8.7.2010 - Katie Herzig and Matthew Perryman Jones @ The 930 Listening Room

The 930 Listening Room in Louisville, KY was a very different venue from anything we've been to before.  It's actually located in an art gallery, that is in the same building as a church.  A pretty nice little place, even though we had to go through quite an iffy area of Lousville to get there.  The room that the show was in had a stage area that was raised about 3 steps from the floor, and nice rows of padded seating.

Larkin Poe opened for the co-headliners Jones and Herzig.  We've seen Larkin Poe a few times, opening for Brandi Carlile, and on the Cayamo cruise earlier this year, which I imagine is where they met Katie Herzig.  They are a couple of sisters, Megan playing the Dobro and Rebecca switching between acoustic guitar and mandolin, and an upright bass player (of no relation).  Their sound is a mix of bluegrass and country, and they have a really good stage presence.  The lead singer and acoustic/mandolin player, Rebecca, does most of the storytelling between songs, and does a great job of pulling the audience in.  This show was their last of a series opening for Katie.

Highlights from Larkin Poe's Set:
  • My Home
  • We Intertwine - from their new Spring EP, they are putting out an EP for each season this year.
  • I Belong to Love - Rebecca Lovell stated that this song is as happy as she gets
  • Suzanne - Rebecca said it took a long time to get the lyrics just right, as the song was about a woman coming between you and your man.  I believe the entire song consisted of the line "Suzanne, where you goin' with my man", but sung with real feeling
  • Bleeding Heart - a Jimi Hendrix cover
Up next was Matthew Perryman Jones - who, for the record, sounds uncannily similar to Griffin House.  It was just Jones and his drummer up on stage for most of the set, except when he invited Katie up to sing a song with him.  Jones has a great sound, typical singer/songwriter deep lyrics, with a twinge of melancholy in most of his songs.  He and Herzig are both part of Ten out of Tenn, a singer/songwriter group based in Nashville who each create their own music, and also support each other.  When they tour together, they benefit from each other's collaboration onstage, and expanding their fan base by drawing in the other's fans to shows and exposing them to the rest of the group.  Truely a great idea in an industry where it seems to be increasingly difficult to distinguish yourself from the crowd and get your name out there.

Highlights from Matthew Perryman Jones' set:
  • My Favorite Story
  • Breakin Out the Windows - from his album "Throwing Punches in the Dark"
  • When it Falls Apart - duet with Katie Herzig
  • Top of the World - a Patty Griffin cover, very poignant song
  • Only You
Katie Herzig's turn - we've seen her quite a few times - opening for Brandi Carlile, and also on Cayamo.  Her songs seem to be little enigmas - light and airy sounding, sometimes even with children's songs entertwined into thm, but with deep meanings and connotations.  "The Katie Herzig Trio" consists of cello player Claire Indie, and th multi-talented Jordan Hamlin, who plays accordian, guitar, clarinet, and who knows what else!  Katie played the longest set of the night, and probably one of the longest sets of anyone we've ever seen.  There was even a point where she asked the audience if they came to hear any specific songs, and then mentioned that she has a playlist which is more of a suggestion list.

Highlights from Katie's Set:
  • Oh My Darling
  • Forevermore - fairy tales interwoven
  • I Will Follow
  • Wasting Time - a newer song for the new album
  • Hey Na Na - written for the Sex in the City movie, but didn't make the cut
  • Fools Gold
  • Hologram
  • Sweeter Than This - one of our favorite Katie Herzig songs
  • Hologram
  • Where the Road Meets the Sun - with Matthew Perryman Jones - Katie told a story about the pair writing the song years ago, and they they wanted to do something with it and both of their computers had crashed in the meantime, losing lyrics and recordings, and neither of them could remember how it went.  Katie said one early morning as she was fallin asleep, she began singing the song randomly, and had to get out of bed, write down the lyrics, and email them to Matthew.  It was a really great song - we're glad she remembered it!
  • Wish You Well - seems to be the typical Katie Herzig closing song, sung with whomever she's performed with during the evening - meaning Jones and his drummer, since Larkin Poe had to leave right after their set.
It was a really great show, and aside from a stinky person sitting near us, the crowd was one of the best we've encountered to date.  Everyone was very respectful of each of the artists, and seemed to really enjoy the music.

