If you're a Dave Matthews Band fan, you've probably already heard that this tour is a pretty big deal and you should get there: The band is taking a break from touring next year.
The band released this news on May 14 in a post titled "A Message to Our Fans":
"As we feel the excitement building for this summer, we wanted to let everyone know that after twenty years of consecutive touring, Dave Matthews Band will be taking 2011 off. We feel lucky that our tours are a part of so many people's lives, and wanted to give everyone as much notice as possible. We're excited to make this summer one of our best tours yet, and look forward to returning to the road in 2012."
I didn't even realize they've been touring for 20 consecutive years - that's most of my life. They definitely deserve a break. But this also means that this tour is going to be awesome, and I'm really excited that it kicks off in my home state.
Also, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, a throwback R&B, soul band that's definitely worth watching, is opening. Super bonus!
A Chipotle burrito is totally worth an hour and a half wait, especially if it's free. That's how long I waited on Thursday to get my first Chipotle burrito in Connecticut, and even though it was really hot out, it was totally worth it once I got to that counter and loaded my burrito up with everything. We make sure to stop in a Chipotle whenever we go to New York (since there's one every couple blocks in the city), so having a Chipotle in Connecticut in West Hartford, which is about a half hour away from me, is awesome. (Above is the beginning of the line.)
So after about an hour and 15 minutes in line, I could actually see the doorway, and the people around me were getting excited. Actually, once I got close to the counter, one very happy dude said, "Just load it up!" as his burrito was being made. I think that's the beauty of Chipotle - that you're getting a jacked burrito with awesome ingredients for not that bad a price. On free burrito day, it's that x2, since you're getting it for free. I also enjoy getting tacos and quesadillas at times, and the chips with a hint of lime are a great side order. Now that a Chipotle is open in Connecticut, I'm definitely going to enjoy going there. Also, the West Hartford location, on 966 Farmington Ave., is obviously bigger than a lot of the Chipotles in New York City. There's a few tables on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant and lots of seating inside. Plus, if you go down the hallway past the counter where you order, there are even more tables. Pretty awesome.
If you go: It's on 966 Farmington Ave., West Hartford. Open daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Need something to do tomorrow night? Well, Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood from "Whose Line Is It Anyway" will be at the Warner in Torrington for their 3rd Annual Farewell Tour.
Here's the event description: "Following the success of ABC’s Emmy-nominated “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” they return to the Warner for another evening of extraordinary improvisational comedy. Using their quick wit, Mochrie and Sherwood take contributions from the audience to create hilarious and original scenes."
I saw them twice at UConn, and they perform the same wacky improv games like on "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" along with some other stunts, and it's a lot of fun.
The cover band is a pretty funny concept when you think about it. The more you can play a song like the original band, the more audience approval you get. Depending on what band you cover and how long it's been since they've been on tour, you can actually make some good money playing other people's songs. Also, everyone knows that any good cover band has to know every song by the band they cover.
I've seen The Machine twice now, and they're a pretty good Pink Floyd cover band - I mean, tribute band. They're not Australian Pink Floyd with the crazy show recreations, and they don't always sound exactly like Pink Floyd (though sometimes they do), but they really fill that live music void for Floyd fans. At Toad's Place on Saturday night they played "The Wall" and then a pretty long encore of additional songs. It was pretty cool, and it was also cool that we knew what was going down because they played some of "The Wall" then let us know they were going on break then coming back to play the rest and then maybe playing some more.
They started around 9 and ended just after midnight because Toad's Place was turning into a night club for two hours. Tickets were $15, which wasn't bad, and I guess the "Gold Circle" up front was $30. I think people were getting more into The Machine's set when I saw them at The Webster in Hartford, but the seating setup at Toad's could have been to blame on Saturday. That was the first time I ever saw those chairs at Toad's, and it was kind of weird. Anyway, there were definitely people into it, even though most were sitting. Even though you could tell the band could have played for at least two more hours, I was glad it ended after three because it was just enough. A little more would have been too much - like that time Shakedown played until 2 a.m. That was cool for the big fans, but for those of us who got to the show when they started playing (which is later than doors), it got tiring.
My old band director used to tell us that his band director told him to always make the audience leave wanting more. People were definitely getting tired toward the end of The Machine's set, and a good chunk of the people up front had left already. Any more than three hours, and they would have gone way too far past that point.
I know, it's an old joke, but it's so true! Camping is in tents (intense)! My friends and I just went to Devil's Hopyard in East Haddam last week, and we go every year around this time. It's really a cheap and awesome getaway - especially for college students and recent grads. This year the rate is $14 a night per campsite (Thanks, Governor Rell for deciding not to double the fees), so when you share a site with 3 to 5 people, it's a really good deal. All you need are some tents, a grill, firewood and enough sustenance for a few days. There's also something refreshing and liberating about turning off your cell phone, leaving the computer at home and being outside all day and night.
The Hopyard campground is especially nice because it's in the state, it's clean, and there are plenty of sites, clean outhouses (with sensor lights added this year) and easy access to dumpsters (garbage and recycling). It's also walking distance to the waterfall, which we walked to a lot because it was so close by. We like taking advantage of the campground this time of year, too, because it's less crowded, and not as hot or buggy as it would be once summer hits.
Following a three-year (for some, it was a four-year) tradition, we settled in the first night then went for a long hike the next morning up. This year we went to the vista and had a long sit-down. I'm not sure exactly how long we were up there, but we were kind of tired from the way up, and it was beautiful, so we didn't want to leave right away. Pretty good couple of days.
