Smoking Section by Austin Scaggs

Concerts

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Franz Ferdinand Take Manhattan

May 8, 2009 11:58 AM

Photo: Alban/WireImage

Last night we saw a killer Franz Ferdinand show at Manhattan's Roseland Ballroom. Their latest album, Tonight, is one of our favorite records of '09, and the boys sure as shit delivered it onstage. "Ulysses" was sick, as were "Twilight Omens" and "No You Girls." The best, though, was the ten-minute electro-funk riot of "Lucid Dreams."

Franz guitarist Nick McCarthy hobbled onstage on crutches, and we wondered what happened to him.

Well, after the show, we went to our favorite NYC speakeasy, and invited the Franz dudes to join us. Frontman Alex Kapranos obliged, and sipped on vodka and Cokes. We got to meet his charming and talented girlfriend, Eleanor Friedberger of the Fiery Furnaces, for the first time, too.

Alex told us that Nick hurt his leg in Seattle, attempting a ten-mile jog. "He usually just jogs for three miles or so," Alex said. But in pushing himself to the limits of his endurance, Nick tore up some tendons. Alex told us that Nick was healing up just fine.

And there you have it.  

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Dylan Fest '09 Just Two Weeks Away!!!

May 7, 2009 12:03 PM

We are getting pretty psyched up for DylanFest '09. It's two weeks from today!

Rehearsals have been amazing, and we hope to see y'all there. (Yes, the show's sold out, but stay tuned to the S.S. for a chance to score some tix.)

And for the third DylanFest in a row, we'll be serenaded by the lovely and talented duo, the Pierces.

Please check out their awesome new video for "Turn On Billie," below.

We love them very much. 

 

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Ben Harper & Relentless7 Enter the S.S.

May 5, 2009 3:10 PM

Ben Harper & Relentless 7 - "Shimmer & Shine" [Video: Pete Maiden/Tim Tregonig; Editing by Pete Maiden]

We've been digging Ben Harper's new band, Ben Harper & Relentless7, since  Smoking Section first reported on the band in October. Harper, guitarist Jason Mozersky, drummer Jordan Richardson and bassist Jesse Ingalls released their first album today, White Lies for Dark Times, and it definitely brings out Harper's heavy side, with tunes that channel Jimi Hendrix and the Stones. 

A few months ago, the S.S. was invited to the legendary Electric Lady Studios in New York to watch Relentless7 perform in front of a few lucky fans at a WFUV-sponsored event. Check out the single "Shimmer & Shine" above, and click the jump for "Number With No Name," "Lay There & Hate Me," and a badass cover of Queen's "Under Pressure."

Also, we just sat down with our good buddy Ben for a Q&A for the recent issue of Rolling Stone (with Dylan on the cover), and he told us how much the new band has influenced his playing. "It felt like putting the training wheels back on and connecting with music at the core," he tells us. "I've relearned my instrument through this band. I'm practicing again, and woodshedding in my hotel room. I've been practicing scales!"

Dig Ben Harper & Relentless7? Send us an email explaining why you deserve to win an autographed, limited edition poster! Your deadline is May 15th. Good luck!

(more...)

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More: Concerts, Exclusive, S.S. Live Performance, Video

Dead Weather Supergroup Debuts

April 7, 2009 10:49 AM

Photo: David Swanson

The Dead Weather, the new supergroup comprised of drummer Jack White of the White Stripes and the Raconteurs, vocalist Alison Mosshart of the Kills, guitarist Dean Fertita from the Queens of the Stone Age and bassist Jack Lawrence from the Raconteurs, will play their first full-set gig on April 14th at New York's Bowery Ballroom. Tickets for the event will go on sale on April 8th at 10 am.

The Dead Weather will release their debut album, Horehound, on June 9th. A limited edition 7" vinyl single, "Hang You Up From The Heavens" b/w a cover of Gary Numan's "Are Friends Electric?" will be available on April 18th, Record Store Day!

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Paul and Ringo, Together Again

April 6, 2009 11:23 AM

Prayers were answered over the weekend when ex-Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr reunited on stage for the first time the George Harrison tribute concert in 2002. McCartney and Starr performed for the "Change Begins Within" charity concert at Radio City Music Hall on Saturday evening. The event was an all-star benefit concert for the David Lynch Foundation, which teaches  meditation techniques to troubled kids.

McCartney called Starr to the stage using his Sgt. Peppers character name, Billy Shears, before busting into "A Little Help from my Friends." Starr then took his throne behind the drum kit and worked through "Cosmically Conscious," a song McCartney had written when the Beatles were visiting India in 1968. The pair were joined by  Sheryl Crow, Eddie Vedder, Donovan, and Mike Love for their closer, "I Saw Her Standing There."

Check it out. It was a beautiful thing.

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The Smoking Section Presents: DYLANFEST '09!

April 2, 2009 6:29 PM

Photo: Michael Ochs Archive/Getty

We play a little bass guitar, and around Bob Dylan's birthday (May 24th), for nearly ten years now, we've wrangled up our buddies to pay musical tribute to our hero.

This year is no exception, DylanFest will go down at Mercury Lounge in New York City, on May 21st!

What has changed is the awesome level of talent we're bringing with us.

So far the guests include:

Hymns
Adam Green
Fab Moretti -- Strokes/Little Joy
Nikolai Fraiture -- Strokes/Nickel Eye
The Pierces
Matt Romano -- Little Joy and Albert Hammond, Jr. drummer
Jody Porter -- Fountains of Wayne
Sammy James, Jr. -- The Mooney Suzuki
Josh Lattanzi -- guitarist in Tinted Windows
The Teenage Prayers
Grant Maxwell -- the Morning Pages

AND THERE WILL BE MANY MANY MORE!!!!

