Jam in the Stream editor Javier Serna was excited to catch Etran de L’Aïr at the Turf Club back in July. The Saharan dessert blues band ripped, as expected, but so did the opener, Diles que no me maten, an experimental indie rock band from Mexico City. Read more about this show, which comes in at No. 10 on the editor’s list of 12 memorable shows in 2024.

Saltydog’s sendoff of Duluth’s Ripple Bar is No. 11 on Jam in the Stream’s list of a dozen memorable shows in 2024. Read more about what made that show special.

Karina Rykman’s Feb. 28 show at Minneapolis’ 7th Street Entry kicks off Jam in the Stream editor Javier Serna’s list of 12 memorable shows he caught in 2024. Read more about Rykman, an exciting up-and-coming bass player, and what made that show stand out.

TWINE frontman Will Effertz did know California Honeydrops’ music but didn’t know saxophonist Janos “Johnny Bones” Lustig when he approached the stage at Bunker’s last Wednesday night. “I have had that happen in instances, and when it’s a saxophone, I am like, ‘Please, be good.’ It turned out he was a badass.” Read more about the unplanned sit-in from Lustig on a night when local vocalist/guitarist Joe Dunn and sound man Gage Schmitt (on flute) were already featured.

The Big Wu’s gig at First Avenue in Minneapolis tops Jam in the Stream’s weekly Minnesota live music roundup, which is back this week after a short hiatus. Find out what other shows are happening in Minnesota.

Jam in the Stream editor Javier Serna is stoked that Orions Belte, an instrumental trio from Norway, is hitting the U.S. early next year. Find out all of the details.

Jam in the Stream write about TWINE's new weekly Wednesday residency at the Cabooze. But find out what other options there are around Minnesota this week.

King Gizzard played another insane show at Nashville's Ascend Amphitheater, covering many bases. They also had Jay Weinberg play drums on "Perihelion," in a rare sit-in, on a night fans hoped for a Billy Strings sit-in. Read about all the crazy things that happened at this wild show down south.

King Gizzard's Milwaukee show was one of the best Gizz shows Jam in the Stream editor Javier Serna has witnessed. It came after three amazing shows in Nashville, Chicago and Minneapolis. Find out what made this show so good.

King Gizzard played a wild and long show in Minneapolis on Tuesday night. Read all about it at www.jaminthestream.com

King Gizzard returns to Minnesota tonight, which tops Jam in the Stream's weekly live music picks in Minnesota this week. There's also a Gizz after party at Gluek's downtown after the show. Find out what other shows are happening in Minnesota this week.

Jam in the Stream's writeup of King Gizzard's show at Thompson's Point in Portland, Maine on Aug. 20. Stu Mackenzie took a dip into the Fore River during "The Dripping Tap" closer, the band debuted "Rats in the Sky," the band played a suite of songs from "I'm in Your Mind Fuzz," and opened with a 27-minute jamtronica section.

Buckethead, Dweezil Zappa and Ghost Funk Orchestra are among artists that play the Twin Cities early this week. Read about those shows and the rest of Jam in the Stream’s live music picks in Minnesota this week.

Jam in the Stream talked with Seth Applebaum of Ghost Funk Orchestra ahead of the band’s appearance at Minneapolis’ Green Room next Tuesday. The band has been up to a lot of cool things in the past year, including a new album inspired by the Apollo Missions, touring with Grace Potter, collaborating with jam keyboardist Marco Benevento and more.

It’s another busy week on Minnesota’s live music scene, with the GZA and a backing band with a fiddler at the Dakota, Saharan desert blues pioneers Tinariwen at the Cedar. Get the details on those and more shows at Jam in the Stream’s weekly live show picks article.

MonoNeon tops Jam in the Stream’s live music picks this week in Minnesota, but find out what other shows come highly recommended.

Crumb’s show at the Varsity Theater Friday tops Jam in the Stream’s list of live music picks this week in Minnesota. Read the fully story at www.jaminthestream.com

Etran de L’Äir, known for a brand of “dessert blues,” is playing Turf Club Wednesday, the first of several live music picks this week from Jam in the Stream. Find out more about the band from Niger, and the rest of Jam in the Stream’s show recommendations.

