This week's hot concerts

Barnstock

12 p.m. Friday and Saturday, July 27 and 28. 15305 Black Farms Rd., Huntersville. $25 Friday, $5 Saturday. www.mybarnstock.com

Donna the Buffalo headlines Friday’s festival, but the fourth annual fundraiser (which benefits the Davidson Fire Dept., Red Cross and others) also focuses on local artists like Something Clever and WeakerCaptain, who play Friday and Brody and Choch, Blue Fiveone, and Chasing Pedestrians who lead up to Saturday’s headliner, Masterjaxx.

Bush/Nickelback

6:30 p.m. Friday, July 27, Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre, 707 Pavilion Blvd. $33-$116.30. www.livenation.com

Nickelback may be the most polarizing band in rock today, but the return of Gavin Rossdale’s Bush (after other bands and a solo career that never seemed to take off) is cause for curiosity and possibly celebration. While deemed too-Nirvanaesque at the time, Bush did release some grunge era classics.

Childish Gambino

8 p.m. Friday, July 27, Time Warner Cable Uptown Ampitheatre, 1000 NC Music Factory Blvd. $32. www.livenation.com

Comedic actor-turned-critically acclaimed rapper Donald Glover (of NBC’s “Community”) finally brings his alter-ego to Charlotte after rescheduling his sold out Spring concert and getting bumped to a larger venue.

Gigi Dover & Big Love

9 p.m. Friday, July 27, Double Door, 1218 Charlottetown Ave. $8. 704-376-1446.

Dover and husband Eric Lovell step outside that stylistic umbrella of Americana with a new album (“The Robin Is High & the Mustache is Long”) that sounds like Southerners steeped in folk and soul taking a global journey and exploring African, gypsy, and Latin American styles. They celebrate the album’s release.

Alison Krauss & Union Station with Jerry Douglas

8 p.m. Saturday, July 28, Time Warner Cable Uptown Amphitheatre, 1000 NC Music Factory Blvd. $38-$69. www.livenation.com

The Grammy winning crooner gets back to her bluegrass roots with the band she’s led since her early teens. The seasoned group includes Dan Tyminski (of “O’Brother Where Art Thou” fame), Ron Block and Barry Bales, and has boasted Dobro master Douglas’ membership since 1998.

Toadies/Helmet

8 p.m. Sunday, July 29, Fillmore, 1000 NC Music Factory Blvd. $27. www.livenation.com

These two `90s rock hold outs may seem like two different sides of the hard rock spectrum, but the diverse electric guitar work of the Toadies’ heavier, stoner-leaning output melds well with the thick, methodical riffing that Page Hamilton and company built its career on.

Vans Warped Tour

11:30 a.m. Monday, July 30, Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre, 707 Pavilion Blvd. $42. www.livenation.com

Although it’s gone in a distinctly heavier direction (with more metalcore acts on the bill) bands like Taking Back Sunday, Streetlight Manifesto, Sick of Sarah, Yellowcard, New Found Glory, All Time Low, and Bayside keep the long running festival anchored in punk while acts like Breathe Carolina, Blood on the Dancefloor, Every Time I Die, Tony D’Angelo, and Twin Atlantic allow it to stretch stylistically.

Lindsey Buckingham

7 p.m. Tuesday, July 31, Neighborhood Theatre, 511 E. 36^th St. $50. 704-358-9298.

Following the recent announcement that Fleetwood Mac will reunite for a 2013 tour, the group’s underrated guitarist (whose playing is often more subtle and fitting to each individual song than showy) brings his intimate “evening with” solo tour to town.

Die Roten Punkte

7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 5 p.m. Sunday, Duke Energy Theater, 345 N. College St. $34.50. 704-372-1000.

What if Jack and Meg White were dysfunctional, German siblings whose relationship breaks down on stage between songs about bananas, robots, and their tragic upbringing? That’s the gist of this uproariously funny, musically rocking concert that’s part theatrical rock show and part comedy.

