Author: nugsnet

Pigeons Playing San Francisco

By Photographer and Writer Joshua Huver (Must Have Media)

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Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA 2/14/20

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Regency Ballroom, San Francisco, CA 2/15/20

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The Baltimore, MD based funky foursome of Pigeons Playing Ping Pong marked their fifth overall SF Bay Area appearance over Valentine’s Day weekend on February 14 and 15. 

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The two-night extravaganza was a little different from the typical two-night stand. Instead of setting up shop in one venue overnight, guitarists Greg Ormont and Jeremy Schon, bassist Ben Carrey, and drummer Alex “Gator” Petropulos performed at different venues each night. 

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In doing so, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong follows a recently growing trend for jam bands visiting the SF Bay where bands will play a smaller, more intimate venue before moving into a larger spot to accommodate more fans. In recent years STS9, The String Cheese Incident, and Umphrey’s McGee have all followed a similar model. For P4, this meant they got cozy on Valentine’s Day at the Great American Music Hall and finished SF at The Regency Ballroom which holds about 1,000 more people only a few blocks away.

These two San Francisco dates fall right in the middle of the band’s 13-date trip West and they have brought Connecticut-based bird band Goose along for support on each bill. Goose deliver hard breaking grooves and patiently spaced, hard-rocking jams underneath a vocal harmony that you just don’t normally hear in the jam band community. The love and camaraderie between bands was full tilt, evidenced by Pigeons Playing Ping Pong giving Goose 60-75 minutes as an opening band each night and opting to only take a single 2 hour set themselves on the 15th.

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But on Valentine’s Day P4 delivered a rowdy two-set show with on-theme covers and unrelentingly high energy all night long for their debut at the historic San Francisco venue. They opened with “Walk Outside”, from 2016’s Pleasure, a song that had been cut from the encore of the previous night in Santa Cruz. That was followed by two tracks that appear on their most recently released record, Presto: “Avalanche”, which delivered a mountain of funk for the audience to dance their way out of and “Fortress”.

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From 2017’s Pizazz the band delivered a major “Porcupine” sandwich featured a transition into “Penguins” and a cover of the Deee-Lite track “Groove is in the Heart” mashed into it before wrapping it back up with the end of “Porcupine”. Playing into the maritime relationship of the Bay Area, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong took a “Water” break before finishing the set with an ode to the Greek water god, “Poseidon”. Ormont and the band had one more Ace up their sleeves, dealing out a totally unexpected cover of “Daddy Wasn’t There” from the third Austin Powers film, Goldmember. 

“Henrietta” gave the second set a solid standalone start before Gator took the spotlight ahead of “Bad For You”. Carrey’s thunderous slap-pluck bass technique rolls in slowly, and before long the song is off. Definitely don’t skip ahead and wait out the segue into “Live It Up” – it’s worth it.

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They followed immediately with a second pair of back-to-back tracks. “Kiwi”, another carryover that was nixed from the night before in Santa Cruz came third in the set and spilled into the psychedelic party vibes of “Yo Soy Fiesta”.

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At the midway point of the second set, the lights dropped onto Carrey for a bass solo that signaled the beginning of what may be the Pigeons Playing Ping Pong brand-equivalent of Help! > Slip > Franklin’s, or, “Spacejam” > “The Hop” > “F.U.”. If you like getting lost in the signature screaming leads of Schon and some intense disco beats, strap yourself in.

One of their earliest tracks and only from their 2010 debut album Funk E P, “Landing” turned the funk up to 11 and into a monster jam that melted into the Doobie Brothers’ classic “Long Train Running” to close the set. For the encore, they went for a single standalone take on “Ocean Flows”.

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For the Pigeons Playing Ping Pong’s return to The Regency, it was obvious that they felt comfortable and at home. What was supposed to be another two-set show as fans of the band and other jam bands are accustomed to and expect turned into a single mega long set with no break. The energy that reciprocates between P4 and their fans gets palpable, and they certainly know how to read the room.

Saturday’s show opened with a pair of standalone songs beginning with High As Five”, the third and most recent single from the 2020 release Presto. That was followed by the Pleasure track “Bad For You”.

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Pizazz’s “Something For Ya” kicked off a massive head-bobbing dance party that accelerated through “Skipjack”, the final song off of Presto. 

The first cover of the final night saw the band revisit their ‘Dead Hot Sgt. Peppers’ themed Halloween weekend from 2018 for one of George Harrison’s most memorable contributions to The Beatles’ catalog, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, which elevated into a wild and raucous segue of “Burning Up My Time” > “King Kong”, another single from the new albums.

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After a brief rendezvous onstage, the four band members called an audible and opted to continue riding the energy out and skip the set break. They continued with a standalone take on “Too Long” before entering “Whoopie” sandwiched around the Prince classic “1999”.

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A pair of tunes from the bands’ sophomore release Psychology followed. Beginning with “Lightning”, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong invited fellow bird band members Rich Mitarotonda and Peter Anspach of Goose to sit in on guitar and keyboards, respectively.

One of the overall highlights of the weekend, it was the first time the bands had crossed paths musically onstage since beginning the tour almost a full week prior. “Lightning” was tailed by the band’s live music meta-opus “Horizon” before finishing the marathon set with “The Liquid” – an appropriate reference to the full melt the audience was in the throes of. 

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Even after all that, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong mustered up the energy for a one-two encore punch. They started with a new (less than one year and 15 plays since its debut) song called “Distant Times”, followed by the lead single from Presto, “Dawn a New Day.” In full-circle fashion, long time San Francisco flockers will remember that the band debuted “Dawn a New Day” during their second SF stop in October of 2017.

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Listen to audio from the show now!

A Very Twiddle Valentine’s Day Weekend

By Photographer and Writer William O’Donoghue

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State Theatre, Portland, Maine 2/15/20

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The work of a jam band requires a fierce and loyal following to thrive; by that measure, Twiddle has made it and is here to stay.

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Comprising of front-man Mihali Savoulidis (lead guitar, vox), Zdenek Gubb (bass, vox), Ryan Dempsey (keys, vox), and Brook Jordan (percussion, vox), Twiddle enraptured the State Theatre this Saturday, February 15th.

The night kicked off with Wild Adriatic, followed by Strange Machines, creating a recipe sure to thrill during this Valentine’s weekend.

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Wild Adriatic got the crowd going with their hard rock sensibilities, showing off their versatility with a unique take on Marley’s “I Shot the Sheriff”. These guys are absolutely realizing their soul sensibilities, revealing the many facets of their pop-rock roots.

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Vermont-based Strange Machines followed. These guys are no strangers to the members of Twiddle, who have shown consistent love for playing with fellow local musicians in a wide variety of shows. Strange Machines features Mike MacDonald (guitar, vox), Craig Holland ( bass, vox), Josh Dobbs (keyboard), & Ryan ‘Claw’ Clausen (drums): an expert choice to prime the crowd with their unique, immersive blend of psychedelic rock. Keep your eyes on them, folks.

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Both Dobbs and Clausen have been consistent staples of Burlington’s notorious Dead Set at Nectar’s (Burlington, VT) since its inception seven years ago, filling crowds with their own takes on Dead covers every Tuesday. At the right time, you might even find Mihali and/or Gubb throwing their stylings into the mix. Though perhaps these days, you may be more likely to find the guys throwing down at Ryan Dempsey’s own new club/venue, Orlando’s Bar.

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Following an epic finale in which Mihali joined Strange Machines for their electro-jam fan-favorite “Klepto”, the stage went dark to prepare for Twiddle, as the crowd continued to grow and buzz in anticipation.

The lights came up, the band emerged, and the crowd instantly threw all of their considerable energy in as “Nicodemus Portulay” began to take shape.

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Electricity was in the air, the crowd was primed, and Dempsey took the lead as Twiddle dove into “Gatsby the Great”. The crowd was fully immersed as the group seamlessly slid into “Zazu’s Flight” before finishing off this take of “Gatsby”.

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A true highlight for this Frend was the first set finale, featuring Josh Dobbs stepping in on the keys to fill out the melodious and heartfelt “Out In The Cold”.

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The stage was silent once again, as we buzzed with anticipation of what was to come.

They may be a new(er) generation of ‘jam’ band to the fiercely loyal and competitive scene of Burlington, but hot damn, these guys know what they are doing.

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“Blunderbuss”, as the title evokes, exploded through the crowd like a starburst, as Dempsey, Gubb, and Jordan rode out a rhythmic sound-storm.

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“Jamflowman”, a well-loved Twiddle staple, found Mihali back at the forefront, with beautiful solo riffs, as the crowd enthusiastically joined in to sing along. This crowd favorite transitioned into “Frankenfoote”, as Mihali continued to dominate the stage, before moving “Into the Kitchen”.

Not enough yet? Certainly not. Dempsey threw the crowd straight into the band’s tried and true cover of Mason William’s timeless hit, “Classical Gas”. Set two came to a close to resounding applause and ecstatic cheers.

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But being from Vermont, Twiddle was not done yet. Finishing off (so we thought), with a “Syncopated Healing” that is equal parts wildly improvisational and harmonious, the Frends are satisfied.

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But then, before we knew it, we were hit with a “Juggernaut”.
Minds blown, loves found and reinforced, Twiddle exited the stage.

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Listen to live audio from Twiddle right now on nugs.net!

Expressway To Your Heart

Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band

Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY, May 4, 2009

By Erik Flannigan

With the Super Bowl just completed, social media reminded us anew about Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s turn in the halftime spotlight back in February 2009. That gig speaks for itself (and will never be confused with Shakira and J-Lo’s even with knee slides), but it also proved to be the catalyst for one of the busiest periods in modern Springsteen history.

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With massive TV exposure beckoning, Bruce greenlit a new album and tour mere months beyond the conclusion of his last cycle. After putting out Magic in September 2007 and touring it for the better part of 12 months, Bruce began 2009 with the drop of another studio album, Working on a Dream, followed a week later by the Super Bowl, his most widely viewed performance ever. Barely catching their breath, Springsteen and the band kicked off the WOAD tour on April 1, which would run through November, albeit with new wrinkles. 

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Nassau Coliseum 5/4/09 presents the first opportunity in the archive series to revisit the WOAD tour in its purest form, the first leg, before the full-album shows of the fall and on a night when Max Weinberg played drums the entire performance. 

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Max’s son Jay had been drafted to take his sticks while the Mighty One was fulfilling his day job leading the house band for Conan O’Brien’s short-lived stint hosting The Tonight Show. Because he was training his understudy, Max shared the drum stool with Jay for the preceding eight concerts. Max’s full participation at Nassau may be one of the factors energizing this excellent performance which offers a winsome mix of recent material, welcome returns, and a few true surprises. 

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Let’s get right to the point: The first half of the show is straight fire. There’s a real sense of purpose and focus right out of the gate with a punchy “Badlands” straight into “No Surrender.” Familiar territory, yet sounding mighty fresh indeed, buoyed by the E Street Band in especially fine voice (a good example of details you can only hear in the archive series recordings). Listen for lovely vocals from Soozie and Patti at the top of “No Surrender” and clear evidence of the night’s high spirits: after Bruce sings “Hearts of fire grow cold,” Clarence shouts an affirmative, “YEAH!”

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With the show clipping along, Bruce goes all-in for “Outlaw Pete,” and damn if it doesn’t work, as his conviction brings the hokum narrative to life. Springsteen and the band have a rollicking good romp through the mini Western epic, and there’s even a quick nod to “Be True” in the final solo.

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A snappy “She’s the One” makes an unusually early and appreciated appearance in the set, continuing the cool E Street vibes. Like “Outlaw Pete,” Bruce digs deep for “Working on a Dream” in what has to be one of the best versions of the song, sounding vital and rich, once again resplendent with background vocals from the band. One of the tour’s hallmarks was Springsteen’s preacher rap in the middle of the title track, and his gospel will surely move you, especially with the The Big Man’s call-and-response intonations so clear and heartfelt.

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“Seeds” made a much-appreciated reappearance in 2009, the first E Street Band turn for the song since the Tunnel of Love Express Tour and played in a potent, straightforward arrangement that wraps with inspired guitar soloing. “Johnny 99” marks another WOAD tour return in a full-band version that bears an unmistakable Jerry Lee Lewis flavor. There’s no mistaking the blast the band is having, with Nils taking a sinewy slide guitar solo and Soozie and Patti singing sweet, train whistle “Woo Hoo”s.

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Six-string pyrotechnics continue with a showcase for Lofgren on “The Ghost of Tom Joad,” completing the so-called “recession pack” of songs that started with “Seeds.” Thanks to Jon Altschiller’s revealing mix, the song is also a showcase for Roy Bittan, who, unbeknownst to most of us until now, plays a beautiful piano part behind Nils’ soaring solo.

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Another distinguishing feature of the WOAD tour was the impact of song-request signs made by the audience. The acknowledgment of these signs organically evolved the show to feature a moment where, during “Raise Your Hand,” Bruce collected signs and decided what requests to grant.

