Tomorrow is the first of three Dave Matthews Band shows I will catch this summer. I’ve been streaming all sorts of their music to get me ready for an awesome weekend ahead. There are tons of excellent videos on their own YouTube channel, take this clip from last year’s performance at Riverbend for example.

In addition to these official videos, there are some really great fan created videos as well. One of the best is @Copperpot5’s YouTube channel with tons of multicam videos synced with fan recorded audio. They compile shared amateur recordings, clean, deshake, and mix them together with others of the same performances. Some of the videos are even entire shows. I’ve embedded one example from another show I attended last year.

Sure the officially licensed professional videos are better, but these amateur ones aren’t too far off.

Saturday night I found time to go see one of my favorite performers from back in the day, Mike Perkins. This was my first time seeing him play in over six years. Fortunately the show was at the Mad Frog, a place I’ve seen him play many times before, and many of the songs were just as I remembered them, including some old songs from The Shantee, Perkins’ former band.

Mike Perkins & John Zuk

Joining Mike Perkins for the evening was bass player extraordinaire, John Zuk. Zuk is a frequent collaborator with Perkins and is always a treat to see him play.

With Brandon Vitruls of Jamwave

Opening the show was Jamwave, a band that I’ve been trying to see over the last several months. I met their singer and guitar player through mutual friends. After a late arrival, I only caught a few of their songs  but I liked what I heard. Their acoustic set with two guitars and a djembe was great, and I’m told their full band performances are even better. I’ll be on the lookout to see them again soon.

Throughout this summer on Thursday nights a new event is taking place at Washington Park, Bandstand Bluegrass. After last night’s performance by the Comet Bluegrass All-Stars, three events have already taken place, with twelve more to go through the beginning of September.

Comet Bluegrass All-Stars

Last night my family and I went to check out it. The awesome thing about this event is it is fun for all ages. The photo below was taken from the children’s playground. So even if you are running around the slides and swings with your little ones, you are still within range of hearing the concert.

Washington Park Crowd

Eli’s BBQ is also available every Bandstand Bluegrass night with $5 pulled pork sandwiches. And Mt. Carmel is on hand as well to provide refreshing beer to those of age. Be sure to bring a lawn chair or blanket as permanent seating is limited.

Eli’s BBQ

We had a blast last night and I’m sure we will be down again soon for another fun-filled evening.

Some friends of mine are helping to put on a brand new music festival in Columbus this summer. From the press release:

Prime Social Group is proud to announce details of the inaugural Breakaway Music Festival, an all-new concert series presented at Major League Soccer stadiums across the country. Each large-scale event will feature a genre-busting multi-artist bill spanning indie, EDM, pop, hip-hop, and beyond. Each festival date will feature a strong local component, highlighting a thriving local music scene. It’s “Your Field. Your Fest.”

Breakaway Music Festival will kick off on Saturday, September 14 at Columbus Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio. The lineup will feature a breathtakingly diverse roster, including Bassnectar, Empire of the Sun, Kendrick Lamar, Columbus’ own Twenty One Pilots, Porter Robinson, Tokyo Police Club, Schoolboy Q, Robert DeLong, American Authors, LA Riots, Stalley, Shreddie Mercury and more. The festival will also feature local acts CJ the DJ & Freaky Franz, Evan Oberla Project, Forest and the Evergreens, Jared Mahone, Kid Runner, Post Coma Network and more. Presale tickets will be available exclusively at breakawayfestival.com beginning Tuesday, June 18 at 11AM; general on sale will then get underway on Friday, June 21 at 11AM.

The festival will also take place at FC Dallas Stadium on September 21 featuring Wu-Tang, Empire Of The Sun, Matt and Kim, and many more.

For complete details, up-to-the-minute news, and ticket information, please visit breakawayfestival.com and facebook.com/breakawayfestival.

Last night I attended The Lumineers concert at Riverbend. It was a lovely night for a concert with temperatures hovering around the 70 degree mark. The show was originally scheduled for the much smaller and intimate PNC Pavilion on May 4, but was moved to Riverbend after tickets originally sold out in minutes.

Opening the show were J Roddy Walston and the Business, which I completely missed, and the Cold War Kids. I wasn’t familiar with the Cold War Kids at all, but their indie rock sound reminded me a lot of the Local Natives. Their latest single “Miracle Mile” is a good example of their sound at it’s best. I watched the majority of their set from the lawn and noticed that Riverbend has installed another projection screen.

