After seeing The Lone Bellow at the Bluegrass Situation Festival last October, it was exciting to attend another one of their shows, this time as they opened for The National at The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, California on July 28, 2016. It was a little disheartening to see so many seats still open at a sold out show as the band took the stage, but early start times at the Greek compounded with L.A. traffic seem to make this a regular occurrence at this venue. Nevertheless, the band played as if every seat was full. The Greek also has
Category: Concert Journal
The Song Where I Listen
On Wednesday, July 20, 2016, I saw Béla Fleck and Chris Thile performing at the Theatre at Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. I love this beautiful venue and wish I could spend some time roaming the theater and photographing parts of the decor (check out the link to their web site to see what I mean if you haven’t been there). Upon entering the stage, the two gentleman careened straight into the lightning quick number “Riddles in the Dark” from Chris’s album, Not All Who Wander Are Lost. (Yes, a young Chris was inspired by The Hobbit.) On its conclusion,
Nothing But the Moment
I headed south to The Observatory North Park in San Diego, CA on July 9, 2016 to see one of my favorite bands, Toad the Wet Sprocket, on their summer tour. I’ve been a fan of Toad since my first year of university and saw them in concert a couple of times at the height of their popularity in the mid-90s. As they are local to Southern California, it has been easy for me to catch their shows multiple times over the past few years. This summer they are on the road with Rusted Root, co-headlining shows and taking turns
Let Life Overflow
July 7, 2016 saw Sara Watkins in concert at Largo at the Coronet for the release of her new album Young in All the Wrong Ways. It is beautiful album that shows an edgier side of Sara than we’ve seen on her previous releases. The album was produced by Punch Brothers member Gabe Witcher and supported on the recording by other musicians who have also frequented the Largo stage, including Jon Brion, Sean Watkins, Tyler Chester, Jay Bellarose, and Benmont Tench. At the show, Sara played through the album in order and then tacked on a few favorites as a
I Bleed You and I Know You Know I Do
I was thrilled that Beta Play booked another L.A. show just a couple weeks after their previous one at The Troubadour. They played on The Hotel Cafe main stage in the middle time slot on Tuesday, June 28, 2016. They were once again playing with new drummer Joshua Daubin and so the set list was the same as at The Troubadour to cover all the songs he has already learned. No matter, it was a fantastic and energetic set list, including their best and newest songs: “The Way We Play,” recently released as a single on iTunes “Innocent,” from Only Human