2005 Concert Year in Review
I somehow failed to do a 2005 Concert Year in Review back in early 2006 when it would have made sense, but no worries, I've got the detailed notes so I can attempt to do a retrospective some 15 years after the fact. I posted some show totals for 2005 when I did my 2006 Concert Year in Review, but as I was prepping my notes for this post, it appears those were not correct. My count for 2005 was 53 shows which is the largest single number of any year of my life. The number of total bands appears to be 98, although counting the folks on stage for Wynton Marsalis differently can easily lead to different numbers. I can no longer recall the context of their appearance, but I'm not going to give into the temptation to count it as generously as possible so I can reach 100 bands on the year!
Here is the full list. When I could find anything I'd written back in 2005 that reference the show, I linked it on the list, no matter how brief. This turned out to be surprisingly many, and let me tell you I sure used social media differently back in 2005, because there was all sorts of weird things in there. Anyway...
Neko Case w/The Sadies & Kelly Hogan - Beachland Ballroom, 1/15
Styx - House of Blues 1/26
Lucy Kaplansky - Beachland Ballroom 2/5
Liquid Soul w/Aphrodesiatics - House of Blues 2/11
Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings - Beachland Ballroom, 2/20
Melissa Ferrick w/Garrison Star - Grog, 3/3
Clem Snide w/Archer Prewitt - Beachland Tavern, 3/9
Rhonda Vincent & the Rage w/Jim Lauderdale - Beachland Ballroom, 3/15
Steve Earle & the Dukes w/Allison Moorer - House of Blues, 3/23
Toots & the Maytals - House of Blues, 4/1
Wanda Jackson w/The Lustre Kings - Winchester, 4/6
Dresden Dolls w/Buck 65 - House of Blues, 4/10
Shemekia Copeland @ Wilberts, 4/15
Wynton Marsalis w/The Tri-C JazzFest High School All-Stars plus Ted Nash and Matt Wilson, Ernie Krivda - Playhouse Square, Allen Theater - 4/20
Melt Banana w/Hot Cross - Grog Shop, 4/27
Ray Wylie Hubbard, Slaid Cleaves, Hayes Carll - Beachland Ballroom, 5/6
Mike Doughty w/Kelly Buchanan - Odeon, 5/12
Billy Idol - Scene Pavilion, 5/13
Bruce Springsteen - CSU Convocation ( Wolstein ) Center - 5/15
The Decemberists - Beachland Ballroom, 5/19
The Slackers w/The Rightful Rulers - Grog, 5/26
Mustard Plug w/The Code @ Agora Ballroom, 6/02
The Headhunters w/the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey @ Beachland Ballroom, 6/14
The Moaners w/BJ O'Malley @ Beachland Tavern, 6/19
Trio! Stanley Clarke, Bela Fleck & Jean-Luc Pointy @ Cain Park - Evans
Jason White w/Matt Gerovac @ Grog, 7/2
Reel Big Fish w/El Pus @ Odeon, 7/6
Los Straitjackets Summer Twist Party w/the World Famous Pontani Sisters & Kaiser George @ Beachland Ballroom, 7/12
Les Claypool - Odeon, 7/18
Whitesnake w/Supagroup - House of Blues, 7/31
Susan Werner w/Eleni Kelakos @ Cain Park - Evans 8/2
Bryan Adams & Def Leppard w/Randy Coleman @ Classic Park, 8/6
The Arrogant Worms @ Cain Park - Evans 8/10
Solomon Burke w/Nancy Red @ Cain Park - Evans 8/12
Devo w/The English Beat @ Scene Pavilion - 8/18
Studio-A-Rama 2005 - 9/10 with Self Destruct Button, ADHD, 20goto10, Miranda's Moon, Rare Blend, The Chrome Kickers, The Avatars, monet.madrid.madagascar, Magnolia Electric Company
A Fir Ju Well, Volta Sound @ Pat's in the Flats, 9/15
Interpol, Boom Bip @ Agora Theater, 9/26
Al Di Meola @ Winchester, 9/30
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings @ Beachland Ballroom, 10/2
Nine Inch Nails w/Queens of the Stone Age & Autolux @ Quicken Loans Arena, 10/9
KMFDM w/Acumen Nation @ Odeon, 10/11
The Decemberists w/Cass McCombs @ Odeon, 10/15
Liquid Soul @ HOB Cambridge, 10/28
