Weekend Ideas: April 11, 2014

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Spring’s in the air, and so’s a buzz about London Grammar, the ambient British trip-hop trio that plays the Paradise Rock Club Friday as part of a sold-out 12-date American tour. Here’s a taste of what the under-the-radar fuss is about. On the local scene, Friday and Saturday also mark the closing nights for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Rumble preliminaries (in which Tigerman WOAH, Goddamn Draculas, Barricades and Western Education have so far punched their tickets for the semi-finals). Pick up the action at T.T. the Bear’s Place; the Rumble lineup info’s here.

Saturday cooks with a few shows of note, including two longtime area favorites. Boston’s psychedelic reggae-rockers Spiritual Rez stoke up the horns to get the Sinclair hopping. And talk about longevity: having jammed for more than 40 years (way before Phish and the jamband scene developed), Max Creek plays Church on the heels of guitarist Scott Murawski’s recent tour in Phish bassist Mike Gordon’s band. And at Johnny D’s Uptown, Simon Townshend — a sideman in his brother Pete’s band, the Who — shows the power of family genes in a solo showcase.

Sunday offers the pick-of-the-weekend at House of Blues when singer Emmylou Harris celebrates the expanded reissue of her shimmering 1995 album Wrecking Ball with its producer/guitarist Daniel Lanois, with bassist/guitarist Jim Wilson and drummer Steve Nistor filling out their band. Lanois, who’s also famous for co-producing U2’s greatest albums, will also perform as the opening act.  Here’s the album’s lovely title track, a Neil Young tune, performed by Harris and Lanois at a 2012 Canadian festival. The same night, Chelsea native Chick Corea, who played keyboards with Miles Davis before streamlining fusion power with Return to Forever, stretches out in a solo piano concert at the Wilbur Theatre. And ’80s rock darlings the Psychedelic Furs love their way at the Sinclair.

For my Thursday throwback, in honor of tonight’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame induction of Nirvana, I’ve been one of many people musing about the legacy of the late Kurt Cobain. He always seemed like a candle that was going to glow bright and burn out, and this full-show video from an infamous 1991 Dallas club show sees Cobain in a typically on-the-edge moment when he tussles with a bouncer who pulls him back from a stage dive. This show took place weeks after Nevermind exploded; on the eve of the album’s release, I saw Nirvana headline a WFNX show at Axis with Bullet LaVolta and Smashing Pumpkins that proved saner if still wild.


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