Eddie Vedder #7 Best Chicago Concert 2008
#1 for me!!
~
Chicago Tribune
Greg Kot
Originally posted: December 22, 2008
My 10 favorite concerts of 2008
In 2008, I was fortunate enough to see hundreds of hours of live music performed, and here are my 10 favorite concerts of the year:
1. Stevie Wonder at Taste of Chicago, June 28: With 75,000 people in attendance on a glorious summer day, the master went to work with a pliant big band and an array of keyboards. He took his time, strolling through five decades’ worth of hits in a joyous celebration that spanned funk and ballads, protest cries and love pleas, all with the panache of a master composer with a mischievous streak that at times made him appear like roly-poly kid. Everybody came to dance, and they were not disappointed.
2. King Khan & the Shrines at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Union Park, July 20: The mighty caped Khan, looking like an Egyptian pharaoh on his way to a weekend in Sodom and Gomorrah, led a raging, horn-fueled funk band through a high-energy set that had jaws dropping in his European band’s North American debut. Khan gave James Brown’s shtick a few X-rated twists, and even did one-handed push-ups backward in a show that jumped from one sweat-soaked peak to the next without pause.
3. Mary J. Blige and Jay-Z at the United Center, April 26: Both superstars didn’t just dish out greatest hits sets, but pushed their artistry. Blige’s intense, sobbing style opened up to allow jazzier voicings, and Jay-Z’s gangsta cool embraced protest songs and vulnerability. They both have huge reputations, but at this show neither artist was resting on them.
4. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss at Ravinia, June 18: Like Blige and Jay-Z, Plant and Krauss took their renowned pasts and channeled them into something new on a beautifully lit stage. They didn’t so much faithfully re-create their past hits, they refashioned them into atmospheric roots music in keeping with the tone of their excellent 2007 collaboration, “Raising Sand.” Whether refashioning Led Zeppelin’s “The Battle of Evermore” or digging into the hymn “Down to the River to Pray,” the duo made every note ring with in-the-moment conviction.
5. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds at the Riviera, Sept. 28: Cave doesn’t work with props, but his shows take on a theatrical flair where it’s possible to imagine him as a menacing preacher, the type of guy who might pull out a Bible or a gun as the mood strikes him. His mighty backing band only enhances the turmoil, with Warren Ellis conjuring the sound of mayhem on his mandocaster.
6. Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings at Lollapalooza in Grant Park, Aug. 2: Jones scuffled for decades on the R&B circuit before getting a break and hooking up with the Dap-Kings (who also work with Amy Winehouse when she’s not indisposed), and she performs like she’s not about to blow her opportunity. Jones is the real deal, a strutting, testifying throwback to the Golden Age of soul, when performers brought gospel revival intensity to the concert stage. Her ebullient personality burned through the Lollapalooza weekend; with each performance by another band, I’d think, “That was pretty good, but it wasn’t Sharon Jones.”
7. Eddie Vedder at the Auditorium, Aug. 21: A homecoming for the Pearl Jam singer on a rare solo tour. The relaxed atmosphere allowed Vedder to venture across his songbook, and turn his plea for the Cubs to “Go All the Way” into a cathartic sing-along. Hey, back in August anything seemed possible. Vedder captured that spirit of optimism in a generous, far-ranging performance that felt like an evening with a guitar-playing friend in his living room.
8. Fleet Foxes at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Union Park, July 19: What a great moment it was when the Seattle quintet’s voices rose in sublime, unaccompanied harmony across a city park crowded with 17,000 raptly silent fans. For that one moment, Union Park felt like a vast outdoor cathedral, and the Fleet Foxes instantly became everyone’s new favorite band.
9. John Prine and Iris DeMent at the Chicago Theatre, Feb. 8: Armed with an impish grin and three guitar chords, the long-ago Old Town troubadour built an entire world on songs that made us laugh, well up with tears, or ponder our mortality --- sometimes within the space of a few lines. He even turned the prim, angel-voiced DeMent into a saucy duet partner on the ribald honky-tonker “In Spite of Ourselves.”
10. Monotonix at the South by Southwest Music Conference in Austin, Texas, March 15: This Israeli trio played most of their set in the middle of the audience, and by the end it was difficult to separate performers from observers. The band’s rugged blues-rock literally levitated, as a sea of grasping hands lifted singer, guitarist and drummer --- including his entire kit --- toward the sky for an encore I’ll never forget.
