My yearly collection of favorite songs and newly discovered artists, NOW That’s What Ed Calls Music, is available for download from the links below.

1. Alabama Shakes – Hold On
2. Allen Stone – Sleep
3. The Avett Brothers – Live And Die
4. The Lumineers – Ho Hey
5. Holy Ghost Tent Revival – Telephone Wire
6. Hoots And Hellmouth – I Don’t Mind Your Cussing
7. Michael Kiwanuka – I’m Getting Ready
8. Of Monsters And Men – Mountain Sound
9. Old Crow Medicine Show – Levi
10. Gary Clark Jr. – Bright Lights
11. Dave Matthews Band – Gaucho
12. SoundRabbit – Sister, Brother
13. Mumford & Sons – Lover Of The Light
14. Ben Howard – Only Love
15. Kassidy – Oh My God
16. Glen Hansard – Love Don’t Leave Me Waiting
17. Alexander – A Million Years

This compilation is available for download from Dropbox and from my site (much slower). Please support these artists by buying their full albums and attending their live shows. As always I hope you enjoy the compilation and happy holidays.

Last night I took a midweek roadtrip with one of my college roommates to see the Dave Matthews Band play in Louisville at the relatively new KFC Yum! Center. Overall the arena was pretty impressive with good sight lines from all levels, tons of luxury boxes, and a nice acoustics.

Inside KFC Yum! Center

Jimmy Cliff opened the show and we walked in after he and his band had already started. Though we didn’t get to hear “I Can See Clearly Now” we were treated to a set closing combination of “The Harder They Come” followed by a drum filled cover of “Rivers of Babylon.” It was a great start to our night. I’ve seen Jimmy once before at the 2010 Mile High Music Festival and recall having a good time there as well.

Great Lights

Between sets we made a stop at the Woodford Reserve Club for drinks and after returning toward our seats decided to hang at the top of our section and stand for the duration of the show. There was a nice drink rail for us to use and we could see just as well as we could from our seats. No one ever asked us for our tickets, so next time I would consider buying a cheaper upper level seat and just stand at the top of the lower level.

Our View

The DMB set was a nice mix of new songs from their most recent release, Away from the World, and a sampling of nearly all of their previous albums. “Don’t Drink the Water” is always a great song to hear as the opener. I also especially enjoyed this early stretch of songs: “Seven” “#41” “Mercy” and “Grey Street.” The encore was also spectacular with “Christmas Song” segueing into “Halloween” and then finally into “Tripping Billies.” It was a killer ending to a great night of music!

Saturday night Kim and I headed down to US Bank Arena for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert. This was my first show of theirs so I really wasn’t sure what to expect. The moment the lights dimmed I knew we weren’t in for atypical Christmas show. I was already aware that their music was more rock-based that most holiday music, but it seemed that the rock aspect of their music was even more dominant live in concert.

Pyrotechnics

Besides the metal style instrument solos, their show was complete with a very impressive light show with loads of video boards, lasers, and even pyrotechnics! I think at one point there were even women dancing on stage similar to what you would see at a Mötley Crüe concert. I honestly didn’t expect it to be this over the top.

Impressive Light Show

Mixed between all the rock music was a narrator who was trying to tell some sort of “Lost Christmas Eve” story. However, I felt the story was more depressing than anything and wished they would have just stuck to the music.

Choir

Throughout the night, the band was joined by various singers and even a choir. The string section orchestra was on stage for most, if not all, of the performance. We later found out that the members of the orchestra were all local musicians who were selected to perform with the band during this tour stop.

Moving Trusses

At one point in the show, two of the musicians started rising up over the crowd on these really long trusses. Once the trusses were fully extended, each of the moved in opposite directions away from the stage. The violinist on the truss nearest to us eventually was over our section and I was looking straight ahead to him just feet away from us!

Well Hello There

After a couple of hours on stage and at the end of the story, the band and other musicians were introduced and then we were told that it was time for the second act of night. In the second act, the band performs a mix of songs from their catalog that had not been featured in the story. It was getting late for us and we still had to pickup Trey from the other side of town, so we called it a night shortly into the second act. Even though we had to cut the night short, I felt that I had experienced enough of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra show to leave a lasting memory.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra “Wizards In Winter” from Ed Paff on Vimeo.

Last week I mentioned going to the grand opening of the Microsoft Store at Kenwood Towne Centre. Well the real reason for attending was to get a bunch of wristbands for the O.A.R. concert this past Saturday for the opening weekend celebration. In the end I was able to get extra wristbands for some friends and family to get in, even though eventually they let anyone in to the concert without wristbands.

