2011 Concert Year in Review
This is my 2011 concert summary. For the audio version, listen to "Fantasy for Transmitter and Two Hosts" this Sunday from 2pm to 4pm, (downloadable for one full week at WRUW.org). I'll be playing many of the bands from this list. My usual co-host Shari will be enjoying a well deserved New Year's Day break, but I'll have able assistance from pussygalore66.
2011 was a great year for concerts. Thanks to a hefty raise early in the year I didn't have to rely on free tickets like I did in 2010, which was a good thing because 2011 was also the year that practically every concert promoter stopped doing radio giveaways. Far more than half of the forty-three concerts I went to had no staff tickets for WRUW. Apparently promoters have decided it isn't worth it, so while I did get into a few shows for free, I shelled out my own cash for most of these.
One trend from 2010 that did continue was that I made a strong effort to see bands I hadn't seen before. I succeeded admirably, with twenty-eight headlining acts who I saw for either the first time or in a brand new configuration. For an example of what I mean by a new configuration, take the very first concert I went to in 2011, Headtronics, which is a trio made up of DJ Logic, Freekbass and Steve Molitz. I'd seen DJ Logic before, and I'd seen Freekbass many, many times before, but the collaboration was new to me. Similarly, I'd seen Marketa Irglova as part of The Swell Season, but this time around she was out on her first solo tour. I also saw X as a unit and John Doe solo.
Two genres dominated this year's list. The first of these could probably have been easily predicted by looking at prior lists. This genre was soul, or if you prefer neo-soul. The ground blazed by Sharon Jones and other artists on Daptone Records has slowly but surely led to something that could almost be described as a trend. Here are the acts I saw this year that could reasonably be described as soul music, listed in no particular order:
[1] Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings (twice)
[2] Charles Bradley (opened once for Sharon Jones, once for Budos Band)
[3] The Right Now
[4] JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound
[5] Eli "Paperboy" Reed & the True Loves
[6] The Dynamites feat. Charles Walker
Every show on this list was a lot of fun. I probably wouldn't bother with the Dynamites again, but I'd pay money to see every other band on this list again. If the soul sound is really starting to take off and go mainstream, hopefully everybody who jumps on the bandwagon can do it as well as these guys can. In addition, while I don't think they really qualify as soul The Budos Band, Orgone (saw twice), Headtronics and Beats Antique definitely are near relatives musically.
The other genre that dominated the list this year would have been difficult to predict from prior lists. For the first time every I made a strong effort to see some classical concerts. This mostly involved three trips to see CityMusic Cleveland, which does free classical at various locations through out Cleveland on a regular basis. I'm not yet qualified to judge how good they are, but rshruti went with me twice and assures me that they are more than acceptable. And if not, it's still free.
Classically speaking, I also went out to Oberlin to watch the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute perform Bach's St. Matthew's Passion, which featured my fraternity brother Dashon singing the part of Judas. This was a pretty incredible performance. And lastly, I saw the Cleveland Orchestra perform at Severance Hall for the first time since 1996. Admittedly, they were playing in support of Randy Newman, but it still counts as classical.
Speaking of Randy Newman, he is one of the acts I knocked off the bucket list this year. Other bucket listers include X, Jonathan Richman, Medeski Martin & Wood, Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs, Cake, Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers, Neil Innes, NOFX, T-Model Ford, and Hot Club of Detroit. I'm loosely defining bucket list acts as any band where I've said for years that I really need to see them at some point. Unfortunately, for most of the bucket list entries once was enough. Although Hot Club of Detroit was good fun and Medeski Martin & Wood was easily the best concert I saw this year, the rest of them weren't great enough to inspire me to see them again. Maybe that's a sign that I should stop trying to see bucket list bands. Speaking of which, here are the top three acts I would love to see live:
[1] Neil Young
[2] Tom Waits
[3] David Bowie
It was a solid year for opening acts as well. Charles Bradley turned in two strong opening sets, but he had competition from The Wrong Numbers and Anti-Flag, not to mention the incredibly awesome Dr. Lonnie Smith. I'd have to say that Cyrille Aimée was the best opener I saw all year, but I must give a special shout out to Steve Brown: Yo Yo Artist Extraordinaire. Yes, he did yo-yo tricks. It was still more awesome than many of the openers I saw this year.