Tickets are $10, and can be bought right here.

It's gonna be fuckin' amazing!!!

Got any requests?

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Leonard Cohen Finally Takes the U.S.A.

February 20, 2009 12:28 PM

Photo: Loccisano/Getty

Good lord, the great Leonard Cohen shocked and awed New York last night in his first U.S. performance in fifteen years.

We weren't obsessed with Cohen when we walked into the Beacon Theater last night, but three-and-a-half hours later, we walked out a true believer. The musicians were mind blowing and the mix was magnificent. The trio of background singers -- featuring Sharon Robinson and the Webb Sisters -- sounded like angels, and Cohen was just a fuckin' badass.

You HAVE to go see this show. Cohen has just announced a 28-date tour through U.S. and Canada, with gigs at Red Rocks in Colorado, the Paramount in Oakland, Radio City in NYC and, of course, Coachella fest. (Click here for tour dates.)

Also look out for Live In London, the CD/DVD package that documents Cohen's gig at the O2 Arena last year. Click here for a teaser performance of "Suzanne."

It's unreal!

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Top of the Line Hooker Billy Joel Talks Shea Stadium and McCartney

February 18, 2009 2:49 PM

Photo: Mazur/WireImage

It's always a blast to rap with Billy Joel. He's funny as hell, and doesn't give a shit about speaking his mind. 

The last time we'd caught up with Billy was at Shea Stadium last July, moments before he took the stage for the opener of his sold-out two-night stand there, in which he welcomed guests like Tony Bennett, Don Henley, John Mayer and Paul McCartney. 

This morning we spoke to Billy for an upcoming Q+A in the magazine. In just a couple weeks, on March 2nd, in Jacksonville, he'll kick off another long run of shows with his old buddy, Elton John. Billy has just returned to his pad in Miami after a trek out west to play a gig at the MGM in Vegas, and a private concert in Palm Springs. Most big performers play those corporate shows for big bucks, but nobody ever talks about them -- except for Mr. Joel.

"We did a gig in Vegas and we did some stupid casino gig in Palm Springs for one of the high rollers there," he says. "These private gigs are like doing a bar mitzvah. They're not fun because they're for private audiences, not paying audiences. They're not your audience. They don't know your stuff. They're there just to say they were there. I feel like a slut when I do them, but you get paid like a really good call girl. When I walk offstage, it's like the walk of shame."

Yes! Billy Joel compared himself to a call girl!

And we also wanted you to hear what he had to say about McCartney's last minute appearance at Shea, which closed the second show. (A DVD of the Shea shows is slated for release in November.) 

"When I had reached out to Paul before the gigs, he'd said he had a scheduling conflict, that he had visitation with his daughter right around that time, and I understood that," says Billy. "So nobody expected him. Then he called me on the day of the second show, that afternoon, and said, 'Billy, it's Paul.' And I'm thinking, 'Paul? Paul? Paul Reiser?' And he said, [imitating a Liverpudlian] 'McCartney... Look, I'd love to come to the show tonight, but I've got a flight that's landing late and I'll have to go through customs and immigration and drive down from the airport and I don't think it's gonna work.' And I said, 'Well, thanks for thinking about us.'

"About two-thirds of the way through the show I was onstage and I got a message: 'The Eagle Has Landed.' But we still didn't think he was gonna make it because we were getting close to the end of the show. And then right at the last moment, right before our last song, someone came running up and told me he was up there. Somehow, he had his Hofner bass with him, and he just walked onstage. We were all speechless. He comes over and says, 'What do you want to do?' And I said, 'How about, "I Saw Her Standing There,"' and he goes, 'Great!' So we play 'I Saw Her Standing There" and then we leave, and we're standing by the side of the stage and the crowd wanted another song, of course. So he goes, 'What do you want to do?' And I said, 'How about "She Loves You?"' And he gave me this look like, 'Oh, I don't know that one,' which really meant, 'I don't like that one.' And I said, 'Well, what do you want to do?'

"He goes, 'Well, let's do "Let it Be." That seems to be a good closer.' I said, 'Perfect.' So he sang the song and I just sat at the piano like a lump on a log watching Paul McCartney play at Shea Stadium. It was such a poetic moment. We were all stunned."

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Ron Wood, The Dead Rumored To Join the Allmans

February 17, 2009 11:53 AM

Photo: Oser/AFP/Getty

We've got more rumors to share with you about the Allman Brothers upcoming twenty-night stand at New York's Beacon Theater!


The latest is that Ron Wood will spend at least one evening sitting in with the Allmans. 

The same goes for the surviving members of the Grateful Dead.

Discuss.

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More Details About Clapton Joining Allman Brothers at Beacon!!!

February 13, 2009 1:14 PM

Photo: Allan/WireImage

We told you first right here in the Smoking Section that the Allman Brothers' epic 2009 stand at New York's Beacon Theater will serve as a tribute late guitar wizard Duane "Skydog" Allman. The fifteen dates in Manhattan -- between March 9th and March 28th -- will also celebrate the Allman's 40th anniversary, and marks 20 years since they began ripping shit up at the Beacon.

Some of you didn't believe us when we said that Eric Clapton would be sitting in with the Allmans on select nights. You folks can suck it! Clapton WILL appear at two shows -- on March 19th and 20th!!!

We also predicted that Dickey Betts would return to join his former band, a claim that the Allmans' manager called "patently false."

We're sticking with our prediction! Why not!

And whether or not you catch a Clapton night, each and every one of the shows are going to be sick!!!

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