WNEW | Where Rock Lives

Captured Live: Alejandro Escovedo in Kansas

Alt-country fans are probably already familiar with Alejandro Escovedo, but I'll admit I'd never even heard of him until earlier this year. But when I heard Escovedo was playing this year's 93XRT Free 4th of July Concert in Chicago I figured I better check him out.

Though Escovedo's music turned out to be far more complex than I expected, it has an inclusive, approachable aspect as well. Live Music Archive is hosting this set from earlier in June at the Wakarusa Festival in Kansas, and it turned out to be a good introduction to his music. Over the course of the hour-plus set Escovedo and his band sound first like a jam band, particularly on Everybody Loves Me, but veer quickly into Spanish-influenced rock with the duo of Juarez > Rosalie. The alt-country tag applies here too - try listening to I Was Drunk without picturing Ryan Adams & the Cardinals.

If you know this gentleman's music already - perhaps you picked up his new album Real Animal last week - drop us a line and share some insight. And if you live in the Chicago area head over to Grant Park this friday for WXRT's annual shindig - this year Escovedo will be joined by Gomez and Old 97's.

Captured Live: Jack Johnson at Bonnaroo 2008

This may not have been the largest crowd he's ever played to, but it had to be close. When Jack Johnson appeared on the What Stage on the third day of Bonnaroo 2008 he was looking out on a sea of people at least 50,000 strong. While some may have just been camping out waiting for Pearl Jam, there was no lack of enthusiasm once Johnson and his band opened this 90 minute set with All At Once, the opening track off his new album Sleep Through The Static.

Some fans I talked to said Johnson tends to play the same set every night, but while the setlist for this night may have mirrored earlier stops on the tour, this show was nonetheless a singular experience. With the sun setting behind him and most of the other 'Roo stages empty, Johnson had a captive audience ready to cheer his every move. By the time Eddie Vedder came out for a cameo on Constellations, we'd already experienced several mass sing-alongs and sneaky guitar teases, indicating that at least one cover tune must be on the way.

Johnson eventually obliged with a quick run through Paul Simon's Mother And Child Reunion, before dipping into a seriously crowd-pleasing version of Good People off the album In Between Dreams.

If you'd like to see Jack Johnson live this summer you probably don't have to travel far, as he's appearing at nearly every festival under the sun, in addition his own headlining dates with openers Rogue Wave.

Captured Live: Bonnaroo Preview with My Morning Jacket

Bonnaroo starts in about 48 hours, and while there are countless acts that I'm excited too see there is one set in particular that I'm expecting to be completely over the top. My Morning Jacket will play a three hour late-night set beginning at midnight on Friday. You already know we play a lot of MMJ around here, at trend that should only continue as their excellent new album Evil Urges drops today.

In anticipation of their show this weekend I wanted to dig up some early MMJ for this week's Captured Live. After consulting with some knowledgeable MMJ fans I was pointed to this 2001 show which took place in the band's hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. As the poster points out, this show was held at a planetarium and featured "a radioactive light show" and "spectacular visions of the far reaches of space..." Oh and the music was pretty good too.

Jim James delivers the goods in typical fashion, with his voice coming through strong yet distant, riding the waves of sound produced by the band. The duo of I Think I'm Going To Hell into The Bear is particularly spacey yet gripping at the same time, and even includes a brief nod to the oldie-but-goodie Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?. The band encores with a drawn-out cover of Elton John's Rocket Man, and it feels like the perfect way to  land this interplanetary spaceship of a show.

WNEW will be on the scene at Bonnaroo and bringing you pictures and updates throughout the weekend. Check back here for the rundown on MMJ's hopefully epic journey into the Tennessee night.

