I must have some amazing ticket karma currently, or perhaps a good plan along with a little luck. I spent the weekend outside of Pittsburgh, PA attending back to back nights of Dave Matthews Band concerts. If you recall from my experience at the beginning of the tour, I received a couple of free pit upgrades for showing my Volkswagen Jetta key. Even though I didn’t drive the Jetta to Pittsburgh, I still took along an extra key hoping for more upgrade opportunities.

My friend Will and I walked into the venue on the first night just as the opening band was playing their last notes. I quickly remembered that the VW girls were spotted during the set break, so we sprinted up the side of the lawn and immediately saw the distinctive VW blue shirt being worn by a girl holding a sign. She was walking away from us so we quickly ran toward her while yelling that we have a key. Guess what? It worked again, and we were rewarded with pit upgrades!

Unfortunately by the time we gained the wristbands necessary for entry into the pit, the standing room area was completely overflowing with people. Rather than trying to fight the crowds, we found another couple of friends that were down in the first ten rows of seats and were fortunate enough to watch the entire show with them. The people who had tickets for the seats next to theirs never showed up.

Finally got to use my tailgate for it’s intended purpose.

DMB Takes the Stage

A little too far for my crappy iPhone camera.

Awesome Light Show

Great Venue – take notes Riverbend.

When the second night rolled around all of my friends wanted in on the pit action. So we devised a plan to get in early and be ready to get as many pit upgrades as we could. I realized that they must start combing the lawn immediately after the opening band finished their set, so we found the VW booth and waited for them to work their way toward the lawn.

Apparently we weren’t the only ones with this plan, as the VW girls were quickly bombarded before they could even technically hit the grass lawn. A friend was told earlier that they couldn’t give out the tickets until they were on the lawn. Even with the large crowd we had no problem getting four pairs of pit upgrades for everyone in our group. Fortunately the pit wasn’t as crowded this night, at least not early on, so we all headed there to enjoy the show up close and personal.

I’m not going to make it to any other shows on this tour. However I would encourage anyone that is going to any future shows, be sure to find a VW key, get inside before the opening band finishes their set, find the VW booth, and be ready to get yourself an upgrade. I attended three shows on the tour and got the upgrade at all three.

Part Of Our Pit Group

Amazing Video Screens

Tim Reynolds

Great Views in the Pit

Lasers

Last night I finally got to see The Avett Brothers live. They have been on my radar since the release of the last studio album I and Love and You back in late 2009. For various reasons I never got to see them perform live, most recently it’s been the fact that they seem to refuse to play in Cincinnati. Fortunately they added a date to their current tour outside of Dayton at Fraze Pavilion.

Top Of The Lawn

It had been ten years since my last visit to Fraze, and I truly forgot just how intimate the venue is. You can see just how small the space is in the photo above that was taken from the top of the grass lawn. I don’t think there is a bad seat in the house, especially not when you get to enjoy the show from the front row of the Orchestra sections.

Early In The Show

The show itself was great! It started off a little slow for me with a handful of songs that I’m not very familiar with before they launched into “Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise” followed by “January Wedding.” I also enjoyed an early set “Paranoia in B Flat Major” before they played a five song tribute to Doc Watson who passed away last week. After finishing the 23 song set, including hits such as “The Ballad of Love and Hate,” “Kick Drum Heart,” “Laundry Room,” and the set closing “I and Love and You,” the band was quickly back on stage for a four song encore with “Talk on Indolence” and “Slight Figure of Speech” ending the show.

After Sunset

The show was easily over two hours long and I was still left wanting more. I hope that three more years don’t pass before I see them perform again. After the show was over I had the pleasure of meeting touring bassist Paul Defiglia, who happens to be friends with a good chunk of the group I went to the show with. They are playing Bonnaroo in about an hour from now, and you can watch it online, along with tons of other performances throughout the weekend.

I took a gamble and headed to the Radiohead concert last night at Riverbend. A friend had an extra ticket in the lawn, so I figure it was worth checking out. Many people regard them as a great live band, but unfortunately I just didn’t get it. I will admit that I’m not very familiar with much of their catalog, but only one song that I even remotely recognized was played. After glancing through the setlist, it seems that most of the material was from the bands last couple albums, which I have never listened to.

I will admit that the light show was pretty impressive, but it was a little hard to view many of the special effects from the lawn. The normally somewhat helpful video screens on either side of the lawn were terrible last night. Rather than alternating between shots of the band members the screen was always divided into sixths and filled with grainy imagery. Plus with Riverbends terrible sight lines from the lawn (can’t they find a way to support the roof structure without massively obstructive steel columns?), I could not get into the show at all.

Terrible View From Riverbend Lawn

Sometimes gambling on a show pays off, but it doesn’t always work that way. I can now scratch Radiohead off my list of bands to see and realize that most of their music is not for me.

Last night was one of those nights where karma was on my side. The Dave Matthews Band was in town for a show at the Riverbend Music Center, a place I have seen them play at seven times before, the last time was back to back nights in 2003. Last night was my 45th time seeing DMB play (including a couple of Dave & Tim Reynolds performances). I had tickets with my family in the lawn, surprisingly where I’ve sat for every other DMB show I’ve seen at Riverbend since 1997. In my more recent years I’ve really developed a dislike for lawn seats, but I figured hanging with my family would be a blast. It turns out that seeing a show with them on the lawn will have to wait for another time.

Free PIT Upgrade!

As we were all sitting on the lawn between sets my brother spotted a couple of people walking through the crowd with a sign advertising free pit passes for anyone driving a Volkswagen. At that point I was so glad that I had driven our ten-year-old VW Jetta to the show. I sprung to my feet with my key in hand and ran toward the pair. They saw me running and yelling from a mile away and even though a couple of other people were quickly approaching, I was awarded the pair of free pit tickets!

