Monday, the musical community is coming together to honor the life and legacy of Jeff Austin. The event, titled “What The Night Brings: An Evening of Music, Remembrance & Community,” is set to feature a host of tributes and familiar faces. The show will be broadcast live from 1st Bank Center in Broomfield, Colorado with all proceeds going to the Jeff Austin Family Fund.
The webcast will kick off Monday, November 4th at 7:00 PM MT on nugs.tv. Expect tribute performances from Bill Nershi, Billy Strings, Brendan Bayliss, Greensky Bluegrass, Hot Rize, The Infamous Stringdusters, Keller Williams, Leftover Salmon, Members of the Jeff Austin Band, Railroad Earth, Yonder Mountain String Band, The Travelin’ McCourys and many more.
Scarlet Begonias is one of the essential pieces of the Grateful Dead discography. The band first played the song in 1974 at the Daly City Cow Palace, just south of San Francisco. The song is one of the many Grateful Dead tunes to feature the brilliant lyricism of the recently passed Robert Hunter.
Since Dead & Company began touring in 2015, Scarlet has been a fixture of the band’s live show. Every member of the band gets a chance to shine throughout the song, possibly why the band often uses it as a set opener. It’s a great introduction to the show, after a 10-minute Scarlet jam, you know exactly what to expect from a Dead & Co. performance. There’s a reason you’ll hear Bob Weir exclaim “Just like a swiss watch” after the band opens their second set in Atlanta with the song.
There are over 150 versions of Scarlet Begoniasstreaming on nugs.net from Dead & Company, Bob Weir and Wolf Bros, JRAD, and tons more. You can also watch three different versions of the song from this year’s Dead & Co. summer tour below.
For more Dead & Company, pre-order webcasts of their six upcoming Fall Fun Run shows right now on nugs.tv.
Halloween is just around the corner. Bands love to go all out with tricks and treats for fans during their special Halloween shows. Each year we see performances filled with fun covers, spooky-themed setlists, and some killer costumes. We’ve put together a list featuring some of the thrilling shows we’re excited about this Halloween.
Dead & Company
Dead & Co. is joining the Halloween fun this year. We’re excited to see what surprises the band has in-store at Madison Square Garden on October 31st. If you can’t make it to NYC next Thursday, we’ll have a full webcast of the Halloween show on nugs.tv.
Greensky Bluegrass
We already know a little about what to expect from Greensky Bluegrass’ 2019 Halloween show. The band has announced their third “Totally Bitchin’ ’80s Halloween Party.”
Pigeons Playing Ping Pong
There will be plenty of Talking Heads and Cake at Pigeons Playing Ping Pong’s three-night extravaganza kicking off Halloween night. The run, titled “Stop Making Cake,” is bound to be a fun time. Ahead of the Halloween run, PPPP shared their official video for “King Kong” featuring Here Come The Mummies, everyone’s favorite mummified funk band.
Umphrey’s McGee
UM has declared that their Halloween show at The Anthem in Philly will be a hell-raising night of Halloween revelry. The band is keeping tight-lipped about their plans for this year’s show, but we do know they’ll be leaving the mashups behind in favor of a “festive surprise.”
Widespread Panic
Widespread Panic, New Orleans, Halloween. That’s all we know about this year’s Panic Halloween show. But then again, that’s about all we need to know.
The String Cheese Incident
SCI is promising extended Halloween incidents starting this weekend at Suwannee Hulaween, followed by two nights at The Fillmore in Philadelphia, and concluding with two nights at The Palladium in Worcester, MA.