Volta Sound @ The Harp, 10/29
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings w/William Bell @ Wilberts, 11/5
Dar Williams w/Girlyman @ HOB, 11/8
Front 242 w/Grey Area & Filament 38 @ Odeon, 11/15
Bon Jovi @ The Palace in Auburn Hills, 11/18
High Dials w/Boatzzz, Volta Sound @ Beachland Tavern, 12/9
Bettye Lavette @ Beachland Tavern, 12/10
U2 w/Institute @ Gund (Q), 12/11
Spazmatics @ HOB, 12/17
Top Venues:
House of Blues - 8 in the main room, 1 in the Cambridge room. The House of Blues opened late in 2004, and for the first year or so they booked a ton of good bands AND made free tickets available to my radio station. This was by far the most shows I ever went to in a single year there. After this they started booking fewer interesting shows (an admittedly subjective measure) and almost completely stopped giving us free tickets at the station. I also had learned that the acoustics there are terrible for any band that isn't loud, and often even for ones that are, so I stopped going to anything folkish.
Odeon - 6. There was one more terrible show there early in 2006 before it closed.
Beachland Ballroom - 5
Beachland Tavern - 4
Grog Shop - 4. I'm surprised this wasn't more given that I lived down the street.
Winchester - 2. I've only been there twice since.
Wilberts - 2. And I've never been back since.
Road Trips:
I saw Bon Jovi at the Palace in Auburn Hills with Karla who was butterandjelly and Micah. We would have gone in Cleveland but Micah and I already had tickets to see Dar Williams the same night.
Albums purchased:
This far out I can't always recall which albums I got at shows and which I acquired elsewhere, but I know I bought both the first two Sharon Jones albums this year, as well as at least one Decemberists album, a Neko Case album, a Mustard Plug album and an Al Di Meola album. So at least 6?
Bands I don't Remember At All 15 Years Later:
Let's start with Melissa Ferrick, who based on my LJ entry I really enjoyed. Not only do I not remember the show, I don't have any recollection of who she is but maybe I should check her out! Among the other headliners, I don't remember The Moaners, A Fir Ju Well or the High Dials at all either. There were two more bands where I said "oh, I saw them? That's cool", namely Front 242 and Melt Banana. And then there's Betty Lavette, who I'm convinced I saw, but who wasn't on this list when I wrote up my first ten years of the Beachland, but at some point after that I somehow confirmed I'd seen her and added her to the list, but I still don't remember the show. Which, incidentally, means that my counts on second ten years of the Beachland are probably off by one.
Best Opener:
The Sadies were great opening for Neko Case and better with her. Allison Moorer was vey good opening for Steve Earle. Based on my summary I thought she was attractive too. Girlyman has oddly stuck with me through the years. I really wish I remember seeing William Bell, particularly if he was actually THE William Bell, but I guess if he was he must not have been memorable. That's what I get for not knowing more Memphis music history back then.
Honorable Mentions for Concert of the Year, In No Particular Order:
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings (first show) - The show that launched an obsession.
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings (second show) - Their bus broke down. They didn't get to the venue until 11:45pm and started sans sound check. It still killed.
Toots & the Maytals - A great nostalgia show. May he RIP.
Dresden Dolls - The first and best of the two times I saw them.
Bruce Springsteen - Solo tour for the Devils & Dust tour. Mike & I had perfect seats.
