Seen & Heard vol. 5

SATURDAY, JULY 9 – Ferdinand the Bull at Deutschtown Music Festival’s Park Stage (Pittsburgh, PA)

I know that I only saw 0.005% of the bands performing at this year’s 4th annual Deutschtown Music Festival, but my family and I made the one set that we saw count.  Opening up this year’s festival was Pittsburgh’s own Americana/bluegrass band Ferdinand the Bull (FTB).  Excited by the release of their new album “Days We Forgot”, the energy of the 4-piece (mandolin, percussion, acoustic guitar & banjo) carried over to their live set even for an early Saturday morning.  In fact, guitarist Nick Snyder broke a string on the second song.

Sitting on the Allegheny Commons East, we listened, ate our sandwiches and then talked about the music.  My boys really liked the beats being made by the Mini-Cajon, I was a fan of the mandolin playing and overall FTB kept everyone tapping their foot or in my younger son’s case snapping his fingers.  Deserving of a larger crowd, I was happy to learn that FTB scored an opening slot for Josh Ritter at Hartwood Acres later in the month. 

But as the band’s set wound down, my sons’ attention were drawn to the Venture Outdoors rock wall and while they were climbing,  I was asked to be an extra in the upcoming Netflix series being filmed in Pittsburgh, “Mindhunter” (produced by actress Charlize Theron & Kevin Spacey and directed by David Fincher).  It was tempting to stay for the next band (which we knew nothing about), but easing my boys into the all-day music festival scene was more important to me this afternoon than “making” them listen to an electro-soul duo. 

Thank you to festival founders Cody Walters and Ben Soltesz.   We hope to spend even more time in Deutschtown in 2017!

TUESDAY, JULY 12 – Guns N' Roses at Heinz Field (Pittsburgh, PA)

In the fall of 1988, after I had purchased my cassette copy of “Appetite for Destruction” from The Music Staff, I honestly never thought I would see Guns N’ Roses (GNR) perform live.  Or at least a version of the band that included Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan.  Not that I did not have an interest in going to see concerts, but more that the shows that I had been attending up until that point were heavily influenced by my brother and older cousins.  And my brother and older cousins will be quick to point out that I owned my allegiance to GNR since they had zero interest.

But while the Heinz Field crowd arrived (fashionably) late, I walked out to the sounds of “Welcome to the Jungle” and for this moment in time, GNR placed all of the drama aside to play a rock n’ roll show for the fans that had been waiting.  And for the first time, I heard the influences in the band that I had first listened to at age 13.  Maybe it was their cover of the 1973 hit by Paul McCartney and Wings, “Live and Let Die”, the Pink Floyd-esque version of “Estranged” or the Led Zeppelin guitar sounds of  “Rocket Queen”, I was finally hearing where I think GNR is coming from.

And in 2016 (28 years later), although Rose, paced his voice throughout the set – passing on some notes and nailing a number of others, what really jumped out at me were the true power chords from Slash as well as the rhythms being held down by McKagan (who sported Prince’s “love symbol” on his bass) and drummer Frank Ferrer.  Ferrer was more than solid and although he now appears to be best known as the drummer for GNR, with whom he has played, toured, and recorded since 2006, I also learned he has worked with several high profile musicians including Tool, Neil Young and Perry Farrell.

I am glad I got to see this incarnation of the band at this point in time.  Because, not only did I ever think I would seem live, but in all of my musical travels, I never thought I would say that I worked at a GNR show either.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 13 – Ryan Adams and The Shining at Stage AE (Pittsburgh, PA)

It was a busy night for concerts in Pittsburgh.  And I was very happy knowing that my evening would evolve from working in the box office for a teen-pop show to a concert featuring one of the leading American singer-songwriters.  

Using Pittsburgh’s under-utilized, underground transit system from downtown to the North Shore I felt a sense of relief mingling with the fans of Ryan Adams as opposed to the Bieber Fever that had taken over CONSOL Energy Center.  I cannot specifically put my finger on it, but it was most likely the age demographic and the fact that a majority of the fans in Stage AE were experienced concert-goers.  So finally amongst friends who had converged on Stage AE from around the U.S. to see Ryan Adams and The Shining, the subject of United States geography was (one of the things) in the air.  It was wild, standing in a group in which Athens, GA; Chanhassen, MN and Washington DC were represented and that was just the people I attended the show with.

