Furthur Festival: Initial Lineup

Sorry, I'm a bit behind on this one, but better late than never. The initial lineup has been announced for the inaugural Furthur Festival @ Mountain Aire which will take place May 28-30 at Calaveras County Fairgrounds in Angels Camp, CA. Also, the band is now down to one drummer, Sir Joe Russo as Jay Lane has returned to Primus. Don't worry folks, Russo is more than capable of handling things all by himself. I personally always preferred the Grateful Dead with only Billy behind the skins anyways.

Here is the initial lineup
Furthur (headling two nights)
Electric Hot Tuna
Jackie Greene
Galactic
Larry Campbell & Theresa Williams
Mark Karan & Jemimah Puddleduck
The Mother Hips
The Waybacks
Common Rotation with Dan Bern
Carney
Maiden Lane
Blue Light River

Camping opens at noon on Friday, May 28. Weekend tickets include camping. GDTSTOO mail order 3/20-3/25 (first postmark 3/20). Online preorder 3/22, 9 AM, PST. Public onsale is 3/26, 10 AM, PST, through Ticketmaster.

Furthur Festival at Mountain Aire Memorial Day Weekend

It looks like Furthur will be starting its own festival this spring. The group will play over Memorial Day weekend, May 28-30. That's all the info for now, stay tuned for more sure to come soon.

Furthur: Summer Tour

Furthur - Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Jeff Chimenti (RatDog, The Dead), John Kadlecik (DSO), Jay Lane (RatDog) and Joe Russo (The Duo, Bustle In Your Hedgerow) - have announced a Summer Tour. In addition to previously announced festival appearances the band will hit a number of outdoor venues along the East Coast. Furthur is on tour now.

Furthur Tour Dates
02/26/10 Fri Mohegan Sun Casino Uncasville, CT
02/27/10 Sat Mark G Etess Arena Atlantic City, NJ
03/02/10 Tue Auditorium Theatre Chicago, IL
03/03/10 Wed Auditorium Theatre Chicago, IL
03/05/10 Fri 1st Bank Center (Formerly The Odeum) Broomfield, CO
03/06/10 Sat 1st Bank Center (Formerly The Odeum) Broomfield, CO
03/08/10 Mon Portland Memorial Coliseum Portland, OR
03/12/10 Fri Bill Graham Civic Auditorium San Francisco, CA
06/25/10 Fri Highland Bowl Rochester, NY
06/26/10 Sat MCU Park Brooklyn, NY
06/27/10 Sun MCU Park Brooklyn, NY
06/29/10 Tue Penn's Peak Jim Thorpe, PA
06/30/10 Wed LeLacheur Park Lowell, MA
07/03/10 Sat Gelston Castle Estate Mohawk, NY
07/04/10 Sun Nateva Music & Camping Festival Oxford, ME
07/05/10 Mon The Green at Shelburne Museum Shelburne, VT
07/08/10 Thu Artpark Lewiston, NY
07/09/10 Fri All Good Festival @ Marvin's Mountaintop Masontown, WV
07/10/10 Sat Mann Center for the Performing Arts Philadelphia, PA

Furthur Tour Dates

Furthur, the band made up of Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Jay Lane, Joe Russo, John Kadlecik and Jeff Chimenti, have just announced a major tour that spans the month of February and goes into the first week of March

February 5 Miami, FL Bayfront Park Amphitheatre
February 6 Orlando, FL Hard Rock Live
February 8 Atlanta, GA The Tabernacle
February 9 Asheville, NC Thomas Wolfe Auditorium
February 10 Charlotte, NC Bojangles Coliseum
February 12 Hampton, VA Hampton Coliseum
February 13 Faifax, VA Patriot Ctr George Mason Univ. February 14 Ithaca, NY Barton Hall Cornell University
February 15 Lehigh Univ. Bethlehem, PA Stabler Arena
February 17 Buffalo, NY Shea’s Performing Arts Center
February 18 Manchester, NH Verizon Wireless Arena
February 19 Amherst, MA Mullins Center Univ of Mass February 20 Utica, NY Utica Auditorium February 22 Newark, DE Bob Carpenter Ctr Univ of DE
February 23 New York, NY Radio City Music Hall
February 24 New York, NY Radio City Music Hall
February 26 Uncasville, CT Mohegan Sun Arena
February 27 Atlantic City, NJ Trump Taj Mahal @ Estess Arena
March 2 Chicago, IL Auditorium Theatre
March 3 Chicago, IL Auditorium Theatre
March 8 Portland, OR Portland Memorial Coliseum

Marco Benevento DVD Sneak Peak

Here's a sneak peak at Marco Benevento's new DVD. In this excerpt we can witness the trio of Marco, Joe Russo (drums) and Brad Barr (guitar) tearing up a 100% improvised jam of rock and roll madness. Needless to say, the rest of the DVD will be equally as incredible considering the lineup of musicians.