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Kismet was definitely in play for the first request granted, the one and to-date only performance of “Expressway to Your Heart,” a minor hit for the Soul Survivors in 1967 written by the legendary Philadelphia songwriting and producing team Gamble & Huff. Anticipating the request, Springsteen and the band rehearsed and soundchecked the song, which helps explain why their one-off version is so bloody good.

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Bruce has a rich history of covering minor hits (“Double Shot of My Baby’s Love,” “Little Latin Lupe Lu,” “Mountain of Love”) and making them his own, and “Expressway to Your Heart” joins the pantheon of the best of them. With its irresistible hook and infectious chorus, the song is an instant E Street classic cover worth the price of admission. 

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The request section goes from strength to strength as a well-oiled “For You” follows “Expressway,” then the tour premiere of “Rendezvous,” an asset to any set list. This wonderful sequence concludes with a fizzing version of “Night.” What more could you want?

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The back nine of Nassau 5/4/09 holds up its end of the bargain, too. Some consider “The Wrestler” to be the signature performance on this leg of the tour, and the case is made strongly tonight. The song’s rustic, fleeting majesty is on full display (does anyone else hear hints of U2’s “Kite”?), with Bruce’s voice rough-edged and full of emotion. In hindsight, the story told by “The Wrestler” echoes some of the sentiment expressed first-person in Bruce’s autobiography and Broadway show. 

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Beckoning Patti to the mic, Bruce changes the mood with a soaring “Kingdom of Days,” pledging his partnership in full voice in this underappreciated song, rare for celebrating love not at its inception, but further on up the road.

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A trio of 2000s songs (“Radio Nowhere,” “Lonesome Day” and “The Rising”) carries us to “Born to Run” and the encore, where Bruce speaks nostalgically about how “these old buildings” — arenas like Nassau Coliseum, the Spectrum in Philadelphia, and the Sports Arena in Los Angeles — are “great concert halls” that are being torn down one by one. Springsteen’s history in Nassau Coliseum alone, site of the epic New Year’s Eve 1980 set among others, is significant and resonates through this final performance in the original arena which has since been renovated.

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The encore ends, as it should, in joy mode, with “Dancing in the Dark” (in which Garry Talent keeps the time very tight indeed) and “Rosalita.” And surely any performance of “Jungleland” from Clarence’s final tour should be treasured. But it is the first line of a song unique to the WOAD tour, “Hard Times (Come Again No More),” that lingers: “Let us pause in life’s pleasures and count its many tears.”

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Following Bruce’s comments about the value of old buildings like Nassau Coliseum and his suggestion to the audience to support Long Island Cares (founded by Harry Chapin), the sentiment of “Hard Times” — making its live archive debut here — is fitting. In early 2020, a time marked by national travails and reminders of how precious and fleeting life can be, the 166-year-old lyric sounds even more like a directive all should heed.

The Evolution of Turkuaz

Since emerging in 2011, Turkuaz has lit up stages everywhere from Bonnaroo, Hulaween, Okeechobee and Electric Forest, to Telluride Jazz Fest, Lock’n, Red Rocks, and The Fillmore. Their horn-filled funk incorporates elements of R&B, psychedelic pop, gospel, Afro-pop, New Wave, classic rock, and just about any genre that gets people dancing.

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We had a chance to chat with the nonet about the evolution of their music and style over the past nine years.

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Q: You guys are entering a new era as a group. Beyond the color scheme change, what evolutions can we expect from Turkuaz in 2020?

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A: Well, the color scheme change was inspired by this last EP we released, Kuadrochrome. About 5 years ago, we released its’ predecessor, Stereochrome, which had the band dressing in all black and white. This was followed by 5 years of the “colors” era, as we’re calling it. As much as we and our fans both loved the colors on-stage, 5 years is a lot and we knew it was time for a change. We had a few other songs and arrangements lying around that had yet to be released that fit the vintage style of Stereochrome, and creating a sequel with a four-tone scheme instead of two seemed like a fun and unique opportunity to break out of the rainbow.

As far as what’s to come—we want to keep growing and changing, and being open to whatever that means when inspiration strikes. As mentioned, this last EP leaned more vintage funk/soul, but we’re already working on a ton of new recordings with a wide range of sonic influences. This was more of a palate cleanser or a little pit-stop on our journey. We don’t entirely know where it will lead and that’s part of the fun. The only constant for us at this point will be change. And we look forward to seeing where that takes us in 2020 and beyond.

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Q: We’re really excited about the upcoming “Remain in Light” shows with Jerry Harrison and Adrian Belew. What is that experience going to be like?

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A: We’re also very excited about it. We’ve been playing Talking Heads’ music since the inception of our band, and it’s deeply woven into the fabric of what we do. We worked with Jerry on a couple songs a few years back, and we were very happy when he approached us with the idea of doing this tour. Adrian is also a musical force that we have been a fan of for a long time, and getting to play this music with them is a great honor.

Rather than play the record straight through, we’ve been discussing modeling the show partially on the 1980 Rome show which was on the “Remain in Light” tour. This show featured highlights from the record, as well as the rest of their existing catalogue at the time. If you haven’t seen that show, do yourself a favor and check it out. It’s truly inspiring and we’re looking forward to pulling ideas from it. Jerry has also mentioned wanting to do some Turkuaz songs which, of course, we’d love to do, as long as it doesn’t distract too much from the vibe of the show we put together. All in all, we want a high energy and fun show that does justice to the import legacy of that music.

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Q: The four shows at the Blue Note in Tokyo are amazing, what was your favorite experience from those shows?

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A: It was amazing. Playing the shows as well as meeting and interacting with our fans there were both so great, it’s hard to say what the favorite experience was. Simply exploring Japan was also something none of us had ever done, so the entire trip really feels like one meaningful and unforgettable experience.

The Japanese audience there was very different from our typical American audience. In addition to the Blue Note being a jazz club which naturally is a more calm and reserved environment, public space in Japan is generally treated differently and people are incredibly collected and respectful. This creates a concert environment where the audience is sitting and carefully listening to every note. I don’t think one approach is necessarily better than the other, but this was the first time we had ever played to an audience like this and I think we struck a good balance of adapting while also giving them the Turkuaz experience.

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Q: Do you have any personal favorites from the shows currently released on nugs.net?

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A: Cleveland is a good one, and Brooklyn Steel is our most recent hometown show, so I’m glad that’s in there. The Nashville show has some of the newer stuff we’ve been doing on the Kuadrochrome tour. Overall, I think they’re all pretty solid which is why they’re up there. With a band this size, and so much happening in the arrangements, we’re just looking to continually feature the audio that came out the best as opposed to posting every show. We’re not a jam band with a 100% different setlist every single night, but every show is different by at least 40-70% night-to-night, and we never repeat the same set. We plan on presenting a “best of” every so often to keep a good flow of shows coming. The best is yet to come and we look forward to adding to the catalogue.

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Q: What are you guys looking forward to most in 2020?

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A: I’m looking forward to all the collaborations. The “Remain in Light” shows will be amazing, and the Brooklyn Comes Alive set we’re doing in March will also be a blast (with Cory Henry, Nate Werth and Robert “Sput” Searight). We also have a ton of new music in the works which we look forward to sharing with the world. We’re also very happy to be part of the Nugs family! It’s gonna be a good year.

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Start streaming live Turkuaz audio today on nugs.net.

Hitting the High Seas With Our Favorite Bands

Jam Cruise is always an epic experience. From pool-side acoustic daytime sets to 4 AM super jams in the Jam Room, the boat creates an atmosphere unmatched by any other festival. Truly, nowhere else, can you be sailing the high seas with the certainty that the set you are listening to is a once in a lifetime experience. We asked a multi-year patron about what the vibe of the boat was this year, and she simply answered, “The boat was incredible. If you don’t leave there feeling better and more positive than you didn’t smile at enough strangers.” It’s a beautiful thing, being side by side with colorful costumes and expert musicians, braving a storm in the middle of the Caribbean ocean, all while dancing your way through a cruise ship. Whether you’re trying to recover from your fear of missing out or wishing to relive your best vacation of the year, nugs.net has you covered! 

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Check out our list of select soundboard audio from Jam Cruise 2020, now available to stream and download below:

Steve Kimock Featuring John Kimock, Robert Walter, Reed Mathis, and George Porter Jr.

Listen Here

moe. in the Atrium & the Pantheon Theater

Listen Here

Lotus on the Pool Deck & the Pantheon Theater

Listen Here

Pigeons Playing Ping Pong on the Pool Deck

Listen Here

Lettuce in the Pantheon Theater

Listen Here

Ghost Light (ft. Turkuaz horns) on the Pool Deck & in the Pantheon Theater

Listen Here

Umphrey’s McGee Drops Anchor in Detroit

Written and photographed by Joshua Huver

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Umphrey’s McGee wrapped a weekend in the Midwest with a doubleheader featuring their 10th and 11th performances (excluding two VIP sets) at The Fillmore in Detroit, MI on Friday, January 31 and Saturday, February 1. Featuring a wealth of old-school rarities, new songs and fan-requested favorites, this most recent Detroit run is required listening. Major highlights across the two nights were the 400th performance of “Phil’s Farm”,  a bust of the Radiohead song “Meeting in the Aisle”, “Words” and an impromptu 10-minute take on the SRV classic “Lenny”, as well as a wide variety of jams and impressive segues, made more impressive by a new breath of creativity from lighting director Ben Factor.

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Having performed at The Fillmore over the last ten years, it is their first time bringing a two-night run more than two consecutive years. Umphrey’s McGee, or guitarists Brendan Bayliss and Jake Cinninger, keyboardist Joel Cummins, drummer Kris Myers, percussionist Andy Farag and bassist Ryan Stasik skipped the venue in 2016 and 2018 before playing two nights in 2017, 2019 and now 2020.

On Friday night they began with a solid 20 minutes dedicated to two originals, “Maybe Someday” and “Whistle Kids” from their recent release it’s not us and the counterpart, it’s you. “Whistle Kids” was stretched out longer than the two and featured a light stepping blues-funk outro riff before the jam slowed into something more ambient. That low-intensity vibe segued neatly into a Radiohead cover of “Meeting in the Aisle” for the first time in 322 shows and 18th overall.

The second biggest surprise of the set was fan favorite “Words”,  appearing on 2006’s Safety in Numbers. After the song, Bayliss admitted that the song was requested for the Detroit show the previous year and made good on his promise to play it, on his terms of course.

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The old-school song selection continued with a standalone “Mail Package” to split the set. The 2011 Death By Stereo cut “Miami Virtue” featured some of the sets’ most fun improvisation and shouldn’t be skipped. The final 15 minutes of the first set was a fiery “1348” > “The Fuzz” > “1348” segment. “The Fuzz” is another first set bust-out. An old-school favorite, “The Fuzz” was criminally underplayed for several years but has seen a resurgence since late 2018.

The second set was heavy in the middle of the band’s catalog, opening with “North Route”. A soft and ethereal piano intro from Joel Cummins leads the instrumental, but it finishes as an off-kilter and loaded rock ‘n roll anthem. On Friday, they segued that heavy rock into the dance party that is “Bad Friday”. Both songs are relatively recent and share that they were debuted as the first song after midnight on New Year’s Eve 2016 and 2013, respectively.

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After a lengthy jam and a quick reprise, the band rested briefly before introducing another heavy rock and under-played favorite, “Go To Hell”. A 25 minute “Mantis” > “Hajimemashite” > “Mantis” segment was off to an incredible start in the first 10 minutes, but somewhere in the transition between the jam and “Haji”, Stasik’s pedalboard was bombed by an airborne tallboy of Budweiser. The music never stopped, which is a credit to the band’s ability to handle the biggest surprises on the fly, inspiring an ad-libbed first verse of “Haji” by Bayliss.

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The intense expression of gratitude that is “Little Gift” from 2014’s Similar Skin followed with an explosive improv section led by Cinninger. The band transitioned into a 13-minute standalone “Hurt Bird Bath” to finish the set.

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When Umphrey’s McGee returned to the stage, Stasik took the mic and addressed the win of a shiny new tuner and the fact that instead of playing what they had planned (which was an unnamed cover) they were going to play “some Michigan shit”. Mid-sentence, Cinninger jumped on the mic to stop a second beer from being hurled at the stage. The band moved into a quick and standard take on the Bob Seger classic “Hollywood Nights” and called it a night.

On Saturday, spirits were high and positive among the crowd and the band despite some sticky pedals and melted faces. Umphrey’s McGee’s sense of humor was on display immediately, beginning the show with “You Got the Wrong Guy” and taking it into the uptempo rock and roll anthem “Mulche’s Odyssey”. Appearing on 2004’s Anchor Drops, the band moved into the much slower and relaxing vibe of the titular track.

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From “breathe easy” to “Make It Right”, they moved on from the thrown beer and into a 14-minute “Kabump” party. An off-beat and jazzy improv section kept the crowd moving and bumping around their neighbors. The second jam in the track will put this track on many favorites lists this year as well as the next track, “Sociable Jimmy”. Cummins and Stasik took turns keeping the improv weird and funky, drawing it out into a psychedelic peak with frenetic fretwork from Cinninger before falling back into the song’s ending.

