Best Pop Concert: Ray Davies and the 88
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Ray Davies.
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You can't call us a top market when the likes of Radiohead, the Arcade Fire and Paul Simon skipped Pittsburgh, but we're not far off, thanks to the year-old arena, three summer amphitheaters battling it out for supremacy and expanded use of grand old theaters.
The result was an abundance of shows in 2011, with no shortage of variety, from a heavy dose of Hall of Famers to the burgeoning electronic scene.
Two of the standouts -- Lady Gaga and Bruce Springsteen/Joe Grushecky -- were pretty much encores from last year, so we're going to set those aside this time.
My favorite concert of the year came from the man who, quite simply, showed up with the best catalog of songs. Ray Davies visited us many times as frontman of The Kinks, but those shows, with the wild bow ties and narrow greatest-hit sets, were generally a letdown. This was one for the ages, going as deep as "Dead End Street" and "This Is Where I Belong." The acoustic portion with guitarist Bill Shanley was charming and relaxed, and then with The 88, he rolled out a young unit that embraced the subtleties and delivered the crunch of his legendary British Invasion outfit.
If there were a fantasy league for rock dudes, Dave Grohl would be a No. 1 draft choice. At this point, it's questionable if even Bruce Springsteen works the stage as hard as the 42-year-old former Nirvana drummer turned charismatic frontman. Four songs in, he was dripping sweat, and I was already feeling exhausted for him. Then he went another two-plus crushing hours.
This is the first time Elvis ever brought both the wheel and the Imposters. What a combination. Throw in go-go dancers and a nearly 30-song set with Elvis wearing different hats -- game-show host, carnival barker, stand-up comic, balladeer, guitar hero, punk rocker -- and all contestants came out a winner.
Sure, we'd rather see him with Page, Jones and Bonham, but we'll take the 62-year-old Golden God exploring his inner Appalachian soul with guitar ace Buddy Miller, folk-pop siren Patti Griffin and a crack roots band. His set ranged from new Band of Joy to vintage Zeppelin, including a countrified "Houses of the Holy" and pulsing "Ramble On."
Everything they do, they do it big. The Irish quartet brought the biggest stage set we've ever seen, one that matched its big, highly processed sound. In full electronic bloom, the alien-looking Claw took on a life of its own, dwarfing the band to some degree, if that's possible with Bono in the house. Despite being like a vampire in the sunlight, Interpol was a solid opener.
There was no opener, a two-hour wait and no band, so this one lacked some of the energy and excitement of Hova's 2010 visit. Still, throw rap's royals on stage together and you can expect them to tear it up. King Ye brought the bold musical palette and brooding style, while King Jay scorched the place with a rap-battler's fire.
This was the seductive Nigerian singer's first visit to Pittsburgh since the late '80s. I wasn't there (I was covering Taylor Swift that night), so I'm going on the account of PG reviewer Rosa Colucci, who wrote that Sade was "in perfect form and voice" and "still at the top of her game."
"We're not a prog band anymore. We're a folk band," Colin Meloy told the crowd. For the "King Is Dead" tour, the singer-songwriter traded in the fancy suit and rock-opera theatrics for flannel and jeans and a spare set to sample the many flavors of the Decemberists' catalog, from rolling folk-rock songs to narrative suites. His venture into the crowd, during which he tossed around pieces of Sour Patch candy, was a sweet visual to take home.
As you may well know, the cat has some vocal range. In fact, he goes from a B1 to G5 -- and that's without falsetto. He applied it to an impressive set list that not only drew from Soundgarden, Temple of the Dog, Audioslave and solo albums, but added tasty covers of Led Zeppelin and Beatles. As the set wore on, he flashed his guitar and looping chops as well.
A year ago this week, we lost avant-garde legend Captain Beefheart. It was hard not to think of him while watching Primus, a band practically left for dead in the '90s, plunder through a two-hour-plus set of undefinable funk-metal jam on a set that looked like low-budget Pink Floyd.
Avett Brothers, Animal Collective, Elton John, Gang of Four, Alice Cooper, Kurt Vile, Built to Spill, Arctic Monkeys/Smith Westerns, Crosby/Nash, J Roddy Walston, Flogging Molly, Explosions in the Sky, Death Cab for Cutie.
First Published December 22, 2011 12:00 am
