Last weekend a host of Irish artists and musicians performed in London’s Royal Albert Hall to commemorate Irish President Michael D. Higgins‘ historic visit (the first official visit of an Irish President) to the UK.  The event was dubbed Ceiliúradh (celebration).

Watch below first as the great Glen Hansard performs Parting Glass in Myles O’Reilly’s (Arbitus Yarns) short video of the event’s rehearsal and celebration.

Next up watch the entire gang (including Hansard, Lisa Hannigan, Elvis Costello and a host of other fine musicians) perform the modern Irish anthem The Auld Triangle.   The song was made famous by The Dubliners and attributed to Irish writer Brendan Behan about the occurrences in a prison (actually Mountjoy Prison where Behan had once been ensconced for his IRA activities) and the triangle’s beating on the day a convict is set to be executed. The triangle in the title evidently refers to the large metal triangle which was beaten daily in Mountjoy Prison to wake the inmates.  The triangle still hangs in the prison at the center where the wings meet on a metal gate.  The beauty/irony of the song’s performance (near the “Royal canal”) is not lost on the joyous crowd.

After, watch Hansard, Hannigan and John Sheahan perform Hansard’s Oscar-winning song Falling Slowly.

And finally, watch President Higgins’ speech.  And give thanks.

Arcade Fire headlined and closed out Corpchella last night.  We admit we’ve been partially nonplussed by their album Reflektor, which comprised the large majority of their set at Corpchella.  But live those songs take on a less-produced power, and the band also piled on some “golden oldies,” including Keep The Car Running, Tunnels, Power Out, Rebellion, and of course closing with the all-time finisher Wake Up (out in the audience with The Preservation Jazz Hall Band in step).   And there were cameos, including Blondie’s Debbie Harry’s appearance to help the band cover Blondie’s seminal Heart of Glass and an epic version of Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains).

Check out a replay of their entire set below (with the setlist listed after with embedded song times):

Arcade Fire’s fantastic headlining set at Coachella Festival 2014, weekend 1. April 13, 2014. Setlist:
0:00 intro music (Reflektor backwards) + Mirror man introducing.
1:03 Reflektor
7:57 Flashbulb Eyes
11:07 Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)
15:20 Rebellion (Lies)
21:30 Joan of Arc
26:13 The Suburbs
31:55 The Suburbs (Continued)
33:18 Ready to Start
37:57 Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)
43:33 No Cars Go
49:31 Keep the Car Running
53:17 Afterlife (w/ ‘My Body Is a Cage’ intro and New Order’s “Temptation” snippet)
59:39 It’s Never Over (Oh Orpheus)
1:06:58 Heart of Glass w/ Debbie Harry (Blondie)
1:10:49 Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) w/ Debbie Harry (Blondie)
1:16:15 Normal Person
1:20:18 Here Comes the Night Time
1:27:29 Wake Up
1:33:14 The band w/ Preservation Hall Jazz Ban

We received the sad, sad news over the weekend that the great singer-songwriter Jesse Winchester passed away last Friday after a valiant fight against esophageal cancer.  Winchester was a songwriter’s songwriter (lauded by Bob Dylan, Janis Ian and the who’s-who of songwriting) wrote some of the best songs of our day (Yankee Lady, The Brand New Tennessee Waltz, Mississippi, You’re on My Mind, A Showman’s Life, and Biloxi, amongst them, each covered by many an artist).  But Winchester could also deliver those seminal songs with understated grace and nuance.  He will be sorely missed.  One of the earliest vignettes we put up on these pages (in April 2010) was an homage to Winchester’s beautiful, dehydrating delivery of his love song Sham-A-Ling-Dong-Ding on Elvis Costello’s much-lamented Spectacle show.  Check it out below.  And now pardon us while we join Neko Case in honoring Jesse Winchester.  We’ll see you on the other side Jesse.

Photo:  Mac McAnally

Long-time favorite Tom Brosseau has purposefully slow-burned a superb songbook and musical legacy, and yet has managed to save his best songwriting for his new, career-capping album Grass Punks.  Throughout his career, Brosseau has collaborated with the talented likes of Angela Correa (Correatown), Sara Watkins, Hilary Hahn, Becky Stark (Lavender Diamond), Shelby Earl and John C. Reilly, amongst others.  On Grass Punks, Brosseau has continued his collaborative ways and brought in Sean Watkins (Nickelcreek) to produce and to tour in support, and Watkins has proved to be the perfect musical confrere for Brosseau.   To get a feel for this well-wrought album and the Brosseau/Watkins confab, check out their new Tiny Desk Concert on NPR below.  The set features three of the finest songs from Grass Punks (though the album is riddled with many more).  First up is Cradle Your Device, with its hilarous send-up of we humans’ device-driven dramaturgy.  Next up (as Brosseau explains during the set) is the homage to his fellow-native North Dakotan food critic/author Marilyn Hagerty.  And finally, the duo perform the melancholy, but ultimately hopeful, Today Is A Bright New Day.  With appearances in recent years on Prairie Home Companion and NPR, Brosseau continues to build on his brilliant career.  Never has a singer-songwriter been more deserving of the spotlight.  Do yourselves a huge favor, and go buy Grass Punks HERE.  And make sure to not miss his act and tour when it comes near to you.

Hate ’em or hate ’em, the folks at Coachella are at least streaming the musical acts that they’ve monopolized (but only for the entire year) in California.  Watch the largesse unfold via the stream that you can watch HERE.

Of the available viewings today on the stream are of Wye Oak, Afghan Wigs, Neko Case, Bonobo, Bryan Ferry (coming to the Santa Barbara Bowl next week), and Outkast.

On Saturday we suggest Foxygen, Temples, The Head and the Heart, Cage The Elephant, Warpaint, and The Pixies.

And on Sunday check out Superchunk, Blood Orange, Darkside, Daughter, Arcade Fire and Disclosure.

Again, these are our suggestions based upon the available streams.  Happy viewing!

Yesterday (appropriately on throw-back-Thursday) Mavis Staples appeared at the Civil Rights Summit in observance of the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights Act.  Watch below as Ms. Staples, as usual, nails the Civil Rights Movement’s adopted anthem We Shall Overcome.  She could make a believer out of Richard Dawkins.

The fog’s in and there are heavier lamentations at Chez Lefort.  This morning when we watched jazz violinist Regina Carter and her fine band perform the gospel hymn I’m Coming Home on WNYC we were taken home.  To a better place.  Carter’s new album, Southern Comfort, is part exploration of her Alabama family history and part Appalachian hegemony.  She chose the album’s songs from the seminal field recordings by John Wesley Work III and Alan Lomax.  One of those songs is the great gospel hymn I’m Going Home, which you can watch/listen-to below courtesy of WNYC.  You can listen to the whole WNYC session HERE.

On Tuesday we passed along the first of five phenomenally-captured performances by Brit-band Daughter at the hallowed Air Studios with chamber orchestra.  Two more vignettes have appeared since.  Today’s video is of the band performing Still, our favorite thus far (in part because of the best chamber orchestra use).  After, watch yesterday’s Tomorrow.  All beauty.

The affecting Brit-band Daughter recently recorded five song’s in London’s Air Studios (founded by George Martin) with composer Joe Duddell and a 10-piece chamber orchestra.  We were early fans of the band, which continues to grow in sound and notoriety.  To hear the band and get a feel for these classically-arranged performances, check out below Daughter’s superb song Shallows as arranged by Duddell and augmented by the chamber orchestra.  The full five-track session will be released as an EP on April 15th and as a limited-edition 12″ on May 26th and you can pre-order it HERE.