10/24/08 Rob Da Bank/The Whip/Luciano/Late of the Pier @ Irving Plaza, New York, NY

I went to this show mainly because Pete Tong curated it, but I ended up leaving before the better, later half of the line-up came on. The most memorable part was when one of the opening bands played percussion with a pair of 2x4's.

08/06/08 Soulwax/Dave P./JDH/Alex English @ Irving Plaza, New York, NY

Soulwax is the live band project of Belgian DJ mash-up duo 2 Many DJs. Here, their explosive live set was paired with local DJs about town Dave P. and JDH of Fixed.

08/01/08 Booka Shade/Michna @ Irving Plaza, New York, NY

This German electronic duo's live act is way more energetic than their borderline ambient recorded material, and that's not bad.

07/15/08 Mickey Hart Band @ Irving Plaza, New York, NY

07/15/08 • Irving Plaza • New York , NY
Set 1: Shakedown Street, Manila Farewell, Seven Seconds, Self Defense, Tolongo, Fountains Of Wood, Eyes Of The World, Good Lovin’
Set 2: The Center Prelude > The Center, Strange World, Your House, The Other One > Arabian Wind > The Other One > Sugaree > Scarlet Begonias > Fire On The Mountain
Encore: Papa Was A Rolling Stone > Aiko Aiko

This incarnation of the pernicious percussionist' solo band was highlighted by the appropriately psychedelic tones of San Francisco stalwart Steve Kimock and String Cheese Incident keyboardist Kyle Hollingsworth.

The two sets included such Dead essentials as Shakedown Street, Scarlet Begonias and The Other One, along with a classic pairing of Scarlet/Fire, the latter of which is Hart's signature Dead composition.

LISTEN HERE!

04/05/08 Lotus/C-Mon & Kypski/The Frequency @ Irving Plaza, New York, NY

04-05-08 Fillmore NYC at Irving Plaza, New York, NY (SAT)
Flower Sermon, Grayrigg, Alkaline*, Sunrain > Killing In The Name, Spiritualize, Age Of Inexperience, Plant Your Root > Umbilical Moonset > Sunrain, Bellwhether, One Last Hurrah
E: 72 Hours Awake, Greet The Mind
* With Thomas Elbers (Kypski) on turntables and Sean Coolican on tambourine (The Frequency)

This show remains the best Lotus show of the relatively few I've seen, highlighted by an epic take on Rage Against the Machine's "Killing In the Name" before the Biscuits, and even Phish, started doing it.

LISTEN HERE!

02/27/08 Flogging Molly @ Irving Plaza, New York, NY

With St. Patrick's Day just a few weeks away, Flogging Molly brought their infectious brand of Irish folk punk to Irving Plaza.

12/06/07 Balkan Beat Box @ Irving Plaza, New York, NY

This Gogol Bordello spin-off features a similar international goulash of musical styles from klezmer to punk to hip hop to dub. It's the type of music that you can't help but dance to.

11/11/07 ASSSSCAT @ Irving Plaza, New York, NY

I tend to prefer my improvisation in music rather than comedy, but ASSSSCAT are certainly the best at what they do. Their Sunday night show at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre has been one of the best values in comedy for several years.

For this New York Comedy Festival event, the original UCB ASSSSCAT group of Amy Poehler, Matt Besser, Matt Walsh and Ian Roberts was augmented by Saturday Night Live alum Horatio Sanz.

My favorite sketch featured the gang riffing on a hippie-cum-hipster with Amy Poehler's brilliant take on Modest Mouse: "Most mice are modest. They're beautiful creatures."

10/27/07 Comedians of Comedy @ Irving Plaza, New York, NY

The Comedians of Comedy tour was put together to bring comedy to venues more accustomed to rock and roll. The tour spawned a live DVD and a documentary series on Comedy Central. At this stage of the tour, my favorite of the group, Zach Galifianakis, had moved on to bigger things. In his steadm, the night featured up-and-comers like Aziz Anisari and Eugene Mirman, in addition to stalwarts Patton Oswalt, Brian Posehan and special guest David Cross.

05/05/07 Antibalas @ Irving Plaza, New York, NY

Nowadays, Antibalas can be found providing the live accompaniment for the Broadway hit Fela!, but once upon a time, they were merely the best afrobeat orchestra in the land, carrying the torch of Fela Kuti's considerable musical legacy.

03/24/07 Tea Leaf Green/U-Melt @ Irving Plaza, New York, NY

This show was a reminder that jam music can be bland and uninspired just like any other genre. I now know to stick to the cream of the crop and away from the boring generic stuff.

Tea Leaf Green has since recruited bassist Reed Mathis, though I prefer him with Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, and U-Melt recently called it quits.

02/24/07 Zach Galifianakis @ Irving Plaza, New York, NY

Before Zach sky-rocketed to pop cultural over-saturation thanks to his breakout role in the overrated comedy The Hangover, he was one of the funniest comedians in the business.

After being a fan for a few years, I finally got the chance to catch his live show and it did not disappoint. From identifying Out Cold as "a snowboard film I did with Lee Majors" to completely verbally destroying a heckler to a finale involving Zach in a tutu, this stands as one of the most satisfying and entertaining comedy experiences of my life.

02/03/07 Galactic/J-Live @ Irving Plaza, New York, NY

This might have been the show at which Galactic became my most seen band.