New Project Screen

The Lumineers started their 80 minute set at 9:30 on the dot with their piano and drum driven song “Submarines.” The biggest shock of the night came when they launched into their mega-hit “Ho Hey” after playing just three songs before it. I almost expected some of the crowd to thin after this move, but the venue remained filled throughout their entire set.

I never really noticed it before, but lead singer Wesley Schultz sounds a lot like Bob Dylan. This was especially evident during a cover of Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues.” One of my favorite moments of the night came in the middle of their set when Schultz and Neyla Pekarek shared vocal duties on a new song. Pekarek can really sing, and I wish the band better utilized her vocal abilities.

The Lumineers

The second single from their debut album, “Stubborn Love,” was the second to last song of the set and was a high point of the night. The encore started with “Morning Song,” the last song on their album. Then came another cover, the Violent Femmes’ “American Music” which turned into a big sing along. The same was also true with the last song of the night, “Big Parade”

Overall the concert was a good one and was well worth the $35 ticket price. I still think that it could have been even better if it were at a smaller venue, where the audience could feel more connected. However I think that opportunity has passed since the band continues to sell out venues across the country.

A couple of weeks ago I ventured out to my first concert at a bar in months. It takes a good excuse to get me out of the house for a late night show, especially during the work week. Fortunately I had a great excuse. The Lone Bellow had been on my radar since I got my hands on their self-titled debut album a couple of months ago, and they were playing a free show at Mayday in Northside.

The Lone Bellow

This was my first time at Mayday, but I really liked the venue for the most part. It is pretty small and was the perfect setting for the 100 or so people in the audience for this show. Nearly everyone in attendance was quiet and attentive for the majority of the show, which is always nice to see.

The Lone Bellow took the stage around 11:30 and opened with arguably their best hit, “You Never Need Nobody,” which combines amazing vocal harmonies with soaring leads from Zach Williams. After just a couple of seconds of this song, I was hooked, and I bet the same could be true for many others. Take a listen to the track below.

With just one album of material, it would be hard for the band to play much more than the 45 minute set that I heard, but I definitely wanted to hear more. The Tiny Desk Concert below was very similar to what I experienced, but there were a few more touring members of the band on stage to fill the lower registers.

There were three other bands on the bill, two before The Lone Bellow and one after. I missed all the previous bands but did stick around to hear Ivan & Aloysha, a folk-pop, indie, rock band from Seattle, Washington. They were more rock than The Lone Bellow, but still had many similar elements including great vocal harmonies and even some sweet melodies.

As this was the last show of the tour, members of all bands joined in for the last song of the night. There were little sombreros for those on stage and at the end a piñata was brought out, which eventually spewed candy onto the venue floor for the enjoyment of everyone in attendance.

Tour Closer

Piñata Time

A week ago I took Trey to our first Tunes & Blooms of the year. We made it to a couple of the events last year and had a blast doing so. It is a great place to take children and loads of fun for adults too. There are still two more weeks left this year, so be sure to go and check it out. I’m hoping we can make it tonight, but I may be stuck working late. Admission is free after 5 P.M. and some of the animals remain on display for your enjoyment.

Shiny Old Soul

Last week’s entertainment was provided by Shiny and the Spoon along with Shiny Old Soul. I enjoyed both sets of music even though I wasn’t at all familiar with either band.

Blooms

Last year the tulips all bloomed before I had a chance to see them. But this year they were in full force, at least last week they were. I’m hoping that some of them are still hanging on. There are over 100,000 of them planted throughout the zoo and it is really a sight to see!

Heffalumps

We also took a detour over to see the elephants. Just as we approached their enclosure, one of the zookeepers appeared and spread peanuts for the big girls. The giraffes were also visible nearby and the baby born back in October is growing so quickly. Today is world penguin day, and they also happen to be Trey’s favorite animal, so we will have to go see them tonight, provided we are able to attend.

I’ve always thought that Cincinnati lacked a mid-size outdoor concert venue. In some ways the PNC Pavilion at Riverbend fills that niche, but it is terribly underutilized. Plus it has a roof over it, so you never feel like you are out under the stars. Enter the Horseshoe Casino’s new outdoor event plaza, “The Shoe.”

