Live music – Page 25 – 7th Level Music

Jon Spencer and the Hitmakers announce new album and tour.

Get ready for JON SPENCER & the HITmakers to BURN your playhouse down with their new long-player, SPENCER GETS IT LIT! The incredible, indelible Jon Spencer (Blues Explosion, Boss Hog, Pussy Galore, Heavy Trash, etc) is back with the incendiary HITmakers  - and with his HOTTEST record yet! 

Spencer Gets It Lit is classic Jon Spencer taken to the extremis – electro-boogie, constructivist art pop, a psychedelic swamp of industrial sleaze and futurist elegance. It is an epic master work of freak beat from the world’s weirdest garage. Across brain-boggling layers of fury, fuzz guitar, and a crash-bang battery of phaser blasts, photon torpedoes, and otherworldly zounds, he frantically spits, croons, rhapsodizes, and seduces.

Spencer Gets It Lit is his most complex and groovy record in years, a dark, danceable odyssey – both a studied take-down of the early 21st century, and a celebration of the place where electricity meets the mind. Thirteen wicked hot songs of love, loss, lust, life — from the Farfisa-fueled,warped psycho -punk rave-up of “Junk Man,” to the intimate lover’s plea of “My Hit Parade,” to the outer-space end-of-days country funk of “Worm Town,” Spencer Gets It Lit delivers all of the friction, excitement, and post-modern depravity one could ever ask for!

Says Spencer, “Send out the Hit Signal! This is the most uncompromising album I’ve ever made!” And the HITs just keep on coming! THIS JUST IN! Taking over drum duties for the HITmakers on their upcoming spring tour will be superstar of skins Janet Weiss of Sleater-Kinney, Quasi, Wild Flag, The Jicks, Slang, etc. etc!!! Wait… What’s that? There’s more? Every show will be opened by a full set from Janet and HITmaker Sam Coomes championship tag-team, Quasi! Guaranteed to be a tour for the ages!!! True heroes of the underground! Freak forces combined and multiplied in this indie-rock dream bill!

TOUR: 4/11 Buffalo, NY Rec Room

4/12 Toronto, ON Lee’s Palace

4/13 Detroit, MI El Club

4/14 Chicago, IL Schubas

4/15 Milwaukee, WI Back Room at Colectivo

4/16 Minneapolis, MN 7^th Street Entry

4/18 Omaha, NE Waiting Room

4/19 Denver, CO Globe Hall

4/20 Salt Lake City, UT Urban Lounge

4/21 Boise, ID Neurolux

4/22 Portland, OR Dantes

4/23 Vancouver, BC Fox Cabaret

4/24 Seattle, WA Madame Lou’s (The Crocodile Second Stage)

4/26 San Francisco, CA Bottom of the Hill

4/27 Los Angeles, CA The Echo

4/28 San Diego, CA Casbah

4/29 Tucson, AZ 191 Toole

4/30 Phoenix, AZ Valley Bar

5/01 Santa Fe, NM Tumbleroot Brewery & Distillery

5/02 Colorado Springs, CO The Black Sheep

5/03 Wichita, KS Wave

5/04 Kansas City, MO Record Bar

5/05 St. Louis, MO Blueberry Hill Duck Room

5/06 Indianapolis, IN Hi-Fi

5/07 Louisville, KY Zanzabar

5/08 Charlottesville, VA The Southern

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Jo Murray.]

Blackwater Holylight announce US and Canada tour dates.

Portland, OR band Blackwater Holylight announce Summer 2022 North American headlining tour dates today in support of their third album Silence / Motion on on RidingEasy Records. The tour kicks off on May 9th. Please see complete dates below. Tour assets HERE, ticket links HERE.

Quote from the band: “We’re gearing up for our first US headlining tour and couldn’t be more excited to be sharing the road with Bleakheart and Spirit Mother! We will have a ton of merch available and can’t wait to see you all out there.”

Watch/share “Silence/Motion” video on YouTube HERE.

Hear/share Silence/Motion full album via Bandcamp, YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify.

Empty surrounds all of me. It’s a poignant line from the third album by Blackwater Holylight that encapsulates the search for self when suddenly everything has changed. There’s a theme of processing vast personal trauma throughout Silence/Motion that eloquently — both lyrically and musically — and simultaneously embodies the crushing emptiness, sorrow, strength and rebuilding of recovering from personal devastation.