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A stark contrast to the dance frenzy of the last 25 minutes, the band carved out a soft landing for a bust out of “The Pequod” at the request of long-time fan Erik Johnson for his 100th show. After a brief and beautiful respite, the band used the last nine minutes of the set for an upbeat “Day Nurse”. There’s a hot Michael Jackson tease of “Workin’ Day or Night” which could have tricked some fans into thinking a “Night Nurse” was also on her way.

The second set of the night got off to a great start with a 15-minute standalone “Phil’s Farm”. One of the band’s oldest tracks and appearing on their debut album Greatest Hits Vol III, the Detroit “Phil’s” marked the 400th time the band played the song since they debuted it at their very first show 22 years earlier. It is the 10th song in the Umphrey’s McGee catalog to break the 400 mark with “Jajunk”, “Push the Pig” and “Ringo” all less than ten performances away as well.

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They followed one of their oldest songs with their newest release, “Suxity”. A reworking of a track called “Fresh Start” from 2007’s The Bottom Half, the song bounces between angsty 90s grunge and uptempo funk. A major uplifting jam bridged the song and a ten-minute take on “Lenny” – which was a total audible and not on the working setlist.

For the next 45 minutes and for the second half of the set, the band only played three songs. Leading with the extended and psychedelic discombobulation into of a standalone “Believe the Lie” and into “Jajunk”, the band was firing on all cylinders. For the final song of the set, “August”, Bayliss shone throughout, taking multiple leads and letting the melody soar.

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For the encore, Umphrey’s McGee returned to the stage for the second performance of “Bullshit Anthem” since debuting at the most recent New Year’s Eve run in Denver. A funk-laden cover by Oakland, CA native Xavier Dphrepaulezz, aka Fantastic Negrito, the song featured Myers on lead vocals. They ended the show with the conclusion of “Jajunk”.

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Ready to experience it for yourself? Listen to the full show now

Top Jam Band Podcasts

There are a lot of podcasts out there these days, making it hard to know which ones are worth your time. That’s why we put together this list of the 15 Jam Band podcasts to check out this year.

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Jam Session

This weekly podcast caters to music lovers within the jam band community, featuring artists like Umphrey’s McGee, Lotus, The String Cheese Incident, Widespread Panic and more. During the show, host Kory French works through his weekly playlist of new releases and old favorites, giving listeners some history on the songs and the bands behind them.

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Endless Boundaries Jam

If you’re looking for all music and no-frills, then this is the podcast for you. It’s 3+ hours of live/studio jam band music. You can find the playlists for each episode on their website: endlessboundaries.com

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Upful Life

Hosted by music writer and enthusiast B. Getz, this podcast focuses on the movers and shakers in the industry, and beyond through interviews with artists and industry professionals.

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Phemale Centrics

A Female run podcast that discusses all things Phish from a woman’s point of view. Listen as they interview Phish’s community members, play games like “Market Price” and discuss the latest goings-on in the Phish scene online and on the lot.

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The Drop

A weekly podcast sharing the week’s music news, artist interviews, festival previews and coverage, and highlights from across the Osiris network.

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Long May They Run

Hosted by music journalist Dean Budnick, LMTR tells the story of a band, their fans, and the journey that made them one of the most successful touring bands of all time. With over 50 interviews, season one of LMTR focuses on Phish, shedding light on how they pioneer an entire industry on many impactful and important levels, doing it their way.

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After Midnight

This podcast looks back on Phish’s Big Cypress festival 20 years later—examining the legacy for Phish and the music world. Hosted and narrated by Jesse Jarnow, this five-episode series draws on interviews with members of Phish and its crew, fan memories, and conversations with other people across the music industry.

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nugs.net Live Stash

nugs.net founder Brad Serling’s podcast guides fans through a playlist of recent live music from artists like Phish, Dead & Company, The Allman Brothers, Pearl Jam, Metallica, The Raconteurs, Wilco, Widespread Panic, Umphrey’s McGee, and more.

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No Simple Road

A Grateful Dead-inspired show that highlights musicians, artists, writers, and fellow members of the psychedelic world.

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Analyze Phish

Harris and Scott are comedians, music lovers, and friends. Where do they differ? Harris loves Phish, and Scott does not. On Analyze Phish, Harris navigates the vast landscape of Phish’s catalog to find entry points for Scott while trying to explain the live Phish experience without the use of illegal substances.

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36 From The Vault

Steven Hyden and Rob Mitchum explore the Grateful Dead’s celebrated Dick’s Picks live series. The show takes a deep dive into the 36 Dick’s Picks entries, the history of the Dead organization, and popular culture around each show.

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Touchdowns All Day

In this podcast, Jon Barber dives deep into analysis and commentary of The Disco Biscuits and talks about his role in the band, music, technology and other topics. Jon also brings on a variety of exciting and inspiring guests to co-host with him.

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The Sound

The Sound Podcast is a music discovery interview-style podcast, hosted by Ira Haberman. Featuring Jam Bands and more… much more. Rooted in Americana, Blues, Bluegrass, Country, Folk, Funk, Jazz, Reggae, Rock, Soul but mostly Jam Band music. New episodes of The Sound Podcast are available Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. The Wednesday episode is exclusively a live music playlist called LIVEFIVE powered by nugs.net.

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Under the Scales

A podcast by the longtime songwriter for Phish that explores the rich and complex culture surrounding the band and its devoted fanbase.

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Inside Out with Turner and Seth

This is a Podcast about Music – Industry, Festivals/Concerts, and Culture. It’s a mix of the Fan (Rob Turner) and Industry (Seth Weiner w/ Shimon Presents, Inc.) perspectives. Their presentation style can be difficult to jive with, but their guests are top-notch!

Talking Dick’s Picks with Steven Hyden and Rob Mitchum

Last week, Steven Hyden and Rob Mitchum launched 36 From The Vault, a new podcast exploring the Grateful Dead’s celebrated Dick’s Picks live series. The show takes a deep dive into the 36 Dick’s Picks entries, the history of the Dead organization, and popular culture around each show. We caught up with Steven and Rob to find out more about the new series.

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nugs: What makes Dick’s Picks unique amongst other official releases from the Grateful Dead? 

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Rob Mitchum: One of the joys of doing the podcast so far is doing a deep dive into who Dick was and how he came to be associated with the Dead organization. His background and the whole process in selecting the shows is really sort of fascinating early on. The key thing about Dick, I think, is that he came to the Grateful Dead organization already a huge tape trader and fan. He had that fan’s perspective and brought it to the organization. Everybody who was working for the Dead from the band to the crew to the people running the business had been inside for so long that they kind of lost perspective about what the outside world wanted from them. And that’s especially important for this kind of archival release series.

Dick was giving the fans what they want. He had his own sort of peculiar pov on what needed to be put out there. He talked a lot in early interviews about the fact that the band, by ‘93 certainly, never listened to the tapes. The only one who was interested in even participating in choosing or rejecting shows was Phil and he was doing all rejecting and no choosing basically, so he really slowed down the release in the early days. But Dick was super enthusiastic about all this music and would come across something like the “Here Comes Sunshine” that’s on Volume One and say, “We have to get this out there! Deadheads have got to hear this.” He would just argue and argue that it needed to be put out there and finally ended up winning some of these arguments with Phil. We’re all very lucky to have had his perspective on the inside at that point. Certainly, they wouldn’t have put out as much without Dick advocating for it and what they would have put out maybe wouldn’t have been as satisfying. 

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Steven Hyden: I think what makes the Dead unique in a lot of ways in terms of how their archive is handled is that they are probably the biggest example of fans stepping into the place of the band as stewards of the band’s history. The fans of the Grateful Dead have had such a big role in ultimately shaping the perception of how this band is perceived and I think mostly for the better. I think Dick is an example of this and there are lots of other people, lots of the Deadheads, who have much better taste in Dead music than the members themselves. If not for them there’d be a lot of great music that wouldn’t have been put out there for whatever reason. I think it’s a really interesting aspect of their history, the role that fans have played in writing and maybe correcting it in a lot of ways. 

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nugs: You guys mention in the podcast that the Dick’s Picks shows are a sort-of medium between the studio sound of early official releases and the DIY sound of bootleg tapes. What is it that distinguishes the sound of a Dick’s Picks show? 

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SH: It was kind of like the best of both worlds in a way where you could get something that sounded pretty good but it wasn’t overly professional or it didn’t have a ton of overdubs on it. It is interesting doing this show and realizing how much actually was done to these tapes in terms of just cutting songs out or like resequencing songs. The first Dick’s Picks record I ever got was Volume One and I wasn’t aware of how much had been taken out of there until I did this podcast. I heard you could stream the shows that they took that from and pretty much the whole first set is gone from Dick’s Picks Volume One. So it wasn’t quite as unedited as I assumed it was but still much less polished than a regular studio record would be.

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nugs: On the note of live albums missing sections or being re-sequenced, what makes the six-song uninterrupted section in the second set of Dick’s Picks Volume One so special?  

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RM: One of the cool things that I think Dick’s Picks allowed the Dead to do is put out some of these hour-long song suites that they used to do regularly live. For a lot of reasons, they hadn’t really represented that on their official “live” albums. I think Live Dead probably gets the closest to it but even that one is spliced between I think two or three shows. A lot of their other live albums were sort of grab bags of best versions from a particular tour or run. If they’re edited together it was done in the studio later on by combining versions from different shows and things like that. What was sort of revolutionary at time was finally having a pretty solid unabridged hour of music and segues from the show on an easy compact-disc format. Usually, that was the domain of tapes and not something you could get your hands on in official quality.

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SH: It really is amazing how spoiled people are now with this kind of stuff. I was just thinking about myself with Phish for instance. I only started listening to Phish in the 2010s. I’m used to an era where the show ends and within a couple of minutes there’s an instant show to stream online that’s a master and sounds great. At your fingertips, there’s an entire show. We’re so used to that now. Revisiting the series is a reminder that even getting part of a show that sounded this good was kind of a unique thing. it was a much harder thing to attain than it is now.

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RM: That’s going back to before a time nugs.net spoiled music fans. But yeah, I think one of the interesting things I’ve learned from the start of the series is how the Dead organization was very nervous about whether this would actually work, which is crazy in retrospect. Now the Dead put out like eight to ten live releases a year or something like that between Dave’s Picks and the other box sets they do. 

Dick, Kidd Candelario and a couple of other people that were involved in the start of the series really had to argue with the band, the organization, and the record label to do this. Even the permission they got was only to sell it through mail order and do a very low run for the time of only 25,000 copies each volume. Dick wanted to do complete shows but they wouldn’t commit at the time because they only wanted to do, at most, 2 discs. Of course, you can’t get a complete show on two discs. There were all these handicaps put on the project from the start just because they were worried that it might be a commercial bust. 

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SH: I guess maybe the Dead’s defense back in the early ‘90s was that putting out something that’s pretty unvarnished risks being picked apart. Especially by a fan base as critical as the Dead’s. So I understand their trepidation from that perspective, they didn’t want to put out something that was maybe less than perfect. And in the show that we just did, there’s this whole thing about editing out this terrible Phil Lesh bass solo. When you listen to the show it’s actually kind of good that it’s not there because that part of the album flows so well, it’s like really the best part of the whole release. But there is a part of you as a purist that’s like “oh I wish that was in there because that’s actually what happened.” The fact that they were willing to release Dick’s Picks as they did is a little bit of a leap of faith, to expose yourself in that way. 

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nugs: You guys have hinted that the show could explore some other artists along the way, what can we expect down the line from the podcast? 

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RM: Steven and I are both fans of the live album format in general and the Dick’s Picks series is such a revelation in how live albums can work for a band, doing more archival releases than polished live album releases. So I think we’re interested in those types of archival releases from other bands. Like Steve was talking about earlier, telling the story of the band through this very particular kind of release is a concept that fits the Dead perfectly and they were the ones that set the template for that. But there are other bands that do that as well and that’s the kind of thing we’d like to explore down the line or in special episodes

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nugs: In the first episode, you guys go deep into the context around the show. You even dive into how the venue was named after a corrupt Tampa mayor. Is that something we can expect more of in future episodes? 

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SH: Part of the appeal for us doing this show was that it’s a chance to talk about the Grateful Dead, but it’s also an excuse to explore music history and pop culture history in a fun way. You could time travel back to December of 1973 and look at what’s happening in the world at that time and get a sense of what it would have been like to be at that show. Rob and I were both born several years after this show and I never got to see the Grateful Dead live at all. I’ve only ever experienced them through recordings. The time travel aspect of listening to live tapes is enhanced when you can look at the rest of the world at that time and see how that influenced what was going on. 

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RM: Yeah, I think a lot of times people tend to consider the history of the Dead in sort of a vacuum. They were always an oddball in the music industry so people tend to consider the Dead and their different eras in a silo without thinking about the cultural context of the time. What was going on in the music industry? What was going on in film? What was going on in the news? 