Check out Jam in the Stream’s photo gallery of Daniel Donato’s main stage set at Blue Ox Music Festival in Eau Claire, Wis., from June 26, 2024.

Check out Jam in the Stream’s live music picks for this week in and around Minnesota.

A galley of pictures from Feed the Dog’s side stage set at Blue Ox Music Festival shot by Jam in the Stream editor Javier Serna last Thursday, including video of “Space Odyssey” and a sit-in from Leftover Salmon banjoist Andy Thorn.

So many choices this week, thanks in part to Blue Ox Music Festival and all the talent that are playing there in Eau Claire, Wis. But Minneapolis has lots of great shows planned this week, including a surprise set at Gluek’s Thursday night, Micheal Cleveland at Dakota on Saturday and JT Bates Organ Trio featuring Kevin Gastonguay on the Hammond B3 organ Saturday.

Legendary Jerry Garcia Band organist Melvin Seals is a special guest Saturday night at the Fitzgerald Theater as Mark Joseph and Heatbox both release albums at the historic St. Paul venue.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard announced the bulk of its touring plans for 2024, with shows in Europe, four festival appearances in South America and two legs of touring in North America. Most of those shows are in the U.S., though there are a few dates in Canada. They also plan on playing three acoustic shows in the U.K., Detroit and San Diego. This is an addition to the previously announced marathon 3-hour shows in Hamburg, Germany, Forest Hills Stadium in New York, Chicago, Washington’s Gorge, and Austin, Texas.

Billy Strings closed out his Renewal Festival in Buena Vista, Colo., with surprise appearances before and after his band’s two-set headlining set, that included originals and covers of Pink Floyd’s “Brain Damage,” and John Hartford’s “All Fall Down,” among many others.

Billy Strings’ opening day of third annual Renewal Festival in Buena Vista, Colo., was a jam-packed day, with lots of music, sit-ins withe likes of Leftover Salmon’s Vince Herman and Drew Emmitt, and playing and pickin’ deep into the night.

A lot happened while Jam in the Stream’s editor was away, off the grid, for a month. Here’s a wrap-up of the biggest news regarding Phish and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard during that time.

Minneapolis-based Mae Simpson released “Cap Guns” today, the first song off their upcoming album.

There’s a lot of buzz around the song and this 7-piece band that features saxophonist Brian “Snowman” Powers, who also produced the album.

The Current made the single its Song of the Day today. The song is available on streaming platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music.

Monday night is not a normal Monday night.

It’s followed by the Fourth of July, so there’s two shows of interest happening in the Twin Cities.

First, Les Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade is at the Palace Theatre.

Then, Minneapolis jam band Twine will be playing an after-show at KJ’s Hideaway, a short walk away, right afterwards.

Tuesday is our nation’s birthday (hopefully, you have that day off). So everybody wins!

King Gizzard’s tour finale at Hollywood Bowl Wednesday was one part tribute and one part victory lap, a three-hour exclamation point on an incredible tour that never let off the gas, rain or shine, for 15 shows.

Especially the last.

The show started off with a four-song tribute to Broderick Smith, who initially was to perform (likely those same) songs from the 2013 Eyes Like The Sky LP, the band’s second album.

Smith wrote and narrated the album, which is something like a Spaghetti Western audio book.

Smith is the father of the band’s entertainer/vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Ambrose Kenny-Smith. Smith profoundly influenced both Kenny-Smith and the band itself, and it is plain to see. Smith was a British-born Australian entertainer, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who fronted several Australian rock bands such as Sundown, Carson, and the Dingoes.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard saved something special for their last of three shows at Remlinger Farms in Carnation, Wash.

Despite having one show left in their tour – a marathon set at Hollywood Bowl Wednesday – this was the last show on the “residency” portion of their tour, where they played multiple nights at four locations.