Free Album Feat. Joe Russo, Marco Benevento, Dave Dreiwitz

Radio Soap Star Opera was recorded in seven days over three years. The tremendous musicians include: Joe Russo (drums, percussion, glockenspiel, vocals, producer of tracks 2, 3, 5-9), Stuart Bogie (clarinet, alto saxophone, jaw harp, bass harmonica, producer of tracks 1, 4), Don Piper (lap steel, vocals, harmonica, engineer and mix), Andrew Southern (bass 2, 3, 5-9), Kevin Kendrick (vibraphone 1, 4-7, 9), Colin Stetson (tenor and baritone sax on 1), Jon Shaw (trumpet on 6), Nick Movshon (bass on 1), Dave Dreiwitz (bass on 4), Marco Benevento (organ on 2), Sean Bones (guitar on 6), Ryan Thornton (tambourine).

You can download the album for free now at:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/u86hrc

Surprise Me Mr. Davis & The Benevento Russo Duo: B.B. King's New Year's Eve 2008

After the My Morning Jacket show I strolled over to Times Square to catch Surprise Me Mr. Davis & The Benevento Russo Duo's late night show. The marquee read "The Slip & The Duo" so I was unsure who would actually be playing. I thought maybe that Nathan Moore (lead vocals, guitar) had gotten sick and perhaps it would be The Slip performing. I also thought that perhaps B.B.King's just had the wrong info to begin with. Either way I was absolutely pumped to see both bands for the first time. The show began at 2am with The Duo taking the stage first. They opened with "Echo Park" and instead of playing a full set, they immeditately left the stage while SMMD rushed on and delivered a high octane version of "Everything Must Go".
It turns out that Nathan would be playing, and he was in fine form as always. To my surprise, Davis rushed off the stage and The Duo ran back on to play another track. This may have been the plan for the rest of the night, but sooner than later different incarnations of both bands were taking form. First Brad and Marc stayed on and played with the Duo. Then Marco would stay and play keys on a Davis track. Next thing I knew every member of both band's were playing on stage. The 6 headed monster which now resembled the Grateful Dead with two guitarists, keyboards, two drummers, bass, and keys remained on stage for the rest of the rest of the night. "Sissyfuss" was the first tune to feature everyone at once and it was nice to hear a version featuring the fancy keywork of Marco Benevento. Unlike other SMMD shows, this one featured lots of jamming, more akin to the work of The Slip & The Duo. Brad really stood out as the superstar of the night. His guitar playing was inventive and his singing was on for the entirety of the night. "I Hate Love" was a standout of the night. The crowd got to sing a long and Brad even teased some of "Eube" in the intro guitar licks. Both bands left the stage at 4:30am but nobody wanted to believe the show was over. After what felt like forever (really 10minutes later) the 6 musicians piled back on stage for a lengthly encore. A big jam session was held that featured a new Marco/Marc composition that segued into an old often played The Slip cover but first time for Davis & The Duo, "Stand By Me". The show ended at 5:15am with Nathan and Brad singing "What A Wonderful World". It was cut short by Nathan who proudly claimed he was way to drunk to keep going. The concert was epic to say the least and totally outshown My Morning Jacket.
Both of these groups have paid their dues over the years, and hopefully 2009 will be a stand out year for Surprise Me Mr. Davis. Although it would be bittersweet to see them playing venues such as Madison Square Garden, no band deserves it more.

Here's SMMD & The Duo playing I Hate Love, Stand By Me and a jam (all of which I shot from front row center!):


Set List:
Disc 1
Set I
1. Echo Park >
2. Everything Must Go >
3. Play Pause Stop >
4. When A Woman >
5. Becky
6. Sissyfuss
7. Best Reason To Buy The Sun
8. Sunny's Song
9. I Want To Get To Heaven Before I Die
10. beluga banter
11. Roses & Bottles

Disc 2
Set I (continued)
1. The Real World
2. jam > Something For Rockets
3. Circus Cats
4. Smells Like Teen Spirit >
5. I Hate Love
6. Summer of My Fall >
7. Poor Boy
8. Big Whopper >
9. Fat King Of Gods
10. 19th Nervous Breakdown
11. encore break

Disc 3
Encore 1:
1. Last One Ever
Encore 2:
2. (cuts in) new Marc & Marco Tune >
3. Stand By Me >
4. super bad jam >
5. jam >
6. Money Money Money
7. What A Wonderful World