Thursday, March 22, 2012

Suckers, Kurt Vile, Zac Brown Band, Church Hill Irish Fest

It looks like a busy weekend so let's jump right into it.

Thursday kicks off with three bands at The Camel with headliners Suckers (remind me a little of Talking Heads or Vampire Weekend) and Andrew Leahy & the Homestead and Dead Fame. Door open at 8, show starts at 8:30, tix are $8 and the 8th person in the door get the 8th key to the 8th gate of hell. Here's Suckers with an acoustic performance of their song "Chinese Braille" from their new album "Candy Salad" that they did while they were down in SXSW with every band in the known galaxy:



Friday you can hit an early show at Strange Matter with Kurt Vile and the Violators, Supreme Dicks and Sore Eros. Doors open at 5 PM, show starts at 6, it's $12 in advance, $15 at the door, show should be over by 9. Kurt hails from Philly and I really like this dreamy, acoustic song from him called "Baby's Arms":



Also Friday acousticy/bluegrassy/jam band Railroad Earth will play The National. Tix are $20 in advance, $22 at the door, doors open at 7 and the show starts at 8 with opener Morwenna Lasko & Jay Pun. Here's Railroad Earth doing "Been Down This Road":


And as an added bonus, here is Phil Lesh joining Railroad Earth the other night (3/10) at The Fillmore in SF to perform "Terrapin Station":



Also on Friday, outlaw country icon David Allan Coe will be at the venue formerly known as Hat Factory and now known as Epic Theatre. Doors open at 8, show starts at 9, no opener is listed. Here's DAC performing on Austin City Limits doing "You Never Even Called My By My Name", the perfect country & western song:



On Saturday (10 AM - 7 PM) & Sunday (10 AM - 6 PM), the Church Hill Irish Festival goes down on Church Hill (N 25th St between Broad & Franklin). It covers four blocks and there will be Irish musicians, local band (usually Americana/blues), beer, food, a good kids area with bouncies and games, and Irish crafts. There is a $2 donation at the gate and all the proceeds go to St. Baldrick’s Society, St. Francis Home, Little Sisters of the Poor, Church Hill Crime Watch, Child Saver’s Clinic of Richmond, St. Peter’s Meals Program, The Conrad Center, Stone Circle of Friends, Cullather Brain Tumor Quality of Life Center at Bon Secours, St. John’s Church, Prevent Blindness Virginia and many other neighborhood causes, and St. Patrick’s Church, “a little church with a big heart,” built in 1859 by Irish immigrants. There is free shuttle parking from 16th and E Broad St. A tip for parents with little ones: this is always a crowded event so I advise to either leave the stroller at home or enter from the 24th and Broad entrance and park the stroller in the kids area. I'm hoping to hit this one up with the kids on Sunday as it's always a good time.

Saturday night at The National, acclaimed guitarist Buckethead will play. He's called Buckethead because he wears a KFC bucket on his head. And he also wears a Michael Myers mask. Really. That 1 Guy (really good solo performer who plays a lot of weird homemade instruments) and Wolff & Tuba will be opening. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8, tix are $20 in advance, $23 at the door. You may see all three acts perform together. In fact, here's Buckethead and That 1 Guy performing together as The Frankenstein Brothers at the gig in Oxford MS on 3/6 so you can get a little taste of both. If you like Primus, this is right up your alley.



Rock & Roll Hall of Famer and member of seminal rock band The Byrds, Roger McGuinn, will be at University of Richmond, Camp Concert Hall, Booker Hall of Music on Saturday night. The show starts at 7:30 and tickets range from $10 to $36 depending on your demographic. Here's Roger and The Byrds in 1970 doing a song that would become a hit for the Doobie Brothers, "Jesus Is Just Alright":



The Milkstains, The Lonely Teardrops and Boney Loner will do a gig at Emilio's Tapas Bar in the Fan on Saturday night for those of you who like surfy, 60's garage rock. The show starts at 9:30. It's $5 to get in. Here's The Milkstains:



Up and coming Americana band Sons of Bill will do a FREE show at Capital Ale House downtown on Saturday night. Show starts at 10 PM. SOB are doing a series of free show around VA (they are from C'ville) to celebrate the release of their new album "Sirens". Here's a track from that album "Santa Ana Winds". If you like Tom Petty, Drive-By Truckers, or The Silos, check this out.



If you are at home Saturday night, check out Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead/Ratdog on a free webcast when he plays with members of  The National (the band). Should be interesting to see what kind of spin they put on those Dead songs. The webcast will be HERE from Weir's TRI Studios starting at 9 PM ET.

Zac Brown Band will be at Richmond Coliseum on Sunday night. The show starts at 7 and tix range from $54 to $76. Good seats are still available. I haven't quite figured out Zac Brown Band yet. One song they sound like Jimmy Buffett. On the next, they sound like MOR country. On the next they become a pretty good jam band. There's something there but they never quite put it all together for me but they are growing on me slightly. On this one they do get some nice Eagles harmonies going. This is "Sweet Annie":



That's if for the weekend. Hope to see you at Irish Fest, probably on Sunday.

Tony Jordan

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