Dancers on the Midway

March 26, 2018

Counting Crows





Counting Crows

Kathy

Dancers on the Midway

The final day of the Innings Music Festival was the one that I was really waiting for, the bands that sealed the deal to make me get the tickets, Counting Crows and Mt. Joy were both on the bill as well as other favorites like Dispatch, Jake Bugg, Citizen Cope and Chris Stapleton. The gates opened a couple of hours earlier on Sunday, so we had to squeeze in a couple of other Phoenix area stops before heading to the show.

Citizen Cope



Our first stop was at the Arizona Science Center in downtown Phoenix. We wanted to check out the traveling exhibition, Pompeii: The Exhibition that was currently on display there. The exhibit featured over 200 precious artifacts from the archeological work being done that dated back to 79 A.D. when the city suffered its tragic fate, being buried by the catastrophic eruption of Mt. Vesuvias. Life was entirely stopped in a few moments and the citizens and all their homes and belongings were completely buried for 1700 years.






In the exhibit, guests become time travelers, transported to the bustling commercial port and strategic military and trading center of Pompeii. Artifacts on loan from the unparalleled collection of the Naples National Archaeological Museum in Italy, including wall-sized frescoes, mosaics, marble and bronze sculptures, jewelry, statues and ancient Roman coins, bring to life how Pompeii’s people lived, loved, work, worshiped and celebrated. In perhaps the most powerful portion of the exhibition, exquisite body casts of adults and children vividly communicate the emotions of the victims.







It was a beautiful and thoughtful exhibition that presents a portrait of what life was like leading up to that tragic day and going through the actual eruption and concluding with the heart-wrenching display of the actual body casts of the victims frozen in time during their final moments. After visiting the museum, we headed back to Tempe where we watched some of the annual Dragonboat Festival that was taking place just down the waterfront from the music festival.





Kathy



We watched a few of the boat races which featured teams from across the US as well as collegiate teams such as the hometown Arizona State, UCLA and others. It was a huge crowd and a beautiful day to be out on the water. After a quick lunch it was back to the festival to see yet another amazing line-up of music.







The first act we really watched was Tyminski, an act that we were totally unfamiliar with. It was really interesting, a very liberal country band which is something of a rarity. In fact the title cut from his latest CD, “Southern Gothic” that includes the lyric, “We’ve got a church on every corner, so why does heaven feel so far away?” I was really pleasantly surprised and really enjoyed his set.

Tyminski

Mt. Joy

Mt. Joy





One of my favorite brand new bands took the smallest stage next, Mt. Joy is fresh off releasing their very first CD and they have been in heavy rotation in my Spotify since I came across their initial single, "Sheep" a few months before the CD was released. I really, really love them and think they have a bright future. Watching them live did nothing to dampen my enthusiasm, in fact we both thought they were terrific.



Counting Crows backstage



The next act on the main stage that we were really interested in was the amazing band Citizen Cope. We had seen them perform recently in Key West at the Key West Theater and they were just as amazing on this stage. Yet another singer/ songwriter who identifies himself with a band name, but is basically a single musician,  Clarence Greenwood. He is truly a beautiful songwriter and performer and his set was a favorite of the other bands who were on the bill. Adam Duritz and David Immergluck of the Counting Crows watched his entire set from backstage, just below our perch on the stage side riser.

Citizen Cope



Immy

Citizen Cope

Citizen Cope- “Sideways” * Note you can see Kathy (In hat) on the risers in the upper right of this video, just below her is Counting Crows’ Adam Duritz.

The Counting Crows have always been one my all-time favorite bands and it their appearance at the fest that really sealed the deal on our attending. They are getting ready to embark on their 25^th anniversary tour this summer and I have been a fan since day one. I recall buying their album the day it was released because Maria McKee was singing background vocals on it and I was a huge fan of hers and Lone Justice. I wasn’t disappointed, in fact now 25 years later I can say that I have seen at least one show from every CC tour since then and multiple shows on many tours.









I always love seeing them as their live performances are almost always among the best of the year and they are consistently excellent. I still never tire of hearing them, even if I wish the set lists would have a tad more variety. The good news is that even though they often play the same songs, they often change them up in creative alt versions that add, subtract and alter them in what I think are beautiful changes,









Having not seen them since last summer and knowing that they had only played a couple of corporate shows since last fall, I was not sure what to expect, but they were on fire. Energized and full of enthusiasm they had the crowd going crazy before they finished their first song. It was a beautiful performance, a full 90 minute set which could easily have been the headlining set of the weekend.

Counting Crows- “A Long December”

Counting Crows- “Round Here”

The Crows were not the final headliner, In fact three bands played after them, two on smaller stages, Dispatch and Jake Bugg and the closer, Country star Chris Stapleton. All three of these bands were excellent. Seeing Jake Bugg on a small stage was especially enjoyable. His set was a lot less crowded than any other as he had never played in Arizona and really has never gotten that big in the US. But he is absolutely fantastic and well worth checking out if you get the chance.