Captured Live: Ryan Adams in 1999, 2000

This week we take a look at two shows from the early years of Ryan Adams' solo career. The first set is a 1999 event at The Brewery  in Raleigh, NC, which was billed as Ryan Adams & Friends. Although this was a post-Whiskeytown lineup the show did include a few cameos by Caitlin Cary on fiddle and vocals, most notably on Dancing With The Women At The Bar. Adams worked through a lot of new material during this show, including Hey There, Mrs. Lovely and the opener Born Yesterday.

The second show this week is an interview and performance piece captured in September 2000 when Adams sat down with NPR's World Cafe in Philadelphia. His breakthrough solo album Heartbreaker had just been released that month, and Ryan gets the chance to talk a lot about his recording process - specifically how some tunes worked well for Whiskeytown while there were other songs he held back for his solo projects. He plays a few tunes as well, with To Be Young Is To Be Sad Is To Be High and Amy as definite highlights. Please enjoy, and leave a comment if there's something you'd like to hear in next week's edition of Captured Live.

Captured Live: Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Spearhead

With the 2008 edition of Warren Haynes' Mountain Jam festival on the way this weekend, Captured Live is taking a look at years past, in particular these sweet performances from two Mountain Jam regulars Robert Randolph and the Family Band and Michael Franti & Spearhead. Thanks to tapers Rob Clarke and Tim Burke for setting up their mics and braving the rain to bring us these sets, they both sound great.

First up is Robert Randolph from 2006. This truly is a family band - Robert is joined by brother Marcus on drums, cousins Daniel on bass and Joey on guitar, and his sister Lanesha on vocals. Jason Crosby, an 'honorary' family member, rocks the keys and organ. Though the group's second album Colorblind (iTunes) wouldn't be released until October of that year, this show saw early run-throughs of new tunes Summertime (Diane), Homecoming and the poingant, New Orleans-themed Deliver Me. My favorite part of the show was an instrumental segment towards the end, when the band jammed into and out of a wild version of Stevie Wonder's classic Do I Do. Good luck getting this one out of your head.

Another great Mountain Jam moment came in last year's Spearhead set. Michael Franti and the band sat down for a few acoustic tunes in the middle of their set, starting with a great rendition of their classic Rock The Nation. Warren Haynes then came out to lend a hand on the new tunes Nobody Right, Nobody Wrong, with Franti proving once again he could move the rain-soaked crowd to the edge of tears before bringing the party back with a cover of Sublime's What I Got.

Captured Live: Cold War Kids @ Coachella Festival

The Cold War Kids have become a favorite of mine since first hearing their disc Robbers & Cowards a year or so ago. Their set at Lollapalooza last summer was my first and only time seeing them live (by "seeing them" I mean sitting under a tree, nowhere near the stage, trying to catch a break from the burning hot sun). So I guess I didn't really see them, but I sure did hear that set - they somehow managed to be louder than almost any other band that weekend.

My take on these guys is that they genuinely rock. I love the sound of lead singer Nathan Willet's guitar, and he really kills it on the keys too. Their songwriting is even more intense, bordering on the creepy sometimes, with a lot of talk about regret and the repercussions of one's actions. I've probably listened to Hospital Beds two hundred times and it still gives me chills. The words "joy and misery..." get repeated often in that song, and pretty much describe the theme of any given song from this band.

The guys have been off the road since December, writing and recording in preparation for a new album. So I was excited to come across this recording of their set from last month's Coachella Festival - to my knowledge the only show they've played so far in 2008. This is an audience recording, so it comes with its share of crowd chatter, but it's still well worth the download.

The band treated the crowd to several new songs, including Mexican Dog, Every Man a Ball Player, and two others I've yet to find a name for. They also ran through great tracks from Robbers & Cowards (iTunes), including a killer one-two punch of Hospital Beds and Saint John to end the show.

The Cold War Kids have only three dates on their tour calendar right now - two festival appearances and a big night in Brooklyn at the Prospect Park Bandshell. If you're digging what you hear from this band I'd advise you to get out there and check them out too.