Third Man Thursday is back for its latest edition, this time featuring two releases from the Third Man Records archives. There’s something old and something new to explore here with a 1999 show from The White Stripes and 2014 audio from Jack White. Third Man Record’s co-founder Ben Blackwell is back this month with some background on both shows:
Jack White Live at Third Man Records 4/19/2014 – While most people would know this show for “Lazaretto” and “Power of My Love” being pressed onto a 7” 45rpm single a mere 3 hours and 55 minutes after its recording and touted “The World’s Fastest Record”, it’s easy to forget that a decent-sized set of other songs were also performed that morning. This show may be the earliest Jack White has ever performed a concert? In addition to being the first performance on the “Lazaretto” touring run for JW, it would also be the debut live performances of several classic songs in his catalog…the aforementioned “Lazaretto,” “High Ball Stepper,” “Would You Fight For My Love?” “Just One Drink” and “Three Women.” Featuring contributions from Cory Younts, Ikey Owens, Dominic Davis, Olivia Jean, Fats Kaplin, Scout Pare-Phillips, Daru Jones and Lille Mae Rische, this 12-song set is a perfectly distilled collection of what made the “Lazaretto” world tour so captivating. – Ben Blackwell, Third Man Records
The White Stripes Live at the Gold Dollar Vol. III 2/6/1999 – After the Stripes finished the tracking of their first album (taking place just a stone’s throw from the Gold Dollar) in January 1999, they immediately focused attention on a live performance at the Gold Dollar on Saturday February 6th, 1999. As only the Stripes’ second-ever headlining show, the gig was notable for the first-ever live performances of songs “Astro”, “Suzy Lee” and the Robert Johnson classic “Stop Breaking Down”…all of which would be featured on their self-titled debut album released just three months later. The transitional nature of the setlist of this performance captures the band as they grapple with the impending release of their new album and the best way to showcase that material prior to its release. – Ben Blackwell, Third Man Records
Today we’re officially welcoming Midnight North to the nugs.net family. Led by Elliott Peck & Grahame Lesh, Midnight North has mastered their rootsy Americana sound over the last six years. Audio from eight shows is now available to download or stream in the nugs.net app. We got the chance to talk to guitarists and vocalists Grahame Lesh and Elliott Peck, bass player Connor O’Sullivan, and drummer Nathan Graham before they head out on their twenty-city fall tour this weekend.
Q: Midnight North has a unique combination of sounds, stemming from genres including roots, rock, Americana and jam. Where have these influences stemmed from?
Grahame Lesh: We are influenced by so many bands and genres. Yes, roots, rock and Americana definitely are big deals for us, but also the blues, country, funk, electronica and a ton more. We have individual influences that each member brings to the table, and those mesh together into the band that we’ve become. The single biggest influence in the band’s beginning, especially the songwriting Elliott and I did, was the way duos like Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris or Gillian Welch & Dave Rawlings sing together. Later on we evolved into really trying to draw from CSNY, the Band and the Workingman’s/American Beauty era Grateful Dead. But we never shy away from any bandmember’s ideas no matter what genre or situation they come from – “Roamin'” has Connor’s funk basslines woven into it these days, while Nathan’s clawhammer banjo playing really helped shape our new single “Long View”. Whatever helps the song, the story, and the performance is what we’ll use.
Q: You have a very old-school soulful sense of lyricism. Where does Midnight North get their songwriting done and what inspires your lyrics?
GL: We follow the song. Whenever an idea comes to us we follow it wherever it leads us. It usually starts with a fairly stripped down song idea from Elliott or myself, and then the band takes it from there and makes it into a song. Our lyrics are often inspired by our own lives on and off the road, but they also can be stories we want to tell. For our last record, “Under The Lights”, both of us naturally found ourselves writing about our experiences on the road, which led to our travels becoming an unofficial theme for the album. Despite that, I usually write lyrics at home, though I’ve found myself writing more and more in other places. Recently airplanes are a place where I’ve recently found myself jotting down lots of ideas.
Elliott Peck: We right lyrics pretty individually between the songwriters in the band, but for me, I like to draw on novels I’m reading or familiar stories that I relate to create the lyrics behind a song. Sometimes a line will jump out at me and help me launch the story idea, and other times I come up with the story line first, and then work to find the right language to tell it and create the feeling I want to express.
Q: nugs.net has hosted streams out of Terrapin Crossroads, a venue where Midnight North has played countless shows. So, we have to ask, what has the band’s favorite Terrapin Crossroads moment been?
