Barr-ing Their Souls On Stage

Ever seen a man play a bicycle wheel like a violin? After last night, I have. 

The Barr Brothers performed at the TD Ottawa Jazz Festival last night, closing out the first spirited day of Jazz Fest with a show that was all over the board – high energy yet melodic, soulful and lullabye-esque, at times chaotic and at others in perfect sync. The brothers, Brad on guitar and Andrew on drums and percussion (and bike wheel), are joined by Andres Vial on bass, keyboard and various other noisemakers, and Sarah Page, playing an instrument not found on too many rock or jam stages, a stand-up classical harp.

With the haunting, ethereal tones of the harp echoing through the creative cacophony at the perfect times, the music felt airy and uplifting, even while Brad sang about making deals with the devil and the plight of a deacon’s son.  

As I listened to Brad sing the slow, sultry lyrics to the Neil Young classic Don’t Let it Bring You Down, and with no bearing to the weather outside the tent, I envisioned a thunderstorm – dark, grey clouds slowly advancing and blanketing the sky, before an explosion of thunder from the drums and guitar, and petering out just as quickly like a summer deluge.

Songs like Give the Devil Back His Heart and Ooh, Belle showcase the diverse areas of inspiration contained in the Barrs’ musical oeuvre – Andrew once said the inspiration for Deacons’ Sons came to him while he was listening to the music of Sahara desert nomads and pacing the house with his guitar.

Lofty, softly clanging bells, abacus-like shakers, maracas, bicycle spokes and ghostly pedal effects showcase the diversity and range of this group, who defy categorizations like “folk” or “blues,” often containing folk, blues, rock and classical sounds in the same extended jams.

This iteration of the brothers’ musical journey, which began with a Great White-style nightclub fire in Montreal that resulted in Andrew and Brad fleeing from the club with instruments in hand, led to them meeting a woman who would become their manager and a new home base in one of Canada’s cultural hubs. For the Providence, Rhode Island duo who were formerly two-thirds of jam-rockers The Slip, this was fairly out of their comfort zone, but soon friendships with local musician Vial and Page, with whom the brothers shared a wall in their apartment, led to the band’s formation.

Perhaps it was the progressive, unconventional nature of the quartet’s musical acumen, or the nurturing atmosphere of Montreal’s music scene, but the slightly mis-nomered Barr Brothers have created a niche for themselves, touring extensively through Canada and the US at many of the major summer festivals. Their shows still have a slightly amateurish feel to them, but in a good way – it’s an unassuming feeling, built on the charming and intimate notion that these incredibly creative artists would feel just as at home around a campfire as they are in a nightclub.

It would be harder to set up that bicycle wheel around a campfire, though.

The Barr Brothers continue their summer tour at the Metropolis in Montreal on July 1.

Tennessee Heat

Friends, this is the most exciting Bonnaroo lineup since 2005, the year when the fest cemented itself as the pinnacle of the summer jam-band scene.

The 2009 lineup promises a return to the early days of Bonnaroo, highlighted by the anticipation of the soon-to-be-starting Phish reunion tour.

The reunited Tre, Page, Mike and Fish will play two shows - if I had to guess, something like the midnight to 4 a.m. slots on Friday and Saturday - and should be rounding into their old form after doing the first six shows of their tour.

After Phish, the 2009 lineup gets really interesting. The Bonnaroo organizers are continuing the experiment this year, diversifying the music away from the jam scene as they have in years past with bands like the Roots, Tool, Pearl Jam, Metallica, Kanye West, Cyprus Hill, and even last year’s main stage show by Chris Rock.

The 2009 lineup has Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band in the festival headliner role, giving the Boss his first Bonnaroo appearance and the chance to show how creative he can be. He’ll be the guy who closes out the show Sunday night, which means Stevie Van Zandt will likely be wandering around the festival grounds for three days doing Sopranos impressions and scoring lots of blow.

Next up and making their dramatic comeback from the obscurity of the European festival circuit, where they’ve been touring since the release of a critically acclaimed instrumental pop album…the Beastie Boys! Yes, the hip-hoppin’ white boys are back on the big stage (literally).

The first thing that came to mind when I saw the Beasties on the lineup was the show Beck put on in 2006, where he really went creative and did things onstage you would never see anywhere else but Bonnaroo - the Boys have the opportunity and the potential to do the same.

Nine Inch Nails picks up where Metallica left off last year, though Trent Reznor will have to do a bit better than the red and white touch-screen lightshow he had on his 2008 summer tour if he wants to win over the crowd, which was lukewarm to Metallica’s antics last year.

The real wild card of the show is Snoop Dogg’s appearance, which could really be a lot of fun. Everybody loves Snoop, but will he be able to handle the expectations of Bonnaroo?

As Kanye West found out last year, you can’t just plan on doing your same old thing - the set has to be musically, visually and culturally on a different level.

Rounding out the experimentation at this year’s Bonnaroo is the techno-pop genius of Paul Oakenfold, the slinky hip-hop rhythms of Erykah Badu and the vocabular verbosity of singer-songwriter Andrew Bird. Three of the new darlings of rock, TV on the Radio, MGMT and Animal Collective, make their first appearances in Manchester, while Merle Haggard brings a down-south touch.

Finally, Phish’s arrival back on the scene had the serendipitous effect of bringing back some of the greatest jammers to ever grace the What and Which stages. Gov’t Mule, Ben Harper and Wilco return after skipping last year’s fest, while moe. and Bela Fleck are back for their first turns since 2006. These are some of the bands who helped create this festival, in all its jammy glory.

Nevertheless, festival mainstays such as Robert Randolph and Medeski, Martin and Wood are nowhere to be found, though the lineup is less than half full. Stay tuned.

Bonnaroo runs the June 11-14 in Manchester, Tennessee.