On paper, an evening with Widespread Panic has all the makings of being one of the most excruciating of your life. There will be gray-haired men playing congas. Hammond organ lines that can make a 10-minute-long version of a Black Sabbath song feel like a 20-minute-long Deep Purple deep cut. And six-string bass solos. Lots of those. Ordinarily in a preview, this is where I’d tell you that as bad as all that sounds, Widespread Panic is really OK live. But actually, I’ve given you the executive summary here: Widespread Panic will drain the blood from your night as expertly as it will exsanguinate a Talking Heads song, or a Parliament song, or any of the songs jam bands have to cover lest their audience notice how dire their originals are. —Andrew Beaujon

Read the full City Lights pick here; deets below the jump:

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“I’m having a lot more fun than I thought I would,” said Kings of Leon frontman Caleb Followhill, sweat dripping down his newly trim hair into his stern blue eyes. “I thought you like, wouldn’t be here, or, wouldn’t know who were were, or…”

He said this to a crowd of at least 7,000 bellowing fans Tuesday at the Merriweather Post Pavilion, where the Kings played a two hours of pulsing pop rock, roughly half of which were off their most recent album, Only By the Night. Caleb and his band of tightly jeansed kinfolk might have acted surprised by the high squeal factor of the boiling sea of an audience—which appeared equal parts sleeveless dudes and doe-eyed girls (the one in front of me was wearing a shirt reading “It’s my baby!” and nearly had a conniption fit when the guys played “Knocked Up” during their encore set)—but given the band’s arena-rock turn on its latest record, this is the sort of crowd they should learn to expect.

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By now, this might be ancient history in Internet time; but after the jump, check out a quick preview of the 200+ photos in the full gallery. Plus, I’ve penned my thoughts on each of the festival acts in two sentences or less. Keep in mind that in my effort to cover every band, I didn’t see a single full set. And there are just some bands about which I have absolutely nothing to say.

Read More “Virgin FreeFest: Full Photo Gallery” »

When that is the most common thing one hears said about a concert, it would seem to indicate that something was left to be desired. It was a stroke of PR genius to make this year’s version of the Virgin Festival completely free, after it became clear that the lineup was not going to live up to the standard set by previous years. So while there was a lot to complain about on Sunday, from the bizarre decision to turn pavilion seating into a free-for-all to the fact that, well, Blink-182 were the headliners, hey – it was free. And in this case, concertgoers got much more than what they paid for.

Public Enemy (pictured above, Flavor Flav) drew by far the biggest crowd to the festival’s secondary stage, and delivered a set worthy of the distinction. I enjoyed a few other sets here and there, particularly over on that second stage (St. Vincent, Girl Talk, The National were all fun), but really, Public Enemy alone would have made the whole thing, um, worth the price of admission.

The full set of photos is forthcoming, but check out a few teasers after the jump.

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Seeing The Flaming Lips live is an experience rather unlike anything else, and these photos speak for themselves. Be sure to check out Jason Cherkis’ interview with Lips frontman Wayne Coyne for more on the band and their forthcoming new album, Embryonic.

Lots of photos after the jump and at the full gallery.

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“Where do you get the balls to change your name from Gordon to ‘Sting’?” asked the comedian Dana Carvey sometime in the mid-90’s, when the musician’s stage name was still viable stand-up fodder. One might ask the same of John Stephens, who changed his name to John Legend while he was still a small-time act in Chicago. To his credit, Legend’s spent the intervening years slowly justifying his ambitious moniker, carving out a niche of the outskirts of pop R&B, not far from its borders with rock and big-band. He brought his horn section, dancing girls, and Clorox-white pants to Merriweather Friday.

Legend’s little brother, Vaughn Anthony, was the first opener, and it’s well that he was not so presumptuous in his selection of a stage name as big brother. Anthony’s songs seemed primarily vehicles for conveying past sexual conquests in anticipation of future ones. Apropos, he shed articles of clothing as his set progressed, revealing a physique that was more well-developed than his musicianship. His voice was fine, but not terribly interesting—a mixture of crooning vulnerability and blunt sexual confidence. It would not surprise me if he makes piles of money.

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Nine Inch Nails (above, Trent Reznor sweating a lot) and Jane’s Addiction played to a large, enthusiastic crowd on Tuesday, despite crazy thunderstorms and hail just before the show’s start time. After the jump, some images from this very visually appealing show. Full gallery here.

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Here’s what you need to know about The Decemberists playing The Hazards of Love in its entirety on their current tour: on prog-rock bulletin boards, folks are comparing this show to Genesis performing The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway in the 1970s.

Hazards of Love sounds awfully proggy on record, and live it’s got all the telltale signs: a theatrical presentation (including costumes of sorts), a ridiculously fantastical concept/storyline, lots of Hammond organ and other keys, a gratuitously long children’s choir section… everything to make the latent prog fan inside you start drooling. And the thing is, it works. Before last night I wasn’t quite sure what to make of the album, but its highlights are exhilirating in the live setting, especially those featuring the powerhouse vocals of My Brightest Diamond’s Shara Worden. Set the absurd concept aside and the music stands on its own remarkably well.

More photos and thoughts after the jump. Full gallery here.

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“I don’t even like jam bands,” the engineer told me at Will Call. “I just come to these things to get high.”

I nodded at the child strapped to his back. “You folks are in good company, then. The Beautiful People are out in full force tonight.”

Read More “Phil Lesh & Friends and the Allman Brothers at Merriweather Post Pavilion” »