This Week's Shows (4/18 - 4/24)

The big event of this week, the 800-pound gorilla in the room, is the three-day Sweetwater 420 Fest in Centennial Park this weekend.  I won't be going as the bands booked don't quite align with my personal tastes; they didn't last year either, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see Snoop Dog perform.  In any event, it's been impressive to watch the festival grow from a single-day event in Candler Park with mostly local bands to a large, three-day event with nationally touring acts.

But even without the Fest, this is still a better-than-average week for Atlanta music, with sets by Thao & The Get Down Stay Down, Esperanza Spalding, Mother Falcon, American Authors, and Hurray For The Riff-Raff, and revivals of bands like LA punks MDC, as well as 90s radio stalwarts Bush and Sister Hazel.  Finally, for a week that begins with a band called Must Be The Holy Ghost and features a set by Spirits and the Melchizedek Children, there will be not one, not two, but three separate Christian rock bands performing this week.

As always, please keep in mind that musicians and night-club proprietors lead complicated lives and I'm prone to errors, mistakes, typos, and fubars; it's advisable to confirm any of the information below on your own before making plans. 

MONDAY, APRIL 18

MDC, Deathwish, The Swingin' Dicks, Nag (The Drunken Unicorn)

Alternately known as Multi-Death Corporation, Millions of Dead Cops, and Millions of Damn Christians, hardcore punk legends MDC topped the Dead Kennedys in the 1980s by performing politically charged songs that were arguably more extreme than what got the Kennedys into trouble. 

Must Be The Holy Ghost, Slowriter,  Kakune (529)

We last saw Raleigh's loop-crazed Must Be The Holy Ghost at a day party during 2014's Hopscotch Fest.  For this show, he will be supported by Atlanta's Slowriter (Bryan Taylor).

Must Be The Holy Ghost at Hopscotch, September 2014

Trevor Jackson, B. Justice, GOLDe, Vedo the Singer, Skooly (Vinyl)
Indianapolis' Trevor Jackson launched his singing career in 2013 with a string of R&B singles, including Like We Grownand Superman, both of which landed on his New Thang EP later that same year. A handful of singles scattered across 2014 and early 2015 led to In My Feelings, the singer's guest-filled debut album.

TUESDAY, APRIL 19

American Authors, Ryan Star (Vinyl)
Falling somewhere between the heady introspection of Alt-J, the arena-sized folk-rock of Mumford & Sons, and the urban, heartfelt grandeur of Fun., Brooklyn's American Authors offer an emotional and propulsive mix of summery indie pop and meticulously crafted, commercial modern rock.

Audacity, The Rodney Kings, The Mumzees (529)

Audacity play scrappy Californian garage punk. 

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20

Thao & The Get Down Stay Down (Terminal West)

Thao & the Get Down Stay Down is an indie pop band led by Thao Nguyen, whose songwriting tends toward the musically playful and lyrically heavy-hearted. Before forming The Get Down Stay Down, she collaborated on a single under the name Merrillthaocracy with tUnE-yArDs' Merrill Garbus, who produced The Get Down Stay Down's fourth album, Man Alive, which was just released last month.

Robyn Hitchcock, Eugene Mirman (Variety Playhouse)

Robyn Hitchcock is one of England's most enduring contemporary singer/songwriters and live performers. Despite having been persistently branded as eccentric or quirky for much of his career, Hitchcock has continued to develop his whimsical repertoire, deepen his surreal catalog, and expand his devoted audience beyond the boundaries of cult stature. He is among alternative rock's father figures and is the closest thing the genre has to a Bob Dylan (not coincidentally his biggest inspiration).  Comedian Eugene Mirman opens.

Robyn Hitchcock at Eddie's Attic, February 2014

Eugene Mirman opening for Andrew Bird, March 2012

Har Mar Superstar, Pls Pls (Aisle 5)

Har Mar Superstar (Sean Tillmann) is a balding, out-of-shape white man with a pencil-thin moustache who croons sex-laden R&B tunes while break dancing. His live shows, sung to the backing of a small boom box, usually culminate in Har Mar stripping down to his underwear (often of the tighty whitey variety).  So there's that.  Atlanta's Pls Pls opens.

