Red Hot Chili Peppers Unlimited Love Album Review

 

Unlimited Love, the latest LP by alternative rock legends, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and their 12^th album overall, is a lot to digest. Even before dropping the needle on the record itself, it’s impossible to not take into account the return of guitarist/vocalist, John Frusciante, back for the second time after initially quitting the band in 1992 and again in 2009, and the return of long-time producer, RickRubin, who was not involved with the band’s previous LP, The Getaway. This particular reuniting of the classic band and production line-up from ’89-’92 and ’99-’06, most notably on Blood Sugar Sex Magik, the band’s best and most successful album, resulted in Unlimited Love which seeks to emulate that classic album so much that it also has the same number of songs (17) and the same approximate runtime (73 minutes). Unfortunately, the new songs are not as good or as strong as those on that nearly-untouchable masterpiece, but perhaps the attempt to work toward that level still resulted in the best-possible songs this older version of the same band can produce at this point.

Unlimited Love is packed with varied tones and tempos featuring RHCP’s traditional sounds and musical elements, including mega-funky bass from Flea, hard-hitting drums from Chad Smith, and layered guitar and vocal wizardry from Anthony Kiedis and Frusciante, a style earlier versions of the band began to make famous nearly 40 years ago, continue to make up the bulk of the new material. A dense album with lots of information and varied emotions throughout, it may be best enjoyed in quarters, based on the side breaks present on the double LP vinyl version of the album, but it works well as a full piece as nearly all of their other albums also do. One could say the album’s length could be an intimidating factor that might detract potential listeners or that the band could have removed three or four songs to make it a bit more digestible, but this has been a common criticism of pretty much everything they’ve done since 1991. There are even vintage reviews of Blood Sugar Sex Magik that argue it would be improved with five fewer songs, but I would be hard pressed to name more than one track from that record I could go without (and they didn’t even include “Soul to Squeeze” among the 17 they chose!) Fast numbers like “Here Ever After” and groovy mid-tempo tracks like “It’s Only Natural,” “She’s a Lover,” and “Poster Child,” the album’s best track, stand out the most, but each song spins the band’s classic sounds into something new.

The album opens with the lead single, “Black Summer,” which is a fine introduction to the collection of songs that follow but isn’t necessarily the most representative of those other songs. With such a wide variety of sounds and styles throughout the record, however, it’s tough to imagine any one track being more representative of the overall sound, so that choice might have come down to the process of elimination. “Aquatic Mouth Dance” stands out for its amazing bass work and lush chorus vocal harmonies, but other elements in the song are more run-of-the-mill, even with the jazzy horns on the bridge which RHCP have occasionally included as far back as 1985. “Not the One” is arguably a tough choice to follow next as it slows the tempo down drastically, and while full of pained beauty akin to a classic like “I Could Have Lied,” this particular slow jam is not the band’s strongest.

“Poster Child” opens side two with a very engaging groove and flow that thematically seems to almost be an update of Reunion’s classic ‘70s hit, “Life Is a Rock (but the radio rolled me),” complete with the long list of references to various artists from throughout rock history. Similar to “Not the One,” the guitar work in “The Great Apes” is amazing, but other elements of the song are less engaging. “It’s Only Natural,” the album’s second ballad, is a better song with more depth and emotional weight than “Not the One,” recalling some of the introspective, mid-tempo songs on Stadium Arcadium, arguably a masterpiece in its own right. Killer guitar work on that track also.

Lyrically, Kiedis continues to explore a variety of topics but has grown stronger with personal and introspective comments and reflections, especially since the many excellent songs on By the Way, released 20 years ago. A few moments dip back into the stuttering rapped vocals of the band’s ‘80s albums, but Kiedis notably avoids referencing many specific places or locations in the lyrics this time around which is sort of a nice break from a device that had kind of become predictable and a bit repetitive.

“These Are the Ways,” leads off the more musically-adventurous third side and is also the album’s third and most recent single. Slower verses give way to a faster chorus and a bridge that leans harder than ever into grunge rock, with sounds that might be more at home on a Nirvana album, both a salute to that significant era in rock history and a bit of a musical flex by the band. “Whatchu Thinkin’” features a groovy, plodding bass and more amazing guitar work from Frusciante where “Bastards of Light” is built around ‘80s synth sounds and nicely-layered acoustic guitars during the chorus and another turn toward grunge during the bridge, making for a nice dynamic blend within the song. “White Braids & Pillow Chair” begins like a standard mid-tempo Chili’s number but has a beautiful vocal arrangement between Kiedis and Frusciante on the chorus and an urgent tempo change during the coda, which also shouts out to the San Franciscan pioneers of psychedelic rock for “leading the way.” Side three ends with “One Way Traffic,” probably the most derivative track on the album, but like the rest of them, it would fit in well next to other songs from the back catalog if it were included in a concert performance.