This last show contained several songs that hadn’t been played this tour, including saving one of their most beloved songs to close out the show.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard played “Static Electricity,” and “Work This Time,” in their second of three shows at Remlinger Farms outside of Seattle on Saturday. The band has two more shows left in their U.S. Residency Tour, with one more show at Remlinger Farms tonight, and a marathon set at Hollywood Bowl on Wednesday.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s Stu Mackenzie and Joey Walker came out dressed in fishing bibs as they took to another rainy stage at Remlinger Farms in Carnation, Wash. They were opening a three-night run, the last extended residency stop, on their 15-show U.S. Residency Tour, which concludes Wednesday with a marathon show at Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard played “Change” for the first time during the final of three shows at Chicago’s Salt Shed. It was somewhat of a reward for fans who had been soaked by rains for hours to see the band at the venue’s outdoor stage setup.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard returned to Chicago on a cold and windy night. Even as they played a venue that blocked the view of their backdrop, they won over new fans with a show that highlighted their heavy mode as well as improvisational talent.

King Gizzard played for the first or second time, “Satan Speeds Up,” a psychedelic classic the band put out back in 2014 at their day-time show at Red Rocks in Colorado Thursday. Read more about the show in this writeup.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard played to the Colorado crowd in their first of three shows at Red Rocks Wednesday night. They debuted two songs, “Motor Spirit,” and “Hate Dancin’.” The band has two more shows there Thursday, June 8.

King Gizzard’s final of four shows at The Caverns in Tennessee was a special one.

Not just because it was one of their rare acoustic performances.

There were so many things worth noting about this one, from some deep jams to a dedication.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard celebrated Pride Month in rural Tennessee by dressing in drag at their third show in a row at The Caverns Saturday.

The band debuted “Witchcraft,” the fourth song they have live-debuted in as many shows on this U.S. Residency Tour. The song is off the forthcoming LP, PetroDragonic Apocalypse, which is due out June 16.

And guitarist Joey Walker, looking ahead to tonight’s acoustic theme, wondered out loud about the whereabouts of the Nashville-based guitar virtuoso Billy Strings.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard gave fans the live debut of “Astroturf,” at the second of two shows in the underground amphitheater at The Caverns in Pelham, Tenn., June 2. It was the first time the band played live anything off their last album, Changes, released last October. That was one highlight in a show full of highlights, with inspired jamming and great song selection including four songs from the 2014 album I’m In Your Mind Fuzz to start the show and “K.G.L.W” to close it out loud.

Jam in the Stream’s show story for Night 1 at The Caverns June 1, 2023. This writeup is a working document, with updates forthcoming.

If you like chill psychedelic music but don’t already know about Mcbaise, you should probably read this. Heck, if you do know about him, you will want to read this lengthy piece based on an interview conducted at a London pub with the musician and illustrator behind the project, McBess. It was a wide-ranging interview that touched a lot on what inspires the artist. He also opines about King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, if you read deep enough. Mcbaise is one of the biggest musical geniuses that nobody has ever heard of. Now you know.

The Minnesota Zoo has brought back live music, which was ended during the pandemic. While five shows were held last year, there will be nine such events this year, each with a themed night and all local musical performers, including Chicken Wire Empire, The Cactus Blossoms, Frogleg and Mae Simpson.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard don’t appear to be short on creativity at the moment. Ahead of their U.S. residency tour, which kicks off in Boston May 28, the band just released a music video for “Gila Moster” and is planning to drop their 24th studio album on June 16.

Jam in the Stream was on site for Phish’s Hollywood Bowl run at the end of their 2023 Spring Tour on the West Coast. This is the first of three show write-ups of those shows, this being of the third and final show of the run, on April 23, 2023.

The Kitchen Dwellers are one of the most exciting bands touring on the jamgrass scene right now, a psychedelic mix bluegrass, folk and rock. Guitarist Max Davies gave answered some questions from Jam in the Stream. The Dwellers, along with Sicard Hollow, are touring the east coast and Midwest, with stops in Pawtucket, R.I.,(tonight, April 27), Brooklyn (April 28), Washington, D.C. (April 29), Buffalo, N.Y. (April 30), Ferndale, Mich. (May 2), Indianapolis (May 3), Kalamazoo, Mich., (May 4), Chicago (May 5), and Milwaukee (May 6).