Pls Pls at Criminal Records, L5Fest, 2013

True Widow, Slimy Member, Spirits and the Melchizedek Children (The Earl)

Heavy and melodic, True Widow has a heavy and melodic sound that takes its cues in equal parts from the worlds of drone, post-rock, and shoegaze, blending rumbling guitars, sprawling songs, and drifting, reverb-soaked vocals.  Atlanta's Spirits and the Melchizedek Children open.

Spirits and the Melchizedek Chilren at 529, January 2014

TacocaT, Boyfriends, Wet Nurse (529)

Seattle Weekly noted of the palindromic TacocaT, "If Pabst Blue Ribbon were a band, it would be TacocaT. TacocaT is discordant and goofy—like an R-rated Presidents [of the United States of America], but with Hillary(s) in the Oval Office.  They're an OK band to thrash around drunk to . . . so we'd recommend waiting for their next sweaty club gig to get the quintessential TacocaT experience." 529 should provide just the setting for the female-fronted Seattle quartet.

TacocaT at Bumbershoot, 2012

THURSDAY, APRIL 21

The Disco Biscuits (Terminal West)

First of a two-night stand by trance-fusion band The Disco Biscuits before their next-day set at the Sweetwater 420 Fest.  Sold out.

Amanda Cook (Center Stage)

Amanda Cook is a Canadian artist and worship leader known for her passionate, faith-based singer/songwriter pop music. Expect a lot of Christians in the audience. 

Roadkill Ghost Choir, Tedo Stone, Oak House (The Earl)

In case you missed them last week at The Earl, Roadkill Ghost Choir return to The Earl, this time backed by Atlanta's Tedo Stone and Athens' Oak House.

Roadkill Ghost Choir at The Earl, August 2013

Oak House at The Earl, January 2016

Thoth Nemesis, Black Mass, Spore Lord, Homicidal (529)

Metal.

FRIDAY, APRIL 22

Sweetwater 420 Fest (Centennial Olympic Park)

Kid Rock headlines the Day One lineup that includes The Disco Biscuits, Cypress Hill, Lucero, Pepper, Zoogma, Paper Diamond, Illenium, and Ployd.

Cypress Hill at the Sixth Annual Atlanta Pot Festival, April 1, 1995

Esperanza Spalding (Center Stage)

Esperanza Spalding is a fine jazz bassist, but has also distinguished herself playing blues, funk, hip-hop, pop fusion, and Brazilian and Afro-Cuban styles as well. The Portland musician's recent Emily's D+Evolution is an ambitious, prog-rock infused concept album revolving around a central character named Emily, Spalding's middle name.

The SteelDrivers (Terminal West)

Sold out show by the soulful Nashville bluegrass band.

The Disco Biscuits (Terminal West)

Late-night second show of the two-night stand by trance-fusion band The Disco Biscuits, following their set at the Sweetwater 420 Fest.  Sold out.

Sister Hazel, The Georgia Flood, Christian Lopez (Variety Playhouse)

Sister Hazel is an alternative rock band from Florida, whose style blends elements of folk rock, pop, classic rock 'n' roll and southern rock. Their music is characterized by highly melodic tunes and prominent harmonies. Their song All For You was a 90s radio staple.

Rend Collective (The Tabernacle)

The Rend Collective are a modern praise and worship band out of Northern Ireland that grew out of a group of Christian friends looking for a way to bring spirituality more in line with the complexities and confusions of life in the 21st century.  A nice second helping for fans of Amanda Cook (See Thursday night)

Mother Falcon, Takenobu (The Earl)

An ambitious symphonic rock/orchestral pop collective based out of Austin and spearheaded by bandleader and founder Nick Gregg, Mother Falcon was formed in 2008. Taking a cue from other classical-minded pop artists like Sufjan Stevens, Beirut, and the Polyphonic Spree, the group eventually added members and by the time they began performing, numbered anywhere from 11 to 20 musicians on any given night. Mother Falcon quickly became a must-see event around town, playing numerous high-profile festivals and releasing a string of well-received EPs and LPs. Atlanta's Takenobu opens.