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Sunday, August 8, 2010 Posted in | , , , , | 1 Comments »

7.25.2010 - Brandi Carlile @ The Kent Stage

The Brandi Carlile show in Kent was hands-down one of the best we've ever seen.  The Kent Stage is an old converted movie theater - really a pretty small, intimate place for a seated show.  This show had been sold out for a few weeks, and even a capacity crowd of 600 felt pretty minimal.

We got there a few songs into the opener, Good Old War's set.  These three guys played some good music!  Their vocal harmonies are really great.  I'd call their sound something like folky/country/rock.  I saw quite a few people sneak out in between sets to grab their CD, so we weren't the only ones who enjoyed them.  Really a great band to get the audience prepped for Brandi's set.

Then a very special treat - Brandi opened the show with "Again Today", a hidden track from her 2007 album "The Story" (and the song behind the name of her unofficial fan club - you probably remember the mention of ATers in the previous post).  In the 15+ Brandi Carlile shows we've been to, it's one of the few songs we haven't heard live - and it was perfect (even given the fact that I had to block out the girl next to me singing every word - good for you, you know the song, but I didn't pay to hear you sing it!).  Brandi then mentioned that she spent extra time putting together the set list since they had been to Kent just over a year prior, and didn't want to play all the same songs.  She also apologized if she was wearing the same outfit, since she couldn't find any video on YouTube to verify.

They also graced the audience with the completely unplugged version of "Dying Day", which is one of my personal favorites, and the outdoor setting for the Symphony show the night before didn't lend itself acoustically to performing that song.  The band also did "Shadow on the Wall", which is a rarity as well.  Somewhere in the middle of she show, she also told the story about how she was a superstar in Portugal for a while because "The Story" was the music in a beer commercial.  She was playing a giant festival, and one guy held up a sign stating "The story of my life is I make you baby".  Hilarious!

And if all that weren't enough, we also had the pleasure of hearing "Way to You", from the "XOBC" EP.  The band doesn't play these songs live very often, and it is one of my favorites.  We also got to hear the twins, Tim and Phil Hanseroth cover Simon and Garfunkle's "Sound of Silence".  Their harmonies in that song are impressive - and it was amusing to watch them try to be serious through the whole song while singing so close to each other.

After that, the mad rush of people toward the stage began - I'm honestly surprised most people waited that long!  Throughout the whole show, there was more of a conversational atmosphere in the theater - people really just saying whatever they thought of loudly from their seats.  Certainly not 100% the rowdy bar crowd, but not the usual super-subdued theater crowd either.  Could have something to do with the fact that it felt like The Kent Stage had no air conditioning...it was hot and stifling in there the entire time - thank goodness for a surprisingly cool and refreshing Midwestern evening outside!

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Saturday, July 31, 2010 Posted in | , , | 0 Comments »

7.24.2010 - Brandi Carlile and The Indianapolis Symphony @ Symphony on the Prairie

The Saturday night show for Brandi Carlile and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchaestra might have been one of our biggest highlights of the year. The first time Erica and I saw Brandi was when she played with the Louisville Orchaestra and it was simply amazing. And Saturday night, amidst the heat and threat of oncoming storms, Brandi did not disappoint us.



This was Brandi’s second night of a 2 night engagement with the ISO at Conner Prairie. The first evening included a longer set and also an appearance by Tiffany Carlile (Brandi’s sister) to sing “Calling All Angels.” Also, Amy Ray from the Indigo Girls came down from Chicago to catch the Friday night show and was gracious to a few fans who recognized her.

But I digress…for anyone who hasn’t been to Symphony on the Prairie before, what you must realize is that usually this is an event where people bring their kids, their wine, and their lawn chairs for a relaxing evening that just so happens to have music in the background. With this in mind, I’m not quite sure the usual symphony crowd had any clue about the sheer madness that can ensue at a BC show. It was fantastic.

