cut back on playing their cover of the Cure’s “Love Song,” and would bring back “Fuck the Bullshit” for the encore.

The Verdict: It felt like there were two different crowds — the Snoop fans and the 311 fans. They jumped and bounced for Snoop, they sang along and danced for 311. Both acts put on a great show that left fans wanting more.

Setlist
Beautiful Disaster
All Mixed Up
Freeze Time
You Wouldn’t Believe
Taiyed
Love Song
Homebrew
What Was I Thinking?
Large in the Margin
Applied Science w/ Drum Solo
Purpose
Come Original
Don’t Stay Home
Beyond the Gray Sky
Unity
Flowing
Amber
Down

Encore
Bass Solo> Feels So Good
Creatures

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

The Unity Tour with 311, Snoop Dogg and Fiction Plane will stop by Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre on July 24.

No word on when tickets go on sale yet…

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites