Something happened last night that hasn’t happened in over sixteen years.  My dad took me to see the band Rush, who has always been one of his favorite bands.  I grew up listening to their albums, and when I was eleven years old he took me to my first ever concert, which happened to be Rush.  We went again the day after my fourteenth birthday.  Both times were at the Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati, now known as US Bank Arena.  I don’t really remember much of those concerts, and prior to last night I hadn’t seen Rush in concert again.  So I don’t really have much to compare last night’s performance with, but I thought it was pretty awesome.  While they are definitely getting older, and the lead singer, Geddy Lee, can’t quite hit the same notes he once could, they are still very talented musicians.

It’s well-known that Rush doesn’t very their setlist throughout a tour, so we already knew what they were going to play.  This obviously takes away some of the excitement and anticipation out of the show, but I’m sure it helps the band to really play these twenty-four songs very well.  And one bonus that I hadn’t thought of before is that you can play your bathroom and concession trips around the setlist, which I did take advantage of last night.  One noticeable thing about last night’s setlist was that they played their entire Moving Pictures album in order from start to finish, thirty years after it was recorded.  Other highlights of the night included nearly all of their top 100 hits along with other favorites of mine “Freewill,” “Marathon,” and the first two parts of “2112.”

As I already mentioned, their musical ability is amazing.  For just a three-piece act, they sure can put out of ton of different sounds.  Neil Peart on drums is always an amazing site to see.  Many consider him to be one of the best around, and he definitely put on a show last night.  His drums solos create an entire song on their own.  Contrary to another great drummer, Carter Beauford from the Dave Matthews Band who is always smiling, Neil rarely cracks a smirk and appears to be very serious and dedicated to his craft.  Lead vocalist, Geddy Lee, is also the bassist and is quite accomplished in his own right.  And when he gets the chance, Alex Lifeson on guitar can really play a mean lead solo.

The stage was set with all sorts of props covering the speakers as the band often seems to do.  Their lighting equipment was really good, and they had amazingly high quality video screen taking up the entire back of the stage.  Both sets of music started with a comedic video starring the band members if various costumes, and there was even a video at the end of the show with the band members playing themselves in normal attire with cameos from Jason Segel and Paul Rudd who pose as Rush fans.  I was amazed at how many people not only stayed through the last note, but stuck around to watch the video at the end which must have went on for ten minutes.  Needless to say the show was excellent and I know that my dad had a great time seeing them at Red Rocks for the first time.

After three years, I feel that the Mile High Music Festival has finally worked out most of their kinks.  The layout of the stages was by far the best yet, with very little sound bleeding.  We never encountered any lines at the concessions, parking was easy, and the traffic after the shows was light.  We took advantage of the new reentry policy to grab jackets and extra chairs when needed.  Everything seemed to go very smoothly.  The only thing I would change now would be the lineup.  There were definitely some good shows, but also some disappointing ones.

Dave Matthews Band was obviously one of my favorites of the weekend.  The set wasn’t full of rare songs, but was a good variety of the hits and a couple of surprises as well.  Other good acts from Sunday included Weezer, Jimmy Cliff, Ozomatli, and Danielle Ate the Sandwich.  I was excited to see My Morning Jacket, however I didn’t feel their live show is as good as their studio recordings.  Train was also fairly good, and thanks to Doni’s obsession with them, I was able to get very close for a few songs at the end.  The Drive By Truckers also provided a decent set.

Saturday wasn’t as good of a day for me.  Things started off very strongly with The Motet.  However, I was not impressed with One EskimO or Nas & Damian Marley.  ALO and Amos Lee put on good sets, and after a rough start the Steve Miller Band put on quite the show.  Phoenix was another that I didnt’ particularly care for.  And Jack Johnson was as to be expected, good for a while but playing a bit too long.  Rusted Root didn’t sound very good either, or maybe it was just a bad spot for us in the back of the tent.

Overall it was a good weekend.  I’m sure I will return again next year, but I’ll keep my fingers crossed for an even better lineup.

The Mile High Music Festival is back for its third year.  This time our friends Doni and Phil are coming back to Denver for the festival, after taking last year off.  Just like last year, I have put together a spreadsheet guide for myself, which breaks the entire day into 15 minute increments.  This definitely helped last year, and I’m hoping the same is true for this year.  Though I can’t tell for sure, it looks like they have expanded the festival back to its original size the first year.  This should definitely help eliminate some of the sound bleed from last year.  The lineup is also spaced really well so that neighboring stages aren’t playing at the same time, except for the Wolf Stage and Bison Tent.  I hope this doesn’t become a problem like it was last year, but at least there appears to be a street between them packed with booths.  I’m really looking forward to this years lineup.  Obviously I enjoy the headliners, and there is a lot of midsize talent to entertain the days.

After including the Kings of Leon song “Sex on Fire” on NOW That’s What Ed Calls Music 2008, I finally made it out to see them play live last night.  Much has changed since late 2008, including the massive popularity of the band, along with a couple of other top singles.  I missed their performance at Red Rocks last summer due to Pig-Fest, though I’ve heard from multiple sources that it was a great show.  The Red Rocks show was sold out, so this summer they decided to move to the newly renamed Comfort Dental Amphitheatre (formerly Fiddler’s Green), which is around twice the capacity of Red Rocks.  Again, I’m told it was a sellout show, but there was plenty of room in the lawn where we stood.  I’m sure the nonstop rain yesterday helped to deter people from coming out for the show.

I met a group of friends at a nearby restaurant before the show started.  We had planned to get in early to watch the opening bands, but the rain forced us to stay inside and have another round of drinks.  We thought the five and six-dollar drinks were expensive there, but once we finally made it to the venue we quickly realized we’d be paying nearly ten bucks for beer for the rest of the night.  We did arrive while it was still drizzling, just before the Kings of Leon took the stage.  We were able to easily find a good spot on the lawn and patiently waited the start of the show.

The band took the stage with dueling canons erupting red fog throughout the stage.  The opening song was a familiar one for myself titled “Crawl” from their most recent release Only by the Night.  From there the band detoured into lesser known material from their earlier albums.  “Sex on Fire” came near the middle of the set, which was a little surprising, but it could be fitting as most people are likely growing tired of the song by now.  The sound mix heavily favored the bass notes, which normally isn’t a bad thing, but it left the lead guitar nearly inaudible at times.  I wish I could have heard the limited solos a little better.  Caleb Followill, the lead singer of the band, sounded great and his commanding voice is definitely what leads the band.  I also thought that the drummer, Nathan Followill,  was especially good last night.

The stage production was pretty good.  Though really simple, their massive light structure was effective and interesting.  It consisted off many randomly placed stage lights pointed in every direction, all in white.  I definitely could have used more color in the mix, but the cool part was that pieces of the structure would move up and down at various points throughout the night.  Going along with the lighting scheme, the screens showing the band were in full black and white.  It was done rather interestingly though, with what appeared to be rather cheap cameras constantly switching from one to the next, along with interesting angles and shots.  It sort of reminded us of an old video from a recording studio.  To cap off the night, the light structure collapsed on itself, accompanied by a series of firework explosions.  Overall it was a good night out watching a good performance.

Last night we headed up to Red Rocks to see O.A.R. with opener Citizen Cope.  This was O.A.R.’s third time playing at Red Rocks, and of course it was my third time seeing them play there, taking my grand total up to ninety-one.  I’m inching closer to one hundred, but I don’t see them anywhere near as much as I did while in college.  This was my third time seeing Citizen Cope, the other two times were in 2004 and 2005.  I’ve always enjoyed their music, but found their live show to be a little bit of a downer.  Last night was better than I remembered them sounding, with most upbeat songs, besides a slower stretch in the middle.

O.A.R.’s set was great!  I wouldn’t say that it was the best setlist ever, but the band sounded really good and were very energetic.  I’d image playing Red Rocks at any point in your career would be an amazing experience, and Marc definitely stopped at various points in the night to let the crowd know how wonderful it was and to take it all in.  Some new songs were played last night, one of which is titled “Light Switch Sky.”

Last June, O.A.R. asked [their fans] to help them write a song by submitting lyrics via twitter. After collecting submissions for 10 days on the @ofarevolution twitter page and much deliberation, the band chose 6 overall winners – 5 lyrical contributions, and one song title, “Light Switch Sky”. The band created the music for “Light Switch Sky” using the lyrics as their driving inspiration…”Light Switch Sky” [is] available for purchase at liveoar.com for just $0.99. All proceeds from the tracks purchased through July, 22nd 2010 will be donated to Paralyzed Veterans of America, an organization that works to maximize the quality of life for Veterans suffering from Spinal Cord Injury or Dysfunction (SCI/D). Paralyzed Veterans of America is a leading advocate for SCI/D research and education and veterans’ benefits and disability rights.

The weather was perfect, with very little wind and comfortable temperatures.  Often times the wind at Red Rocks can be bad, as it was for O.A.R.’s first ever performance there.  Last night it seemed that everything connected perfectly.  After the show Jerry mentioned that he didn’t think they could have played a better show.  That’s what I love to hear, leaving it all on the stage.