Takenobu at 529, July 2013

Funk You, The Get Right Band (Aisle 5)

Funk.

SATURDAY, APRIL 23

Sweetwater 420 Fest (Centennial Olympic Park)

Bastille headlines the Day Two lineup that includes The Roots, Rebelution, Dawes, Maceo Parker, The North Mississippi All-Stars, AWOLNation, The Word, Tokyo Police Club, Chrome Pony, and Minnesota (the band, not the state).

Tokyo Police Club at Shaky Knees, May 10, 2014

Dawes at Shaky Knees, May 10, 2014

Leftover Salmon, Ripe (Variety Playhouse)

Official Sweetwater 420 Fest late-night show featuring Leftover Salmon, who will be playing the festival the next day.

Questlove (The Loft) 

Another Official Sweetwater 420 Fest late-night show.

Hurray For The Riff Raff, Promised Land Sound (Terminal West)

New Orleans-based indie folk outfit Hurray for the Riff Raff were formed by singer/songwriter/banjo player Alynda Lee, a Bronx-raised Puerto Rican troubadour who left home at 17 to ride the rails and eventually landed in the Big Easy. After honing her skills on the washboard with a gang of train-yard musicians called the Dead Man's Street Orchestra, she picked up the banjo that a close friend had given her and began writing her own songs. Hurray for the Riff Raff's signature blend of folk-blues and Southern gothic Americana is often rounded out by a rotating cast of accordion, guitar, organ, and musical saw players.

The Explorer's Club, Robert Schneider, Casper & the Cookies (The Earl)

The Explorers Club is a pop rock band from South Carolina whose surf rock sound has drawn comparisons to the Beach Boys.  Supporting the band will be Elephant 6 collective member Robert Schneider of Apples In Stereo.

Underøath, Caspian (The Tabernacle)

Amanda Cook fans (see Thursday night) and Rend Collective fans (see Friday night) who want their Christian rock with a harder edge should enjoy Florida's Underøath, who have evolved from a run-of-the-mill Christian metalcore band into a fluid, dynamic, and energized rock group that adeptly blends emotive melody, charged punk rock rhythms, and a chunky, engaging bottom end.

Demonic Christ, Abysmal Lord, Ritual Decay, Hegemony (529)

Probably the other end of the spiritual spectrum from the Underøath show.

SUNDAY, APRIL 24

Sweetwater 420 Fest (Centennial Olympic Park)

Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals headline the Day Three lineup that includes Leftover Salmon, Ludacris, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Atmosphere, Manchester Orchestra, Robert DeLong, The Bright Light Social Hour, Emancipator, and Waking Astronomer.

Manchester Orchestra on a far-distant stage at Music Midtown, 2011

Margo Price (Eddie's Attic)

Country traditionalist Margo Price's recent success has set all kinds of records for album sales in a decade when sales have been low, a tribute to the success she's earned as well as the connection she's established with her new fans. Price has the sound of a timeless country singer and has captivated the music industry with her true tales of loss, struggle and redemption. Her song Hurtin' (on the Bottle) has all the heartache of a classic song

Bush, The Dose (The Tabernacle)

Bush formed in London in 1992 and found immediate success with the release of their debut album Sixteen Stone in 1994, which has been certified 6× multi-platinum and launched a string of successful singles (Glycerine, Machine Head, Everything Zen, etc.) At this point, the band probably qualify as rock royalty, and lead singer Gavin Rossdale, aka the former Mr. Gwen Stefani, remains a potent sex symbol.

Bush at Music Midtown, 1995

Snoop Dogg at Sweetwater 420 Fest, Centennial Park, Atlanta - April 17, 2015

It's not quite 4/20 yet, but this is the weekend to celebrate the, ahem, "budding" holiday.  Atlanta's Sweetwater Brewing Company, makers of Sweetwater 420 Extra Pale Ale, seized upon the commercial tie-ins between the date and their signature product, and for the past several years, have been holding the Sweetwater 420 Festival in Candler Park in Atlanta.  As I recall, it was a smaller event back in 2011 and 2012, hosting primarily jam bands, bluegrass, and other forms of Americana music (I briefly stopped by on a Saturday in 2012) but in 2013 the festival began booking better known acts (e.g., George Clinton and P-Funk) and this year, for it's 10th Anniversary, it moved downtown to Centennial Olympic Park with its biggest lineup yet.