The albums wraps up with four songs on the fourth side, starting with “Veronica,” a particularly varied track that more so changes between three different songs within it, each with a different sound and speed. “Let ‘Em Cry” continues the band’s tradition of saving or sneaking in some of the strongest tracks closer to the end of the album, this one featuring a fantastic groove between Flea and Frusciante and a better-utilized horn section, somewhat in the flavor of a classic Funkadelic track. “The Heavy Wing” stands out as Frusciante’s strongest vocal moment of the record, recalling the moments in the ‘00s when he was closer to being a co-lead singer with Kiedis rather than a guitarist who does occasional harmony vocals, similar to and around the same time as System of a Down’s Daron Malakian. The closing number, “Tangelo,” brings things down for a quiet conclusion that fits its position well.

Unlimited Love sounds like a mature version of the band that made the famous “California Trilogy” of ’99-’06 the way that version of the band sounded like a maturing version of the group that made Blood Sugar Sex Magik. Each stage of the process has featured more wisdom and experience and less youthful excess over time. What’s notable is how the band can maintain their sound in spite of this growth and work the two into something new rather than be sidelined or road-blocked by an inability to merge them or having them work against each other, not allowing the band to even possibly continue. Calling it a day after 40 years would be nothing to be ashamed about, but true artists and musicians write and perform because they need to just as much as they want to, and it’s a testament to the longevity of this particular band that they are still here and still with us (as they reminded us they were in the title of another recent album), especially after years of turmoil and internal drama, and even if it is a wiser or even slightly diminished version of what it once was, this collection of musicians still creates a beautiful blend of sounds that is unique to them and is immediately recognizable.

If you are a fan of the band’s many other excellent songs and albums, you are likely to really enjoy at least half of Unlimited Love, if not more. Being a well-established act like Red Hot Chili Peppers, for listeners who are just getting familiar with them, this new album is probably not the place to start, as it is more a culmination of their long career rather than a groundbreaking or majorly innovative step forward. Having said that, it will still take a lot to beat it this year in terms of the best new rock albums, at least aside from Jack White’s new material, and the Chilis are experiencing a warm welcome back as they embark on the first leg of the big U.S. tour for it.

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Echoes of Pink Floyd Dazzle Kalamazoo

 

The beautiful State Theatre in Kalamazoo hosted a wonderful night of solid classic rock greatness from Echoes of Pink Floyd, Michigan’s premiere tribute to the prog-rock legends, who themselves stopped touring in 1994. A few recent line-up changes aside, Echoes performed with well-rehearsed focus and captured the emotion of most songs’ original recordings live on stage and against an amazing light and laser show that engaged fans and newcomers alike throughout the night. While they are not the first or the last rock band to pay tribute to Pink Floyd, Echoes has built a loyal regional fan base and puts on a fantastic show every time they perform.

Structured similar to a traditional Floyd concert, with no opening act and a 20-minute intermission half-way through, the night began with a slow, moody introduction on the first half of the “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” suite (parts I-V on the original album’s track listing), and the band immediately followed with the three biggest surprises and least-predictable songs of the night. Syd Barrett’s psychedelic assault, “Astronomy Domine,” paired well with the flashing lasers and strobe lights, even if many in attendance were not familiar with it. Two songs from Pink Floyd’s later, David Gilmour-led, era were included next, and then the band got into its core repertoire of Floyd classics from ’73-’79, the band’s peak years in terms of both songwriting and overall success.

A spirited take on “Pigs” from the Animals album featured a great talk box guitar solo from Rich Martin and excellent bass work from Tom Beller, especially during the high notes in the pre-verses. Without specifically announcing or explaining they were doing so, the band next launched into a track-for-track run through the entire Dark Side of the Moon LP, but unlike other performances where this is an advertised selling point, they allowed the audience to piece it together themselves as the show progressed. They also notably placed the intermission half-way through that portion of the show during what would be the side break on the original vinyl edition and continued with the entire second side to open the second set.

Following the show-stopping vocal performance by Shelby Jo Zemla on “The Great Gig in the Sky,” the intermission break,  and the rest of Dark Side of the Moon, Echoes leaned mostly into highlights from The Wall, including the first five songs in order and a powerful conclusion of “Young Lust,” “Comfortably Numb,” and, as an encore, “Run Like Hell.” The performance of “Wish You Were Here” near the end of the second set was well-played but stood out even more due to the inclusion of a technical, extended flute solo by Dan Giacobazzi in lieu of the traditional guitar and vocal outro.

