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Help The Barn Write Its Phish Summer Tour 2012 Preview

There's no matching Phish fans for pure, unadulterated enthusiasm. I cover scores of bands for this site and no content can generate traffic quite like articles about The Phish from Vermont.And while this year's summer tour announcement was met with typical anticipation and celebratory fervor, before too long something curious happened. I started to...

Stream & Download: Bob Dylan with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers @ Poplar Creek 6/29/86

Another great Chicago area show for you.  This show has a little bit of everything.  Bob with a great band of total pros at the top of their game.  Some gospel-infused backing vocals.  Bob solo and acoustic.  Petty and the Heartbreakers mini-sets interspersed throughout.  Classic Bob.  Deep Cuts.&...

Infographic: Girls - What Kind and Where According To Beach Boys / Brian Wilson

Looks like a bit more research is needed into the young and female population of some Southwest and Mountain states to complete this map infographic from the iloveyoubrianwilson tumblr. For the time being, the remaining classifications will be most helpful for the band and crew as the Beach Boys tour the country for their 50th...

Setlist, Stream & Download: Steve Kimock Band @ Bottom Lounge, Chicago, IL 5/19/12

Steve and his band turned in two interesting sets on a big Saturday in Chicago. After many many years of seeing same looking songlists from his bands, it was a treat to see him mix it up a bit with covers and newer originals, even bringing a Zero tune (Anorexia) out of mothballs for the...

Setlist: Beach Boys @ Chicago Theater, 5/21/12

Rock music exists in a land where senior citizens can still be called boys, and the Beach Boys brought their nostalgia-laden show to Chicago Theater last night, complete with a 10 piece backing band. Their two sets were a mix of the big radio hits, tracks from their most critically acclaimed albums and some covers of...

Visual Setlist: Umphrey’s McGee @ Hangout Festival, Gulf Shores, AL 5/18/12

For a write-up on how to read and interpret visual setlists, click on over here.[box] SongGapLTPMiss Tinkle's Overture54/20/2012Conduit34/26/2012All In Time24/27/2012Booth Love34/26/2012Miami Virtue34/26/2012Higgins44/21/2012Tribute to Spinal Shaft114/12/2012Soul Food II312/16/2012Puppet String14/28/2012Wizard Burial Ground14/28/2012[/box]>View Umphrey's McGee Rotation<>View All Spring Tour Visual Setlists<

Review, Photos, Setlist: Old Shoe & Sean Shiel @ Ace Bar 5/9/12

Words: Dave Weckstein, Images: Norman SandsWhat the world needs now is another folk hero, like I need a hole in the head is a phrase penned by Cracker on Teen Angst but in the years since they wrote it, it has been covered by the likes of acoustic artists suchThe band went on later in...

Adventures In Publicity: The Shams Band & Dastardly Feud Of Spring 2012

When good bands generate some great publicity, it's win-win for the bands, fans and especially bloggers like me. Two Chicago bands, making waves in the alt-acoustic scene, The Shams Band and Dastardly cooked up a good old-fashioned feud to create awareness for show at Subterranean that featured both bands on the bill.It began with...

Fight For Your Right To Party: The Infographic

Craig Robinson makes some absolutely beautiful baseball related infographics at Flip Flop Flyball. He put that skill to work over the past weekend to create this elegant map of the words in Beastie Boys' "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)".Every dot represents one word of the song. The colors, of course, are...

Setlist, Recap & Video: 30db & Van Ghost @ Abbey Pub 5/9/12

The 30db / Van Ghost pairing was just one of the many inspired double (sometime triple & quadruple) bills that the Abbey Pub has been programming lately and certainly one of the most high profile, considering the national prominence of the artists involved, yet a strong sense of Chicago hung in the air all night. This...