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~
Chicago Tribune
Greg Kot
Originally posted: December 22, 2008
My 10 favorite concerts of 2008
In 2008, I was fortunate enough to see hundreds of hours of live music performed, and here are my 10 favorite concerts of the year:
1. Stevie Wonder at Taste of Chicago, June 28: With 75,000 people in attendance on a glorious summer day, the master went to work with a pliant big band and an array of keyboards. He took his time, strolling through five decades’ worth of hits in a joyous celebration that spanned funk and ballads, protest cries and love pleas, all with the panache of a master composer with a mischievous streak that at times made him appear like roly-poly kid. Everybody came to dance, and they were not disappointed.
2. King Khan & the Shrines at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Union Park, July 20: The mighty caped Khan, looking like an Egyptian pharaoh on his way to a weekend in Sodom and Gomorrah, led a raging, horn-fueled funk band through a high-energy set that had jaws dropping in his European band’s North American debut. Khan gave James Brown’s shtick a few X-rated twists, and even did one-handed push-ups backward in a show that jumped from one sweat-soaked peak to the next without pause.
3. Mary J. Blige and Jay-Z at the United Center, April 26: Both superstars didn’t just dish out greatest hits sets, but pushed their artistry. Blige’s intense, sobbing style opened up to allow jazzier voicings, and Jay-Z’s gangsta cool embraced protest songs and vulnerability. They both have huge reputations, but at this show neither artist was resting on them.
4. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss at Ravinia, June 18: Like Blige and Jay-Z, Plant and Krauss took their renowned pasts and channeled them into something new on a beautifully lit stage. They didn’t so much faithfully re-create their past hits, they refashioned them into atmospheric roots music in keeping with the tone of their excellent 2007 collaboration, “Raising Sand.” Whether refashioning Led Zeppelin’s “The Battle of Evermore” or digging into the hymn “Down to the River to Pray,” the duo made every note ring with in-the-moment conviction.
5. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds at the Riviera, Sept. 28: Cave doesn’t work with props, but his shows take on a theatrical flair where it’s possible to imagine him as a menacing preacher, the type of guy who might pull out a Bible or a gun as the mood strikes him. His mighty backing band only enhances the turmoil, with Warren Ellis conjuring the sound of mayhem on his mandocaster.
6. Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings at Lollapalooza in Grant Park, Aug. 2: Jones scuffled for decades on the R&B circuit before getting a break and hooking up with the Dap-Kings (who also work with Amy Winehouse when she’s not indisposed), and she performs like she’s not about to blow her opportunity. Jones is the real deal, a strutting, testifying throwback to the Golden Age of soul, when performers brought gospel revival intensity to the concert stage. Her ebullient personality burned through the Lollapalooza weekend; with each performance by another band, I’d think, “That was pretty good, but it wasn’t Sharon Jones.”
7. Eddie Vedder at the Auditorium, Aug. 21: A homecoming for the Pearl Jam singer on a rare solo tour. The relaxed atmosphere allowed Vedder to venture across his songbook, and turn his plea for the Cubs to “Go All the Way” into a cathartic sing-along. Hey, back in August anything seemed possible. Vedder captured that spirit of optimism in a generous, far-ranging performance that felt like an evening with a guitar-playing friend in his living room.
8. Fleet Foxes at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Union Park, July 19: What a great moment it was when the Seattle quintet’s voices rose in sublime, unaccompanied harmony across a city park crowded with 17,000 raptly silent fans. For that one moment, Union Park felt like a vast outdoor cathedral, and the Fleet Foxes instantly became everyone’s new favorite band.
9. John Prine and Iris DeMent at the Chicago Theatre, Feb. 8: Armed with an impish grin and three guitar chords, the long-ago Old Town troubadour built an entire world on songs that made us laugh, well up with tears, or ponder our mortality --- sometimes within the space of a few lines. He even turned the prim, angel-voiced DeMent into a saucy duet partner on the ribald honky-tonker “In Spite of Ourselves.”
10. Monotonix at the South by Southwest Music Conference in Austin, Texas, March 15: This Israeli trio played most of their set in the middle of the audience, and by the end it was difficult to separate performers from observers. The band’s rugged blues-rock literally levitated, as a sea of grasping hands lifted singer, guitarist and drummer --- including his entire kit --- toward the sky for an encore I’ll never forget.
<!-- e --><a href="mailto:greg@gregkot.com">greg@gregkot.com</a><!-- e -->
http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/ ... orite.html
Three Fish
July 1996 San Francisco
June 1999 Chicago
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Comments
nothing at pitchfork deserves to make a list of top concerts
nice to see ed on there though
http://seanbriceart.com/