Jam in the Stream weighs in not on the Goose show itself, per say, that rolled through Minnesota Sunday but the polarizing aspect that three up-and-coming bands have sparked the past few years. It’s OK to like, or not like, any or all of them. But it would be better if we all just remembered to be kind to one another.

Minneapolis jamgrass quartet Buffalo Galaxy heads out to Colorado this week for four shows. The band has more shows booked in May, festival appearances booked in June and is working on an album. A single, including music video, is on track to be released in the next month.

This week, a pair of artists announced pop-up shows independently of each other. String Cheese Incident is doing a free show at Chicago radio station 93xrt (details on acquiring tickets included in story) April 28. Also, Adam Greuel and the Space Burritos announced a pop-up show Linneman’s Riverwest Inn on Saturday, April 15.

Phish fans in Los Angeles early for the Hollywood Bowl run – and anyone into psychedelic rock – should head over to the El Rey Theatre on April 20 to catch Los Bitchos. The London-based quartet opened for King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard on their tour of Europe last month and won over many new fans.

Phish announced it would be webcasting its entire 8-show spring run, starting with Friday’s show at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle. A discounted HD pass for the entire run is $200. UPDATED: Instructions for getting the extra 25 percent discount for LivePhish+ subscribers.

Drummer Mark Levy, of Circles Around The Sun, sat down with Jam in the Stream before the band’s March 15 show at the Turf Club in St. Paul. He discussed a range topics, including the way the body and mind react to listening to extended instrumentals, the way he has approached the role of beat keeper, and Billy String surprise sit in at a late-nite after party in February.

Victor Wooten, who played two sets April 4 at the Dakota Jazz Club, couldn’t get enough of playing with his brothers. The four men made their way over to Bunkers after their two Dakota shows and let out some energy, joined by Sonny T.

Check out Jam in the Stream’s first album review. It’s London-based Mcbaise’s debut 2014 album Seabass, which is somewhat of a postcard to the South of France, where the musician/illustrator grew up. Periodically, Jam in the Stream will review albums new and old from a variety of genres, from fusion jazz to psychedelic rock. Mcbaise, while known by some, comes up with some of the coolest songs too many people have never heard. Also, look out for an interview with Mcbaise later this month.

The Bob Pat Band celebrated the birthday of Bob Pat with a free show at 56 Brewing in Northeast Minneapolis Saturday April 1. The band kept the jams coming for two sets as the 56 Brewing concert hall filled in, many of Bob Pat’s friend showing up for the occasion.

Lotus postponed their April tour of the western U.S. and announced four shows to benefit the family of percussionist Chuck Morris. Morris, along with his 20-year-old son, Charley, disappeared March 16 on a kayaking trip on Beaver Lake (with a surface area of 44 square miles) in the Arkansas Ozarks.

Chuck Morris was only prioritizing his family and the need to connect with the natural world when tragedy found him. That’s what makes it so hard to process.

Serra Petale of Los Bitchos gave an interview to Jam in the Stream before opening up for King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard at the Sentrum Scene in Oslo, Norway March 8. Petale, a long-time fan of King Gizz, talked about the experience opening up for the Australian psych rock band, her own band’s roots in cumbia and how Los Bitchos wound up having an all-female core.

The Krasno/Moore Project, with guitarist Eric Krasno and drummer Stanton Moore, is touring the U.S. right now. They cut an album covering female greats from Aretha Franklin to Billie Eilish.

They have dates still in Chicago, Denver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard sensed the Prague crowd wanted it hot and heavy and they delivered a banger of a show, easing up with some funk, blues and soul late in the two-hour set. The three levels of the Lucerna Velky Sal, a theater used for high school prom and ballroom dancing competitions, were piping hot; a blast of hot air billowed out of the venue’s front door for at least 45 minutes after the show.

