LIVE MUSIC I'VE SEEN

A taping of the e-town live radio show. Los Lobos put on their usual great show. Old & In the Gray includes Peter Rowan, David Grisman and Vassar Clements. They played interesting bluegrass flavored versions of "Pancho and Lefty" and "Honky Tonk Women" and were joined by Los Lobos on "Wild Horses".

Aristotle Finn

10/24/02

Finally Fred's

In a small club in New York City. Diane's friend Janice's fiance Victor plays guitar in the band. They played some interesting original rock and roll.

The Neville Brothers

10/13/02

The Backyard

A benefit for Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Central Texas. A good show, but not the best by the Nevilles. Ivan Neville sat in for Art on keyboards, so it wasn't totally the real deal. But it still beat most other bands on their best days.

Saturday, September 28
The Blind Boys of Alabama with David Lindley, Charlie Musselwhite, and John Hammond	A great way to start the festival! Soulful music good enough to give anyone religion. David Lindley, Charlie Musselwhite, and John Hammond added some fine guitar and harmonica accompaniment.
The Weary Boys	Some fun alt-twangy rock.
Los Lobos	A fantastic set. The medley of "Not Fade Away" and "Bertha" was one of the highlights of the festival.
Patty Griffin	Sounded good, although we were too far away to hear it very well.
The Jayhawks	A rocking set.
Nickel Creek	An excellent blend of bluegrass influenced musicianship, melodies, and vocals.
Bob Schneider	OK, but too much of the audience sing-along thing.
Sunday, September 29
Robert Earl Keen	A surprise set. I just heard one song, but it sounded good.
The Gourds	One of the better sets of the weekend. "Gin and Juice" rocked.
G. Love and Special Sauce	Too much rap for me.
Jimmie Vaughan	Sounded like Jimmie Vaughan -- good, but I've heard it many times before.
Cross Canadian Ragweed	A big disappointment. They used to rock, but their set was a drag.
Rebirth Brass Band	Big Fun! A little bit of New Orleans Jazz Fest in Austin.
Ryan Adams	I was bored. Yeah, he did "Wharf Rat", but he still sounded like Ryan Adams.
W.C. Clark	His usual soulful blues sound.
Robert Randolph & The Family Band	The highlight of Sunday by far. Randolph gives the pedal steel a whole new sound, the band sounded on fire, and his entire set was incredible. If you haven't heard his music, listen to some of the MP3s on his web site.
The Arc Angels	Unfortunately, they sounded like the Arc Angels used to -- great musicians, but boring music.

Southern Culture on the Skids with
The Forty Fives

9/27/02

Southern Culture put on their usual entertaining show, although not quite as tight as the last time I saw them. But I did take home a snake that was thrown into the audience by a snake handler. The Forty Fives opened with some entertaining in-your-face rock.

Ronnie Dawson with
High Noon and Lisa Pankratz

9/04/02

Down From the Mountain Tour

Ronnie tore it up as usual with some killer Rockabilly, backed by High Noon with Kevin Smith on the thumping bass and Lisa Pankratz looking great and rocking hard on drums. But the amazing part is that this was Ronnie's first show after recovering from cancer in his tonsils, tongue, and palate. You'd have never known it from his singing or energy, nor did he go on and on about being a "survivor". He just thanked us for being there and said that the proceeds were going to a good cause (the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Department of Radiation Oncology). I just want to thank him, and hope that he comes back for many more shows.

Lyle Lovett and His Large Band and
Bonnie Raitt

9/04/02

The Backyard

I enjoyed Lyle's set more. The great variety of styles that his large band plays kept things interesting. Bonnie's set didn't have much energy until Sweet Pea Atkinson and another vocalist from Lyle's band came out to perform with her. But overall, it was a fine musical evening.

Coco Montoya

8/07/02

Zilker Park Rock Island

Part of the Blues on the Green series of free outdoor concerts. This one was the real blues, played by a hot guitarist who formerly played with John Mayall and Albert Collins.

7/19/02

Frank Erwin Center

Ralph Stanley, Alison Krauss & Union Station, Emmylou Harris, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, The Flatlanders, Norman & Nancy Blake, Chris Thomas King, Rodney Crowell, Patty Loveless, Jerry Douglas, and more...

Toni Price Electric Blues Band and
Los Lonely Boys

7/17/02

North Mississippi Allstars

Part of Antone's 27th Anniversary Party. The first time I've seen Toni with a full band. They rocked, as did opener Los Lonely Boys, who are an up-and-coming young blues rock band.

The Eggmen

7/17/02

Hard Rock Cafe

7/17/02

Part of the Blues on the Green series of free outdoor concerts, although this one was moved indoors. The All-Stars played some bluesy, southern roots-rock.

C.J. Chenier

7/03/02

He's not Clifton, but it was a fun night of rockin' zydeco.

Toni Price

6/26/02

Zilker Park Rock Island

Part of the Blues on the Green series of free outdoor concerts. Unfortunately it was stopped after about three songs due to a thunderstorm.