The symphony took the stage and started playing “Sixty Years On,” an Elton John/Bernie Taupin classic that originally featured a brilliant arrangement by Paul Buckmaster. Since Elton is one of Brandi’s biggest influences, this was a perfect opener for this show and Brandi’s strong, emotional vocals executed the song perfectly.


Brandi then brought out the rest of the band and launched into “Looking Out,” which included some orchaestra arrangements. It was so great to hear some of the songs from the “Give Up the Ghost” album with the symphony flare. Of course, Brandi and the band had the crowd (and even one of the guys in the violin section) dancing when they began “Closer To You,” and then the Beatles’ “I’ve Just Seen a Face.”


Quick note: at the Symphony on the Prairie shows there is a little concrete section right in front of the stage, where normally people don’t really stand because the sound isn’t so great. Of course, with Brandi fans, the closer you can get, the better is normally their way of doing things. So, while we stood in the front for a while to snag some highly contraband pictures, we enjoyed being away from the stage to hear the fullness of the band and the orchaestra.


“I Will” was a highlight for us with the symphony, simply because the song has such powerful lyrics and it just worked so perfectly with the full orchaestra. Brandi and the band played “Caroline,” which we have only seen one or two times, since the piano arrangement was played by Elton John on the album and the only person who has come close to nailing it live was Vienna Teng on the Cayamo cruise. But the band did it sans piano and I was certain that Phil (Hanseroth, the bass player) was going to smash the guitar as he was playing it because he plays with so much energy!


When the band began “Dreams,” the group of fans called the “ATers” (for AgainToday.com, the unofficial fan community) treated Brandi and the entire crowd to a little choreography they came up with for the song.


One of my favorite moments of the symphony shows has been “Turpentine.” At this point, Brandi tells the audience that they are going to split them up and teach everyone the 3 part harmony in one of the bridges of the song. She has Tim Hanseroth (guitar player extrodinare) teach a part, Brandi teaches another, and Phil teaches the crowd the high part of the harmony, which always gets a laugh. The crowd then sings together and it is phenomenal…and as if it can’t get any better, the build up to the chorus with the symphony playing gives me chills every time. It is amazing. Brandi even said that when she gets to do symphony shows that she sometimes forgets the words because she just loves to listen and forgets that she has to sing. We could understand why…


“The Story,” my personal favorite Brandi song, again, sounded phenomenal paired with the symphony arrangement. Since the threat of the oncoming storm was among us, the set was shortened up with no “fake encore,” as Brandi calls it. The band launched straight into “Jackson/Folsom Prison Blues” and had the crowd dancing away. At one point, I looked over to see an elderly couple dancing to the song and it warmed my heart.


Perhaps the most phenomenal part of the show and the part I was looking forward to the most was “Pride and Joy.” On “Give Up the Ghost,” this song is powerful and is a bit “rock-opera”-ish. It’s dramatic and emotional…it needs a symphony to feel complete. And the ISO played it brilliantly.


To end the show, Brandi told the crowd that she knew this was a kid-friendly place, so she was trying to not swear. She wanted to end the show with a kids song and played “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” It was like the perfect ending to a perfect movie.


This symphony show did not disappoint us at all and I think a lot of people that were not familiar with Brandi before the show, are now interested in her music and what she offers to the music world.

Note: Perhaps the only thing missing from the show was “Cello-tallica,” a cello solo by Josh Neuman, but we would be treated to this on the next evening at the Kent show (that review is up next.)

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Wednesday, July 28, 2010 Posted in | , , | 1 Comments »

7.23.2010 - Jack Johnson @ Verizon Wireless

Friday night’s Jack Johnson show was our 3rd in a series of Verizon Wireless Amphitheater shows. It was another hot evening where you felt that no matter where you stood or sat or breathed, you were sticking to something.