“There was so much grief both in the world and interpersonally during the process of creating Silence/Motion,” says vocalist/bassist Allison “Sunny” Faris. “The four of us gave one another more space to be ourselves, to experiment with each other’s ideas and to be gentle with one another more than we ever have before. So, we knew this tenderness would manifest in extremely honest arrangements, and I think that you can hear that throughout the record.”

Curiously, considering the dark times in which it was created, this is the band’s most melodic and catchy music so far. Blackwater Holylight, as the name suggests, is all about contrasts: It’s a fluid convergence of sound that’s heavy, psychedelic, melodic, terrifying and beautiful all at once. And, Silence/Motion finds the band honing those contrasts, letting ideas and moods fully develop from song to song, rather than filling every song with a full range of their capabilities. It allows the band to go fully prog-rock here, and simply stay hushed and intimate there. There’s a new confidence to the band in how seamlessly they wield their stylistic amalgam.

“Writing this album was extraordinarily difficult emotionally, however it did come to fruition fairly quickly,” Faris says. “In the past, the theme of vulnerability has always been a big player and it definitely showed up full force while writing this album.”
Blackwater Holylight recorded the album as a four piece: Faris on vocals and guitar (on “Silence/Motion”, “MDIII”, “Around You” and “Every Corner”) and bass for the remainder, Sarah McKenna on synths, Mikayla Mayhew on guitar (and bass when Faris plays guitar) and drummer Eliese Dorsay. For Silence/Motion the band chose to work with a producer for the first time, bringing in A.L.N. (of Mizmor, Hell) to produce, along with recording engineer Dylan White — who also helmed their previous album Veils of Winter (2019) — at Odessa Recording Studio in Portland, OR. Guest vocals on album opener “Delusional” are by Bryan Funck (Thou.) Mike Paparo (Inter Arma) and A.LN. (Mizmor, Hell) lend guest vocals to album closer “Every Corner.”

“The analogy is that with our first record (Blackwater Holylight, 2018) we were getting into to the car and buckling up,” Faris says. “The second (Veils of Winter, 2019) we were turning the car on, and with this third we have kicked into drive toward our destination. Our destination is a bit mysterious and has the ability to change from day to day, but we’re on our way.”

Silence/Motion is available on LP, CD and download, released October 22nd, 2021 via RidingEasy Records.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Dave at US / THEM Group.]

Rewind Review: Buck Owens – Live from Austin TX (2017)

Recorded live at the famous Austin City Limits on October 23, 1988, this half-hour session from the legendary Buck Owens is like stomping the gas pedal of a moonshiner’s truck to the floor while crying over lost love.

Opening, of course, with his mega-hit “Act Naturally,” Owens gets everyone dancing right away. Terry Christofferson‘s steel guitar on “Together Again” is the song of weeping after a missing lover has returned after a long absence. “Love’s Gonna Live Here” is a toe-tapping, booty-shaking swinger.

Owens’ “Crying Time” is another classic and one that everyone can relate to at some time in their life. He knows the loneliness we’ve all known. Just when you’re feeling blue, he unleashes “Tiger By the Tail” to shake you out of it (and Jim Shaw‘s lively piano helps, too). “A-11” is a clever track that has Owens pleading with a stranger not to play a song on the jukebox that will remind him of the woman who left him.

“Hot Dog” epitomizes country swing. “Put a Quarter in the Jukebox” is both fun and sad at the same time, as many classic country songs are. “Memphis” is the first Chuck Berry cover in the performance, and it’s a dandy. As if one country legend tearing up the ACL stage wasn’t enough, Owens brings out Dwight Yoakam to perform “Under Your Spell Again” with him, and their vocal styles pair up perfectly with each other. “Johnny B. Goode” is the second Chuck Berry cover that closes out the show to a raucous crowd.

It’s a great recording, and it’s clear that Owens was having a great time throughout it.

Keep your mind open.

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Levitation France announces first wave of 2022 lineup.

Levitation France has announced the first group of bands scheduled to play the 2022 festival in the cool town of Angers. This is also the first year the festival will be a three-day event. Tickets are on sale now.

The lineup is already looking good. The Brian Jonestown Massacre will surely bring in a large crowd, and it will be cool to see Kim Gordon perform. Death Valley Girls and Frankie and the Witch Fingers always put on good performances, and I won’t miss Automatic‘s set.

I’m hoping to see Earthless, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Shame, and Dry Cleaning on the bill. Don’t miss out on it if you can get there.

Keep your mind open.