Marcia Ball with
W.C. Clark

6/12/02

Zilker Park Rock Island

Part of the Blues on the Green series of free outdoor concerts

The Wailing Souls

6/08/02

The Damnations and David Baerwald and the New Folk Underground

A good Reggae show, but not as good as the last time they were here in 1998.

5/31/02

KGSR's annual Tee-Party.

Jennifer ellen Cook

5/26/02

Mother Egan's Irish Pub

A night out with the guys. Don't remember much about the music.

Dylan Christian Band

5/10/02

Larry B's Sports Lounge

In Columbus, Ohio -- I was primarily watching the Spurs lose to the Lakers in the NBA playoffs, but the band did some pretty good Southern Rock music.

Ratdog

4/30/02

A great 4 hr show by Bob Weir's band that included some of my favorite Grateful Dead material, some good covers, and the typical jams. Here is the setlist and some reviews.

Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band and File'

4/28/02

Waterloo Park

The 8th Annual Louisiana Swamp Romp. Chubby played some pretty good zydeco.

The Wailers

4/26/02

A hot show with several original Wailers, plus a horn section, but I hear that the next night was the show to see.

The Itals and Lions of Israel

4/18/02

A disappointing show -- not nearly the musicianship or harmonies of their last Austin appearance in August, 2001.

J.J. Cale and Ray Wylie Hubbard

4/16/02

Texas Union Ballroom

J.J. Cale played some of the sweetest guitar that I've heard in a while -- an excellent show.

Marcia Ball and Brave Combo

4/14/02

Republic Square

At the Austin Fine Arts Festival (formerly Fiesta at Laguna Gloria).

Red Elvises and The Sir Finks

4/06/02

Threadgill's World Headquarters

The Red Elvises put on a Russian surf-rockin show.

String Cheese Incident and Tenacious D

4/04/02

Waterloo Park

Tenacious D is The Greatest Band in the History of the World. String Cheese wasn't too bad either.

The Thrilla at The Dilla: Mingo Saldivar and Joaquin Diaz

3/15/02

Another SxSW daytime music venue, this one featuring accordian music. Mingo Saldivar is one of the greats of Conjunto music, and was featured in the PBS American Roots Music Series.

Twangfest 2002: Slaid Cleaves with Karen Poston, James Intveld, and Bill Kirchen

3/15/02

Under The Sun

A SxSW daytime music venue. Here is some info from the 2001 Twangfest. Bill Kirchen is best known as lead guitarist for Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen.

Damian Marley and Tribal Nation

2/13/02

Damian is a son of Bob Marley. I actually preferred the more rootsy reggae of Tribal Nation with their great horn section to Damien's hip-hop style, but Damien won this year's reggae Grammy, so what do I know.

Rev. Ben T & the Well Kept Secrets with Malford Milligan

2/13/02

The Saxon Pub

A good blues-soul band with four vocalists, two drummers, and good guitar and Hammond B-3 players. Malford tore it up with some blues standards.

Dave Wakeling of The English Beat and The Stingers

1/17/02

Per Michael Bame, "Excellent horns, drums, guitars, organ, bass, and backup singers were nowhere to be found. There were however a so-so guitar player, a so-so organ player, two turntables, a pre-recorded tape machine, and a drunk Dave Wakeling wearing black leather pants sporting an ever-present UK beer gut...Thank god I was drunk.

Heybale and The Lowells

12/30/01

Heybale features Redd Volkaert who played with Merle Haggard and Earle Pool Ball who played with Johnny Cash

Reckless Kelly

12/15/01

At theArmadillo Christmas Bazaar

Greezy Wheels and The LaSalles

12/14/01

Hole in the Wall

A new incarnation of a band that I used to enjoy back in the Armadillo World HQ days. They still sound good.

David Byrne with Tosca

11/29/01

One of the best shows of the year. The acompaniment by the Tosca string section worked better than I had expected.

Butthole Surfers

11/17/01

Interesting, but I would have appreciated a show longer than 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Los Lobos

10/27/01

A great show. Los Lobos played more extended jams than I have heard them do before, and their set included songs from Bob Marley, Cream, and Santana.

The Eggmen

10/19/01

Pok-e-Jo's

This was Ed Toutant's celebration of his big win on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. The Eggmen play excellent Beatles' covers along with some other 60's stuff.

Burning Spear

10/12/01

A solid show as usual, although not the best Spear show that I've seen.

Ike Turner and Miss Lavelle White

9/29/01

Southern Culture on the Skids

A pretty hot show from the guy who wrote what many consider to be the first Rock-and-Roll song in 1951 (that's 50 years ago!), "Rocket 88".

9/21/01

A rockin' show - their hillbilly surf music sounded better than ever.

