I’m sitting at JFK airport for a flight to Indianapolis to see Neil Young and the Promise of the Real who are on the road to Farm Aid in Milwaukee Saturday. My flight is delayed so I figured I’d check in and tell you what I did on my summer vacation. It has been a busy concert season with a trip to London, England and Kilkenny, Ireland to catch Neil and the Real with Bob Dylan at two incredible outdoor festivals. Neil and Bob took the stage together at beautiful Kilkenny for the first time since Bobfest at Madison Square Garden which I was fortunate to have attended also. Neil Young and Dylan’s European tours converged for these final two dates and it was an extraordinary finale for the two legends. After my London adventure, I stayed above a pub in Kilkenny, which was just down the road from the hurling field where the event was held, and where I had an incredible no frills whirlwind stay which ended in Dublin where I played tourist for a couple of days.
Upon my return it was on to Newport, Rhode Island for a family trip to the Newport Folk Festival which is always a blast. The weather was perfect, as it was for the two European festivals, and the three day folk festival with three stages and non stop music at scenic Fort Adams on the water was fantastic as usual. As long as the rain stays away it is a great venue. My wife and I had gone to the Newport Jazz Festival years ago during a three day monsoon, leaving us like drowned rats and a tough few days, so anytime you can get a good weather weekend in Newport it is a home run. The wide variety of acts satisfied the whole family and the perfect weather made for a great vacation.
Bob Seger and the Silver Bullett Band started off the summer concert season at Northwell at Jones Beach Theatre back on a rainy night in May for his farewell tour. Despite the rain, the sold out amphitheatre was rocking with Seger playing many of the big hit songs from his great rock and roll albums that dominated 1980’s FM radio.
Smashing Pumpkins with Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds was a surprising good show. I’ve never been a huge Smashing Pumpkins fan but they have many familiar hits, and Gallagher was a really strong opening act and he threw in some great Oasis tunes at the end of his set.
Just this week, I was supposed to see Peter Frampton’s finale show at Madison Square Garden Friday but due to a Groupon app snafu I was unable to pull up my tickets on my phone. Saturday night was a surprisingly great Jethro Tull 50th Anniversary Concert at Forest Hills Stadium. Jethro Tull was my favorite band freshman year in high school before I discovered Yes then Neil Young and the first album I ever bought with my own money was Jethro Tull’s “ Warchild”. In recent years and tours, Ian Anderson’s voice has been disappointing and the shows left you wondering if he maybe should have hung up his flute and retired but somehow this tour, with its audiovisual enhancements, was a huge success in my eyes. The limber Anderson balanced himself on one leg and pranced and strutted and entertained under a late summer sky.
The Who’s latest farewell incarnation with orchestra on the other hand was an utter disappointment. While 75 year old Roger Daltry looked and sounded fine, a crowded stage, power outages, and with Pete Townshend’s windmills feeling forced, after the opening “Tommy” excitement, we found ourselves feeling bored and somewhat disappointed. The orchestra tours were better done when Daltry toured solo with “Tommy” and Townshend played st the Metropolitan Opera House with “Quadrophenia”. The farewell 50th Anniversary Show at Forest Hills a couple of years ago was a rollicking good time and how I would prefer to remember the band, along with many of the great arena tours they did through the years.
There was also two nights of Chicago st the NYCB Theatre at Westbury at some point and I’m sure a few other shows I’m not recalling at the moment. The gate to my delayed flight has been changed again so I hope to be wheels up shortly.
Keep on rockin’ In the Indiana world
Rock on!
GQ