Nov 112011
 

Almost as common as ghost, witch and vampire costumes on Halloween is the covers concert. Many bands will forgo their latest release or greatest hits and instead pop on a costume and break out the cover songs. Over the years bands like Phish and The Flaming Lips have become known for their Halloween concert festivities and cover sets of full albums or songs from a decade; this year we take a look at some of the other artists getting their spooky fun on.

First up was Ween doing David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” at the Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC. Dressed in full sailor uniforms, the band stayed true to the original heavy guitar riff of the original. Down in Washington DC at the 9:30 Club, Panic at the Disco added their name to the lengthy list of bands covering Foster the People‘s trendy hit “Pumped up Kicks.”

Jam band favorite Widespread Panic played the obligatory Halloween favorite, Warren Zevon’s “Werewolves of London” at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, IL. Stephen Kellogg and The Sixers, aka the SK6ERS, performed Prince‘s “Purple Rain” at their 4th annual Halloween show at The Club at Water Street in Rochester, NY. In nearby CT at the Waterbury Palace Theater, the Pixies rocked out a cover of Neil Young’s “Winterlong”, which they originally recorded for the 1989 album The Bridge: A Tribute to Neil Young.

Back in NYC at Le Poisson Rouge, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and an all-star line-up of musicians covered Michael Jackson’s Thriller at the Hit RECord party, featuring: Sean Lennon on bass and his girlfriend, Charlotte Kemp Muhl, on guitar; Yuka Honda and Miho Hatori, co-founders of the band Cibo Matto; and The Gregory Brothers, who are famous for their creation of musical viral videos, most notably the Auto-Tune the News series.

Italian pop sensation Elisa played an all-cover Halloween show at the Viper Theatre in Florence. Watch a couple of the highlights including Wolfmother’s “Joker and the Thief” and David Bowie’s “Heroes” below.

Ween – Let’s Dance (David Bowie cover)

Panic at the Disco – Pumped up Kicks (Foster the People cover)

Widespread Panic – Werewolves of London (Warren Zevon cover)

Elisa – Joker and the Thief (Wolfmother cover)

Elisa – Heroes (David Bowie cover)

Joseph Gordon-Levitt & Friends – Thriller (Michael Jackson cover)

Stephen Kellogg & The Sixers – Purple Rain (Prince cover)

Pixies – Winterlong (Neil Young cover)

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  One Response to “Watch: Halloween 2011 Concert Covers Round-Up”

Comments (1)
  1. Panic! At the Disco really………..I hate it when top 40 bands play covers when the original song is still in rotation on top 40 radio, as if we haven’t heard this song enough to last two lifetimes here it is again. Panic had one of my favorite CD’s in the last 10 years with A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, I think they should stick with those songs.

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