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Archive for the ‘Guster’ Category

Guster (White Eagle Hall, Jersey City, NJ, April 6, 2023)

Posted in Guster, Jersey City, NJ, Karina Rykman, White Eagle Hall on April 7, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: April 6, 2023] Guster

It was only a few months ago that we saw Guster in Montclair.  And yet here they were back again in New Jersey!

They’re playing Philly tomorrow night and it was be incredible to see them two night in a row, but the second night is the same as night as the five-times rescheduled Bikini Kill show. so, you know, priorities.

Karina Rykman’s set was so much fun but we had no idea how good this night’s set was going to be.

This is my tenth time seeing Guster and my wife’s ninth (she couldn’t make the Free at Noon that I went to).  So we pretty much know what to expect at a show by now.

But the guys really mixed it up quite a lot for this one.

In addition to their super fun set design (desk lights suspended from the ceiling all set up with LEDs to glow different colors), they also played a setlist that was totally killer. (more…)

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Karina Rykman (White Eagle Hall, Jersey City, NJ, April 6, 2023) [GUSTER]

Posted in Guster, Jersey City, NJ, Karina Rykman, White Eagle Hall on April 6, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: April 6, 2023] Guster

I’ve seen Karina Rykman play with Marco Benevento three times.  She is an amazing bass player with a great sound, great instincts and great jamming skills.

I was supposed to see her a few times, but the shows were cancelled for one reason or another.

So how awesome was it that she was going to open for Guster?

I didn’t really have a good sense of what her live show would be like.  Her recorded solo stuff is rather synthy and kind of discoey, which I really didn’t expect.  So who knew what we were going to get.

Well, her band, Chris Corsica on drums and Adam November on guitar were outstanding.  The songs had a kind of disco feel (especially from the guitar playing from November) and the occasional very disco bass line that Karina threw in.  But they felt modern as well.

The songs grooved and were groovy, taking the most fun aspects of disco and marrying them to a heaviness and thumping sound that worked really well.

I hadn’t really heard Rykman sing before and her voice is quiet and somewhat angelic.  She must have some kind of processors on her mic because it sounded like there were harmonies a lot of the time. (more…)

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Guster / Alex Edelman (Carnegie Hall, New York, NY, November 25, 2022) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Alex Edelman, Carnegie Hall, Funny (ha ha), Guster, New York City on November 25, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: November 25, 2022] Guster / Alex Edelman

When we saw Guster at the Wellmont, they announced that they would be playing Carnegie Hall. Carnegie Hall!

We went on vacation and I grabbed tickets from a museum on vacation.

And then late November rolled around and we realized that it was the Friday after Thanksgiving.  BLACK FRIDAY.  There was no way in hell we were going to New York City on Black Friday.  I’m going to posit that this is something only someone from New Jersey would say.

So, we did not see Guster at Carnegie Hall.

Alex Edelman is a comedian.  I just watched a clip of one of his bits on Stephen Colbert and it was hilarious.  Must check him out more.  And, frankly, I think a comedian is a good opening act for certain bands.

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Guster (Wellmont Theater, Montclair, NJ, August 10, 2022)

Posted in Guster, Montclair, NJ, Wellmont Theater on August 11, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 10, 2022] Guster [rescheduled from January 14, 2021, I guess]

Back in January, Guster was supposed to play the Wellmont (after postponing a seated acoustic show in 2020).

This show seems to have been the rescheduled show–does it even matter at this point?

The show sold out and we had pretty good seats.  Seats? For a  Guster show?  The seats thing proved to be the real downfall honestly because I was seated behind a freaking behemoth of a guy.  The entire row was full of normal sized people and this hulking dude who clearly did not care about Guster. What a travesty that was.

The guys came out to raucous applause and they opened with “Careful.”  Surprisingly, this was only the third time we’d seen them play this.  By the way, this was our ninth Guster show, we are definitely getting into territory where if they play anything we haven’t seen before we will be surprised.

