LIVE MUSIC I'VE SEEN

A really outstanding show by this swampy, funky band from Florida. The Greyhounds who opened were a perfect fit. They joined Mofro on stage at times, as did Papa Mali in the highlight of the night.

Papa Grows Funk with Gnappy

10/13/06

The Parish

A fun evening of New Orleans funk. They were even joined by Henry Butler, the great New Orleans keyboardist on one song.

Bo Diddley with Alvin Youngblood Hart and Ruthie Foster

10/07/06

The Paramount Theater

Bo Diddley put on a good show, with a mix of his famous Bo Diddley-beat blues and some newer numbers featuring reggae and rap styles. Alvin Youngblood Hart was a bit of a disappointment. I had never seen him, and was expecting more blues than the straight ahead rock that he played. Ruthie Foster, with her mix of Gospel, Blues, Folk, and Reggae was outstanding as always.

Sonny Landreth and Cindy Cashdollar

09/28/06

Slide-o-Rama III - Sonny and Cindy put on a fine show of virtuoso slide guitar playing. But things really picked up when Redd Volkaert joined them on guitar.

Mike Flanigin's B3 Trio with Denny Freeman and George Raines

9/08/06

Continental Club Gallery

Mellow jazzy organ music in the new upstairs gallery, with special guest Denny Freeman, taking a break from touring with Bob Dylan. We had actually come to see Split Lip Rayfield and White Ghost Shivers, but they were sold out.

