The Concert Calendar Has Risen!
As always, you can hear many of these bands on Fantasy For Transmitter and Two Hosts on WRUW-FM 91.1. If you like the radio show, consider donating during the WRUW telethon between April 8 and April 14 by going to the WRUW website or calling 216-368-2208. Thank you.
And now, on to the concert calendar. As always, bold means I'm definitely going and italics means I'm strongly considering it. Everything else is "I'm interested"; contrary to how a friend of mine introduced me recently I do NOT go to all these shows. That would be crazy. I would never sleep and I'd be broke. Sounds like fun, actually.
April
T 4/02 to R 4/04 - Fela @ Playhouse Square. Fela Kuti is dead. The next best thing at this point is seeing the stage production, which by all accounts is pretty good.
R 4/04 - Bad Religion @ Newport Music Hall in Columbus. Their new album True North is their best since The Empire Strikes First, but this is as close as they are coming to Cleveland.
S 4/06 - The Slackers @ Peabodys. Ska!
S 4/06 - The Cynics @ Happy Dog. Loud garage rock. I like the name :-)
Su 4/07 - Esperanza Spalding @ Playhouse Square. Her gig at the Tri-C Jazzfest last year was one of my top three shows of 2012! Based on that sample size of one, she's fantastic live. gieves and I are going.
Su 4/07 - Galatic @ Beachland Ballroom. Galactic was also one of my other top three shows of 2012; naturally it is the same day as Esperanza. They embody New Orleans awesomeness, although I'm told the quality of given show depends a lot of the musicians present and the type of music they are playing.
T 4/09 - Marnie Stern @ Dionysus. Her new album is solid. Also, this was hilarious.
W 4/10 - Zammuto @ Beachland Ballroom. Founded by one of the members of The Books, but unlike them is not apparently collage soundscapes.
R 4/11 through Su 4/12 - The Cleveland Orchestra performs Carmina Burana @ Severance Hall. gieves and I are going on Thursday.
F 4/12 - Wesley Bright & the Hi-Lites @ Beachland Tavern. Still the best current live band from NE Ohio in my opinion. And I'd say that even if they weren't soul.
S 4/13 - Fu Manchu @ Grog Shop. They're performing The Action is Go in its entirety. Mitch from "Kick out the Jams" is really excited. Man, I miss his radio show. I even donated to WJCU once because of it, but when they phased out vinyl he quit.
S 4/13 - Lottery League @ Agora. Let's take all the musicians in Cleveland and have teams get drafted, and then have them figure out new material for a concert. This is that concert.
Su 4/14 - Grupo Fantasma @ Beachland Ballroom. Austin-based band with a lot of Latin American influences.
M 4/15 - Josh Ritter & the Royal City Band @ Southern Theatre in Columbus. Josh Ritter at the Kent Stage was my top show of 2012! He will soon have a new album out... and he's not coming back to Cleveland. Dammit.
4/16 to 4/20 - CityMusic Cleveland @ various venues. Rossini, Dorman, Schumann.
T 4/16 - Canadian Brass @ EJ Thomas. If you like brass quintets, they are the gold standard.
T 4/16 - Anthrax w/Exodus and others @ HOB. Performing all of "Among the Living".
T 4/16 - The Black Angels @ Beachland Ballroom. Sucked the first time I saw them, fantastic when they headlined Studio-A-Rama. The new album is good, but which droney rock band will show up this time?
W 4/17 - Bernie Worrell Orchestra @ Beachland Ballroom. Bernie Worrell rose to fame with Parliament. This is a side project. As a friend of mine said, "all the freaks love Bernie Worrell.
R 4/18 - The Proclaimers @ Beachland Ballroom. 500 Miles and all that. Performing as an acoustic duo.
R 4/18 - Los Vigilantes @ Now That's Class - $5 bet on Puerto Rican garage punk / doo wop band. Why not? NOTE- listed as Tuesday 4/18 on their website, but 4/18 is a Thursday. Better call ahead.
F 4/19 - Aaron Neville & Dr. John @ Playhouse Square. This is by far the best show in the Tri-C Jazzfest this year.
