Devo at ACL Live

So, I was anxious to see Devo on this tour, since they were featuring music from the earliest days of the band. I was familiar with some of these songs, since I loaded up on a fair of amount of bootleg albums, in highschool. It's hard to be believe that 36 years have passed since I first saw them play, at the Painter's Mill Music Fair, on 12/29/1978. Amazingly, most of the material during this tour, predates even that show.

This show didn't disappoint, with the only low note being the absence of Bob Casale (aka. Bob 2). The show went by fairly quickly, and I was able to capture the setlist.

The encore included an appearance by Booji Boy.

In closing, the only other thing I was going to say is, "I am always amazed at the following Devo has here in Austin." It was a full house, as you can see in this picture.

Steve Morse and Joe Satriani at ACL Live

The Steve Morse Band

While living in Poughkeepsie from '83 to '93, I saw Steve Morse perform at least 9 or 10 times with the Dregs, the Steve Morse Band, and Kansas. The Chance in Poughkeepsie was always a favorite stop for him. He always put on a superb show.

Since moving to Austin, I have seen Steve play once, with Deep Purple. I did happen to run into him and Dave LaRue in the Dallas airport, waiting at a gate back in '97, and begged them to play Austin. Oh well, you can't say I didn't try.

The Lineup

The band still has the same lineup that I saw, back in the early '90s:

• Steve Morse - Guitar
• Dave LaRue - Bass
• Van Romaine - Drums

The band played about a 45 minute set. My only complaint was that the mix could have been better. It was very difficult to hear Steve's guitar. Several friends of mine, had the same criticism after the show.

I'm not really up on his new material, but I did recognize some of the older songs. He played 2 songs from The Introduction. I have post a partial setlist here, and am hoping the someone else will complete it.

Joe Satriani

The headline act was Joe Satriania. Like Steve, I had also seen Joe play multiple times. The last time was at the Austin Music Hall around 2000 or 2001.

The Lineup

There was a little bit of a sense of deja vu, since I had just seen 2 members of Joe's band perform with the Aristocrats.

• Joe Satriani - Guitars
• Bryan Beller - Bass
• Marco Minnemann - Drums
• Mike Keneally - Guitars and Keyboards

I estimate that Satch played a single set with an encore that clocked in right around 2 hours. For some unknown reason (LOL), the sound was much better for Joe's set than Steve's. I will say that Joe's band is killer, but I already had much love for his rhythm section. This band was firing on all cylinders.

The setlist for the show is posted here.

Austin City Limits taping - the Black Angels

Three years have passed since I attended one of the last Austin City Limits (ACL) tapings, at the old studio, for Spoon. For their next season, 2011, the ACL show moved into the Moody Theater. Although I have attended many shows there, including the first one, I had not attended an actual ACL taping at the new location.

Two nights ago, my friends Ron and Alissa called and informed me that they had won two pairs of tickets, in the lottery for local band, the Black Angels. I was familiar with the band, but can't really say I am a fan. I was more interested in seeing how the taping experience had changed.

As we entered the venue, I was surprised to discover that we had assigned seating, and that the entire theater was being used. Security seemed a little bit heavier, and they were cautioning people against any sort of camera use, which is understandable. As a result, I don't have any pictures of the band playing.

They played for about an hour, and came out for encore, which I didn't understand, because the show is edited to show only the music. The setlist was posted on the ACL TV Facebook page.

It was generally enjoyable, but the Black Angels aren't really my cup of tea. And, the experience is much less intimate with a theater that is 8 times the size and capacity, of the old KLRU studio.

Yes - ACL Live at the Moody Theater

First, RIP Peter Banks

Lost in my preparation for SxSW, I noticed but forgot to blog the passing of the original guitarist from Yes, Peter Banks.

The latest incarnation

Months ago, my friends Ron and Alissa, got me this ticket. I had always been a Yes fan growing up, and had seen them multiple times prior to 1993, the year I moved to Austin. In fact, this is the first time I have seen Yes, since the Union tour.

To me, it's not really Yes without Bill Bruford, and a lineup without Jon Anderson on vocals is at the very least, suspect. I didn't mind the Drama lineup, but I was never a big fan of the 90125 era.

Band Personnel

For this tour, the Yes lineup would be:

• Jon Davison - vocals
• Chris Squire - bass
• Steve Howe - guitar
• Alan White - drums
• Geoff Downes - keyboards

Jon Davison was the only newbie in the lineup, but all reports indicated that he sounded eerily close to Jon Anderson, when he sang.

Set List

The premise of this tour was for the band to play three Yes albums in their entirety. For our show they were played in this order:

1. Close to the Edge
2. Going for the One
3. The Yes Album

Encore

• Roundabout

The performance

Honestly, there were some problems with this band, particularly with the tempo. I'm not sure if the root of the problem was that the band was under rehearsed, or that there were monitoring problems. Throughout the night, it never seemed like Howe or Downes were on the same page as the rhythm section of White and Squire.

It seems I expected more from this show than the band was able to deliver. Hopefully they'll get this worked out before the end of the tour.

The night ended mercifully with Roundabout.

Return to Forever IV at the Moody

Preshow

I bought the tickets to this show with the same crew that I attended the RTF Returns show with in 2008. This was the first of three, RTF reunion lineups, that have toured since then:

1. Chick Corea, Stanley Clark, Lenny White, Al DiMeola
   
2. Chick Corea, Stanley Clark, Lenny White, Bill Connors
   
3. Corea, Clark, & White
   

Unfortunately, the latter two tours did not come to Texas, but I have seen Chick perform twice since then, once with the Five Peace Band, and playing solo piano. I really enjoy Chick's playing, so I was very anxious to see this show.