Parking Lot Stage

We arrived to find the opening act, Andy Grammer, already on stage. He is most famous for his song “Keep Your Head Up,” which closed his set of over an hour. He mixed in a few covers to keep the unfamiliar entertained, but I was surprised by how many in audience seemed to know so much of his material. Knowing just one of his songs definitely put me in the minority.

Since we brought Trey along for his second O.A.R. show, we spent the afternoon in the back of the crowd, where he was free to run around and have fun. Though I did catch him dancing along a few times, I think he was most entertained by the temporary tattoos that some workers were passing out. He even figured out who was giving them out and would go back to them (repeatedly) for more. I think by the end of the show he was pretty well covered from head to toe.

Tattooed Trey

Though I knew that O.A.R’s set wouldn’t be more than an hour and a half, I was pleasantly surprised to hear a few tracks in their set. “Light Switch Sky” and “On Top The Cage” are at the top of my list, since I hadn’t heard either of those in some time. The rest of the set was pretty predictable, but still the crowd really enjoyed it. For starters we couldn’t have asked for a better day, but to get to hear nearly three hours of live music for free was just the icing on the cake. Plus I was able to get a few meet and great passes for after the show so I could take Trey to meet the band.

My mom took a ton of photos from the event. Here are some of my favorites.

Over the weekend I had the opportunity to travel up to Miami University’s Millett Hall to see O.A.R. play. Though I have seen the band many times over the years I hadn’t seen them perform since the summer of 2011. That stretch of well over a year is definitely the longest time between shows since I started following them in 2000. Various things prevented me from attending one of their concerts this past summer, but I’m hoping it doesn’t happen again.

O.A.R. on Stage

Truthfully I wasn’t sure if I was going to go up to this show until a few days before. Liam, one of my roommates from college, and I had talked about it briefly, but when he offered an extra spot in his car for a ride to the show I knew I had to make it happen. We all had a great time at the show despite it being in a dry venue. The band was all dressed in costumes as characters from Revenge of the Nerds and some of those in the audience were dressed up as well.

NERDS!

One of my favorite things from the night was dusting off my old concert taping gear and putting it to good use. I think the tape sounds great. You can take a listen below.

Over the weekend I spent two nights at the MidPoint Music Festival in downtown Cincinnati, specifically the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood. Each night I started at the recently renovated Washington Park, which served as a great venue for the festival. A temporary stage was setup just in front of Music Hall, providing a really cool backdrop. I don’t know if there are extra noise restrictions in the area, but it seems like this space could have been better utilized with additional bands taking the stage rather than ending at 8 or 9 each night.

Washington Park Stage

The reason I would have liked more bands at Washington Park is that it is really big space. Throughout the rest of my late nights, I ran into some very crowded venues and was even completely shut out of the Emery Theatre for Ralph Stanley. Some of the bands that were playing at Grammer’s such as Dinosaur Jr. and The Walkmen would have brought a decent sized crowd to this space. The outdoor area at Grammer’s is not an ideal place to see a show, plus it could eliminate some of the walking if it wasn’t used anymore.

The Walkmen

Despite this complaint I still had a great time and discovered some really great bands. A couple of my new favorite are Hoots and Hellmouth and Holy Ghost Tent Revival.

Hoots and Hellmouth

Holy Ghost Tent Revival

I only managed to see about four full sets each night. Had I stayed out until the very end each night I probably could have added another couple of bands each night. However the last bus back toward home left before 1am each night. If I were to do it again, I’d try to convince a friend in the neighborhood to come along to split a cab home with me. Other than that I think I got a great taste of what this annual festival is all about.

MPMF.12

Yesterday I was informed that I had won a weekend ticket for this weekend’s MidPoint Music Festival thanks to 4EG and the Righteous Room. This will be my first time attending the eleventh annual festival. I thought about going last year, but couldn’t convince myself to fork out the money to do so. The lineup is a little more indie than what I traditionally listen to. However, now that I’m digging a little deeper into this years lineup, I’m finding quite a few acts that I’m excited about. The music kicks off this evening, but I won’t be attending until tomorrow as I have a prior commitment with my hockey team. Feel free to send any band suggestions my way for Friday or Saturday.

Thanks to npr you can now listen to the soon to be released album from The Avett Brothers titled The Carpenter. I’ve given it a couple listens and so far I’m really digging the lead single “Live and Die.” If I had to pick a second favorite at this time I’d go with the upbeat “I Never Knew You” though I think in time many of the softer songs will really grow on me. Songs like “The Once and Future Carpenter,” “Pretty Girl From Michigan,” and “Down With the Shine” could easily become my favorite track with more listening. The album is due out September 11th, the same day as Dave Matthews Band’s Away From the World and two weeks before Mumford & Sons’ Babel. September is shaping up to be an excellent month for new music.

