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Fun Stuff => BAND => Topic started by: Bishop138 on 10 Nov 2007, 23:09

Title: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Bishop138 on 10 Nov 2007, 23:09: Ok, I had a look around the music forum briefly and didn't find a general gig thread, I went and saw Muse last night and wanted to talk about it, but I didn't want to make a thread just to one gig (even though it was spectacular) so I decided I'd make it this topic instead. Talk about the gigs you've been to, what you thought about them, good, bad, changes, etc.

Now, about Muse. It was a pretty incredible show, Perth was the first date on the Australasian tour, and they decided to have the gig as an open air. The used this place called The Supreme Court Gardens, erected a pretty big stage and had a fair amount of rigging for lights and all that, including to the sides of the stage. The rigging on the sides were mainly for the speakers and also there was a huge screen on either side of the stage, there were also three screens in a line at the back of the stage the same size that could be used individually or as one big screen.

ANYWAY, the support band was fairly shitty, I didn't like them, they were called The Dirty Little Secrets (*cough* shit name *cough*). Halfway through their set though some crew stopped the band and told all of the crowd to move back, they were getting to close to the barriers in front of the stage (Who would have thought? People wanting to get close to the stage at a gig? What on Earth?) anyways, after about TWO HOURS of fucking around with that, moving and rebuilding the barricade, and getting water out to the crowd, they finally came up on stage and said thankyou for being patient, and then they put the fucking support band back on! At least it was only for two more songs, they then changed over the equipment real fucking fast, did the soundchecks and then the lights dimmed.

The show was pretty fucking spectacular, best visual show I've ever seen by far. Muse were going through songs, the crowd getting really into it, singing all the words along with them, Matt Bellamy was the most interesting to watch. There were a lot of their songs that had the whole "Stand up for what you believe" message being played with the crowd all coming together for it, it was pretty damn cool. And they would let the song finish but still keep playing and then just have almost a jam session, being able to rival the kind that you would find at Woodstock, it was awesome. They were going through their songs from all of their albums, rather than just playing from the most recent. They were going between their softer and lighter songs through to their more energetic songs, with Bellamy going to a sweet grand piano that had sections light up when he played, and back to guitar. I've got to say, that it's really quite hard to transfer the idea of what was going on during that show through this, but I seriously advise that if ever you get a chance to see Muse live. DO IT.

Peace out.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Rawrbiquesauce on 10 Nov 2007, 23:45: I missed a recent Broken Social Scene concert, and i feel like an ass for it.

However a week later i saw Thrice, and that was amazing.
I liked watching the kids with the emo haircuts that were there for MeWithoutYou (lol?) try to headbang to thrices weirdly timed beats.

also scrawny white kid plus mosh pit equals ouch
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Ishotdanieljohnston on 11 Nov 2007, 00:01: i saw MUSE at the start of the year and pretty much agree with everything you said, really fun show. I've been to some great ones this year, and as tempting as it is, i won't talk about all of them. So Highlghts:

HERBIE HANCOCK. Fucking incredible show. Played for ages summing up most of a 58 year carreer. So energetic and just really into his music. Halfway through this guy randomnly walked out onto the stage and it was CHICK GODDAMN COREA totally unscheduled, hancock was as shocked as the crowd was, jammed with him for a good half hour. Could go on and on about it but i won't.

THE CURE. wasn't a massive fan before i saw them, but after being in the first row of the mosh pit for the 3 and a half hour show they are one of my favourite bands. Robert Smith was working the croud so well and obviously just having a really great time. Played so much. Really great show.

BOB DYLAN. He has been my all time favourite since I was 6, so as one can imagine, I was fairly excited about this show. There was alot of skepticism whether he could still hold his own, and he did. He sounded fantastic with his band, they were all really really into it. Played a really good set list but I wish it could have been longer.

Thats about all I can be bothered writing about. I'm going to both Big Day Out and The laneway festival so am looking forward to seeing ARCADE FIRE, OKKERVIL RIVER, BJORK, LCD SOUNDSYSTEM, MIDNIGHT JUGGERNAUTS, CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH, FEIST, BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE, BATTLES, and DAN DEACON among others in the coming months
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: David_Dovey on 11 Nov 2007, 04:50: I saw Muse last night as well!

For my thoughts on the subject, please refer to my avatar.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Ã¶de on 11 Nov 2007, 05:57: I've noyl been to two festivals, no gigs. It depended on the band but sometimes the crowd just sat down and listened, other times we were all getting into it. I'm From Barcelona makes everyone happy! Port O'Brien makes some special people dance in the most awesome way. Yo La Tengo makes everyone get drunk and hit other people in the face. The crowd did not dance hard enough to Architecture in Helsinki. Everyone loves Tunng! Everyone loves Seasick Steve!