Cheap & eclectic, Recess Fest kicks off today

Spanning 14 venues with around 80 bands, the 4th Annual Recess Fest kicks off today with Donald Harris and Bobby Childers playing simultaneous 8:15 sets at Petra's Piano Bar and Common Market, respectively just steps away from each other on Commonwealth Ave. The rest of tonight's lineup includes Omar El-Amin, Your Fuzzy Friends, Derek Blackmon and Just Brazil with the Bear Romantic at Petra's. Serfs, People Person, and Blossoms round out the Common Market lineup.

The great thing about Recess Fest, which features acts in NoDa, Plaza-Midwood, Elizabeth, SouthEnd and West Charlotte, allows music fans to basically bar hop while taking in numerous regional and national acts over four days all for $25. Weekend passes are no longer available online, but many of the participating venues will have them including Tremont, Snug Harbor, and Lunchbox Records. You can also pay per individual show. Some are $7 or $8 while the finale featuring Archers of Loaf on Sunday at Tremont is $18, while others at non-traditional venues are donation only.

The music is eclectic, tickets are cheap, and it gives a great overview of what Charlotte has to offer in realm of underground music. Friday for instance there's the instrumental adventurousness of SC's Pan (a bit like Explosions in the Sky) at Snug Harbor, while Charlotte's own Dirty Drummer spins at Crown Station. Elsewhere garage rock acts Secret Hospital and Homewrecker play Tommy's Pub as The Milestone hosts yet another seven acts.

That's just a sampling. Saturday;s Plaza-Midwood-centered portion starts early with Joint Damage, Mon Frere, and Meat Group at Lunchbox Records. Kickstand (the neighboring burger joint) plays host to everything from the ethereal pop of Cement Stars to the Latin funk, punk, n' ska of Bakalao Stars. And Royal Tinfoil and Pullman Strike bring rocking Americana and country-tinged indie rock to Thomas Street Tavern. There's also music at Snug Harbor, Twenty-Two, Common Market, and Yauhaus.

Bands like Great Architect and Appalucia play earlier in the day Sunday at Dialect and The Rat's Nest in NoDa followed by later shows at Tremont, which will be running both the Casbah and big room stages, and Common Market. There are too many acts to list here, but check out http://www.recessfest.blogspot.com/p/schedule.html for the complete schedule.

Festival set for Huntersville this weekend

Festival favorite Donna the Buffalo returns to the area Friday to headline Barnstock - a two-day festival that takes place in Huntersville. Aside from the veteran genre hopping Americana act, Barnstock focuses predominantly on local and regional artists covering diverse styles of music.

Friday's lineup, which begins at noon, includes True Life, Something Clever, Golden Boy, Morning Brigade, WeakerCaptain, the Brett Morton Project, the Rusty Knox Band, and Billy Jones and the Pocket. Saturday's bill features Atlas Road Crew (A.R.C.), D&D Sluggers, Keaton Lange, the Business People, Vanished Frontier, Stoney Creek Boys, Blue Fiveone, War Hands, Sugar Glyder, Chasing Pedestrians, Brody and Choch, and Masterjaxx.

Tickets for Friday's show are $25 and open to those 18 and up. Saturday's installment is $5 and open to those age 15 and over. Click here for tickets. Camping passes are also available. Gates open at 11 a.m. each day and music ends around midnight.

Barnstock is located on four acres on Black Farms Rd. near the intersection of highway 73. Davidson's Miles Brown, 20, started the festival in 2009 with the help of family and friends. The grassroots event is not only a showcase for local and regional artists. Proceeds from the 2012 festival will benefit Second Harvest Food Bank, American Red Cross, and the Davidson Fire Department. Organizers have donated over $12,000 for the Fire Department since the festival's inception.

A coed sand volleyball tournament will also be held to raise funds for Queens University student and volleyball player Ashley Winters, who is battling Hodgkins-Lymphoma. It takes place Saturday. Learn more about that event here.