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Failure announces 2022 North American tour dates. Tickets are on sale now!

Failure have announced a North American tour in support of their recently released, widely-praised sixth album, Wild Type Droid.

Ken Andrews said of the live outings: “I have not been this excited to bring new material to the stage since Fantastic Planet. Prepare yourself for an out-of-body experience.”

The dates, which kick off on June 2 in San Diego and run for five weeks before culminating in a hometown show at Los Angeles’ Regent Theatre, are on-sale today at 10 am local time. All shows will open with a special preview of the forthcoming Failure documentary.

Wild Type Droid (https://failure.ffm.to/wildtypedroid) arrived in December via the band’s own label, Failure Music. Rolling Stone called the 10-song collection “incredibly expansive,” Guitar World described the album as “one of the most inspiring alternative guitar records to arrive in 2021,” and Paste Magazine said the trio “make a career-defining statement.”

“To me, it captures a lot of the new musical approaches and techniques we were going for on this album, but somehow is still quintessential Failure,” Ken Andrews explained as news of the album was revealed. “We’ve been together long enough to know that some of our best ideas come directly from these experimental sessions. For this album, we simply cultivated that methodology for a much longer time than we have in the past. It brought out the trio aspect of the band. There was a feeling we could really push the individual parts further away from each other and let the more interesting and challenging combinations take center stage.”

Failure is Ken Andrews (vocals, guitar, bass, programming), Greg Edwards (vocals, guitar, bass, keys), and Kellii Scott (drums, percussion). Forming in early ‘90s Los Angeles, the trio have released six albums: Comfort (1992), Magnified (1994), Fantastic Planet (1996), The Heart Is A Monster (2015), In The Future Your Body Will Be the Furthest Thing from Your Mind (a series of EPs released as an album in 2018), and Wild Type Droid (2021). The group is considered one of the era’s most influential rock bands with Vice, in an all-encompassing retrospective upon the band’s return saying: “While many of their contemporaries became prolific by releasing an ungodly amount of materials, Failure’s [initial] three-record catalog is minuscule, but just as important in terms of content, style, and music texture.”

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Monica at Speakeasy PR.]

Squid announce North American tour.

Squid’s acclaimed debut album Bright Green Field, released via Warp Records, has been called one of the best albums of 2021 by Pitchfork, Stereogum, The Quietus, Consequence, Paste, Exclaim!, and beyond. On the heels of their sold out first-ever US tour, the UK band announces a 2022 North American tour which sees them playing their biggest venues yet. Having built a reputation for their must-see live performances, Squid — Ollie Judge, Louis Borlase, Arthur Leadbetter, Laurie Nankivell, and Anton Pearson — are not to be missed. Tour dates are listed below and tickets are on sale here.

Squid Tour Dates
Wed. Jan. 26 – Belfast, UK @ Empire Music Hall
Thu. Jan 27 – Galway, IE @ Roisin Dubh
Fri. Jan. 28 – Cork, IE @ Cyprus Avenue
Sun. Jan. 30 – Dublin, IE @ The Button Factory
Mon. Jan. 31 – Dublin, IE @ The Button Factory
Mon. March 7 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
Tue. March 8 – Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile
Wed. March 9 – Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre
Sat. March 12 – San Francisco, CA @ August Hall
Sun. March 13 – Los Angeles, CA @ Regent Theater
Wed. March 16 – Chicago, IL @ Vic Theatre
Thu. March 17 – Detroit, MI @ El Club
Fri. March 18 – Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern
Sat. March 19 – Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz
Mon. March 21 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat
Tue. March 22 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
Wed. March 23 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
Fri. March 25 – Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall
Sun. June 5 – Sun. June 12 – Barcelona, ES @ Primavera Sound
Fri. Jul. 8 – London, UK @ Somerset House
Fri. Aug. 5 – Sun. Aug. 7 – Katowice, PL @ OFF Festival
Wed. Aug. 17 – Sat. Aug. 20 – Paredes de Coura, PT @ Paredes de Coura Festival
Thu. Aug. 25 – Sun. Aug. 28 – Saint Cloud, FR @ Rock en Seine
Mon. Sep. 16 – Sun. Sep. 18 – Los Angeles, CA @ Primavera Sound LA

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Ahmad at Pitch Perfect PR.]

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard announce remix album and massive world tour.