Late Saturday night I received some saddening news, Evan Bliss had suddenly passed away due to a pulmonary embolism. Evan was the front man of the defunct band The Low Life who broke up in 2005. Since then he has been trying to launch a solo career touring under Even Bliss and The Welchers.

I think I was first exposed to The Low Life in early 2003, though the exact time frame is not clear in my mind. I do know that their album Thixotropic was released late in 2003 and I was a huge fan of it. It continues to be one of those albums I can dig out and listen to all the way through. Back then it received huge play in the summer of 2004 for me.

The summer of 2004 would be the only two times that I ever got to see the band perform. The first time on July 3oth at Peabody’s in Cleveland, the night before O.A.R.’s third annual Feeling Better Than Everfine Festival. I would then travel all the way to Washington D.C. to see them perform on August 21st at the famed 9:30 Club, my first and only time at the historic venue. That performance can be streamed below.

Their live shows were full of extended jams and improvisation. Their first live album, Repossess, was only 7 tracks, but still clocked in at over 67 minutes. It is also another favorite of mine that still gets frequent play. I wish I could have seen them play more shows than I did, but they were primarily stuck in the Mid-Atlantic region of the country.

Though I never met Evan personally, I’m told from friends who were fairly close with him that he was such a caring and compassionate person. It’s really unfortunate that he died at such an early age, but his music will continue to live on for me.

After two years of listening to Mumford & Sons, religiously at times, I finally got to see them perform live last night. They played in Denver back on Oct. 27, 2010, but I missed that show due to another commitment. They again played in Denver June 15 and 16, 2011, but I was already back living in Cincinnati at that time. Since moving last year, none of their very limited US tour dates have been within a four-hour drive. So when a date was announced in Columbus, I jumped on the opportunity to see them, even if it meant driving to the show by myself, which I ended up doing.

Setup – photo by my friend Wes

Originally the show was scheduled to take place at the LC Pavilion, a small (6,000 seat) amphitheater that I had only been to a couple of times before in 2002 and 2004 to see O.A.R. Once the tickets went on sale and sold very quickly, they decided to move the show to the parking lot behind the venue and to sell 10,000+ tickets. Obviously, a well designed amphitheater would be a much better place to see a show over a car park, as one of the band members called it. It definitely would have had better sight lines and would have felt more intimate.

Crowd – photo by my friend Wes

However, that is where my complaints on the night end. They actually did a pretty good job setting up the parking lot by providing two large screens to view the performers. They brought in numerous portable restrooms, beer booths, etc. Even with the large crowd, I never ran into any lines to get what I needed.

Dawes

Dawes opened up the show, and I made sure to get in early enough to watch their set. I’m moderately familiar with their latest release 2011’s Nothing is Wrong, and their track “A Little Bit of Everything” was included on last years NOW That’s What Ed Calls Music compilation. That song was the second to last song that they played, following it up with the equally as catchy “Time Spent in Los Angeles.” Marcus Mumford came out before both of those tunes to perform on “When My Time Comes,” which is off of their first album. I’ve never heard the song before, but I really loved the performance.

Mumford

Mumford & Sons took the stage around 9:30 after an introduction claiming that the next hours were going to be full of dancing and incredible entertainment. I had such high expectations going into the show, and fortunately all expectations were completely met. After leading off with “Lovers’ Eyes,” a track off of their soon to be released sophomore release Babel, the band launched into “Little Lion Man” and the crowd erupted. Throughout the 17 song setlist I don’t think the crowd stopped moving the entire time. Even during the quieter moments, the crowd was mostly respectful and silent.

All songs from their debut album Sigh No More were played except for the title track and “After the Storm,” which hasn’t been played this year. In addition five other songs from Babel were played including the first single “I Will Wait” and my favorite of the bunch “Below My Feet.” It is amazing how much sound the four piece band can produce live. All members are multi-instrumentalists, and lead vocalist Marcus plays a kick drum (and often kick tambourine) at the same time as guitar in most songs. He even sat down at the drum kit for “Lover of the Light.” A three-piece horn section was also added to some songs for an even bigger sound. This really stood out on “Winter Winds,” the second to last song of the night. Fittingly, they ended the night with their biggest hit to date, “The Cave,” leaving everyone in attendance wanting to hear more. I definitely will make an effort to see them again soon.