The Tallest Man On Earth played to a sold out crowd at Lincoln Hall on Friday. It somehow escaped me to bring my camera but fortunately Dan snapped this pic which I’ve stolen for my own.

The show was the last of the lengthy tour for Kristian Matsson in support of his recent (and highly recommended) release The Wild Hunt. Naturally he played a large portion of that album. With the help of a surprisingly hushed audience, his voice really carried throughout the venue and his finger picking work is staggering.

I must admit, in part due to my old age, I left before the encore and missed two Dylan covers: ‘The Man in Me’ and ‘I’ll Keep It With Mine’. Oh well, I’ll certainly catch his next show in Chicago and know not to flake out.

Anna, Alexis and I waiting for the show to start

Ferraby Lionheart returned to Schubas to play a short set of mostly new material from his forthcoming album The Jack of Hearts due out in August. Unlike the last time I saw him when he played solo acoustic, Ferraby was backed by The Badgers, a trio of musicians from the supporting act Leslie & The Badgers (all but Leslie). With The Badgers backing him, Ferraby was able to rock out (relatively) and highlight his song composition. I couldn’t help but draw a connection to much-beloved Vetiver as well. Aside from a slew of solid new material, Ferraby also played a couple of his better numbers including ‘Small Planet’ and ‘Put Me in Your Play’.

Ferraby Lionheart with The Badgers backing him up.

Ferraby kind of looks like a young Levon Helm

While the show was short–45 minutes all told–I was able to purchase an advance copy of his forthcoming able The Jack of Hearts. From the first few listens I’m impressed and hope it gets some play. It’s a shame it’s taken him so long (just shy of 3 years) to produce a follow up to Catch the Brass Ring.

New indie music wunderkinds The xx played what might have been the shortest concert I’ve ever seen on Thursday at Lincoln Hall. The show stretched a whooping 45 minutes but to be honest it didn’t bother me – it was to be expected considering their limited amount of original material. The setlist spanned their entire first album and one cover song.

The minimal sound of The xx was a good fit for Lincoln Hall but they don’t yet have the full respect of their audience and people often talked all the way through some of the softer songs. The performance was tight and clearly well rehearsed. When they dared to improvise (which was maybe a total of 4 minutes) the guitar work became sloppy and you can tell that while they have an undeniable skill at simplicity, their musicianship is lacking. Not to despair, they’re young.

Oliver Sim doing his best to look like one of the German nihilists from The Big Lebowski

The xx on stage at Lincoln Hall

Ethereal. I use the word rarely but it seems apt to describe the sound of The Clientele. Dreamy British guitar rock with haunting, airy vocals from Alasdair McLean. The group came through Chicago in support of their most recent release Bonfires on the Heath. A great Thursday night concert; sound was true to form. Pat Sansone from Wilco even joined in for a few numbers early in the show.

Field Music opened

Alasdair MacLean of The Clientele with Pat Sansone

The Clientele on stage at Lincoln Hall

Vetiver visited the Empty Bottle on Wednesday. It had been a surprisingly long time since my last visit; I was relieved to note that nothing had changed.

I happened to catch a large portion of the second opener, Robbie Hamilton, who showed potential but sounded muddled in an unforgiving venue such as the Empty Bottle. If I had to draw comparisons David Vandervelde would the first to come to mind which ain’t a bad thing but also not the hardest act to follow.

Andy Cabic singing

Back in May I was floored seeing Vetiver for the first time at the Chopin Theatre. Vetiver’s music has a subtle quality that a lot of bands would be hard pressed to pull off live. Vocals, riffs, harmonies—all sound just as good (if not better) live then they do on the albums. I was doubtful they could pull it off at a place like the Empty Bottle which is hardly known for its acoustics but I was pleasantly surprised.

They pulled out a least one new number but most of the material was familiar. Some memorable ones included “Everyday”, “More of This”, and “Another Reason to Go” from their most recent release along with “Maureen”, “Wishing Well”, “Blue Driver” and a well-suited encore of the traditional tune “Don’t Ease Me In” made famous by—and played in a similar style to—The Grateful Dead.

Vetiver on stage at the Empty Bottle

Love the grunge of the Empty Bottle

The Saturday lineup at Tomorrow Never Knows brought Bowerbirds to Lincoln Hall along with support from The Rural Alberta Advantage, a band I had heard of via Daytrotter but hadn’t listened to. I picked up their album Hometowns a few days prior and while not all of it impressed me, I did enjoy “The Air” which for some reason they chose not to play at the show. Surprising considering that, albeit it’s not a lively tune, it’s the most well crafted song on the album.

The Rural Alberta Advantage performs

The Rural Alberta Advantage frontman Paul Banwatt

While Bowerbirds as a band might not blow you away, Phil Moore’s voice doesn’t require much support to carry the show. Performing a number of songs from their two albums Hymns For a Dark Horse [2008] and Upper Air [2009], the band was a natural fit for the (relatively) intimate atmosphere of Lincoln Hall. Alas, not unlike Rural Alberta Advantage, Bowerbirds failed to perform their best song – “Ghost Life” – but they did play a number solid songs including “House of Diamonds”, “Northern Lights”, and “Chimes”.