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard announce Butterfly 3001, a remix album of their original out January 21st, 2022 on KGLW. Today, they share two of its singles, “Neu Butterfly” (Peaches Remix) and “Shanghai” (Dub by The Scientist). King Gizzard’s Joey Walker elaborates: “We’ve put off doing a remix album for a long time. Maybe it was conscious, maybe it wasn’t. But it’s happening now. That’s not to say that Butterfly 3000 makes the most sense to remix. It might seem like the obvious one, but it’s not. Yes it’s electronic. But so is a fridge. Have you tried to dance to Butterfly? It’s hard. It ties your shoelaces together. It’s duplicitous in its simplicity. But Butterfly 3001 expands on this. It also deviates and obliterates. We’re honoured to have such esteemed people go to work on these songs. We hope you love this album as much as we do. See you in DA CLUB!!!”

For their “Neu Butterfly” remix, Peaches “wanted to make this remix sound like a lizard. Slippery wet and scaly dry. Something that wiggles through wide open spaces… with slits for eyeballs…. And danceable.”

Listen to “Neu Butterfly” (Peaches Remix)

Legendary producer The Scientist says “I’ve always enjoyed being able to apply my dub mixing techniques to music outside of the typical ‘reggae mold.’ The music of KGLW, and specifically the song ‘Shanghai,’ provided me with the perfect landscape to be able to create something sonically rich and exciting for the listener. KGLW fans and dub-reggae fans, alike, will enjoy this song very much.”

Listen to “Shanghai” (Dub by The Scientist)

Pre-order Butterfly 3001
Butterfly 3001 Tracklist
1. Black Hot Soup (DJ Shadow “My Own Reality” Re-Write)
2. Shanghai (The Scientist Dub)
3. Shanghai (Deaton Chris Anthony Remix)
4. Dreams (Yu Su Instrumental Mix)
5. Blue Morpho (Donato Dozzy Remix)
6. Blue Morpho (VRIL Remix)
7. Blue Morpho (Ciel’s Fluttering Dub)
8. Blue Morpho (ZANDOLI II remix)
9. Catching Smoke (DāM-FunK Instrumental Re-Freak)
10. Ya Love (Flaming Lips’ Fascinating Haircut Re-Do)
11. Ya Love (Geneva Jacuzzi Remix)
12. Ya Love (Héctor Oaks playing w/ Fire Mix)
13. 2.02 Killer Year (Bullant’s Fuck Mike Love Remix)
14. Yours (Fred P Journey Mix)
15. Butterfly 3000 (Terry Tracksuit Remix)
16. Neu Butterfly 3000 (Peaches Remix)
17. Catching Smoke (4am Wack Rmx By Hieroglyphic Being) *
18. Blue Morpho (Mall Grab Remix) *
19. Dreams (Peaking Lights Trancedellic Macrodosing Mix) *
20. Interior People (Confidence Man Remix) *
21. Catching Smoke (Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith Remix) *

