Weekend in Austin

This past weekend i took the short trip to Austin, TX for a couple of live concerts. Friday night i attended a concert featuring two roots reggae bands, Rebelution and SOJA, and a hip-hop group, Zion I at Stubb's Bar-B-Que. I have actually seen Rebelution before, a couple of years ago when they were opening for another band of the same genre of music. While I enjoyed their performance more the first time I saw them, they did not disappoint this time around. They played quite a bit of their old material, which I was very pleased with, and had both opening bands up on stage for the final song of the night, which was an awesome, groovy reggae tune. Saturday night I went to Emo's (again) for the CD release party of a band called the White White Lights. I went mainly for the band that opened for them, The Happen-ins, which a friend of mine had seen previously in downtown Bryan before and spoke highly about. The bands were both pretty decent, but nothing too special. Both have Myspace pages that have some of their songs on them, so check them out if you're into more indie rock kinds of bands. This weekend was filled with live music, so I guess you could say it was a very successful and fun weekend. Attached is a video of the final song of the Rebelution/SOJA/Zion I show at the House of Blues in Anaheim, which I did not attend, but is very similar to the finale that was put on in Austin that I witnessed. enjoy

"I Like It" - Rebelution/SOJA/Zion I (Finale)

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers

Big news from the Florida native rock band! It has been announced that Tom and his band will be touring the U.S. this summer, with stops in Dallas and Houston in May (no one ever goes to San Antonio anymore). I am still undecided if I will attend this concert, mostly because of the price and distance from home, which will only increase expenses. Tom and his band also have some great opening acts on this tour like Crosby, Stills and Nash and ZZ Top. I have always like Tom Petty, mostly because the Heartbreakers was one of the first bands my ears ever had the pleasure of coming in contact with, thanks to my father. Listening to Tom brings me back to childhood, and conjures up images of my youth that only certain music can. Another big announcement is that Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers have a new album coming out this spring called "Mojo," which will be the band's twelfth studio album. To top that all off, anyone who purchases a ticket to any of the shows for this summer tour gets a digital version of Mojo via email, for free! That isn't a deal-maker for me, but does sound very cool and a nice gesture in honor of Tom's fans. Sounds like I have a pretty big decision to make pretty soon...

DMB Summer 2010 Tour

The Dave Matthews Band is one of the most talented jam bands around today and puts on a very eclectic show, which I have experienced a couple times as a teenager. My first DMB concert experience was Sept 2nd, 2005, which was the last time the band has come to my hometown of San Antonio, TX. Since then I have been to three other shows, one in Dallas (the last show i saw featuring DMB's saxophonist Leroi Moore who passed away in Aug 2008), one in the Woodlands, and the most recent one at Austin City Limits Music Festival. I thoroughly enjoyed each and every one, and plan on attending many more in the future; that brings me to the title of this post, Dave's summer 2010 tour. DMB started off the year with a European tour, and the American tour dates recently released on the band's website. DMB will be making a coupe stops in Texas in early September, and will be in the Woodlands at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion on the 10th. I will most likely be attending this show with some friends, a repeat of last summer's tour. The opening act is a band called Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears, which i also saw at Austin City Limits this past October. They put on a really fun show and have a James Brown sort of funk and soul feel. I am really looking forward to seeing the Dave Matthews Band again, and recommend you see at least one live DMB show too. I'll leave you with a video of Dave's closing song at the concert i went to last summer, a song called Rapunzel, a fairly old song in the DMB catalog. This ending jam shows the band's energy from from the start of a concert to the finish, which is one of the reasons why i love their concerts so much.

Rapunzel - Dave Matthews Band

First Post!

Hey everyone my name's Colton and this is my music blog. Here I'll be writing all about music, from new CD's of my favorite bands to concerts I've been to or plan on attending. My favortite genres of music are alternative, classic rock, and reggae/rock. I have too many favorite bands to name, so just check out my profile if you're interested in that. For my first post, I'm writing about a concert I attended last night at Emo's in Austin, featuring several of my favorite reggae/rock bands. The name of the tour is the Ladera Winter Blackout 2010 Tour. Headlining was a band called the Expendables, who rocked pretty hard. Another band was Iration, who is mainly roots reggae with a little pop feel, and also put on a great show. The band I'm most excited to write is one of my most recently favorited bands named Passafire. They're from Savannah, GA and produce one of the best combinations of rock and reggae I have ever heard. They recently released a new album in the past couple of months to go along with their first two and a live one on iTunes. They're pretty up and coming, so if you have not heard of them, just give them a listen and you will definitely want to support them and buy a few songs. Along with those three bands was two more called Pour Habit and Roots Down Below, which I sadly did not arrive in time to see perform. The concert was excellent overall, despite the numerous mosh pits and fist fight that broke out mid-concert. Posted is a video of the song Kilo, one of the best songs by Passafire, enjoy. EDIT: change of posted video to some of the actual show that have popped up the past couple of days.

Lay Awake - Passafire


Down Down Down - The Expendables (Opening song)