Duluth’s immensely popular Homegrown Music Festival recently went off with a week of good music, good people, and good times – - or so I hear from the buzz of the Internet. I lived in Duluth for about two years and enjoyed Homegrown as a bit of a Duluth n00b. Those who have been in attendance since its inception however tend to wax poetic and get misty-eyed over times gone by. The heart and soul of any good music festival – no matter how long you’ve been attending – is the power and raw emotion of a bitchin’ rock and roll show.
Former Duluthian and blogger, Laurie attended a “Secret Show” with The Black Eyed Snakes on a return visit to Duluth she took with her family. Current Duluthian and amateur scene-documenter Ryan Dahlberg was also there taking photos. Ryan e-mailed me to point out the link to Laurie’s blog and his photos from the show. Since I wasn’t there I won’t even bother paraphrasing so check out the links and get in the moment.
I recently traveled to Salt Lake City to attend the Retribution Gospel Choir’s performance at Kilby Court, April 16th, 2010. Two opening acts performed followed by a set timing in just under an hour by RGC. Attendance was around fifty people, many of whom were obviously fans judging by their reactions to each song and by the informal chat sessions with the band following the show.
I recorded the fifty-three minute, twenty-four second set and have shared the audio on archive.org. To listen, use the embedded streaming functionality below, or download the set in it’s entirety from the archive.org set page.
Setlist:
01 Breaker (2:21)
02 Workin’ Hard (4:15)
03 White Wolf (4:42)
04 Poor Man’s Daughter (7:25)
05 They Knew You Well (2:55)
06 Take Your Time (3:56)
07 banter (2:16)
08 Hide It Away (3:07)
09 Your Bird (3:13)
10 Something’s Going to Break (2:49)
11 Electric Guitar (9:27)
12 banter (1:33)
13 Then She Turned Into (2:23)
14 ’68 Comeback (3:10)
The three-piece were locked in all evening long, hardly giving themselves (or the crowd) time to catch their breath before it was on to the next song, which only served to add to the intensity and frenzy of the songs themselves. The spotlight was clearly on Sparhawk’s guitar work during the entire set, tearing it up on “Your Bird” and an extended, fierce version of — appropriately enough — “Electric Guitar.” Sparhawk joked recently about how he’s done things in reverse and gotten louder as he’s grown older, and this was by far the loudest show I’ve ever seen him play.
To kick off the show, Alan Sparhawk stood on the stage and yelled, “We bring you greetings from Lake Superior.” Somewhere in the middle of one of the greatest jams in rock and roll history on “Poor Man’s Daughter,” I almost had a euphoric coronary.
Here’s an intimate location that would be fun to catch RGC. Check out Retribution Gospel Choir during Duluth’s Homegrown Music Festival in 2009. The band gives a lively, afternoon performance of Take Your Time to a small crowd of excited Duluthians.
RGC is currently on a world tour promoting their newest album, “2″ and the commentary from fans in attendance thusfar has been quite positive. People are commenting on Sparhawk’s intensity and are noting that bandmembers Pollard and Garrington have taken to displaying a vigor not previously seen. Having seen them play in December I too saw and felt this new dynamic and think the band is really coming together as a performing act.
At their recent appearance at Casa del Popolo in Quebec, Montreal, Canada Retribution Gospel Choir’s live set was recorded by an obviously skilled bootlegger. The recording was submitted to the Internet via a Bittorrent and then subsequently uploaded and shared via archive.org. The recording quality is superb, the setlist quality. Use the embedded streaming functionality below, or download the set in it’s entirety from archive.org on the Retribution Gospel Choir Live at Casa del Popolo on 2010-01-26 page.
Setlist:
01. Breaker (3:40)
02. For Her Blood (2:06)
03. Working Hard (2:08)
04. Hide It Away (3:19)
05. Poor Man’s Daughter (8:10)
06. White Wolf (2:27)
07. They Knew You Well (3:30)
08. Your Bird (4:26)
09. What She Turned Into (2:23)
10. Electric Guitar (8:45)
11. Take Your Time (7:36)
12. Kids (5:31)
January 16th, 2009
Undisclosed Location
Duluth, Minnesota
by Ryan Dahlberg
“After receiving a message from fellow Post-Duluthian [and proprietor of this blog] Sam Haraldson, I had a feeling that this was [a] show not to miss.”
