Schenley Plaza, Pittsburgh, PA.... It was the 15th annual WYEP Summer Music Festival. Dr. Dog onstage Dr. Dog had released their seventh album, Be the Void , a few months earlier, their fourth consecutive release to make the Billboard album chart. They frequently play in Pittsburgh, so it was great to be able to host them for the WYEP Summer Music Festival. (They had visited WYEP for a Live & Direct Session on 3/1/2012, so it was good to welcome them back.) Great Lake Swimmers had done a Final Fridays show at Schenley Plaza in 2009, so they were returning to trodden ground after the release of their fifth album New Wild Everywhere . And Sharon Van Etten had also just released her latest album Tramp (coincidentally, on the same day as Dr. Dog's latest), which was the first of three straight album's she would get onto the Billboard album chart. See her SMF setlist below. Pittsburgh's own Donora took the opening slot, as the band had ch...
Mellon Arena, Pittsburgh, PA..... The P.L.E.A.S.E. Benefit concert for Hurricane Katrina relief. my credential from the show "P.L.E.A.S.E." stood for "Pittsburgh Lends Emergency And Saving Efforts" and was an attempt to raise money for the American Red Cross following the devastation of the New Orleans area in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. (80% of the proceeds were going to the Red Cross while 20% was donated to efforts in Western PA to help people still recovering from Hurricane Ivan in 2004. Around $100,000 was raised.) Many of the region’s leading names in multiple music genres came together several weeks after the Louisiana flooding, bringing out around 8,000 people for this unique show. Not only was the crowd entertained by the musical acts, but current and former Steelers players made appearances, including Franco Harris, Louis Lipps, Andy Russell, Craig Bingham, and Jeff Reed. (All the Steelers players whipped up the crowd talking up the team's...
The Haunt, Ithaca, NY..... Such a great concert. Richman was performing as a trio with the Modern Lovers, and that really made this performance head and shoulders over all all of the other times I've seen Jonathan . (I've seen him in a guitar + drums configuration, and you might not think simply adding a bass would really flesh out the sound, but it did.) Jonathan was touring in support of his latest album It's Time For , which featured one of songs that illustrates some of Jonathan's core principles that are foundational in his music: "Corner Store" (he re-recorded the song four years later for Jonathan Goes Country , but it was originally from It's Time For ). "I know it costs more money to shop there but this was love, this was love," Jonathan croons on the song's bridge. "I know you had to pay more money, I'll pay money, I'll pay more. I don't care what the mall has got, I want back that corner store." Modernity ...
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