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1350/858143583_36f574952c_o.jpg
http://www.endoftheroadfestival.com/noflash/images/lineup_img.jpg
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Cernunnos on 11 Nov 2007, 07:35: Saw Caribou two nights ago. I like them twice as much now.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Dimmukane on 11 Nov 2007, 08:50: I haven't been to many shows, but the best one I've probably been to was The Flying Eyes, a local band from my area in the vein of Jefferson Airplane. There was a crazy lightshow for such a small venue, and I even saw my Theatre teacher there...>_>. Hell, I only caught the last two songs (I had just gotten off work), and they were the best local band I'd seen. The lead singer was dressed all like Janis Joplin and the guitarist was too young to have a mustache but he was trying to channel Jimi Hendrix.

Now one of my friends is in a BM band, and they have one 35-minute song. They played it in my friends basement during a halloween party.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Thrillho on 11 Nov 2007, 09:15: I saw Muse in 2003 and it was so loud that I got tinnitus. Not majorly, but it's there, and I know it's there, particularly during silent moments.

They're an extremely good live act. Very much about the theatricality. Most of their music lends itself best to the live situation, and the gig was without doubt fantastic. But they're very sterile in my experience. Not a lot of stage banter, not a lot of humanity. The nearest comparison I can think of is Pink Floyd, who used to have a kind of claustrophobic humanity in the music (or even in like, The Wall, in the stage show too) that made up for the theatrics and lights.

I'll come back and ruminate on some other gigs shortly.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Ã¶de on 11 Nov 2007, 13:15: Quote from: Sam on 11 Nov 2007, 07:24
~~Repo Man~~ Battles is always intense.

The crowd liked them, I was a bit bored apart from John Stanier's drumming. Also a pixie kept bumping into me.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: SleeperCylon on 11 Nov 2007, 14:15: I saw Of Montreal earlier this year.

Whoever designed the show probably isn't on acid, but obviously wants to give you the impression he was. There was this random slideshow going on in the left and right sides of the screen and everybody was in weird crazy costumes.

Great show, but dudes, we're not buying it. When you over-reach for weirdness it just comes off as stupid.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 11 Nov 2007, 15:34: Mount Eerie played here at Bard Hall the other night. Bard Hall is a tiny, one room building on campus. The show was, in a word, unbelievable. It was one of the best concert experiences I've seen. Phil Elverum has an amazing presence, constantly talking and bantering with the audience and, when performing, clearly getting really into the music emotionally. This show was small- no more than 100-150 people, all sitting on the floor. I was sitting in the very front, directly in front of Phil who played alone with just an acoustic guitar. He played for over an hour and a half, all of it requests except for a couple of new songs, which meant he played pretty much all the very best songs from The Microphones and Mount Eerie. The last two songs ('A Show of Hands' and 'Human Human') were sing-alongs where we all sang the refrain and it actually sounded really great. I gotta say it was an amazing experience. Beautiful music, fantastic song writing, and a really cool, friendly performer to boot. Now I just have to find someone who has recorded it so I don't have to rely on memory to recall how brilliant the experience was.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: imapiratearg on 11 Nov 2007, 15:55: I just went to see Matt Pond PA and a local band called The Year's Best play on Friday. The former was amazing and wholly impressive while the former was great too. Seeing The Year's Best again for the first time in two years brought back memories.

Ahh...good times...
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: KharBevNor on 11 Nov 2007, 16:01: Hang on hang on hang on.

A mosh pit at a Cure concert? What did that involve. People glaring at each other, maybe little slappy fights?
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Liz on 11 Nov 2007, 20:13: Quote from: TheFuriousWombat on 11 Nov 2007, 15:34
Mount Eerie played here at Bard Hall the other night........ I gotta say it was an amazing experience. Beautiful music, fantastic song writing, and a really cool, friendly performer to boot. Now I just have to find someone who has recorded it so I don't have to rely on memory to recall how brilliant the experience was.
Oh man, I saw him do a show as well. I found out about it the day of and only was going to see one of my favorite local acts playing. $5 for a show that will probably always be one of my favorites. There were only about 20 people there tops, just hanging out in this tiny, tiny little local venue that couldn't possibly hold more than 50 comfortably. The show was ridiculously good, including the little slideshow/movie Phil had going the entire time.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Ishotdanieljohnston on 11 Nov 2007, 21:26: Quote from: KharBevNor on 11 Nov 2007, 16:01
Hang on hang on hang on.

A mosh pit at a Cure concert? What did that involve. People glaring at each other, maybe little slappy fights?

Haha, yeah it did actually. i thought i was goin to choke from the amount of hair product in the air. The crowd was deffinitely the worst thing bout the show.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Jimmy the Squid on 12 Nov 2007, 05:47: The last show I went to was Nine Inch Nails at the Horden Pavillion. Before I start I should make one thing clear: I hate people. I dislike crowds immensely. The fact that I would go somewhere where there is the chance that someone I don't know might even brush against me, let alone totally rub themselves on me in a way befitting a horrible travesty of a lap dance, is a testament to how much I like a band.

