Drive-By Truckers, Serj Tankian, Radiohead, The Bridge

Check out this review of the Drive-By Truckers show in Hollywood. It begins with "The Drive-By Truckers are back on the road again and brought one of the most deeply probing and incendiary live rock shows out there to the Avalon in Hollywood on Tuesday night. " http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080214/music_nm/review_music_driveby_dc_1. I'm hoping to catch the Truckers when they come to the National on Friday, March 28.



Beth S. went to the Serj Tankian show last night at Toad's and reports:

"He was REALLY good. So interesting. Funny thing is you heard the distinctive voice of Serj Tankian knowing it was coming behind the stage as the band members began to file on to the stage all wearing black top hats and jackets! Then he appeared wearing a white jacket and top hat! It was way cool." Thanks for the report, Beth. Here's a picture:

Finally, Beth also mentions that Radiohead will be coming to the Nissan Pavilion on Sunday, May 11th. Tickets are going on sale on Saturday at 10 AM on Ticketmaster. Demand should be high as they are one of the most critically lauded bands of our time and they don't tour much. They are keeping tickets at a reasonable price also ($61 - 41). I was hoping that, like their online sale of "In Rainbows", they would let consumers select their own price for tickets, but that is not to be.

Three more bands that I loved to see live have now raised their ticket prices to exorbitant levels: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (charging $131 to sit in the orchestra level, $101 to sit in the second tier at Nissan Pavilion and $91 to sit in the third tier). Wasn't TP once the guy who fought his record company because they wanted his album to be the first to have a $9.99 list price (when albums were $8.99)? The Allman Brothers are charging $150 to sit in the orchestra, $100 to sit in the balcony at the Beacon Theater in NY. Granted the Allman's prices may be inflated becuase its the Beacon and its in NY, but still... Rush's top ticket price at the Nissan Pavilion will be $123. At least I'll have my good memories of seeing these bands.

This week's shows feature The Bridge at The Canal Club on Saturday night. Show starts at 9 PM and tickets are an oh-so-reasonable $7. The Bridge are an up-and-coming jam band from Baltimore. They handed out a free sampler CD at All Good and they sound pretty good, more funky & danceable than spacey. I missed their show because they were the first band on one day at the festival and I couldn't get myself together in time to get down there.


Tony Jordan