As a replacement for an actual Pink Floyd show, Echoes of Pink Floyd don’t completely capture everything, but they do a consistently good job of executing transitions and changes within and between songs and provide an opportunity for Floyd fans to gather together to enjoy and celebrate the excellent music of one of their favorite bands whom they no longer have the option to see perform. Unlike Beatles tributes and others where the musicians are actors playing the roles and musical positions of the individuals for whom they are standing in, Echoes does a great job of doling out vocal duties among different members of the group based on whose voice would best handle the different segments of signing. For younger fans recently discovering Pink Floyd’s music, Echoes’ show is a great opportunity to connect with the songs a bit more by seeing them live and getting introduced to a few songs they may not already know while enjoying the lights and lasers at the same time. For long-time fans, Echoes provides a chance to re-live favored live moments from different eras of the band and to celebrate their magical music with others in their families and with a room full of other Pink Floyd fans alike. Don’t miss a chance to see this dazzling tribute experience!

Echoes of Pink Floyd set list:

Shine On You Crazy Diamond (pts. 1-5)

Astronomy Domine

What Do You Want from Me?

Learning to Fly

Pigs

Speak to Me

Breathe

On the Run

Time

Breathe (reprise)

The Great Gig in the Sky

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Money

Us and Them

Any Colour You Like

Brain Damage

Eclipse

In the Flesh?

The Thin Ice

Another Brick in the Wall (pt. 1)

The Happiest Days of Our Lives

Another Brick in the Wall (pt. 2)

Wish You Were Here

Young Lust

Comfortably Numb

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Run Like Hell

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The Flaming Lips Rock Royal Oak

The Royal Oak Music Theatre rocked again last Sunday with legendary psychedelic punk rockers, The Flaming Lips, triumphantly returned for a night of powerful, emotional, and very loud music. One of the first bands to announce tour dates as the long, covid-moratorium on concerts was beginning to end just under a year ago, this show ended up being rescheduled from November due to issues related to not being able to cross the Canadian border to perform at that time (again due to covid). To say the sold out crowd was enthusiastically expecting a great show would be an understatement, and the band delivered a multi-sensory experience with something for everybody (as the often do). 

The evening began with a 50-minute opening set from veteran touring rockers, Heartless Bastards, who were well-received as the audience gradually filled the room. This was the last show of the tour's current leg, and the last to feature Heartless Bastards as openers, so a bit of their stage banter was both gracious for getting to be a part of it and melancholy for it coming to an end. Featuring a variety of songs from their growing catalog, the band's engaging rhythms and well-balanced mix earned applause and appreciation throughout their performance.

Quietly approaching their 40th anniversary, The Flaming Lips have continued to grow and to change, most notably in the last decade. Now down to only one original member (singer/songwriter, Wayne Coyne) following the recent retirement of founding bassist, Michael Ivins, the group has plowed forward with new original songs, interesting collaborations, and innovative covers albums which often feature vastly-rearranged versions of songs that are sacred to some, such as those of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, or The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Currently touring in support of their most recent traditional LP, 2020's American Head, the current shows are featuring fewer songs from that release and a few more deep cuts from as far back as 1987. Especially notable was the inclusion of two such songs from 1993's, Transmissions from the Satellite Heart, which paired well against more recent material and had notably not been featured regularly until Ivins' departure.

The Lips dazzled with all their traditional live features, including super-powered confetti cannons, Coyne performing much of the show from within his famous bubble, surreal and cartoonish inflatables and other props, an amazing light show, and most of all, the giant wall of ultra bright LED screens behind the band at all times. These are a very important part of the show as they are synchronized with pre-recorded performance videos and sometimes the lyrics of the song being performed, one line or even one word at a time, often emphasizing the most heartfelt or the funniest parts. The concert began with a soft opening, as Coyne addressed the audience informally with the house lights still on and introduced "My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion" and followed immediately with "Do You Realize??," both from 2002's Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, one of their very best and most successful albums, also celebrating its 20th anniversary.

After a detour into 2017's psychedelically dark, "How??," the band returned to Yoshimi to play the title track, allowing two big singalong moments within the first four songs of the show. This was also significant as the mid-section of the two-hour performance alternated between deep cuts and new songs, some of which were probably being heard for the first time ever by at least a few in the audience, and which got more varied reactions. One of the most arguably painful elements of many Flaming Lips concerts is their need for a bit more time between songs than most bands (whether due to having more people and more instruments, the props and other things on stage, or to be properly synched with their screens). Add to this the fact that their fan base is middle aged and older for the most part, and what's left are sometimes awkwardly quiet transitions between songs, usually accentuated by Coyne's comical begging to less-comical pleading or even pandering with the crowd to continuously make noise between the songs and even during quiet or vocal-less parts within them. This comes across better in a festival situation by comparison, but it has been a part of the band's performances for over 15 years now and can sometimes take away from the vibes established by the song that just ended or the next one just beginning. 