Event Calendar

This morning their summer concert lineup was announced. You can click the image above for a larger view of the calendar, or here is a full list:

• May 16 - The Killers – SOLD OUT
• May 21 - The Shins
• June 8 - Ke$ha
• June 9 - Huey Lewis & The News
• June 14 - Billy Idol
• July 6 – Barenaked Ladies, Ben Folds Five, & Guster
• July 7 - Alice Cooper
• July 19 – Willie Nelson & Family
• July 25 – Sugar Ray, Smash Mouth, Gin Blossoms, Vertical Horizon, & Fastball
• Aug. 23 - Chicago
• Sept. 5 - Jeff Dunham
• Sept. 22 - Earth, Wind & Fire

I see a few shows that I’m definitely considering attending. It looks like some of the shows will have reserved seating, while others are full general admission. I’m told the capacity is over 3,000. The Killers show was announced earlier this month and sold out almost immediately. Time will tell how the acoustics are and how the venue is configured, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Friday night I met up with some friends to see Al Scorch & The Country Soul Ensemble at Arnold’s. I had previously heard a few of Al Scorch’s songs but I was in no way prepared for the bluegrass ass-kicking that I received. I walked in just as the five piece band was getting ready to take a set break, but fortunately I had plenty of time to spare so I stuck around for their entire second set.

I squeezed in next to my group of friends that had arrived early to get a table in the back covered courtyard. There were very few empty seats to be had and quite a few people were stuck standing in the back. It seems that my friends weren’t the only ones who had already discovered this up and coming act.

Their sound is very much bluegrass but a quick Google search also describes them as country-punk-folk-bluegrass, which seems like a fitting description. Al is quite a master of the five string banjo, and the band was equally as talented. I couldn’t find much information on the band members but they were playing upright bass, acoustic guitar, percussion (including an awesome washboard), and violin.

The band is based out of Chicago, but seems to be making an appearance in Cincinnati every few months. I’ll definitely be on the lookout for Al and his band this spring. For now I’ll be enjoying this recording from the Daytrotter Studio.

This past Friday night I headed to the Taft Theatre to see Grace Potter and the Nocturnals for the fifth time since 2006. I can still remember my first show of theirs at the Wakarusa Music Festival that was so full of energy especially for a hot evening in Kansas. The second time I saw Grace and her band perform was at another music festival, Mile High in 2008. It wasn’t until 2011 that I finally saw a headlining show. However it never seemed to matter if it was a headlining show or not, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals were always ready to deliver a high energy rock and roll show.

Landhorne Slim & the Law

Opening the show this time around was Landhorne Slim and the Law. We arrived after they had already taken the stage for the 45 minute set, but I heard enough of their sound to say though I enjoyed it somewhat, I wouldn’t go out of my way to see it again. That’s not to say that they aren’t entertaining and accomplished musicians, because it seems that they are, but the alternative country style of music is not really what I’m most interested in.

Grace Potter on Keys

Though Grace Potter now plays a lot more guitar than she used to, she started off the night on the keys before launching into the opening track of the night the title track of her latest album The Lion The Beast The Beat. I’m not very familiar with this latest release but it is pretty clear to me that it is much more rock and roll than the previous release that was a little more on the pop side of things. I particularly liked the track “Runaway” from the latest offering, as well as an easy highlight for me, the always rocking “Ah, Mary” a track off This Is Somewhere, released in 2007.

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals

Other highlights in the main set included a short cover of Bill Withers’ “Grandma’s Hands” as well as Neil Young’s “Down by the River.” I also enjoyed hearing a quieter old track in “Ragged Company,” which was re-released with Willie Nelson as a bonus track. The set closing “Stop the Bus” had the sold out crowd singing along and wanting more.

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals

The encore started with the power ballad and chilling “Apologies” with soaring vocals from Grace. Up next was a solo performance on the guitar of Nothing But the Water (I) which went right into one of my all time favorite songs by the group, “Nothing But the Water (II).” Sure it is an always predictable combination, but there is no way one could be played without the other. This was followed up with their biggest hit from their self titled album from 2010, “Paris (Ooh La La)” which had nearly everyone up on their feet and dancing along. After the final song of the five song encore, “Medicine”, the band had played another 40 minutes on stage after an already lengthy set. What a night!