Asleep at the Wheel

9/16/01

Y.I.M.B.Y. (Yes in My Backyard) Fundraiser

A benefit for Wild Basin Wilderness Preserve, hosted by Ray Benson and Diane Carr

Gipsy Kings

8/25/01

The Backyard

A high energy show

Marcia Ball

8/22/01

Zilker Park Rock Island

Part of the Blues on the Green series of free outdoor concerts

Brave Combo

8/17/01

Riverfront Amphitheater (Columbus, Ohio)

A fun outdoor show in Columbus. Here is a review from the Columbus Dispatch.

Jimmie Vaughan

8/08/01

Zilker Park Rock Island

Part of the Blues on the Green series of free outdoor concerts

The Itals

8/04/01

Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe

An excellent reggae show, with some of the best vocal harmonies I've heard at a reggae show in quite a while.

Double Trouble with Kenny Wayne Shepherd plus Ian Moore

8/04/01

Auditorium Shores

A celebration of Lance Armstrong's third consecutive Tour de France victory.

7/27/01

The Crockett Center

The king of Nigerian Highlife music. An interesting show at a strange venue.

Amazing Crowns, The Invisible Men, and Speedbuggy

7/13/01

Emo's

A birthday show for me. The Amazing Crowns play some pretty mean Punkabilly.

Antone's26th Anniversary, featuring Pinetop Perkins, Steady Rollin' Bob Margolin, Hubert Sumlin, Calvin "Fuzz" Jones, Wille "Big Eyes" Smith, and Big Bill Morganfield

7/11/01

The Anniversaries aren't what they used to, especially without Clifford Antone, but at the age of 88, Pinetop Perkins can still play the 88's.

Steel Pulse

7/09/01

Lil' Band O' Gold and Heybale (featuring Redd Volkaert)

A good Reggae show

The Radiators

6/27/01

Zilker Park Rock Island

Part of the Blues on the Green series of free outdoor concerts

6/16/01

An fun show from the Lafayette super-group featuring Warren Storm, Steve Riley, and C.C. Adcock, with Cindy Cashdollar from Asleep at the Wheel sitting in on pedal steel.

Neville Family Tribal Affair featuring Ivan and Cyril Neville

6/01/01

A very Neville-ish evening, with plenty of Meters, Wild Tchoupitoulas, and New Orleans R&B music

Ronnie Dawson and Damon Bramblett

5/11/01

Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys, Geno Delafose & French Rockin' Boogie, and Dikki Du & the Zydeco Crew

The "Blonde Bomber" put on a rockin' show. His hot band included drummer Lisa Pankratz and bassist Kevin Smith.

4/29/01

Waterloo Park

At the 7th Annual Louisiana Swamp Romp. Sadly, the great Boozoo Chavis, scheduled to play at this show, had a heart attack the previous day, and died of complications about a week later in Austin.

Femi Kuti and Karl Denson's Tiny Universe

4/27/01

Big Rip-off - For some reason, the headliner Femi Kuti went on first, and we only got to hear about two songs.

Texodus and Tribal Nation at the Bob Marley Festival

4/22/01

Auditorium Shores

Texodus, an Austin All-Star Reggae Band put together by Papa Mali, played Bob Marley and the Wailer's "Exodus" album live.

Cachaito Lopez from the Buena Vista Social Club with Ibrahim Ferrer and Special Guests

4/14/01

The Royal Festival Hall, London

A disappointing show. Led by the bass player from Buena Vista Social Club, we expected a hot Latin rhythm-filled show, but rather it was a slow, jazz solo show, with the exception of Ibrahim Ferrer, who's two songs were the highlight of the evening. Also, Pee Wee Ellis, long-time sax player with James Brown, was unfortunately unable to play due to illness. The band also included D.J. Dee Nasty, the "Grandmaster of French Hip Hop", for those who care.

The Cornell Hurd Band with Kinky Friedman and Don Walser

3/18/01

Texacalli Grill

A non-SXSW outdoor show.

Junior Brown, Kasey Chambers, and Buckwheat Zydeco

3/17/01

Waterloo Park

A SXSW outdoor show. Kasey Chambers was excellent, but my favorite part was Junior Brown's Surf-Spaghetti Western-Star Wars-Jimi Hendrix-Chuck Berry medley.

Jeff Beck

2/28/01

John Mooney and Bluesiana

Talk about a guitar wanker, this show sucked. To quote M.B., "Too much light, no show".

2/25/01

Maple Leaf Bar

In New Orleans at Mardi Gras 2001. I enjoyed the show, but my brother Eric who lives in London thought he was a guitar wanker.

2/17/01

The Poodle Dog Lounge and The Carousel Lounge

Just an evening bar-hopping at two of Austin's funkier spots. There was a live rockabilly band at the Carousel, but I couldn't tell you the band's name.

Peter Rowan and His Texas Trio

2/15/01

Cactus Cafe

Peter Rowan with some excellent bluegrass pickers.

Neko Case & Her Boyfriends with Brent Best from Slobberbone

1/26/01

An entertaining cow-punkish show.

Double Trouble and Friends - Here is a photo of the encore!

1/12/01