F 4/19 - Bob Dylan @ EJ Thomas. I think he may be too loud for this venue, but he's definitely one for the bucket list.
Su 4/21 - Mindless Self Indulgence @ HOB. I'm listing this mostly because my ex had a CD of them doing "Bitches/Molly" eleven different ways, and that merits a mention, right?
T 4/23 - Bobby McFerrin @ EJ Thomas. Judging McFerrin by "Don't Worry Be Happy" would be like judging Frank Zappa by "Valley Girl"; You can do it, but you'll miss ridiculous amounts of really innovative and interesting music.
T 4/23 - Good For You @ Grog Shop. Featuring Greg Ginn from Black Flag!
S 4/27 - Silencio @ Beachland Ballroom. "Music performed & inspired by the works of David Lynch & Angelo Badalamenti". I saw them open for the Afghan Whigs last year, and although I only caught a song and a half I immediately went and bought their album. Brilliant.
May
F 5/03 - Schnauzer @ Beachland Tavern. Loud metal from Cleveland. Per my friend Mikhail, they have a ridiculous live show.
S 5/04 - Bill Callahan (ex-Smog) @ Dionysus. Smog was awesome.
Su 5/05 - Emily Wells @ Beachland Tavern. Looks like a good $8 bet. Apparently tours solo and performs with violin, voice, loop pedals and all manner of other weirdness.
T 5/07 - Crystal Castles @ HOB. I knew the kids liked them, but I didn't realize how they were big enough to be a HOB show. Put on by the Grog Shop.
W 5/08 - If Birds Could Fly @ Beachland Tavern. Another $10 bet, this time on a string-band from Virginia.
CANCELLED R 5/09 - Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby @ My Living Room! Details here.
F 5/10 - Captured! By Robots @ Grog Shop. One human, two 'apes' and three 'robots'. Ska-ish.
S 5/11 - The Kelly Richey Band w/Freekbass @ Winchester. I don't know Kelly Richey, but when Freekbass toured on his own I saw him nine times.
Su 5/12 - Claudia Hommel @ Nighttown. Parisian street jazz.
T 5/14 - Telekinesis @ Grog Shop. They've got a new album which is pretty solid if you like the indie pop thing.
W 5/15 - Chuck Prophet & The Mission Express @ Beachland Ballroom. I really liked his last album, Temple Beautiful, which is San Francisco themed rock, more or less.
R 5/16 - Bill The Sauce Boss Wharton @ Wilberts. He makes gumbo on stage while playing the blues. After the show, everybody eats.
S 5/18 - The Thermals @ Beachland Ballroom. Really loud. I may see them again in the hopes that they play Stare Like Yours, which is a legitimately great song but which they apparently regard as filler. Sigh.
F 5/24 - Gina Sicilia @ Winchester. Sold female blues singer.
Su 5/26 - Buddy Guy @ Nautica. Blues guitar legend.
R 5/30 - Bloc Party @ HOB. They got a few songs I really like, e.g. Sunday.
June
F 6/07 - B.B. King @ Akron Civic. He's getting up there in age, so if you want to cross this blues legend off your bucket list you should probably jump on this.
F 6/07 - The Dandy Warhols @ Grog Shop. The Grog Shop stalwarts return.
W 6/12 - The Dirty Projectors @ Beachland Ballroom. I have a lot of friends who love their albums.
R 6/13 - Alice Cooper & Marilyn Manson @ Nautica. WE ARE NOT WORTHY! WE ARE NOT WORTHY! That joke may only be funny if you were in junior high when Wayne's World came out.
S 6/15 - Fleetwood Mac @ The Q. I saw them (also McVie-less) some years ago and had a good time. Cross it off your bucket list while you can.
Su 6/16 - Man or Astroman? @ Beachland Ballroom. Naturally, they tour again and I'm out of town. Surf rock revival, sort of.
S 6/22 - Susan Werner @ Cain Park. Female singer-songwriter.