Each show kind of gives us an opportunity to do that which is really fun. Looking at the different venues they played and seeing who else was playing that venue around the same time, It’s fun to be like “You know they played this show in Tampa not long after David Bowie was there on the Diamond Dogs tour.” A bunch of the shows in the ‘70s were within a month or two of like an Elvis appearance at the same venue. The other things that were sort of bobbing around in the culture at the time, of course, were going to have an influence on the Dead. They might have been doing their own thing but there’s certainly some bleed over you can hear from the bands, arts, and society that was around them. 

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SH: Another thing for Rob and I with this show was to approach it as huge fans of the Grateful Dead without being too clinical or scholarly about it. I think that we both want to have a sense of humor about the band. They’re a brilliant band, but they’re also kind of a goofy band. Craziness and brillance always co-mingled with this band and it’s part of what makes them so much fun to talk about.

I think that spirit of fun and reverence that’s inside the Grateful Dead is something that we wanted to have on this show and I think that’s a pretty big part of what we’re doing. I always feel like the best kind of music criticism should feel like listening to music and I hope that we have a little bit of that element of the Dead in our show.

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Check out the first episode exploring Dick’s Picks Volume One: Tampa Florida 12/19/73 today.

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New Episodes of 36 From The Vault are available every other week wherever you listen to podcasts.


Railroad Earth ‘Lights Up’ The Fillmore

Railroad Earth: Saturday 1/18/20 Live at The Fillmore in San Francisco

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Photos provided by concert photographer Kory Thibeault. Check out more of his work at @korythibeaultphoto

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Recap provided by nugs.net staff member and Railroad Earth fan Arya Jha

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Railroad Earth’s Saturday night performance at The Fillmore in San Francisco was a non-stop dance party. Perhaps it was due to a well-received performance the night before, but by the time the band hit the stage they were well past warmed up and ready to rock. Railroad’s first song of the night “Lordy, Lordy” quickly transitioned from high tempo drumming and long bass riffs into a multi-layered psychedelic jam, setting the tone for a night full of solos and melodies held together by a seemingly infinite rhythm.

Set one continued on, taking a journey through ebbs and flows of uplifting harmonies. The crowd started to settle in and just as the effects of a beautiful light show against the band’s custom made backdrop quieted and entranced the audience, the band busted into spacey but tight banjo-led twang, bringing the room into a knee-slapping roar. ‘Old Man and the Land’ segued nicely into ‘Black Bear’ and bassist Andrew Altman segued nicely into upright bass, maintaining the foundation and tempo of the set regardless. Fiddler Tim Carbone led the band into an upbeat ‘Cuckoo’s Medley’ to end the set as Bill Graham’s chandeliers lit up the ceiling of the venue in a wave of colors.

Railroad Earth’s more recent shows have defied the classical bluegrass and even jam-grass genres through their use of the funk forward B3 Organ, an instrument rarely used by projects whose core is also determined by fiddle and mandolin. It was a true pleasure to see Matt Slocum on keys, and even better to hear how well his Leslie Whirl paired with Mike Robinson’s steel pedal shredding. While set one provided a great deal of harmonic energy, set two opened up room for alternative leads, from Todd Sheaffer’s acoustic guitar to Carey Harmon’s drums, and everything between. Always a crowd-pleaser “Elko” jammed on as fans tossed cards high into the sky in tribute to the lyrics, a true testament to the fanatic Northern California community the band has bred through their annual headlining sets at NorCal’s Hangtown Music Festival. “Captain Nowhere” segued into “1759” segued into “Fisherman’s Blues” played more like ballads but kept the crowd moving. Finally, in an emotional tribute to the historic venue and Jerry Garcia’s San Francisco roots came the short but sweet encore “Old and In The Way”. This show will easily be a fan favorite to regular Railroad Earth listeners, but also a wonderful start to their catalog if you are not yet versed. Railroad Earth’s live show recordings live on nugs.net and you can listen to the two night Fillmore run today.

Start Listening

Like a Rolling Stone

Starting today, nugs.net subscribers can experience The Rolling Stones like never before. Filmed with stellar quality, a collection of vintage performances from The Rolling Stones’ Vault is now streaming in the videos section of the nugs.net app. There are currently three shows from the 1970s available to watch with more on the way soon. Now is your chance to watch Mick, Keith, and the rest of the band during the golden age of Rock’n’Roll.

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Watch Now

The White Stripes and German Engineering

We’re back for the first Third Man Thursday of the year and this month’s release is a unique treat. Today, Third Man Records is releasing The White Stripes’ 2001 show at Orange House in Munich, Germany. The show is one of only two known White Stripes shows to be recorded on reel-to-reel tape. Third Man Records’ Co-Founder Ben Blackwell’s write up details the unique process of mastering this show from the 1/4″ tapes:

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The White Stripes Live at Orange House 11/27/2001

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This show is a remarkable performance in stellar quality. Boy do the Germans know how to record! Of particular interest was the fact that a radio broadcast in 2001 was recorded to 1/4” tape. Just seems like…such an anachronistic move. The fact that the tapes ended up in the Third Man Vault made it all the better to transfer at an appropriately-high bitrate and then share them here. But the tapes themselves were in an incredibly odd iteration which I had never even seen before. They weren’t on reels (or flanges) and instead the tape was all held together by sheer tension around a metal center piece that looks reminiscent of a 45rpm adaptor. I am told they are called AEG hubs. Additionally, the tape was wound with the reels magnetic side OUT. Leave it to our main man Bill Skibbe to track down a German Telefunken tape machine IN DETROIT and work magic on his end. The heads on Telefunken machines face IN, so he had to surgically unspool, respool, edit out dead space AND track down a step up converter as the machine only runs on 220v electricity. I wish everyone had their very own Bill Skibbe to solve technological quandaries like this. I mean, he IS for hire at Third Man Mastering, but I digress.

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There are some songs missing here that are included in audio circulating amongst fans, in this instance clearly missed by engineers swapping out reels in real time. Rather than try to include from inferior sourced audio, we’ve chosen to just present the show exactly as it exists on these original tapes. Save for one EARLY gig (1997?) I am unaware of any other White Stripes performances that were captured on reel-to-reel tape, so this feels extra-special. Starting the set with “Death Letter” is peculiar and I love it…I can’t recall any other Stripes performance beginning with that song, but I’m sure some die-hard will take the opportunity to tell me otherwise! Coupled with rousing takes on “Love Sick” and “The Union Forever” the entire performance captivates. A prime example of the on-fire abandon Jack and Meg were brimming with in 2001.

New West Records’ Austin City Limits Performances Come to nugs.net

Since 1976, Austin City Limits has been providing Texas and the rest of the world with iconic live sessions. Over the holidays New West Records added more than 15 of the greatest ACL performances of all time to the nugs.net catalog. Experience legendary performances from artists like Guided By Voices, Kris Kristofferson, David Byrne, Steve Earle, and more. The performances span four decades with shows from 1976 through 2004. Each show is available to purchase in the nugs.net store and you can stream the whole collection with the nugs.net app.

Listen to Audio From Strings & Sol

We’ve got four action-packed shows from last month’s Strings and Sol festival now streaming. Listen to performances from The Infamous Stringdusters, Leftover Salmon, and Railroad Earth that feature tons of debuts and guests. There are two sets to check out from The Infamous Stringdusters. On December 13th they played a beach set and the next day they returned with a debut cover of “Stairway to Heaven.” The Leftover Salmon show features Del and Ronnie McCoury on a pair of tunes and multiple live debuts.

Leftover Salmon 12/13/19: Featuring Del McCoury, Ronnie McCoury, Jen Hartswick and Natalie Cressman

The Infamous Stringdusters 12/13/19: Beach set

The Infamous Stringdusters 12/14/19: Featuring Natalie Cressman and Jennifer Hartswick

Railroad Earth 12/15/19: Featuring Matt Slocum, Mike Robinson, and Jacob Jolliff

Best of the Millennium (So Far)

Now that we’re officially in the 2020s, we are looking back at the best music of the 2000s (so far). nugs.net’s founder, Brad Serling, has cultivated his list featuring some of the most memorable live performances from the last twenty years. You can listen to every song on the latest editions of the nugs.net Live Stash podcast. Brad goes through his full list of favorites in two parts providing commentary on each entry.

Listen Now

Phish: Piper 2002/12/31 New York, NY

Widespread Panic (w/ Dottie Peoples & The Peoples Choir): Tall Boy Bonnaroo 2002

The String Cheese Incident (w/ Keller Williams): Best Feeling 2002/06/21 Bonnaroo

Bruce Springsteen: When The Saints Go Marching In 2006/04/30 New Orleans, LA

Led Zeppelin: No Quarter 2007/12/10 London, GB

The Allman Brothers Band (w/ Eric Clapton & Friends): Anyday 2009/03/19 New York, NY

My Morning Jacket: Dancefloors 2004/06/12 Bonnaroo, TN

Umphrey’s McGee: In The Kitchen 2004/06/11 Bonnaroo, TN

Pearl Jam: Yellow Ledbetter 2009/10/31 Philadelphia, PA

Fare Thee Well: Truckin’ 2015/07/05 Chicago, IL

Phish: Fluffhead 2009/03/06 Hampton, VA

Metallica (w/ Neil Young): Mr. Soul 2016/10/23 Bridge School Benefit, CA

Red Hot Chili Peppers: Californication 2012/08/04 Lollapalooza, IL

Gov’t Mule: Let’s Go Get Stoned 2011/12/31 New York, NY

Wilco : I Am Trying To Break Your Heart 2012/09/21 Berkeley, CA

Tedeschi Trucks Band (w/ Wood Brothers): Let Me Roll It 2017/07/29 Red Rocks, CO

Dead and Company: They Love Each Other 2018/02/26 Sunrise, FL

Trey Anastasio (w/ Susan Tedeschi & Derek Trucks): A Life Beyond The Dream 2019/08/23 LOCKN’ Festival, VA

Walking in a Wonder Winterland

Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band

Winterland Arena, San Francisco, December 15 and 16, 1978

By Erik Flannigan

The home stretch of the Darkness tour in late 1978 may look like a victory lap, but its purpose was to return to key markets and seal the deal. The final push raised Springsteen and the E Street Band up from theaters played on previous legs to bigger rooms, with dates in arenas in cities like Cleveland, which closed the tour with a pair of shows at the Richfield Coliseum on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day 1979.

In the Bay Area, that meant graduating from the Berkeley Community Theater and San Jose Center For the Performing Arts, played in the summer, to back-to-back nights at legendary promoter Bill Graham’s Winterland, capacity 5,400.

The first night at Winterland would also serve as the fifth and final live radio broadcast from the Darkness tour, thrilling listeners around the Bay Area on KSAN-FM and strategically extended via simulcast to audiences in Sacramento, Eugene, Portland, and Seattle on their respective rock stations. The simulcast primed the pump in two of those markets, as Bruce would play the Rose and Emerald cities in just a few days’ time.

By that point, Springsteen’s management and Columbia Records had recognized that the Darkness tour broadcasts which preceded Winterland (The Roxy in Los Angeles, Agora in Cleveland, Passaic, and Atlanta) were a powerful marketing tool, not only reaching established fans in core and adjacent markets but converting fence-sitters who were loyal listeners to those all-important rock radio outlets. Live concerts were already a staple of FM radio at the time, including nationally syndicated shows like the King Biscuit Flower Hour and Rock Around the World. Simulcasts of local concerts were equally common on FM stations like WMMR in Philadelphia and WMMS in Cleveland. 

But Springsteen’s strategy and tactics were unique. No artist I know of had ever done five live broadcasts from the same tour and simulcast the shows regionally — taking over the airwaves for three hours at a clip, no less. In the process, Bruce built an alliance of rock stations, and their listeners that would remain loyal for years to come. Springsteen had long enjoyed incredible word of mouth about his concerts, but the ’78 broadcasts provided tangible, recordable, and shareable proof.

There was also an idea in the air that the follow up to Darkness on the Edge of Town simply had to be a live album. The broadcasts provided an opportunity to roll in a remote recording truck and kill two birds with one stone, sending the show over the air and capturing it to multi-track tape for potential future release. It just took a few decades longer than expected.

Fans and collectors have spent millions of pixels on message boards discussing and debating which shows were recorded on multi-tracks and wondering why more early Bruce gigs weren’t done. Beyond the expense (which was significant), the act of recording a live concert to multi-track itself was no simple feat circa 1978.

A 24-track, two-inch, reel-to-reel tape recorder is a massive piece of heavy equipment with a large footprint. The recorders are mounted on carts with industrial casters so they can be rolled into position. Two-inch recorders also require a lot of power to operate, and they are extremely sensitive to the conditions of their environment, particularly temperature.

Oh, did I mention you need two of them to record a concert without gaps? Two-inch tape and recorders were designed to record one song in the studio, not a three-hour concert. Given their short tape lengths, a recording engineer had to start a tape going on one machine, wait for it to run most of the way through, then fire up a second overlapping tape on the second machine and so on. Back and forth they would go: loading, recording, and switching tapes in real time on two machines to preserve a full performance. Today, you can record an entire show to multitrack on a laptop and a breakout box that fits in a backpack.

