IRT Magazine

From dmwmedia.com:

Led Zeppelin & Metallica Confirmed for Bonnaroo 2008?

An anonymous reader tipped Bob Lefsetz, author of The Lefsetz Letter, yesterday about an interesting development in the live music world: “Zeppelin just confirmed for Bonnaroo. They can’t officially announce until after the London gig so pass it on! Also Metallica is confirmed on the bill too!”

Anyone who has experienced the unique event that is Bonnaroo (or its younger sibling Vegoose) knows the four-day Manchester, Tennessee show’s trademark is its eclectic mix of bands. Considered “the largest hippy festival in the world,” as Andrew Stockdale, lead singer of Wolfmother said onstage last June, the festival organizers always manage to add plenty of non-hippy artists. In 2007 there was also the addition of a “classic” billing, the reemergence of The Police.

If the anonymous reader is right about Zeppelin and Metallica, Bonnaroo 2008 has a leg up on alternatives like Coachella before ’07 is even finished.

But that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy their reunion concert. I found this tasty, well-recorded audience boot of their 10-20-07 show in Detroit, MI and let me tell you, it doesn’t get any better than Van Halen with David Lee Roth back in the mix. Maybe its because he’s surrounded by family this time out, but the chemistry seems to be back between Eddie and Dave. I think it was a smart move to put his son on bass instead of Michael Anthony. He seems more comfortable, and Roth seems more humble. Diamond Dave still has it, even though he hasn’t done anything substantial himself in over 20 years.  And when you get to the one part of this show where he talks about Van Halen’s beginnings in Pasadena, CA, I defy you to not be touched.  But that’s just my opinion. Enjoy this show, big thanks to the VH room at Guitars 101 for the hookup. -Ed.
Van Halen
October 20, 2007 - Joe Louis Arena
Detroit, Michigan

Disc one

1 You Really Got Me
2 I’m The One
2 Runnin’ With The Devil
4 Romeo Delight
5 Somebody Get Me A Doctor
6 Beautiful Girls
7 Dance The Night Away
8 Atomic Punk
9 Everybody Wants Some
10 So This Is Love
11 Mean Street
12 Pretty Woman
13 Drum Solo

Disc two

1 Unchained
2 I’ll Wait
3 The Cradle Will Rock
4 Hot For Teacher
5 Little Dreamer
6 Little Guitars
7 Jamie’s Cryin’
8 suburbs
9 Ice Cream Man
10 Panama
11 Guitar Solo
12 Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love
13 1984
14 Jump

Enjoy the show

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=UUP3WP6Y

From the wonderful Smuggled Sounds site on Blogger, a live testament to DLR’s 1986 band featuring Steve Vai, Billy Sheehan and Greg Bissonette, which in my opinion was BETTER than VH on their best day - Ed.:

David Lee Roth - Live in Toronto

THURSTON MOORE

Maxwell’s

Hoboken, NJ 9/24/07

It seems to me that Sonic Youth, in one form or another, has appeared in just about every issue of IRT since our inception in 2002. So the act of giving Thurston Moore a copy of our latest issue this past Monday night at his solo performance at Maxwell’s, the kick-off night of his fall tour in support of his outstanding new solo album Trees Outside the Academy, was a very kool thing. A very big thank you goes out to my lovely fiancee Michele for laying on the pressure to hand him a copy of No. 9 as he walked off-stage, which he gladly took with a friendly “cool, thanks” and now joins the ranks of Scarlett Johansson, Aesop Rock, Dawson’s Creek hottie Michelle Williams, Tunde from TV On The Radio and Richard Hell as one of IRT’s celebrity readership. I hope he dug Anthony Parks’ review of the deluxe edition of Daydream Nation and the review of the long, lost Asylum Choir album written by his friend Jason “Coach Fingers” Meagher of Noneck Blues Band fame. And the better news is, after he took one, it inspired the rest of the crowd in attendance to pilfer the stack Michele and I brought into the place to hand out to the people. For the first time in our history, folks were grabbing the magazine out of MY hand rather than me shoving it into theirs. It was a good feeling, and I hope I see more of it as this latest issue papers the city. As for the show, it was one of the best times I’ve seen Mr. Moore perform, be it solo or with Sonic Youth, right up their with my second SY concert, at the old Academy on October 20, 1995 where they broke out a lengthy “Diamond Sea” jam for the ages or on my 30th birthday opening for The Stooges at Jones Beach. Seeing the man on-stage rocking an acoustic guitar for most of the night was a strange and refreshing site, and quite necessary given the calmer nature of Trees Outside The Academy, well most of it at least. His touring band consists of longtime SY drummer Steve Shelley, Samara Lubelski (Tower Recordings), Christopher Brokaw of such great 90s bands as Codeine, Come and NNCK bassist Matt Heyner, and they played excellently together. And structured, playing pretty much the entirety of Trees and a pair of aces from his last “pop” solo album, 1995’s fantastic Psychic Hearts, the title cut and “Queen Bee and Her Pals” (I wonder if he’ll break out “Ono Soul”, the best track on that MF. This was a true had-to-be-there type shows, as I cannot project how many times I’ll ever get to see the likes of Thurston Moore inside such a small club as Maxwell’s again. Maybe by then, he’ll ditch the band altogether for that acoustic guitar. -Ed.