Donna the Buffalo (pictured above) played the US National Whitewater Center in April and is the driving force behind the bi-annual Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival in Silk Hope, NC - the next of which is October 4-7 outside of the Chapel Hill/Durham area.

Return engagements: Why I'd see Clutch 20 more times

Watching Prong rip through a blistering opening set Friday at Amos' I wondered how many times I’d actually seen headliners Clutch. Given that Clutch was the favorite band of both my high school boyfriend, my husband, and a couple friends, my Clutch-count surpassed any other band’s a long time ago. My number hovers around 18 or 19. 

Clutch became more than a boyfriend band once I saw them live for the first time at Tremont Music Hall in 1996. It was the song “Texan Book of the Dead” that won me over. I found singer Neil Fallon’s (pictured above with guitarist Tim Sult and below) ridiculous lyrics “E-I-E-I-O” and “Bee-Bop-A-Loo-Bop….” hilarious. It was heavy and intense, but not lacking a sense of humor.

I bought a copy of the self-titled album at work a couple days later. From then on any time anyone said, “You wanna go see Clutch?” I did. While living what seemed like light years away in Tempe, Arizona in 2001, watching them as I awkwardly huddled beside a steel barrier to avoid the chaos of the pit, I almost teared up when Fallon who was wearing WVU ball cap introduced “Soapmakers” with “This song’s about the great state of West Virginia.” In my desert isolation it was as if old friends had come to visit.

While there are bands you see once and are ok to never see live again, there are others that draw the same faces over and over. I saw many of the same people Friday that I’ve seen at Clutch shows since the late `90s. It seems like a reunion - my babysitter, her ex-boyfriend, her roommate, my husband’s band mates, best friends, and former co-workers. The drummer from that old boyfriend’s band actually brought his 14-year-old from WV while a friend and her ex were seeing Clutch for the first time. The audience is still growing.

Some came to witness veteran metal band Prong who plays again August 2 at The Fillmore with Static X. Leader Tommy Victor led a fiery set that included “Beg to Differ,” “Unconditional,” “Rude Awakening” and the new single “Revenge…Best Served Cold” (from its new disc “Carved Into Stone”). It ended the brief set with the crowd pleaser “Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck.”

The crowd that gathered at the front of the stage for Clutch hasn’t changed much since the `90s. They sang along intently, arms flailing, pointing and punching the air, jumping up on the barrier while shouting the words to “Escape from the Prison Planet” and “A Shogun Named Marcus” late in the set just as Clutch fans have been doing since 1995.

Even though so many of us have seen them twenty or thirty times, no one seemed disappointed in the hour and a half set. There was a time after that first show that I'd wait impatiently to hear “Texan Book of the Dead” again (six shows before I heard it a second time live!). I'm ok without it now.

I was pleased with “Cypress Grove” and oldies like “The Elephant Riders,” “Prison Planet,” “Spacegrass,” and “Marcus” are always welcome. The show began with “Freakonomics” from its latest (but still not new) album “Strange Cousins from the West.” The mood fittingly escalated on the second song “The Mob Goes Wild.” It, like “Shogun,” “Animal Farm,” and “Book,” sound written specifically for a wildly, thrashing crowd.

“Electric Worry,” which has enjoyed wider appeal due to its use in a commercial for the video game “Left 4 Dead 2,” ended the regular set. For many years Clutch didn’t encore, but Friday it welcomed opening act Lionize’s keyboardist Chris Brooks to the stage to add organ to “Motherless Child” and “10001110101.”

Speaking to friends as the crowd dispersed one said it was his favorite set list since he was a teenager. Another, who was so over Clutch a week before and only decided to attend last minute due to “peer pressure” (ha), was seen frolicking at the front during “Mob” and admitted afterward that he’d be back if just to witness the subtle percussion mastery of Jean Paul Gaster. I know I’ll be back too. There’s something about the combination of that heavy, masculine rock and deep, familiar bluesy grooves - it's hard rock you can dance to. 