Given the complex logistics, it should come as no surprise that multi-track recording could occasionally go wrong, even with experienced engineers and producers in the truck. Whether there were complications on the night or tapes were lost over time, the surviving multi-track reels of the first night of Winterland cover less than half the show. The inclusion of “Fire” on Live 1975/85 from 12/16, not the better-known 12/15, may be a clue that the problems occurred on the night in question.

Luckily, remote recording units typically carried a third reel-to-reel deck with them as well: a high-quality, 15-IPS, two-track recorder to serve as a back-up/reference capturing the front-of-house mix as it happened. That’s exactly what the Record Plant’s R2R did on December 15, 1978, recording a pre-broadcast stereo feed from the mixing board.

Forty-one years later, we’re fortunate those two-track, 15-IPS masters from the familiar 12/15 show were recently unearthed, along with the complete multitrack masters from the previously unheard 12/16 set. Both sources have been newly transferred via Plangent Process, restored (12/15) and mixed (12/16) by Jon Altschiller and mastered by Adam Ayan to deliver a complete document of the Winterland stand, both the beloved broadcast performance from night one and the fresh-to-the-world set from night two.

A bounty of two peak Darkness concerts should be at the top of anyone’s holiday wish list. Most will know the celebrated 12/15 set like the back of their hand from tapes and bootlegs of the broadcast, but for 12/16, here’s a user guide to this wonderful addition to the live Darkness canon.

1) Bruce changed the set on night two in deference to fans attending both shows, opening with “Good Rockin’ Tonight” and playing “Rendezvous” for the first time on the tour. Incredibly, “Rendezvous” is one of six unreleased originals performed in the 25-song set, along with “Independence Day,” “The Fever,” “Fire,” “Because the Night” and “Point Blank.”

2) Introducing a weighty “Independence Day,” Bruce says, “This is a song I wrote a couple years ago. I was originally going to put it on Darkness on the Edge of Town. This is called ‘Independence Day.’ This is for my pop.” With his parents living in nearby San Mateo, we can assume that Douglas was very likely in the audience for the performance.

3) Bruce tells a completely different and much longer story than night one setting up “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town.” The tall tale includes entertaining references to Johnny Carson and Kellogg’s Pop Tarts, plus some audible chiming in from Stevie Van Zandt, who wants a new amplifier from Saint Nick.

4) Bruce dedicates “Racing in the Street” to “all the San Francisco night riders,” but after singing “Tonight, tonight, the strip’s just right” he goes totally blank. “I forgot the words,” he says. It is an endearing and rare moment of vulnerability, which he not only recovers from gracefully, but which seems to inject the show with an adrenaline shot: from that point forward, Springsteen and the band are en fuego. “Jungleland” brings the first set to a crackling close, riding the powerful dynamics of Clarence Clemons on saxophone and Van Zandt’s guitar solo, setting the table for a stunning second act.

5) “It’s Hard to Be a (Saint in the City)” is another set list change and serves as a stonking start to a second set for the ages. The guitar tone on this one should be bottled as a stimulant.

6) “Because the Night” begins with what might best be described as an experimental guitar intro that is more a sonic survey of echo, delay, and sustained notes than strumming. It’s the most Frippertronics approach I have ever heard Springsteen explore. Fascinating.

7) How about the version of “She’s the One”? The intro weaves “Mona” and “Preacher’s Daughter,” while Bruce later riffs on Van Morrison/Them’s “Gloria.” Stevie sings soulful retorts all over the performance, all in the service of Bruce’s heightened lead vocal. Listen to the incredible run he takes through, “Just one kiss, she’ll turn them long summer nights, with her tenderness / The secret pact you made, when her love could save you, from the bitterness… WHAAAAHOO!” Holy crap.

8) “The Fever” is focused and luscious, providing a deserved spotlight on the band, especially Danny Federici and the Big Man, who shine ever-so-brightly as they thread their solos around each other. Rest in peace, E Street icons.

9) A slightly shambolic “Detroit Medley” features a rare foray into Jerry Lee Lewis’ “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On.”

10) Finally, connoisseurs of audience noise (and I know you’re out there) should be extremely pleased with the level of fan interaction in Jon Altschiller’s mix. The crowd is ever-present and in full voice throughout the night and who can blame them?

Thanks to former Columbia product manager Dick Wingate for supplying contemporary information and documentation about the Darkness tour broadcasts.

https://youtu.be/FVjPMq8TwDw

December’s Third Man Thursday Includes Two Shows From The White Stripes

It’s a White Christmas this year with two new archival releases from The White Stripes. The first release stretches back over twenty years to September 1999 in Detroit, Michigan and the second comes from the Seattle Seahawks Stadium Exhibition Center in 2003. Check out Third Man Records’ Co-Founder Ben Blackwell’s write up of both unique shows below.

The White Stripes Live at The Magic Stick 9/10/1999

What an odd show. Part of a mini festival dubbed Gutterfest, organized and emcee’d by local promoter and DJ Willy Wilson (that’s his voice you hear introducing the band), it was a rare event for the Stripes to open a show with a cover song, let alone one they had never played before and would never play again, but that’s the case with the Captain Beefheart classic “Diddy Wah Diddy” kicking off the performance. Followed by “Never Thought That I Could Love You” (sometimes titled “Lucky to Know You”), which holds a unique profile as being a song played by the White Stripes live a handful of times, yet never tackled in the studio and never showing up in any other Jack White outfit ever again. There might be a video kicking around of another show where the band plays this, otherwise, this may be the only time/way you’ll ever get to hear it. Otherwise, the set list is filled with early favorites and most excitingly, TONS of stage banter. I’ve no idea what had Jack so talkative this evening, but it sticks out, hands-down, as my single favorite collection of banter for a White Stripes show. From George Washington, Jack’s opinion on the size of roads, how much free time kids should have, who exactly is the “moon man”, where the street you grew up on got its name from and what exactly makes Wayne Kramer a “legend” are all addressed. In my opinion though, the best comment is after the band finishes playing “Why Can’t You Be Nicer to Me?” the sound man comes over the muffled stage speaker and says “That’s it guys” to which Jack replies, incredulously, “That’s it?!?! I was BORN here man!”

Weird to think about it now, but the Stripes would only perform as an opening act in Detroit ONE more time after this gig. While this show is far from perfect, it feels outright inspiring to see the trajectory Jack and Meg would take from this moment. Ultimately, a fascinating show for anyone with a deep appreciation of the band OR just a casual fan wanting to hear songs that exist nowhere else. – Ben Blackwell, Third Man Records

The White Stripes Live at Seahawks Stadium Exhibition Center 9/16/2003

A dud of a room if there ever was one. I have no idea why they put on shows in this space. I mean all disrespect when I call this space a facility. But when the White Stripes are white hot in the touring behind Elephant I assume you just gotta play whatever room fits the crowd. And fortunately, the shortcomings of this space failed to affect the sound captured or the band’s performance. This show is of particular note as it would be the first time the Stripes would play with Yeah Yeah Yeahs since the YYY’s first-ever show back in September 2000. Having to follow an explosive opening act, the Stripes come out of the gate guns blazing with a bonkers version of “The Hardest Button to Button” which, while somewhat odd to land in as the set-opener, helps establish the mood. My favorite moment on this recording is the extemporaneous version of Yeah Yeah Yeah’s “Man” done in a medley with “Astro” and “Jack the Ripper.” Playing a cover in front of the folks who wrote it, to me, is the ultimate sign of respect. Equal parts electric, unhinged, of-the-moment and uncannily compelling. Truth of the matter is that it felt like ALL shows on this 2003 West Coast run were wild. One of the more memorable span of shows for me, the band hitting its stride at the highest of heights. And yes, listening now, it is absolutely totally weird hearing “Seven Nation Army” in the middle of the set, but at the time, I don’t think I felt that way.

Of the 63 or so shows the White Stripes recorded in 2003, this appears to the be the only performance we do not still have multitrack masters on. All audio comes from a CD-r made the evening of the performance with a “Glenn Sound” sticker label attached to it. I know that Glenn Sound is a studio in Seattle where the Stripes did a radio session back in 2002, but am unsure as to what their involvement was for this 2003 show. The CD was left on a table in the band’s tour bus after the show and I was sure to snatch it up, only re-discovering it in my basement mere weeks ago. – Ben Blackwell, Third Man Records

Listen to The String Cheese Incident’s Travelogue 2019

It’s that time of the year where artists are looking back at their favorite highlights from the last 12 months. The String Cheese Incident’s Travelogue 2019 covers some of the most unique moments from the band’s extensive travels over the past year. The selections were handpicked by SCI archivist Larry Fox who included a special message for fans with the collection.

“2019… The String Cheese Incident’s 25th year! In putting together this year’s look-back,  I tried to pull together some of the more unique moments from this year’s Incidents.   This is not so much a “best-of”, but a “taste” of all the corners of the musical spectrum that the band touches on from night to night.  There were a ton of great performances that didn’t fit on the four disc format.  There’s a heavy dose of “one-time-played”, as well as a few key “guest artist contributions”.  I encourage you to explore the rest of the 2019 catalog on LiveCheese & nugs.net.  If you haven’t already signed up for the nugs.net streaming app, you owe it to yourself to try it out!  Every show on this site is available for streaming – a miracle of modern technology!   

As I say every year,  I hope you enjoy listening to this collection as much as I enjoyed putting it together! Hope to see you guys out on the road in 2020! – Larry Fox (SCI Archivist)”

The entire Travelogue 2019 collection is available as a free download and is currently streaming free in the nugs.net app.

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Five Exclusive Archival Shows Added to the Wilco catalog on nugs.net

Photo by Anton Coene

Earlier this year we added the Wilco Roadcase collection to the nugs.net catalog. Today, five new shows are being released for the first time ever, exclusively on nugs.net. This release includes four Wilco archives from 1999 – 2004 and a special Jeff Tweedy solo performance from 2005. Check out the details on each show below.

1999: Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London, UK

Before embarking the following month on a proper tour in support of the release of Summerteeth (a tour that would last for most of 1999), Wilco played a few “showcase” shows, including this one at Shepherds Bush Empire in London.  As evidenced by this recording, as well as the one from New Orleans (which also exists in the nugs.net archive), these shows kept things pretty “close to the vest”, presenting the new material in arrangements that were very close to the recorded versions (in contrast to the looser approach that would prevail later in the year).  With Jay Bennett spending more time behind the keyboards, and the continued use of Leroy Bach as an additional sideman, the band was able to reproduce the lush sounds heard on the album, which was released three weeks prior.  In addition to the new Summerteeth material, other highlights include powerful versions of “Hotel Arizona” and “Hesitating Beauty”.

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2001: The Fillmore, San Francisco, CA

Wilco set out on their fall 2001 U.S. tour with the aggregate weight of the band’s recent lineup change, the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, and promoting a new record that was not yet officially released.  While earlier shows revealed a band still finding its sea legs (no doubt due, at least in part, to what was happening in the world at the time), by the time they landed in San Francisco for a three-night run at the Fillmore, Wilco was a minimalist yet powerful four-piece.  This show, judged to be the best of the run, sees the band playing beautiful, sparse arrangements of nearly all of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, with “Ashes Of American Flags” being a particular standout.  Other highlights include what Jeff announces as their first live performance of “Pieholden Suite”, and a crazy, chaotic, and extended “Misunderstood” featuring a gnarly electric guitar loop.

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2003: Festival Pier at Penn’s Landing, Philadelphia, PA

Wilco and tour co-headliners Sonic Youth head into Philadelphia’s Penn’s Landing (on the banks of the Delaware River) following two shows at New York’s Central Park.  By this time, the Tweedy / Stirratt / Kotche / Bach / Jorgensen five piece lineup had been playing together for about a year, with Mikael now playing a full array of keyboards, resulting in a more dense and intricate sound.  Highlights of this show center around the still-formulating arrangements of songs that would later appear on the A Ghost Is Born album, including a very electric version of “Muzzle of Bees” (with some different lyrics) and a bopping take on “Spiders (Kidsmoke)” that splits the difference between the earlier “folk-y” approach and the full-on “Kraut Rock” version to follow.    In addition, the encore includes and extended and intense version of “Laminated Cat” featuring frequent collaborator and then Sonic Youth member Jim O’Rourke.

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2004: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY

Following opening sets by Sleater-Kinney and The Flaming Lips, Wilco sets the tone for a raucous New Year’s Eve by taking the stage at New York’s Madison Square Garden (in their pajamas) and opening with the not-so-fist-pounding “Less Than You Think”.  Not to worry…party intentions are quickly displayed as the band follows that up with a version of “Spiders (Kidsmoke)” played at breakneck speed.  “Come for the repertoire, stay for the covers” is the order of the night, as the band includes, among many others, versions of “Living After Midnight” (Judas Priest), “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” (Blue Oyster Cult) and even “Love Will Keep Us Together” (The Captain and Tennille).  Some of these covers would enter into the band’s short-term repertoire, while others were “one and done” for this special event.  