A good way to gauge concert quality if by how many CDs I acquired at shows. I picked up discs at both Orgone shows I went to, as well as efforts by The Rural Alberta Advantage, The Right Now, Wye Oak, Eliza Rickman, We Were Promised Jetpacks, John Doe and JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound. I was going to get one at the Marketa Irglova show too, but the lady in front of me in line bought the last one. Eli "Paperboy" Reed had run out too. Still, that's nine CDs at shows, which shows a reasonably high level of concert quality.
Speaking of Eliza Rickman, house concerts are awesome. She's currently evaluating venues for a May return to Cleveland; I'll obviously keep you posted.
Of the other acts I saw for the first time, the only one I felt sorry for is The Right Now. They made their Cleveland debut on Mother's Day, and I was the only paying customer who was there specifically to see them (a few people paid to see the opener). Their Chicago compatriots JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound didn't draw well either; they might have made it into double digits for paying customers. Hopefully both bands will draw far more people when they return, because they were both pretty good.
The best show of the year was definitely Medeski, Martin & Wood w/Dr. Lonnie Smith and Will Bernard. If you have the chance to see any of these guys, take it. They know their way around a stage.
Here is the rest of the top ten, in no particular order:
-Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings w/The Wrong Numbers (October show)
-John Doe w/Whiskey Daredevils, Robert Ellis
-Orgone (May show)
-Wye Oak w/Buried Wires
-Beats Antique w/Beard-O-Bees, glacial23
-Eliza Rickman (full band) w/Daniel Knox
-We Were Promised Jetpacks
-The Budos Band w/Charles Bradley
-JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound w/Aphrodite's Hero
And here's the full list.
Concerts - 43
Bands - 77
Headtronics (Featuring DJ Logic, Steve Molitz, & Freekbass) w/Broccoli Samurai - Beachland Ballroom
My Brightest Diamond w/Whisper Signal - T 2/01 - Beachland Tavern
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings w/Charles Bradley - S 2/05 - Beachland Ballroom
Orgone w/Groovesmith - W 2/16 - Grog Shop
Rasputina w/Voltaire - T 2/22 - Beachland Ballroom
Jonathan Richman w/Steve Brown: Yo Yo Artist Extraordinaire - Su 3/06 - Beachland Ballroom
Eli "Paperboy" Reed & the True Loves - R 3/24 - Beachland Ballroom
The Books - R 3/31 - Beachland Ballroom
The Budos Band w/Charles Bradley - S 4/16 - Beachland Ballroom
The Rural Alberta Advantage w/Lord Huron & Buried Wires - Su 4/24 - Beachland Ballroom
Femi Kuti & The Positive Force - R 4/28 - Beachland Ballroom
Beats Antique w/Beard-O-Bees, Glacial23 - T 5/03 - Grog Shop
Medeski, Martin & Wood w/Dr. Lonnie Smith and Will Bernard - F 5/06 - State Theater @ Playhouse Square
The Right Now w/Winslow - Su 5/08 - Beachland Tavern
Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs w/Scissormen - W 5/11 - Beachland Tavern
Cake - T 5/17 - Cleveland Masonic Auditorium
CityMusic Cleveland: A Chamber Music Evening with Matt Haimovitz and Friends - W 5/18 - Mary Queen of Peace Church
Neil Innes - F 5/20 - Winchester Music Hall
Orgone - M 5/30 - Garage Bar
T-Model Ford & Gravel Road w/Shouting Thomas & The Torments - S 6/04 - Beachland Tavern
Elizabeth Cook - F 6/10 - Beachland Tavern
Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute - St. Matthew's Passion BWV 244 (Bach) - F 7/01 - Warner Concert Hall
Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers w/Scoliosis Jones - Su 7/03 - Grog Shop
Fitz & the Tantrums - W 7/06 - Rock & Roll Hall of Fame & Museum
Wye Oak w/Buried Wires - W 8/03 - Beachland Tavern
Studio-A-Rama 2011 - S 9/10
- Shisho, Cereal Banter, Lionel Jefferson Airplane, Screaming Smoldering Butt Bitches, The Modulated Tones, Filmstrip, Ohio Civil War, This Moment In Black History, Scrawl, A Place To Bury Strangers
Spazmatics - W 9/14 - Landshark Lagoon at Mandalay Bay
The Dynamites feat. Charles Walker - S 9/24 - Beachland Tavern
Eliza Rickman (solo) - Su 9/25 - My Living Room!