Multi-instrumentalist and long-time member, Steven Drozd, rarely moved from his keyboard station, also often singing and playing 12-string electric guitar, but the many replacement band members (and replacements of replacements) that have accumulated over the last 10 years stand inconspicuously off to the side and back of the stage, participating but receiving almost no focus or attention at all. While they each added to the songs well, it's clear the focus is now Coyne and Drozd, and the supporting cast is appreciated but also lucky to be along for the ride.

Hardcore and old school fans certainly appreciated renditions of "Moth in the Incubator," "Oh, My Pregnant Head" and "Love Yer Brain" the most, but the new songs sounded great too and were strong between the older ones. The long-standing crowd favorite, "She Don't Use Jelly," was another high point and is always one of the most engaging songs of the night, and the inclusion of "Feeling Yourself Disintegrate," from 1999's, The Soft Bulletin, was a beautiful way to end the main set.

A strong four-song encore included a B-side, two deep cuts, and ended with the bombastic, "Race for the Prize," usually featured as an opening song and all the more appropriate following or during a pandemic as the lyrics describe two scientists competing against one another to discover an important cure. The encore section also featured some of the most engaging visual and physical elements of the night, including a giant inflatable bubble filled with costumes, props, and balloons being launched onto the top of the crowd on the venue's floor and passed around frantically throughout "Worm Mountain," and during "Race for the Prize," an overdose of confetti and the band's famous inflatable letter balloons, always shouting out the town they are in, and always including an enthusiastic, "Fuck Yeah!"

The future for this band is always unpredictable, but it appears that Coyne and Drozd, at least, are in for the long haul, which after 38 years, could be closer than they and most of their fans would like. In spite of that if not because of that fact, they continue to gather to share and celebrate the band's music with them and with each other, and after the recent stretch of shut downs that prevented that very important part of engaging with one's favorite artists, being able to do that has never been more significant.

The Flaming Lips set list:

My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion

Do You Realize??

How??

Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (pt. 1)

Moth in the Incubator

Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell

Will You Return/When You Come Down

Oh, My Pregnant Head

Love Yer Brain

She Don’t Use Jelly

At the Movies on Quaaludes

Dinosaurs on the Mountain

Feeling Yourself Disintegrate

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Enthusiasm for Life Defeats Existential Fear

Worm Mountain

All We Have Is Now

Race for the Prize

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(Louis Armstrong-“What a Wonderful World” outro tape)

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Jack White’s Masonic Matrimony

 

Superstar modern rocker, Jack White, had a very big Friday in his hometown of Detroit. Aside from being the release day for his excellent new solo LP, Fear of the Dawn (review to come), he also performed “The Star-Spangled Banner” for the first time ever (at the Tigers’ opening day game), launched the tour for the album at his favorite hometown venue, and, oh yeah, got engaged and married within about 15 minutes during the concert, surprising and shocking everyone in the audience.

Similar to the launch of The Raconteurs' most recent album era in 2019, White chose to perform first at Detroit’s Masonic Temple, an amazingly ornate, 98-year-old building which is said to be the world’s largest Masonic Temple. White’s affinity for performing there goes back to childhood memories of running around the venue when his mother was an employee and undoubtedly attending concerts there in his younger days. Friday’s performance was White’s 14^th time playing the venue with one act or another, and the 15^th came the following night to a second sold-out crowd (followed by a quick drive to Grand Rapids to perform Sunday night, completing three Michigan shows during the first three nights of the tour).

As on the tours for his previous solo album and the most recent by The Raconteurs, White has again partnered with Yondr to provide security pouches for all cell phones, taking the no phones policy to a more-extreme degree than Maynard Keenan’s bands, such as Tool and Puscifer, which say security can remove someone from the venue for using their phone during the performance rather than physically restricting phone access. This is unfortunate for his opening acts especially as there is less opportunity for them to have exposure even while being part of a high-profile tour, but to each their own; it’s honestly refreshing to look around a dark audience with no flickering screens or lights every now and then.

Friday’s show began with a short, opening set from SugarTradition, a garage rock combo with music not unlike the general style of TheWhite Stripes and many others, and then a longer set from Olivia Jean, who went from being introduced to those who arrived early enough to see her to being married in front of them in a span of a few hours. Jean’s backing band rocked along with her through mostly up-tempo, original rock songs and a nice cover of Pixie’s “Broken Face” about half-way through.

