http://www.torontoist.com/archives/2005 ... rdust.html

so, the rumor is that arcade fire will be backing david bowie on his next tour. i highly doubt that, but am wondering what people think of established bands playing the role of a backing band. the last one i can think of is the flaming lips for beck and that seemed like a pretty good deal then, even though i missed that entire tour.

frog eyes/destroyer

but that sucked.

sounds like bjork/mogwai went well, but i missed that too.

•Tortise backed Tom Zé on his first (and, I believe only) tour of the US.
•The Band backing Dylan (or is that how they GOT established?)
•Grateful Dead backing Dylan in the early 90's
•Booker T & The MGs as "The Blues Brothers Band"

All were pretty successful (both financially and artistically) except for the Dead/Dylan one. That one just kinda sucked.

i dunno, the bowie/arcade fire thing sounds at least interesting.

i only saw the Lips/Beck thing on Austin City Limits and they seemed a bit underrehearsed.

But maybe thats what it was supposed to sound like.

The Band were the Hawks first and backed up "The Hawk" Ronnie Hawkins.

Booker T and the MG's have also backed up Neil Young (not to mention Otis and the other Stax artists from back in the day)

But they got their name/popularity as The Band backing up Dylan, correct?

Ronnie Hawkins outmongers everyone on this board put together.

Pearl Jam backed Neil Young for a tour.

as did Sonic Youth

Mother Superior + Henry is the latest incarnation of the Rollins Band (and has been since 2000-ish).

Some band did this for Henry Rollins a little while back but for the life of me I can't remember their name.


It was okay.

welll...... I mean they didnt really tour together as Bob Dylan and the Band until the early 70's; the band that Dylan toured with before his motorcycle crash werent really The Band (just parts); Those guys do play on The Basement Tapes but not any official Dylan albums. And then they started putting out their own records, etc.

Make something out of that.

Stop sharing my brain! (they were better live than on record)

weren't there some Butterfield Blues guys touring with him around this time as well? Maybe I'm just thinking of Al Kooper. I feel like Robertson, Kooper and Bloomfield were all touring with Dylan around this time, but that's a lot of guitar so perhaps they traded off at some point.



P-funk more or less used to be James Brown's band.

i dunno, I just read up on The Band on allmusic. My original post is at least partially right. I forgot that they played on Planet Waves. (wonder why?)

Mike Bloomfield did play on some of the early electric Dylan stuff.

i know they were at the Newport thing, begause Kooper has a great description of it in his book. Which is totally worth readinh, by the way. That dude fell so ass-backwards into the greatest moments in music history it's amazing.

I'm going to see Al Kooper in September.

What about the Hindu Love Gods? Warren Zevon backed by Buck, Mills & Berry from REM?

Yo La Tengo backed Ray Davies.

Didn't Petty & The Heartbreakers back Dylan on at least one tour some time back?

the roots with Jay-Z?

The Smithereens backed Otis Blackwell.
The Figgs backed (and presently back) Graham Parker
The Odds backed Warren Zevon
Baby Lemonade backed Arthur Lee
Teenage Fanclub backed Frank Black
The Sadies backed Neko Case
My Morning Jacket backed M. Ward

and I seem to recall that the Wondermints backed Brian Wilson on a tour

Little Feat were amazing playing behind Robert Palmer.

the roots with eminem? well, at the oscars, anyway

Cobra Verde as Guided by Voices

Elephant's Memory backing John Lennon

There's a live Arthur Lee album with Shack as the band

The core of Brian Wilson's current lineup is the Wondermints


Nuh. They just opened.