I attended a performance of the Bohemian Quartet at the Sloper-Wesoly Immigrant Heritage and Cultural Center, the home of the Polish American Foundation of Connecticut, Inc. in New Britain, Sunday afternoon, and I was pleasantly surprised by how good - and actually fun - this group was. I wasn't expecting much, honestly. I cover a lot of local events for my job, especially on Sundays when I run back and forth between Bristol and New Britain, but this was actually a great group of professional musicians. They're a string quartet made up of a violin, viola, cello and bass, and all the musicians live and work around Rhode Island. The director and violinist is Stan Renard, a Ph.D. music student at the University of Connecticut who arranges all the music the quartet plays.
According to their program, "The mission of the Quartet is to create an awareness of, and love for, 'Romany' music."
I think they do. You definitely get the gypsy, Eastern European flair with their music, and even though the set-up at the Sloper-Wesoly house was more of a seating than a dance, they played a lot of celebration music that you would want to dance to. I think I also liked them because they were like what Gogol Bordello does - except with just strings and less shouting. (There was still shouting - a few "Hey!"s here and there, but not as much as you'd get with Gogol Bordello's gypsy punk.) I really appreciate groups like the Bohemian Quartet that help spread an appreciation for more worldly music. One of the members of the Polish American Foundation of Connecticut said that he and other immigrants in the area often miss their traditional music, so it's nice to hear it here. I agree. I grew up listening to Laotian music with my parents, and they still play it in our house every once in a while, and I think it's important for people to keep ties to their heritage.
B.O.M.B. Fest is officially going to be like Warped Tour mixed with All Points West.
Brand New recently dropped out of this year's B.O.M.B. Fest due to family obligations, which could be good news or bad news for you, since their replacement is 30 Seconds to Mars.
I found out about this change through another blog and some talk this weekend, but I wanted to wait until B.O.M.B. Fest officially announced it to make a post. Then this morning, I got an email from the ticketing website saying that my tickets could be refunded because of the band change. Here's the message from the friendly guys at B.O.M.B. Fest:
"We're excited to announce 30 Seconds to Mars will co-headline with Lupe Fiasco at the 2010 B.O.M.B. Fest. 30 Seconds to Mars stepped in after an unfortunate family obligations led Brand New to pull out of this year's festival. We hope you are as excited as the rest of the northeast music community to see 30 Seconds to Mars join the show. For more information read more here - http://www.bringourmusicback.org/30-Seconds-to-Mars-joins-Lupe-Fiasco"
It's totally cool that they're refunding tickets, by the way. I know there are people who go to festivals for one band, and they sometimes can't return their tickets if their band cancels. So that was really nice.
And I say B.O.M.B. Fest is going to be like Warped Tour mixed with All Points West because it's close to home (Warped Tour usually stops in a spot easy for us CT folk to get to), and the line-up is like if you blended the two. I actually saw 30 Seconds to Mars at Warped Tour in Fitchburg, Mass. back in summer 2006. I remember it vividly because when I was stuck in traffic on my way there, there was a 30 Seconds to Mars car near me - this girl seriously had the band name painted huge on her car, all the band member bobbleheads on her dashboard, stickers and 30 Seconds to Mars attire. I recall my friend saying, "Hey, I think that girl really likes 30 Seconds to Mars." (If you're reading this, girl with the 30 Seconds to Mars car, I appreciate your fandom.) So add that with the other acts like Of Montreal and Girl Talk - bands you would see at an indie hipster festival like All Points West, and you've got yourself a pretty fun combo. I'm pretty excited. It'll be like high school (I was even in a Girl Scout troop in Durham in high school) mixed with college (We listened to Girl Talk non-stop my senior year.)
Just in case you didn't see my last post on B.O.M.B. Fest, it goes down Sunday, May 30 on the Durham Fairgrounds. Tickets are $50 plus fees and can be purchased online at http://www.bombfest.com/. According to the website, you have 27 days left to purchase tickets! You can also buy them for no fees at Redscroll Records in Wallingford.
I've embedded "The Kill" above because I really liked that song in 2006 when it was big, and when 30 Seconds to Mars played Warped Tour. I also enjoy playing it on Rock Band.
I've never been to Mountain Park before, but this summer I'm going twice in less than a month. For two of my favorite bands!
As you may know from an older post, The Flaming Lips are going to be there July 24, and that's pretty incredible because they never come around this area.
And now it gets better - MGMT is going to be there August 11!
That's a Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at Mountain Park, which is located off Mountain Park Access Road on Route 5 in Holyoke, MA. Tickets are $30 plus fees and can be purchased here: http://www.nbotickets.com/auto_choose_ga.asp?area=241.
And here's how the Mountain Park website describes the band:
MGMT is blowing up. Their new album “Congratulations” debuted at #2 on last week’s Billboard Top 200 Album Chart. They appeared on Saturday Night Live this past weekend and are booked for Letterman on May 11th. The electro-pop duo (Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden) and their band from Brooklyn (though drummer Will Berman is a Northampton native) rapidly rose from college-radio mainstay to Grammy-nominated international sensation, blowing up huge after the release of their 2007 major debut, "Oracular Spectacular, " named by Rolling Stone as the 18th best album of the decade, and best album of 2008 by NME magazine.
And we're seeing them for $30? Wow! I have a feeling this might sell out because the only other performances MGMT had planned for my area were Bamboozle, which was this weekend, and a festival in Burlington, VT for Aug. 12. (Both are pretty far and part of festivals, and that has a different feel.)