Sunday Kim and I headed to City Park for our first ever City Park Jazz concert.  We had often heard about this weekly event during the summer, but always seemed to forget about it or have something else going on.  This past Sunday would be different.  A friend of ours mentioned that she was heading that way while we were with her on Saturday, and we promised to show up.  Around five on Sunday we hopped on our bikes and headed toward City Park.  We arrived a little after the concert had already started and immediately were blown away by the number of people there.  I had expected a bunch of people, but the odd stage configuration left little prime viewing places.  Therefore it was odd to see people sprawled to all ends of the park, out of site of the band, and often out of range to even hear the music.

Before finding any of our friends, we enjoyed a couple of songs from the Manuel Lopez Trio.  Kim also decided to get a snow cone from one of the nearby vendors.  There was a wide variety of food offerings, though no alcohol sold.  That doesn’t mean that alcohol isn’t allowed, you just have to bring it yourself, as most people did.  Eventually we found our friends out in the far limits of the crowd.  They had brought all sorts of food to eat while sitting on blankets and enjoying the weather, people watching, and the occasional blast of music.  We had a good time, but it was definitely different from what I had expected.  The weekly event merely seems like an excuse to get together, and not actually the reason.  Perhaps if there were adequate space, the crowd would be more into the music.

As I mentioned at the end of last week, I traveled to Noblesville, Indiana this past weekend for two nights of shows performed by the Dave Matthews Band.  Kim and I both took the late evening flight out of Denver to Indianapolis.  Her parents and brother Nick met us at the airport and they were soon on their way to a nice family trip to Lake Monroe south of Indianapolis.  Shortly after their departure, a group of my friends arrived at the airport to escort me to the campground out in Noblesville, about an hour from the airport.  We didn’t arrive until sometime around two in the morning.  There were only a couple of guys still up at the campsite when I arrived, we had a couple of drinks, did some catching up, and then headed to bed with the others.

Friday morning came quickly.  Even though we had already setup nearly a dozen tents, we continued to have more and more friends arriving at the campground every hour.  I spent some time getting my tent ready early that morning, and decided not to put the rainfly on to let air flow through the tent to keep it cooler.  Besides, there was a zero percent chance of rain on Friday when I had checked a day or so earlier.  By early afternoon all of our friends had arrived and we spent the rest of the time before the show playing cornhole, ladder balls, tossing footballs, etc.  It was awesome to catch up with everyone, many of whom I hadn’t seen since our wedding nearly two years ago, and some even longer than that.

That takes us right up to just before six in the evening, when the doors of the amphitheater opened up.  We all headed over early to check out an amazing band, Elmwood, who were playing the side stage.  Many of my friends had seen them play before, in fact some where in Indianapolis the night before attending their show, but I had yet to see them.  Right away I was blown away by the amount of talent that was on display.  I already have one of their albums, and would highly recommend checking them out.  From there we moved to the main stage as Robert Earl Keen started their opening set.  This band doesn’t fit into the mold of music that I typically listen to, but I still recognized their talent and abilities.  It was neither great or un-great.

Just as DMB was scheduled to take the stage a little after eight, an announcer got on mic and let everyone know that there was a storm about to hit and that the show was going to be delayed.  Just after the announcement, the skies unleashed their fury on the lawn.  Fortunately my friend Fighty and I had seats in the pavilion so we remained dry.  However, I realized that I had left the rainfly off of my tent and that nearly everything I brought was going to be soaked!  The show was delayed for quite some time, but eventually the band was allowed to play and they still performed a full length set.  The energy that started the beginning of this set was amazing.  It all started with a crowd sing along of Sublime’s “Santaria” launching into the band taking the stage with “JTR.”  I believe it rained through much of the show, and that trend continued all night.  We walked up the lawn on the way out and it was a swampy mess.  Back at camp, some friends of ours had a large enough tent for a group of us to sit in for the remainder of the night.  And fortunately some other friends had an extra tent that I slept in that night.

Saturday was essentially a repeat of the prior day for the first part: more games, more conversation, and more drinks.  My brother and his friend Nick joined us for most of that afternoon, and also met us at the sidestage to see another Elmwood performance.  If it was even possible, I think their performance was even better this second day.  Toward the end of their set DMB touring musician, Rashawn Ross, was even there to catch the talented band play.  We skipped the majority of Robert Earl Keen’s set this second day to hang out at the sidestage area.  DMB’s set was not delayed this night, and it again started off great.  So great in fact that this is probably one of their better shows I have seen in many years.  Highlights for me include Stay or Leave, Recently, Warehouse, heck nearly the entire show.

