Nippertown!

Archive for the ‘LIVE’ Category

LIVE: Willie Nile @ WAMC-FM’s The Linda, 6/1/13

Tuesday, June 18th, 2013

Willie Nile (photo courtesy of The Linda/© Andrzej “Andre” Pilarczyk 2013)

Review by Fred Rudofsky
Photographs courtesy of The Linda/Andrzej “Andre” Pilarczyk

As Yogi Berra would say, it felt like deja vu all over again – only with a batch of new songs added – when perennial favorite Willie Nile mesmerized The Linda in Albany like few on the scene can. Don’t believe me? Wait till you hear the upcoming broadcast of this show on WAMC-FM…

American Ride, due out later this month, is the latest in a string of superb albums from the New York-based guitarist/pianist. A hearty roar of hello greeted Nile, bassist Johnny Pisano and drummer Alex Alexander. Strapping on an acoustic guitar, Nile mentioned recent stops in Europe and Nashville, and asked the crowd, “Are you ready?!” The lead track to the new album, “This Is Our Time,” provided an answer his question, a carpe diem rocker with wordless harmonies. “Life on Bleecker Street,” also a new song, offered vignettes of Nile’s neighborhood to a propulsive beat by Alexander.

“The Innocent Ones,” a song of protest which Nile dedicated the children “going hungry tonight,” gave voice to the voiceless, punctuated by a melodic solo by Pisano and the crowd on its feet singing along to the chorus. “Things keep coming back to innocence for me,” remarked Nile who dedicated “She’s Got My Heart” to a pair of ardent fans who had driven more than four hours from Ontario. “Far Green Hills,” a song co-written with Frankie Lee on House of a 1000 Guitars, brought to mind Bobby Fuller Four meets the Byrds, especially given Pisano’s use of an octave pedal that lent a 12-string guitar vibe to his solos.

(more…)

Tags: Albany, Andrzej Pilarczyk, Fred Rudofsky, The Linda, Willie Nile
Posted in LIVE | No Comments »

LIVE: Rhythm On the Ridge @ Maple Ski Ridge, 6/8&9/13

Monday, June 17th, 2013

The Lazy Suns

Review and photographs by Stanley Johnson

My first trip to the Maple Ski Ridge in Rotterdam came with the realization that, although I had never been there, I had seen the place many times from a distance at various locations in Schenectady. So it was with a kind of déjà vu that I made a pretty easy trip (four left turns from the I-88 exit on the Thruway) to the small but spectacular ski center for the fifth annual Rhythm on the Ridge Roots Music Festival last weekend.

The first things I saw on the way were the many piles of branches and broken trees from the recent tornado damage. As we pulled into the festival lot, my next thought was, “Where are all the people?” Well, it had been a very wet week and initial weather forecasts had called for a wet Saturday as well. But it didn’t rain: in fact, within an hour of arrival we had a patch of blue sky overhead. The ground was very soggy but not muddy. There were probably less than a hundred spectators, many of whom were musicians.

Perhaps the attendance was limited by the completely local line-up of American roots musicians without any big name headliners, and perhaps American roots music is too much of a niche genre to draw big crowds, but I think a lot of people just plain missed the ski lift on this one.

(more…)

Tags: Maple Ski Ridge, Rhythm on the Ridge, Rotterdam, Stanley Johnson
Posted in LIVE | 1 Comment »

LIVE: Mountain Jam @ Hunter Mountain, 6/7-9/13

Thursday, June 13th, 2013

Dan Hogan’s view at Mountain Jam 2012

Review by Dan Hogan

I am a big fan of Mountain Jam. Mountain Jam restored my faith in new music and live festivals. Two years ago, I took a friend’s advice and met him down at Hunter Mountain for Mountain Jam VII. I had a great time, saw that young and old could coexist on the same concert field most of the time and realized that festival promoters were looking for me to attend. You can bring in a backpack with your extra clothes, because it gets cold on the mountain at night. You can bring your favorite lawn chair and sit by the soundboard with the rest of the baby boomers. You can bring a camera and take pictures of all the cool people that you don’t see every day. And Warren Haynes knows how to bring the music. Where else could you start the day with a mariachi band or the Carolina Chocolate Drops before things get heavy?

That’s why I went back last year for Mountain Jam VIII. I wasn’t crazy about the headliner – Steve Winwood – until I saw him play, but the whole two days I attended were amazing – Trombone Shorty, the Tedeschi-Trucks Band, Matt Schofield and a tribute to Levon Helm – all were great and something of a bargain considering concert prices. Sure it rained much of the day on Saturday, but that was part of the fun. The bands seemed to thrive off the vibes of the poly-coated audience. Then it stopped raining, and there wasn’t enough straw to handle all the mud, but having been there before, I had boots and wool socks. I had a poncho, too, and after a few beers all was good.