Connor O’Sullivan: Yes, there have been so many! A memorable moment early on in TXR’s history was when Midnight North was planning to cover Gram Parsons’ entire Grievous Angel album in the bar. We kinda had this little tribute night planned. Phil got wind of it and jumped on board to play some bass as did a couple of the other regular TXR musicians. Then as we were running the tunes in the Grate Room beforehand, we find out Mike Gordon is gonna drop by! So the whole night quickly took a big turn into something unexpected and magical! Now that we’re on the road so much we don’t get to play TXR too often. When we are in town these days it’s a special evening with a full house of longtime fans and supporters.
Q: You handpicked eight shows to add to the nugs.net catalog. Which tracks stand out from the batch, and why?
“Roamin'” Garcia’s 5/9/2019
CO: As I was mastering the shows for Nugs and scrubbing through the Garcia’s show I came across the drum solo during the Roamin’ jam and it was just amazing to hear again! It got me excited to release more live material.
“Highway Song” River Street Jazz Cafe 8/23/2019
Nathan Graham: This was the first Midnight North tune I ever heard before I was playing with the band. I loved it then – and I love it now. Enjoy this lively rendition from Wilkes Barre PA.
“Greene County” Wonder Ballroom 1/25/2019 + “Ripple” Salvage Station 12/29/2019
GL: Listening back I couldn’t stop listening to the amazing guests we’ve been lucky enough to have joined us. Dan Lotti of Dangermuffin singing “Ripple” in Asheville, G Grass and Andy Hall from the Infamous Stringdusters joining us on “Greene County” in Portland – these moments are so fun and we’re so lucky to share them with our friends on the road.
Dead & Company is hitting the road against later this month. Their Fall Fun Run kicks off on Halloween night and will feature six shows in three cities. If you don’t live in New York, Uniondale, or Hampton, you’re not out of luck. All six shows will be webcast on nugs.tv. Every webcast is available to pre-order right now, so make your plans and get ready for six spectacular nights with Bobby, John, Oteil, Jeff, Bill, and Mickey.
Once you’ve marked the dates on your calendar and pre-ordered the webcast, we’ve got you covered with everything you need to get ready for the band to take the stage. We’ve assembled a free YouTube playlist featuring 32 tour openers from the Dead & Company summer tour. Watch them all together and you’ll be primed and ready for October 31st.
There’s plenty of highlights in these shows from breathtaking venues to mind-blowing jams. This playlist recaps the full summer tour experience. You’ll travel with the band from Mountain View California to Dallas, Texas. You’ll make stops in legendary locations like The Patriots’ Gilette Stadium and The Chicago Cubs’ Wrigley Field. Then there’s The Gorge which is one of the most awe-inspiring stages in the world. This playlist is full of variety including “Shakedown Street,” “Bertha,” “Feel Like a Stranger,” “Here Comes Sunshine,” and tons more. Give it a watch and you’ll be primed and ready for Halloween.
Any longtime fan who has seen their fair share of Springsteen shows has at some point played the Time Machine game: If you could go back in time and see any Bruce concert, which would it be? A wish to witness tours and performances well before our time is a charming fantasy. More painful is taking stock of the shows you could have seen but didn’t. Yet another level is more haunting still: concerts you were supposed to attend until life got in the way.
Los Angeles 10/23/99 is my cross to bear. I was living in the Northwest at the time, which the Reunion tour wouldn’t visit until April 2000. That meant my closest chance to see the reconvened E Street Band were shows in Oakland and Los Angeles, the latter a four-night stand. A fortuitously timed work trip allowed me to catch the second night at the newly opened Staples Center on 10/18, and I was holding tickets for the final show on 10/23, for which I would fly back to LA.
On 10/22, the flu hit me hard. After much deliberation and soul searching, I conceded I was just too sick to travel, canceled my trip, and gave away my tickets.
On the morning of 10/24, I got on the Internet to check the setlist of the show the night before and realized what a terrible choice I had made, shouting the following between several choice expletives: “He played ‘Take ‘Em as They Come’?!” “Incident on 57th Street?!” “For You?” “Blinded By the Light?” “The Promise?” “SOLO PIANO?!” Motherclucker!