Soon to be embarking on a world tour, Duluth’s own Retribution Gospel Choir was scheduled to appear for a private performance somewhere in the East Hillside. Upon my walk through downtown to get to the show, I had the chance to make a few quick words with Aaron Molina, whom if you don’t know by now is credited with the artwork for RGC’s new album “2″.
After arriving shortly after 9pm and being greeted by open arms, not to mention the bonfire, and the kegs of Surly, the early attendees and I waited for the band to arrive while listening to my advance copy of the new album. As more people arrive the band appears. It quickly becomes 10pm as we watch the traffic from the front window.
It’s now 10:30pm, I have my camera in hand, and my Surly is on the mantle: it’s show time.
The band starts the show with their classic rock anthem “Breaker”. As the band plays on through to Midnight with a collection of songs from the new album, the band seems larger than life. Steve and Eric’s stage presence have now grown equal to, being previously shadowed [by] that of Sparhawk. Towards the end of their set, each member continues to be focused and still being able to feed the group empowerment.
This was truly a performance to remember. For more photos of the show visit Ryan’s Flickr Gallery
This has been a guest post by Ryan Dahlberg, maintainer of theduluthscene.org, hosting a broad array of aural and visual content relating to Duluth music and culture.
On December 19th, 2009 Retribution Gospel Choir played a live show at the 501 Club in Minneapolis, MN. Sam Haraldson was present and wrote the following review on Last.fm.
The show at the 501 was full of people who were definitely fans as I could see the emotion in their eyes and the mouthing of song lyrics around the room. Alan Sparhawk, Steve Garrington, and Eric Pollard played a set that was (in my opinion) far too short, leaving out a couple of tracks from the new album 2 which is to be released January 20th, 2010.
The set was similar to the live shows of the past six months that have bootleg recordings available, focusing on the same tracks. It was obvious the band had been in the studio as the numbers were very tight. RGC’s typical poppy, melodic verse-chorus-verse was dead on. But the real proof the band is tight came during their famous dubby, noisy, freeform interludes. There was emotion on their faces that poured out through their instruments and right into the minds and bodies of the audience.
A short encore closed the set and when asked to play more, Sparkhawk declined stating a long drive back to Duluth that evening as reason. The show was well worth listening to as will their upcoming sets and soon-to-be-released album.
Zen Identity @ The Cove, Superior, WI – Spring 1991. Band members include Alan Sparhawk-Guitar, Bill Walton-Vocals, Rob Berry-Drums, David Daydodge-Bass.
Zen Identity @ The Cove, Superior, WI – Spring 1991. Band members include Alan Sparhawk-Guitar, Bill Walton-Vocals, Rob Berry-Drums, David Daydodge-Bass.
Zen Identity @ The Cove, Superior, WI – Spring 1991. Band members include Alan Sparhawk-Guitar, Bill Walton-Vocals, Rob Berry-Drums, David Daydodge-Bass.
Zen Identity @ The Cove, Superior, WI. Spring of 1991. A few notes on this… ZI was opening for a band called “HEATâ€â€¦which was actually Quiet Riot. This was a multi-camera shoot (3 to be exact) all recording simultanisly to their respective VTR’s. This clip is taken from the Camera 2 position, which is center stage. The other angles are far left (Cam 1) and far right (Cam 3). The sound is a direct feed from the soundboard. ZI’s total set ran about an hour. This is the second song into the set…the first song had some audio issues for about a minute…I will try and repair that at later date. I plan on posting these in the original set order. I would ask Mr.Sparhawk to please comment on the title of each song as they are posted. Also Alan, if you could provide me with the band member’s names and the instrument they played, that would be most appreciated. At some point, I will edit all three cameras together so as to have a complete record of Zen Identity’s show of that night…but then again, I’ve been saying that for 18 years now. Enjoy!
The blog, thedailystrife.com is proving itself as a great resource for video footage of Alan Sparkhawk’s projects. The videos below were filmed at The Brewhouse in Duluth, MN and are of Los Besos, a project between Sparhawk and Brad Ness.
