A Bloy and his Blog

Thanks to Muzzle of Bees, I discovered a recording of the excellent Ryan Adams & The Cardinals show I attended about six weeks ago. Here’s one of my favorite songs from that night, “Easy Plateau.”

This is an outstanding recording, available in lossless FLAC format, released by the Cardinals themselves. The entire show is posted in the audio section of the Internet Archive: Ryan Adams Live at Overture Hall on 2008-10-05.

What a great souvenir of a great concert. A must for all Ryan Adams fans.

Todd Rundgren and his band rocked Madison’s Barrymore Theatre last night, and I do mean rock. Oh and for those of you counting, that’s two big concerts in three days for me (it’s been a good week).

The show began in a big way with “Love in Action” from his days in Utopia. When the band repeatedly sang the line before the title phrase, “You can’t stop, you can’t stop…” I thought, what you can’t stop is the energy emanating from the stage. They played with a garage-band-like ferociousness, pounding out the power chords.

read the rest of: Todd Rundgren’s arena rock

Last night Ryan Adams & the Cardinals were in town, playing at Madison’s Overture Hall in support of their upcoming release Cardinology. Because of the venue, I expected good acoustic sound and I wasn’t disappointed. This could have been one of the best sounding shows I ever attended. Musically the band seemed to give it their all, playing for almost three hours (with a 15 minute break between sets).

The concert started off with two new songs, which went over fairly well with the audience. Next was a solid “Everybody Knows,” a pained and somber cover of Oasis’ “Wonderwall”, followed by another new song. By this point Ryan and the band seemed to be functioning like a well-oiled machine, and came to the first big highlight when they played “Goodnight Rose.” It included a wonderful instrumental jam featuring harmonizing guitars, an almost whispering chant of “goodnight, goodnight” toward the end, which segued into the signature musical riff of the song at full volume to finish.

read the rest of: Ryan Adams & the Cardinals’ marathon jam

Orchestra Baobab plays a laid back, Afro-Cuban style, and their show last night at the Barrymore Theatre was almost perfect for a beautiful summer evening. The band from Senegal has nine members: three guitarists, two saxophonists, and four people who spent their evening singing, and taking turns at the three percussion stations.

Orchestra Baobab sings in their native languages (Wolof? Mandinka? and some French) and I’m sure most of us in the audience didn’t have a clue what they were singing about. But that didn’t matter with the easy going groove their music had.

read the rest of: Orchestra Baobab’s laid back groove

Last night I went to one of the best concerts I’ve been to in years, when I saw Kathleen Edwards and her band put on an amazing show at Madison’s beautiful Majestic Theatre.

The concert began on a somber tone, with Kathleen playing the haunting “Alicia Ross” “Mercury” (from her debut album). She started by herself, accompanied only by her acoustic guitar. As it continued the other band members gradually chimed in, until all five musicians were playing in full force. By the end of the song I knew I was going to be in for a real treat. Just as that thought was in my head, the band confirmed my instinct and launched into the rousing and jangly, “In State,” a song from my favorite Kathleen Edwards album, Back to Me.

read the rest of: Kathleen Edwards and band amazing

Last night I went to see The New Pornographers perform at the Orpheum Theatre here in Madison. While the absence of Neko Case was disappointing for me (get better soon Neko, we missed you!), the concert was a good one. But I’m not going to talk about the whole show, if you’re interested Muzzle of Bees has a good review on their website. I want to talk about the encore the band performed.

After a good long set of music, The New Pornographers thanked the crowd and left the stage. Here it comes, I thought. It’s such a cliché, the way rock concert encores happen these days.

read the rest of: The perfect encore

From the African country of Senegal, Youssou N’Dour is perhaps the most widely known afro-pop musician performing today. He has achieved superstar status virtually everywhere outside of the United States. I have been wishing to hear him perform live since 1990 when I first read about him, and purchased his new CD at the time, Set. Last night, Youssou and his band, the Super Etoile of Dakar, finally played a show close enough for me to attend. Seventeen years of anticipation is a lot to live up to, but the charming master of mbalax (a blending of traditional Senegalese music/rhythms, afro-cuban music, and popular western music) exceeded my high expectations.

read the rest of: Youssou N’Dour performs in Madison