X (all original members) - T 10/04 - Beachland Ballroom
Eliza Rickman (full band) w/Daniel Knox - Su 10/09 - High Concept Labs (Chicago)
NOFX w/Anti-Flag, Old Man Markley - W 10/12 - House of Blues
CityMusic Cleveland: with Jan Vogler and Ryan McAdams - R 10/13 - St.Colman Church
Hot Club of Detroit with Cyrille Aimée - F 10/21 - Nighttown
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings w/The Wrong Numbers - S 10/29 - Beachland Ballroom
We Were Promised Jetpacks - T 11/01 - Grog Shop
Mike Doughty & His Band Fantastic w/Moon Hooch - Su 11/13 - Beachland Ballroom
Marketa Irglova - Su 11/27 - Beachland Ballroom
John Doe w/Whiskey Daredevils, Robert Ellis - T 11/29 - Beachland Tavern
JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound w/Aphrodite's Hero - R 12/01 - Beachland Tavern
Randy Newman w/The Cleveland Orchestra - S 12/03 - Severance Hall
CityMusic Cleveland: with Joan Kwuon and Joel Smirnoff - R 10/13 - St.Colman Church
Dominick Farinacci - S 12/31 - Nighttown
Thanks to EJW, onabus, rshruti, and gieves for repeatedly going to shows with me. Your taste in music is fantastic, although your taste in fellow concert goers is definitely questionable :-)
I look forward to 2012. The calendar is already filling up, so expect a new concert calendar in the very near future.
2011 was a great year for concerts. Thanks to a hefty raise early in the year I didn't have to rely on free tickets like I did in 2010, which was a good thing because 2011 was also the year that practically every concert promoter stopped doing radio giveaways. Far more than half of the forty-three concerts I went to had no staff tickets for WRUW. Apparently promoters have decided it isn't worth it, so while I did get into a few shows for free, I shelled out my own cash for most of these.
One trend from 2010 that did continue was that I made a strong effort to see bands I hadn't seen before. I succeeded admirably, with twenty-eight headlining acts who I saw for either the first time or in a brand new configuration. For an example of what I mean by a new configuration, take the very first concert I went to in 2011, Headtronics, which is a trio made up of DJ Logic, Freekbass and Steve Molitz. I'd seen DJ Logic before, and I'd seen Freekbass many, many times before, but the collaboration was new to me. Similarly, I'd seen Marketa Irglova as part of The Swell Season, but this time around she was out on her first solo tour. I also saw X as a unit and John Doe solo.
Two genres dominated this year's list. The first of these could probably have been easily predicted by looking at prior lists. This genre was soul, or if you prefer neo-soul. The ground blazed by Sharon Jones and other artists on Daptone Records has slowly but surely led to something that could almost be described as a trend. Here are the acts I saw this year that could reasonably be described as soul music, listed in no particular order:
[1] Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings (twice)
[2] Charles Bradley (opened once for Sharon Jones, once for Budos Band)
[3] The Right Now
[4] JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound
[5] Eli "Paperboy" Reed & the True Loves
[6] The Dynamites feat. Charles Walker
Every show on this list was a lot of fun. I probably wouldn't bother with the Dynamites again, but I'd pay money to see every other band on this list again. If the soul sound is really starting to take off and go mainstream, hopefully everybody who jumps on the bandwagon can do it as well as these guys can. In addition, while I don't think they really qualify as soul The Budos Band, Orgone (saw twice), Headtronics and Beats Antique definitely are near relatives musically.