Though he’s covered the outdoors for many of the last 22 years, the writer hasn’t had a column touching on the topic since 2004. With the launch of this blog in February, the option to write such a piece, however irregularly, opened back up. Here is the first such effort, though, warning, it rambles on and hits on a number of related topics including the northern lights, Lake of the Woods, and John Hartford covering John McLaughlin.

Seamus Patrick Kobayashi O’Connor has been attempting to attend and live stream every show on King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s 17-show tour through Europe and the U.K.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard took their 17-show tour of Europe to Oslo, Norway's Sentrum Scene, the perfect backdrop for the incredible visual element to their live shows. It turned out to be Jam in the Stream’s favorite show of the first five attended, though one show remains tonight in Prague.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard heated up a repurposed brewery on a cold, winter night in Stockholm, Sweden.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard hit its stride three shows into their March tour of Europe and the U.K. The band fed off the energy of a mosh-happy, metal-thirsty Dutch crowd that was rewarded with the debut of “Gila Monster.”

King Gizzard continued their European tour in Amsterdam on March 3, at circular former gas storage facility that has a beautiful second life as a concert venue. Part of the crowd at Amsterdam’s Gashouder sat down and “rowed the boat” when the band teased “Dripping Tap,” during “Mr. Beat.”

PARIS — King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard opened their March tour of Europe with “Rattlesnake,” at the Zenith on March 2.

N.J.-based Dogs in a Pile is on tour, with Midwest, Northeast and Colorado dates scheduled, as well as an opening slot for the Disco Biscuits at the Capitol Theater in Port Chester, N.Y. Minneapolis string band Buffalo Galaxy opens for them when they hit Minneapolis March 3.

I’ll never forget the first time I saw this band play in person — a Phish after party in Chicago, following the Saturday show of Phish’s 2017 Northerly Island run. Casal had a way of stretching out an idea in such a tasteful and exploratory way, and the band used its spacey, soul-driven instrumentals to express emotions with notes instead of words.

WARNING: This post is written by a Phish nerd, taking a closer look at the band’s recently announced summer tour schedule. That includes a few words on the band’s 7-night run at Madison Square Garden, where as many as 16 shows were rumored (to one-up Harry Styles’ 15 sellouts last summer, or so that wicked rumor went).

In a co-headlined bill, singer Jon Sullivan delivered Max Graham’s vocals for Kind Country Band, keeping the memory of the late mandolinist alive, before taking the stage with his own band at the Hook & Ladder Theater in Minneapolis Feb. 10.

It’s taken me a couple of days to recover from what was the first Ice Dance Music Festival at Heidel House Hotel & Conference Center in Green Lake, Wis.

Would do again.

Up here in the cold, frozen tundra, we’re always looking for fun shit to do come late winter that doesn’t necessarily involve plane tickets south (one day, Phish Mexico, one day).

After his Saturday night show (the third and final show of a three-night run at 1st Bank Center), Billy showed up unannounced at Knew Conscious, an intimate 450-person music venue/art gallery/club to sit in with a lineup billed with guitarist Ross James (Terrapin Family Band) and banjoist Andy Thorn of Leftover Salmon and their Electric Dead Grass project featuring bass player Garrett Sayers (The Motet) and drummer Mark Levy (Circles Around the Sun). They jammed until about 4 in the morning — the stuff of my dreams.

The main goal of this page is to share the best music – old and new – I’ve come across over the last several decades, and tell the stories around the music. I’ve nourished my musical understanding by collecting wax LPs and attending live shows. I played several instruments as a kid, still dabble with several, but I’m more of a fan. A love for the jazz fusion era naturally led me to jam music, which I love as much for its range in style as the improvisation it inspires. Warning: I’m a sucker for 30-minute Phish jams, especially ones where the notes tell stories and transport listeners through space and time. I’ll review both live shows from both far and near to my Twin Cities home. There’ll be news and features about bands, musicians, and people in and around the music scene, stories about people connecting with wilderness or just being outside (something we can’t seem to get enough of these days), and links to my writing published elsewhere. Look for tour news as well as info on couch tour (aka live music streams) for several bands I’ll be following.