Su 6/30 - Sharon Jones @ the Dap-Kings @ Cain Park. OH YES THANK YOU. Tickets go on sale April 12. Not cheap, alas, but so damn worth it.
Beyond
T 7/09 - Fun w/Teagan & Sara @ Nautica. If you liked their big hit "We're So Young" here's your chance.
T 7/16 - Animal Collective @ HOB. Rescheduled from March 11 due to illness. Sponsored by Grog Shop.
T 7/16 - Great Big Sea @ Kent Stage. They've got one really great live album, which sadly has not been matched by their performances when I've seen them. Most importantly, their bass player is Murray from Moxy Früvous!
W 7/17 - Wire @ Beachland Ballroom. Tickets are on sale April 5, and this will sell out. If I was in town, I'd be there.
S 7/20 - Dick Dale @ Grog Shop. Everybody should see surf guitar legend Dick Dale play Misirlou at least once.
R 8/08 - Kris Kristofferson @ Cain Park. Old school country. Or ask him about Blade, if you prefer.
W 8/14 - Big Bad Voodoo Daddy @ Cain Park. Rarely has one band ridden a movie appearance (Swingers) so long, but when I saw them back in 1999 they were fantastic.
F 8/16 - The Official Blues Brothers Revue @ Cain Park. Ok, so this is apparently Blue Brothers impersonators. Since the Blues Brothers were essentially impersonating blues singers (it helps to have GREAT musicians), I guess this might work? Listed mostly because it is weird.
R 9/05 - The Duhks @ Beachland Ballroom. Baltimore folk group.
F 11/1 - The Smithereens @ Beachland Ballroom. Ok, I'm intrigued. Two sets, no opener.
How do you find local shows? Try these: Beachland Ballroom & Tavern, Grog Shop, Peabodys, CSU Convocation (aka Wolstein) Center, HOB, Winchester, Kent Stage, Agora Theater & Ballroom, Wilberts, Quicken Loans Arena, Night Town, Playhouse Square, Rock Hall, Cain Park, Blossom, Nautica Pavilion, Lakewood Civic Auditorium, Severance Hall, E.J. Thomas Hall (Akron), Musica (Akron), Akron Civic, CityMusic Cleveland, Now That's Class, Happy Dog, Mahall's 20 Lanes, Tri-C Jazzfest, Dionysus (Oberlin).
I did catch six shows in the long gap since the last concert calendar.
- French jazz vocalist Cyrille Aimee has a new band called the Guitar Heroes, who I saw from the table closest to the Nighttown stage on February 9. I've now seen her four times with four configurations (with Hot Club of Detroit, with Diego Figueiredo, with some Clevelanders) and this was pretty easily the best of them. Her cover of The Doors "People are Strange" was excellent. I picked up another album, which like the other two I own was just average. It's ok, they deserved the $$.
- Retribution Gospel Choir played the Beachland Tavern on the 15th. This band is the side project for Alan Sparhawk of Low, and sounds vaguely like them but faster. Ok, so it's hard not to be faster than Low. Anyway, embarassingly, for a good 30 minutes I thought that their opener Relaxer was actually Retribution Gospel Choir. Oops. Both bands were pretty good.
- bec76 hooked me up with some free tickets to see Swedish garage rockers The Hives on March 10 at the House of Blues. I took jackofmany. Despite being straight up rock & roll they came out in top hats and tails, which were quickly discarded. Their roadies were dressed as ninjas! Loud and fun, and even more fun because it was free.
- Ed of Chasing Infinity likes Veronica Falls, who a London-based pop quartet. Their bass player didn't even crack a smile once when I saw them on March 13th at the Beachland Tavern. I bought an album, but it was't as good as they were.
- I finally saw a fado artist. Ana Moura played the Cleveland Museum of Art on March 22. Naturally, she spent half the show playing music that wasn't at all fado. On the plus side, her band was excellent, and if you like tall beautiful Mediterranean women with gorgeous voices (I do) then there was a lot to like about the show. I definitely want more fado in my listening habits.
- Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band joined forces with bluesmen Jimbo Mathus and Alvin Youngblood Hart on March 23 at the Beachland Ballroom. There was a lot of loud country blues rock. Their were a lot of people there and they all seemed to be having a good time.