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2005: Tribeca Performing Arts Center, New York, NY

Jeff Tweedy’s second-ever full solo tour rolled into Lower Manhattan’s Tribeca Performing Arts Center on November 16th and 17th, 2005. Band-mate Nels Cline opened the show on the 16th, and Glen Kotche opened on the following night. In addition to Wilco favorites and deep cuts, these shows also featured material from Jeff’s days in Uncle Tupelo, as well as extended and hilarious “discussions” with “the abyss”…pitch black audience members talking as if they were voices inside his head. But the true highlight are the two Loose Fur songs performed by…Loose Fur. Jeff brings out Glenn to play a few songs with him as he had been doing (and would do) throughout the tour; the difference on this night being that Jim O’Rourke would join them on bass for “Laminated Cat” and the yet-to-be-released “The Ruling Class”. This would mark only the third time that Loose Fur had appeared onstage, with the other two shows also happening in New York, back in 2002.

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Stream these performances and 70 more shows from Wilco on the nugs.net app

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The nugs.net Thanksgiving Road Trip Playlist

Today and tomorrow are the busiest travel days of the year. We’ve created a playlist for nugs.net subscribers to keep everyone truckin’ along on their way to enjoy a Thanksgiving feast. It’s packed with live versions of classic hits that the whole car can enjoy.

Clocking in at two hours, The Thanksgiving Road Trip playlist is filled with the music of Springsteen, The Dead, The Allman Brothers Band, and more road trip staples. Of course, no road trip playlist would be complete without a little country. There’s Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, John Denver, and more providing that classic American road trip atmosphere. And finally, the playlist features incredible covers from Greensky Bluegrass, Tauk, and Goose. It’s the perfect accompaniment for the open road.

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nugs Picks: November 2019

The year is rapidly coming to a close. Fall tours are ending and many artists will take a few weeks off to rest, reflect, and prepare for a new year of music. Before we charge into a new decade, we’re taking a look back at some of our favorite shows from 2019.

The String Cheese Incident: 6/27/19

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Widespread Panic: Durham, NC 3/31/19

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Umphrey’s McGee: Jim Thorpe, PA 3/21/19

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Greensky Bluegrass: Red Rocks Amphitheatre 9/15/19

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Dead & Company: Wrigley Field 6/15/19

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Gov’t Mule: Island Exodus X 1/23/19

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Spafford: Nashville, TN 10/5/19

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Billy Strings: Hoxeyville Music Festival 10/18/19

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The Disco Biscuits: Camp Bisco 7/20/19

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Pigeons Playing Ping Pong: Domefest 5/18/19

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Now Streaming: 100+ New Shows from Dopapod

Dopapod is back with another massive drop of new shows. The Dopapod catalog on nugs.net has nearly doubled with this latest collection. There are tons of unique performances to explore from 2011 to 2019. Every show is available for individual download or you can stream all 200+ shows in the nugs.net app. Don’t know where to start with the new shows? We’ve got you covered with some highlights:

2013: The Spot Underground, Providence, RI

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2014: Wakarusa Music Festival, Ozark, AR

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2015: The Independent, San Francisco, CA

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Bruce Springsteen 2019 Year in Review

2019 was a busy year in the Bruce Springsteen archival series. This year’s releases spanned from 1978 to 2012. These performances highlight Springsteen’s vast and varied career. You can listen to shows with the full E Street Band or check out The Boss solo. Venues range from stadiums to theatres everywhere from New York to California. This year’s archives included fan favorites like the famous Bridge School Benefit show in ’86 with Danny Federici and Nils Lofgren and the legendary Piece De Resistance, Passaic ’78. There are tons of shows to explore for Bruce fans new and old.

January: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY, 5/23/88

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

The final U.S. stop on the Tunnel of Love tour is a powerful showcase for the album along with rare Springsteen originals and covers. Bolstering core Tunnel tracks are non-album gems “Be True,” “Seeds,” “Part Man, Part Monkey” and “Light of Day,” while Bruce taps his R&B, rock, blues and folk roots for covers of John Lee Hooker’s “Boom Boom,” The Sonics’ “Have Love, Will Travel,” Jackie Wilson’s “Lonely Teardrops” and even a couple verses of Steppenwolf’s “Born To Be Wild.” Plus, a soundcheck bonus track cover of Ed Townsend’s “For Your Love.”

February: St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa, FL, 4/22/08

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

Equal parts concert and Irish wake, Tampa 2008 celebrates the life of founding E Street Band member Dan Federici, who passed away five days earlier. With heavy hearts, Bruce and the band perform a charged, emotional set that blends key tracks from Magic and songs selected with Phantom Dan in mind, including the tour premiere of “Growin’ Up,” a rare, show-opening “Backstreets,” “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)” and a cathartic, one-off performance of the gospel standard, “I’ll Fly Away.”

March: Sovereign Bank Arena, Trenton, NJ, 11/22/05

Bruce Springsteen

Bruce brings the Devils & Dust solo tour to an unforgettable conclusion with a setlist that pulls out all the stops for the final show in Trenton. From an instrumental cover of the late Link Wray’s “Rumble” to start, through rare solo outings of “Empty Sky,” “Fire,” “Drive All Night,” “All That Heaven Will Allow,” “Thundercrack” and “Santa Claus is Coming’ to Town,” Trenton 2005 teems with surprises, none more so than “Zero and Blind Terry” on piano (not performed since 1974) and the pre-Greetings original “Song for Orphans,” released here for the first time.

April: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, 9/27/85

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the site of two Olympic Games, provides a fitting backdrop to the last lap of the Born In The U.S.A. tour. On opening night of the final four shows, in front 83,000 fans, Bruce & The E Street Band hit their stadium-tour zenith with a powerhouse performance that mixes road-tested versions of “Seeds,” “Atlantic City,” “I’m Goin’ Down,” and “Glory Days” with risk-taking world premieres of Edwin Starr’s “War” and the beloved b-side, “Janey, Don’t You Lose Heart.”

May: Meadowlands Arena, E. Rutherford, NJ, 7/25/92

Bruce Springsteen

Performing with his new band in front of eager hometown fans, Springsteen goes the extra mile in this spirited set showcasing Human Touch and Lucky Town along with a few special treats. New Jersey 1992 delivers 13 songs from the two albums, from “Living Proof” and “Souls Of The Departed” to “Real Man” and “All Or Nothin’ At All.” It also features the tour’s only performance of the gospel gem “Ninety-Nine And A Half (Won’t Do)” showcasing the background singers, plus a unique solo-to-band arrangement of “Open All Night” that hilariously updates the turnpike tale.

June: MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ, 9/22/12

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

On a long, special night that rolled into his 63rd birthday the following day, Bruce dials up a spirited, 34-song set brimming with Wrecking Ball material; tour premieres for “Cynthia” and a moving “Into The Fire”; the first “In The Midnight Hour” since New Year’s Eve 1980; a rare coupling of “Meeting Across The River” into “Jungleland”; “Janey, Don’t You Lose Heart,” “Downbound Train” and “It’s Hard To Be A Saint In The City”; plus special guest Gary U.S. Bonds on “Jolé Blon” and “This Little Girl.”

July: Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY, 12/29/80

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

Night two of the legendary three-show stand at Nassau Coliseum 1980 is a barnstormer. It features the tour premiere of “Night” as the opener and, in its lone River tour performance, an extraordinary “Incident On 57th Street” into “Rosalita” to close the set. Spanning 35 songs, Nassau 12/29 beautifully blends deep River cuts (“Stolen Car,” “Wreck on the Highway,” “Point Blank”), seasonal nuggets (“Merry Christmas Baby” and “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” and fan favorites (“Fire,” “Because the Night”), making it one of the finest shows of the tour.

August: Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, CA, 10/13/86

Bruce Springsteen feat. Danny Federici and Nils Lofgren

Bruce’s performance at the inaugural Bridge School Benefit Concert marked his first major appearance since the end of the BIUSA tour and his first acoustic set in over a decade. An astonishing a cappella take of “You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)” opens, followed by the debut of the stripped down “Born In The U.S.A.” Danny Federici and Nils Lofgren then join in for a sublime set that includes “Seeds,” “Darlington County,” “Mansion On The Hill,” “Fire,” “Follow That Dream” and “Hungry Heart” with Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. $2 from each sale goes to The Bridge School. Dedicated to Elliot Roberts (1943-2019).

September: Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ, 9/19/78

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

The most famous Springsteen bootleg of all time, Piece De Resistance, comes to the live archive series as Passaic 9/19/78, newly mixed from Plangent Processed multi-track master tapes. As originally broadcast up and down the Eastern seaboard, the first night of three at the Capitol Theatre may be the definitive Darkness tour document and features “Streets Of Fire,” “Independence Day,” “Prove It All Night,” “Meeting Across The River,” “Kitty’s Back,” “Fire,” “Because The Night” “Point Blank” and “Raise Your Hand.” This beloved live performance has never sounded better.

October: Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA, 10/23/99

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

A consensus pick as one of the best nights on the Reunion tour, Los Angeles 10/23/99 brings it wire to wire, from the show-opening invocation “Meeting In The Town Tonight” into “Take ‘Em As They Come” through the rare, delightful closer “Blinded By The Light.” Other highlights of this peak Reunion set include “The Ties That Bind,” “Darkness On The Edge Of Town,” “The Promised Land,” “Incident On 57th Street,” “For You,” “Backstreets” “Light Of Day” (detouring briefly for a romp through “California Sun”) and the first solo piano version of “The Promise” in a formal concert since 1978.

November: Paramount Theatre, Asbury Park, NJ, 11/24/96

Bruce Springsteen

Making his first full concert appearance in Asbury Park since the ’70s, Springsteen brings the Joad tour to where it all began. Accordingly, Bruce unfurls a Shore-centric set that opens with a three-song blast from Greetings: “Blinded By The Light,” “Does This Bus Stop At 82nd Street” and “Growin’ Up.” With sympathetic support from Danny Federici, Patti Scialfa and Soozie Tyrell, Bruce moves through apropos surprises (“Wild Billy’s Circus Story,” “Rosalita” and “Sandy”), moving rarities (“When You’re Alone” and “Shut Out The Light”) and wonderful takes of “Racing In The Street” and “Independence Day” among many highlights.

Dead & Company Fall Fun Run Highlights

Dead & Company’s Fall Fun Run mini-tour was a roaring success. The band performed a trio of two-night runs in New York City, Uniondale, and Hampton. When a tour kicks off on Halloween night, you know you’re in for a treat. We’ve recapped some of our favorite highlights from the six shows below. Every show from the Fall Fun Run is available now to download or stream on nugs.net!

Robert Hunter Tribute Setlist

Halloween was the first show the band had played since Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter passed away. To honor Hunter, the band packed the setlist with songs written by the legendary wordsmith. The tribute performance included “Ripple” as a rare show-opening song for the band. The entire show is filled with Hunter’s work including “Tennessee Jed,” “They Love Each Other,” and “Terrapin Station.”

Werewolves in Madison Square Garden

It wouldn’t be a proper Halloween show without at least one ghostly cover. Dead & Company closed out the show with an amazing cover of “Werewolves of London.” It was the perfect cap on a spectacularly spooky night. Amongst the Halloween thrills, The Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon was in the crowd for his first-ever Dead show with Bravo’s Andy Cohen.

Maggie Rogers Joins During Night Two at MSG

The band brought out Maggie Rogers to join on vocals for a pair of tunes during their second night at The Garden. Rogers first emerged near the end of the first set for “Friend of the Devil.” It was one of our favorite versions of the Dead classic in recent memory and Rogers brings something really special to the mix. Rogers returned after the second set to join on the band’s encore-favorite “The Weight,” again shining on vocals.

Record-Setting at Nassau

Grateful Dead and Dead & Company were honored by Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum for their combined 44 shows at the stadium, the most anyone has ever played the historic venue in Uniondale, NY. A tie-dye adorned banner was hoisted in the Coliseum to celebrate the record.

“Space” on The Mothership

The tour came to a close in Hampton, Virginia with a pair of shows at the Hampton Coliseum, colloquially known as The Mothership. Counter to the Dead’s deep history with Nassau, this was actually the band’s first-ever performance at The Mothership. The band celebrated with a pair of spacey posters.

“Ripple” Bookends the Tour

Just as the tour began, the final show of the Fall Fun Run closed with “Ripple.” It was a nice bookend on an exciting tour. There was a theme of juxtaposition on this tour as we honored old friends and made new ones, returned to a venue full of history and played one for the first time. Still, through the flux of life and time, the songs endure. Ripple, like all of the Grateful Dead’s music, remains constant. The music never stopped.

Q+A With Star Kitchen

Star Kitchen is one of our favorite new projects. The band is the brainchild of The Disco Biscuits’ Marc Brownstein and Eric Krasno Band’s Danny Mayer. The supergroup also includes Rob Marscher and Marlon Lewis. Their performances explore the music of Stevie, Jimi, James, & more in new and interesting ways. We sat down with the band to talk about their shows on nugs.net and more.

