MUSICMARAUDERS

The Bluebird Theater Denver, CO Words By Brandon Picard Photos By Jon Prins Audio Recording By Corey Sandoval ( Kind Recordings ) April 20th. Year in and year out 4/20 is an epic night in Colorado. Musical acts from in and around the great state flood to Denver for a night of beer drinking, ganja smoking, and... oh yeah, music! Head for the Hills playing the Bluebird Theatre was undoubtedly a 420 treat for all Denver bluegrass fans. The bill also included String Cheese’s Bill Nershi accompanied by his wife, Jillian. Bluegrassers were out in full effect for this wonderful night of music and celebration. Bill and Jillian Nershi started the night off with a duet of folk and bluegrass melodies warming up the Bluebird Theatre on Friday night. With a following like the String Cheese Incident has, I was not surprised to see Cheese Heads lining the front of the Bluebird, fixated on Billy’s melodies. With some story telling backed by heartfelt folk tunes, Billy and Jillian captivated the theat...

May 4th - 7th, 2012 Words By J-man Denver, CO is known for it's beauty, altitude and thriving music scene, but the weekend of May 4th brings an elevated level of excitement to this already "high" city! The weekend of May 4th brings such action as two nights of the supergroup, Game 7, consisting of Michael Kang (The String Cheese Incident), Aron Magner (The Disco Biscuits), Pete Wall (Textiles), Eric Gould & Darren Pujalet (Particle) to Quixote's True Blue! Just across town at Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom on Friday, Colorado's Juno What will be joined by The Wizard of Woo himself, Mr. Bernie Worrell (Parliament Funkadelic)! Speaking of local, Colorado's own, Whitewater Ramble, will be playing several local shows with The Henhouse Prowlers, closing out their tri-city run with a Saturday show at Cervantes Other Side! As a consequence of all of the local talent in town, Textiles featuring Pete Wall, in conjunction with MusicMarauders and The Highland Tap ...

Words By J-man Photos By Carly Marthis & J-man What follows is the perspective of a spoiled fan located in the heart of Motet country, who has been seeing the band non-stop for over a year, through love, admiration, respect, amazement, friendship and multiple perspectives. The band has been selling out venues on the Front Range consistently and on the brink of national touring, following a handful of sold out west coast dates, the Motet returned to Colorado before heading east. April 20th, 2012 Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom Denver, CO The day would mark the "high" holy holiday of 4.20 and who better to celebrate with than The Motet? The show sold out early in the day triggering a frenzy among fans who had been locked out. Pictures began to surface on Facebook of the evening's light rig, teasing the imagination of both those attending and those who were not. Many looked forward to a Motet original show, interlaced with some anticipated covers. The Motet rarely does sh...

Words By J-man Wakarusa brings the festival goer a wide variety of genres, but possibly none more relevant to the atmosphere and region than bluegrass. The hills of the Ozarks seem the perfect backdrop for some good old fashion pickin' and grinnin'. From traditional to newgrass, today's sampler gives you a taste of a few styles that will be up for the taking at this year's Wakarusa... The Del McCoury Band/Travelin McCourys: The Del McCoury band takes the cake for the most traditional of the bunch, featuring one of the original Bluegrass Boys in Del. Also present will be the newest incarnation out of the McCoury camp, The Travelin' McCourys. In this project Del steps aside for jam looper, Keller Williams to take over. What will be consistent between the two projects is a level of instrumentation far above that of most bands present at the festival. Keller & The Travelin' McCoury Live at Suwannee Music Park on October 21, 2011. Set I: Instrumental, Hobo Song,...

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Lincoln Theater, U. of Hartford Hartford, CT Words By Nicholas Stock In addition to being national "smoke a fatty day," 4-20 is also drummer Michael Travis’ birthday. The combination of both has made for some stellar String Cheese Incident shows throughout the years. Perhaps the best of which came in the Lincoln Center at The University of Hartford in 2000. The show began with a fashion show where each member of the band was introduced one by one and modeled their attire. The show began with a shredtastic version of "100 Year Flood" into "Dudley’s Kitchen." String Cheese Incident Live at Lincoln Theater, U. of Hartford on April 20, 2000. SET I: 100 Year Flood> Dudley’s Kitchen, Hey Pocky Way, White Freightliner*#, Blue Bossa*> Jam*> Smile* SET II: Happy Birthday Travis*> Missing Me*> Jam*> Lonesome Fiddle Blues*^, Black and White, Cottonmouth, Come As You Are> Drums> Whiskey Before Breakfast* ENCORE: Boogie On Reggae Woman* *with...