02/02/07 Galactic/Reggie Watts @ Irving Plaza, New York, NY

I came for Galactic, but I was pleasantly surprised by opener Reggie Watts. I had previously seen him and his powerful pipes sit in with Soulive. I also knew that he fronted a Pacific Northwest R&B soul funk group called Maktub, so I figured I'd be catching something along those lines.

What I learned is that Reggie Watts had decided to divert his considerable vocal talents to the field of alternative comedy, combining looped beats with off-kilter, tongue-in-cheek witticisms and observations to create some of the most original comedic material I've ever witnessed. It truly must be seen to be understood.

12/30/06 moe. @ Irving Plaza, New York, NY

Set 1: Meat, Captain America, Akimbo, Big World, Y.O.Y. > George
Set 2: Head > Kyle's Song, Crab Eyes, Dr. Graffenberg > Can't You Hear Me Knocking > Rebubula
Encore: Faker > Head

Somehow I had managed to avoid moe. until this point, despite my tastes tending towards the exact brand of jam rock they purvey. I liked them enough, but I never developed the obsession that the moe.rons have.

This was an intimate venue appetizer to the main course New Year's Eve extravaganza at the much larger Radio City Music Hall. I decided to avail myself of the perks of my volunteer work to catch the sold out show.

The music was enjoyable enough, if mostly forgettable, but the proceedings were overshadowed by the spectre of the mononucleosis with which I had recently been diagnosed. As a result of the disease, I was forced to abstain from drinking for a month, forgo any New Year's Eve celebrations and skip a non-refundable snowboard trip to Colorado in January.

06/26/06 Atmosphere/Brother Ali @ Irving Plaza, New York, NY

This show featured two heavy hitters of Minneapolis' unlikely hip hop scene.

I inadvertently offended my black friend when I attempted to discern the differences between "black hip hop" and "white hip hop."

Brother Ali is notable for being albino and Muslim.

Atmosphere (rapper Slug and producer Ant backed by a small band) was OK, but it didn't live up to my expectations. "Guns and Cigarettes," however, remains one of my all-time favorite tracks.

05/20/06 Daptone Super Soul Revue @ Irving Plaza, New York, NY

At the time, this show seemed like the penultimate celebration of the soul revival spearheaded by the Daptone label intent on vintage analog equipment and a decidedly retro, yet fresh take on the genre. The showcase doubled as a 50th birthday celebration for the former corrections officer turned neo-soul superstar, the inimitable Sharon Jones. It featured nearly every artist on the label, from Jones' backing band The Dap Kings to funksters The Budos Band to gospel revivalist Naomi Davis. Several years later, however, the soul revival has burgeoned even further with the success of acts like Amy Winehouse. Sharon herself has reached higher plateaus with headlining gigs at The Apollo Theater and a much-ballyhooed stint as back-up vocalist for Phish's 2009 Halloween interpretation of The Rolling Stones' Exile On Main Street that also featured several members of the Dap-Kings horn section.

04/22/06 Bela Fleck & The Flecktones @ Irving Plaza, New York, NY

04/22/06 Bela Fleck & The Flecktones @ Irving Plaza, New York, NY
Next, Frontiers, Hurricane Camille, Throwdown at the Hoedown, Weed Whacker, Couch Potato, Whistle Tune, Victor/Bela, Kaleidoscope, Kalied1, Futureman/Jeff, Africa Jam1, New South Africa, Sojourn of Arjuna, Bela Solo, Sinister Minister
1 w/Baaba Maal

The Flecktones are one of the most virtuosic group of musicians ever assembled. Each of them are among the best at their individual instruments. It helps that the aptly names Future Man plays an synth-axe drumitar of his own design, but from Jeff Coffin's dual sax attacks to Vic Wooten's light speed bass slapping, these guys are truly in a league of their own. Leading the jazzy, funky nu-grass is banjoist extraordinaire, Bela Fleck.

This was my first and only live Flecktones experience and it was everything I hoped it would be, even though they didn't play one of my all-time favorite songs, Stomping Grounds. It definitely ranks up there as one of my most memorable musical experiences.

In the international and collaborative spirit of the Green Apple Fest, Senegalese singer Baaba Maal guested on vocals for a couple tunes.

11/17/05 Dead Kennedys (w/o Jello) @ Irving Plaza, New York, NY

This was the first show I worked as a volunteer for LifeBeat. I sat at a table and handed out safe sex info and condoms and such.

The show itself wasn't anything special, but I figured I might as well check out these punk veterans even if the outspoken Jello Biafra had long since moved on.

09/19/05 Particle @ Irving Plaza, New York, NY

This was a very late night show in conjunction with the CMJ music festival that takes over NYC every fall and features hundreds of bands in venues of all shapes and sizes throughout the city.

Particle seemed to have come out of nowhere and at this juncture in its career was beginning to come back down to earth after hurdling through the stratosphere of the jamtronica universe.

The late night show was highlighted by a cover of the Red Hot Chili Pepper's "Suck My Kiss" and a take on the Beverly hills Cop theme aka "Axel F."

I went to this show with one of my best friends visiting form Israel. Unfortunately, for a short spell in the Holy Land, he had fallen in with the wrong crowd and taken to harassing seminary students. One of the kids he had rumbled with was at the show and we had to leave a bit early to avoid confrontation.

I also met my erstwhile AIM buddy, as well as future (and current) roommate, at this show for the first time in real life.