This is sad. It hasn’t even been a year since CB’s closed. I’m guessing this is the real end of the club and there will be no NY or Vegas re-opening, unless his family sells the rights to the name. If you’re new to the IRT and have yet to read our cover feature on CB’s, all the way back in issue 5, now’s the perfect time to download the pdf by clicking the “see past issues” link in the upper right hand corner of your screen.

~Shawn Schank

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hilly Kristal, the founder of New York punk rock club CBGB, which helped make the Ramones, Blondie and Talking Heads stars, has died at age 75, his daughter said on Wednesday.

Kristal died on Tuesday from complications of lung cancer, his daughter, Lisa Kristal Burgman, said.

He founded the club in 1973 hoping to showcase country music, calling it CBGB & OMFUG, for “Country, Bluegrass, Blues and Other Music For Uplifting Gourmandizers.”

But the club drew few country acts and instead became a breeding ground for punk rock, playing host to the likes of Patti Smith, Television, Living Colour as well as countless local hopefuls that never made it to the big time.

“He loved country, but he loved music even more, and as a singer-songwriter himself, he knew rock musicians needed a place to play their own music,” his daughter said.

Marky Ramone of the Ramones said in a statement, “Hilly was an integral part of the punk scene from 1974 until his death.”

“He was always supportive of the genre,” he said. “In an era when disco was the mainstream, Hilly took a chance and gambled. The gamble paid off for both him and for us. We are all grateful to him and will miss him.”

Johnny Rzeznik of the Goo Goo Dolls, who first played CBGB in the late 1980s, said agents from recording companies often came to the club. “So many bands would have never have made records unless they came to CBGB,” he said.

Kristal was born in Manhattan but his father moved the family to Hightstown, New Jersey, soon after. He became a concert violinist by the age of 9. In the late 1950s, Kristal sang in the men’s chorus at Radio City Music Hall.

He went on to manage Manhattan jazz haunt the Village Vanguard, booking acts like trumpet player Miles Davis. He opened a bar that served sandwiches, such as the Hilly burger, that later became CBGB.

Kristal lost a battle last year to stop CBGB from being evicted. Its last shows in October featured Patti Smith and Blondie’s Debbie Harry. The club’s clothing store, CBGB Fashions, remains open a few blocks from the original club.

“He wanted the club to survive him,” his daughter said. “He is survived by the fans and bands that played there.”

From Billboard.com

Bob Dylan Location: Wantagh, N.Y. (Jones Beach) Event Date: June 29, 2007

August 02, 2007,

Dylan Does Right By Long Island With Rarity-Flecked Set

Ron Hart, N.Y.

Anyone who has ever seen Bob Dylan perform in concert over the last 20-odd years knows the rock icon only works in two speeds live: on or off. So it was with great trepidation that we took our seats for his first show there since a 1999 double bill with Paul Simon.

But on this gorgeous, crisp June evening underneath the big orange moon illuminating the water behind the stage, Dylan and his band were most certainly “on” at this juncture, playing what one blogger on the popular “Dylan Pool” Web site hailed as “the greatest set list ever!” Kicking off with “Cat’s in the Well,” his standard tour opener as of late, Bob was in excellent voice, reaching a timbre that floated somewhere between his old school nasal delivery and the gruff Tom Waits-ian growl he has acclimated his vocal chords to in recent years.

And his longtime touring band were nothing short of outstanding, proving to this that this well-dressed ensemble of musicians Dylan has been on the road through most of the decade with is his strongest and best since the mid-’70s.

Sure, they broke out some of the standard warhorses they’ve been playing since this particular tour began: a great, traditional spin on “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright”, “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues”, “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding),” a scorching version of “Highway 61 Revisited,” a simply sublime country waltz revision of “Blowin’ in the Wind” and a defiant rip through “All Along The Watchtower”, which closed out the two-hour-long show.

However, newer additions to the catalog, like “Thunder on the Mountain,” “Summer Days,” “Things Have Changed” and the beautiful “Moonlight” were just as highlight-worthy as the classics.

But what really made this Jones Beach show truly shine were the surprise inclusions on the set list, most notably the phenomenal full-band rearrangement of “Visions of Johanna” and a lucid reading of “Shelter From the Storm,” both of which were enhanced by Dylan’s spot-on harmonica accompaniment. He also threw in a rare spin on the “Time Out of Mind” nugget “Till I Fell in Love With You” as a heavy blues rocker.

In all, an “on” moment that, for longtime fans, was probably akin to hitting the concert lottery.

Tommy Guerrero press page (album stream + materials)– http://www.quannum.com/site/press2006/TommyGuerrero