Saw Gil and Dave last night, at Durham's pretty Carolina Theater. That's the place we first saw them, many years ago. And if my memory is correct, last night was the eighth time I've seen them, either as "Gillian Welch" (5) or as the David Rawlings Machine (3). That bumps them to the top of the list of bands I've seen the most: making Robyn Hitchcock #2.

They don't have a new record to promote right now, so the show was a good mix of all their stuff. They hit every record pretty well, and played most of the songs I wanted to hear - and a few I wouldn't have thought to want to hear but was glad to hear anyway.

As always, they were fantastic. I can't think of a band that's as much fun to watch as those two. And yet they do their thing with absolutely no grandstanding or theatrics. They don't flex or strut and there's no spectacle. They just stand there and play and sing. They let the songs do everything. And it's perfect every time.

...at the Haw River Ballroom.

The last time I saw St Vincent, I had no idea who they were. They were just an opening band that I thought might be interesting but couldn't really appreciate because of sound issues.

This time, she was the headliner, and the show was completely in her hands. There was a set; the lighting was extravagant; there was choreography; a costume change; songs were tight; effects were coordinated; there were no amplifiers on stage; some of the effects on her guitar seemed to be controlled off-stage (maybe timed?); the rest of the band (two keyboard players and a drummer) was dressed in black and pushed to the corners, leaving Annie Clark as the focal point.

And she made good use of the attention.

She stayed in her detached sexy art robot persona during the songs, and did a few wry, surreal, Byrne-style chats with the audience, in-between.

Some songs, she did from atop her little ziggurat.

Or while crawling on it. Or sliding down it.

She got a lot of use out of the floor, too.

The show was really spectacular, especially for such a small stage. The lights and the bits of choreography (not like Britney dance moves, more like disaffected synchronized music robots) and the electronics were in a completely different league from anything I'd ever seen in a small club. Very cool.

The music was, of course, mostly from her current record, with a lot from her previous one, and just a few from the rest. All good songs, though as always, a couple of my favorites got left out. The sound was loud, super-bass-heavy and really great - no amps on stage meant no real stage sound to compete with the PA. So everyone got the full sound-guy mix - none of the stage-sound blast that nearly wrecked it for me, last time. And no time spent fiddling with electronics, either. That's something I wish more bands would try: all direct sound. IMO, the days of needing a big-ass amp on stage should be over soon - small amps and electronics can handle 99% of what a guitar player needs. Let the PA handle the volume.

And she's a fantastic guitar player and singer, too.

Pretty wild stuff. See her/them if you have the chance. She's one of a kind.

Another great show at the Cat's Cradle.

Jeff Mangum, and up to a half-dozen multi-instrumentalists, duplicated the raucous carnival sound of the records. There were singing saws, horns of all sizes, keyboards, a zanzithophone and an electronic bagpipe. Not a single electric guitar - an acoustic into a fuzz box does the same job. It all sounded fantastic.

"In The Aeroplane Over The Sea" was well-represented. And there were at least two songs from their first album, and two from each of the two EPs. Turns out there is NMH stuff that I don't own - how wonderful! It was a little unsettling to hear the Aeroplane songs out of order - that's a start-to-finish record for me. Still, this show had the unusual effect of making me want to immediately listen to the band's recorded music. Most shows fill me up on that band, so to speak; I usually avoid a band for a while after a show. But this one put all those songs into a new light; I had assumed were layered-up studio creations (and maybe they were), but seeing them done so well live with the full band, makes them seem a lot more alive than they were before. I want to hear them knowing that it's possible (though unlikely) that they were recorded with all of the people standing in the same room.

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Pix were prohibited, but I snuck one at the end. During Two Headed Boy, Pt2.

They were apparently making a recording of the show. A guy was manning a computer off to the side of the stage and it looked like he was giving Mangum advice about vocal levels. I was standing right in front of one of the mics aimed at the audience - if they put out a live record, maybe you'll hear me breathing!

It was the second of two sold-out shows in Chapel Hill. And not only was it a NMH show, it was Super Bowl Sunday, and the crowd really looked like the opposite of a crowd of football fans.

Elf Power opened - handy, because the two bands share a member (the zanzithophone and trumpet player) I have one of their records, but I didn't recognize anything from it. They were fun anyway.