*= available on digital release only

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard 2022 Tour Dates
Sat. Mar. 19 – Buenos Aires, AR @ Lollapalooza Argentina
Sat. Mar. 26 – São Paulo, BR @ Lollapalooza Brazil
Sun. Mar. 27 – Bogotá, CO @ Festival Estereo Picnic
Sun. April 17 – Las Vegas, NV @ Event Lawn at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas %
Sun. April 24 – San Luis Obispo, CA @ Madonna Inn $
Tue. April 26 – Sonoma, CA @ Gundlach Bundschu $
Wed. April 27 – Petaluma, CA @ Phoenix Theater $
Sat. April 30 – Atlanta, GA @ Shaky Knees Festival
Fri. May 20 – Cleveland, OH @ Agora Theatre
Sat. May 21 – Columbus, OH @ Express Live
Sun. May 22 – Millvale, PA @ Mr. Smalls Funhouse
Tue. May 24 – Rochester, NY @ Water Street Music Hall
Wed. May 25 – South Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground
Thu. May 26 – South Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground
Tue. May 31 – Athens, Greece @ Gagarin 205
Wed. June 1 – Athens, Greece @ Gagarin 205
Fri. June 3 – Barcelona, ES @ Primavera Sound – SOLD OUT
Sun. June 5 – Barcelona, ES @ Primavera in the City
Mon. June 6 – Barcelona, ES @ Primavera in the City
Tue. June 7 – Barcelona, ES @ Primavera in the City
Thu. June 9 – Barcelona, ES @ Primavera Sound – SOLD OUT
Sat. June 11 – Mannheim, DE @ Maifeld Derby Festival
Tue. June 14 – Berlin, DE @ Tempodrom
Sat. June 18 – Miami, FL @ Space Park
Sun. July 31 – Waterford, IE @ All Together Now
Tue. Aug. 2 – Šibenik, HR @ St. Michael’s Fortress
Wed. Aug. 3 – Šibenik, HR @ St. Michael’s Fortress
Fri. Aug. 5 – Prague, CZ @ Archa Theatre
Sun. Aug. 7 – Vienna, AT @ Arena Wien (Open Air)
Tue. Aug. 9 – Leipzig, DE @ Parkbühne
Wed. Aug. 10 – Munich, DE @ Tonhalle
Fri. Aug. 12 – Sion, CH @ Palp Festival
Thu. Aug. 18 – Paredes de Coura, PT @ Paredes de Coura Festival
Fri. Aug. 19 – Gueret, FR @ Check-In Party Festival
Sat. Aug. 20 – Saint-Malo, FR @ La Route du Rock Festival
Tue. Aug. 23 – Cologne, DE @ E-Werk
Wed. Aug. 24 – Hamburg, DE @ Markthalle
Sat. Aug. 27 – Málaga, ES @ Canela Party
Sun. Oct. 2 – Berkeley, CA @ Greek Theatre *
Tue. Oct. 4 – Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater*
Wed. Oct. 5 – Vancouver, BC @ PNE Forum*
Thu. Oct. 6 – Seattle, WA @ Paramount *
Mon. Oc. 10 – Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre* – SOLD OUT
Tue. Oct. 11 – Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre* – SOLD OUT
Fri. Oct. 14 – St Paul, MN @ The Palace Theatre* – SOLD OUT
Sat. Oct. 15 – Chicago, IL @ RADIUS*
Sun. Oct. 16 – Detroit, MI @ Masonic Temple*
Tue. Oct. 18 – Toronto, ON @ History*
Wed. Oct. 19 – Montreal, QC @ L’Olympia*
Fri. Oct. 21 – New York, NY @ Forest Hills Stadium*
Sat. Oct. 22 – Philadelphia, PA @ Franklin Music Hall*
Sun. Oct. 23 – Washington, DC @ The Anthem at The Wharf*
Mon. Oct. 24 – Asheville, NC @ Rabbit Rabbit*
Wed. Oct. 26 – Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern*
Thu. Oct. 27 – New Orleans, LA @ Orpheum Theater *
Mon. Oc. 31 – Oklahoma City, OK @ The Criterion #

% w/ Amyl and the Sniffers, SPELLLING, Dj Crenshaw
$ w/ SPELLLING, DJ Crenshaw
* w/ Leah Senior
# w/ The Murlocs, Leah Senior

King Gizzard & The Wizard Lizard Online:
https://kinggizzardandthelizardwizard.com/
https://www.instagram.com/kinggizzard/
https://www.facebook.com/kinggizzardandthelizardwizard/
https://twitter.com/kinggizzard
https://kinggizzard.bandcamp.com/
https://gizzverse.com/

Keep your mind open.

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Rewind Review: The Damned – Final Damnation (1989)

Recorded live at London’s Town & Country Club on June 13, 1988, Final Damnation is a time capsule of The Damned‘s reunion concert. All of the original members of the band are here: Dan Vanian on vocals, Rat Scabies on drums, Captain Sensible on bass and guitar, and Brian James on guitar. They also bring in Bryan Merrick on bass and Roman Jugg on keyboards for songs on which those guys played on Damned albums featuring them. The band had just been dropped by their label before cutting this record, and the unhinged chaos of that moment in the band’s timeline can be felt and heard.

Starting with “See Her Tonite,” the band barely has time to say hello before launching into furious punk riffs. “We’re not doin’ it for the money!” Captain Sensible yells to the crowd afterwards. The crowd replies with, “Oh, yes you are!” and soon Sensible is chugging out the always thrilling bass line of “Neat Neat Neat” and the crowd is going bonkers. “Born to Kill” hits like a metal rockabilly.

I’m not sure if Sensible or Scabies is playing hardest on “I Fall,” as they’re both going nuts throughout it (Scabies has the slight edge, I think.). “Fan Club” has a great swagger to it, and a great solo from James, too. “Fish” is a fast fan-favorite. Their cover of The Beatles’ “Help” is almost unrecognizable as it hits like repeated punches to the face. “New Rose,” of course, gets the crowd into a frenzy, and their cover of The Stooges‘ “I Feel Alright” is stunning.