Jake Bugg





Stapleton closed the festival with a packed and very good set of his popular country/rock songs. It is obvious why he has become a crossover star from straight country to rock. An excellent and prolific songwriter he has written 6 number one country hits for artists such as Kenny Chesney, George Strait and Luke Bryan and has songs that have appeared on over 150 albums from artists as diverse as Adele, Peter Framton, Justin Timberlake and Sheryl Crow.

Chris Stapleton



https://www.azscience.org/attractions/pompeii-the-exhibition/

Innings Festival

March 25, 2018

The Avett Brothers

White Buffalo









Innings Festival

The second day of the Innings music festival proved to be every bit as fun and exciting as the first day and once again the later starting time allowed Kathy and I to do a little exploring in the Phoenix area. One of the stops that was on my must see list was the Penske Racing Museum, where car owner has many of his winning cars from his various racing adventures including a number of his many Indy 500 championships.







Located in his huge luxury auto dealership in swanky Scottsdale, the Penske Racing Museum showcases an amazing collection of cars, trophies and racing memorabilia chronicling the career of one of the most successful dynasties in all of sports. Penske Racing has 50 years of racing experience and over 440 major race wins highlighted by 16 Indianapolis 500-mile race victories.



On display in the Museum are cars detailing the diversity of Penske Racing including a replica of the 1963 Pontiac Catalina which Roger Penske drove to victory in the 1963 NASCAR Riverside 250.  Additionally, a number of Indianapolis 500-mile winners are on display including the 2009 Dallara which Helio Castroneves drove to win the 2009 Indianapolis 500 as well as Brad Keselowski’s 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship winning car.





It was a trip down memory lane looking at all the cars and memorabilia from so many Indy 500 wins, included in the display was my all-time favorite Indy Car the 1977 Norton Spirit car driven by Tom Sneva that turned the first official lap over 200 MPH at the brickyard on May 14, 1977. My father Bill and I were sitting in the stands on that historic day and it remains one of the best memories of over 50 years of watching Indy Cars at the Speedway. Hearing Tom Carnegie announced over the echoing loudspeakers at the track, “It’s A New Track Record” as the massive throng cheered wildly is something that I will never forget.





Next it was back to downtown Tempe for lunch and check out the Tempe Festival of The Arts which had most of the central downtown streets blocked off for the huge art festival that just happened to coincide with the Innings Music Festival. There were over 350 artists displaying their work from all over the country and plenty of yummy food options, a beer garden, entertainment and even a sidewalk chalk drawing contest with dozens of competitors crating chalk art on the street. There was one particularly amazing musical act featuring two very young children who rocked the crowd with covers of current rock songs that were incredible.











Over at the festival, we arrived just in time to catch the set by a local band from Tempe that made it big in the 90s and is trying to make a comeback, The Gin Blossoms. I had heard from friends in Key West that they were sort of jerks when they played the Key West Theater, but there was no sign of that in their solid set of 90s hits like, “Hey Jealousy”.

Gin Blossoms









Up next were the bands Lord Huron and then the Decemberists. Both were really, really solid. I think we preferred Lord Huron, but the Decemberists were great as well. We had seen them a couple of years ago at Folks Fest in Colorado and they were very nuch improved this time around. I really loved their new songs from their just released new CD and it was a great set.

The Decemberists







The Head and the Heart is another band that we have seen a few times and this was perhaps the best we had ever seen them as well. They seemed to be energized by the awesome sunset setting and the enthusiastic response from the large crowd. We only caught half of their set as we wanted to head over to the small stage to catch some of White Buffalo, a band that we were totally unfamiliar with.

The Head and the Heart





The Decemberists





White Buffalo, is sort of like Phosphorescent in that terming them a band is something of a misnomer, White Buffalo is basically singer/songwriter, Jake Smith. Smith has a rich baritone voice and is something of a throwback to classic folk singers such as Dylan and Richie Havens. His set was really awesome and he gained a couple of new fans. I was unfamiliar with almost all of his songs except for one that was featured in the TV show “Sons of Anarchy”.

White Buffalo

White Buffalo



The headliner was another band that we were very familiar with and big fans of, The Avett Brothers. We had only recently watched the wonderful HBO documentary about them and their music and they were every bit as down home, yet mesmerizing as they seemed in the film. Brothers Scott and Seth Avett took turns on lead vocals and their incredible backing band was spot on. The show was just amazing and the crowd was incredibly appreciative and vocal throughout.

The Avett Brothers







Multiple time Grammy nominees, the Avett Brothers delivered a great set of their folk-infused rock that had the crowd dancing and cheering. They even managed to include my favorite song of theirs, “Murder in The City”. It was a perfect ending to yet another stellar day at the Innings Festival, which was quickly becoming one of my favorite festivals ever.

The Avett Brothers