I will say that following the “Dark Knight Rises” shooting I watched Friday’s show differently than with the sort of carefree mind I saw the Killers with the night before in Asheville. I was reminded of the horrific 2004 murder of Pantera/Damageplan guitarist Dimebag Darrell. More than once Friday I looked around to find the best place to duck if a crazy person started shooting. That’s not something that entered my mind Thursday night. Still, I never really considered not going. It’s sad and scary that you may not even be safe in such a joyful environment as watching your favorite band or being one of the first to see a new blockbuster, but the realization is you never know when you’re truly safe when violence can erupt at school or work or at the grocery store. I guess, as paranoid as events like Thursday’s can make us, we can’t avoid them out of fear. 

The Killers stage killer comeback in Asheville

Having only performed a handful of times overseas and once in the US since the end of 2009 the Killers made a triumphant return to the stage Thursday for a crowd of around 1100. The Las Vegas quartet stopped at Asheville's The Orange Peel on its way to perform this weekend at Delaware’s Firefly Festival.

Having previously tried and failed to buy tickets online for Smashing Pumpkins' 2007 run at The Peel and the Beastie Boys' 2009 concert, I felt fortunate to score Killers’ tickets given that they rarely, if ever, play the Carolinas. It was also special because Thursday was the first time my husband and I have seen the Killers since stumbling upon the then unknown band performing a late set in one of the smaller tents at Coachella 2004. We'd only been dating a few months and would marry on the way to Coachella the next year. 

I vaguely remember one of the members (singer Brandon Flowers I think) wearing a white blazer and black shirt that looked like something John Travolta wore in “Saturday Night Fever.” This was before the full blown `80s synth resurgence. The band wore nothing as costume-y Thursday. Aside from Flowers’ leather jacket, which he promptly removed after the first song, no one looked too glam. The only set piece hid Flowers’ keyboard - the front of which was a big lightning bolt made of light bulbs in the style of an old-timey sign. It's actually the "E" from the logo of the band's upcoming album "Battle Born," which is due this fall. 

It began with its new single “Runaways.” The crowd sang along even though it’s new. Guitarist Dave Keuning provided ample backing vocals that I never really notice on record. The group then charged into a string of old hits “Somebody Told Me” (which I remember from Coachella as the first one that really caught me) and “Smile Like You Mean It” - another standout from its 2004 debut “Hot Fuss.”

“Spaceman” (from its last full-length “Day & Age”) followed. Monk-like backing vocals signaled 2008’s “This is Your Life.”

Flowers, a father of three looking boyish at 31, worked the stage hopping on and off monitors to momentarily tower above the crowd. He introduced the next song as a new one called “Rising Tide.” It was very much a straight ahead rock song with a chorus that was at once predictable and irresistible. Another new song “Miss Atomic Bomb” (which I heard on Sirius/XM last week) followed. It built slowly highlighting his voice and bridging the Killers’ Springsteenian knack for storytelling with its earlier comparisons to Duran Duran. Near the song's end I swear I heard Keuning referencing the guitar line from “Mr. Brightside,” which made me wonder if this song is the miss to that mister. The titles alone make them an interesting couple.

The band traded instruments for “For Reasons Unknown” with Flowers taking bass and bassist Mark Stoermer adding extra guitar. There was also an additional musician on a couple tracks. 

There were a few surprises in the set. “Bling (Confessions of a King)” (an album track from “Sam’s Town”) and a cover of Joy Division’s Shadowplay” (a single from the Killers' b-sides album “Sawdust”) for instance are quirkier than most of the group’s pop-oriented singles. The latter’s `80s electro drum machine and “doohoohooh” intro was met with surprised elation from the crowd who delighted in singing the "oohs" as Keuning recreated that dark, late `70s/early `80s goth-punk guitar tone.

“Human” brought us back to present day (despite a disco-feeling backbeat) followed by “A Dustland Fairytale” and “Read My Mind.” The momentum built gradually with hit after hit then peaked with the band's biggest hit “Mr. Brightside.” That song never gets old to me despite having become a fixture on alt-rock radio. I think it’s the sense of longing it creates, which is something the Killers (like the bands that inspire its sound) do well.