Captured Live: Robert Randolph; Spoon; Animal Collective

We're digging through the Archive for this week's edition of Captured Live, bringing you choice cuts from two WNEW.com favorites and a progressive newcomer. If you're not familiar with Archive.org, it's an ambitious non-profit project whose goal is to preserve for all time the culture and artifacts of the digital age. Luckily for us music fans, a major offshoot of the archiving project is the Live Music Archive, a place for independent artists and taper-friendly bands (in the tradition of the Grateful Dead) to post recordings of live shows.
This week we're sampling recent shows from Robert Randolph & the Family Band and Spoon, two bands you'll hear plenty from on this station. The RRFB set is from the band's appearance at the McDowell Mountain Music Festival outside Scottsdale, AZ last month. Fans of this band will recognize Robert's instrumental cover of Michael Jackson's Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'; my personal favorite from this show is the ripping version of Diane (Summertime). The Spoon set was recorded at a club called Scala in London and captures the band running through over 20 songs, with new-ish tunes like Don't You Evah and The Underdog appearing alongside older tracks like Small Stakes, The Way We Get By and Jonathan Fisk. Both Spoon and Robert Randolph are hitting the road this summer, so check out their tour pages and make sure to catch them if you can.

Finally today we're taking a look at Animal Collective and a show they played last July in London. 'Progressive' hardly seems an adequate tag for this group - they're pretty far out there - but there is something captivating about the music if you get the chance to put it on without a lot of distractions. If nothing else these Animals are talented instrumentalists, as evidenced on the Pan Flute Jam (no, really), and the creepy Loch Raven. Think it's all a bunch of noise? Give it a listen and leave us a comment to let us know what you think.

Captured Live: Jackie Greene in NYC; Pearl Jam in Germany

To kick off Captured Live this week, we take you to a recent show at NYC's Highline Ballroom featuring rising star Jackie Greene and his band. The Highline is a fairly new venue and very intimate, with a capacity just over 200 people. The crowd consisted primarily of Deadheads, now very familiar with Jackie Greene from his ongoing stint as a member of Phil Lesh and Friends. But the cluster of young blondes in the front row showed that Jackie's appeal is expanding beyond just the jam set.

He's compared to Bob Dylan far too often - and while the resemblance is both physical and stylistic - it doesn't do Jackie justice as his songs and style are all his own. The show was great live, and sounds crystal clear on this audience recording. Highlights included the rocker Cell Block #9, the rowdy Animal, and fan favorite Gone Wanderin'. If you haven't checked out Jackie Greene yet, this is a great place to start.

We'll leave you this week with a killer soundboard recording of Pearl Jam, from their headlining gig at last year's Hurricane Festival in Germany. Packed with hits like Yellow Leadbetter, Jeremy and Evenflow, Eddie Vedder and the boys prove with this set - just like they do every night out - that this band is as vital as ever.

Captured Live: Raconteurs and Portishead from Coachella

For this edition of Captured Live let's take a listen to some fresh sets from last weekend's Coachella Festival. By all accounts the headliners Prince and Roger Waters turned in performances to remember, with Prince covering Radiohead, and Waters performing Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety.

But it's these sets from the Raconteurs and Portishead that you really need to hear. Jack White and company are fresh off the release of Consolers of the Lonely and just a few dates into their summer tour. Some of the new songs sound like they're still getting worked out for the live set, while tracks like Top Yourself and Salute Your Solution already sound really solid.  And since we know Jack White never likes to play a song the same way twice, tunes from the last album like Blue Veins and Steady, As She Goes sound even more delicious this time around. Download link is here.

I never got into Portishead the first time around, but the previews I've been hearing from their new album Third have been pretty good. Sounds like their Coachella performance has set the fans on fire - with multiple tracks from the new album bookending classic Portishead cuts like Glory Box and Sour Times. Grab the Portishead set here.
 

For even more live sets from the Coachella weekend, check out Largehearted Boy's page, he's keeping a running tally of the recordings from the festival.