The other genre that dominated the list this year would have been difficult to predict from prior lists. For the first time every I made a strong effort to see some classical concerts. This mostly involved three trips to see CityMusic Cleveland, which does free classical at various locations through out Cleveland on a regular basis. I'm not yet qualified to judge how good they are, but rshruti went with me twice and assures me that they are more than acceptable. And if not, it's still free.
Classically speaking, I also went out to Oberlin to watch the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute perform Bach's St. Matthew's Passion, which featured my fraternity brother Dashon singing the part of Judas. This was a pretty incredible performance. And lastly, I saw the Cleveland Orchestra perform at Severance Hall for the first time since 1996. Admittedly, they were playing in support of Randy Newman, but it still counts as classical.
Speaking of Randy Newman, he is one of the acts I knocked off the bucket list this year. Other bucket listers include X, Jonathan Richman, Medeski Martin & Wood, Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs, Cake, Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers, Neil Innes, NOFX, T-Model Ford, and Hot Club of Detroit. I'm loosely defining bucket list acts as any band where I've said for years that I really need to see them at some point. Unfortunately, for most of the bucket list entries once was enough. Although Hot Club of Detroit was good fun and Medeski Martin & Wood was easily the best concert I saw this year, the rest of them weren't great enough to inspire me to see them again. Maybe that's a sign that I should stop trying to see bucket list bands. Speaking of which, here are the top three acts I would love to see live:
[1] Neil Young
[2] Tom Waits
[3] David Bowie
It was a solid year for opening acts as well. Charles Bradley turned in two strong opening sets, but he had competition from The Wrong Numbers and Anti-Flag, not to mention the incredibly awesome Dr. Lonnie Smith. I'd have to say that Cyrille Aimée was the best opener I saw all year, but I must give a special shout out to Steve Brown: Yo Yo Artist Extraordinaire. Yes, he did yo-yo tricks. It was still more awesome than many of the openers I saw this year.
A good way to gauge concert quality if by how many CDs I acquired at shows. I picked up discs at both Orgone shows I went to, as well as efforts by The Rural Alberta Advantage, The Right Now, Wye Oak, Eliza Rickman, We Were Promised Jetpacks, John Doe and JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound. I was going to get one at the Marketa Irglova show too, but the lady in front of me in line bought the last one. Eli "Paperboy" Reed had run out too. Still, that's nine CDs at shows, which shows a reasonably high level of concert quality.
Speaking of Eliza Rickman, house concerts are awesome. She's currently evaluating venues for a May return to Cleveland; I'll obviously keep you posted.
Of the other acts I saw for the first time, the only one I felt sorry for is The Right Now. They made their Cleveland debut on Mother's Day, and I was the only paying customer who was there specifically to see them (a few people paid to see the opener). Their Chicago compatriots JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound didn't draw well either; they might have made it into double digits for paying customers. Hopefully both bands will draw far more people when they return, because they were both pretty good.
The best show of the year was definitely Medeski, Martin & Wood w/Dr. Lonnie Smith and Will Bernard. If you have the chance to see any of these guys, take it. They know their way around a stage.
Here is the rest of the top ten, in no particular order:
-Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings w/The Wrong Numbers (October show)
-John Doe w/Whiskey Daredevils, Robert Ellis
-Orgone (May show)
-Wye Oak w/Buried Wires
-Beats Antique w/Beard-O-Bees, glacial23
-Eliza Rickman (full band) w/Daniel Knox
-We Were Promised Jetpacks
-The Budos Band w/Charles Bradley
-JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound w/Aphrodite's Hero
And here's the full list.
