Be sure to get to Canalside in time for the opener, Richmond, VA by way of Nashville indie heroine Lucy Dacus, whose expansive and evocative sophomore album Historian is currently burning it up on Matador Records. Nestled sweetly in between the Jenny Lewis show at Babeville last night and Fleet Foxes at Artpark tomorrow night, Father John Misty with Lucy Dacus at Canalside is can’t miss. Doors open at 5pm, the show starts at 6:30pm, and admission is $5.

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There’s also some guy Shakey Graves headlining tonight at Canalside, but you don’t have worry about him. There are other shows going on later tonight, but your night should probably start with Preservation Hall Jazz band, who go on at 7:15pm after soulful Austin TX fuzz rockers Wild Child. Everything starts at 6:15pm, admission is of course free. Just don’t show up bombed, they’ll kick you out.

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Opening the show will local MC Chae Hawk and the Buffalo Afrobeat Orchestra, making this a truly exceptional lineup and one of the most thoroughly interesting shows ever put on at Canalside (or Lafayette Square for that matter). Show starts at 5:30.

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One of the new soul legends on the mighty Daptone Records label headquartered in Brooklyn,  Bradley has emerged as one of the most potent voices on this scene or any scene, a soul man of incredible range, dexterity and smooth grit who has walked the walk and talked the talk during his 67 years on this Earth.

In the last week of his current tour behind his latest release Changes, named after his wonderful cover of the Black Sabbath classic, Charles Bradley will be unleashing his realer than real and instantly vintage brand of soul with opening support courtesy of Vin DeRosa, winner of the Public’s Battle of the Bands. The show starts at 6pm. Admission is of course free with VIP tickets available for $55.

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Let’s be honest: while summer was great, it hasn’t been a good couple of weeks for the “fun crowd” in Western New York, with the oncoming change in bar closing time in Erie County, which is totally happening by the way (you’ve been warned), and now word of a Canalside Concert move to the dead zone. One can’t help but feel like this is all a correction of sorts after an amazing summer that offered a tantalizing glimpse of the (fun) new Buffalo that could be ours; the empire striking back to remind us who’s boss. In many regards, we should’ve all seen this coming. #NewBuffalo is a swell hashtag, but this is Buffalo (and Erie County) after all. One step forward, two steps back.

Part of the joy of the downtown summer Thursday concert series was that it was in the core, the heart of the city, and the Lasalle Park and the Outer Harbor options amount the nothing less than exile. They gave up on Lasalle Park all together about 20 years ago due to it’s pronounced inaccessibility, and everybody knows that unless you’re on a bicycle, the otherwise wonderful Outer Harbor concert site is a colossal, nay, epic pain in the ass to get in and out of. It might be a class concert venue for paid shows and a festival at some point in the future, after significant additional infrastructure is laid down to move large numbers of people in and out of there. But that’s still just on the books, and years away. What about Thursday at Canalside NOW?

One of the other great things about Thursday at Canalside is that you can just GO. Whether you’re taking the train or parking in your trusty spot and huffing it to all that live music, food, beer, and people… it was just there, once a week for three glorious months of the year. Which is why they have to do away with it. Just when it was getting good, just when we were getting ready to talk about fun things like furthering diversity and bringing people together, and building on success, the NO FUN COALITION has intervened.

Is the fix in like it seems to be for eventual lights on at the Old Pink at 2am? It seems likely, and besides, who’s going to raise a stink sufficient enough to keep Thursday concerts at Canalside? Call their elected official to register their displeasure or go to a Common Council meeting? The “fun crowd?”

Photo by Shauna Presto

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Although Murawski’s comment may have been a bit inflated, there was some truth to what he said. For one, this was absolutely a show to arrive early to and second, there is an argument to be made that when considering the time allotted to each band, Aqueous did more with their hour than Umphrey’s did with their two and a half.