Life is good. Tell me what shows I should check out to make it better!
And now, on to the concert calendar. As always, bold means I'm definitely going and italics means I'm strongly considering it. Everything else is "I'm interested"; contrary to how a friend of mine introduced me recently I do NOT go to all these shows. That would be crazy. I would never sleep and I'd be broke. Sounds like fun, actually.
April
T 4/02 to R 4/04 - Fela @ Playhouse Square. Fela Kuti is dead. The next best thing at this point is seeing the stage production, which by all accounts is pretty good.
R 4/04 - Bad Religion @ Newport Music Hall in Columbus. Their new album True North is their best since The Empire Strikes First, but this is as close as they are coming to Cleveland.
S 4/06 - The Slackers @ Peabodys. Ska!
S 4/06 - The Cynics @ Happy Dog. Loud garage rock. I like the name :-)
Su 4/07 - Esperanza Spalding @ Playhouse Square. Her gig at the Tri-C Jazzfest last year was one of my top three shows of 2012! Based on that sample size of one, she's fantastic live. gieves and I are going.
Su 4/07 - Galatic @ Beachland Ballroom. Galactic was also one of my other top three shows of 2012; naturally it is the same day as Esperanza. They embody New Orleans awesomeness, although I'm told the quality of given show depends a lot of the musicians present and the type of music they are playing.
T 4/09 - Marnie Stern @ Dionysus. Her new album is solid. Also, this was hilarious.
W 4/10 - Zammuto @ Beachland Ballroom. Founded by one of the members of The Books, but unlike them is not apparently collage soundscapes.
R 4/11 through Su 4/12 - The Cleveland Orchestra performs Carmina Burana @ Severance Hall. gieves and I are going on Thursday.
F 4/12 - Wesley Bright & the Hi-Lites @ Beachland Tavern. Still the best current live band from NE Ohio in my opinion. And I'd say that even if they weren't soul.
S 4/13 - Fu Manchu @ Grog Shop. They're performing The Action is Go in its entirety. Mitch from "Kick out the Jams" is really excited. Man, I miss his radio show. I even donated to WJCU once because of it, but when they phased out vinyl he quit.
S 4/13 - Lottery League @ Agora. Let's take all the musicians in Cleveland and have teams get drafted, and then have them figure out new material for a concert. This is that concert.
Su 4/14 - Grupo Fantasma @ Beachland Ballroom. Austin-based band with a lot of Latin American influences.
M 4/15 - Josh Ritter & the Royal City Band @ Southern Theatre in Columbus. Josh Ritter at the Kent Stage was my top show of 2012! He will soon have a new album out... and he's not coming back to Cleveland. Dammit.
4/16 to 4/20 - CityMusic Cleveland @ various venues. Rossini, Dorman, Schumann.
T 4/16 - Canadian Brass @ EJ Thomas. If you like brass quintets, they are the gold standard.
T 4/16 - Anthrax w/Exodus and others @ HOB. Performing all of "Among the Living".
T 4/16 - The Black Angels @ Beachland Ballroom. Sucked the first time I saw them, fantastic when they headlined Studio-A-Rama. The new album is good, but which droney rock band will show up this time?
W 4/17 - Bernie Worrell Orchestra @ Beachland Ballroom. Bernie Worrell rose to fame with Parliament. This is a side project. As a friend of mine said, "all the freaks love Bernie Worrell.
R 4/18 - The Proclaimers @ Beachland Ballroom. 500 Miles and all that. Performing as an acoustic duo.
R 4/18 - Los Vigilantes @ Now That's Class - $5 bet on Puerto Rican garage punk / doo wop band. Why not? NOTE- listed as Tuesday 4/18 on their website, but 4/18 is a Thursday. Better call ahead.
F 4/19 - Aaron Neville & Dr. John @ Playhouse Square. This is by far the best show in the Tri-C Jazzfest this year.
F 4/19 - Bob Dylan @ EJ Thomas. I think he may be too loud for this venue, but he's definitely one for the bucket list.
