Critic's Picks: Summer 2010
Published in Berkshires Week
By Jeremy D. Goodwin
Thank you, Wilco.
Two years after its celebrated show at Tanglewood, the innovative, Chicago-based band once again drops a huge gift into the lap of the Berkshires—but this time on a larger scale, artistically speaking.
The Tanglewood gig was merely an unexpected show at a great venue more accustomed, in the pop realm, to heritage artists faithfully reciting their greatest hits than still-relevant bands aiming to shake up the world. But the Wilco-curated Solid Sound Festival, occupying Mass Moca on August 13 through 15, is a major rock and roll event.
Wilco simply playing this venue, in its only East Coast appearance of the summer, would be enough. But they're also bringing all of the members' side projects, plus a raft of other interesting artists like the great Mavis Staples, local geektronic auteurs The Books, Avi Buffalo, and Vetiver. But wait, there's more—a comedy stage, for some reason, and exhibits featuring drummer Glenn Kotche's drumheads, guitarist Nels Cline's pedals, and a retrospective of Wilco concert posters. The full artistic amenities on display at Mass Moca are available to festival-goers as well.
All told, it's a serious happening.
But a music fan cannot live on Wilco (and all its friends) alone. It's a curious summer in the pop music realm. There's the thickest group of notable headliners I've seen in my five years in the Berkshires, but a steep drop-off then follows. In fact, though at last check its representatives were still playing down the calls for more pop music following the Wilco success, Tanglewood is nearly carrying the summer pop music world on its back.
Jousting with Wilco for the most anticipated show, in my eyes, is Herbie Hancock, who plays The Shed at Tanglewood on August 9. He'll be touring in support of "The Imagine Project," an album due June 22 for which he traveled the world collaborating with different artists from different musical cultures. The album features folks like Dave Matthews, Wayne Shorter, The Chieftains, Pink, Seal, and Chaka Khan, but so far we only know the tour will feature "special guests."
Thank you, Wilco.
Two years after its celebrated show at Tanglewood, the innovative, Chicago-based band once again drops a huge gift into the lap of the Berkshires—but this time on a larger scale, artistically speaking.
The Tanglewood gig was merely an unexpected show at a great venue more accustomed, in the pop realm, to heritage artists faithfully reciting their greatest hits than still-relevant bands aiming to shake up the world. But the Wilco-curated Solid Sound Festival, occupying Mass Moca on August 13 through 15, is a major rock and roll event.
Wilco simply playing this venue, in its only East Coast appearance of the summer, would be enough. But they're also bringing all of the members' side projects, plus a raft of other interesting artists like the great Mavis Staples, local geektronic auteurs The Books, Avi Buffalo, and Vetiver. But wait, there's more—a comedy stage, for some reason, and exhibits featuring drummer Glenn Kotche's drumheads, guitarist Nels Cline's pedals, and a retrospective of Wilco concert posters. The full artistic amenities on display at Mass Moca are available to festival-goers as well.
All told, it's a serious happening.
But a music fan cannot live on Wilco (and all its friends) alone. It's a curious summer in the pop music realm. There's the thickest group of notable headliners I've seen in my five years in the Berkshires, but a steep drop-off then follows. In fact, though at last check its representatives were still playing down the calls for more pop music following the Wilco success, Tanglewood is nearly carrying the summer pop music world on its back.
Jousting with Wilco for the most anticipated show, in my eyes, is Herbie Hancock, who plays The Shed at Tanglewood on August 9. He'll be touring in support of "The Imagine Project," an album due June 22 for which he traveled the world collaborating with different artists from different musical cultures. The album features folks like Dave Matthews, Wayne Shorter, The Chieftains, Pink, Seal, and Chaka Khan, but so far we only know the tour will feature "special guests."
Tanglewood also offers us a double-shot of 1960's nostalgia, most importantly in the form of Simon and Garfunkel (July 27), who added the Lenox date to a North American tour that numbers less than 20 dates. Though the legendary duo aren't quite as "broken up" as most people are given to understand, their tours are still rare events and well worth attention.
Sure to be a pleasant evening, but of less import, is Crosby, Stills and Nash's show at Tanglewood on September 1. (Add Neil Young to the mix and it's a different story.) In more Tanglewood news, Arlo Guthrie, whose collaboration with classical musicians is memorialized on the very good live album In Times Like These, collaborates for the first time with the Boston Pops there on July 18.
Jam-rock elder statesmen Phish are in the neighborhood, with two shows apiece at Hartford’s euphemistically named outdoor shed Comcast Theatre (June 17 and 18) and the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (June 19 and 20). After its emotionally charged 2009 comeback, the band is now out to prove it still matters as a creative unit as well as a cultural phenomenon.
Each of the last few years, James Taylor has puts enough of a twist on his summer engagements at Tanglewood to make each seem a special event. This time it's a collaboration with old friend Carole King, on July 3 and 4.
There are a couple hidden-gem-shows I want to recommend, but not a ton as of yet. After a wonderful, all-request show at the cozy venue in December, Erin McKeown returns to the Dreamaway Lodge on July 30. Legendary King Krimson guitarist Adrian Belew (who also lent the zig-zag electric sizzle to Talking Heads’ greatest live era) plays The Linda in Albany on June 19. Steve Earle and Hot Tuna share a bill at The Egg on July 30. The Colonial Theatre has Rosanne Cash on June 29 (apparently featuring material from her hit covers album “The List,” released in 2009), and the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center hosts the legendary horn-fueled funk of Tower of Power on August 1. The always-welcome Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, this year condensed to three days, inhabits Dodd’s Farm in Hillsdale, New York from July 23 through 25.
Also keep your eye out for Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, which plays Mass MoCa on June 26. The ambitious quartet’s tempo-shifting, genre-skirting instrumental freak-outs are not for the less adventurous, but it’s music that feels like it matters. The band is debuting its arrangement of Beethoven’s Third and Sixth Symphonies (with 45-member orchestra) this month, but look for cuts from its new studio album Stay Gold, to be released a few days before the North Adams show.
The much-anticipated opening of Club Helsinki Hudson crawls forward, still in soft-opening mode, with a limited-service “Sound Check Series” that features Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles on June 12. Look for more on the very welcome reincarnation of Club Helsinki as events warrant.
There’s a slew of tribute acts coming through this summer, most notably Dweezil Zappa Plays Zappa (at the Mahaiwe on July 3). RAIN: A Beatles Experience (June 16), Bruce in the USA (July 10) and Blue: The Music of Joni Mitchell (August 21) at the Palace Theatre in Albany, the Colonial and again the Colonial, respectively.
Some additional interesting shows at the theatre and club level are bound to come uncovered, but the one thing that can be banked on this summer is a lot of expertly invoked nostalgia. And Wilco. Lots and lots of Wilco.