The Decemberists (first show) - The first of four times I've seen them.
Stanley Clarke, Bela Fleck & Jean-Luc Pointy - The genesis for my rule that if a bunch of jazz people who don't normally tour together are doing a tour, you should check them out. This was a fantastic show.
Los Straitjackets Summer Twist Party w/the World Famous Pontani Sisters & Kaiser George - Everybody should see Los Straitjackets at least once. If you can see them with burlesque dancers, so much the better.
And my top three are:
[3] Neko Case w/The Sadies & Kelly Hogan - The live album The Tigers Have Spoken dropped two months before this show, which was a continuation of the same tour. I went with the girl I was dating at the time. I suspect she didn't appreciate it like I did, but it was the first and arguably the best of the three Neko Case shows I've ever seen, which is saying something.
[2] Al Di Meola - I had just started dating my future ex wife when I went to this show. She tried to get me to skip it to hang out with her, but I'm pretty sure I had a free ticket so I went. I regret nothing. It was quite easily the best show I've ever been to at the Winchester, and arguably the best jazz show I've seen, period. After the show, I talked to Di Meola and said that "I thought Clarke/Fleck/Ponty was going to be the best jazz gig I saw this year, but I guess I was wrong." He fist pumped and said "hell yes, I'm doing something right." My future ex wife said "you would have had more fun with me" and I disagreed, leading to what I recall as our first major fight. In retrospect, it should have been a sign!
[1] Since I lacked a 2005 Concert Year in Review in 2014, I retroactively picked a 2005 Concert of the Year as part of my " Ten years of Concert of the Year" post. Does Steve Earle & the Dukes still hold up in my memory all this time later? Yes, actually. Steve was still really angry about the 2004 presidential election when he appeared at the House of Blues, and that anger, combined with some of his best material to drive a really great show. It's certainly on the short list of the best shows I've ever seen at the House of Blues, and was in fact so good that I've never actually bothered to see Steve again. How could he ever match that? Weirdly, part of my brain is convinced this happened before the 2004 election.
Worst Show
Well, the snarky answer would be that I met my future ex wife at Studio-A-Rama, and saw A Fir Ju Well with her on our first date and Interpol on another early date, but that's unfair to the musicians, plus let's be honest, there are few things better than going to a show with an attractive woman who [a] wants to be there [b] wants to be there with you. With that said, it Magnolia Electric Company was one of the weaker Studio-A-Rama headliners we've ever had. I remember Lucy Kaplansky being pretty terrible, bad enough that I unloaded the on album of hers that I had during one of my regular CD purges. Les Claypool has disappointed me every time I've seen him - I'm pretty sure this year was with Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains (I remember Buckethead) but regardless it was not good. Rhonda Vincent was also pretty bad.
Other Fun Stories
- I went to Billy Idol with a friend of a friend named Barbara, who was very impressed with Billy each of the three times Billy ripped off his shirt. As in "sucked in her breath to the point of nearly fainting" impressed.
- I saw Mustard Plug with gieves and darlox. We were quite easily the oldest people there. In 2005!
- Mike and I saw a fight break out at the end of the Styx show. They were throwing cheap logo beach balls into the crowd as the encore ended. A woman caught one, then had it snatched from her by another woman. The first woman started pulling hair, and security waded in. All this other a cheap logo beach ball, probably street value about $1.00. Good lord.
- Micah and I went to Reel Big Fish the day after he got his nipples pierced. He was hopping up and down in the pit with his hands clamped over this nippled. How he didn't fall I don't understand.
- Micah and I threw an impromptu dinner party for all the radio station ska fans before the Slackers show that was arguably better than the Slackers show itself.
- The radio station got a giant pile of free tickets for Whitesnake, so basically every WRUW metalhead that I ever knew who was still in town was there. We had at least 15 people - Ace, Metal Roger, Mikhail, Stella & AP, Heather, Rob and a bunch of others I didn't know as well. It's still the most WRUW people I've seen at a show outside Studio-A-Rama. Metalheads are great.