Su 4/21 - Mindless Self Indulgence @ HOB. I'm listing this mostly because my ex had a CD of them doing "Bitches/Molly" eleven different ways, and that merits a mention, right?
T 4/23 - Bobby McFerrin @ EJ Thomas. Judging McFerrin by "Don't Worry Be Happy" would be like judging Frank Zappa by "Valley Girl"; You can do it, but you'll miss ridiculous amounts of really innovative and interesting music.
T 4/23 - Good For You @ Grog Shop. Featuring Greg Ginn from Black Flag!
S 4/27 - Silencio @ Beachland Ballroom. "Music performed & inspired by the works of David Lynch & Angelo Badalamenti". I saw them open for the Afghan Whigs last year, and although I only caught a song and a half I immediately went and bought their album. Brilliant.
May
F 5/03 - Schnauzer @ Beachland Tavern. Loud metal from Cleveland. Per my friend Mikhail, they have a ridiculous live show.
S 5/04 - Bill Callahan (ex-Smog) @ Dionysus. Smog was awesome.
Su 5/05 - Emily Wells @ Beachland Tavern. Looks like a good $8 bet. Apparently tours solo and performs with violin, voice, loop pedals and all manner of other weirdness.
T 5/07 - Crystal Castles @ HOB. I knew the kids liked them, but I didn't realize how they were big enough to be a HOB show. Put on by the Grog Shop.
W 5/08 - If Birds Could Fly @ Beachland Tavern. Another $10 bet, this time on a string-band from Virginia.
CANCELLED R 5/09 - Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby @ My Living Room! Details here.
F 5/10 - Captured! By Robots @ Grog Shop. One human, two 'apes' and three 'robots'. Ska-ish.
S 5/11 - The Kelly Richey Band w/Freekbass @ Winchester. I don't know Kelly Richey, but when Freekbass toured on his own I saw him nine times.
Su 5/12 - Claudia Hommel @ Nighttown. Parisian street jazz.
T 5/14 - Telekinesis @ Grog Shop. They've got a new album which is pretty solid if you like the indie pop thing.
W 5/15 - Chuck Prophet & The Mission Express @ Beachland Ballroom. I really liked his last album, Temple Beautiful, which is San Francisco themed rock, more or less.
R 5/16 - Bill The Sauce Boss Wharton @ Wilberts. He makes gumbo on stage while playing the blues. After the show, everybody eats.
S 5/18 - The Thermals @ Beachland Ballroom. Really loud. I may see them again in the hopes that they play Stare Like Yours, which is a legitimately great song but which they apparently regard as filler. Sigh.
F 5/24 - Gina Sicilia @ Winchester. Sold female blues singer.
Su 5/26 - Buddy Guy @ Nautica. Blues guitar legend.
R 5/30 - Bloc Party @ HOB. They got a few songs I really like, e.g. Sunday.
June
F 6/07 - B.B. King @ Akron Civic. He's getting up there in age, so if you want to cross this blues legend off your bucket list you should probably jump on this.
F 6/07 - The Dandy Warhols @ Grog Shop. The Grog Shop stalwarts return.
W 6/12 - The Dirty Projectors @ Beachland Ballroom. I have a lot of friends who love their albums.
R 6/13 - Alice Cooper & Marilyn Manson @ Nautica. WE ARE NOT WORTHY! WE ARE NOT WORTHY! That joke may only be funny if you were in junior high when Wayne's World came out.
S 6/15 - Fleetwood Mac @ The Q. I saw them (also McVie-less) some years ago and had a good time. Cross it off your bucket list while you can.
Su 6/16 - Man or Astroman? @ Beachland Ballroom. Naturally, they tour again and I'm out of town. Surf rock revival, sort of.
S 6/22 - Susan Werner @ Cain Park. Female singer-songwriter.
Su 6/30 - Sharon Jones @ the Dap-Kings @ Cain Park. OH YES THANK YOU. Tickets go on sale April 12. Not cheap, alas, but so damn worth it.