After the final set change, and anxious crowd enthusiastically welcomed Jack White and his band of extra sharp musicians (both in their attire and their technical abilities) to the Masonic Temple stage. Returning veterans from some of White's previous tours, drummer, Daru Jones; keyboardist, Quincy McCrary; and Detroit native bassist, Dominic Davis, were both well-rehearsed and able to adjust to improvised moments throughout the night with ease. White opened with a powerful one-two punch of “Taking Me Back” and “Fear of the Dawn,” both live debuts and the first two tracks on the new LP, before dipping back into The White Stripes’ “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground,” a song that has been performed many times over the years in the venue. Most in the crowd were engaged throughout, but areas further away from the main floor seemed to wane and vary in energy at different points. Exactly three of the next five songs began with the word, “love,” including a rare cover of U2’s “Love Is Blindness” and the lead single from White’s next album, scheduled for release in July. A spirited rendition of The Dead Weather’s “I Cut Like a Buffalo” was also featured during this portion of the show, but this time around, no other members of The Dead Weather were present to join in as they did during White’s famous Masonic Temple performance for the Lazaretto album in 2014.

The second half of the show was entirely made up of White Stripes and Raconteurs songs, somewhat surprising considering it was a Jack White solo concert and that there were ten or more additional new songs to feature in celebration of releasing the new album from which only two songs were performed. Included among them, a sing along on “We’re Going to Be Friends,” more audience participation during “I’m Slowly Turning into You” (woo!) and the electric blues attack of “Ball and Biscuit,” dedicated to Stripes’ drummer, Meg White. The Raconteurs,’ “You Don’t Understand Me,” sounded almost as sharp as when it is performed by that band, and Friday’s show was White’s first inclusion of it in the set as a solo artist. However, these song choices and arrangements were all by White’s design, as usual, and the audience began to piece things together as the personal events unfolded on stage during the show in progress.

Prior to introducing The White Stripes classic, “Hotel Yorba,” White invited Olivia Jean back to the stage to join him on guitar and vocals. As she was plugging in, White explained she was his girlfriend (for most who didn’t already know) and after duetting nicely on the first two verses and choruses, things changed quickly into the third verse where White sang the first two lines (It might sound silly for me to think childish thoughts like these/but I’m so tired of acting tough, and I’m gonna do what I please) before stopping the song and producing an engagement ring, asking Jean to marry him right in the middle of the verse. The audience erupted with applause as she shockingly agreed, and then the song continued from the point it ended with even more prophetic lyrics that set up the second big surprise of the night (let’s get married in a big cathedral by a priest/’cause if I’m the man that you love the most, you can say, “I do” at least!)

Following a short encore break as the celebratory applause continued, White returned to the stage and next invited his mother, Jean’s father, and a few other family members to the stage along with a priest who then performed a brief but very in-character wedding ceremony (including White leaning into the mic to say, “I do,” three times, exactly). The first words the priest spoke as the short ceremony began were, “Ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called life,” quoting Prince’s immortal, “Let’s Go Crazy,” which was certainly an appropriate sentiment for the scene that had unfolded at that moment. Following the wedding and a long standing ovation with plenty of loud, congratulatory applause, White and his band got back to music and capped off the night with The Raconteurs’, “Steady, As She Goes,” another song mentioning marriage and lifestyle changes, and finally, The White Stripes’, “Seven Nation Army,” which at this point includes more people singing along to the melody of the main guitar riff than the actual lyrics themselves. White encouraged this crowd vocalization by asking the band to stop playing as he sang most of the third verse with only the audience’s chanting as an accompaniment.

Overall, Jack White’s tour launch was clearly a highly successful one, and not only was the performance itself top-notch, well-rehearsed, and very professionally staged, this show in particular was extra unique due to the wedding celebration within. Having said that, it is notable that White was on stage for just under 90 minutes, including the proposal, the encore break, and the wedding, compared to the following night which contained ten more songs, and the Grand Rapids show which included seven more than the Friday show. Clearly, it was a very big, busy, and probably long day for White, so it’s hard to fault him for keeping things a bit shorter for once, and with good reason, but when the music is as good as his, there’s always a desire to hear a few more songs.

 

Jack White set list:

Taking Me Back

Fear of the Dawn

Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground (The White Stripes)

Love Interruption

Love Is Selfish

I Cut Like a Buffalo (The Dead Weather)

Lazaretto

Love Is Blindness (U2)

We’re Going to Be Friends (The White Stripes)

You Don’t Understand Me (The Raconteurs)

I’m Slowly Turning into You (The White Stripes)

Ball and Biscuit (The White Stripes)

Hotel Yorba (The White Stripes) (+proposal!)

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*Wedding Ceremony*
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Steady, As She Goes (The Raconteurs)

Seven Nation Army (The White Stripes)

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Grammy Awards 2022 Summary and Re-Cap

 

We’ve now made it through a second year of the modern, updated Grammy awards, forever changed from the more formal affairs of years past, and it could be said this year’s televised broadcast was at least as insignificant, overall, as last year’s though there were a few more notable performances this time around compared to the 2021 show. Notable performers included Brandi Carlile, Nas, Silk Sonic, Chris Stapleton, and most notably, a medley from H.E.R. that saw her go from a drum solo and a portion of one of her own songs into a strong cover of Lenny Kravitz’s, “Are You Gonna Go My Way?” featuring Kravitz himself and drums from Blink 182’s Travis Barker (for some reason).