I got there last night in time to catch Beats Antique.      

To be honest, I almost didn't go.  It had rained all day Friday, and the forecast was for 100% chance of showers on Friday evening.  At work, I told my colleagues that I wasn't going to go, but as I left the office, the rain had let up to a slight drizzle.  I wasn't sure if the weather wasn't trying to lure me out and then turn into a downpour while I was at the park, or if it was, in fact, tapering off. "I'm not taking any chances," I said, and told the folks at work that I was going to go home and call it a night. I was still saying, "I'm not going," as I pulled my car into the Doraville MARTA station instead of driving straight home like I had said, and I was still in at least partial denial as I rode the train to Peachtree Center Station and the park.  Fortunately, the rain never really got any worse than it was when I apparently changed my mind and decided to throw caution to the wind and go for it. 

We've seen Beats Antique, the band that was playing when I arrived, before. Back during Bumbershoot 2013, they headlined the Fountain Lawn Stage on Sunday night and blew my mind with their stage show.  I even took a brief video of their performance (apologies for the sound quality).

I hate to say it, but their 2013 Bumbershoot show was a lot more fun, or at least included a lot more costume changes and performances by the band's dancer, Zoe Jakes, than last night.  Not that last night's performance was anything other than exotic and mind-bending, including a finale that included a giant inflatable cyclops doing battle with the band (last time, it was an inflatable giant squid).

Despite getting there late, I was able to get a pretty good position in the audience for Beats Antique, about 10 or 12 rows of people back from the stage.  After the Beats Antique set, as some folks left the stage area, either to go see Cold War Kids at the other stage or to get some refreshments or to go home or for whatever reason, I was able to move forward and got a spot in the fourth row back from the stage for Thievery Corporation.

We've seen Thievery once before, opening for Massive Attack at The Fox Theater back during Rocktober 2011.

Thievery, of course, is the duo of Washington D.C.'s Ron Garza and Eric Hilton, with lots and lots of supporting musicians, singers, and rappers.

Here's Thievery's set list, including the names of the guest performers:

During the course of Theivery's set, the rain let up from a light drizzle to a mist to disappearing altogether. In my raincoat and baseball cap, I realized I was dressed perfectly for the night, and that I had made the right decision to come on down.

The crown didn't disperse after Thievery's set; in fact, if anything, more people pushed in to get a closer spot for headliner Snoop Dogg.  Still, I managed to move up a little, and had an excellent spot two rows back, behind some relatively short teenaged girls who, while not tall, still threw their hands in the air like they just didn't care for much of Snoop's set.

Snoop has a reputation for being late for shows, once notoriously taking the stage in Portland some three hours after the opening act had finished.  He was scheduled to start last night at 9:30, but didn't take the stage until almost 10:00, but a half hour late is almost downright punctual in Snoop time. 

At this point, well over 20 years into his performing career, Snoop is a seasoned showman, and in addition to many of his own classic raps (Gin and Juice, Drop It Like It's Hot, and Nothin' But a G Thang), he led the audience through a lot of singalongs, including Joan Jett's I Love Rock 'n' Roll and Akon's I Wanna Fuck You.  He also included several guest rappers in his set, allowing some to perform guest vocals and engaging other in duets/battles.

The crowd, naturally, went crazy.  From where I was standing (close to the stage), the audience around me consisted primarily of white teens to twenty-somethings, but they seemed to know the lyrics to every Snoop Dogg rap.  There was a lot of audience participation in the set, including not only the singalongs, but cheers, shouts, and lots and lots of arm waving as well.  

