thursday, july 2nd
the church
adam franklin (swervedriver)
@ showcase live, foxborough
sunday, july 5th
city breathing
deep sea diver
adam rich
steve pardo & lindley cameron
@ the middle east upstairs
saturday, july 11th
the luxury
the click five
midatlantic
aloud
@ the paradise
sunday, july 12th
the dead weather
screaming females
@ the house of blues
saturday, july 18th
butterflies
travels
@ pa's lounge
sunday, july 19th
grand duchy (w/frank black)
the bunnies
van elk (w/valerie mistle thrush)
@ the middle east downstairs
sunday, july 19th
lymbyc systym
coralcola
the cush
the pandas
@ the middle east upstairs
monday, july 20th
you can be a wesley (cd release!)
casper & the cookies
everything, now!
magic magic
@ the middle east upstairs
monday, july 20th
green day
the bravery
@ the garden
tuesday, july 21st
mark eitzel & marc capelle
performing american music club songs
@ the lizard lounge
friday, july 24th
varsity drag (cd release!)
the grownup noise
winterpills
brendan boogie & the best intentions
@ the middle east upstairs
sunday, july 26th
pete yorn
@ the house of blues
tuesday, july 28th
cass mccombs
jennifer o'connor & band
mike bones
@ tt the bears
wednesday, july 29th
foreign born
the veils
faces on film
@ tt the bears
thursday, july 30th
justin ripley & his band
@ pa's lounge
friday, july 31st
destroyer (dan bejar)
iran
wooden wand
@ the paradise
friday, july 31st
depeche mode
peter bjorn & john
@ great woods
saturday, august 1st
alasdair roberts
@ lorem ipsum books, inman square
saturday, august 1st
wheat (cd release show!)
the xyz affair
@ great scott
sunday, august 2nd
soft power (featuring mary timony)
gramercy arms (featuring dave derby)
@ tt the bears
monday, august 3rd
billy bragg
@ the berklee performance center
monday, august 3rd
tinted windows
(james iha, adam schlesinger,
taylor hanson, & bun e. carlos)
@ the paradise
monday, august 3rd
coldplay
elbow
kitty daisy & lewis
@ the comcast center
wednesday, august 5th
the rural alberta advantage
joshua english (ex-six going on seven)
with lisa molinaro
baby teeth
@ the middle east upstairs
wednesday, august 5th
arctic monkeys
modey lemon
@ the paradise
wednesday, august 5th
joe pernice (solo show & book tour)
@ the brattle theatre (2 shows)
wednesday and thursday
august 5th and 6th
paul mccartney
@ fenway park
friday, august 7th
the electric prunes
love
sky saxon (of the seeds)
@ the middle east downstairs
saturday, august 8th
blondie
pat benatar
@ the b.o.a. pavilion
wednesday, august 12th
the warlocks
@ great scott
wednesday, august 12th
the pretenders
cat power
juliette lewis
@ the bank of american pavilion
thursday, august 13th
bat for lashes
@ the paradise
friday, august 14th
six finger satellite
@ tt the bears
sunday, august 16th
the decemberists
heartless bastards
@ mountain park, holyoke
sunday, august 16th
trashcan sinatras
@ tt the bears
monday, august 17th
the breeders
@ the paradise
friday, august 21st
choo choo la rouge (cd release!)
the big disappointments
impossible hair
the operators
@ pa's lounge
saturday & sunday
august 22nd & 23rd
bruce springsteen & the e street band
@ the comcast center / great woods
saturday, august 29th
caspain
actors & actresses
irepress
arms & sleepers
@ tt the bears
sunday, august 30th
the flaming lips
explosions in the sky
stardeath and white dwarfs
@ the boa pavilion
thursday, september 3rd
kay hanley (letters to cleo)
antisocialites
ingenue
@ tt the bears
saturday, september 5th
the pains of being pure at heart
cymbals eat guitars
depreciation guild
@ the middle east downstairs
saturday, september 5th
pet shop boys
@ the house of blues
thursday, september 10th
autolux
sleepy sun
@ the paradise
thursday, september 10th
dirty three
@ the i.c.a. boston
friday, september 11th
kings of leon
glasvegas
@ the comcast center / great woods
saturday, september 12th
the cult
performing 'love' in its entirety
@ the house of blues
sunday, september 13th
down
melvins
@ the house of blues
tuesday, september 15th
the horrors
@ the paradise
saturday & sunday
september 19th & 20th
boston lebowski fest
with movie screening & bowling
@ the house of blues & kings
sunday, september 20th
u2
snow patrol
@ gillette stadium
tuesday, september 22nd
son volt
@ the paradise
friday, september 25th
township
the lights out (cd release!)