Phil Moore and Beth Tacular of Bowerbirds

Phil Moore of Bowerbirds

Bowerbirds from the balcony

Bowerbirds and the sold out crowd at Tomorrow Never Knows

Tomorrow Never Knows brought Atlas Sound (aka Bradford Cox) to Lincoln Hall on Friday. Cox opened the performance with a dedication to follow musician Jay Reatard who recently passed away. I was surprised to find Atlas Sound was comprised solely of Cox, who brought on stage with him an acoustic guitar, harmonica and a small synthesizer of sorts which sat on the chair next to him.

The performance was not unlike the Atlas Sound records: beautiful in parts but often esoteric and experimental. His attempt at recreating “Walkabout” (the strongest track from his new album Logos) was a disappointment but I enjoyed some less familiar material and his voice carried a number of tunes.

Bradford Cox on acoustic guitar and harmonica

Bradford and the crowd

I was in Phoenix for Christmas with the fam and Jeff Tweedy happened to be playing a one-off solo show at the Orpheum Theatre downtown. It also happened to be my Mom’s birthday and I managed to get tickets for everyone as a nice family outing. A writer for the Phoenix New Times went as far as to call it the best show of 2009 in Phoenix, and while I might not be that bold, I will say it was a fantastic performance and probably in my top three for the year.

Inside the Orpheum just before showtime

The show was certainly intimate – Tweedy’s sister, who lives in the Phoenix area, was in attendance (along with a lengthy guest list of friends) and he dedicated a song to her early in the show. He also performed “You and I” for his wife who was in the crowd along with their two sons.

Jeff Tweedy talks to the crowd just before the encore.

Tweedy played a slew of great songs over the course of roughly two hours dating as far back as the Uncle Tupelo days. Just a few of the memorable tunes that come to mind include “Please Tell My Brother,” “In a Future Age”, “How to Fight Loneliness”, “The Ruling Class” (which – given the season – he felt compelled to state was not blasphemous), “Spiders (Kidsmoke)”, “Muzzle of Bees”, “Hummingbird”, “Heavy Metal Drummer” with the crowd chiming in, and a fantastic version of “Acuff/Rose” during a portion of the encore where he chose to eschew the house PA and simply play at the edge of stage.

Hearing Tweedy sans Wilco has given me a renewed respect for his craftsmanship as a songwriter. I certainly agree with New Times writer that this show was better than any Wilco show of recent memory.

Andrew Bird returned to Chicago to perform a sold out series of shows (four in total) at the Fourth Presbyterian Church in downtown Chicago. The collection of performances, coined by Bird as the “Gezelligheid” shows in reference to a Dutch term meaning essentially “coziness”, were played without a traditional PA system. Instead the sound came from four “horn speakers” placed strategically on the stage. Needless to say, from the fifth row where I was seated the sound was fantastic.

Full view of the stage prior to performance

Bird played a fair number of material from the instrumental album Useless Creatures which he released in early 2009 in connection with Noble Beast, as well as some more familiar material spanning all the way back to his early stuff with Bowl of Fire. Included in the hour and a half set were “Master Sigh” (my favorite song from Useless Creatures), “You Woke Me Up!” & “The Barn Tapes” (both instrumentals from the aforementioned disc), “Scythian Empires”, “Natural Disaster”, “Fitz and the Dizzyspells”, “Headsoak”, the Handsome Family’s “Giant of Illinois, and Bob Dylan’s “Oh Sister”.

I wish I had better photos of the actual performance but photography was verboten, not to mention once he went on stage the lighting was quite dim and made sneaking a worthwhile photo nearly impossible without being obnoxious.

The best I could get. Blurry but you get the idea.

I made it out for the second year in a row to check out the Chicago Bluegrass & Blues Festival at the Congress Theater here in Chicago. I was on the fence after finding out tickets were $40 a pop after fees but thankfully I managed to score tickets for $15. The big draw for me was Philly-based Dr. Dog who closed out the festival after Bela Fleck and the Flecktones played a two+ hour performance.

I’d actually seen Bela years ago — dare I say over a decade ago — in Missoula and was looking forward to catching up on his material but, alas, he chose to play primarily Christmas songs which I found relatively unbearable. Oh well, I guess you win a Grammy or nine (who knew?) and a musician can’t help but  float off into schmaltz.

Bela Fleck during a solo acoustic moment

Futureman's silhouette.

Bela Fleck and the Flecktones on stage playing Christmas music.

Bela Fleck

After the Christmas onslaught there was a quick break between headliners during which Van Ghost played on the balcony which is a weird spot to watch a band perform from. That being said, it makes creative use of a rather limited venue.

Van Ghost performs on the balcony between headliners.

Dr. Dog was the highlight of the small portion of the festival I caught. They had some technical difficulties to start the set and I had forgotten how terrible the sound is at the Congress but that didn’t hinder their performance entirely. There were a few new songs I didn’t recognize but they also busted out a number of great tunes from their two most well known albums, We All Belong (2007) and Fate (2008). Some memorable tracks included “The Breeze”, “My Old Ways”, “The Old Days” and “Alaska.”

Scott McMicken of Dr. Dog. A strange looking guitar with a Telecaster painting on the body of a Gibson.

Dr. Dog from afar. This is where the sound was really terrible, ironically next to the sound booth.

I snuck into the press section to snap some photos up close. Toby Leamen on the bass.

Scott McMicken of Dr. Dog.