A flashback moment: one of Snoop's covers/singalongs was House of Pain's Jump Around, which was also covered by the band Cypress Hill and reminded me that the forerunner of the Sweetwater 420 Fest was the Great Atlanta Pot Festival, an act of open civil disobedience and music formerly held in Piedmont Park.  Not surprisingly, after a few years, the festival organizers got a hard time from City Hall getting their permits in place, but back in 1993, I saw Cypress Hill at the Pot Festival on a stage consisting of a flat-bed truck perform Jump Around, as well as Insane In The Membrane and other hits of the time.  I still have the t-shirt from the festival around here somewhere.

Black Uhuru performed that day as well.

Ah, but the memories of a man in his old age are the deeds of a man in his prime.  Back in the here and now, Snoop Dogg was on stage, leading an audience, at least half of which had not even yet been born when the song was an MTV staple, through a raucous cover of Jump Around while lighting up a spliff himself on stage (judging by the aroma in the air, he wasn't the only one toking).  In case the point hadn't yet been made, Snoop closed his set with what he described as "four words of positivity": "Smoke weed, mother fuckers!"

There was no encore, and the trip home was perhaps the most arduous part of the evening.  Not surprisingly given the rain and number of people, the lawn in Centennial Park had turned into a sea of mud, and sloshing out through it with the rest of the huge audience without slipping and falling was enough of a challenge in itself.  But back at the Peachtree Center Station, shoes caked with mud, we all had a long wait for the first MARTA train.  Although they should have known that at about 11:15, there would be an larger-than-usual number of Northbound passengers and therefore should have sent a few extra trains, MARTA stuck to their usual schedule and first kept up waiting for 20 minutes until the station was almost overflowing with passengers, and then had us cram into the one train when it finally did arrive, squeezed in so tight that most people couldn't even use a handrail, causing the passengers in at least my car to start a spontaneous singalong of Bill Withers' Lean On Me, some fun in what may have otherwise been a stressful situation.  Eventually, the train made it all the way out to Doraville Station, where my car was parked, and I picked up a Fellini's pizza on the way home (I hadn't eaten since almost 12 hours earlier).

Or, to summarize this whole needlessly wordy and overly illustrated post in just four words:  I saw Snoop Dogg!

His Life With The Thrill Kill Kult

There are a lot of pictures in this particular post. It might take your computer a moment or two to download everything.

1995, as it turned out, was a pretty good year in Atlanta for outdoor concerts and events. In April, something called the Sixth Annual Great Atlanta Pot Festival was held in Piedmont Park, finally giving him his chance to see the band Cypress Hill.

By 1995, Cypress Hill was already a highly successful Latino-American hip-hop outfit, considered by many to be early and seminal exemplars of West Coast rap. They had already released their first two groundbreaking albums by the time of the Pot Festival, and while it was a bit surprising to see a band of their stature at a small, marginally legal event like the Piedmont Park festival, The Black Crowes had previously headlined the 1992 event with over 60,000 people reportedly attending. What's more, Cypress Hill had always been staunch advocates for cannabis, as demonstrated in their breakthrough hit Insane In the Brain, featuring rapper B-Real's exaggeratedly high-pitched nasal vocals, for which he credits The Beastie Boys for inspiration.

Black Uhuru, one of his favorite reggae bands, headlined the Pot Festival.  For the record, he first heard Black Uhuru on WRAS, Album 88, when they started playing the song Anthem. The album of the same name went on to win the first-ever Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album.

That year, he also attended the Second Music Midtown Festival.  The 1995 Music Midtown line-up included Gov't Mule, Little Feat, Blind Boys of Alabama, Our Lady Peace, Collective Soul,  Edwin McCain, Chris Duarte, God Street Wine, Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies, The BoDeans, Matthew Sweet, Everything, The Band, Buckwheat Zydeco, Adam Ant, Bottle Rockets, Magnapop, Delbert McClinton, The Josh Joplin Group, Rebirth Brass Band, Cigar Store Indians, Bone Pony, Five Chinese Brothers (who were not REM under a different name, as rumored), Francine Reed, Gracie Moon, The Kentucky Headhunters, Matthew Kahler, Shawn Mullins, The Sounds of Blackness, Supreme Court, Jackopierce, Lonnie Brooks, The Cruel Sea, Memory Dean, and Murphy & Vidal.

