The Raconteurs stage partial reunion in Nashville

December 19, 2013 20:15

Jack White and Brendan Benson played 'Hands' and 'Steady As She Goes' at the Ryman

The Raconteurs staged a partial reunion last night (December 18) in Nashville.

During band member Brendan Benson's Brendan Benson & Friends benefit show for the David Lynch Foundation yesterday at The Ryman Auditorium, he was joined onstage by fellow Raconteur Jack White. The pair subsequently ran through two of The Raconteurs' tracks, 'Hands' and 'Steady As She Goes'. They also played Benson's solo song 'Good To Me', reports Stereogum. Click above to watch fan-shot footage of the pair performing 'Steady As She Goes' and scroll down for footage of 'Hands'.

Earlier this year Jack White revealed that he had recorded new material with The Dead Weather and had been hanging out with The Raconteurs. The prolific songwriter, who released his debut solo album 'Blunderbuss' in 2012, spoke to Rolling Stone about his life in Nashville, confirming that all members of his other bands were also living in the city. He commented:

"We all live in Nashville now. All The Raconteurs and all The Dead Weather live in Nashville now, so we often go on trips together, because we're all just good pals. We've recorded some things, too. And Brendan and The Raconteurs just built a new studio right in town, so it's a lot of great inspiration going around."

The Raconteurs released two albums, 2006's 'Broken Boy Soldiers' and 2008's 'Consolers of the Lonely'.

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Conductor Masur in hospital after falling off stage

German maestro Kurt Masur conducts France's National Orchestra during a concert as part of their European festival tour in the northern Spanish town of Santander August 23, 2006.

Credit: Reuters/Victor Fraile

PARIS | Fri Apr 27, 2012 3:56pm EDT

PARIS (Reuters) - Celebrated German conductor and former East German dissident Kurt Masur was recovering in hospital on Friday after falling off stage at a Paris concert hall while conducting Tchaikovsky's Pathetique Symphony, France's National Orchestra (ONF) said.

Masur, 84, who has been music director of the ONF since 2002, fell some 1.5 meters (yards) into the front row of the audience after losing his balance during the performance of the concert at Paris' Theatre des Champs-Elysees.

A spokeswoman for the orchestra would not say whether the fall was linked to any pre-existing illness.

Masur was taken to the Georges Pompidou hospital in the French capital, where he was found to have sustained no serious injuries. No audience members were hurt in the incident.

"After a reassuring in-depth examination, (Masur) is resting in hospital. He took a few steps this morning and is expected to leave hospital soon," the ONF said in a statement.

Born in Brieg in Silesia, Germany, now Brzeg in Poland, Masur studied piano, music and conducting in Leipzig before receiving his first orchestral appointment as Conductor of the Dresden Philharmonic in 1955.

While head of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, he played a central role in the peaceful protests in Leipzig that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and to German reunification, and attracted worldwide attention for the impact of his leadership.

From 1991 to 2002 he was Music Director of the New York Philharmonic, and was later named Music Director Emeritus, only the second after the late Leonard Bernstein.

In 1995 he was awarded the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, and in 1997 was named Commander of the Legion of Honour in France, a rank which was later upgraded to Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour in 2007.

(Reporting By Vicky Buffery, editing by Paul Casciato)

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Sugarland tour resumes in NM after stage tragedy (AP)

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Sugarland returned to the stage on Thursday for their first performance since a stage collapse at the Indiana State Fair killed five people.

The Grammy-winning country duo asked its Albuquerque audience for a moment of silence in honor of those who were wounded "and the beautiful lives that were lost."

Sugarland members Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush were minutes from performing at the fair in Indianapolis last Saturday when 60 to 70 mph winds gusts knocked the massive stage onto the audience. Four were killed instantly, another person died later. About four dozen others were hurt.

On Thursday, the duo was joined on stage by their entire crew as Nettles sang "Love," from their 2008 "Love on the Inside" album. Then they took a break and promised to return for a professional show that would begin the healing through "the power of music."

Because the band's elaborate set and instruments were destroyed in the stage collapse, Sugarland performed in front of the basic black shell of the pavilion stage, with just lights and a little smoke. They used new instruments that were delivered to Albuquerque earlier in the day — even the media passes were generic.

"This incredible machine is more than a tour and more than a set," the group said in a statement on their website. "We have always celebrated music as a healer. While music cannot change the events and losses at the Indiana State Fair, it can hopefully serve as a ritual and a balm to provide comfort and facilitate healing in this time of great sorrow."

Nettles and Bush weren't injured in Saturday's accident. Their manager told The Associated Press earlier this week that a decision by their touring manager to hold them back after seeing the sky likely saved their lives.

They canceled their Sunday show at the Iowa State Fair but said earlier this week they were looking forward to getting their "touring family" back together and using their music to help with healing. Thursday's outdoor show was before a half-empty pavilion and featured scattered rain and views of distant lightning around the Albuquerque area.

"Our road family experienced its traumas together," they said in the statement. "While we all scattered to our given families for their comfort, the trauma we experienced together binds us in a unique way that we share only with each other, and those who were there. There is healing in our being together. There is healing in our working together."

The band plans a private memorial for the victims in Indiana.

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Online:

http://www.sugarlandmusic.com

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