- Bon Jovi was not quite like this.
Since 2005 ended I've never quite had the same combination of free time, disposable income and single minded focus necessary to come even close to 50 shows; I've only cleared forty once since, and frankly don't expect to again any time soon. What a great year.
Here is the full list. When I could find anything I'd written back in 2005 that reference the show, I linked it on the list, no matter how brief. This turned out to be surprisingly many, and let me tell you I sure used social media differently back in 2005, because there was all sorts of weird things in there. Anyway...
Neko Case w/The Sadies & Kelly Hogan - Beachland Ballroom, 1/15
Styx - House of Blues 1/26
Lucy Kaplansky - Beachland Ballroom 2/5
Liquid Soul w/Aphrodesiatics - House of Blues 2/11
Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings - Beachland Ballroom, 2/20
Melissa Ferrick w/Garrison Star - Grog, 3/3
Clem Snide w/Archer Prewitt - Beachland Tavern, 3/9
Rhonda Vincent & the Rage w/Jim Lauderdale - Beachland Ballroom, 3/15
Steve Earle & the Dukes w/Allison Moorer - House of Blues, 3/23
Toots & the Maytals - House of Blues, 4/1
Wanda Jackson w/The Lustre Kings - Winchester, 4/6
Dresden Dolls w/Buck 65 - House of Blues, 4/10
Shemekia Copeland @ Wilberts, 4/15
Wynton Marsalis w/The Tri-C JazzFest High School All-Stars plus Ted Nash and Matt Wilson, Ernie Krivda - Playhouse Square, Allen Theater - 4/20
Melt Banana w/Hot Cross - Grog Shop, 4/27
Ray Wylie Hubbard, Slaid Cleaves, Hayes Carll - Beachland Ballroom, 5/6
Mike Doughty w/Kelly Buchanan - Odeon, 5/12
Billy Idol - Scene Pavilion, 5/13
Bruce Springsteen - CSU Convocation ( Wolstein ) Center - 5/15
The Decemberists - Beachland Ballroom, 5/19
The Slackers w/The Rightful Rulers - Grog, 5/26
Mustard Plug w/The Code @ Agora Ballroom, 6/02
The Headhunters w/the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey @ Beachland Ballroom, 6/14
The Moaners w/BJ O'Malley @ Beachland Tavern, 6/19
Trio! Stanley Clarke, Bela Fleck & Jean-Luc Pointy @ Cain Park - Evans
Jason White w/Matt Gerovac @ Grog, 7/2
Reel Big Fish w/El Pus @ Odeon, 7/6
Los Straitjackets Summer Twist Party w/the World Famous Pontani Sisters & Kaiser George @ Beachland Ballroom, 7/12
Les Claypool - Odeon, 7/18
Whitesnake w/Supagroup - House of Blues, 7/31
Susan Werner w/Eleni Kelakos @ Cain Park - Evans 8/2
Bryan Adams & Def Leppard w/Randy Coleman @ Classic Park, 8/6
The Arrogant Worms @ Cain Park - Evans 8/10
Solomon Burke w/Nancy Red @ Cain Park - Evans 8/12
Devo w/The English Beat @ Scene Pavilion - 8/18
Studio-A-Rama 2005 - 9/10 with Self Destruct Button, ADHD, 20goto10, Miranda's Moon, Rare Blend, The Chrome Kickers, The Avatars, monet.madrid.madagascar, Magnolia Electric Company
A Fir Ju Well, Volta Sound @ Pat's in the Flats, 9/15
Interpol, Boom Bip @ Agora Theater, 9/26
Al Di Meola @ Winchester, 9/30
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings @ Beachland Ballroom, 10/2
Nine Inch Nails w/Queens of the Stone Age & Autolux @ Quicken Loans Arena, 10/9
KMFDM w/Acumen Nation @ Odeon, 10/11
The Decemberists w/Cass McCombs @ Odeon, 10/15
Liquid Soul @ HOB Cambridge, 10/28
Volta Sound @ The Harp, 10/29
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings w/William Bell @ Wilberts, 11/5
Dar Williams w/Girlyman @ HOB, 11/8
Front 242 w/Grey Area & Filament 38 @ Odeon, 11/15
Bon Jovi @ The Palace in Auburn Hills, 11/18
High Dials w/Boatzzz, Volta Sound @ Beachland Tavern, 12/9
Bettye Lavette @ Beachland Tavern, 12/10
U2 w/Institute @ Gund (Q), 12/11
Spazmatics @ HOB, 12/17
Top Venues:
House of Blues - 8 in the main room, 1 in the Cambridge room. The House of Blues opened late in 2004, and for the first year or so they booked a ton of good bands AND made free tickets available to my radio station. This was by far the most shows I ever went to in a single year there. After this they started booking fewer interesting shows (an admittedly subjective measure) and almost completely stopped giving us free tickets at the station. I also had learned that the acoustics there are terrible for any band that isn't loud, and often even for ones that are, so I stopped going to anything folkish.
Odeon - 6. There was one more terrible show there early in 2006 before it closed.
Beachland Ballroom - 5
Beachland Tavern - 4
Grog Shop - 4. I'm surprised this wasn't more given that I lived down the street.
Winchester - 2. I've only been there twice since.
Wilberts - 2. And I've never been back since.
Road Trips:
I saw Bon Jovi at the Palace in Auburn Hills with Karla who was butterandjelly and Micah. We would have gone in Cleveland but Micah and I already had tickets to see Dar Williams the same night.
Albums purchased:
This far out I can't always recall which albums I got at shows and which I acquired elsewhere, but I know I bought both the first two Sharon Jones albums this year, as well as at least one Decemberists album, a Neko Case album, a Mustard Plug album and an Al Di Meola album. So at least 6?
Bands I don't Remember At All 15 Years Later:
Let's start with Melissa Ferrick, who based on my LJ entry I really enjoyed. Not only do I not remember the show, I don't have any recollection of who she is but maybe I should check her out! Among the other headliners, I don't remember The Moaners, A Fir Ju Well or the High Dials at all either. There were two more bands where I said "oh, I saw them? That's cool", namely Front 242 and Melt Banana. And then there's Betty Lavette, who I'm convinced I saw, but who wasn't on this list when I wrote up my first ten years of the Beachland, but at some point after that I somehow confirmed I'd seen her and added her to the list, but I still don't remember the show. Which, incidentally, means that my counts on second ten years of the Beachland are probably off by one.
Best Opener:
The Sadies were great opening for Neko Case and better with her. Allison Moorer was vey good opening for Steve Earle. Based on my summary I thought she was attractive too. Girlyman has oddly stuck with me through the years. I really wish I remember seeing William Bell, particularly if he was actually THE William Bell, but I guess if he was he must not have been memorable. That's what I get for not knowing more Memphis music history back then.
Honorable Mentions for Concert of the Year, In No Particular Order:
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings (first show) - The show that launched an obsession.
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings (second show) - Their bus broke down. They didn't get to the venue until 11:45pm and started sans sound check. It still killed.
Toots & the Maytals - A great nostalgia show. May he RIP.
Dresden Dolls - The first and best of the two times I saw them.
Bruce Springsteen - Solo tour for the Devils & Dust tour. Mike & I had perfect seats.
The Decemberists (first show) - The first of four times I've seen them.
Stanley Clarke, Bela Fleck & Jean-Luc Pointy - The genesis for my rule that if a bunch of jazz people who don't normally tour together are doing a tour, you should check them out. This was a fantastic show.
Los Straitjackets Summer Twist Party w/the World Famous Pontani Sisters & Kaiser George - Everybody should see Los Straitjackets at least once. If you can see them with burlesque dancers, so much the better.
