28 Concerts / 55 Bands Through December 1
Between the last post and this post I'm all caught up with concert summaries for the year. I even went to one show since that post, which means my strategic ticket reserve has been emptied. I suspect I'll go to a few more shows before December 31 rolls around.
23. The Breeders w/Screaming Females - Cleveland Masonic
M loves the Breeders, but when this show was initially announced at the Cleveland Masonic she decided it was too expensive. She wasn't wrong; compared to the lackluster 2010 show I saw in the much smaller Beachland Ballroom the prices had risen considerably.
That would have been that, except that the Cleveland Masonic is under new management and apparently decided to aggressively try to get butts in the seats by giving away free tickets. There was a stack of at least 50 in the break room at my job, so I snagged four and took M, Helen and Tim to see them on Thursday, November 1. We also ran into many other people M & I knew, including Trevor, Tim, Judie, Beth, Camilla, most of whom had gotten free tickets themselves.
Despite that burst of free tickets, the Masonic was still very empty. That's too bad, because both bands were pretty good. The Screaming Females played a solid set that validated the "I should really listen to them" thoughts I've had for the better part of the last decade. The Breeders focused on the oldest and most famous stuff (or at least I recognized virtually everything) and it was in every way a better show than the gig I saw 8 years ago, which felt like I was watching a band practice instead of a concert. It still wasn't anywhere near as good as when I saw the original lineup of The Pixies in 2004, but it was fun.
24. Steve Martin & Martin Short w/The Steep Canyon Rangers - EJ Thomas
Since I summarized this show for the weekend of November 2, I've changed my mind and decided to count it as both a concert and a theater event, for one total band. You can score it differently if you like.
25. The War and Treaty w/Courtney Marie Andrews - Grog Shop
The War and Treaty album Healing Tide is kind of rough but full of life. I expect the husband & wife team will make better albums in the future, but for right now it was more than enough to get me out to the Grog Shop on Monday, November 5. Tanya apparently had a long career before this, but Michael was leading this show, with plenty of fun stage banter ("Before this I never sang for money, just in the church. Well, Jesus is going to pay me one day, but it's more of a long term investment, you know."), although there was some overwrought stuff on the power of love that got out in the weeds. The songs were fun, the full band had good chemistry (and a bass player who looked like a hobbit), and it's a shame that if you didn't count Michael's Cleveland relatives the Grog was largely empty. The album is making some minor impact (Buddy Miller produced it and Emmylou Harris sang on it) so hopefully they'll fill the room next time.
Their opener was a singer-songwriter named Courtney Marie Andrews who has been around a while and played with people I like, but on this night at least her live set was thoroughly uninteresting.
26. The Preservation Legacy Band with Wendell Brunious - Preservation Hall
I saw them in NOLA, as covered in the last weekend summary for Friday, November 9.
27. Booker T. Jones w/Nathan-Paul & Theron Brown - Music Box Concert Hall
Booker T. Jones is famous as the front man and organist for the M.G.'s, who were basically the house band for Stax and as such were one of the most influential bands of all time. He also had a solo career and played on or played on sessions for many other artists, including Bill Withers, Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan. He also turned 74 years old two days before the Wednesday, November 14 gig, so I figured that despite the very expensive ticket price I'd better see him now.
This was my first time in the Concert Hall portion of the Music Box, which like the Supper Club offers table service. Thanksfully, most of the attendees (virtually all white people as old as my parents) had were very attentive as Booker moved back and forth between organ and guitar and told stories about his time at Stax and beyond. He had a great banter technique where he'd start telling a story and then launch right into the song from the story. Since he's played with so many people, the set was mix of stuff from the M.G.'s and everyone else he ever played with. Regrettably he didn't really touch his most recent albums like The Road From Memphis, but that's about all I can complain about. All in all, it was a very solid nostalgia show that hit all the high notes. I'm glad I saw it.
Nathan-Paul & Theron Brown did a saxophone/piano duet to open. It was far from the worst thing I've heard.
28. The Cleveland Orchestra conducted by John Adams with Leila Josefowicz - Severance Hall
Last season I bought a season pass to the Orchestra so I could see John Williams. This year the only show I bought in advance was this one featuring composer John Adams conducting both his own work and those of Aaron Copland.
The first act (act? before intermission, anyway) started out with Short Ride in a Fast Machine. The program tells me the Orchestra last played that in 2012, and as it happens I was at that show, which featured Bela Fleck. It's a fun little piece.
This was followed with two from Copland: Quiet City, which sounded like something Miles Davis might have experimented with, understandably since it was originally written for a play featuring a jazz musician. I really liked this one. The second was Appalachian Spring.
The second act featured a performance of Scheherazade.2 with Leila Josefowicz on the violin. Since the part was written for her and debuted a scant three years ago, that's about as good as it gets. The piece sounds... weird to ears used to the 'standard' classical canon, but I found it to be fascinating. Even in a warm hall after a long day I was completely wide awake.
