Reno River Festival

Every year people come out of the wood work for the Reno River Festival, located downtown at Whitewater Park. The best thing about it is it’s the first event outside, generally, of the year… Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, not really but it’s the largest of the first couple…

Here’s their blurb, “Enjoy electrifying outdoor concerts in Wingfield Park, the New Belgium beer garden, Toyota’s Highway to the Future Mobile Hybrid Experience and other specialty areas. With a variety of casual meeting places designed for world-class competitors, fans and outdoor enthusiasts to share ideas and experiences, views on the latest outdoor gear, or to simply share a beer—the Reno River Festival is the ultimate outdoor experience.”

Go have fun, click here for music schedule.

NIN - The Slip

Do these bands actually have it right? A new way to distribute their music? After downloading, for free, an album of mp3’s from Nine Inch Nails yesterday, I realized something… Is this the future of music sales? Free? What is free anyway? No we are NOT going to talk about Pennywise, they stole Greg Gaffin and Bad Religion… When Radiohead released it’s album, In Rainbows October 07, I immediately went to their website and actually paid for their album. Being a huge Radiohead fan and owning all their studio albums, I thought paying what I wanted for an album was perfect. It empowered me to “vote” (monetarily) on their music with cash and not just buy it, sit down and shut up. But what about smaller bands? Bands that don’t have an international following, bands that haven’t changed the music landscape by simply being?

Nine Inch Nails is an enigma though. Trent Reznor has always stayed away from anything resembling main stream, he bought the house Sharon Tate was murdered in for Gods sake… But I digress. Let’s go back to Pretty Hate Machine. 1989 was a great year for music, The Cure, Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Cult. All music associated with my youth. Pretty Hate Machine was released late in the year and wasn’t really heard for months afterwards. That doesn’t take away from the music on that album. Several years after the release of that album, the people in San Diego were treated to Nine Inch Nails last stop on Lollapalloza 2, the destroyed all their instruments and were replaced by Jesus and the Mary Chain. the rest of the country missed out on a great live band, a different live band.

Fast forward almost 20 years and the same guy, Reznor, releases “The Slip”. So far so great… I really like it, it’s got that “bang on what you can in a garbage dump” sounds to it. The same as every record put out by NIN. Keep in mind, that’s not a bad thing, it is what it is.

Back to the point, are we in a better place, musically, because groups like Radiohead and NIN can release their stuff for free? That’s really to be determined…

Until then, Check out a song from NIN and Radiohead below…

Radiohead - Bodysnatchers

Nine Inch Nails - Discipline

Geddy, Neil and Alex, oh my!

Written by Forrest Hartman for the RGJ… Not many rock bands feel fresh and relevant three decades after they’ve made the scene, but what Rush did in the 1970s and ’80s it continues to do today.

And it still works.

The Canadian power trio played a packed Reno Events Center Saturday, delivering a show that was lengthy, energetic and technically brilliant. In fact, the only real disappointment was a set that spanned the group’s career yet placed a disappointingly heavy emphasis on its latest album, “Snakes and Arrows.”

It’s a credit to bassist-vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson and drummer Neil Peart that they’re still crafting creative and listenable music, but 90 percent of the folks who go to a rock show are hoping to hear favorites. So, it’s a tad self-indulgent when a band focuses on tunes that half the crowd won’t know.

Rush did, at least, open with a favorite, kicking things off with “Limelight,” a hook-heavy rocker from 1981’s “Moving Pictures” album. But rather than stick with the most familiar material, the boys dug deep into their catalog, following “Limelight” with the lesser-known “Digital Man,”
“Ghost of a Chance” and “Mission.”

Because the concert also included nine songs from “Snakes and Arrows,”
one would have expected the gaps to be filled by familiar favorites like “Closer to the Heart,” “New World Man,” “Distant Early Warning” and “Fly By Night.” But none of those tunes made the cut. Instead, the band concentrated on obscure material and paused only to play absolute musts:
“Tom Sawyer,” “Red Barchetta,” “Subdivisions” and “The Spirit of the Radio.”

Of course, Rush was never about hit singles. In fact, the group has only had a handful during its three-decade career. So, it’s somewhat forgivable when this band focuses on new material and album cuts, choosing to show off the musicianship of the players rather than spend its energy on a hit parade.

The beauty of Rush has always been the sheer talent each player brings to the gig. These are musician’s musicians who rank among the greatest in the world at their instruments individually. So, when they’re together on stage, there’s a convergence of complex bass lines, eclectic yet technically astounding guitar and phenomenal drumming. Ignore the driving backbeat and wailing electric guitar and what these musicians do seems more like freestyle jazz than hard rock, which is, of course, the point of a progressive rock band.

It’s noteworthy, too, that age hasn’t slowed these Canadian rockers.
Saturday, they plowed through nearly 30 songs and were on stage for close to three hours, all the while looking as spry as teenagers. More importantly, the music hasn’t lost a beat. Peart is still one of the most phenomenal drummers in the world, Lifeson shifts effortlessly between smart solos and solid rhythm playing and Lee is as strong voiced as ever, not to mention that he still plays bass like a mad man.

Watching these three on stage is just plain fun. Throw in occasional pyrotechnics, a terrific light show, videos played between and during songs, and you have one terrific rock show.

What’s more, Lee deserves credit for pronouncing Nevada correctly each and every time he mentioned our fair state. For that, we’ll forgive him for skipping “New World Man.”

SET LIST
1) Limelight
2) Digital Man
3) Ghost of a Chance
4) Mission
5) Freewill
6) The Main Monkey Business
7) The Larger Bowl
Red Barchetta
9) The Trees
10) Between the Wheels
11) Dreamline

Intermission

12) Far Cry
13) Workin’ Them Angels
14) Armor and Sword
15) Spindrift
16) The Way the Wind Blows
17) Subdivisions
18) Natural Science
19) Witch Hunt
20) Malignant Narcissism
21) Drum Solo
22) Hope
23) The Spirit of the Radio
24) 2112 Overture/The Temples of Syrinx
25) Tom Sawyer

Encore
1) One Little Victory
2) A Passage to Bangkok
3) YYZ