Q: Tell us about the hidden gems in these releases. Do you have a stand out track or show from the batch?

Star Kitchen: I really love the Boat Cruise show in NYC. It was the first time that the band played as a four-piece without any guests at all, and it was a benchmark moment for the band. We hadn’t had the confidence to pull off a whole show without the help of some special treats along the way, but it was great. We pulled it off with a very small crowd, but huge energy. It has become our go-to recording to listen to in the van.

Q: What inspired you to start a funk forward project over all else?

SK: Really, the thing that inspired me to start this project was the Sharon Jones and the Dap King’s holiday album. Every year that is the go-to in my house. The songs are dope, and the band is the best. Ultimately, it brought me back to listening to funk in general, and I went through a deep stage of dissecting Greyboy All-stars jams. Then I went further back and started relearning all of the James Brown grooves and Aretha Franklin classics; and of course, I made a James Jamerson playlist and started playing along with that. I didn’t know how to make a funk band happen, but just as with everything, the universe did deliver this time.

Q: What are your hopes for how a new listener feels when they leave a Star Kitchen show?

SK: I feel like I want them to say, oh ok, I get it, it’s funk, but also it’s not. We are taking these songs that everyone has heard thousands of times, and many that you’ve never heard, and stretching them like rubber bands, as far as we can, in every direction. Recently, someone came up to me and said, “wow that reminded me a lot of what JGB used to be,” and I was like, this guy gets it. We are taking funk and soul tunes, and then taking everything we know from being experts in improvisation and applying it to those songs in our own way. That’s what JGB used to do, and that’s what this ended up being, not by accident. I am always the most influenced by the patriarch of the jamband scene.

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A Place Where You Could Find Yourself

Bruce Springsteen

Paramount Theatre, Asbury Park, NJ, November 24, 1996

By Erik Flannigan

Three decades on, one can underestimate the significance of the Ghost of Tom Joad tour. Fans had been talking about the prospect of a solo acoustic tour since Nebraska, a dream reinforced by the Bridge School appearance in 1986 and the sublime sets Springsteen turned in at the Christic Institute concerts in 1990. (The Bridge and Christic shows are available for download as part of the live archive series.) But it would be another five years for Bruce to go it alone for real, starting his first solo tour in December 1995 and continuing well into 1997.

Not only was he playing on sans band, but he was performing in theaters the size of which he hadn’t seen since the Darkness tour. The period is also notable for the debuts of several original songs (e.g. “It’s the Little Things That Count” and “There Will Never Be Any Other for Me But You”) in a set that grew more exploratory in assaying Bruce’s back catalog as the tour carried on.

Then came a series of remarkable hometown bookings. In November 1996, Bruce played his old high school, St. Rose of Lima, in Freehold, NJ (also available in the live download series). Later that month, a three-show stand at the Paramount Theatre in Asbury Park, which was not only the namesake of his debut album, but the city whose clubs had served as a finishing school for the young musician and his future bandmates. Based on available information, Springsteen had not played Freehold in the E Street Band era, and he hadn’t done a proper concert in Asbury Park since sometime in 1973.

Given the so-called trilogy of recent projects looking back at his life (the book Born to Run, Springsteen on Broadway and Western Stars), one could suggest the November 1996 Shore shows were the first steps in literally revisiting his history.

Armed with that awareness, the first thing Bruce says as he takes the Paramount Theatre stage is, “Greetings, from Asbury Park.” We’re treated to three tracks from the album: a shambolic “Blinded By the Light,” plus lively takes of “Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street?” and “Growin’ Up.”

“What the hell was I thinking about when I wrote all that stuff?” he asks with a hearty laugh as he wraps the trio. One likeable hallmark of the Joad tour is an unmistakable streak of humor, darker in tone and language, that seemed to intentionally contrast with a more earnest persona that had become the de facto depiction of our hero.

When someone shouts for “Mary Queen of Arkansas,” Bruce’s candor is priceless. “No. I ain’t gonna be playing that tonight. I tried to play that at home a few nights ago, and I couldn’t figure out what it’s about.”

The top of the show is appealingly loose but turns more meaningful with a distinctive reading of “Independence Day.” The song’s only tour performance is lightly Joad-ified and resolute, as the protagonist tells the tale with wistful distance and perspective. The 12-string “Darkness on the Edge of Town” is captivating as always, and “Johnny 99” is excellent — it, too, carries a tinge of reflection.

All four Shore shows featured supplemental musicians, and this night showcased the critical contributors: Danny Federici, Patti Scialfa and Soozie Tyrell. Phantom Dan sneaks on stage appropriately in a rare outing for “Wild Billy’s Circus Story,” while Soozie and Patti bring one of those aforementioned deep cuts to life in an exquisite version of the criminally underplayed “When You’re Alone” from Tunnel of Love. The deceptively simple rumination on the loss of love remains as poignant as ever.

Staying in the hidden gems lane, all three contribute to one of Springsteen’s songwriting masterpieces, the “Born in the U.S.A.” b-side “Shut Out the Light.” Introduced as a song he wrote shortly after Nebraska, “Shut Out the Light” pulls another narrative thread on returning Vietnam veterans and the war they brought home with them. Bruce recalls the draft board in Asbury Park in the late ’60s and acknowledges his luck in getting out (a story told in greater detail in his autobiography) as he introduces a song about someone who wasn’t as lucky.

The homestretch of the set sticks to the established and powerful Joad-tour core, including “Born in the U.S.A.,” “The Ghost of Tom Joad,” and “Sinaloa Cowboys.” But Bruce makes one fascinating and to some degree unlikely inclusion, placing “Racing in the Street” between “The Line” and “Across the Border.” Not unlike the earlier performance of “Independence Day,” “Racing” carries subtle notes of retrospection and world weariness as it rides Soozie Tyrell’s melancholy violin. It’s not a long rendition like it would be in the hands of the E Street Band, but composed, potent, and unique to this tour.

Every live version of “Across the Border” and the story which precedes it truly capture the heart of Tom Joad. Bruce movingly recounts seeing John Ford’s movie Grapes of Wrath and the moments in the film that so deeply affected him, calling out specific scenes and camera framing with a director’s eye and quoting key lines of dialogue that form a sort of outline for the questions Bruce explores on the album and tour.

For the encore, the mood turns upbeat, starting with “Working on the Highway” and continuing with a fine “This Hard Land,” again featuring Danny Federici on accordion. Of course Danny returns two songs later as well for Bruce’s ultimate boardwalk homage, “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy),” introduced with a sweet remembrance of the music scene and players that were there from the beginning. What comes in between is the tour debut of “Rosalita,” in a highly uncommon acoustic arrangement that makes up in liveliness what it lacks in musicality.

We end with the powerfully reimagined “The Promised Land.” While “Dream Baby Dream” was more of a pure mantra in the same set position on the Devils & Dust tour, “The Promised Land” a la Joad is a hymnal, too. Bruce’s acoustic guitar thump serves as the rhythm track propelling a reinterpretation that transports the song from exaltation to something more humanistic.

In the two nights that followed, Springsteen was joined by more guests and debuted a host of other rarities as the tone shifted ever more festive. But at his first show in Asbury Park in more than 30 years, recognition of a return to the place of origin is a compelling presence in nearly every song.

Watch “What The Night Brings” Jeff Austin Tribute on nugs.tv

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.

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The Many Sounds of Scarlet Begonias

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 Begonias streaming 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.

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Halloween 2019 Preview

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.

October’s Third Man Thursday Release Features Jack White & The White Stripes

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

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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

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Q&A With Midnight North

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.

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Dead & Company Summer Recap

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.

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A Meeting In The Town Tonight

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA, October 23, 1999

By Erik Flannigan

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.

Now Streaming: Charlie Hunter

Live performances from legendary guitarist Charlie Hunter are now available to stream on nugs.net. Known for expertly bending and traversing genres such as Blues and Jazz, Charlie Hunter’s music is made to be heard live. Right now you can open the nugs.net app and listen to a dozen live shows stretching all the way back to 1996.

Hunter was born in Rhode Island and developed a detailed knowledge of the guitar from his mother who repaired them for a living. In 1993, after some time playing with Michael Franti’s “Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy,” Hunter released his first album as the Charlie Hunter Trio. Since then, he’s released music under a variety of titles and toured with a number of notable icons like Galactic’s Stanton Moore. When we asked Hunter about his dream lineup for a band he told us he’s been lucky to play with some great musicians and he wouldn’t change a thing.

His signature sound comes from a custom seven-string guitar. Hunter uses the extra string to add a bass range that he can use for counterpointing. He is truly a master of the guitar and his live improvisations are a treat to the ear of any fan. Give these shows a listen and stay tuned for even more releases from Charlie Hunter on nugs.net.

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Read our full Q+A here:

Q- You’ve made some really interesting custom modifications to the classical guitar. Could you walk us through how those modifications have changed your music throughout the years?


Guitar is the ultimate folk instrument. You can configure it however you want. I just happened to add bass range and do a lot of counterpoint on it


Q- You play such a range of venues, big and small, all over the country. What are your favorite venues and cities to play?

I honestly don’t have a favorite. Just happy to be able to play a gig!


Q- If you were given the golden ticket to form a supergroup with any musicians, dead or alive, who would you include?


I’ve been pretty lucky to play with great musicians so I wouldn’t change a thing

Now Streaming: The Last White Stripes Show

The White Stripes

Southaven, Mississippi7/31/2007

By Ben Blackwell of Third Man Records, Archivist for The White Stripes

“I can’t even tell you how much it means for me to be here tonight…so I’m not even gonna bother” 

-Jack White, July 31st, 2007

Not long after I walked offstage as the hired-gun drummer for opening act Dan Sartain, an assortment of crew and musicians and friends gathered together and took part in a celebratory, raise-the-glass toast, all led by Jack White to mark the end of the run of nine shows in the previous ten days. 

As the crowd thinned, Meg White and I were the last ones left standing there. Apropos of nothing, cups in hand, not even in a conversation at that point, Meg said to me, “I think this is the last White Stripes show.” Confused, I responded “Well, yeah, last show of this leg of the tour.” She replied “No…I think this is the last White Stripes show ever” and slowly walked away.

I was dumbfounded. I had no idea what she was talking about. I had no idea what she meant.  I had no idea what to do. I looked around to see if anyone else heard what Meg had said, but I was all alone.

Within minutes, the band was onstage.

What would YOU do if half of your favorite band told you (and ONLY you) it would be their last show immediately prior to taking the stage?

Shocked and having no better ideas, I went and grabbed two pieces of paper. One of them a perfunctory, public-facing schedule posted backstage. The other, more-detailed, sharing much of the same info and privately posted inside the band’s tour bus.

Just typing that makes me self-consciously feel like an ass…more preoccupied with the artifact and ephemera than focusing on the actual feeling of (and living in) the moment. Also, I should’ve at least made the effort to grab a damn camera.

I decamped to my usual side-stage perch and dutifully hand-wrote the scattershot songs that spilled out of Jack and Meg that evening. The White Stripes had never played Mississippi prior to this performance and it’s clear the deep musical heritage of the state loomed large in Jack’s mind as he attacked the performance setlist-free. 

“Stop Breaking Down” was an unexpected opening song. Despite being released in 1999, it had only opened a set once before, just three weeks earlier. The inspiration behind that first opening performance was the band headlining the Ottawa Bluesfest, being met with newspaper headlines that asked “Are the White Stripes bluesy enough to headline Bluesfest?” Seems as Jack’s intention of starting both these shows with the Robert Johnson classic was to leave no doubt to a skeptical homegrown audience of armchair connoisseurs or a lazy Canadian newspaper editor that the band was well-within their powers conveying the blues to the masses.  All that was only further buoyed by Jack later throwing in an unexpected tease of another Robert Johnson song “Phonograph Blues” to assuredly placate the ghosts of the Mississippi Delta.

Inspired, one-of-a-kind takes on both “As Ugly As I Seem” and “Astro” now jump out to me as beautiful…each song’s last hurrah from the band that birthed them. Exploratory adventures the both of them, proving that no piece was ever finished or finalized or etched into stone. Rather, they were all living, creative works, changing and adapting over the years and begging to be recorded and shared and analyzed by all of you reading this right now.

Jack began the encore by himself, pouring every last drop of feeling and emotive vocal quiver into a solo offering of “300 MPH Torrential Outpour Blues” that was achingly bare. The raw force behind it feels beyond naked…as if Jack had pulled back his own skin to reveal his truest, innermost thoughts, particularly when he changed the lyrics on the fly and sang…

“See there’s three women in my mind that know they have the answer, but they’re not letting go…

What else is new? I’m the only one that seems to care where I should go”

After re-listening to this show for the first time in ages, I feel like only now have I fully absorbed the enormity of that line. Frankly, it just hit me like a freight train to the chest. I was caught entirely off-guard. I couldn’t help but be moved to tears. 