First up was G-Love, with a simple acoustic-bluesy type set accompanied by the harmonica. G-Love was a great pick as an opener with his laid back sound and approach. We have seen G-Love once before, as an opener for Jason Mraz…so for Jack Johnson to pick this guy seems about right on par with what seems to be a new genre of music: the laidback sound. However, G-Love accomplished his mission and got the crowd in the perfect state of energy for Johnson’s set.

First, let’s talk about stage production…I loved it. The main component of the stage was a giant LCD screen that concaved around the back portion of the stage. During various songs, the screen would show the artwork from Johnson’s latest album, “To the Sea,” and included live video feed with black and white effects similar to the effects seen on the live DVD “En Concert.” It was simple, yet artistic, and was perfect for Johnson’s show.

It was great to see Jack play the electric guitar for a number of the songs on the setlist, especially since he was so widely known for his acoustic abilities. His last couple of albums have included more electric playing, so it’s great to see him play it live.



Now, I have to admit that I was a little late jumping on the Jack Johnson train. I bought the “In Between Dreams” album while in college and nearly wore it out. That almost tropic sound brought me lots of warmth or at least the hope of warmth while waiting out the Minnesota winters. Since then, I have widened my knowledge of his music. I love how it has evolved, even in the slightest of ways…from just full on mellow sounds to some of the heavier stuff on the new album, “To the Sea.”

Johnson didn’t disappoint the crowd and seemed to work the perfect balance of playing familiar tunes and new material. For instance, he played “Sitting, Waiting, Wishing” with a verse from “Just What I Needed” from the Cars and then launched into the title song “To the Sea.” He played favorites such as “Banana Pancakes,” “Go On,” “Upside Down,” and “Bubble Toes.” He even covered Bob Marley with a verse from “Mellow Mood,” and “The Joker,” by Steve Miller.


A highlight from the show was Johnson’s collaborative efforts with ALO, G-Love, and Paula Fuga. My personal favorites were “Country Road” with Fuga and “Better Together” at the end of the show.


All in all, the show was simple and well done. There was a great vibe among the crowd and the music was perfect.


It should also be noted that on our way into the show, we were handed bio-degradable recycling bags to put our waste in. Also, 100% of the profit from Jack Johnson’s tour are going to various charities. These facts, along with a solid show, have re-ignited my interest in Jack Johnson and his music. My first thoughts when I heard his music were “What a cool guy...” and I found myself revisiting that thought as we left the show that night.

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7.22.2010 - Chicago and The Doobie Brothers @ Verizon Wireless

Chicago and The Doobie Brothers is another one of those shows that wasn't on our radar until I got a "free" lawn ticket for giving blood at work.  I say "free" because I still had to pay facility fees of $7 at the gate, which is annoying, but still cheap.  Since it had poured down rain earlier in the day, the lawn was pretty mushy, so we upgraded to pavillion seats.

Certainly a different crowd than we are used to seeing - more middle-aged and up people attending this one - not surprising considering the Doobies and Chicago have been rocking for 4 decades or so now.  Nonetheless, our seats happened to magically be right in front of the row of drunken frat-boys who wanted everyone in the ampitheater to hear their ridiculous conversations.  About two songs into the set, we went to grab a drink and then sat in the mostly empty section of seats next to us to avoid dealing with them all night.  People like this are the bane of our concert-going existence...but I digress.

Before this show, I honestly couldn't have named a single song by The Doobie Brothers.  As they kicked off the show, I heard a few familiar ones, like "Black Water".  They got the crowd into their music, and there was a large contingent of 40-something men rocking out to them, giant cans of beer raised up over theirs heads in full worship mode.