reverse
gravehaven
@ tt the bears
friday, september 25th
charlatans uk
hatcham social
@ the paradise
saturday, september 26th
kmfdm
@ the house of blues
sunday, september 20th
maximo park
@ the paradise
monday, september 28th
sunny day real estate
@ the house of blues
wednesday, september 30th
mono
maserati
@ the middle east downstairs
sunday, october 4th
the "loud & rich" tour
richard thompson &
loudon wainwright iii
performing solo & together
@ the sanders theatre, harvard
wednesday, october 7th
bob mould
@ the paradise
saturday, october 10th
the psychedelic furs
happy monday
@ the house of blues
wednesday, october 14th
loney dear
asobi seksu
@ great scott
wednesday, october 21st
mum
@ the somerville theatre
saturday, october 31st
pinback
@ the paradise
friday, november 13th
janeane garofalo
rob riggle
two shows @ the wilbur theatre
visit tourfilter for more shows
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Thursday, December 07, 2006
Mp3s: Touch & Go's 25th - Day One
So I'm not much of a music festival-goer. Lack of spare travel-time, discretionary funds, and mild enochlophobia usually keep me away from any major multi-day events. Sure, I've been to some over the years, but the ones that have drawn me are few and very far between: down the coast to D.C. for the Teenbeat Records 20th anniversary fest last year; 3000 miles to London for 4AD's 13 Year Itch in '94; a couple block walk in my old hometown of Burlington, VT for Sub Pop's Vermonstress back in '92 (fests were such a rarity up there, we were inspired to just do them ourselves). There've been more than enough bloggers (and not enough bands I deeply love) at the Coachellas, the Bonnaroos, the later-day Lollapaloozas. I could semi-experience them all vicariously through the wealth of photos, audio, and video coverage that appeared online shortly after each. But there was one fest, from the moment it was announced last summer, that I knew I had to be at: The Touch & Go Records 25th Anniversary Celebration. Didn't matter if cash was tight, if vaca-days were scarce, if hotels were either full up or too expensive... free will simply didn't factor in. Too many beloved bands were playing, some reuniting after years apart, musicians I thought I'd never get to see on a stage together again. I've got more Touch & Go discs on my shelves than nearly any other label, and I wanted to be part of the crowd that celebrated their existence. So air travel was booked, couch space was found, and off to Chicago I flew on Friday morning, September 8th, 2006.  32 acts performed over three days, and I was there for every one of 'em, from the warm Friday evening start to chilly Sunday night finish, from the first notes of Shipping News straight through to Calexico's overtime encore. It was both exhausting and exhilarating, I ate far too little for the beers I downed, and by the end my feet hurt like holy hell. And how to describe what it was like to see some of my favorite bands in one place, playing so many songs that have made up the soundtrack to my fanboy existence? The hyperbole (or 'hyper-bowl' said Mr. Crow) could come easy, but so much of what I'd write was said over and over again from the festival's two stages, by the musicians themselves. By the time I flew home, I'd spent almost 30 hours standing in the Chicago municipal parking lot adjacent to the Hideout, the bar that was also celebrating its own anniversary of 10 years by hosting this huge block party. Thanks to the two-stage setup, there was very little between-band downtime, with some acts starting up as others faded out. Even grabbing food or a bathroom break meant you might miss something... the whole event ran that smooth. As an audio archivist, I had to make a few decisions: Check out a band I kinda like, or score a good spot on the other end of the lot for one I really love? Get stuck in the back for Shellac, or miss Man or Astro-man?In the end, I managed to capture sounds from all but two of the appearing acts, and I'll be offering up some songs over three posts during this last month of 2006, one for each day of the fest. I've given a lot of thought on how exactly to share this stuff, how best to honor the label without stepping on their toes. Asking around at the anniversary, I was told that official audio recordings weren't being made, but that videographers were recording as much as they could for later (eventually to be posted on T&G's website?). Since some artists only played for a few minutes, others performed songs I couldn't identify, and some random technical glitches, I've decided to share a couple tracks from each act I saw. And so here's the first night of the Touch & Go 25th Anniversary Celebration, recorded on September 8th, 2006 in Chicago, Illinois. The sound quality of this particular day's mp3s isn't as good as the other two, thanks to a faulty mini-disc setting and the general difficulty in capturing outdoor aural action, but it's still more than worth a listen. Things get much better on day two and three. I'm going to keep my commentary on each band to a minimum, or I'll never get this post finish. Oh, and head to the bottom for a fest-related giveaway...   Tim Tuten from the Hideout, our endearingly talkative host for the entire weekend, kicks things off by introducing...
