Home | & recent blog entries

Posted and updated by: Chuck Miller June 17, 2018

The annual Pikes Peak Celtic Festival was held Friday, June 15 through Sunday, June 17, at Memorial Park in Colorado Springs. I went to see headliners The Young Dubliners play two 90-minute long sets on Saturday.

The five piece band led by charismatic vocalist Keith Roberts started around 4:30 PM in the Celtic Rock tent. The weather was great, and the festival was well attended. Kilts, swords, vending booths, food trucks and tents, live performance stages, Jameson Irish Whiskey and Guinness beer tents were all there in abundance.

My first impression of seeing The Young Dubliners' live brings to mind the band The Clash. The Dubliners are not a punk rock band, but there is a swagger and confidence, especially from Roberts and bass player Brendan Holmes, that references for me that '80's punk rock vibe. For what it's worth, the band's official website http://www.youngdubliners.com/ addresses the band's musical style: "Although the Young Dubliners sound is most commonly called 'Celtic Rock', that label, as labels can be, is misleading. The Irish influence is there, certainly, but it's not the only influence that rears its head on their albums or live shows." I agree with that assessment and will add, "Whatever label is applied, I like the music the band plays."

The band grabbed the attention of the large, enthusiastic audience quickly, and they delivered a strong, involving performance that held the fans for the whole set. The first set contained songs focusing on the With All Due Respect: The Irish Sessions and 9 albums. One of my favorites was "I'll Tell Me Ma" from With All Due Respect: The Irish Sessions.

Between The Young Dubliners' sets, the band Seven Nations performed a 90-minute long set that motivated me to find a Scottish sausage on a bun and a Guinness stout. When I got back to the music tent, it was mostly cleared out. So, the group I was with claimed great front row seats for the New Dub's second set.

A second set highlight, strangely, was a violin solo by Chaz Waltz. The solo featured an inspired rendition of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" that had the audience singing along. At the end of the night, instead of walking off stage to be called back for an encore, singer Roberts just told the crowd they'd get an encore without the pretense.

I didn't make a recording as I mistakenly believed the event was going to be more of a social event than a sit down and listen concert. As it turned out, there was some chatter while the band played, but there were plenty of us listening intently to every note.

I did take some photos with my cell phone to document the performance. Those photos can be accessed by following the link below.

The Young Dubliners - 2018-06-16

Originally posted by: Chuck Miller May 21, 2018 and updated May 26, 2018

Nederland, Colorado folk ensemble Elephant Revival played what may be their last show together at Red Rocks Amphitheatre Sunday night. Hopefully it will only be a "hiatus" as they worded it on the band web site, http://www.elephantrevival.com/. Fiddle player/vocalist Bridget Law and vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Sage Cook who had both left the group came back to join them for the poignant reunion set.

It rained throughout the opening sets by Hiss Golden Messenger and Blind Pilot. But, thankfully the rain stopped and didn't return for Elephant Revival's triumphant, crowd pleasing performance.

After impassioned speeches by Amy Ansari from Wildlands Restoration Vounteers and Jessica Goad from Denver Conservation, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper spoke about keeping public lands public, keeping Colorado air clean and preserving clean water before introducing the band.

I loved seeing Bridget Law walk out with the band with fiddle in hand to start the performance at 8:40 PM. She has such a graceful, composed presence on stage. For me, she was/is the heart of Elephant Revival. I can't imagine an Elephant Revival show without her extraordinary playing and singing. The musical highlights for me included hearing "Sea Monster" sung by Charlie Rose, the Pink Floyd cover "Have A Cigar," and the Elephant Revival original "Raven Song."

Though I heard rumors Sage Cook was going to join them it was still surprising and exciting to seeing him play and sing with the band again. I got chills hearing Cook and Bonnie Paine sing "Go On" together once more. Elephant Revival colaborator Enion Pelta-Tiller also played violin and provided backing vocals for much of the second half of the show.

Toward the end of the night the band and members of the audience sang "Happy Birthday To You" to lead vocalist Paine before launching into a spectacular version of "With A Little Help From My Friends" that included members of the opening bands and other special guests.

The band finished the show with a three song encore that concluded with "Rogue River."

I left feeling very good, but a bit sad as I worried whether I'd ever see them all perform together again.

I made a recording and took some photos. The photos and Elephant Revival recording can be accessed by following the links below. I have to say I'm quite pleased with the recording. I just love how spaced omni-directional microphones sound at Red Rocks.

  Elephant Revival ~ 2018-05-20 Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Morrison, CO

Elephant Revival - 2018-05-20
  Hiss Golden Messenger - 2018-05-20

Posted and updated by: Chuck Miller February 26, 2018

John Parry Barlow (70), lyricist for the Grateful Dead and a founding member of the Electric Frontier Foundation and the Freedom of the Press Foundation died on February 7.

He wrote lyrics primarily with Bob Weir on some of the Grateful Dead's best songs, including "Cassidy," "Estimated Prophet" and "Throwing Stones."

I never met him, but the people I know who did all agree that he was a great, down to earth guy who was very easy and fun to speak with.

There are several great tributes to him online. They include:

5 Lessons that John Barlow Taught the World

A Tribute to John Barlow

Sean Ono Lennon's tribute to late Grateful Dead lyricist John Perry Barlow

We forgot about the time: Fare thee well, John Perry Barlow

If you have a good tribute link to add, please contact me and I'll include it here.

Posted and updated by: Chuck Miller January 4, 2018

The last time I saw Railroad Earth was at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in 2009. They opened for the Allman Brothers Band, and they played a great set. This time, they headlined at the Fox Theatre in Boulder for two sets, and they gave another great performance.

The band took the stage right at 9 PM. The first set started with "Mission Man" which got the sold out theatre full of RRE fans (hobos) involved early. "Saddle of the Sun" and "Old Man and the Land" were mid-set highlights along with the set closer "Seven Story Mountain," which is one of my favorites.

It always sounds so nice in the Fox Theatre. The 625 person capacity theatre has a great live music vibe. The first notes of "Bird in A House" to start the second set were so sweet. By then, the sound was dialed in, and the band delivered a crowd-pleasing second set.

I was a bit surprised to hear the band get fairly dissonant and spacey during "Warhead Boogie" the twelfth song in the second set. Not a bad thing -- some of my favorite bands take their music out to the edge, but it was my first time hearing that from RRE. Out of that controlled chaos came a beautiful version of Tom Petty's "Wildflowers" to close the set. The hobos and I loved it. The encore "Bringin' My Baby Back Home" perfectly capped a wonderful night of progressive bluegrass music on the hill in Boulder, CO.

I made an audience audio recording and took some photos. The photos and recording can be accessed by following the links below.

  Railroad Earth ~ 2017-12-29 - Fox Theatre, Boulder, CO

  Railroad Earth - 2017-12-29