Concerts - 43
Bands - 77
Headtronics (Featuring DJ Logic, Steve Molitz, & Freekbass) w/Broccoli Samurai - Beachland Ballroom
My Brightest Diamond w/Whisper Signal - T 2/01 - Beachland Tavern
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings w/Charles Bradley - S 2/05 - Beachland Ballroom
Orgone w/Groovesmith - W 2/16 - Grog Shop
Rasputina w/Voltaire - T 2/22 - Beachland Ballroom
Jonathan Richman w/Steve Brown: Yo Yo Artist Extraordinaire - Su 3/06 - Beachland Ballroom
Eli "Paperboy" Reed & the True Loves - R 3/24 - Beachland Ballroom
The Books - R 3/31 - Beachland Ballroom
The Budos Band w/Charles Bradley - S 4/16 - Beachland Ballroom
The Rural Alberta Advantage w/Lord Huron & Buried Wires - Su 4/24 - Beachland Ballroom
Femi Kuti & The Positive Force - R 4/28 - Beachland Ballroom
Beats Antique w/Beard-O-Bees, Glacial23 - T 5/03 - Grog Shop
Medeski, Martin & Wood w/Dr. Lonnie Smith and Will Bernard - F 5/06 - State Theater @ Playhouse Square
The Right Now w/Winslow - Su 5/08 - Beachland Tavern
Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs w/Scissormen - W 5/11 - Beachland Tavern
Cake - T 5/17 - Cleveland Masonic Auditorium
CityMusic Cleveland: A Chamber Music Evening with Matt Haimovitz and Friends - W 5/18 - Mary Queen of Peace Church
Neil Innes - F 5/20 - Winchester Music Hall
Orgone - M 5/30 - Garage Bar
T-Model Ford & Gravel Road w/Shouting Thomas & The Torments - S 6/04 - Beachland Tavern
Elizabeth Cook - F 6/10 - Beachland Tavern
Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute - St. Matthew's Passion BWV 244 (Bach) - F 7/01 - Warner Concert Hall
Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers w/Scoliosis Jones - Su 7/03 - Grog Shop
Fitz & the Tantrums - W 7/06 - Rock & Roll Hall of Fame & Museum
Wye Oak w/Buried Wires - W 8/03 - Beachland Tavern
Studio-A-Rama 2011 - S 9/10
- Shisho, Cereal Banter, Lionel Jefferson Airplane, Screaming Smoldering Butt Bitches, The Modulated Tones, Filmstrip, Ohio Civil War, This Moment In Black History, Scrawl, A Place To Bury Strangers
Spazmatics - W 9/14 - Landshark Lagoon at Mandalay Bay
The Dynamites feat. Charles Walker - S 9/24 - Beachland Tavern
Eliza Rickman (solo) - Su 9/25 - My Living Room!
X (all original members) - T 10/04 - Beachland Ballroom
Eliza Rickman (full band) w/Daniel Knox - Su 10/09 - High Concept Labs (Chicago)
NOFX w/Anti-Flag, Old Man Markley - W 10/12 - House of Blues
CityMusic Cleveland: with Jan Vogler and Ryan McAdams - R 10/13 - St.Colman Church
Hot Club of Detroit with Cyrille Aimée - F 10/21 - Nighttown
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings w/The Wrong Numbers - S 10/29 - Beachland Ballroom
We Were Promised Jetpacks - T 11/01 - Grog Shop
Mike Doughty & His Band Fantastic w/Moon Hooch - Su 11/13 - Beachland Ballroom
Marketa Irglova - Su 11/27 - Beachland Ballroom
John Doe w/Whiskey Daredevils, Robert Ellis - T 11/29 - Beachland Tavern
JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound w/Aphrodite's Hero - R 12/01 - Beachland Tavern
Randy Newman w/The Cleveland Orchestra - S 12/03 - Severance Hall
CityMusic Cleveland: with Joan Kwuon and Joel Smirnoff - R 10/13 - St.Colman Church
Dominick Farinacci - S 12/31 - Nighttown
Thanks to EJW, onabus, rshruti, and gieves for repeatedly going to shows with me. Your taste in music is fantastic, although your taste in fellow concert goers is definitely questionable :-)
I look forward to 2012. The calendar is already filling up, so expect a new concert calendar in the very near future.