And my top three are:
[3] Neko Case w/The Sadies & Kelly Hogan - The live album The Tigers Have Spoken dropped two months before this show, which was a continuation of the same tour. I went with the girl I was dating at the time. I suspect she didn't appreciate it like I did, but it was the first and arguably the best of the three Neko Case shows I've ever seen, which is saying something.
[2] Al Di Meola - I had just started dating my future ex wife when I went to this show. She tried to get me to skip it to hang out with her, but I'm pretty sure I had a free ticket so I went. I regret nothing. It was quite easily the best show I've ever been to at the Winchester, and arguably the best jazz show I've seen, period. After the show, I talked to Di Meola and said that "I thought Clarke/Fleck/Ponty was going to be the best jazz gig I saw this year, but I guess I was wrong." He fist pumped and said "hell yes, I'm doing something right." My future ex wife said "you would have had more fun with me" and I disagreed, leading to what I recall as our first major fight. In retrospect, it should have been a sign!
[1] Since I lacked a 2005 Concert Year in Review in 2014, I retroactively picked a 2005 Concert of the Year as part of my " Ten years of Concert of the Year" post. Does Steve Earle & the Dukes still hold up in my memory all this time later? Yes, actually. Steve was still really angry about the 2004 presidential election when he appeared at the House of Blues, and that anger, combined with some of his best material to drive a really great show. It's certainly on the short list of the best shows I've ever seen at the House of Blues, and was in fact so good that I've never actually bothered to see Steve again. How could he ever match that? Weirdly, part of my brain is convinced this happened before the 2004 election.
Worst Show
Well, the snarky answer would be that I met my future ex wife at Studio-A-Rama, and saw A Fir Ju Well with her on our first date and Interpol on another early date, but that's unfair to the musicians, plus let's be honest, there are few things better than going to a show with an attractive woman who [a] wants to be there [b] wants to be there with you. With that said, it Magnolia Electric Company was one of the weaker Studio-A-Rama headliners we've ever had. I remember Lucy Kaplansky being pretty terrible, bad enough that I unloaded the on album of hers that I had during one of my regular CD purges. Les Claypool has disappointed me every time I've seen him - I'm pretty sure this year was with Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains (I remember Buckethead) but regardless it was not good. Rhonda Vincent was also pretty bad.
Other Fun Stories
- I went to Billy Idol with a friend of a friend named Barbara, who was very impressed with Billy each of the three times Billy ripped off his shirt. As in "sucked in her breath to the point of nearly fainting" impressed.
- I saw Mustard Plug with gieves and darlox. We were quite easily the oldest people there. In 2005!
- Mike and I saw a fight break out at the end of the Styx show. They were throwing cheap logo beach balls into the crowd as the encore ended. A woman caught one, then had it snatched from her by another woman. The first woman started pulling hair, and security waded in. All this other a cheap logo beach ball, probably street value about $1.00. Good lord.
- Micah and I went to Reel Big Fish the day after he got his nipples pierced. He was hopping up and down in the pit with his hands clamped over this nippled. How he didn't fall I don't understand.
- Micah and I threw an impromptu dinner party for all the radio station ska fans before the Slackers show that was arguably better than the Slackers show itself.
- The radio station got a giant pile of free tickets for Whitesnake, so basically every WRUW metalhead that I ever knew who was still in town was there. We had at least 15 people - Ace, Metal Roger, Mikhail, Stella & AP, Heather, Rob and a bunch of others I didn't know as well. It's still the most WRUW people I've seen at a show outside Studio-A-Rama. Metalheads are great.
- Bon Jovi was not quite like this.
Since 2005 ended I've never quite had the same combination of free time, disposable income and single minded focus necessary to come even close to 50 shows; I've only cleared forty once since, and frankly don't expect to again any time soon. What a great year.