Allegheny Landing Park, Pittsburgh, PA.... The WYEP Summer Music Festival In Brief: The only old song Shocked played was "Anchorage"--everything else was new. But unlike many performers who are heavy on their latest material, she was so dynamic that no one seemed to mind. Erin McKeown sat in on guitar for about 4 songs. There were some technical troubles during Penn's set, but he still played well. "Long Way Down" was interrupted halfway through ("I'd like to soldier on," Penn explained when he stopped the number, "But it's hard to sing if I can't hear the guitar"), but I'm so glad he played it. He closed with "Walter Reed," one of my favorites of the new record.
Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ This was one of the most fun concerts I've ever attended. I've been to perhaps better concerts, on a number of criteria, but rarely have I enjoyed myself more at a show. post continues.... This was an outdoor concert at Deiner Park, a lawn built over Route 18 and overlooking the Raritan River. It was beautiful September night, with that sort of coolness which, when mixed with activity, is neither chilly nor hot. Mick Jones' B.A.D. II's album The Globe had just connected with the cultural zeitgeist in a way that he hadn't managed since his days with The Clash (and, at this writing, he was not to do so again). Fueled by the big-beat dance-rock sound that was soaring to ascendency during 1991 (in what was also to be effectively its swan-song, as the hammer was even then being cocked to fire grunge's gun square at American musical tastes), "Rush" was just then becoming Jones' only U.S. post-Clash Top 40 hit;...
Fox Theater, Boulder, CO...... Nashville's Blue Merle had one stellar song, "Burning In the Sun," which would be the centerpiece for the band's 2003 debut EP, their first single, and the lead-off track from their debut 2005 album Burning in the Sun . It didn't hurt that it sounded like Dave Matthews at a time when DMB and Matthews himself were in between albums. Unfortunately, the band wasn't able to capitalize on that terrific song and only lasted one album. (Guitarist Luke Reynolds would join Guster in 2010, a band I had seen in Boulder at the same conference the year previous . Camper Van was good. Jem and Graham Colton weren't very memorable. There was a bar right next to the Fox Theater called Players Club (formerly Tulagi), and for these radio convention showcase performances, conference attendees could go back and forth between venue to see the artists performing at each with staggered set times. Here's who was playing at Players Club this nig...
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