Ryan was wearing one of his new wild fruit suits and looked wonderful. (more…)

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Laura Stevenson (Wellmont Theater, Montclair, NJ, August 10, 2022) [GUSTER]

Posted in Ben Kweller, Guster, Laura Stevenson, Montclair, NJ, Wellmont Theater on August 10, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 10, 2022] Laura Stevenson [rescheduled from January 14, 2021, I guess]

Back in January, Guster was supposed to play the Wellmont (after postponing a seated acoustic show in 2020).  Ben Kweller was supposed to open that show, which would have ben pretty fun as I don’t really know him very well, but I know he is tangentially related to Guster.

For this new show, Laura Stevenson was the opening act.

I only new Laura a little–from a Tiny Desk concert many many years ago, which I enjoyed.

I assumed she’d be fun–Guster tends to have good opening acts.

But we had a terrible time getting to the show and parking for some reason. Usually it’s not a problem parking in Montclair, but this show (which was sold out–good for Guster, but bad for us, I guess), made Montclair really crowded.

It seemed to take a long time to get in. (more…)

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Guster / Ben Kweller (Wellmont Theater, Montclair, NJ, January 14, 2021) [POSTPONED]

Posted in Ben Folds, Ben Kweller, Ben Lee, Cancelled, Coronavirus, Guster, Montclair, NJ, Quarantine, Wellmont Theater on January 14, 2022| 2 Comments »

[POSTPONED: January 14, 2021] Guster / Ben Kweller [moved to August 10, 2022]

indexCOME ON!

In March of last year, Guster was supposed to come to NJ to play An Evening of Acoustic Music & Improv–a tour that had been going great.

Then it was cancelled.

The band waited almost a year to reschedule a NJ show–who knows if they were going to do an acoustic show or not.  (Probably not as the last show all tickets were seated).

And then the jackasses who didn’t get vaccinated caused the virus to mutate and infect all of us.

I tested positive last week and tonight was going to be the date I was allowed back into society.  I don’t blame the band for cancelling–literally everyone is catching it.  I blame the idiots who trust Facebook more than science.

Who knows when they’ll want to come back–although come back they will because Guster doesn’t give up!

UPDATE: Until Maryann commented, I didn’t realize (or I forgot) there was a special guest (I didn’t look at this poster very clearly, obviously).  I know Ben Kweller from the compilation The Bens, which has Ben Folds and Ben Lee on it.  I didn’t think I knew much else from Ben Kweller, until I just saw that he sings lead on “I Hope Tomorrow is LIke Today.” which, how did I not know that?

I hope that he is still the opener for the rescheduled date.

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Joe Russo’s Almost Dead (Wellmont Theater, October 7, 8, 9, 2021) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Coronavirus, Grateful Dead, Guster, Joe Russo's Almost Dead, Marco Benevento, Montclair, NJ, Postponed, Quarantine, Ween, Wellmont Theater on October 7, 2021| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: October 7, 8, 9, 2021] Joe Russo’s Almost Dead [rescheduled from September 24, 2020]

I don’t actually know Joe Russo’s Almost Dead.  The only thing I really know about them is that Marco Benevento is the pianist for the band.  Honestly that’s good enough for me.

They are playing three nights in Montclair and two of them sold out almost immediately.

It didn’t actually occur to me that the Dead in the band name is a Grateful Dead reference.  But I see that JRAD is like a Grateful Dead cover band plus more.  They are known for their intermingling of the Grateful Dead’s recognizable folk-rock and Americana sound with more contemporary Progressive Rock and Jazz Fusion influences.

So I had a lot going on that week and decided I didn’t need to see a Grateful Dead band.  Especially since I don’t especially like the Dead (althouh it’s more their recording sound (too tinny) than their songs.  But according to GratefulWeb, the run was a hit. (more…)

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Joe Russo’s Almost Dead (Wellmont Theater, September 24, 25, 26, 2020) [POSTPONED]

Posted in Coronavirus, Grateful Dead, Guster, Joe Russo's Almost Dead, Marco Benevento, Montclair, NJ, Postponed, Quarantine, Ween, Wellmont Theater on September 24, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[POSTPONED: September 24, 2020] Joe Russo’s Almost Dead [moved to October 7, 8, 9, 2021]

indexI don’t actually know Joe Russo’s Almost Dead.  The only thing I really know about them is that Marco Benevento is the pianist for the band.  Honestly that’s good enough for me.

