New year, new town, new venues, new companions – it was a year of new…
All told, 24 shows, 4 cities, 11 new venues.
Nov. 7: Calexico/The Acorns @ Antone’s
As confident and talented a group of musicians as you will ever find. In a rousing
show backing a fine new album, they mixed all the classic Calexico sounds into a fun, tight
setlist. Martin Wenk is certainly one of the most amazing musicians you will ever see;
(whistling, guitar, accordion, vocals, synthesizer, trumpet, vibraphone, french horn, …)
A great show to drag a new group of friends to…
Sept. 23: Spoon/Heavenly States @ The Fillmore (SF)
A trip to SF just to see Spoon? Damn straight! The band played a super-tight set
in an awesome room – damn near note-perfect, imho. That I was hanging out with a
bunch of good friends in my old home town was the topper.
June 17: Detroit Cobras/Les Sans Culottes @ Neumos (SEA)
Stayed an extra night on a business trip to catch this fun show. Led off by the
wacky Les Sans Culottes, the crowd started getting pretty crazy early. By the time
the Detroit Cobras hit the stage, the place was going nuts. Seattle is a damn
fun place to catch a show.
Oct. 13: Spoon/Gary Clark Jr. @ Parish Room
A last-minute show (TX Dem. fund raiser) I managed to somehow snake a pair of tix.
In contrast to the SF show 3 weeks prior, the action was really raw and the band
let loose with a blistering, howling rock freak-out!
Jan. 16: Asylum Street Spankers @ Barrow St. Theatre (NYC)
The Spankers are off-Broadway, in What, And Give Up Showbiz?, and I’m not going to
miss it. A unique Spanker experience, highlighted by my front-row seats, quickly reaching
blinding drunkenness, capped off by a post-show drink with Stanley. Not a fun plane ride
home early the next day…
May 3: The Raconteurs/Birds of Avalon @ Stubb’s BBQ
My first (of 5) Stubb’s show in ’09, and my first experience with a great Austin crowd.
A fun and rocking show by a great-sounding band – with Jack White shredding faces.
Mar. 26: Gutter Twins/Great Northern @ Antone’s
Antone’s is hot and crowded tonight, and the band is blisteringly loud – DrB also discovers
that $3 beers will make you drunk, fast. Damn this is a great show, and damn it’s
hot in here…
Nov. 22: Nada Surf/Delta Spirit @ Emo’s
It’s 1:45am, and Nada Surf is still on the stage, ouch. I am officially too old for this nonsense
(not that that will stop me…) Delta Spirit put on as good a set as any other band
this year – awesome!
Nov. 15: King Khan & BBQ Show/Crackpipes @ Mohawk
A freezing cold night, in an outdoor venue – King Khan & BBQ are just the thing to warm
everyone up. Great 60’s do-wop, played in a unique garage-rock-insanity style.
Best venue in Austin.
July 12: Bob Log III/Scott Biram/Possessed by Paul James @ Emo’s
An awesome triple-bill of one-man band action!! All 3 bands have different styles,
but all 3 kick serious one-man butt. A Hillgrass Bluebilly Entertainment
extravaganza.
02-03 Band of Horses/Cass McCombs
02-27 The Walkmen/The Broken West
03-19 Jazz Pharaohs/Monster Big Band
05-06 Lyle Lovett/Joe Ely/Guy Clark/John Hyatt
05-10 The Whigs/Dead Trees/What Made Milwaukee Famous
05-23 Clinic/BBQ/Neva Dinova
06-13 Loretta Lynn
08-23 The Terrible Twos
09-27 Butthole Surfers/The Kills/Fuckemos
09-28 Black Keys/Black Angels
10-04 The Whigs
10-25 Kings of Leon/We Are Scientists
12-04 Jim Gaffigan
12-27 X