(more…)

Posted in LIVE, Music, Real Good For Free | 9 Comments »

LIVE: Hand Habits @ Tierra Coffee Roasters, 6/1/13

Thursday, June 13th, 2013

Hand Habits

Photographs and video by Timothy Reidy

Tierra Coffee Roasters on Madison Avenue in Albany played host to a quadruple-bill of bands earlier this month, headlined by Hand Habits.

(more…)

Tags: Albany, Florist, Hand Habits, The Love Sprockets, Tierra Coffee Roasters, Timothy Reidy, Told Slant
Posted in LIVE | No Comments »

LIVE: The Fabulous Thunderbirds @ Albany’s Riverfront Park, 6/6/13

Wednesday, June 12th, 2013

The Fabulous Thunderbirds

Review by Greg Haymes
Photographs by Stanley Johnson

Were you “Tuff Enuff” to brave the rain for the Fabulous Thunderbirds?

The inaugural Alive at Five concert of the summer season got off to a mighty soggy start, and despite the best efforts of the concerts series organizers to try to get the show in before the sky opened up – the T-Birds took the stage 20 minutes earlier than the usual headliners’ start time – the blues fans in Albany’s Riverfront Park got soaked with a never hard nor heavy, but always steady rain from the moment frontman Kim Wilson launched the band into the opening “Wait On Time” straight through to the show-closing encore of “I Want to Believe.”

Wilson and his current incarnation of the T-Birds focused on tunes from their latest album, “On the Verge,” marking a distinct shift away from the blues and venturing into a deep soul groove that balanced equal influences from Memphis and Muscle Shoals. “Lovin’ Time,” “Runnin’ From the Blues” and the slinky slow grind of “Lonely Highway” emerged as some of the new album’s most potent selections, and the crowd roared with delight during the latter when Wilson moaned the lyric, “It’s a lonely stretch of highway, and the rain is pouring down…”

(more…)

Tags: Albany, Alive at 5, Stanley Johnson, Super 400, The Fabulous Thunderbirds
Posted in LIVE | 1 Comment »

LIVE: The Feelies @ Club Heslinki, 5/17/13

Tuesday, June 11th, 2013

The Feelies

Review and photographs by Kirsten Ferguson

When the Feelies started playing at Club Helsinki — the follow-up to their show at the Hudson hotspot last year — they looked out into a full audience of diners seated quietly at tables quite a distance from the stage. That gulf must have been unnerving to the band, because halfway through their first set — around the time they lit into a passionate cover of Neil Young’s “Barstool Blues” — a staff member of the club rousted fans standing along the wall of the room and told us the band wanted people in front of the stage.

(more…)

Tags: Club Helsinki, Hudson, Kirsten Ferguson, The Feelies
Posted in LIVE | No Comments »

LIVE: Tiempo Libre @ Skidmore College’s Zankel Music Center, 6/6/13

Tuesday, June 11th, 2013

Review by J Hunter

I never thought I’d live to see it, but there it was – dozens of people dancing at the front of the massive stage at Zankel Music Center while the Cuban powerhouse Tiempo Libre blew the place up again and again. And those people had a pretty decent place to get their groove on, too, because the Zankel staff had removed the chairs that usually sit in the orchestra pit, leaving room for an honest-to-God dance floor!

Mind you, I have to think it was self-defense on the part of the Zankel, SPAC and Saratoga ArtsFest, who staged the show as the opening salvo of the fest’s seventh season. Dancing was on the agenda whether there was a place to do it or not: Tiempo Libre may be seen as the leading lights of Timba (a genre that mixes Afro-Cuban with salsa and American R&B), but the now-veteran, three-time Grammy-nominated septet is really just the latest iteration of Cuban dance bands stretching back to when Desi Arnaz was a fresh-faced kid – and the object of the exercise for those groups was to get you out of your seat so you could shake your butt. Tiempo Libre achieved that goal in very short order.

(more…)

Tags: J Hunter, Saratoga Springs, Tiempo Libre, Zankel Music Center
Posted in LIVE | No Comments »

LIVE: The Midnight Society @ Red Square, 5/25/13

Tuesday, June 11th, 2013

The Midnight Society

Photographs by Timothy Reidy

Local 518 folk-pop band the Midnight Society – helmed by Deidra Knauth (keyboard, vocals) and Jim DeSario (guitar, vocals) – took over Red Square in Albany over Memorial Day weekend to celebrate the release of their new 10-tune album, Footprints.

(more…)

Tags: Albany, Red Square, The Accents, The Lucky Jukebox Brigade, The Midnight Society, Timothy Reidy
Posted in LIVE | No Comments »