We had the great fortune of catching Boz Scaggs at the Woodland Park Zoo last night. Since we’ve been traveling so much this summer, we didn’t have tickets, but my daughter made a sign for me (Need Tickets - Please!) and we got some easily. The weather was PERFECT, sunny/warm/blue sky and the crowd was mostly older so fewer kids (except for ours and friends).

The opening act was a young Jewish accoustic blues guitar player/singer from Portland, OR named David Strain - he was great and has his first album out, but I didn’t see it on Rhapsody.
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The Winthrop Rhythm and Blues Festival is one of my favorites of the summer, as much for the crowd and the atmosphere as for the great music. I attended the Saturday Night show with my Mom and some friends from Mazama (near Winthrop) to catch Bobby Rush and Elvin Bishop. Talk about two different performers! Both were fun in their own way, but I wouldn’t say amazing. Below is the line-up for 2008.

Elvin Bishop, Bobby Rush, The Blasters, Rosie Ledet, Too Slim & The Tail Draggers, Terry Evans, Northwest Pianorama, Polly O’Keary & the Rhythm Method, Sammy Eubanks, Red Hot Blues Sisters (Red Hotz), LadyA & the Baby Blues Funk Band, Rojer Arnold & Paul Elliott.
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Seattle, Wa July 16, 2008 Woodland Park Zoo

This was our first zoo concert of the year - normally we attend everyone as we live very close and have two young children who get in free - and it was a wonderful reintroduction. We just returned from a family trip to Italy and were excited to get back in the swing of the Seattle Summer. We’ve seen Marc Cohn and Aimee Mann at the zoo before, but not together. The show was very mellow, lots of people and enjoyable. There have been some changes to the layout of the field including a removal of the speakers that are normally about half-way up the field so the back of the crowd can hear better (that’s where we were so tough to hear words), a closing off of part of the hill where the kids play (bummer!) and ommitting the canopy over the sound board (due to GREAT weather). Both artists have relatively new albums out so we got a good dose of those plus some of the classic tracks.
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I was really looking forward to this show. David Lee Roth is back, Eddie Van Halen looks to be in great shape, good venue for a show and the right group of friends to make a memorable evening. Too bad Van Halen mailed in the show. As we left the Key Arena and walked down the hill to our cars, the conversation from the entire group was in general negative. Some general comments:
- The energy level from the band was low. Diamond Dave did a lot of walking around the main stage, Eddie didn’t seem excited about being there until really late in the show when he grabbed a smoke and then did a few kicks.
- The band looked great. Both Diamond Dave and Eddie are in great shape. Dave wore a series of signature jackets with asian inspired stitching while Eddie was shirt free for the entire show with signature baggy pants and tennis shoes. Wolfgang looked like a 16 year old kid playing bass in his high school band and Alex looked old.
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I love Neil Young. Old, cranky, pissed off and rockin’ in the free world. I love the Canadian cynicism, the warbley voice that can soar and the spot on writing. I’ve seen him live twice before, but this was by far my favorite. The stage was smallish, cluttered with guitars, banjos, two pianos (grand and upright), a wooden indian and an oil can. His wife Pegi opened with a short set from her new album and he was backed by his band from his latest album “Chrome Dreams II” - Ben Keith (pedal-steel guitar, dobro and other instruments), Rick Rosas (bass) and Ralph Molina of Crazy Horse (drums).

This was my first show at the WaMu Theater and even though the space was no where near as cozy as the Triple Door, the sound was fantastic and Neil sounded wonderful. Neil was wearing a rumpled suit and played on and off for over 3 hours. The tickets were expensive (but worth it) and the crowd was in the 40+ range but very enthusiastic.
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I’m new to Robert Earl Keen as a performer, but like his music. His songs have been covered by Joe Ely, Lyle Lovett, Jimmy Buffett and others from the “americana” music genre. I had a chance to catch him last night at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle and really enjoyed the show. This was the smallest crowd of the year at the zoo but had the highest % of Texans (Keen is from Kerrville Texas) and got his start strumming on the front porch with Lyle Lovett (so the story goes). Keen had a tight band of bass, rippin’ lead guitarist, slide/steel guitars + keyboard player and drums. Vocally, Robert sounded good - chatted with audience a bit and pretty much rocked out like a good Texas boy. The highlight of the show was his long rendition of “The Road Goes On Forever and the Party Never Ends”. This song lasted 7+ minutes with many a fun guitar exchanges between the lead and the steel guitar.

Todd Snider opened the show with a really long set. He is a singer songwriter from Portland, Oregon who has a great sense of humour, clever songs and fabulous repoir with the audience. I would see him again in a New York minute. Check out Robert Earl Keen on Rhapsody at http://www.rhapsody.com/robertearlkeen

First of all, I am so glad The Police did not play in one of the barns or stadiums in the Seattle/Tacoma area. I will never see another show at the Tacoma Dome and I’d much rather see the Police as a tight trio than a bloated band. With that said, the concert last night was VERY good and the sound was VERY good at the Key Arena.

The band kicked off with a gong bang (Stewart complained about this on his blog at the Vancouver show - but it was fine) and then a great version “Message in a Bottle” that got the crowd grooving. Everyone (mostly people like me in our 40’s) was pumped to see them and it was a great song to start with. The band (just the three) played with a lot of energy and enthusiasm - especially Stewart and Sting. Stings’ voice sounded strong and man can he hit still the high notes. The next couple of hours was a litany of greatest hits with some of the lesser known (but fun) songs mixed in. I especially like So Lonely, the moody Invisible Sun, the extended/jazzy Roxanne and the last song Next to You.
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How else do you explain Sanjaya staying another week on idol? Oh, I know why - the good folks over at www.votefortheworst.com (VFTW) who have taken Sanjaya on as thier cause of the day. VFTW got another big boost from Howard Stern who promoted the site on the 13th and encouraged his listeners to vote for Sanjaya.

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I scored excellent seats for the Rod Stewart show in the Key Arena in Seattle last night and got a close-up look and listen to one of the great rock voices of all time. While Rod has chased the music of the era running from white blues to disco to pop rock to standards, the texture of his voice has never changed. He was in good form last night through 5 outfit changes and a five gallon bucket of hair gel.

The good:
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Went to see the Dixie Chicks last night at Tacoma Dome. This is the third big show at the Tacoma Dome I’ve seen and the third time I’ve said that I’ll never see another show there. The accoustics were terrible as the place is a barn. I couldn’t hear a word Natalie said between songs, there wasn’t screens showing to the sides, only to the front (we were close to the stage but off to the right) and the light show/staging was very basic and pretty lame.

Anyhow, the Chicks are amazing musicians. I’ve loved their music since Wide Open Spaces and have all of their CDs (except for their latest which I listen to on Rhapsody). Natalie has a great voice, Martie is an incredible fiddle player and Emily is wonderful on the mandolin and steel guitar. Their songs are fun, sad and full of life. Even in the barn of the Tacoma Dome, the music was tight and they had a sturdy band of seven including David Grisholm on guitar. They played for 1.5 hours and 18 or so songs from all of their albums. They didn’t use the stage very well and mostly stood in front of their microphones to sing. They didn’t put out a ton of energy even though the crowd was very enthusiastic (and 70% women - I guess chicks dig Chicks).
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