So lucky to have caught the opening night of U2's 2005 tour while vacationing in San Diego, it was an amazing show but the energy from the audience in New York doesn't compare.

Here are some friends from Los Angeles who rented a bus and drove down to San Diego to see U2.

Okay, the FREE concert in Brooklyn was great...it really was!

Not to mention, I had just gotten my wisdom tooth pulled, so your ultra sexy voices, exciting outdoor concert and amazing music eased all of the pain and helped me forget about the blood-soaked cloth sitting in my mouth.

And I understand the dumbass was re-elected, but it wasn't our fault. We tried, we really did! New York was completely blue...not even a smudge of red. We're 100% with you guys.

So what's with the $165 concert tix?

The Wilco/ Flaming Lips show at Madison Square Garden on New Year’s Eve was overwhelming, entertaining and so much fun.

While hundreds and hundreds of enormous sized colored balloons were bouncing around the audience, The Flaming Lips were partying on stage like true rock stars with streamers, confetti, projections, blood, and champagne.

There was so much going on between the trippy movies playing behind them to the Donnie Darko-esque bunnies dancing with naked women who were wearing only paisleys with tassels.

All along playing incredible music.

In one of their trippy short films this kid walks into a nightclub, makes his way through the crowd and into the bathroom, locks the door behind him, gets down on his knees, places a razor blade & a $20 bill on the rim of the toilet bowl, peels his skull back, takes his brains out from his skull, cuts lines of his brain, rolls up the $20 bill, snorts his brains, licks the razor, licks the bill, rubs the bill on his gums, his pupils become dilated, he gets up, struts out and then screen the reads:

DON'T SNORT YOUR OWN BRAIN: ENJOY THE FLAMING LIPS!

Wilco followed and was just as incredible and sounded just as amazing. Jeff Tweedy, the lead of Wilco was in his pajamas singing their originals before midnight and brining in the new year with cover songs like "Love Will Keep Us Together" and the Judas Priest song "Living After Midnight."

For a while now, there was a rumor about U2 performing a last minute outdoor concert in New York City to promote the release of their latest album How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.

As it turns out, this was far from a rumor; not only did U2 play a live concert in New York City, but they played the city from top to bottom.

U2 performed from the back of a flatbed truck!

They started in the morning at about 11am playing in front of Columbia University around 115th Street and continued South making random stops throughout the day; Times Square, Madison Square Garden, etc…

They are amazing.

They had camera crews and a truck full of press photographers following behind them.

After finishing their stops in Manhattan, they played a FREE concert in Ferry State Park in Brooklyn. The concert was a secret until they announced it on their website around 12pm and from there the news spread through emails, blogs and mobiles like wild fire.

Word-of-mouth travels quickly in NYC…within three hours there were thousands of New Yorkers eagerly waiting for the free concert.

Who else could attract thousands of people within a few hours? Honestly, I can't think of another band or person who would draw thousands of people momentarily at the drop of a hat. Not to mention, people didn't have tickets so most were going on heresy.

U2 arrived on the back of the flatbed truck driving across the Manhattan Bridge into Brooklyn, the crowd had been facing South towards the Brooklyn Bridge when they noticed U2 coming then the fans began to cheer the band’s arrival. Bono shouted “hello New York, we’re on our way!”

Summary:
November 22, 2004 – U2 played a free concert beginning at about 4:45 and performed for about an hour.

The Dublin-based band includes The Edge, drummer Larry Mullen, lead singer Bono, and bassist Adam Clayton.

They were shooting a video and making a round of appearances in the city to publicize their upcoming album 'How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb’ which is being released tomorrow November 23rd.

The pictures are from Retuers.

If Jack Johnson plays, they will come.

As we walked onto the field, I looked around and saw hundreds of good-looking guys. They looked as though they had just stepped off the cover of Surfer Magazine. It was a Mecca of hot guys and this time it wasn't a gay bar.

My brother, my cousin and I had a couple of hours on Monday night, so we bought tickets from a scalper and saw Jack Johnson, G. Love & Special Sauce and Donavon Frankenreiter at the Summer Stage in Central Park.