At the Cat's Cradle.

Dave Rawlings and Gillian Welch put together a band for a little 'mini-tour' of the south, and they picked Chapel Hill as one of their eight stops. So, I went. When I bought the tickets, I didn't know David and Gillian would be playing with John Paul Jones (a.k.a. Led Zeppelin's bass player), Willie Watson (formerly of Old Crow Medicine Show) and Paul Kowert (Punch Brothers). I learned that yesterday.

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I guess other people knew, because the show was sold out. Or it could be that everyone knows that they're a fantastic band and they always put on a fantastic show - even when they're just Dave and Gillian. But the addition of the other three guys - especially Willie Watson (who sang lead on a bunch of tunes and played banjo, guitar & fiddle) really filled-out the sound.

A second fiddle/viola player came out for a few songs. I didn't catch her name, but she looked like she was having the time of her life.

As always, it was a mix of David's songs, Gillian's songs, standards and well-chosen covers. Because John Paul Jones was there, they did Zeppelin's "Going To California" as one of the encores. Also: Neil Young's "Cortez", The Band's "The Weight", Old Crow's "I Hear Them All" --> "This Land Is Your Land", Dylan's "Queen Jane", etc..

I saw John Paul Jones playing bluegrass in 2007, at Merlefest, but that was on a big stage, from very far away. This time, he was like ten feet away. I could hear his mandolin from the stage better than I could hear it in the PA (because he wouldn't always get close enough to the mic). After Rawlings did the introductions at the end of their show, and the place went nuts when Jones' name was announced, I noticed that the guy in front of me had his phone out, looking up who this John Paul Jones guy was. Way to make me feel old.

It's been a good year for me and Zep. Now if Jimmy Page would come around before the end of the year, I could complete my score card.

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If you're in Charlotte, Birmingham or Athens this week, definitely go see them.

We saw the legendary Willie Nelson, this past weekend.

His voice still sounds great - still has that smooth relaxed tone - but it looks like he doesn't have the breath he once had. A lot of his phrases were quick and clipped. And, he let the audience handle a lot of the singing. But, he's 80, so that's OK. His guitar playing was a bit off, though. At first, he sounded out of tune and off beat, and way too loud in the mix. Sounded like one of those "shreds" videos. Eventually, though, he synced up with the rest of the band and all was well.

As you would expect, he played a ton of his well-known songs, along with a bunch of well-known covers (including a set of Hank Williams songs).

The crowd was a much older crowd than we've seen in a while. And, thankfully, they were happy to sit down through most of the show!

Willie's son Lukas, and his band, "Promise Of The Real", opened. They do a blues/country/rock hybrid, very Texas, very rockin. He's got his dad's voice, but puts a ton of bluesy growl into it. And he's a good guitar player. He played in his dad's band, for that set.

Good show, all around. Plus, it was our 17th wedding anniversary that night.

As part of the big "Hopscotch" music festival the city puts on every year, The Breeders played their "Last Splash" album, downtown Raleigh, this past weekend! Sweeeet!

But I skipped it, because I'm old and lazy and the idea of standing in a plaza on a summer's day with a bunch of drunk kids makes me ill.

I'm not so old that I can't regret all of that, though.

Saw Maiden and Megadeth last night. Somehow I missed seeing them back in the 80s, so I couldn't say no this time.

It was at the local big music venue, outdoors, hot as fuck, filled with tens of thousands of men in black T-shirts and a handful of the women who love them.

I was worried that they'd do a set of all new stuff, as happened to a friend who saw them a couple of years back. But, they did a set list that was (according to Bruce Dickinson) mostly based on a set list from their "Seventh Son..." tour (1988). So, they did mostly oldies classics: at least three from Number Of The Beast, three from their first album, a lot from Seventh Son..>, etc.. Perfect! The band was in fine form: tight but happy to clown around from time to time. Dickinson was spry and charmingly hammy. 15' Eddie came out and waved his sword around. Giant background Eddie held his Eddie-as-mandala seal. Flags were waved, sacred chants were praised. Three guitar players played leads either solo, or in pairs, or all at once. Steve Harris galloped along while Nico thundered away in his cage.