And to keep the geography theme going - highlights of the night for me included songs, “New York New York”; “Dear Chicago” and “Oh My Sweet Carolina”.  Backed by the Shining, Adams’ band also brought their A-game and I was particularly impressed with organ player/pianist Daniel Clarke.  But it was clearly Adams’ show.  He worked the crowd like an old pro, engaging in banter with fans who were shouting out requests and in return being unapologetically self-assertive and head-strong in his responses.  Leaning back into the amps, posing with his guitar at the far end of the stage and just all around being a rock-star and when it comes down it, it was his name on the marquee.  Traveling with retro pinball and soda machines and stuffed animals as stage décor, but then backing it up as a triple-threat: good singing, solid songs and impressive guitar playing. 

Meanwhile 28 miles west of Stage AE, another rock-star: John Mayer was fronting Dead & Co. at First Niagara Pavilion – a show that I would have also like to have seen.  However, after seeing Ryan Adams perform “Magnolia Mountain”, it would be interesting down the road to see him play with surviving members of the Grateful Dead.

TUESDAY, JULY 26 – Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats at Stage AE (Pittsburgh, PA)

Nathaniel Rateliff is clearly an artist on the rise.  He has a career sitting somewhere between staff members at Stage AE not being familiar with his soulful music and having his own Kia Soul Hamster television commercial. 

Playing a vast majority of his set from his current self-titled album, Rateliff affectionately boasted that the crowd tonight would get to hear him and The Night Sweats “play the hits”.  Highlighted by songs, “I Never Get Old”, “Look It Here”, “Thank You” as well as the surprisingly unreleased song “Out on the Weekend”, the band kept the tempo of the show as well as all of those in attendance moving.  And the crowd was not the only people feeling the sounds filling Stage AE.  Keyboardist Mark Shusterman lost his hat during an enthusiastic solo and one of the horn players knocked over a microphone stand in the middle of his Chicago horn section-esque dance steps circa 1973.  Rateliff appeared equally as happy playing his guitar as he was dancing and keeping rhythm with a tambourine. 

Playing music with his close friends, the band looked happy and energetic.  He mentioned that he and bassist Joseph Pope III have been making music for 20 years, and I could get a sense that the band’s heavy touring schedule is paying off.  In fact the band has another 20 dates on the books through the end of September 2016.  

However as I listened to the music in a packed, indoor club on a humid night in Pittsburgh, it was his voice and the songs that were the star of the sold out show.  Time for the rest of us to discover Nathaniel Rateliff and the Wheel as well as his three solo records released between 2011-2013.

  

Seven Thirty Seven comin' out of the sky. / Oh! Won't you take me down to Memphis on a midnight ride.

It was once relayed to me that "rock 'n' roll is about getting in your cracked-up van and driving out to the middle of nowhere to play or see a show".  There is a lot of truth to that statement and it was very cool having that sentiment written out in an eloquent, fun style in Jesse Andrews’ book “The Haters”.  As someone who used to travel in a van from concert to concert, some of the trials and tribulations experienced by the main characters made me laugh out loud.

There is a tremendous amount of bonding going on while traveling with a band.  Now having the life experience of being married for over 10 years, I think back to those times and at some points it almost seems like the band members and I were a couple. Negotiations and compromises occurred regularly, on controversial topics like navigating directions to gigs (pre-GPS) and determining when and where to stop for the night. I remember one night where we got in our van after a 3 hour gig in San Luis Obispo, CA and traveled another 3 hours to Bakersfield, CA – mostly along a harrowing CA-Route 46 for at least half the trip.  The two-lane stretch from Paso Robles to Cholame was once known as "Blood Alley" for the large number of car crashes.  Upon learning this information, the bass player almost quit the band.

In another instance, one of the houses we used to stay in many times in Washington DC had a basement made for a band.   Old, stained furniture and nothing else that was not replaceable filled the room.  The concrete floor slept 6 people as comfortable as it could and the residents of the house were always up (literally and figuratively) for late night shenanigans.  In fact, the term “Tuesday Night Drunk” (no matter which night of the week it was) spun out of a visit to the now defunct Metro Café.  The reasons for both the journey to Bakersfield and the occasional off nights in Washington DC was not other performance opportunities, but free places to stay.

I recently read an article by Brian O’Neill called ‘Couch Surfin’ USA’ which went on to talk about a Pittsburgh-based band, Ferdinand the Bull, and their experiences of touring.  Throughout a recent tour thru middle America, they used the internet to find their accommodations for the evening.  The difference in having a comfortable, free place to stay along with a safe place to store gear was immeasurable until it came time to look at the band’s bank account and then the savings were even more easily measured.  It was a huge nest egg and even allowed some of the bands I worked with to have money left to make payments on the van and enable more touring.

With summer tours in full-swing, I hope you can all get out and see at least one show this summer!  Thanks for reading.