Unfortunately we missed Frankenreiter's Santana-influenced performance.

Second-billed G. Love & Special Sauce turned in a rhythmically dynamic set, fueled by hipster beat poet-goes-rap delivery over funky blues.

After an intermission of seductively gorgeous surfing films, Jack Johnson came out with his band and began playing tasteful, subtle acoustic songs.

His lazy guitar rhythms and creamy vocals set the mood.

While Johnson's laid-back approach is anything but gripping, Johnson's sound is still very warm and appealing, like a coffeehouse sing-along at a beach campfire.

The Hawaiian-born singer-songwriter, filmmaker and former pro-surfer sold-out the Summer Stage in May, the first day the tickets went on sale.

Johnson grew up surfing the famous waves of the north shore before moving to the main land to study film at UCSB. He made two surf docs before gpoing the full-time musician route, 1999's "Thicker Than Water" and 2000's "The September Sessions".

Springsteen wrote a New York Times editorial last week about why musicians speak out. He wrote, “A nation's artists and musicians have a particular place in its social and political life. Over the years I've tried to think long and hard about what it means to be American: about the distinctive identity and position we have in the world, and how that position is best carried. I've tried to write songs that speak to our pride and criticize our failures."

(and so it goes)

The rest of Springsteen's editorial - http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/05/opinion/05bruce.html

Hail to the King of Funk. Prince is his name.

The concert began at 8:15pm, it's now 1:40am and sleep is the furthest thing from my mind. I'm excited, energetic, speechless and dumbfounded by Prince's stellar performance tonight.

The sold out concert lasted over two and a half hours for an audience of probably 20,000-30,000.

Following his first song, he challenged the crowd by stating "MSG...you are not ready for me." He couldn't have been more right. Glancing at the surrounding faces; everyone, all races, all ages were in complete and utter awe. The audience was in motion throughout the night and it was a beautiful pure feeling.

Prince handpicked the musicians that make up New Power Generation, and they are the tightest band I have ever heard live. Prince even recruited James Brown’s sax player Maceo Parker.

For the first hour, the energy never let up as Prince sang and danced his way through a medley of songs from his early career. Utilizing two saxophones and a trombone, Prince punctuated his best songs in true funk style.

The artist is also a comedian; after addressing some of the younger people in the audience he then began playing a popular Beyonce song. He said he couldn't shake it like Beyonce because he didn't have enough ass. But he changed that when the heavy-set keyboardist Chance Howard joined him in shaking.

He had began singing one of his new songs where he pleads with his lover to let him go down south, as he sang that line there was a sudden female sound explosion which erupted. He took a step back, looked up into the crowd and tried to continue singing while holding back his laughter.

But it was more than just Prince's music and mere presence, Prince sat down with an acoustic guitar and played some familiar favorites with an unplugged treatment. The result was astonishingly intimate and enraptured his still dynamic yet quieter side. The acoustic was a reminder of what a striking talent he really is.

Starting another song he was only on the first line when he suddenly stopped singing but continued playing. He played while listening to over 20,000 people sing his lyrics. He allowed the audiece to sing the enitre song to him, at the end of the song he looked a bit choked up and said "I wish you could hear that from where I am sitting. Thank you. Now, I would like to sing for you."

He made it clear that this was a concert for "real music" as he continued to showcase each band member throughout the night and then intertwined riffs from other "real musicians", such as Van Halen, Metallica, James Brown, Ray Charles, Led Zepplin and Jimi Hendrix.

He ended the evening with Purple Rain, this one goes beyond my abilities to describe. Prince showed that he is truly one of the most underrated guitarists of our time.

The night was endlessly magical, transfixing us and compelling us to move, sing, clap and respond from the heart.

Prince
Musicology Tour
Tuesday, July 13, 2004 - 8:15pm
Madison Square Garden, New York City

1. Catching Raz Mesinai's Badawi perform at Tonic (107 Norfolk St, between Delancey and Rivington). Badawi has gone far beyond the realms of dub, electronica, middle eastern and avant-garde music while remaining true to his roots. Mesinai's fifth Badawi release "Clones and False Prophets" is yet another turn in this never ending journey.