Friday, September 15
Mishka	A great way to start off the festival. Introduced by their biggest supporter, Matthew McConaughey, Mishka played some enjoyable, danceable reggae.
Guster	A bland pop band that I found pretty boring.
Deadboy & the Elephantmen	A White Stripes style duo with a cute female drummer playing some hard rocking tunes. I enjoyed it.
The Gospel Silvertones	Nice gospel. They had such good rhythms, I guessed they were from New Orleans, but it turned out that they are based in Austin.
The Subdudes	The Subdudes led their usual funky New Orleans dance party.
Danielia Cotton	A talented vocalist. I'd have enjoyed her more if she had a bit more soul or blues flavor than the straight-ahead rock songs that she performed.
Gnarls Barkley	Just caught the end of this soul, hip-hop band's set, but I liked what I heard.
Cat Power & The Memphis Rhythm Band	Her large backup band sounded great during their unusually long warm-up set. But when she came on, I found her voice thin and whiny, and almost annoying as her awkward, mannered movements. Get this girl a voice coach and choreographer.
Gomez	I enjoyed this British jam band's set.
Del Castillo	As usual, this Austin-based band had the crowd going wild with their twin flamenco guitars and frenzied vocalist.
Jimmie Dale Gilmore	Caught just a few of Jimmie Dale's songs, but his unique vocal style and top notch band sounded great.
Thievery Corporation	One of my favorite new discoveries of the festival. The band is basically just two guys, but it seemed like three or four different bands. United by a strong bass and rhythm section, they alternated between a middle-eastern female vocalist/belly dancer accompanied by a sitar player, a couple of dub style reggae dudes, and some hip-hop vocalists. It was all entertaining, and the rhythms kept the crowd moving throughout their set.
Oliver Mtukudzi & Black Spirits	Some fine African music from Zimbabwe.
Ray Lamontagne	Fairly boring. He played his new song that I like, "Three Days", but I missed the horn section and keyboards that are on the recorded version.
Van Morrison	One of the highlights for me, having never seen Van perform before. He started with some newer material from his recent country album, but before he was done he had played sax on "St. James Infirmary" and most of his hits including "Moondance", "Wild Night", "Brown Eyed Girl",and "Gloria" for an encore. I guess some people found him too laid-back, but for me it was a great way to end the first day of ACL 2006.
Saturday, September 16
Galactic	A very hot set by this New Orleans Jazz-Funk band.
The Blue Van	Fun straight ahead rock and blues-rock by this band from Denmark.
Ian McLagan & The Bump Band	Now an Austinite, this former member of Small Faces and Faces played some hot boogie-woogie piano with his fine band.
TV On The Radio	Seemed like a good concept, but this avant-garde band from Brooklyn didn't really do it for me.
Los Lobos	As always, a fantastic set by the band from East L.A.. Mickey Rafael from Willie Nelson's band joined in on harmonica for several songs to keep thing interesting.
Calexico	Didn't get close enough to really hear, but they sounded OK.
Guy Clark	A classic Texas singer-songwriter, played some classics and new material.
The Raconteurs	One of the most hyped sets of the festival featured Jack White's side project while he takes a break from the White Stripes. The whole set rocked -- even a cover of Sonny & Cher’s "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)."
Kings of Leon	Once again unable to get up close to this stage, but they sounded pretty good from the back.
Willie Nelson	Willie is Willie. He played all of his old classics, and even a couple of new, rather humorous tunes towards the end. To me, the whole band seemed rather disinterested, but the crowd loved it. But seeing Willie at the festival was too appropriate to miss, since he was on the pilot of the ACL television series.
Massive Attack	Just got there for the last few songs of this electronica/trip-hop band. I don't normally go for this sort of thing, but they had an incredible light show, and the mellow, trippy music built to an intense musical climax.
Sunday, September 17
Kathleen Edwards	One of my favorite sets of the festival. She reminded me of Lucinda Williams in that she had nice songs with simple melodies, but wasn't afraid to let her talented band stretch out with some extended Neil Young-like jams. In fact, her only non-original song was the fellow-Canadian's "Only Love Can Break Your Heart".
Sam Roberts	I was not impressed. He was hyped as the Canadian Bruce Springsteen, but to my ears, he just didn't have it.
Lou Ann Barton	A fine blues set with an Austin all-star band, featuring long-time Antone's guitarist, Derek O'Brien.
Husky Rescue	Just caught the end of this set, but I found this pop band from Finland's mellow electronica sounds strangely hypnotic.
Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley	A very solid and well-attended Reggae set by Damien with two of his brothers Stephen and Julian (all sons of Bob Marley).
KT Tunstall	An entertaining set by this British singer-songwriter.
Buckwheat Zydeco	Some high-energy Zydeco. In my experience, Buckwheat can be a somewhat uneven performer, but on this day he had everyone in the tent fired up and moving their feet to the Zydeco beat.
White Ghost Shivers	This is one unique band. I'd describe them as Asylum Street Spankers on acid. Per the Austin Chronicle, they merge bluegrass, vaudeville, ragtime, hot jazz, and blues. And with a lead singer dressed like a hooker and a hyper 7-foot string-bean banjo player, they were a hoot to watch.
Matisyahu	A fine set of Hasidic Reggae. The huge crowd seemed to like the groove, as did I.
Son Volt	I tend to get them mixed up with Wilco, whom I found boring and pretentious at last year's ACL Festival. These guys, on the other hand, rocked.
Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals	I love Ben Harper's music, but due to the fact that there was so much good stuff going on at once, I only stayed for one song, which was a hot version of Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)". And since I had seen him twice at ACL Fest previously, I decided to move on.
New Monsoon	I really enjoyed a couple of songs by this San Fransisco-based jam band who combine Eastern, world, bluegrass, and rock styles.
The New Orleans Social Club	I had to see this set, so I was right up front in the tent. This New Orleans All-Star band sounded great, with songs from the Meters, Professor Longhair, and many from their recent post-Katrina album. Henry Butler tore it up on piano, and young Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews played some incredible trumpet. They were joined by vocalist John Bouttee, and later Buddy Miles, who is most well-known for playing drums for Jimi Hendrix. They played a long version of Buddy's most well known tune, "Them Changes."
BoDeans	The BoDeans, now based in Austin, played extended, energetic versions of their most well-known songs.
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers	We listened to one song. It was boring. It started raining. We left.

Chris Isaak with Patricia Vonne

9/08/06

The Backyard

It rained on us almost the whole time, but still an excellent show.

Joe Ely with Double Trouble

8/23/06

Zilker Park Rock Island

Joe with Double Trouble, along with David Holt on guitar and Riley Osborne on keyboards sounded great -- as good as some of Joe's previous bands, and that is saying something. Part of KGSR's Blues on the Green series.

Rolling Stones Hoot Night

8/12/06

Ruta Maya

Good, bad, and ugly versions of Stones' '68-'71 era songs from "Beggars Banquet", "Let It Bleed", and "Sticky Fingers". Bands included Coopers Uncle, Hognose, The Spiders, King Tears, Sun of Sultans, Mr. Lewis & the Funeral Five, Household Names, Jane Bond & Chad Tracy, Tia Carrera, and Lomita.

The English Beat with Pong

7/17/06

Stubb's Bar-B-Q

Only Dave Wakeling, the lead singer was an original member of the English Beat, although the band did feature Lynval Golding from The Specials on guitar. A good but not great Ska show that bogged down a bit when Wakeling performed songs from his post-English Beat band, General Public.

