Seen a lot of great show and listened to a lot of great releases over the first 6 months of 2019. By way of recapping it all, here’s a fun listing of my favorite show/night out and my favorite album released for each week of the first half of the year. Not necessarily my top 26 shows/albums (some weeks were better than others), but a pretty good taste of what’s made me happy so far this year.
If you’re looking for some music recs, here are some playlists:
My Five Star albums of 2019 (updated regularly)
My Four Star albums of 2019 (updated regularly)
My 2019 Weekly RecommNeds picks (under-the-radar new music; updated weekly)
Some livemusic stats for first half of 2019
203 shows seen, all but one or two reviewed, 300 sets, 76 different venues, 12 different cities, 150+ different bands seen, 75+ for the first time. Monthly donations made for each show seen via the Live Music Challenge.
And the weekly rundown (albums in italics)…
Week 1
1/5 Bill Frisell/Thomas Morgan @ Roulette
Week 2
1/10 Soule Monde + Trey Anastasio @ Symphony Space > Wayne Krantz/Kevin Scott/Josh Dion @ 55 Bar
Week 3
1/20 Joe Russo’s Almost Dead @ Capitol Theatre
Steve Gunn — The Unseen In Between
Week 4
1/23 Vijay Iyer Trio (Tyshawn Sorey, Linda Oh) @ Jazz Standard
Time Grove — More than One Thing
Week 5
2/2 Dave Harrington’s Merry Pranksters @ Threes Brewing
Dave Harrington Group — Pure Imagination, No Country
Week 6
2/9 Freaks Ball XIX: Dave Harringtons’ Drums > Space, Super Yamba, Smokey’s Round Up @ Bell House
Cass McCombs — Tip of the Sphere
Week 7
2/14 Sarah Shook & the Disarmers @ Knitting Factory > Krantz/Almond/Le Fleming @ 55 Bar
Muscle Tough — Modern Romance
Week 8
2/23 Kamasi Washington @ Apollo Theatre
Pom Poko — Birthday
Week 9
2/27 Mary Lattimore @ Brooklyn Steel > Liz Cooper & the Stampede @ Rough Trade
Quaker City Night Hawks — QCNH
Week 10
3/9 Live From Here @ Carnegie Hall
E.B. The Younger — To Each His Own
Week 11
3/16 Nels Cline/Chris Lightcap Duo @ Rivergigs/UWS Apartment
Karen O & Danger Mouse — Lux Prima
Week 12
3/24 Widespread Panic @ Capitol Theatre
Andrew Bird — My Finest Work Yet
Week 13
3/30 Nils Frahm @ Brooklyn Steel
White Denim — Side Effects
Week 14
4/7 Todd Sickafoose’s Tiny Resistors @ Barbes > Brooklyn Folk Festival @ St Ann’s Church
Rozi Plain — What a Boost
Week 15
4/14 New Masada Quartet (Zorn/Lage/Roeder/Wolleson) @ Village Vanguard
Hampshire & Foat — Saint Lawrence
Week 16
4/24 National Reserve @ Skinny Dennis > Live From Here @ Town Hall > Courvoisier/Wolleson/Gress.Finlayson @ The Stone > Acid Mothers Temple @ Market Hotel
Wand — Laughing Matter
Week 17
4/29 Trad Gras Och Stenar/Chris Forsyth & the Solar Motel Band @ Union Pool
Kevin Morby — Oh My God
Week 18
5/2 Bill Frisell Trio (Wolleson, Scherr) @ Blue Note > Bright Light Social Hour @ Bowery Ballroom > Axxa/Abraxas @ Pianos > Wayne Krantz, Ari Hoenig, James Genus @ 55 Bar
Rhiannon Giddens/Francesco Turrisi — There Is No Other
Week 19
5/11 National Reserve @ Skinny Dennis > Cyro Baptista’s Banquet of the Spirits w/ Nels Cline @ Happylucky №1 > Super Yamba @ Barbes
Papir — VI
Week 20
5/16 Broken Social Scene @ Webster Hall > Wayne Krantz, Evan Marien, Mark Guiliana @ 55 Bar
Sam Cohen — the Future’s Still Ringing In My Ears
Week 21
5/25 Julian Lage/Jorge Roeder, Margaret Glaspy @ The Owl Music Parlor
L’éclair — Sauropoda
Week 22
6/2 JamBase 20th Celebration @ Sweetwater
Elephant9 — Psychedelic Backfire I
Week 23
6/9 New Masada Quartet @ Village Vanguard > L’Rain @ Union Pool > Naughty Pillows @ Skinny Dennis > Coltrane Wall-to-Wall @ Symphony Space
Jake Xerxes Fussell — Out of Sight
Week 24
6/13 Ezra Feinberg @ Sunview Lunchnet > William Tyler @ Union Pool > Krantz/Le Fleming/Abadey @ 55 Bar
Pipe-Eye — Inside/Outside
Week 25
6/22 Tortoise, Emily Wells @ Prospect Park Bandshell > Super Yamba @ Barbes
Fruit Bats — Gold Past Life
Week 26
6/30 Phish @ BB&T Pavilion
Arc Iris — Friends and Lovers
