illusionofjoy | Three Rivers Arts Festival 2005

Pittsburgh's annual Three Rivers Arts Festival began today, officially positioning itself as the #2 cause of congested traffic downtown in the afternoon. Other than that, it means nearly two weeks of free concerts for those willing to brave the crowds. Unfortunately, this year seems to have a much weaker lineup that last year's, which included Patti Smith, Wilco, John Wesley Harding and the Psychedelic Furs. Here's my list of the notables for 2005:

Drive-By Truckers [Saturday, June 11 at 7:30PM on The Volkswagen Stage]
Southern rock is red-state shlock - that's a hard and fast rule, right? In the days before 50 Cent's beefs with anyone and everyone, Lynyrd Skynyrd dissed Neil Young in "Sweet Home Alabama" for his alleged diss of the South. Rules, however, are always broken and the Drive-By Truckers are the band to break all of the rules of southern rock. That isn't to say that the influences of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Mollie Hatchet, Marshall Tucker, et centra aren't present in the music, for they certainly are; R.E.M. the Drive-By Truckers are not. However, lyrically, this band veers away from the glorification of life in the south to a critical examination of it. Most of their songs are a look into human nature, rather than a cursory glance at human actions. This is no more apparent than on their acclaimed album Southern Rock Opera, which rightly deserved all of the praise which critics heaped upon it.

Aimee Mann [Sunday, June 19 at 7:30PM on The Volkswagen Stage]
The Forgotten Arm is quite possibly the best album of 2005, and I say that with the full knowledge that the year is only half over and Radiohead are currently in the studio working on a new record. This folksy rock singer-songwriter has come a long way since her major label new wave band-fronting days produced a lone hit about an abusive lesbian (hetero-sexualised by the label, of course) out of three album's worth of material. Wisely, Aimee severed her ties with the majors before starting her solo career. Unfortunately, that didn't prevent her from becoming entangled in legal hassles with the label that put out her first two solo albums. Still, like the title character of her latest song cycle, Aimee has come out fighting and stronger than ever.

There are also many less-notable acts coming around this year. For those interested, though I couldn't possibly understand why:

Citizen Cope [Saturday, June 4 at 7:30PM on The Volkswagen Stage]
Rolling Stone once compared this guy to John Lennon. Allow me to quote one of Kurt Cobain's T-shirts: "Corporate magazines still suck!"

Bill Deasy [Thursday, June 9 at 7:30PM on The Volkswagen Stage]
Does Deasy rhyme with "qeasy?"

Cowboy Junkies [Friday, June 10 at 8:00PM on The Volkswagen Stage]
How the fuck this band is still together and why the fuck people like them is beyond me. Also, "Rednecks On Heroin" would have been a much cooler band name.

Rickie Lee Jones [Thursday, June 16 at 7:30PM on The Volkswagen Stage]
I suspect that this woman has always wanted to be Patti Smith. She's not.

There you have it, your favourite music curmudgeon's choice picks and "meh" pity-fucks for concert-going to this year's Three Rivers Arts Festival. Sadly, the overall concert schedule kind of looks like WYEP's playlist...and that is not a compliment. Better luck next year, kids!