It followed its best known hit with arguably its most inspiring anthem - “All These Things I’ve Done.” Flowers led the crowd in the gospel-like refrain “I got soul, but I’m not a soldier” with bright white lights adding to the sort of spiritual rock feel of it all.

After the band left the stage for what seemed like quite a lengthy pre-encore break, the crowd began chanting it again. The group finally appeared. “This is a new song,” Flowers said as drummer Ronnie Vannucci (the most animated member of the band besides Flowers) kicked off “Flesh and Bone.”

As if part of a “Saturday Night Live” skit the guy beside me (who sounded like an extra from “The Sopranos”) bellowed: “Oh no, why would you ever play a new song?” His equally loud girlfriend echoed his frustration. “They got like 30 other songs they could play.” I found this annoying and amusing as the whole point of these intimate pre-record release shows is to get fans excited about the upcoming album and it’s not like at 10 years into its career the Killers is a nostalgia act. 

“Flesh and Bone” turned out to be a great song - maybe the best of the four new ones. That didn’t keep him from moaning until “Jenny Was a Friend of Mine” (which opens “Hot Fuss”) began a few minutes later.

The show, which had no low points really, ended on a high one in yet another big rock anthem - “When We Were Young.” It served as a reminder that seeing purveyors of such arena-ready pop-rock in a club in a quaint artsy city in the mountains is a treat and a rarity. But because the town is so inviting and The Peel has positioned itself as a venue that can pull it off with what I hear are really nice accommodations, these events are becoming less rare. 

Clips from the Asheville show have surfaced on YouTube (with links above). The sound quality is pretty rough. Here is another from The Firefly Festival. 

This week's hot concerts

Clutch/Prong

7 p.m. Friday, July 20, Amos’, 1423 S. Tryon St. $19-$22.  www.etix.com

On the heels of its new 7” single Clutch headlines Charlotte for the first time since its 2009 holiday tour with a set list that’s a speckling of its 22-year output, while influential metal vet Prong boasts a well-received new album “Carved Into Stone.”  With Lionize.

JD McPherson

8 p.m. Friday, July 20, Visulite, 1615 Elizabeth Ave. $12-$15. 704-358-9200.

As if plucked from another era, this Oklahoma vintage soul band leader channels a young Little Richard - similar to the way Amy Winehouse once stoked the embers of girl groups like the Ronettes. He’s gained favor with the UK music press as well.

Charles Walker Band

10 p.m. Friday, July 20, Double Door, 1218 Charlottetown Ave. $10. 704-376-1446.

Looking like action heroes from `70s Blaxploitation films, this Milwaukee combo’s retro blend of funk and blues is punctuated by its band leader’s ever present organ and showy saxophone and vocalist Porsche Cameron’s edgy soul delivery.

Summer Music Festival

6 p.m. Saturday, July 21, Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre, 707 Pavilion Blvd. $54.25-$144.25. www.livenation.com

Maze featuring Frankie Beverly and Patti LaBelle head up this multi-generational R&B fest which includes the `60s and `70s soul of the O’Jays, the smooth `80s and `90s grooves of Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, and the modern hip-hop-tinged R&B of singer Tank.

311/Slightly Stoopid/The Aggrolites

6:30 p.m. Sunday, July 22, Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre, 707 Pavilion Blvd. $32-$61.85. www.livenation.com

It’s a bill of feel-good summer-ready tunes when 311’s annual summer Unity Tour returns this time with the beachy Southern California reggae-rock of Slightly Stoopid and the soul-infused old school reggae of the Aggrolites.

A Place to Bury Strangers/Hunters

7 p.m. Wednesday, July 25, Tremont, 400 W. Tremont Ave. $15-$18. www.etix.com

Don’t let the “noise rock” tag fool you, NYC’s APTBS make listenable, distorted, dark rock like Jesus & Mary Chain spliced with Joy Division. The punkier Hunters take a similar musical approach, but with female vocals akin to Ting Tings.