That nagging regret has not relented to this day, and the release of 10/23/99 confirms it is justified. The final LA ‘99 show is an outstanding Reunion tour performance, from the moment “Reverend” Clarence Clemons implores, “Brothers and Sisters, all rise” to start the show. There’s something special about Reunion sets that open with the “Meeting in the Town Tonight” preamble, and going from that straight into “Take ‘Em as They Come” is irresistible. The River outtake/Tracks highlight is one of those songs I never imagined I would hear in concert back when it was but a hissy song on a cassette I got mail order via a classified ad that ran in the back of a music magazine like Goldmine or Trouser Press.
For me, that’s one of the elements that made the Reunion tour so enthralling. The band was back together for the first time since ‘88, but they were also playing unreleased songs I never dreamed possible in a Springsteen concert. Add to that the return of songs unplayed since the ‘70s and you had the intoxicating belief that any song could find its way into a Reunion tour setlist.
The first half of the set nails the ‘99 blueprint, with the notable inclusions of an excellent “The Ties That Bind” following “Take ‘Em,” a resolute “Darkness on the Edge of Town,” and one of the best takes of “Factory” on the tour. It’s fascinating how distinct this “Adam Raised a Cain” is compared to the performance from the Chicago ‘99 archive release recorded less than a month before, putting more muscle into thick guitar where Chi-Town soared on incredible vocal dynamics.
Then there’s the humor. I’m not sure Bruce has ever been more deadpan than delivering jokes expressing his disdain for the corporate branding of LA’s state-of-the-art arena. “Good evening office supply lovers,” he says. “I’ve been searching for Mr. Staples.” On opening night of the run, he called out the building for its triple-decker skyboxes that start where upper bowl of a typical arena would be. “They don’t call ’em middle-of-the-room boxes,” he added, before invoking a line he famously uttered at The Roxy 21 years prior: “I don’t play no private parties anymore.” True to his word, despite Staples Center being the newest and biggest arena in Los Angeles, Bruce has not played another concert there to this day.
Every archive release provides an HD window to hear details otherwise lost on bootleg recordings and 10/23/99 is no exception. Though they are but a few seconds each, I love hearing Danny Federici’s organ swells at the start of “Murder Incorporated” and “Incident on 57th Street.” HD quality also shines a light on Roy Bittan’s lovely playing on the aforementioned “Factory,” not to mention Bruce and Patti’s lilting harmonies that wind down the song.
The back half of 10/23/99 is sensational. By request, we get “Incident on 57th Street.” This Wild & Innocent fan favorite returned to the set in Philadelphia on 9/25/99 for the first time since Nassau ‘80, but its appearance here is arguably even more special. Based on available setlists, Springsteen had never played the song on the west coast, let alone LA, going all the way back to 1974. For all but a lucky few, this was its Pacific Time Zone debut.
“Incident” is followed by an essentially perfect “For You,” which couldn’t be played better in ‘99 (maybe any year) than this. The pacing, the vocal intonation, the band, the spirit, Max’s cymbal work, the Big Man’s sax… all are spot on. A divine performance.
Of all the regrets I have about missing this show, “The Promise” stands as the biggest. The feeling of seeing the band leave stage and Bruce walking back to Roy’s piano by himself had to be an all-time “Holy Shit” moment for many, and I still wish I could be counted among them. Hearing the performance here made me appreciate it all the more, starting slightly tentative on piano then gaining composure. Bruce sings with a touch of weariness, taking time to let his words land and ultimately restoring one of his greatest compositions to the canon. So very special.
Bruce could do no wrong from that point forward, and he didn’t. Like “For You,” we’re gifted a remarkably timeless “Backstreets,” steeped with Bittan’s expressive piano. Setlist normalcy returns for the end of the set and the encore, delivered with high-gear intensity. “Light of Day” is extra fun, with a quick romp through “California Sun” (made famous by The Rivieras) by way of the memorable guitar riff from Johnny Rivers’ “Secret Agent Man.”
As the last show in LA, 10/23/99 is definitely a “one more song” kind of night. To the delight of every office supply lover in the building, we’re treated to “Blinded By the Light,” in only its second performance since 1976. Though arguably Bruce’s most famous song pre-Born to Run (largely because of the Manfred Mann cover), the song has a spotty performance history even back in the day. Its celebratory, playful appearance seals the night with a fitting E Street kiss goodnight.