Shipping NewsMp3: "(Morays or) Demon" (live) Mp3: "Axons and Dendrites" (live) A perfect start to the whole event, Shipping News had a new limited edition single (" Claws") specially made for the festival, and gave them out free to attendees. Nice touch. ( T&G band page / Southern site / MySpace fan site)
Supersystem (R.I.P.)Mp3: "Born Into The World" (live) Mp3: "The Pinnacle of Experience" (live) I hadn't heard much Supersystem before they took the stage, even in their previous incarnation as Dischord band El Guapo. Unfortunately for fans of either band, they've just called it quits according to this message on their website... "Friends,
After 10 years, the members of Supersystem/El Guapo have decided to disband. From the bottom of our hearts, we would like to thank everyone at Touch and Go, Dischord, Flower, Locusta, and others too numerous to name here for all your help over the years.
Most of all we would like to thank everyone who supported us, saw us play, listened to our music, set up a show, played a show with us, or otherwise participated in making our time as a band really awesome. We appreciate it and will miss you!
Love, Supersystem ( Official site / T&G band page / Album stream / MySpace)
Girls Against BoysMp3: "Rockets Are Red" (live) Mp3: "Super-Fire" (live) The first jaw-dropping performance of the fest, GvsB played their entire 1993 T&G album " Venus Luxure No. 1 Baby" from start to finish as the sun went down, then threw a few faves on the end of the set for good measure. Loaned out and lost long ago, I re-bought the album immediately after they left the stage at the Reckless Records tent. ( Official site / T&G band page / MySpace fan page)
Ted Leo & the PharmacistsMp3: "Sons of Cain" (live) Mp3: "Suspect Device" (live Stiff Little Fingers cover) " Sons of Cain", which has made the rounds in both demo & live form over the past year, is likely to be one of the highlights of TL/Rx's upcoming album, " Living With The Living", the band's first for Touch & Go. I can't get enough of the song... not just the killer guitar line, but the way the bass holds off for the first minute or so, the drum accents that last just a little longer than expected, the rising walk into the bass/drum breakdown, and Ted's unrestrained "Heeeeey!"s near the end. So good. Pray for his voice, kids: We never want to see the "Great Vocal Chord Inflammation of '03" happen again. Guy's got a lot more songs to sing for us next year... ( Official site / T&G band page / MySpace / Lookout page)
!!!Mp3: "Must Be The Moon" (live) Mp3: "All My Heroes Are Weirdos" (live) The first night ended with a set of self-described "live dance music" from !!! (Chk Chk Chk). Not exactly my thing, but they do what they do very well, and treated a fairly enthusiastic crowd to songs from their upcoming disc " Myth Takes", which will be out in March on Warp. Studio versions of both songs above will be found the album, along with eight other new tracks. ( Official site / T&G band page / MySpace) A whole lot of fest-related links... Touch & Go founder Corey Rusk, who himself was the target of so much gratitude all weekend, shares his own heartfelt thank you note.
Touch & Go's official festival photo archive.
Although I traveled out to the fest solo, I spent lots of time hangin' with new friend and all around good guy from D.C., Sean K., who wrote up his experience in this Razorcake review. Nice to re-live the whole thing through his words, although I'll say one thing about the article: he needs to find a better photographer...
... take John in Houston's shots, for example. Great photos to be found in his Flickr set. John was another guy I was glad to run into while I was out there. The fest became not just about the bands, but the tangibly warm vibe, and I met a whole bunch of people who helped make that so.
For more visual evidence, check out my own T&G fest Flickr set, the Flickr T&G fest pool, or some shots from newzeroeurope, kirstiecat, and Ryan Gear.
Chicago resident Mike, aka mrhonorama, reflected on the fest in words and photos on his MySpace blog here, here, and here.
A couple YouTube users shared up some videos: peasinspace has clips, as does leeharvey43.
T&G fest coverage (mostly via photos) from two of the usual suspects: BrooklynVegan (day 1/2/3) and Stereogum (1/2/3).
On the wall behind me here at work hangs a framed T&G festival poster, one of the two gorgeous prints that sold out over the weekend. I actually waited too long to grab one there (didn't want to drag it around), but was fortunate enough to order one up at artist Kathleen Judge's website. Not sure she has any left, but it's worth dropping her an email through there. I admittedly had a tough time deciding between her print, or the one by Jay Ryan, which you can take a look at here, although it's unfortunately no longer available. And lastly, a holiday gift for making it to the end of this post: a copy of the instantly-out-of-print Shipping News single "Claws" that the band had pressed and available for free at the festival's Reckless Records tent. If you live in North America and want one of your own, send an email (subject: Claws!) with your mailing address to giveaways[-at-]bradleysalmanac[-dot-]com before midnight on Wednesday, December 13th. I'll pick one random entrant and send it along soon after. Mp3s from the second day of the Touch & Go 25th Anniversary Celebration should be posted next week. Key word: should. Lots to be done between now and then... Labels: livemp3s, touchandgo
posted by brad at 1:05 PM | direct link | rss (1:2) |
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the wooden birds
a few songs live at tt's
on saturday, april 18th, 2009

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