Live Exclusives: Escovedo, Wonder, Hippiefest

All the concert news ‘n’ reviews that’s fit to print.

By Blurt Staff

More concert coverage from your friendly neighborhood BLURT – this time, we’ve got Alejandro Escovedo in Asheville, NC, Hippiefest (feat. Eric Burdon and Jack Bruce) in Kettering, Ohio, and Stevie Wonder in L.A. (only marginally present, it turned out).

·         *Of the Wonder “performance” at the Sunset Marquis in L.A. July 30, Jose Martinez was more than taken aback: “Promised a night of music from legends Stevie Wonder and Jeff Beck, instead I was bombarded with a horrifying and never ending set from the diminutive John Oates, sans Daryl Hall. And I can’t go for that (no can do).”

·         *Yours truly saw the Alejandro Escovedo band tear it up in Asheville on July 15, and it made my day/week/month: “’Rock’ was the operative term, and blaze away they did, leading with the stomping Real Animal opener “Always A Friend” and making sure, as the evening progressed, that most of that album’s hi-nrg cuts got their proper public airings.”

·         *And Steven Rosen caught the Hippiefest tour on July 26 in Kettering, Ohio, featuring a number of washed-up relics (Turtle, Badfinger, Melanie, etc.) and some bonafide heroes — Burdon and Bruce. “[They] have no cobwebs on them, musically or culturally,” writes Rosen. “Their material isn’t dated or poppy-cutesy or mired in the sentimental love-peace vibe that Hippiefest tries to conjure with its advertising and marketing. If anything, the dark, bluesy and sometimes-angry edge to their signature 1960s-era songs pointed to where rock – and society – was going in the future. And if either is tired of playing that material, they didn’t show it. The sets were ferociously, defiantly authoritative.”

Check ‘em out at the provided links, or simply scroll down the BLURT front page to the reviews section. We’ve also got new book, DVD and CD reviews being added daily.

[Stevie Wonder “please don’t upset our hero by using your flash” photo credit: Jose Martinez]