The blog, thedailystrife.com has posted video footage of various Alan Sparkhawk projects, the latest of which was filmed at the Retribution Gospel Choir show at Pizza Luce in Duluth, MN on March 7th, 2009.
The blog, thedailystrife.com has posted video footage of various Alan Sparkhawk projects, the latest of which was filmed at the Retribution Gospel Choir show at Pizza Luce in Duluth, MN on March 7th, 2009.
“Back in 1996, I was working as a producer, director, cameraman and lighting designer for Knit Media, creating live online content for the web. When one of my favorite bands Low booked an appearance, I jumped at the chance to produce and direct a live multicamera video of their performance.”
Lust:
Below & Above:
Cut:
(Amazingly, a vintage YouTube video that seems to have been posted by its original creator.)
During an April 2008 European tour archive.org contributor, _tunic_ recorded three of Retribution Gospel Choirs’ shows at Paradiso, Amsterdam, Netherlands on April 22nd, STUK in Leuven, Belgium on April 23rd and ZAKK in Düsseldorf, Germany on April 24th. The recording quality varies and the set lists are similar although these shows are worth a listen by fans of RGC live. Below are links to audio and photos from the three performances.
Alan Sparhawk played a few songs and talked about Low, music, song-writing, gear and lots more October 10, 2007 at the Whole Music Club’s “Making Music” series.
Click here for a list of video and audio recordings from the event.
To officially release their new self-titled album to their hometown of Duluth, MN, Retribution Gospel Choir fired up a forty minute, eleven song set at Pizza Luce on Saturday, March 8th, 2008. The first ten songs of the set was a nearly verbatim performance of the band’s new album which they followed up with an encore of Poor Man’s Daughter.
Either use the built in player below or download the file directly from archive.org 70.3 mb VBR .zip
There was tiredness for myself and myself this evening so I set out the recorder to capture the set while we were having dinner. My apologies for the jackasses at the next table getting drunk and ruining a perfectly good show.
Los Besos’ Alan Sparhawk and Brad Nelson teamed up with Taconite’s Jamie Ness for an all-cover set at The Brewhouse. Audio for nearly the entire evening as well as two videos were recorded.
Either use the built in player below or download the file directly from archive.org 87 mb VBR .zip
Alan Sparhawk’s Black-Eyed Snakes performed a rare one of show in Madison on January 5, 2008 for Furthermore Beer’s Brew-Ha-Ha Two-Ha-Ha. Watch the 05:11 minute video of Cornbread.
A sideproject of Low’s Alan Sparhawk along with sometime member, Red House Painters’ Mark Kozelek, Retribution Gospel Choir “Hatchet” Drums And Guns, slated for release March 20th, 2007 on Sub Pop records.
A sideproject of Low’s Alan Sparhawk along with sometime member, Red House Painters’ Mark Kozelek, Retribution Gospel Choir perform the song “Breaker” at the Detroit Bar, Costa Mesa, CA, September 8th, 2005. Breaker will be on Low’s forthcoming record, Drums And Guns, slated for release March 20th, 2007 on Sub Pop records.
A sideproject of Low’s Alan Sparhawk along with sometime member, Red House Painters’ Mark Kozelek, Retribution Gospel Choir perform the song “Pretty People” at the Detroit Bar, Costa Mesa, CA, September 8th, 2005. Pretty People will be on Low’s forthcoming record, Drums And Guns, slated for release March 20th, 2007on Sub Pop records.
Welcome. This blog is designed to be a one-stop resource for live recordings from The Black Eyed Snakes, Retribution Gospel Choir, Los Besos and The Chairkickers. This Black Eyed Snakes blog is maintained by Sam Haraldson and Greg Seitz. If you like what you hear or have a recording, article, or photos you think would lend themselves well to these pages, please drop us a line.
January 16th, 2009
After arriving shortly after 9pm and being greeted by open arms, not to mention the bonfire, and the kegs of 
During an April 2008 European tour archive.org contributor, _tunic_ recorded three of Retribution Gospel Choirs’ shows at Paradiso, Amsterdam, Netherlands on April 22nd, STUK in Leuven, Belgium on April 23rd and ZAKK in Düsseldorf, Germany on April 24th. The recording quality varies and the set lists are similar although these shows are worth a listen by fans of RGC live. Below are links to audio and photos from the three performances.