Fort Collins, CO Words & Photos By Summer Camp Counselor Nicholas Stock FoCoMx or the Fort Collins Music Experiment is a festival, which began just four short years ago. It’s a celebration of all of the music that bubbles out of Northern Colorado. It ends up being a massive melting pot of bands representing every possible genre under the sun. With over three hundred groups in thirty venues over the course of two nights it is the choose-your-own-adventure of music festivals. The price tag of $15 pre sale and shuttles whipping across town to get patrons from show to show it is also an incredibly affordable and doable event. The point of the fest is to expose local bands to new fans and give almost any group the opportunity to play live. The Fort Collins Music Association teamed up with Bohemian Foundation as well a slew of sponsors to make it all possible. My main criticism of FoCoMx is that it lacks a main stage and main act to really draw people in. There are plenty of big groups f...

The Ark Boston, MA Words By J-man Forty three years ago today, The Grateful Dead graced The Ark in Boston, MA with their presence. This classic piece of history provides a clear glimpse into the early years of the band through a fantastic show, both in energy and recording quality. The set includes prominent Dead staples in their earliest forms, including "Morning Dew," "Cryptical Envelopement," "The Other One," "Dark Star," "St. Stephen," and "The Eleven." The progression of these compositions have come a long way and in these early years, the stripped down versions give insight into the humble origins. Start your Saturday right with Grateful Dead on today's date in 1969! Grateful Dead Live at The Ark on April 21, 1969. Setlist: Hard To Handle, Morning Dew, Cryptical Envelopement-> Drums-> The Other One-> Cryptical Envelopement-> Sitting On Top Of The World, Alligator-> Drums-> Jam*-> Alligator-> ...

Appalachian Brewing Company Harrisburg, PA Words & Photos by Jon Irvin Super-groups and side projects are the reason why I love the 'jam scene'. Usually this is where you find your favorite musicians truly having fun and exploring their mastery. Conspirator is one of latest bands that sports a star studded lineup consisting of founding members Marc Brownstein (bass) and Aron Magner (keyboard) both of the Disco Biscuits joined by Chris Michetti (guitar) from RAQ and their latest drummer KJ Sawaka of Pendulum. The newest edition of Conspirator brought the jams to Appalachian Brewing Company this past Sunday and I couldn't miss the chance to enjoy both great beers and bass bombs from Brownie. The set opened with a newer Disco Biscuit song "Uber Glue" that was explored to the nth degree and set the tone for a night of dubstep-house jamming. From here on out the audience was caught in a web like funnel that had their mind shifted every which way as the band took t...

The Aggie Fort Collins, CO Words & Photos By Summer Camp Counselor Nicholas Stock It’s no secret that many dig what Keller Williams does. From his early loop filled days playing small clubs to his latter band based projects performing in front of massive festival crowds one thing remains true, Keller is fun. His most recent endeavor is as a front man for the Travelin’ McCourys. His acoustic chops fit in nicely with the bluegrass powerhouse. Obviously he is not trying to replace Del McCoury, no one could do that, but is simply looking to play with a full string lineup. What better string band could he possibly find other than the Travelin’ McCourys? There was no opening group, so Keller and the McCourys took the stage just before 10 PM. They started the night with an entertaining “Mullet Cut." Keller Williams Live at Aggie Theater on April 12, 2012. SET I: Mullet Cut, Gallivanting, The Graveyard Shift, The Hobo Song, Pepper, Road is Rocky, My Mine Never Closes, Foggy Mountain...

Words By Ben Wright It's Tuesday afternoon here in Belgium and we're coming off one of the longest weekends we've had in a long time. The short drives here make it possible to play two shows in a day, so that's precisely what we did on both Saturday and Sunday. By Sunday night's show we were exhausted and I forgot to take pictures. Regardless, we worked it hard this weekend and still managed to have a great time. Friday, April 13th N9 in Eeklo, Belgium This show was a highlight of last years tour and it was even better this year. N9 is akin to any of the nicer venues we might play in the states, and it drips with personality. The staff remembered us by name and were visibly happy that we were back. The sound here is phenomenal, with top notch gear and Patrick on sound clearly knows what he's doing. The venue is funded by the Belgian government and it's been made clear to me by several people that it's an honor to be asked to play there. The stained gl...