They are playing three nights in Montclair and two of them sold out almost immediately.

It didn’t actually occur to me that the Dead in the band name is a Grateful Dead reference.  But I see that JRAD is like a Grateful Dead cover band plus more.  They are known for their intermingling of the Grateful Dead’s recognizable folk-rock and Americana sound with more contemporary Progressive Rock and Jazz Fusion influences.

Formed by drummer Joe Russo, the band also includes Ween’s bassist Dave Dreiwitz, keyboardist Marco Benevento, Scott Metzger on guitar and Tom Hamilton on guitar and vocals.

This Dead-connection makes me want to see them less, although this description from Wikipedia is pretty exciting:

Keyboardist Marco Benevento is known for having at least one extended solo during each show where the band will stop playing entirely. During these solos Marco has led his solo improvisation to tease many different songs such as Tchaikovsky’s “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy”, Radiohead’s “Paranoid Android” and Radiohead’s “Everything in Its Right Place”. These extended solos, after exploring a different sonic space, often build in energy and lead to the band rapidly joining in, leading the improvisation to a peak and getting quiet again rapidly.

 

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Guster: An Evening of Acoustic Music & Improv (Wellmont Theater, Montclair, NJ, March 26, 2020) [POSTPONED/CANCELLED]

Posted in Cancelled, Coronavirus, Guster, Montclair, NJ, Postponed, Quarantine, Wellmont Theater on March 26, 2020| 2 Comments »

[POSTPONED/CANCELLED: March 26, 2020] Guster

indexMarch was going to be a very busy concert month for me.  S. and I were really really looking forward to this one and we’re especially bummed it’s postponed.

This would have been my ninth time seeing Guster, and this one was going to be so cool–an all acoustic show with strings!  The band has played many of these shows already and the vibe was great and the band raved about how much fun they were having.

What was especially exciting about this show was that I had great seats!  It’s pretty rare for Guster to play a seated venue.  And, since their shows are quite popular I don’t always get to stand where I want.  But these seats were so good!

I know they are going to reschedule, but still….

Obviously, my main concern is for everyone’s safety, including the bands!

My selfish concern though is that once the shows are rescheduled that all of these shows will be scheduled on the same day!  Whatever the case, this one will get a priority over just about any other.

Let’s hope the rescheduled dates also do some social distancing.

UPDATE: On August 10, I was sent a refund. This show was officially cancelled.  Damn. I had such good seats!

 

 

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Kishi Bashi (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, November 4, 2019)

Posted in Cicada Rhythm, Guster, Ian Anderson, Kishi Bashi, Philadelphia, PA, Pip the Pansy, Talking Heads, Tall Tall Trees, Union Transfer on November 4, 2019| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 4, 2019] Kishi Bashi

This is now the fourth time we’ve seen Kishi Bashi.  The first time was magical–he was solo doing his amazing looping and violin playing.  The second time he opened for Guster and even played with them, which was thrilling.  The third time was at Union Transfer with a small band.  The sound was bigger and really fun.  And K crowd surfed.

This was the fourth time and his band was even bigger.  He had stage decor (what looked like grass and a giant crane in the background).  And his latest album is full of all kinds of instrumentation beyond the violin.  K. played guitar and keys as well as violin.

It also happened to be K’s birthday!  He had posted a few days earlier that it was his birthday at our show.  I contemplated bringing him something, but that seemed silly.

The band came out on stage with frequent collaborator Mike Savino (known as Tall Tall Trees) on bass, Ryan Oslance on drums, Dave Kirslis from Cicada Rhythm on guitar and the most wonderfully dressed musician on flute.  It took me a few songs before I learned that Pip the Pansy was the stunning flautist who kept her flute in a quiver on her back.  She was so much fun to watch and made incredible music.

Then K. came out.  K. always looks nice in a jacket with a bow tie.

He then proceeded to play “Marigolds” from the new album.  I listened to the new album a lot and really like it.  But somehow, I didn’t recognize this song until almost half way through it.  I don’t know if its because the band made it sound so much bigger or that I was so overwhelmed by everything happening, but I actually thought it was a new song until the chorus came back around.  (more…)

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