Working with a shorter than usual slot time, the Buffalo band still managed to execute five selections with absolute precision. Kicking off with “Kitty Chaser (Explosions),” there was no doubt that they were bringing the fire for the hour they had been granted, as the opening number clocked in at just under 20 minutes.  From there, the group transitioned to “Underlyer”(a fan favorite) and “Gordon’s Mule” followed by an incredible cover of “War Pigs.”

This wasn’t the first time I witnessed the band cover the Black Sabbath classic, as they also tackled it last fall in Burlington. After the show, while talking to guitarist Mike Gantzer, I said “Damn man, its pretty cool that you guys played that on the day we just sent 1,500 more troops to Iraq.” He responded by saying he had no idea and they just felt like playing that, but it was a cool coincidence. Well, we once again got “War Pigs,” on the night of the first GOP primary no less. Coincidence? Probably, but I would still like to believe the forces of the universe played some role in the song selection. They then closed their five song set with “Don’t Do It” which had everyone at Canalside dancing.

As for Umphrey’s McGee, perhaps the most attractive jam band out there mind you, they played two strong sets that clocked in at nearly three hours. Their first set did kind of feel like they were going through the motions, though.  A cover of Steely Dan’s “Reeling in the Years” managed to be the highlight of the set in regards to crowd reaction while lead guitarist Jake Cinninger really felt like he was simply warming up for the back half of the night.

Umphrey’s second set was much stronger. Starting with “Wife Soup” into “Higgins” and back into “War Soup,” it became pretty clear that they were not messing around. As the set progressed, my friend did express one grievance to me that I am not sure I completely agree with but would certainly entertain.

“A lot of these songs sound very similar.”

I guess where this comes from is the reality that Umphrey’s uses a similar structure for many of their jams. It’s not that their songs are necessarily carbon copies of each other, but there is an argument to be made that they do in fact end up finding the same place most of the time

To the merits of Murawski’s tweet back in April, I say that Aqueous took full advantage of the opportunity they had. They looked incredibly comfortable on the big stage, and they executed their selections with absolute precision. The same thing can be said for Umphrey’s. I don’t think either band thought this was a competition, but ever since the twitter exchange occurred, it’s been hard for me to view it any other way, although I ultimately decided to abandon that idea while leaving the water front.

Opener or not, Aqueous played a diverse and explosive set. Would we all liked to have had a little more time with those guys up on Buffalo’s biggest stage? Sure. But mark my words, those guys will headline Canalside sooner than you would expect. If you doubt me, just take a look at where they have been playing this summer. And for anyone who may have missed last night’s show, mark your calendars for Iron Works on October 30th and 31st.

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Beam, most commonly known under the moniker Iron & Wine, and Bridwell, vocalist of the staple indie-rock group Band of Horses, are undoubtedly two successful and prolific musicians in the indie/alt-folk scene of the past decade. So naturally, with their talents combined in a joint set, we expect great things.

The duo’s friendship predates both of their main musical projects and the camaraderie is apparent. There’s a moment mid-show where they exchange coy laughs and joke about Hootie and the Blowfish being the only notable band out of South Carolina (both are also originally from SC). Beam takes lead on the ever popular Band of Horses song, “No One’s Gonna Love You.” Bridwell takes lead on the Iron & Wine song, “Flightless Bird, American Mouth” for a bit of a toss up. They both bring a unique stylistic spin to each other’s songs. This is the atmosphere for the whole night — two dudes who have a passion for finger picking and thick harmonies, sharing a musical brothership with all couple thousands of us.

Iron & Wine and Band of Horses originals are few and far between throughout the night, however. Just a few weeks ago the two released a full length album, Sing Into My Mouth, comprised entirely of cover songs. Everything from Sade to Pete Seeger is totally transformed through their whispery, yearning vocal stylings, subdued instrumentals and slight South Carolinian twang. The album, a pretty bold undertaking, was met with a lot of opposition. Pitchfork Magazine had the following to say in a recent review: “Essentially they have taken tunes from a wide variety of genres and rendered them all as blah folk rock. Or, to take a page from the bottles on the album cover: They’ve taken a flight of regional microbrews and made them all taste like PBR.”

