By: David Schultz

In 1994, Phish played The White Album in its entirety as part of its Halloween show at the Glens Falls Civic Center and began a tradition of donning a musical costume for the holiday’s that has grown beyond the crunchy Vermont foursome. When Phish takes the stage on October 31, to play one of their many sets as part of their Festival 8 in Indio, California, they will reclaim their Halloween legacy when the revive their ritual. What they will play though remains the object of intense speculation. They’ve been killing off albums in a gruesome fashion on their Web site, promising to play the last one standing. A campgrounds map with sites named Kid A, Electric Ladyland, Exile On Main Street, Hunky Dory, Purple Rain, Larks Tongues In Aspic and The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway has found its way onto the Internet, so you would have to think those are the odds-on favorites.

Warren Haynes and Gov’t Mule also like to get into the Halloween spirit and like Phish, they like keep their “costume” a mystery until show time. In the past, the Mule have covered Houses Of The Holy and engaged in a little Dark Side of the Mule with a set of Floyd covers. This year’s show at the Tower Theater in Philadelphia, PA will receive ab assist from Jackie Greene, who along with Haynes has a lot of experience playing with the catalog of the Grateful Dead. Too easy, though. It won’t happen.

Not every band is keeping their Halloween costume under wraps. Alt-country rockers Deer Tick will pull a complete 180 at the Brooklyn Bowl. After an opening band to be named later offers up a set of Sonic Youth, Deer Tick will become The Sex Pistols for a night. This is pretty much the equivalent of Marilyn Manson dressing up as Michael Jackson for the night. If you show up in costume, admission is free. Otherwise, it’ll cost you $5.

Last year, Leroy Justice literally and figuratively dressed up as The Beatles at the Bitter End for a fun romp through Let It Be. This year they will return to the legendary haunt along with guest guitarist Scott Metzger for two sets that will include selections from The Steve Miller Band’s Greatest Hits.

Labels: Deer Tick, Gov't Mule, Leroy Justice, Phish

By: David Schultz

The Prospect Park Bandshell has long been centerpiece of the historic park nestled within the Park Slope section of Brooklyn. Serving as the counterpart to Central Park’s Summerstage, the Celebrate Brooklyn series of shows provides an annual slate of free concerts that strives to appeal to the borough’s wide-ranging tastes. No strangers to giving something back to a community, this past Friday night, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals made their first 2009 appearance in New York City, forgoing the unseemly sale of tickets and allowing the BRIC to pass the hat for donations to the cause.

The combination of a spectacular night, a gorgeous frontwoman and a fantastic band induced an exceptionally large crowd to migrate to the bandshell with just as many people lounging on blankets in the lawn space as filling the ample seating space. In a slightly surreal moment, New York State Senator Chuck Schumer briefly addressed the crowd, proclaiming this a night to celebrate two phenomenal women: Sonia Sotomayor and Grace Potter. Having met both, I can verify that Schumer is right: they are both quite cool. However, I doubt Sotomayor has pipes like Potter nor do I think she could get a crowd going by just shimmying with a tambourine or rocking a Hammond B3. In all fairness, Potter may be weak on Federal jurisprudence, due process and the limits of power of the executive branch.

Since Potter & The Nocturnals last played in New York City, Bryan Dondero has parted ways with the band with Blues & Lasers guitarist Benny Yurco and bassist Catherine Popper signing on. In contrast to Dondero’s reserve, Popper brings a feisty spark to the band, nicely complementing the charismatic Potter. While likely not intentional as it occasionally drowned out Tournet’s guitar, the Park’s sound mix prominently featured her bass. As you could hear nearly every note, it did make clear that Popper brings something tangible into this already cohesive unit. Likewise, Yurco, who has spent ample time playing with guitarist Scott Tournet and drummer Matt Burr in Blues & Lasers, meshes in seamlessly with The Nocturnals and provides a worthy foil for Tournet.

Opening with the hard-charging builds of “Some Kind Of Ride,” the Prospect Park set featured strengthened versions of “Joey” and “2:22,” a new layer of muscle added onto the frames of the Nothing But The Water tales of tattered feelings. For the majority of the efficient 80 minute set, Potter & The Nocturnals kept the energy level high, Burr bashing out the heavy 50s-style, girl group drum beat of “Mastermind,” Potter rocking her Gibson Flying V through the punk riffs of “If I Was From Paris” and Tournet adding an intriguing take on the power-ballad guitar solo, livening up an otherwise slow though melodious version of “Apologies.”

With the 40th anniversary of Woodstock approaching, Potter helped foster comparisons to another amazing Grace, covering the Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit,” the acid rock warhorse’s urgent directive of “feed your head” giving Potter one final chance to stun the crowd with the power of her voice. The 10:30 curfew forced The Nocturnals to keep thing concise and to the point. With the exception of the now-traditional drum confab that took place during a set closing version of “Sweet Hands,” there wasn’t much time to stretch any of the songs out. Only on “Stop The Bus” and “Medicine,” a new song written with the same type of swaggering blues hyperbole as “Sugar,” did Tournet and Yurco have room to extend themselves. This was easily tempered by the fact that the subsequent Blues & Lasers show at the newly opened Brooklyn Bowl (see tomorrow’s Earful) provided an awesome opportunity to see the remarkable guitar tandem at work.

PRIOR TO POTTER & THE NOCTURNALS, Deer Tick offered up a marvelous set of Americana-drenched tunes, heavy with all the pathos that can be dredged up by lead singer John J. McCauley. Although they hail from Rhode Island, McCauley looks like he came from the Arkansas back country and moved into Big Pink. This was the second time I've seen Deer Tick -the first opening for Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit - and they seem to transcend the freak-folk banner that typically flies above their head. McCauley also produced the night's most sentimental moment, having his girlfriend remove her shoe so he could propose with a toe ring.

Labels: Deer Tick, Grace Potter and The Nocturnals, Live Reviews