Thrasher's Blog: 05/01/2006

Pearl Jam & My Morning Jacket - Washington, DC

Pearl Jam and My Morning Jacket performed last night in Washington, DC on the Worldwide Suicide Tour.

The setlist featured cuts from the new CD including "Life Wasted" and "World Wide Suicide".

In addition, the setlist contained lots of the usual favorites like "Even Flow", "Leash", and "Blood". Awesome cover of Bob Dylan's "Masters of War" with the band seated in middle set, also.

The Choir

The concert included a cover of Neil Young's "Fuckin' Up" which was dedicated to Vice President Dick Cheney. Vedder introduced the song by saying he received a call from VP Cheney while in DC. When Eddie asked Dick how he got his phone number, Dick said that "he had sources at the NSA" -- a reference to the recent wiretapping activities of the spy agency.

Guitarist Mike McCready closed the show with "Yellow Ledbetter" which segued into "The Star-Spangled Banner".

My Morning Jacket

My Morning Jacket opened the show with a set that was mostly from the "It Still Moves" CD and their latest "Z".

Full setlist and concert notes at TwoFeetThick.com - Concert Chronology.

100 Most Important Living Songwriters: Paste Magazine Poll Results

Pearl Jam & Neil Young Video - "Rockin' in The Free World"

Pearl Jam & Neil Young play "Rockin In The Free World" on MTV's 1993 Music Awards.

Incendiary performance on YouTube.

Pearl Jam is covering the song on their current tour. More on the performance that left critics and fans raving and the collaborations and influences of Pearl Jam and Neil Young.

Link via The Perm & The Skullet.

Hey, Neil Young: We young singers are hog-tied, too

Neil Young recently said:

"I was waiting for someone to come along, some young singer eighteen-to-twenty-two years old, to write these songs and stand up… I waited a long time. Then I decided that maybe the generation that has to do this is still the '60s generation."

Now, from San Francisco Chronicle an open letter to Neil Young from singer-song-writer Stephan Smith titled "Hey, Neil Young: We young singers are hog-tied, too". The article describes how hard it is for young protest singers in today's climate.

"Dear Neil,

You recently said that you felt compelled to write your new album "Living With War" because you got tired of waiting for young protest singers to pick up the torch. I'm compelled to tell you that young protest singers are here, and we're holding the flame. I'm one of them.

The trouble is, you can't hear us on major radio stations for the same reasons you noted last year when you poignantly stated, "I can't do anything in the record industry, or especially radio, because it's so controlled by corporations."

While established artists like yourself may have felt your hands tied, the truth is far worse for upcoming artists: Even booking agents and managers won't touch us for fear that we will offend their audiences in a country where consumerism and patriotism stand united, as your song "Restless Consumer" makes clear."

Another World Is Possible

Play and listen to more MP3 samples of Stephan Smith's Slash and Burn.

Video: Dixie Chicks "The Long Way Around"

Those Dixie Chicks have a new video out from their CD "Taking The Long Way". Video is streaming on Amazon.com.

More on Dixie Chicks - Search.

Alejandro Escovedo's Boxing Mirror

From Washington Post Quick Spins reveiw Alejandro Escovedo's Boxing Mirror by Lisa Quintela:

"Aside from mulling over his personal rite of passage, the singer-songwriter weaves in an audible timeline of his musical past, including his early punk and cowpunk gigs, a brief tryst with '90s garage rock and his subsequent seven solo albums.

Three decades later, Escovedo's inspired sound still remains consistently varied, fusing the usual Lou Reed, Neil Young and David Bowie influences into such songs as 'Break This Time,' while intermittently peppering in Tex-Mex rock and string-stroked chamber pop throughout. Despite the gratifying guitar licks and creative cello orchestrations, 'The Boxing Mirror' occasionally falls prey to a clunky lyricism that overshadows Escovedo's characteristically husky voice. Repetitive hooks, reflected in the album's title song, all too often become monotonous, languishing in an artistic no-man's land, somewhere between Sammy Hagar and Lyle Lovett. Produced by Velvet Underground maverick John Cale, the album nevertheless glistens with a few sonic gems, including the melodic 'One True Love.' Fans in Escovedo's corner might feel that with 'The Boxing Mirror,' however, this musical pugilist just might be pulling his punches."

More Alejandro Escovedo - Search and listen and play MP3 sample of "Boxing Mirror".

Pearl Jam Video - "Life Wasted"

Great, new video clip from Pearl Jam off their new CD "WORLDWIDE SUICIDE". More metal than some of the other recent protest music of late. Suppose Phils Ochs and Pete Seeger would be proud of Eddie Vedder and company.

pearl-jam-life-wasted