Sweet!

Since my brother was the one who spotted the sign he claimed the other ticket and away we went. Wristbands were issues to us to allow access to the general admission pit area. Once inside we made it to within probably ten feet of the stage. Toward the end of the show there were only a couple of people between us and the band. It was an incredible experience that I will not forget. Seeing the band perform at such a close distance after years of following them is remarkable. They way they interact on stage and with the crowd is something that cannot be experienced elsewhere.

You Never Know

My only regret was not having a better camera with me. I tried my best with my iPhone 3GS and I still managed to get some good shots. Here are another dozen of my favorites from the 70+ photos I took.

#41

Duel #1

Seven

Tripping Billies

Gaucho

Jimi Thing

Boyd

Two Step

Full Band

Squirm

Watchtower

Duel #2

Last night was the last Tunes and Blooms at the zoo for the year. It featured the The Turkeys along with Jake Speed & The Freddies. I’ve seen The Turkeys numerous times, though my show database indicates otherwise. Some of the band members are friends of friends. They always put on a great show, and last night was no exception.

The Turkeys

The Turkeys From Side Stage

In between acts we took a quick trip over to see the new Bactrian camel baby boy who was born this past Monday, the first at the zoo in nearly 30 years. Though he was just lounging around most of the time, we did see him stand up and take a quick drink from mom.

Baby Camel And Mom

Jake Speed & The Freddies closed out the night. It was my first time seeing this bluegrass style band, but surely not the last. They put on an entertaining show full of very dance-able music. I’ll be on the lookout for future shows of theirs.

Jake Speed & The Freddies

We attended the Cincinnati Zoo’s Tunes & Blooms last night. This event featured the Comet Bluegrass All-Stars and Magnolia Mountain. It’s a very family friendly event and Trey loved dancing around with all the other kids. This was our first time at Tunes & Blooms but definitely not the last. I think I’ll pack some food for us next time to go along with the beer for sale. Consider joining us in 2 weeks on April 26 for The Turkeys and Jake Speed & The Freddies.

Comet Bluegrass All-Stars

Magnolia Mountain

I’ve been listening to Of Monsters and Men’s album My Head is an Animal since late last year. The album was released in the band’s native Iceland in September of last year, but it was just released in the U.S. this past Tuesday, April 3. It is currently on iTunes for the very low price of $6.99. I would highly recommend picking up a copy. This is easily my favorite album I’ve listened to so far this year. You can listen to their hit single “Little Talks” in the official music video below, or in an acoustic live version even further down.

This year’s NOW That’s What Ed Calls Music is complete, better late than never.

1. Simplified – Shall We Begin
2. Gabe Dixon – Strike
3. Matt Nathanson – Faster
4. Stephen Kellogg & The Sixers – Gravity
5. Gomez – Options
6. Amos Lee – Windows Are Rolled Down
7. Motopony – King Of Diamonds
8. Will Hoge – Too Old To Die Young
9. Good Old War – My Own Sinking Ship
10. Needtobreathe – Drive All Night
11. Brett Dennen – Sydney (I’ll Come Running)
12. The Head And The Heart – Down In The Valley
13. The Civil Wars – Barton Hollow
14. The Decemberists – Down By The Water
15. O.A.R. – Dangerous Connection
16. My Morning Jacket – You Wanna Freak Out
17. Dawes – A Little Bit Of Everything

This compilation is available for download from sendspace.com (click the link toward the bottom of the page in the blue box) and from this site (this link will be much slower than sendspace). Please support these artists by buying their full albums and attending their live shows.

Last night Kim and I headed to Music Hall for Great American’s annual Christmas Party. This isn’t your average company holiday party, as they always bring in some big name talent for a couple of special concerts. This was my first time attending the party as we have always lived out-of-town in years prior. Kim did go years ago when she was a co-op student and remembers seeing Wayne Newton. Last year they had Darius Rucker and I think a year or two before that was Michael Bublé. The entertainment for this year was none other than Carrie Underwood.

We were treated to seats in the orchestra pit and even though we arrived just five minutes after the theater doors opened the only open seats we found were in the fourth row. This Carrie Underwood is one popular gal. Immediately upon her arrival on stage everyone had their phones and cameras out taking photo after photo of the stunning beauty. Throughout the hour and half set the audience was treated to a variety of tunes from her three albums and even a couple of Christmas songs. Between tracks the singer often showed her down to earth side with funny stories and brutal honesty. She was accompanied on stage by an eight piece band who all appeared to be well accomplished musicians.

Overall I enjoyed the concert, even though it isn’t normally in the style of music that I listen to. With that said Carrie Underwood does have an amazing voice and vocal ability. She seems like a very genuine person and she deserves all of the success she has earned. It is always nice to scratch a big star like this off my list of bands seen, especially when it comes at no cost. My only regret is that I should have brought a better camera.

I first heard last night that the Southgate House in Newport, Kentucky would be closing at the end of the year. I just had the privilege of going there for the first time a couple of months ago for Robert Randolph and was looking forward to many more shows in the ballroom. Sure it was dingy and smelly in spots, but the character of the space and the wonderful sound really filled a niche for Cincinnati. Not to mention that it was easily the best venue I have been to of this size (600 capacity).

A note on their website says that they will be opening their business in a new location soon. I read a blog earlier today hinting that the group could be moving into the old IMAX space at Newport on the Levee, but it seems that the theory has been all but officially denied. Either way it is still an interesting move for the Southgate management group. It’s a shame that this historic venue will no longer function, and I hope that the space is re-purposed into something new. It would be tragic for it to sit empty.