2. Watching The Honey Brothers perform at the Living Room (154 Ludlow St at Stanton). The Honey Brothers are a comedic and ukulele-driven mish-mash. Ari Gold, director of Helicopter, is the head of the band and Adrian Grenier, the actor with the "million dollar face" is their drummer. Over this past weekend Grenier was replaced by Belle Honey, an equally as cute in her own way, Cooper Union student.

3. Barbecue on a roof, courtyard, street, or any exterior location. I recommend Fairway for vegetables, fruits and fish. So fresh and so cheap.

4. A park, any park or garden will do. Everyone has their favorite park, but the parks are the icing on top of a lovely weekend.

Saturday evening was the "Live At The Battery" free outdoor concert in Battery Park presented by American Express, in celebration of the Tribeca Film Festival.

The concert had a wonderful line-up of musicians; the Black Eyed Peas, Macy Gray, Steve Winwood and headlining was one of my all time favorites, Van Morrison. American Express also included a few guests to fill the space between acts.

The first act was a comedian?...no, a political activist?...possibly. Actually, I'm not quite sure who he was or what he said. I did hear a few references to Bush and Pataki, but mostly he just was shouting and cursing. I think he was a cursor...a professional cursor and an interesting guest to book, because their were a handful of kids in the area.

Chris Tucker, the comedian from Rush Hour, did some stand-up and mentioned his work with Bono & the Save the Children's Program in Africa, then Tucker introduced Bono.

Bono addressed the issues of ongoing poverty and disease in Africa and like always, did his best to bring awareness without preaching. Standing on the stage, looking as sexy as ever, he spoke about his love for NYC, for America and then mocked himself for being so corny. Bono held the stage for quite a while and was beginning to look bit uneasy as he was running out of things to say. As for me, I was enjoying looking at Bono on the enormous screen next to the stage and listening to his heartfelt brogue.

Bono introduced the legendary Van Morrison, who shined through his entire set. He looked great and sounded fabulous. The performers prior to Morrison were displayed on 50 foot screens and heard on speakers placed throughout the park. As for Morrison, all of the screens and speakers were off, except the speakers on the stage, bringing everyone closer and resuscitating the performer-audience energy. Morrison played a low-key set with less rock and more jazz/blues/swing, altering his songs which allowed you to only recognize most them by their lyrics. I loved it, it was wonderful, his brilliance came alive with a tender cozy sound.

An interesting part of the evening was how few people attended the concert. A free concert with Van Morrison and the place looked empty? I believe American Express allocated 6000 tickets to the concert, so I suppose it was simply not advertised.

Had Mark Rabinowitz not told me about it, I too, wouldn't have known. So, thanks Rabbi. You rock!

The plan was to check out a friend's band at the Mercury Lounge (217 E. Houston Street, NY) and then go from there. Stephanie and I went to grab a bite at Kai Kai (78 E. 1st St/ btwn Ave A and 1st Ave) which is a small and charming Thai restaurant, serving great food at dirt-cheap prices.

Then we headed over to the Mercury Lounge to catch Andrew Vladeck and the Spurs (www.andrewvladeck.com). They were pretty good, not bad. Andrew's stage presence is extremely charming and entertaining. After watching Andrew play, we had a most pleasant surprise. The band following Andrew's was an Austin band, The Gourds. Wow! I have declared myself an official Gourds fan!

It was the best live music I've heard in such a long time! They are wonderful, fun, refined and extremely entertaining musicians. I recommend them to all. Their music is adapted from a variety of genres, including; folk, bluegrass, country, Tex-Mex, Cajun, hip-hop and psychedelic, which gives them a very signature Gourds sound. During their three and half hour show, they used the electric guitar, acoustic guitar, mandolin, banjo, bass, drums, organ, fiddle and an accordion. If you have an opportunity to see them live, don't hesitate, it's quite an experience.

Aside from their music, the bonus of being at a Gourds show is their audience. The place was packed with wall to wall Alpha, meat-eating, horse-riding, charming Texan cuties.