This years in memoriam segment did not have the same class and presentation as last year’s, but it did begin with a short tribute to Foo Fighters’ drummer, Taylor Hawkins, who had passed only a week prior and who was also featured on Billie Eilish’s T-shirt during her performance.

Rather than repeating the major changes in tone and presentation in style that were already ranted about last year (see the 2021rant here), it’s still worth a moment to look a quick summary of rock and rock-related artists who were honored, mostly, as usual, during the non-televised portions of the ceremony and events held prior.

Record of the Year, Best R&B Performance, Best R&B Song, AND Song of the Year: Silk Sonic-“Leave the Door Open”

Best Dance/Electronic Recording: Rufus Du Sol-“Alive”

Best Rock Performance: Foo Fighters-“Making a Fire”

Best Metal Performance: Dream Theater-“The Alien”

Best Rock Song: Foo Fighters-“Waiting on a War”

Best Rock Album: Foo Fighters-Medicine at Midnight

Best Alternative Music Album: St. Vincent-Daddy’s Home

Best Traditional R&B Performance: H.E.R.-“Fight for You”

Best Melodic Rap Performance: Kanye West (w/The Weeknd & Lil Baby)-“Hurricane”

Best Rap Song: Kanye West (w/Jay-Z)-“Jail”

Best Rap Album: Tyler, The Creator-Call Me If You Get Lost

Best Country Solo Performance: Chris Stapleton-“You Should Probably Leave”

Best Country Song: Chris Stapleton-“Cold”

Best Country Album: Chris Stapleton-Starting Over

Best New Age Album: Stewart Copeland & Ricky Kej-Divine Tides

Best Americana Album: Los Lobos-Native Sons

Best Bluegrass Album: Bela Fleck-My Bluegrass Heart

Best Folk Album: Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi-They’re Calling Me Home

Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media: Andra Day-The United States Vs. Billie Holiday

Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media: Jon Batiste, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross-Soul

Best Boxed or Special Limited-Edition Package: George Harrison-All Things Must Pass 50^th Anniversary Edition

Best Album Notes: Louis Armstrong-The Complete Louis Armstrong Columbia and RCA Victor Studio Sessions 1946-1966

Best Historical Album: Joni Mitchell-Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 1: The Early Years (1963-1967)

Producer of the Year, Non-Classical: Jack Antonoff

Best Remixed Recording: Deftones-“Passenger (Mike Shinoda Remix)”

Best Immersive Audio Album: Alicia Keys-ALICIA

Best Music Film: Summer of Soul 

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Ween Gets Wild and Weird in Royal Oak

The Boognish was clearly present last Friday in Royal Oak as the sold-out crowd arrived at the city’s famed music theatre to celebrate and revel in their love for Ween, the alt-rock comedy favorites now  rapidly approaching their 40^th anniversary. After expanding from a duo to a five-piece band in the mid-‘90s (much like their “cleaner” new wave counterparts, They Might Be Giants), Ween built a strong cult following among the jam band community as well, and while not all of their songs are psychedelic (and many are just downright silly, sophomoric, or both), it is hard to find a more passionate and devoted fan base, many of whom show up to see the band every time they stop through to perform at the same venues every two to four years or so, including Royal Oak Music Theatre. Unlike other cities, such as Las Vegas, Port Chester, and Chicago, who recently got two or three nights of Ween in a row, the Royal Oak concert was Ween’s only Michigan date this time around, so the size and expectations of the overflowing, sold-out crowd were very high (as were many of the members of the audience).

Most patrons waited for nearly an hour or more in line outside, in sporadic rain, just to get into the venue. As Ween continues to tour without an opening act, the music began about an hour after doors opened, and the band made the long wait worthwhile by laying down two hours and 55 minutes of smoking licks and joyful singalongs, their longest show of the year so far. Co-founding bandleaders, Dean and Gene Ween, commanded the stage and the band with confident experience and ease as unplanned songs were added to the set on the fly or were moved to a different position in the show, and they even worked in a few requests shouted from the crowd. The group hasn’t issued any new material in well over a decade, but their vast catalog supplies more than enough to choose from and to rotate into the set from year to year, and they generally keep a balance of fan-favorites and deep cuts though they’ve been dipping into the more obscure tracks recently than in the past, much to the delight of the hardcore fans.

The show kicked off with a spirited run through “Piss Up a Rope” from Ween’s satirical country album and then alternated between accessible songs, such as “The Golden Eel,” and “Roses Are Free,” and B-sides like “How High Can You Fly?” and “Light Me Up.” Longtime drummer, Claude ColemanJr., with the band since 1992, and versatile bassist, Dave Dreiwitz, held down the rhythms consistently all night between the more and less-known songs alike, and Dreiwitz took lead vocals during a cover of Instant Death’s “The Enabler” about halfway through the concert. Keyboard whiz, Glenn McClelland, continues to be Ween’s secret weapon on stage as his keyboards seamlessly filled in the sounds of other instruments that were present on the studio recordings but not played live, most notably horns, strings, and accordion, and often many of the backing vocals, though everyone in the band had a mic nearby.