Pinetop Perkins, James Cotton, and Hubert Sumlin, with Gary Clark, Jr, and Derek O'Brien

7/13/06

Pinetop's 93rd Birthday (and my 50th). Part of Antone's 31st Anniversary Celebration, with 3 blues legends.

The Rhythm Council (featuring Papa Mali, Henry Butler, Kirk Joseph of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, and Rob Kidd)

6/28/06

Zilker Park Rock Island

A jamming New Orleans funk show that featured a bunch of Henry Butler's Professor Longhair covers. Part of KGSR's Blues on the Green series.

Raul Malo with Sunny Sweeney

6/24/06

The Glenn at the Backyard

Raul Malo can really croon. Whether it was on slow ballads, Mavericks' songs, or cover tunes, he had the women in the audience screaming for more (and most of the guys thought he was pretty good too).

The Greencards with Michael Fracasso

6/22/06

The Greencards were glad to be back in Austin, and put on another fine show of original Celtic-influenced, folky bluegrass.

James Hunter

5/25/06

Antone's

Two days after the death of Clifford Antone, it was somewhat of a melancholy night at the blues club that he founded. Still, James Hunter put on an entertaining show with his original mix of blue-eyed soul, R&B, and Ska. His singing is reminiscent of Sam Cooke, with a tight band featuring his guitar, two saxes, and an organ/piano player.

The Skatalites with The Stingers

4/13/06

Flamingo Cantina

The Skatalites have turned over a lot of band members since their start in the early 60's, but they still put on a fine show of energetic Ska.

Mojo Nixon with The Goldstars

4/13/06

Mojo's comeback after a two-year retirement was inspired by Kinky Friedman's campaign for governor of Texas. Listen to "Kinky is Everywhere!"

Ladysmith Black Mambazo

4/12/06

The Paramount Theater

An enjoyable performance by this a cappella band from South Africa.

Dark Star Orchestra

4/08/06

La Zona Rosa

This Grateful Dead cover band performed the 6/18/1993 Soldier Field, Chicago show. Here is the setlist. My highlights were Sugaree, Iko Iko, and an extra post-show version of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.

BeauSoleil, Buckwheat Zydeco, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Ivan Nevilles' Dumpstaphunk, The New Orleans Social Club, Allen Toussaint, and Sam Moore, joined by Travis Tritt

3/18/06

Auditorium Shores

Louisiana at Town Lake was part of SxSW. A great day overall peaked with the all-star set by The New Orleans Social Club, featuring George Porter and Leo Nocentelli from The Meters, with Ivan Neville, Henry Butler, and drummer Raymond Weber, joined by guest vocalists Cyril Neville, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, Willie Tee, and John Bouttee.

3/17/06

3/17/06

3/17/06

Stephen Doster, Will Sexton, and Seth Walker

3/16/06

Mother Egan's Irish Pub

Kat's Meow with Slim Ritchey

3/16/06

Becks on Congress

Kat Edmonson has a nice voice and an interesting retro-Jazz style.

Cornell Hurd Band with Connie Hancock

3/16/06

Jovita's

Matisyahu with Balkan Beat Box

3/11/06

Stubb's Bar-B-Q

An excellent show from this unique Hasidic Reggae performer. I also enjoyed opener Balkan Beat Box's middle-eastern music meets hip-hop sound.

David Bromberg with Chris Hillman and Herb Pedersen

3/03/06

Bromberg played some with Hillman and Pedersen, and then played solo for a while. He claimed that it was the first time he had played solo in 20 years. I don't know about that, but he sure knows his way around a song and his acoustic guitar. Highlights of Hillman's set were a few Byrds classics.

C.C. Adcock

2/24/06

Louisian Swamp Rock, but not quite the great show I expected after his excellent last album, "Lafayette Marquis".

18th Annual International Folk Alliance Conference

2/13/06

Hilton Hotel

They called it "Kerrville in a Box". Tons of performers in just a few hours including: Arlo Guthrie, Cyril Neville, The Limeliters, Hammell on Trial, The Burns Sisters, Freddie Steady Krc, South Austin Jug Band, Fiddler's Bid, Ellis, Children of the Revolution, and Gandalf Murphy and the Slambovian Circus .