Lydia Loveless

8 p.m. Wednesday, July 25, Evening Muse, 3227 N. Davidson St. $10-$12. 704-376-3737.

With her matter-of-fact delivery, a voice that sounds like Neko Case’s spunkier sister, and blatantly honest stage banter this funny Ohioan singer-songwriter is a hidden gem whose lyrics and heart are bound to charm.

Josh Ritter

7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 26, Knight Theater, 430 S. Tryon St. $25.50-$29.50. 704-372-1000.

Long revered for literate folk-rock that draws comparisons to Bob Dylan, the songwriter and band leader is equally adept on stage where he is backed by a charging rock combo that creates an atmosphere that’s far from a chill, sit-down singer-songwriter experience (although that's what you get in the above video).

Jason Aldean

7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 26, Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre, 707 Pavilion Blvd. $40.25-$73. www.livenation.com

With a new album set for fall (preceded by the new single “Take a Little Ride”), the country headliner continues to host his My Kinda Party Tour with openers Luke Bryan, Rachel Farley and DJ Silver keeping the momentum going once tailgaters enter the venue. 

No Charlotte for Kishi Bashi, but set to play Durham

Of Montreal’s show at the Neighborhood Theatre in June was easily one of the best club shows of the year. The lively, colorful art-rock band elevated the concert with dance, costumes, and performance art. 

Eight musicians on stage felt more like 25. One of those - the Asian guy dressed like an extra from the “Sergeant Pepper” album cover - was K. Ishibashi (pictured) who was scheduled to make his solo Charlotte debut (under his stage name Kishi Bashi) Thursday with Passion Pit. But Passion Pit cancellation means the closest place to catch him is in Durham August 7 with Tall Tall Trees during his first headlining tour.  

Sparked by his participation on of Montreal’s latest tour and album “Paralytic Stalks,” the violinist and vocalist for indie-rock band Jupiter One recently went solo.

“Working with of Montreal jumpstarted my solo project. It’s been inspiring,” Ishibashi says calling from his home in Norfolk.

Kevin Barnes, the mastermind behind of Montreal, tapped Ishibashi and Jupiter One’s Zac Colwell to compose instrumental parts for songs on “Paralytic Stalks.”

“He’d leave me a whole space to fill. I really pushed myself to dig into the sound. He plays every instrument except violin and I used my violin to come up with a bunch of interesting sounds, especially using loops. It helped bring me to a new level in production,” he says.

Ishibashi realized the places he could go with just his violin and a loop pedal - an approach that’s grown in popularity with artists like Andrew Bird.

“My (live) set up is a suitcase and a few pedals. I can do a whole show that’s pretty entertaining that’s just three pedals and violin,” he explains. That set up allows for audiences to see something off the cuff and different from his debut album, “151a.”

“It does change. There’s a certain amount of pre-composition and improvisation and error. It used to be pretty bad,” he says in terms of on stage hiccups. “Like something happens where my pedal freezes up if I kick it too hard.”

He’s tweaked the live show, but thinks it’s his lyrics that could use work (although with its ethereal mix of electronics and classical influences and world music and art-rock, “151a” is lyrically eons beyond “Hangin’ Tough” or “My Humps”).

“I’m not a literary person in general. I was just thinking about it today. I don’t have much respect for the English language. My grammar is the worst - run on sentences, (bad) punctuation. My lyrics are a little shallow. They’re rich in imagery, but as far as actual content I think that’s one of my weaknesses,” he says. “There is a type of person who hears the words first and derives meaning from it and music is just an afterthought. For a lot of musicians, the music is first. I’m exactly that way. That’s a shame. You’re talking about the meaning of the song. To totally ignore the lyrics, which I’ve pretty much done for most of my life?”

Barnes has encouraged him to dig deeper. Adds Ishibashi: “When (Kevin) writes a song he thinks about (something like) how mad he is at his wife and then starts writing a song where the riff is based on the anger. I can’t think like that. I have ideas and music I hear and then words form over them and then I make stories out of the words.”