Then it was time for Chicago to take the stage.  The first thing we noticed about them is how they all had on their designer-looking jeans and tight t-shirts - it looked like we had walked into a convention of youth pastors.  Not helping the matter any, some of them including the lead singer, who I'll refer to as not-Peter Cetera, were using headset mics instead of actual mics on floor stands.  It just made things seem cheesy and reminiscent of a musical instead of a rock show.  And I think the lead singer was attempting his best Peter Cetera imitation, instead of using his natural singing voice.  I have also never seen another band, large or small, plug themselves and a new album as much as Chicago did on

They did some of the big (well, what I consider big) Chicago hits from the past, like a medly of "Hard Habit to Break" and "You're the Inspiration", and nearer the end of their set"Saturday in the Park", "Hard to Say I'm Sorry".  Then The Doobie Brothers joined Chicago back onstage for the encore portion of the show, where the bands played each other's songs.  They played Chicago's "I Just Wanna Be Free", The Doobies' "Takin' It To the Streets" which included some weird little choreographed moves.  "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is" by Chicago, and "Listen to the Music" by The Doobies rounded out the show.  The encore was by far my favorite part - most people knew all of the songs, were singing along, and the bands both had great energy.

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7.20.2010 - Lilith Fair @ Verizon Wireless

Lilith Fair was a late addition to the Indy Live Music concert schedule.  The deciding factor was the offer of free lawn tickets from the Hamilton Town Center Verizon Wireless store in exchange for an old cell phone for their HopeLine project, which provides the phones to victims of domestic violence.  It's a worthy cause, and it is hard to pass up free tickets!

Lilith started around 2:30, but unfortunatly Mel and I had to put in full days at the 9 - 5 first, so we arrived around 6:00.  In the pouring rain - not exactly ideal for lawn seating, eh?  Since the economy is such that Verizon has been struggling to fill seats at concerts this year, they've been offering $10 upgrades to pavillion seats at a lot of shows.  We took this option to escape the rain, and were soon shedding our fashion-forward blue plastic ponchos and settling into our seats at the back of the pavillion.  While we were finding our seats, we caught the very end of Suzanne Vega's set and heard her sing her hit "Tom's Diner".

After a quick gear change on stage, it was time for Courtyard Hounds to rock Lilith.  If you haven't given this duo a listen yet, I recommend you do so.  Don't worry if you didn't like The Dixie Chicks - Courtyard Hounds are a TON better, and have a different sound.  Some songs are more rock, some evoke the country/bluegrass feel with a fiddle and banjo to the set, but they are all good and worthy of a listen.  There was no mention of The Dixie Chicks until Mary J Blige accidentally made reference to the old name during her set.
Next up was Miranda Lambert.  She has the most country sound of the acts we saw on the Main Stage - a little more mainstream-y radio-ready country.  You can tell that she has a great time onstage - dancing, playfully attacking bandmates (Mel's quote "She's crazy!"), spinning around with arms wide open, telling stories about how she's a partier but knows God is listening when she lays her head down at night.  Just a fun, high energy show.  As a side note, her fiance, Blake Shelton, was hanging out on the side of the stage watching her entire performance.  After the show ended, while the crew was trying to pack up equipment, they were on the side of the stage playfully flirting/making-out.  So there's your report on what's going on with one of country music's hottest couples (are they?  I don't know...), if you're into that sort of thing.


Mary J. Blige took the stage next, and blew everyone away with her voice.  She did covers of both U2's "One", and Led Zepplin's "Stairway to Heaven", which she has recorded and put out as a single.  She talked about how amazing it was that one of the biggest rock bands of all time allowed her to use their song.  We expected her to have a bit of a diva attitude, but she instead came off as very connected to the messages in her music, and the energy of the audience.  More people were on their feet with hands in the air throughout her set than any other.  She did a fantastic job of drawing the audience in, and truely expressing her gratitude to everyone for coming, and for Sarah and all of the other female artists for making Lilith possible.

And last but certainly not least, it was time for Sarah McLachlan to take the front-and-center spot in front of a very expectant audience.  She wasted no tim taking a seat at her grand piano and performing a flawless version of "Angel".  Then she stepped up to the front of the stage to sing "Building a Mystery", and her new single "Loving You is Easy".  One of my personal favorites, "Stupid" was up next, followed by "World on Fire", "I Will Remember You", another new song that I didn't catch the name of, "Adia", "Out of Tune", "Sweet Surrender", and "Possession".  She then thanked everyone, and left the stage, but no one moved in anticipation of an encore.  Sarah didn't disappoint - she came back out to sing "Ice Cream", then brought all of the ladies who performed on all the three stages to sing their own version of "Because the Night" by the Patty Smith Group.  It was a great ending to a great evening.


