There are some bands that are just better live. Sure, they produce regular studio albums, but they really only exist to give the band new stuff to play on tour; the songs don't achieve perfection until they are played in concert. Bands like Dave Matthews Band (who happen to be the musical act on SNL this upcoming weekend), Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, and The Grateful Dead are the easiest examples of bands like this, but non jam bands fit into this category too. Which artists do you like much better live?
One such band that I'm really into right now is The Avett Brothers. While not the coolest band to admit to liking, this folk/rock/country collaboration between two North Carolina brothers produce solid studio recordings that come to life when performed live. That's a rarity for a semi-mellow folk band that borders on the wussy, but the Avett Brothers' enthusiasm and powerful voices put them in unique category of folk artists who can rock.
Full disclosure: I've never seen the Avett Brothers in person, although they tour constantly. They last came to Northeast Ohio last June when they played the Akron Civic Theatre. At that time I had only discovered them a few months prior, and didn't know enough to go see them live. I will not be making that mistake again when they come to the Cleveland House of Blues on Feb. 27, 2010 (purchase tickets here)as they tour on their new album I and Love and You (produced by uber-producer Rick Rubin).
Enough talking. Below are four separate Avett Brother performances/concerts. Give them a listen yourself and let me know what you think.
First up, to continue the Live Music Week theme of late night TV performances, The Avett Brothers played on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" last night (without The Roots)performing one of their more upbeat songs "Slight Figure of Speech":
Here they perform "The Perfect Space" on Spinner.com. They perform three more songs from their new CD during this session, which you can view here.
NPR invited them to perform in their office as a part of their Tiny Desk Concert series, which features small intimate performances recorded in one of their offices. The 3 song performance caused NPR's Bob Boilen to ask Scott Avett, "Did you swallow an amplifier as a child?"
You can watch here.
Finally,The Avett Brothers performed an hour long set at the Newport Folk Festival last summer. NPR said of the concert:
"Without fail, the enthusiastic roots-rock band generated massive volume onstage at Newport. The Avetts brought their emotionally charged and frenetic live show to the Fort Stage at Folk Festival 50 less than two months before the release of I and Love and You, stomping and hollering through a set of old and new songs."
Listen to the full concert here.
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Showing posts with label Jimmy Fallon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jimmy Fallon. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Social Media, Leno, and Late Night
NBC has created quite a stir with their announcement that they convinced Jay Leno to stay by giving him their entire 10pm slot. There is a lot that's been said about this so I'm not going to dwell on it too much. Alan Sepinwall of New Jersey's The Star-Ledger had a good analysis in his Tuesday column.
I agree with what he has to say. This is a short term solution to a long term problem for NBC. How long can it work? In everything I have read there has been no mention of how long Leno has signed on with the network. I give it maybe 2 years at most. It was only two years ago that Deal or no Deal was on four nights a week. That got old real fast. Now is it even on NBC anymore? This is a desperate financial decision that NBC is spinning as an entertaining gift to us all. What do you think of NBC's decision?
Anyway, what I really wanna talk about is the other big news in NBC's Late Night schedule: the official launch of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. You won't find it on TV. NBC has launched a vlog at latenightwithjimmyfallon.com. Starting this past Monday night and continuing every night until the show airs in the spring, NBC will post daily videos of Jimmy Fallon bringing us behind the scenes of his new show and making a few jokes.
This is a (surprisingly) smart move by NBC. In 1993 when Conan O'Brien took over for David Letterman no one knew who he was, and Conan had no idea how to host a talk show. It made for an awkward year or two which brought the show to the verge of cancellation. With the web component of Fallon's show, NBC can slowly introduce the Jimmy Fallon brand to viewers and Jimmy can get comfortable just talking to a camera on a daily basis.
Fallon may not be the perfect choice for a late night talk show (neither was Conan at the time), but he is the perfect choice to host a late night show in the age of social media. Fallon has always had an interesting appeal. He spent several good years on SNL, but he is not in the same stand-up division as the rest of his comedy competition. He has always seemed like a regular guy who won a reality show contest to appear on TV. If he wasn't on TV he could be comfortable sitting with you on the couch making snarky remarks. That is the appeal of the Jimmy Fallon brand: not everything he does is hilarious, but you have a good time hanging out.