After a well-received rendition of The Mollusk’s “Buckingham Green,” Dean Ween introduced a trio of songs “about diseases” and ran through “The HIV Song” and “Spinal Meningitis,” two fan-favorites from the band’s strongest LP, Chocolate and Cheese, followed by “Mononucleosis,” the far less-known and less-accessible sludge rocker from The Pod which claims to be an autobiographical account of an experience with the illness that Dean and Gene credit for allowing the project to continue to exist at one point much less to get to the point it has now. While the show took place one day after Gene Ween’s birthday (March 17^th), the band did not include his ballad, “Birthday Boy,” or the seasonal sea chantey, “The Blarney Stone,” but they did include their ode to the music of Irish rock legends, Thin Lizzy, by performing their original song, “Gabrielle,” with green, orange, and white lights accompanying.

As the show went on, the band’s famously overpowered fog machines mixed with the heavy amounts of smoke already in the air, and at times the action on the stage was literally invisible. An extended psychedelic jam with blistering guitar solos from Dean Ween during “Woman and Man” gave way to singalongs like “Mutilated Lips” and White Pepper’s “Exactly Where I’m At” before a longer stretch of darker, experimental, and rare tracks such as “Frank” (which also contained a lengthy jam), “Don’t Sweat It,” “I Wuz Nothin’,” and the even longer instrumental jams on “Ice Castles” and “The Final Alarm,” balanced only briefly by Quebec’s heartbreaking ballad, “I Don’t Want It.”

The last portion of the show picked up again with “Nan” from the band’s 1990 debut LP and fan-favorite, “Mister, Would You Please Help My Pony?,” and then after one more extended jam on the rarity, “Transitions,” the main set ended with the lesser known but still up-tempo numbers, “Vallejo” and “Boys Club,” which got a particularly strong response from a group near the front of the stage. Returning after a short encore break, Ween thanked the audience for another great night and showed their appreciation with two more crowd-pleasers from The Mollusk and one of their own favorites, “Your Party,” before taking their final bows and mentioning they looked forward to seeing some of the audience again the next night in Chicago. While Ween may now be making up for time lost to the pandemic performance and touring restrictions or to their own years of inactivity due to various personal issues, it’s clear their devoted audience has remained as loyal as ever and continues to grow even after almost four decades of their creative ridiculousness, and yet, that unique blend of talent and humor is the primary reason why.

Ween set list:

Piss Up a Rope

The Golden Eel

How High Can You Fly?

Light Me Up

She Fucks Me

Roses Are Free

Tried and True

Buckingham Green

The HIV Song

Spinal Meningitis

Mononucleosis

I Saw Gener Cryin’ in His Sleep

Up on the Hill

Transdermal Celebration

Gabrielle

Shamemaker

Touch My Tooter

Woman and Man

The Enabler (Instant Death)

Mutilated Lips

Exactly Where I’m At

Frank

Don’t Sweat It

I Don’t Want It

I Wuz Nothin'

Ice Castles

The Final Alarm

Help Me Scrape the Mucus Off My Brain

The Stallion (pt.1)

Nan

Mister, Would You Please Help My Pony?

Transitions

Take Me Down to the Bristles (tease)

Boys Club

Vallejo

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She Wanted to Leave

The Mollusk

Your Party

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(The Beach Boys-“In My Room” outro tape)

 

Watch a fan-shot bootleg of the full show here, mang!

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Tool Returns to Rock Grand Rapids

After a two-year wait that felt more like four, legendary psychedelic prog-metal rockers, Tool, triumphantly returned Tuesday night to Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, MI, one of their most frequently visited venues in the region, to an enthusiastic capacity crowd. Singer Maynard James Keenan once lived in the city and often makes it a point to perform there when touring with any of his three main groups (including A Perfect Circle and Puscifer). A few songs into the band’s 2+ hour concert, Keenan joked the crowd was not even as loud as those in Ohio and demanded a louder reception, and the audience obliged. Originally scheduled to perform on the same stage in May of 2020, but cancelled like everything else due to the pandemic, it had been a long wait for Tool’s faithful followers in attendance, especially those who opted to pass on the band’s Detroit concert in November of 2019, shortly after the release of their latest LP, Fear Inoculum. Thankfully, with skilled precision and decades of professional experience, all four band members performed extremely well, and there was little room for criticism or disappointment by the end of the night or even from song to song.