The entire weekend was awesome, even though I now have a destroyed library book that I’ll have to replace as it didn’t survive my flooded tent.  By the end of the second night my tent and most other possessions had finally dried out and I was able to use the gear that I lugged with me all the way from Denver.  Even the storms couldn’t ruin our trip and it was so great to see so many friends again and catch up with all of them.  With DMB not going on tour next summer it sounds like we may have to find something else to do for our gathering.

The weekend is finally here, well at least for me. I am flying out of Denver tonight to Indianapolis and taking off tomorrow. After missing the Dave Matthews Band tour last summer, I will be catching back-bo-back shows this weekend at Deer Creek! I haven’t been to Deer Creek since 2007, but I don’t think much has changed. The area around the amphitheatre certainly has developed, but our group still camps at the Sleepybear Campground and always arrives a night early.  In fact some of my friends are already at the campground, holding spots for others.  I think in total we will have near twenty people in our group.  I haven’t seen some of these friends in years, so it will definitely be a great time.  Only three more hours of work and then the fun can begin!

Last night I headed back to Red Rocks for the second time this summer. This time we would be seeing Sting perform with the over forty piece Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra.  There would be no opening act, just the headliners performing two sets and a series of encores.  They played nearly a dozen of the hits to start and end the night, and filled the rest with some lesser known ballads. I definitely enjoyed the beginning and end of the performance better than the seemingly never-ending list of ballads. While a little sleepy at times, the orchestra really helped to bring the ballads to life for most of the show. It wasn’t exactly what I was expecting to see, but still a cool performance nonetheless.

With all of that said, Sting can really sing, especially for someone who is going on sixty years old!  And he really moves around quite a bit during the performance, though not as much as the orchestra conductor, who was bouncing around his platform nearly the entire show.  I would have preferred the entire thing to be a little more upbeat.  For example, “Roxanne” was rearranged to be a much more ballad type song.  I think many people like it, but I would prefer it in its original form.  However, there were a few faster and louder hits played, highlights being “Every Little Thing She Does,” “King of Pain,” and “Desert Rose.”  Notice that nearly all the songs I mentioned are Police songs, and not just Sting songs, so maybe I need to see a full show from the Police.  I’ll keep my fingers crossed for another reunion.

I attended my first concert back in 1991 with my dad. He took me to see Rush at Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati, now known as U.S. Bank Arena.  I was eleven years old and I still can remember the experience to this day.  That brings me to this weekend, we took Kim’s youngest brother, Nick, to a concert at Red Rocks.  He is only nine, so he is already beating me by a couple of years.  Not to mention that his future concert going experiences may never compare to the scenery at Red Rocks.  The lineup for the night started with State Radio, then Medeski Martin & Wood, and finally John Bulter Trio.  We arrived as State Radio had already taken the stage.  I’ve seen them a couple of times before, but I don’t remember liking them as much as I did this time.  I read that most of the songs they played were from their latest release, Let It Go, so I’ll have to be sure to pick that up soon.  Toward the end of their set, I took Nick on a walk around the venue.  We climbed the stairs all the way to the top and took in the great view.  I also showed him the inside of the visitors center.

We had seats in the twenty-fifth row, but once Medeski Martin & Wood (MMW) started, the music became too loud for Nick.  We brought along earplugs, but we couldn’t get him to try them out.  So we decided to move up and eventually ended up sitting in the very last row.  The sound was not quite so loud, and there were a couple of others kids nearby.  I actually like the view from up top, and we had plenty of room to spread out.  I had never seen MMW before, and I don’t think I will go out of my way to see them again.  I can appreciate completely instrumental music, but I really need vocals to be fully entertained.  Apparently I wasn’t the only one, as the general consensus in the beer line was that MMW should have played first and allowed State Radio to have an expanded set in the middle slot.

After a somewhat bizarre native american dance session, the John Butler Trio finally took the stage.  This would be the seventh time I’ve seen JBT and probably one of the best.  The trio was recently reconfigured to include older drummer Nicky Bomba and Byron Luiters on bass, and the chemistry with this incarnation sounded great.  The vocal harmonies have never sounded better, and each musician brings a unique quality to the older songs.  Switching band members is nothing new for John Butler, and I think it helps him to keep the songs and shows unique and interesting.  The show was scheduled to go until midnight, but they were behind schedule and it ended up going well past the scheduled time.  Nick did eventually fall asleep about halfway through their set, but he made it long enough to hear his favorite song, “Don’t Wanna See Your Face.”  I’m sure it was an experience he will never forget.