It was the loudest outdoor show I've ever been to - laid awake hoping the ringing would subside (hasn't yet). And the crowd was even louder. Metalheads love them some Maiden. Shirts were $40, and everybody had one.

The sound was the basic big venue mud. But at least they turned the vocals up so we could all gape at how well Dickinson could still sing.

Megadeth's sound was pretty bad. And I only recognized one song: Peace Sells... (Mrs recognized two). I should've studied. Thankfully, Mustaine kept his politics to himself.

No pix. iPhones aren't great in the dark.

Mrs and I saw this gentleman, this past weekend.

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Mr Long-locked Rock God himself, Robert Plant. This time, backed by a band he's calling the "Sensational Space Shifters".

Twas a fine show. The last time we saw him, he was in the middle of his bluegrass kick, so he gave all of the songs a strong country vibe. This time, he seems to be in an African mood, and many of the songs were given an African or middle eastern flavor - but not all of them; a few of the Zeppelin tunes were done perfectly straight (and most excellently). Either way, it worked. The band was good, and inluded the Gambian multi-instrumentalist, Juldeh Camara. Plant himself is a good entertainer, very charming and engaging, and his voice is still surprisingly nice. When he's not trying for the high screamy stuff, his voice is nearly as good as ever. And he can still get to most of the really high notes - he just can't hold them for very long. I'll allow it.

The opening band was Bombino, (mostly) from Niger. Three of them wore long brightly-colored silk robes, two of them wearing scarfs which started below the neck line and wrapped all the way to a turban the top of their head, leaving just a small space for a face to peek out from. They barely spoke English, and all the lyrics were in Tamasheq (which might as well have been Arabic, to Western ears). So that was something we don't get much of, in NC. Frankly, I was surprised I didn't hear anything rude from the crowd.

But, they rocked it, and the crowd was appreciative. They play a quick, loud, guitar-based music. It's not as funky as the 1970's Nigerian stuff, or as raw as the proto-blues Malian stuff, both of which I've taken a liking to. Instead, it's very driving and repetitive (nearly trance-inducing), with a strong Arabic / middle eastern vibe. The star of the band, Mr "Bombino", was mixed far too low, so it was tough to hear his leads, which was unfortunate because he's a really good guitarist.

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It was an outdoor show - another disgustingly humid mid-summer eve. By the end of Bombino's set, the three guys in silk had completely drenched their silk robes with sweat - the fabric clung to them and sweat was literally pouring out of their sleeves. Africa hot? Bah. NC Hot!

And we're continuing our Summer Of Oldies in September with Iron Fucking Maiden and Willie Fucking Nelson.

Saw Dylan last night. We had front row tickets, on the right side of the stage. But when we got to our seats, someone was occupying them and offered to switch... their seats were also front row and were pretty much dead-center. Err... ok, deal!

I knew about 1/3 of the songs, which is more than I expected to know. He did a few of the better tunes from his latest record, Tempest. He did Visions Of Johanna, he did All Along The Watchtower, he did Tangled Up In Blue and he did Ballad Of A Thin Man. Which was far more of his classics than I dared hope for. And all the rest of the stuff I didn't recognize sounded fine - except for not being able to understand the lyrics.

Bowie said Dylan's voice sounded like sand and glue, in 1971. These days, it's more like Louis Armstrong with a bad case of laryngitis after getting punched in the throat. He's nearly unintelligible, if you don't already know the song. But, I don't think he's ever been one to worry too much about how his voice is perceived. So, he's still at it.

He didn't play guitar. But, he did play piano for most songs, standing up. And he played harmonica on a few.

Honestly, I was worried about the show. I had heard a lot of bad things about his live shows, and am not crazy about his latest record. But, it turned out to be a really good time. And it didn't hurt that I was 25 feet from him the whole time.

Couldn't get any good pictures, though. With nobody between me and the guards standing in front of the stage, there was no way to hide while taking a pic. Had to settle for sneaking a couple at the very end.

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The lights never got brighter than that. It was a dim yellow, the whole time.

AV-Club Favorite, Dawes, opened. We didn't rush to get there, so we only caught their last few songs. But they sounded good. They ended up standing next to us, at the end of Dylan's set. And we photobombed some pix they took with fans.