Take a look at Tuesday's video segment:
From the very start this feels less like Fallon putting on a show for us, but rather anyone and everyone putting on a show together. If you go to the show's website you will find the links he mentions in the video, including Facebook, Twitter (@jimmyfallon & it appears to actually be him), MySpace, Flickr, Friendfeed, Ning, YouTube and many other social media sites. It will be interesting to see how these different elements are used as the show makes the transition to television. His mention of having a laptop by his desk and TVs available for Skype make it seem like he plans on talking with his viewers during the show itself.
Although the Leno decision seems like one step backwards for NBC, Jimmy Fallon may be a positive step forward. In order for a late night show to be successful, it needs to have an interactive online element; the more interactive the better. By using social media Late Night with Jimmy Fallon will be able to make up for Fallon's lack of comic timing by establishing him as the talk show host who interacts with his audience and values their insight and talents. There is no better way to establish brand loyalty than to give the consumer a sense of ownership in the brand; a late night show starring Jimmy Fallon and YOU!! Does this make you more or less likely to watch Fallon's new show in the spring?
Finally, on Wed night's show Conan announced NBC's talk-heavy 2009 fall schedule:
Read more!
I agree with what he has to say. This is a short term solution to a long term problem for NBC. How long can it work? In everything I have read there has been no mention of how long Leno has signed on with the network. I give it maybe 2 years at most. It was only two years ago that Deal or no Deal was on four nights a week. That got old real fast. Now is it even on NBC anymore? This is a desperate financial decision that NBC is spinning as an entertaining gift to us all. What do you think of NBC's decision?
Anyway, what I really wanna talk about is the other big news in NBC's Late Night schedule: the official launch of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. You won't find it on TV. NBC has launched a vlog at latenightwithjimmyfallon.com. Starting this past Monday night and continuing every night until the show airs in the spring, NBC will post daily videos of Jimmy Fallon bringing us behind the scenes of his new show and making a few jokes.
This is a (surprisingly) smart move by NBC. In 1993 when Conan O'Brien took over for David Letterman no one knew who he was, and Conan had no idea how to host a talk show. It made for an awkward year or two which brought the show to the verge of cancellation. With the web component of Fallon's show, NBC can slowly introduce the Jimmy Fallon brand to viewers and Jimmy can get comfortable just talking to a camera on a daily basis.
Fallon may not be the perfect choice for a late night talk show (neither was Conan at the time), but he is the perfect choice to host a late night show in the age of social media. Fallon has always had an interesting appeal. He spent several good years on SNL, but he is not in the same stand-up division as the rest of his comedy competition. He has always seemed like a regular guy who won a reality show contest to appear on TV. If he wasn't on TV he could be comfortable sitting with you on the couch making snarky remarks. That is the appeal of the Jimmy Fallon brand: not everything he does is hilarious, but you have a good time hanging out.
Take a look at Tuesday's video segment:
From the very start this feels less like Fallon putting on a show for us, but rather anyone and everyone putting on a show together. If you go to the show's website you will find the links he mentions in the video, including Facebook, Twitter (@jimmyfallon & it appears to actually be him), MySpace, Flickr, Friendfeed, Ning, YouTube and many other social media sites. It will be interesting to see how these different elements are used as the show makes the transition to television. His mention of having a laptop by his desk and TVs available for Skype make it seem like he plans on talking with his viewers during the show itself.
Although the Leno decision seems like one step backwards for NBC, Jimmy Fallon may be a positive step forward. In order for a late night show to be successful, it needs to have an interactive online element; the more interactive the better. By using social media Late Night with Jimmy Fallon will be able to make up for Fallon's lack of comic timing by establishing him as the talk show host who interacts with his audience and values their insight and talents. There is no better way to establish brand loyalty than to give the consumer a sense of ownership in the brand; a late night show starring Jimmy Fallon and YOU!! Does this make you more or less likely to watch Fallon's new show in the spring?
Finally, on Wed night's show Conan announced NBC's talk-heavy 2009 fall schedule:
Read more!
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