23. The Breeders w/Screaming Females - Cleveland Masonic
M loves the Breeders, but when this show was initially announced at the Cleveland Masonic she decided it was too expensive. She wasn't wrong; compared to the lackluster 2010 show I saw in the much smaller Beachland Ballroom the prices had risen considerably.
That would have been that, except that the Cleveland Masonic is under new management and apparently decided to aggressively try to get butts in the seats by giving away free tickets. There was a stack of at least 50 in the break room at my job, so I snagged four and took M, Helen and Tim to see them on Thursday, November 1. We also ran into many other people M & I knew, including Trevor, Tim, Judie, Beth, Camilla, most of whom had gotten free tickets themselves.
Despite that burst of free tickets, the Masonic was still very empty. That's too bad, because both bands were pretty good. The Screaming Females played a solid set that validated the "I should really listen to them" thoughts I've had for the better part of the last decade. The Breeders focused on the oldest and most famous stuff (or at least I recognized virtually everything) and it was in every way a better show than the gig I saw 8 years ago, which felt like I was watching a band practice instead of a concert. It still wasn't anywhere near as good as when I saw the original lineup of The Pixies in 2004, but it was fun.
24. Steve Martin & Martin Short w/The Steep Canyon Rangers - EJ Thomas
Since I summarized this show for the weekend of November 2, I've changed my mind and decided to count it as both a concert and a theater event, for one total band. You can score it differently if you like.
25. The War and Treaty w/Courtney Marie Andrews - Grog Shop
The War and Treaty album Healing Tide is kind of rough but full of life. I expect the husband & wife team will make better albums in the future, but for right now it was more than enough to get me out to the Grog Shop on Monday, November 5. Tanya apparently had a long career before this, but Michael was leading this show, with plenty of fun stage banter ("Before this I never sang for money, just in the church. Well, Jesus is going to pay me one day, but it's more of a long term investment, you know."), although there was some overwrought stuff on the power of love that got out in the weeds. The songs were fun, the full band had good chemistry (and a bass player who looked like a hobbit), and it's a shame that if you didn't count Michael's Cleveland relatives the Grog was largely empty. The album is making some minor impact (Buddy Miller produced it and Emmylou Harris sang on it) so hopefully they'll fill the room next time.
Their opener was a singer-songwriter named Courtney Marie Andrews who has been around a while and played with people I like, but on this night at least her live set was thoroughly uninteresting.
26. The Preservation Legacy Band with Wendell Brunious - Preservation Hall
I saw them in NOLA, as covered in the last weekend summary for Friday, November 9.
27. Booker T. Jones w/Nathan-Paul & Theron Brown - Music Box Concert Hall
Booker T. Jones is famous as the front man and organist for the M.G.'s, who were basically the house band for Stax and as such were one of the most influential bands of all time. He also had a solo career and played on or played on sessions for many other artists, including Bill Withers, Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan. He also turned 74 years old two days before the Wednesday, November 14 gig, so I figured that despite the very expensive ticket price I'd better see him now.
This was my first time in the Concert Hall portion of the Music Box, which like the Supper Club offers table service. Thanksfully, most of the attendees (virtually all white people as old as my parents) had were very attentive as Booker moved back and forth between organ and guitar and told stories about his time at Stax and beyond. He had a great banter technique where he'd start telling a story and then launch right into the song from the story. Since he's played with so many people, the set was mix of stuff from the M.G.'s and everyone else he ever played with. Regrettably he didn't really touch his most recent albums like The Road From Memphis, but that's about all I can complain about. All in all, it was a very solid nostalgia show that hit all the high notes. I'm glad I saw it.
Nathan-Paul & Theron Brown did a saxophone/piano duet to open. It was far from the worst thing I've heard.
28. The Cleveland Orchestra conducted by John Adams with Leila Josefowicz - Severance Hall
Last season I bought a season pass to the Orchestra so I could see John Williams. This year the only show I bought in advance was this one featuring composer John Adams conducting both his own work and those of Aaron Copland.
The first act (act? before intermission, anyway) started out with Short Ride in a Fast Machine. The program tells me the Orchestra last played that in 2012, and as it happens I was at that show, which featured Bela Fleck. It's a fun little piece.
This was followed with two from Copland: Quiet City, which sounded like something Miles Davis might have experimented with, understandably since it was originally written for a play featuring a jazz musician. I really liked this one. The second was Appalachian Spring.
The second act featured a performance of Scheherazade.2 with Leila Josefowicz on the violin. Since the part was written for her and debuted a scant three years ago, that's about as good as it gets. The piece sounds... weird to ears used to the 'standard' classical canon, but I found it to be fascinating. Even in a warm hall after a long day I was completely wide awake.