David Grisman Quintet with The Greencards

2/04/06

The Paramount Theater

I enjoyed the opening Greencards better than the main act. David Grisman's "Dawg Music" wasn't bad, but it seemed a little too "smooth jazz" for my taste.

The Hickoids, Bigfoot Chester, and Texacala Jones and her T.J. Hookers

1/21/06

Hole in the Wall

Guitarist Byron "Siren" Scott, a fixture of the 80s and 90s Liberty Lunch scene who was recently injured in a car accident. Byron was a member of Pez, Do-Dat, Trouble Boys, Bad Mutha Goose, and more recently 00 Spies. The show was pretty entertaining, particlarly the Hickoids cowpunk versions of "Burning Love", "Green Acres/Petticoat Junction", and "Take it Easy".

Bettye LaVette and Eve and the Exiles

1/19/06

Papa Grows Funk and Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes

Bettye LaVette is a soul singer in the style of Etta James and Aretha Franklin. Not quite at their level, but still an enjoyable show.

Dr. Zog

1/07/06

B. D. Riley's

I first heard them as a Zydeco band, but there was no Zydeco in this show. But they did play an enjoyable mix of original music with elements of blues, Carribean, and Grateful Dead.

Terri Hendrix and Sara Hickman

12/17/05

Austin Music Hall

At the 30th annual Armadillo Christmas Bazaar

12/03/05

The Parish

Another fine New Orleans funk show. Papa Grows showed once again why they are one of the top funk bands in / from N.O., and I enjoyed the opening band's eclectic brand of funky rock, which included an excellent horn section mixed with electric violin (with elements as diverse as Zappa, Klezmer, and It's a Beautiful Day).

Larry Lange & the Lonely Knights

12/02/05

Evangaline Cafe

An entertaining show at this Cajun eatery. Larry Knight's music draws from the San Antonio & Beaumont Port Arthur school of classic R&B and Soul, ala Doug Sahm.

Chris Smither

11/21/05

Another fine show by this talented songwriter, acoustic guitar player, and performer.

Los Lobos and
True Believers

10/27/05

A recreation of a show at Steamboat in 1984 (which I was at), and a benefit for Jon Dee Graham's son. Not quite as good as I remembered the original, but still an outstanding show. The True Believers reunion included Alejandro Escovedo and Charlie Sexton sitting in for Javier Escovedo.

Tribe 13 with Papa Mali

10/25/05

Cyril Neville was a no show.

Friday, September 23	101° F
Leo Kottke and Mike Gordon	Not Kottke's venue, and I don't think Gordon's bass and singing added much to Kottke's amazing guitar technique.
Mofro	A nice dose of their swampy funk.
Steve Earle and the Dukes	He played his most political stuff, and sounded great while doing it .
Government Mule	I expected another Allman Brothers Band, but but they had their own guitar-driven sound, which wasn't too bad.
The Iguanas	We were promised special guests including a Subdude, but the special guests didn't show.
Nic Armstrong & The Thieves	First half of the set new material that seemed kind of noisy and pointless to me, but the second half rocked.
Robert Earl Keen	Good songs; good band.
Morgan Heritage	This roots Reggae band was one of my favorite new discoveries of the fest.
Lucinda Williams	Lucinda was in fine form.
Spoon	Don't remember this set too much. I think they were just OK.
John Prine	His voice sounded a little rough, but the songs and band were top notch as usual .
The Allman Brothers Band	Better than I expected. Gregg Allman's voice sounded great, and Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks, although not Duane & Dickey, played some mean guitar licks.
Blues Traveler	Looked and sounded like Blues Traveler, except that John Popper is a lot skinnier than he used to be.
Lyle Lovett and his Large Band	Lyle and the Large Band put on a good show, but too much time was wasted having the audience guess which members of the band drives pick-up trucks.
The Black Crowes	Generic rock.
Saturday, September 24	101° F
Asylum Street Spankers	A spunky, spankin' start to day two.
Mike Doughty's Band	Some people said that he sounded too-much like a Dave Matthews clone, but I thought he was pretty good.
Built to Spill	Generic "progressive" rock.
Buddy Guy	A hot blues set by a living legend.
The Weary Boys	Rockin' hillbilly country.
Robert Randolph & The Family Band	Pretty good, but for my money, I'd rather have seen more of Robert on the sacred steel and less goofing around on drums & 6 string guitar.
The Dirty Dozen Brass Band	A New Orleans party
Jet	Sounded like AC/DC. OK if you like that kind of thing, but I don't.
Drive By Truckers	For the third straight year, their three guitar lineup put on one of the most rockin' sets of the festival.
Roky Erickson & The Explosives	I was sorry to have to leave Drive-By before their set ended, but it was worth it. Seeing and hearing Roky in fine form in front of a large crowd was my number one highlight of the festival. A Satanic rocking good time.
Oasis	Just like everyone says, they sound like the Beatles. But the Beatles did it first, and a lot better.
Widespread Panic	Two long jamming sets. I enjoyed it, especially when Robert Randolph joined them for a few songs.
Sunday, September 25	108° F
Brave Combo	Some good Polka and other eclectic dance tunes to start the day.
Bukka Allen	First time I saw this son of Terry Allen. The sound was a bit drowned by the stage up the hill, but I liked his tunes and his band which included Will Sexton.
The Bravery	Loud Rock. Yawn.
Grady	This hard rocking Austin-based band features Gordie "Grady" Johnson, formerly of Big Sugar, and Chris Layton from Double Trouble. Sounded good, but lounder than necessary.
Ruthie Foster	Another highlight of the festival. Ruthie raised the roof of the Gospel Tent with her unique blend of folk, gospel, and R&B.
Dave Alvin & the Guilty Men	A fine set of roots rock from this former member of The Blasters and his tight band.
Ricardo Lemvo & Makina Loca	Extremely danceable Afro-Cuban rhythms from LA.
Wilco	They spent most of the time that I saw them begging the crowd to act interested. Maybe if the songs were less boring...
Donna the Buffalo	I got a kick out of the accordian and fiddle sounds of this eclectic jam band.
Kermit Ruffins	A fine set of New Orleans R&B and jazz. Could have been at New Orleans Jazz Fest.
The Black Keys	A two person grunge band ala the White Stripes. Not too bad.
Coldplay	I'm sorry, but I don't see what the big deal is about these guys. Overly commercial U2 sounding generic pop-rock.