Just a few observations about Lilith in general - this festival was WAY under-promoted.  It took until the Thursday before Lilith for radio and television commercials to pop up.  Several shows across the country had to be cancelled due to low ticket sales.  I think this could have been a cash cow if it had been properly marketed, billed as an epic return of something so different from all other music festivals in that it was a celebration of women in music.  We had a great time seeing such powerful female artists all in one place over just a few hours.  There were plenty of vendors and sponsors set up in tents giving away freebies and conducting contests for festival-goers.  Lilith Fair was an all-around great way to spend a day, and I hope it can find the proper support and marketing to continue to be a platform for strong female artists for years to come.  I know we'd certainly be there cheering them on.

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Wednesday, July 21, 2010 Posted in | , , , , , , , | 0 Comments »

7.17.10 - Civil Twilight and The Paper Tongues @ Radio Radio

Saturday night's show at Radio Radio with Civil Twilight and the Paper Tongues was a high energy show filled with new music for us and a crowd that was excited to see a show from a couple of newer acts.

The Paper Tongues started off the show. The band is comprised of 7 members, which is a lot of people to fit onto the tiny stage of Radio Radio, but they made it work well. The band hails from Charlotte, North Carolina and finds a way to blend hip-hop, electronica, and rock. And of course, they have a massive amount of energy that just radiates throughout the crowd. Within the first song, the lead singer, Aswan North (which is probably the coolest name for any lead singer) jumped onto the floor and started shaking hands with people in the audience. It is that approachability and willingness to be a part of the crowd that hears their music that will help them gain success and fans in the future. Also, North has an epic voice, with some influence of perhaps Steve Perry.

Some highlights of the set include songs "Trinity," "Ride To California," and "Everybody." Those were the songs that stuck out to me the most. The music is positive I feel that each band member brings something unique to the sound of the band and they all are very good performers. I enjoyed the positive messages of their songs...it's not cheesy, and it's not overtly Christian in nature, but it just brings the positivity that our world needs. I highly recommend their music

In a completely different direction, the three piece band Civil Twilight came onstage. The 3 band members are brothers Steven and Andrew McKellar and Richard Wouters; all come from Cape Town, South Africa. They recently re-released the album they put out independently. What I enjoyed about this band is that they have a great dramatic sound...this is the music I craved to hear when I lived in a valley in Colorado, surrounded by mountains. They sound similar to Muse and constantly seem to be compared to an early U2 or Coldplay. While I somewhat agree with those comparisons, I think Civil Twilight's music is a bit more progressive.

They opened with "Something She Said," and played most of the songs from their self titled album. One of the songs I enjoyed the most was a song called "Human," which is just well-written and emotional and just a beautiful expression of that thing we all are. Their songs have been featured on shows such as One Tree Hill, Harper's Island, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and House, M.D. One song in particular that I really enjoyed was called "Save Yourself." They did a cover of "Teardrops," by Massive Attack, which was excellent, as well. Overall, the band put on a really good show and made us more interested in their music.

For our first time seeing both of these bands, we were happily surprised by how much we liked their music, though it doesn't exactly fit what we ordinarily listen to. We liked both bands sense of musicianship and the fact that the guitar player from Civil Twilight often played the guitar with a bow was a pretty cool effect we enjoyed and haven't seen much. We had a good time at the show and we walked away from the evening interested in more music that we probably wouldn't have been exposed to if not for seeing live shows such as this one. That's the thing we love to do and part of our mission; although most people only hear about the shows coming to Indy at the State Fair or larger venues such as Conseco, Indy is actually a great place to discover up and coming musicians and has some pretty stellar smaller venues and that's where we like to go.

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Sunday, July 18, 2010 Posted in | , , , | 0 Comments »