Though agreeably, their interpretations may be somewhat less shiny than the originals, I’m not sure that totally reinventing and outdoing each tune was their immediate ambition. It strikes me as an album designed for them to play out in the quiet of their own living rooms or backyards to anyone who is willing to listen, as did the vibe of the actual show.

Pit up against this season’s other Canalside shows, there’s something inherently lackluster in describing the details of this particular event: two musicians from other larger bands playing mostly low-key covers that are somewhat miscellaneous selections. It’s not the easiest combination of things to hype. But surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisingly, they pulled it off. And pretty damn well.

“We’re going to play some weird stuff tonight. You’ll be like, ‘What the fuck is that? That’s not Naked As We Came!’” was Beam’s opening sentiment. Was it weird? Not in the traditional sense.  Even still, the crowd stayed spirited and attentive through their compellingly adventurous set. No matter if you were a religious follower of either band, or maybe just wanted to sing along hardcore to some cover songs, I think the cohesion and connectedness that Beam and Bridwell shared on stage was widespread and very welcomed among everyone on ground level.

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As for tonight, I think its safe to assume this show will be a busy one as Beam, a former Florida State film professor, takes on his biggest Buffalo audience yet at the Thursday at Canalside concert series with Band of Horses front man Ben Bridwell by his side. The pair will be tackling tracks off of the duo’s odd and probably unnecessary covers album, Sing Into My Mouth, as well as some songs from both of their back catalogs, at least I would assume so. They can’t just cover the Talking Heads and Sade all night can they?

Anyway, country-rock spark plug Lydia Loveless will open for the two as gates are set to open around 5pm. Entry is free to all of the Thursday at Canalside shows, but if you want to avoid the crowd of thousands on what is sure to be another hot Buffalo night, $40 gets you into the VIP area. After seeing last week’s crowd, they could charge double and it would still be a steal.

Iron and Wine and Ben Bridwell – No Way Out of… by eidurrasmussen

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I imagine the band’s consistent success being attributed to the unique duality of their music. It has a classic rock ‘n’ roll feel to it and is poppy enough to reel in droves of both young and old. Spoon is like the quiet cool kid you knew from high school — somehow noticed by few and everyone at the same time — who undeniably wore his heart on his sleeve but disguised that sensitivity with a gritty attitude and an ultra-sleek aesthetic.

Frontman Britt Daniel’s signature high-pitched raspiness has all the support it needs from drummer Jim Eno, guitarist/keyboardist Alex Fischel, keyboardist Eric Harvey, and bassist Rob Pope, who transform the band’s sound into new dimensions. Sure, these guys write some of the catchiest rock songs out there. But there’s this sense of professionalism behind it all. It’s minimalistic, concise, and very well textured. They are the poppiest you can get without feeling the slightest bit contrived or insincere.

Choosing a set list from over 22 years worth of songs doesn’t seem to be an easy feat, but the band played a healthy mix of new and old at Canalside, including the show closing, mega hit “Underdog,” the oh-so-slinky “I Turn My Camera On,” and the clap-inducing “Do You” off its latest release, They Want My Soul.

A unifying energy swept across the audience, one that felt as enormous as the band’s sound. Unbeknownst to many, there is a certain closeness that Spoon shares to our area, specifically Fredonia, NY. The band spent a chunk of time recording at Fredonia based producer Dave Fridmann’s studio (MGMT, The Flaming Lips, Sparklehorse) in the thick of winter. The group compared this experience to the Jack Nicholson movie The Shining in a KEXP live session, but something tells me Daniels and crew have just as big a soft spot for Western New York as we do for them.

There was a moment toward the end of the show where Britt peered out at the deluge of people and said, “Buffalo, this is by far the best crowd we’ve had on this tour. I wish it didn’t have to end after this.”

This is something every big artist that rolls through says. Such a statement feels obligatory and almost hollow most of the time. But there was an unspoken yet very tangible appreciation between the crowd and all five band members. Whether the statement was totally true or not didn’t seem to matter — it was too hard to not believe him.

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