Sixth Street for Bourbon Street

9/16/05

Republic Square Park

Mingo Fishtrap, Trish Murphy, Theresa Anderson, Asleep at the Wheel, Gulf Coast Playboys, Jerry Jeff Walker, Dr. Michael White Quartet, Marcia Ball with Delbert McClinton, and the New Orleans All-Star Band featuring Cyril Neville.

Carolyn Wonderland

9/09/05

The Saxon Pub

The first time I had seen Carolyn & her band. I was impressed by her guitar playing and the entire band.

Papa Mali with
Cyril and Gaynielle Neville

9/09/05

An intense show, welcoming Cyril and his wife Gaynielle to Austin while they are on hiatus from New Orleans. The highlight for me was when they played "When the Levee Breaks" ala Led Zeppelin (although the song was originally performed in 1929 by Memphis Minnie).

Roy Head and Archie Bell
with The Allen Oldies Band

9/02/05

Archie Bell wore a bright red suit and sang his signature "Tighten Up" along with soul covers like "Soul Man," "Mustang Sally," and "In the Midnight Hour." Roy Head was a bit out of control,but still put on an entertaining show with his blue-eyed soul. Here is a review of the show.

Irma Thomas and the Professionals
and The Warrior Gospel Band

8/27/05

Irma was in fine form, but it happened to be the night before Hurricane Katrina hit. Part way through the show, Irma received a note on the stage saying that the N.O. airport would be closed, so she asked if it would be all right if she and her band could come back and play another show the next night. Of course, no one knew how bad things would be, so Irma stayed in Austin for several more days.

John Hiatt with
North Mississippi Allstars

7/23/05

Stubb's Bar-B-Q

A rocking show.

Marcia Ball and Angela Strehli

7/13/05

"The Chick Show" or "The Chic Show" (they couldn't make up their minds.) Part of Antone's 30th Anniversary Celebration.

Etta James and the Roots Band

7/13/05

U.T. Hogg Auditorium

A great show by the Matriarch of the Blues. She had lost close to 200 lbs. since the last time I saw her in New Orleans a few years ago, but not her voice.

Pinetop Perkins and Hubert Sumlin

7/06/05

Zilker Park Rock Island

A evening with two legendary blues performers at KGSR's Blues on the Green. Part of Antone's 30th Anniversary Celebration.

Hot Tuna

6/27/05

Oliver Mtukudzi & Black Spirits

Another fine acoustic show by Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Cassady originally of the Jefferson Airplane, joined by Barry Mitterhoff on mandolin.

6/16/05