The “second half” of the album / show starts with their classic tune “I Just Can’t Be Happy Today” – a song that’s still resonant decades later. “Wait for the Blackout” has Sensible wailing on his guitar for the back of the room. Jugg’s opening piano chords on “Melody Lee” are like a fake jab before the hard cross of the guitars and drums.
“Noise, Noise, Noise” is as raucous as you hope it will be, as is “Love Song” – in which it sounds like Scabies destroys his kit.

The opening chords and beats of “Smash It Up” give you some time to catch your breath before you want to join the band in smashing everything in sight, and they end the show with two snarky covers – “Looking at You” by MC5 and The Rolling Stones‘ “The Last Time.”

Thankfully, this wouldn’t be the last time The Damned played a show or even released an album, but Final Damnation is a great recording of a great show. There’s also a DVD of the entire performance out there (which can also be found on YouTube) to help capture the madness.

Keep your mind open.

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Top 30 albums of 2021: #’s 10 – 6

Here we are at the top ten albums I reviewed last year. Who made the cut? Check it out below here.

#10: Liam Kazar – Due North

The songwriting on Due North is outstanding. That, and Kazar’s piano and guitar work, put him up there with Lindsey Buckingham and Joe Jackson in my opinion. This was one of the brightest spots of a gloomy year.

#9: The Besnard Lakes – The Besnard Lakes Are the Last of the Great Thunderstorm Warnings

This double-album is one of the most beautiful records about death that you’ve ever heard. It’s grand, glorious, and resonant after a year when all of us lost someone – either within our own homes, across the street, or on the other side of the globe.

#8: Dry Cleaning – New Long Leg

It’s no coincidence that Dry Cleaning’s first proper U.S. tour sold out at nearly every stop. They’re the queen and kings of British post-punk right now, and New Long Leg – their first full-length album – is a great follow-up to their multiple EPs (all of which were also excellent).

#7: Osees – Levitation Sessions II

The second Levitation Sessions album from Osees was somehow wilder than the first. Livestreaming it in our home at loud volume during lockdown was a blissful escape for the entire time. The set included plenty of deep cuts, including multiple Chrome covers.

#6: Osees – The Chapel, SF 10.2.19

Recorded during their set night at The Chapel music venue in San Francisco, and just before the pandemic shut down touring for everyone everywhere, this live album is one of Osees’ best. It captures the chaos of their shows, highlights some of their prog-rock love, and served as a reminder to stay healthy and take care of each other so we could get back to seeing concerts again.

Who tops the list? You’ll find out tomorrow!

Keep your mind open.

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Top 15 live shows of 2021: #’s 5 – 1

These are my top five shows of 2021. I hope to see more than 30 bands in 2022, but the future is now – so let’s get to it.

#5: Ty Segall – Psycho Music Festival – August 20th

Playing on a stage atop a wave pool, Ty Segall and his band put on one of the loudest, fiercest sets of the 2021 Psycho Music Festival. The power coming across the water was stunning.

#4: Clutch – Ft. Wayne’s Piere’s – September 29th

Clutch are always a top tier live band, and this show kept their reputation intact. They played a few new cuts and a lot of stuff from early in their catalogue they hadn’t played in a long while.

#3: Devo – Riot Fest – September 19th

I’m not sure I saw a more delighted crowd at any show in 2021. Everyone stopped caring about the heat and humidity, the overpriced food, and the terrible screamo bands on the lineup and started cheering, dancing, and singing.

#2: Frankie and the Witch Fingers – Psycho Music Festival – August 22nd

This set stunned everyone at the Mandalay House of Blues. It was my first time seeing FATW live, and the first time many in the crowd had heard them. It was their first gig in two years, and they came out gunning. I heard someone in another crowd later raving about them and telling everyone he could to listen to them. I can’t put it better than that.

#1: Osees – Psycho Music Festival – August 22nd

Holy crap. Osees closed the 2021 Psycho Music Festival’s outdoor stage on the last night of the four-night festival. They went bonkers. Yes, I know every Osees show is bonkers, but you could tell they had a lot of pent-up energy from not being able to play in front of a crowd for two years. People were charging through the wading pool in front of the stage, throwing beer buckets full of water on each other, or stumbling backwards on the beach as the wall of sound hit us like a bulldozer.

Everyone stay healthy in 2022 so we can see more shows.

Keep your mind open.

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