Beyond
T 7/09 - Fun w/Teagan & Sara @ Nautica. If you liked their big hit "We're So Young" here's your chance.
T 7/16 - Animal Collective @ HOB. Rescheduled from March 11 due to illness. Sponsored by Grog Shop.
T 7/16 - Great Big Sea @ Kent Stage. They've got one really great live album, which sadly has not been matched by their performances when I've seen them. Most importantly, their bass player is Murray from Moxy Früvous!
W 7/17 - Wire @ Beachland Ballroom. Tickets are on sale April 5, and this will sell out. If I was in town, I'd be there.
S 7/20 - Dick Dale @ Grog Shop. Everybody should see surf guitar legend Dick Dale play Misirlou at least once.
R 8/08 - Kris Kristofferson @ Cain Park. Old school country. Or ask him about Blade, if you prefer.
W 8/14 - Big Bad Voodoo Daddy @ Cain Park. Rarely has one band ridden a movie appearance (Swingers) so long, but when I saw them back in 1999 they were fantastic.
F 8/16 - The Official Blues Brothers Revue @ Cain Park. Ok, so this is apparently Blue Brothers impersonators. Since the Blues Brothers were essentially impersonating blues singers (it helps to have GREAT musicians), I guess this might work? Listed mostly because it is weird.
R 9/05 - The Duhks @ Beachland Ballroom. Baltimore folk group.
F 11/1 - The Smithereens @ Beachland Ballroom. Ok, I'm intrigued. Two sets, no opener.
How do you find local shows? Try these: Beachland Ballroom & Tavern, Grog Shop, Peabodys, CSU Convocation (aka Wolstein) Center, HOB, Winchester, Kent Stage, Agora Theater & Ballroom, Wilberts, Quicken Loans Arena, Night Town, Playhouse Square, Rock Hall, Cain Park, Blossom, Nautica Pavilion, Lakewood Civic Auditorium, Severance Hall, E.J. Thomas Hall (Akron), Musica (Akron), Akron Civic, CityMusic Cleveland, Now That's Class, Happy Dog, Mahall's 20 Lanes, Tri-C Jazzfest, Dionysus (Oberlin).
I did catch six shows in the long gap since the last concert calendar.
- French jazz vocalist Cyrille Aimee has a new band called the Guitar Heroes, who I saw from the table closest to the Nighttown stage on February 9. I've now seen her four times with four configurations (with Hot Club of Detroit, with Diego Figueiredo, with some Clevelanders) and this was pretty easily the best of them. Her cover of The Doors "People are Strange" was excellent. I picked up another album, which like the other two I own was just average. It's ok, they deserved the $$.
- Retribution Gospel Choir played the Beachland Tavern on the 15th. This band is the side project for Alan Sparhawk of Low, and sounds vaguely like them but faster. Ok, so it's hard not to be faster than Low. Anyway, embarassingly, for a good 30 minutes I thought that their opener Relaxer was actually Retribution Gospel Choir. Oops. Both bands were pretty good.
- bec76 hooked me up with some free tickets to see Swedish garage rockers The Hives on March 10 at the House of Blues. I took jackofmany. Despite being straight up rock & roll they came out in top hats and tails, which were quickly discarded. Their roadies were dressed as ninjas! Loud and fun, and even more fun because it was free.
- Ed of Chasing Infinity likes Veronica Falls, who a London-based pop quartet. Their bass player didn't even crack a smile once when I saw them on March 13th at the Beachland Tavern. I bought an album, but it was't as good as they were.
- I finally saw a fado artist. Ana Moura played the Cleveland Museum of Art on March 22. Naturally, she spent half the show playing music that wasn't at all fado. On the plus side, her band was excellent, and if you like tall beautiful Mediterranean women with gorgeous voices (I do) then there was a lot to like about the show. I definitely want more fado in my listening habits.
- Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band joined forces with bluesmen Jimbo Mathus and Alvin Youngblood Hart on March 23 at the Beachland Ballroom. There was a lot of loud country blues rock. Their were a lot of people there and they all seemed to be having a good time.
Life is good. Tell me what shows I should check out to make it better!