He recognizes a lot of the bands from his pictures of that festival, but there are also a lot of bands he can't recall.  Here's who he can identify:

CAKE

This wasn't his first time seeing Cake - they had played the inaugural festival the year before, and their quirky angular songs were alt-rock radio staples that year.

TINSLEY ELLIS

A veteran bluesman with several smoking albums under his belt, Ellis looks to him now a little bit like Kenny Powers from Eastbound and Down.

NRBQ, WITH THE SUN RA HORNS

Another veteran band, the unclassifiable NRBQ, were touring that year with "The Sun Ra Horns," but which turned out to be only two of the recently deceased bandleader's sidemen, Tyrone Hill and Dave Gordon. He's heard that when the band played around the Arkestra's home base of Philadelphia, saxophonist Marshall Allen and percussionist Donny Allen had also joined them.  Still, a little Sun Ra is better than none and goes a pretty long way.  

THE VILLAGE PEOPLE

Let's see:  a leather-bound biker, an Indian chief, and a cop - it isn't hard to identify the band in these pictures.  Even in 1995, though, the band were an anachronistic holdover from the 70s disco era, but the audience still went nuts for them.  On a somewhat disappointing note, in interviews during this comeback tour and in some of their stage banter that night, they disavowed any association with the gay community and strenuously refuted any implication that they might be gay themselves.  Who cares dudes, and why turn your back on the very audience that brought you fame and fortune?  

THE STONE ROSES

Manchester's The Stone Roses were already nearing the end of their run as a band at the time of their May 1995 Music Midtown appearance.  Some of the original band had already quit and remaining members were apparently feuding, and the tensions were apparent on stage. 

Amazingly, someone captured the set on video, including the bass player's on-stage tantrum - fast forward to the 1:20 mark for the drama.  Shortly after this set, the band cancelled their June appearance at Glastonbury, and the lineup that played on the Atlanta stage that afternoon never performed together again.  

The sound and picture quality isn't that great, but seriously, who had an iPhone in 1995?

BUSH

Bush were still rising in popularity at the time of their 1995 music Midtown appearance, but their songs Everything's Zen, Machinehead, and Little Things were already getting heavy airplay on radio station 99X.  They'd return to Music Midtown in 2002 to play an evening set, but in 1995 they were still relegated to the daytime slot.

JONATHAN RICHMAN

Jonathan Richman had been a favorite of his for years, from back in the mid 70s when Roadrunner was a Boston radio staple and through Jonathan's quirky early 80s records that were broadcast on Atlanta's WRAS, Album 88. He caught Richman live for the first time in the late 80s at a club (QE2) in the back of a White Castle hamburger joint in Albany, New York, and he vowed that night that he'd catch every Jonathan Richman show he possibly could from then on.  He's kept that vow, and by now has seen Jonathan a countless number of times, more times by far than any other performer.  His next scheduled Richman show is in Seattle on Labor Day weekend.

So that's who he can recognize.  Here are some of the bands below that he can't.  Any help at all identifying any of these performers would be most appreciated.  Seriously, please.  Anyone?

He can't even tell if this first band is reggae, hip-hop, or rock, or some hybrid of all three.

Any idea who this studious-looking guitarist is?

Or these guys?

Or these?

Does anyone know who this all-female band is? (He assumes the drummer was probably female, too.)

Or these two ladies?

No clue below, but the hat suggests country, or at least alt-country or folk.

Meanwhile, beyond these festivals and concerts and shows, somewhere around the time of the murder in the red barn, he had become a fan of the Chicago-based My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult.  He even got a chance to see them perform at Pittsburgh's Rosebud.  By 1995, when he wasn't attending Pot Festivals or Music Midtown, even though he had already turned 40 by then, he was cruising the dark streets of Atlanta playing 13 Above the Night, looking for love, looking for adventure, looking for action, looking for anything that was out there to be found.

At least he wasn't in fucking Albany any more.