Moments like that make me feel this show is the audio manifestation of opposing, equally-powered forces clawing for control of my brain in an id-versus-ego battle of monumental proportions. On one end I’m mourning, absolutely fucking hurt that this huge presence in my life, my occasional reason for being, my family both by blood and by choice…just ceased to be. And yet at the other end, I am so goddamned lucky that the White Stripes ever existed at all…that people even paid attention, that the band was able to make a lucrative career out of their passion, out of art and that I had a side-stage seat to the entirety of their existence. 

These are feelings that have never reconciled themselves. I doubt they ever will.

After the completion of a bombastic, career-defining version of “Death Letter”, Jack poignantly says “Son House, thank you for finally letting me come home.” House was a passive participant in this matter, having died in the band’s hometown of Detroit in 1988. But Jack’s comment has seemingly little to do with any physical structure…what he is saying is that Son House (and to a larger extent, blues music in general) provided both he and Meg with an avenue to pursue their artistic vision. In this sense, home is not spoken in the predominant, noun usage of the word to describe where one lives, but rather in a more colloquial, adverbial sense meaning ‘deep, to the heart.’ 

In short, the blues is home. The blues provides comfort, the blues provides center, the blues provides foundation.  It provides a manner to express one’s feelings, both a connection to the past and a path through the future.

Ending the set with Leadbelly’s “Boll Weevil” and the singalong chorus repeating “he’s looking for a home” only further drives this point, well…home. The White Stripes were only able to become THE WHITE STRIPES because of the blues. Able to find their voices, to spread the word in a way that was seeming antithetical to two white kids born in Detroit in the 1970’s.  Blues was the language, not chosen, but seemingly divined, to best communicate themselves, to express, to converse, to paint this masterpiece. 

In that same way…we are all always looking for a home. For where we belong. Where we can be ourselves. Where we are free to do what we need to do. For a way to be.  For a conduit to something bigger.

Upon the completion of the set, with a backdrop of Who-like synth arpeggiations singing out into the night, Jack sincerely says the following…

“I can’t believe how long it has taken us to get here. Thanks for waiting. Thanks for coming. Thanks for buying our records. Thanks for buying a ticket. We love you very much. Thank you. God bless you Son House. God bless you Robert Johnson. Thank you so much.”

I can think of no better epilogue for Jack to punctuate the White Stripes last-ever live performance. Each thought a simple sentence that, upon closer inspection, opens up to a wider meaning…not just spoken to these folks in suburban Memphis on a Tuesday night. Rather, they speak to all their fans across the world. About the journey. About patience. About action. About appreciation. About presence. About gratitude. And ultimately, about the blues. Which is, arguably, all it was ever about.

In the intervening twelve years I’ve had countless conversations with Meg White. And I have never once, not for a moment, even considered asking her what was going through her head that night in Mississippi. To me, she has found her home and that is all that matters. 

New Archive Releases From The Allman Brothers Band Are Here

Our collection of shows from The Allman Brothers Band just got a whole lot sweeter. We’ve added a ton of new shows including performances from 2006, 2008, 2009, and 2014. This era of the Allman Brothers lineup included founding members Gregg Allman, Butch Trucks and Jaimoe along with percussionist Marc Quinones, guitarists Warren Haynes, and bassist Oteil Burbridge.

Most poignantly the lineup featured virtuoso slide guitarists Derek Trucks who is Butch Truck’s nephew. He originally joined with the group when he was a mere teenager. With Derek Trucks’ uncanny ability to reinterperate the late Duane Allman, Gregg Allman’s strong voice and Warren Haynes leading the way, this line up was truly the second coming of one of America’s greatest bands.

The energy of this era was explosive as the band hit a second peak in their career, with purpose, chemistry, and high on studio album releases which featured writing by not only the Allmans but also Oteil, Warren and Derek. Founding members Greg Allman, Butch Trucks and Jaimoe lead the band with their jazz infused classic southern blues. The jaw-dropping solos by Derek Trucks interplay perfectly with Warren Haynes tight rhythm guitar & sharp vocals, while soul-moving bass riffs by Oteil Burbridge create a deep foundation of funk n’ groove.

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Greensky Bluegrass is Headed to Red Rocks

Greensky Bluegrass’ trio of Red Rocks shows this weekend promise to be some of their biggest performances of the year and we’re thrilled to be webcasting every moment on nugs.tv starting with tomorrow’s show. We’ll also have live coverage of Friday’s opening set featuring The Lil Smokies and Sunday’s Billy Strings performance.

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This weekend will be the band’s first multi-night run since their own Camp Greensky festival which took place earlier this summer. If Camp Greensky was any indication, GSGB should have some fun surprises in store for us at Red Rocks. If you’re looking for a primer heading into this weekend’s webcasts, the Camp Greensky shows will be a great place to start.

Taking place in Wellston, MI, Camp Greensky 2019 featured sit-ins with Billy Strings, The Lil Smokies’ Jake Simpson, and tons more. The band also had some fun with the number two. Greensky Bluegrass mandolinist Paul Hoffman told us, “While we strive to make every show unique and special, maybe these ones are more special. We played two ‘two’ songs to celebrate our second year.” The first two-themed cover was Marvin Gaye & Kim Weston’s “It Takes Two” and was followed by Eddie Money’s iconic “Two Tickets To Paradise.”

Check out the Camp Greensky shows below and get ready for this weekend’s webcasts. We’ll see you at Red Rocks!

The Boss Homes Home

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ, September 19, 1978

By Erik Flannigan

Like all great live performers in rock history, Bruce Springsteen has been heavily bootlegged on vinyl and CD, and the five live radio broadcasts from the Darkness tour were manna for home tapers and bootleggers alike. Bruce acknowledged as much himself during the July 7, 1978 Roxy broadcast in Los Angeles (the city at the epicenter of the bootleg business) when he declared: “Bootleggers out there in radioland, roll your tapes!”

Those legendary transmissions began to appear on illicit wax the following year, 1979. Live in the Promised Land (Winterland, San Francisco, December 15, 1978) was first, followed by Piece De Resistance, which pressed the Passaic 9/19/78 radio broadcast to six hot sides of vinyl in a box set. Bootleg historians say Piece De Resistance is almost certainly the best-selling Springsteen title of all time, which makes sense given that the show aired in his biggest East Coast markets.

When Live/1975-85 was announced in 1986, many presumed the legendary Passaic broadcast would provide the bulk of the Darkness tour material, but in fact, nothing from the show made the box set. The Roxy and Winterland 12/16/78 proved to be the sources for all 1978 tracks featured on Live/1975-85.

The wait is finally over. Passaic 9/19/78 arrives in its glorious entirety, newly remixed by Jon Altschiler from multi-track, Plangent Processed master tapes. It offers a fresh take on the familiar broadcast version, crackling with energy and putting Bruce and the band so close you might reach out and try to touch the Big Man’s sax. It’s not a first-row seat; it is a first-row seat directly in front of the PA speakers.

Bruce is introduced with an exclamation: “The Boss comes home!” Indeed, this was a homecoming. The three Passaic dates were Springsteen’s first proper concerts in New Jersey since 1976, and the culmination of a NY-NJ Metroplex residency that included a trio of gigs at Madison Square Garden in August (his first-ever headlining the legendary arena) and three shows at the Palladium in the city just prior to Passaic. Following that introduction, it was off to the races.

“Badlands” bursts out of the gate, with more meaty guitars in the mix than we’ve heard before and Max’s drum rolls and trills snapping like someone lit a firecracker strip. Longtime fans will have heard the start of this show hundreds or maybe thousands of times before, but that familiarity coupled with the freshness of the mix makes for a thrilling listening experience. The sense of release “Badlands” delivers has never felt more tangible.

The first set features exemplary versions of core Darkness tracks “Streets of Fire,” “The Promised Land,” “Prove It All Night” with its tension-building instrumental intro, “Racing in the Street,” and the title track. We also get a preview of where Bruce is going next through “Independence Day,” played for only the fourth time in a still-evolving arrangement. The song was recorded for Darkness, and Bruce mentions it should end up on the next album. Another future River track, “Point Blank,” makes a spellbinding appearance in set two. 

Along with “Fire” and “Because the Night,” Passaic 9/19/78 features four Springsteen originals that were not released at the time. While we have come to take the live performance history of these songs for granted, Bruce is virtually alone in featuring so much unreleased music in his sets, and the inclusion of songs you can only hear at the shows was part of the magic that defined the live Springsteen legend.

The first set ends with a special and apropos “Meeting Across the River.” It is the live version I’ve heard the most and my all-time favorite performance of the song, sounding moody and marvelous as Bruce spins the tale accompanied by Roy Bittan and Garry Tallent. “Meeting” into “Jungleland” (as they are sequenced on Born to Run) to close the first set is the coup de grâce for 80 minutes of sheer perfection.

Bruce begins the second set with “one for all the folks in Philadelphia listening in,” “Kitty’s Back.” The resplendent E Street showcase cooks for 13 minutes and has not sounded this crystal clear since Sally left the alley. The same can be said for a stunning “Candy’s Room,” as Steve’s backing vocals soar — you can even pick out Clarence’s baritone voice in the left channel as Bruce sings “what…she…wants…is…me.”

Riches abound as we move through “Because the Night,” “Point Blank,” a long “Not Fade Away” into “She’s the One,” and a sublime, luscious “Backstreets” before the set closes with a pacey “Rosalita.” The encore slows down to mythologize the Shore with “Sandy,” and the moment when Bruce sings, “the boys from the casino dance with their shirts open,” then asks, “is that you out there?” is a charming reminder that Passaic 9/19/78 is indeed one for the locals.

Incredibly, the encore sustains and at times exceeds the energy level of the main set. “Born to Run” is taken at breathless full speed. “Tenth Avenue Freeze-out’ downshifts slightly in tempo, though Bruce remains fully committed to his wide-ranging vocal gymnastics. “Detroit Medley” presents one final opportunity to showcase the band’s chops (tune into the right channel for Stevie Van Zandt’s guitar lick masterclass) in a full-frontal rock ’n’ roll assault.

Because there always has to be one more, a final encore of Eddie Floyd’s soul classic “Raise Your Hand” closes the night, a lyrical reminder that Bruce and the band are there in service of the audience, be they inside the Capitol or listening at home in the markets Springsteen namechecks.

Though he couldn’t have known it at the time, 41 years later, Bruce gives us another chance to experience Passaic in the comfort of our own homes and marvel at the prowess of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band playing their hearts out for longtime fans.

Third Man Records Archives Are Coming to nugs.net

We’re partnering with Third Man Records to release live recordings from The Raconteurs, The White Stripes, Jack White, and The Dead Weather on nugs.net. Starting today, you can listen to 12 archive shows from the Third Man Records archives, including a never-before-released recording of The White Stripes. Every show is available to download or stream in the nugs.net app.

Start Listening

Today’s release is only the beginning. Starting in September, the third Thursday of each month is Third Man Thursday featuring brand new releases from the Third Man Records archives. Additionally, we’ll be webcasting every moment of The Raconteurs three-night run at Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium free on nugs.tv starting this Thursday.

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O.A.R. Joins nugs.net

Starting today, you can listen to O.A.R. on nugs.net. Hop in and check out guitarist/saxophonist Jerry DePizzo’s curated collections. Jerry’s Picks feature the band’s best live moments from 2009 – 2016. It’s the perfect primer to introduce you to O.A.R. Having produced music and toured for over two decades, Of A Revolution has refined their live performance to perfection. There’s something special about taking your high school band and turning it into worldwide mainstream success; that’s exactly what O.A.R. has done. No matter if you’re a day one fan or if it’s your first time listening, these collections are the perfect O.A.R. experience.

Check out all of Jerry’s Picks + three full live shows from their 2014 tour

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Watch O.A.R.’s live Red Rocks performance from earlier this month

Woodstock Turns 50

It’s been half a century since 500,000 people made their way to Bethel, New York for the now-historic Woodstock Music Festival. The iconic festival didn’t come together overnight, in fact, it nearly didn’t happen at all. Finding a venue proved a difficult task for event organizers. Organizers didn’t land the famous dairy farm in Bethel until roughly a month before the first act would take the stage. Woodstock was billed as “An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music.” The Woodstock moniker wouldn’t come until later. Woodstock’s legacy lives on through just about every festival that takes place today.

Woodstock 1969 Lineup:

Day 1:

Richie Havens
Bert Sommer
Sweetwater
Melanie
Tim Hardin
Ravi Shanker
Arlo Guthrie
Joan Baez

Day 2:

Quill
Country Joe McDonald
John Sebastian
Keef Hartley Band
Santana
The Incredible Stringed Band
Canned Heat
Mountain
The Grateful Dead
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Janis Joplin
Sly and the Family Stone
The Who
Jefferson Airplane

Day 3

Country Joe and The Fish
Ten Years After
The Band
Johnny Winter
Blood Sweat and Tears
Crosby Stills Nash and Young
Paul Butterfield Blues Band
Sha Na Na
Jimi Hendrix

Listen to Woodstock

nugs.net subscribers can listen to these Woodstock performances on desktop, Sonos, and in the nugs.net app.

Jimmi Hendrix

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Janis Joplin

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