We convened at Franks, before walking down to the Moody Theater for the show.

Zappa Plays Zappa

The opener was Zappa Plays Zappa. The lineup was very similar to the show I saw at Stubbs, two years ago, with the obvious addition of a new keyboard player.

The current lineup includes:

• Dweezil Zappa - Guitar
• Scheila Gonzalez - Saxophone, Flute, Keyboards & Vocals
• Pete Griffin - Bass
• Billy Hulting - Marimba, Mallets & Percussion
• Jamie Kime - Guitar
• Ben Thomas - Vocals & Trumpet
• Joe Travers - Drums & Vocals
• Chris Norton - Keyboards & Vocals

Set List

The set was similar to the Stubb's show two years ago. As usual, Dweezil had two special guests, with Chick Corea joining the band for one song, and then Eric Johnson, coming out later. I may have missed a song or two, but the set list was basically, as follows:

• Don't you ever wash that thing?
  
• Pajama people
  
• Fifty fifty
  
• Big swifty
  
• King Kong - with Chick Corea
  
• Don't you eat that yellow snow
  
• Saint Alphonzo's Pancake Breakfast
  
• Willie the Pimp - with Eric Johnson
  

Everything ZPZ played was well executed. I liked the new keyboard player, and even enjoyed the vocalist's singing more this time around. When Chick sat in with the band, the soloing was amazing, and he spent considerable time trading 8's with Dweezil. Even Eric Johnson was prepared, and his appearance with ZPZ was much better than what he delivered at Stubbs.

---

Return to Forever IV

The lineup for RTF IV is new, with two new players who have never played with the band before. In addition to the core lineup of Corea, Clarke, and White, RTF IV also includes:

• Frank Gambale (of Elektric Band fame) - guitars
  
• Jean Luc Ponty - violin (need I say more?)
  

Set List

The Set List was a mix of classic RTF songs, along with an individual songs written by JLP, and Stanley Clarke. There's not much to say other than this was a fantastic show.

I will say that JLP to the mix was akin to RTF a la mode. The apple pie was already really good, the ice cream pushed it over the top!

• Medieval Overture
• Senor Mouse
• Sorceress / Shadow of Lo
• Renaissance
• After the Cosmic Rain
• Romantic Warrior

Encore

• Spain
• School Days

All in all, it was a stupendous night of prog and fusion goodness.

Heart at the Moody Theater

They say the first step, is admitting you have a problem.

Reading this blog, you'll may notice that I have spent quite a bit of time at the Moody Theater in the past 11 days. Since it opened in February, I have already been to 6 shows at ACL Live. As the Central Scrutinizer would note, Once again, we see music causing big trouble.

At the last minute, 1AM after the Jeff Beck show to be exact, I decided that I needed to get in touch with my inner couger and purchased a ticket to see Heart. As luck would have it, I was able to obtain a Mezzanine seat. So, I have hit for the cycle at the Moody, having now sat on all 3 of its levels.

This was a bucket list show for me. I grew up hearing the Wilson sisters, and figured I should see them at least once in my lifetime.
Riding down with my friends Ron and Alissa, we headed over to theater, after dinner at Jo's. On arriving, it appeared that the show was a sellout. The opening act, Electric Touch, started promptly at 8PM. They were good, but I'm not sure I would run out to go see them again.
Heart eventually took the stage at around 9:15 PM, with some sort of Celtic drone going on in the background. Their recent band lineup consists of the following musicians:

• Ben Smith - Drums
• Craig Bartock - Guitar
• Debbie Shair - Keyboards, synthesizers
• Kristian Attard - Electric bass guitar

I didn't realize until I consulted wikipedia, that the band will be celebrating their 40th anniversary in just 2 years, 2013. If you know the band, you'll know that Ann and Nancy themselves, are the only original and constant members of the band. In everyone's mind, Ann and Nancy Wilson and Heart are synonymous.

The show was as I expected. The Wilsons are still able to perform and sound just as good now, as they always have. The setlist was similar to this one posted on setlist.fm, with the exception that I can recall, being that they played 2 Zeppelin covers during the first encore, and did not play Love Reign O'er Me.

Here's a few pictures that I took. You can see some additional photos over at the ACL Live site.

A Retro Moment

The coupe de grace for me was seeing someone actually lifting a lighter, calling for the encore.

Willie Nelson at the Moody Theater (aka. ACL Live)

Although I had recently seen Willie with Asleep at the Wheel, when I saw that he would be opening the new ACL Live venue, the Moody Theater, I had to get a ticket.

I arrived about an hour early, parked under City Hall, and walked across the street to the venue. While waiting for the doors to open, I snapped a few pictures. I must say, this is an impressive facility:

First Set

For the first set, Willie played with a 30 piece Orchestra. I've been unable to find a set list, but do remember the following songs:

• Crazy
• All the things you are
• You are always on my mind
• Georgia

Second Set

For the second set, Willie was accompanied by a 4 piece band. Going from memory, I can remember the following:

• Whiskey River
• Crazy (sans Orchestra)
• Momma don't let your boys grow up to be Cowboys
• Jambalaya (on the Bayou)
• Good Hearted Woman (Wayon Jennings cover)
• Hey Good Lookin' (Hank Williams cover)
• You are always on my mind

Of course, at the end of his show, Willie went around the stage, shaking hands, and signing memorabilia for at least 10 minutes. He is truly loved by the fans.

Post Show

In closing, I found this KVUE video clip on Willie's site.