 

The evening began with a 40-minute opening set from TheAcid Helps followed by a tight, 30-minute set change. Other cities on Tool’s current tour have reported the band taking the stage about 5 minutes later than they did in Grand Rapids, and the song selection varied slightly compared to some of their other recent shows (some of which have featured "Opiate," "Right in Two," and "Undertow"). Whereas the late 2019/early 2020 shows featured a blend of hits and new songs on the set list, the current tour leans harder into the newer songs and swapped out more of the radio singles for deep cuts, primarily from 1996’s AEnima and 2001’s Lateralus. A Tool fan attending one of their concerts for the first time might have felt a bit disappointed to not hear “Schism,” “Vicarious,” “AEnema,” or even “Stinkfist,” but the lengthy journeys through emotional multi-movement songs like “Pushit,” “The Grudge,” and “The Patient” blended even better with the dark and moody newer songs, even if they were less familiar and harder to sing along with by comparison. The first leg of the tour averaged only three of the six “proper” songs from Fear Inoculum per show, but the band’s recent concerts have included five of those six songs, sort of the opposite treatment compared to the first few tours for the band’s previous two LPs (where the first few months were focused on the new songs and then changed to feature other tracks in the years following). Those lucky enough to have caught them for a show on both legs of the tour probably got the most complete overall experience because the two shows were so different but complemented each other very well.

 

The thunderous drums of Danny Carey and the rumbling bass of Justin Chancellor thoroughly rumbled the seats and walls throughout the night and laid the perfect foundation for the soaring guitar work of Adam Jones and the intense vocal segments from Keenan to decorate and enhance with their own unique styles. Longtime fans know how unique both the sound and the visual presentation of this band can be, and it is arguably incomparable certainly to any of their peers if even their influences, such as Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, King Crimson, and others. The abstract visual projections and carefully synchronized lights and lasers created an atmosphere of awe for even the uninitiated concertgoer and added another layer of emotional engagement that brought most in the audience along for the 9 to 13-minute rides that made up each individual song. The band continued with their tradition of atmospheric, interstitial jams and soundscapes between many songs as well, most of which cannot be found on any of their official recordings and may perhaps become parts of other new songs in the future.

 

The other notable highlights from the night included the performance of the band’s most-known hit, “Sober,” which at this point feels almost like seeing Radiohead live and them just casually featuring “Creep,” and a hard rocking take on “Hooker with a Penis” to close the main set. The lone song to be included from 2006’s 10,000 Days, “The Pot,” also got a strong crowd response, and while it sounded great and was very well executed, the band now plays the song in a lower key to accommodate the difficult vocals Keenan finds harder to pull off nearly 16 years after he recorded it, somewhat similar to some of Stone Temple Pilots’ later tours with Scott Weiland, though Tool has not changed the tempo of any of their songs by comparison.

 

The surprises continued beyond the 12-minute encore break (which included a projected countdown clock to clarify the exact time the show would continue), where Carey first dazzled with his traditional drum and synthesizer solo, “Chocolate Chip Trip,” but rather than ending with high-energy fan favorites, the band closed with two new songs, back-to-back, including “Culling Voices,” Fear Inoculum’s quietest song which was presented almost unplugged-style with stools and Carey playing bongos while all four band members met at the front and center of the stage and which also featured a slow sprinkling of darkly tinted confetti throughout. They followed this with the more dynamic, “Invincible,” rather than the hit with which they usually close, “Stinkfist,” and at twice that song’s length, bringing the overall runtime of the concert to about two hours and 15 minutes or so. Keenan also announced, prior to the beginning of the final track, that fans had permission to photograph and film it, also a standard practice following the band’s recent no phones policy during all other parts of all their shows, also seizing the opportunity to call those who quickly had their phones in hand, “crackheads,” to illustrate their addiction to them. While Keenan also explained before the final song that he was tired and old now, so they needed to wrap it up, and walked off stage before “Invincible” concluded, Jones, Carey, and Chancellor took their time exiting the stage after the final notes were played, waving to fans in the bright stage lights to a strong ovation from the audience. It continues to be clear that Tool put on one of the most engaging rock shows one can see today. The carefully timed and sequenced audio/visual experience is top notch compared to all the band’s contemporaries and places them in a higher category among the classic rock legends of the ‘70s, especially, if not all of rock history.

 

The Acid Helps (set list):

Killing an Animal

Disco Blanco

Idiot Vs. Moron

Sick City

Rattled

This Thing Will Not Die

All Insane

Sink Pisser

LA BREA

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Tool (set list):

Litanie contre la Peur (intro tape)

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Fear Inoculum

Sober

The Pot

Pushit

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Pneuma

The Grudge

Eon Blue Apocalypse

The Patient

Descending

Hooker with a Penis

-----------------------------------------(encore  break)-------

Chocolate Chip Trip

Culling Voices

Invincible

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