This was the second of two shows and as per usual this meant that Trent Reznor was not as chatty as he is on the opening night. Either way he still puts on a damn fine show and has a shitload of energy that really comes across well. They had this huge screen that dropped down in front of the band (is was mostly transparent when not lit up, it was basically a lot of light bulbs I think) and played stuff over them so that you could still see the band members but they would be vaguely obscured by static and whatnot. They played for about two hours straight which for most big bands is pretty standard though there was no encore and I was a little disappointed by that. The crowd, well I already stated my feelings on crowds but I would like to make it known that if you were born later than 1989 I probably don't like you and you would have to really impress me for me to take you seriously. At any rate they played my favourite songs, as well as some other ones I had forgotten so it was a good night by anyone's standards (especially mine).
The guitarist is a relatively new fellow and I believe he was previously in the Icarus Line. He is a nutjob - all running around the stage and kicking his right leg in the air like a crazy person. At one point he broke his guitar while trying to jump off an amp or something. I was about 20 feet from the stage, I could see Trent glare at him for a moment, I think he was pretty mad. Anyway it is nice to see that Trent has grown back his hair and has toned down the muscle mass. When I saw him last time he came out on stage and I thought I was seeing Henry Rollins coming out on stage and I wondered if I came on the wrong night (though Henry Rollins is still cool).
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Johnny C on 12 Nov 2007, 08:45: Tommy knows the guitarist you're talking about, Jimmy. He has promised stories but never delivered.

Yet another in a series of crushing disappointments foisted upon this forum by the nefarious Tommydski.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: morca007 on 12 Nov 2007, 12:41: Most recent concert:
-Muse, Sept 10, 2007.
Opening act was Juliette and the Licks, loud, boring, no stage presence. Buuut, it provided enough time to go sneak into a much better seat. Second row, right in the middle.
The show was amazing. I'll admit it, going to a Muse concert was No. 1 on my to do list for life, and it was worthy of that spot. Set-list was spot on, played tons of their older stuff, including my favorite song. Near the end, they played a speech from Kennedy about not giving up liberty. Lighting was very good. Bellamy played a few songs with that crazy Kaoss pad that he has attatched to his guitar. Best two hours ever.

EDIT: imagist42- You are right, Bellamy lights up when he plays his light-up piano!
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: imagist42 on 12 Nov 2007, 14:24: Quote from: SleeperCylon on 11 Nov 2007, 14:15
I saw Of Montreal earlier this year.

Whoever designed the show probably isn't on acid, but obviously wants to give you the impression he was. There was this random slideshow going on in the left and right sides of the screen and everybody was in weird crazy costumes.

Great show, but dudes, we're not buying it. When you over-reach for weirdness it just comes off as stupid.

But the music was still good, right? Because they're coming here this week and I'm not quite sure if I want to go.

I saw Spoon earlier this spring, so I got to hear "Don't Make Me a Target," "Don't You Evah" and "Eddie's Ragga" two months before Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga was released. I'm fairly in love with Britt Daniel as a singer (and from my hometown too!), and the rest of the band was really cool as they would keep on jamming while Daniel took a drink or went offstage to talk to the sound manager, especially Jim Eno, who I swear did not stop beating his drums all night long. Highlights include moshing with the fun drunk guys to "I Summon You" (for those of you who don't think this is a moshing song, it's an entirely different creature live, I assure you) and Jim Eno whipping out the big cloth-padded mallets for "Paper Tiger."

So far this fall I've seen Muse, Arcade Fire w/ LCD Soundsystem, and Interpol w/ Liars. Muse is truly something to behold, and I feel the same way that there's no accurate way to describe it. Bellamy and crew have by far the best showmanship I've ever seen, and the production to go along with it. At one point (maybe at the end of "Plug In Baby"?) Bellamy tipped over his speaker and jammed on his axe with the edge of it. Watching him play his light-up piano just made me warm and fuzzy inside.

However, there's just something about the combination of Arcade Fire and LCD Soundsystem that managed to top even Muse. It may be that James Murphy is my man-crush and consequently LCD Soundsystem was already my favorite group going into the show, but Arcade Fire certainly had something to do with it too. Muse was just too structured to have the sort of eclectic vitality and pure fun LCDSS had on that stage. I've almost never seen a crowd move like that, and nearly half of the peoiple there seemed entirely unfamiliar with them to begin with. Then Arcade Fire came out. Honestly, their visuals alone rivalled that of Muse, and to think on top of that they had just about everyone switching instruments between each and every song, and at some point Richard Parry and Will Butler took sticks and began banging on everything on stage, including a motorcycle helmet they had brought out specifically for that moment... it was just like watching an insane mob run rampant on stage, only Win and Regine held them all together to produce beautiful, beautiful music. Plus, the organ was really neat. The only bad thing I have to say is they didn't play "Crown of Love."

As far as Interpol w/ Liars go, it's not in any respect the best show I've ever been to (although it may have been a close contender if I had actually gotten there in time to see Shout Out Louds open), but for $13 it was certainly the best value. Liars... let's just leave it at, "they were terrible." But Interpol knew how to get their rock on, and didn't seem at all fazed by the fact that the crowd was a rowdy amalgam of drunks and stoners. They opened perfectly with "Pioneer to the Falls," played all of their best songs in the set, and then came back with both "PDA" AND "Specialist." What a set! Plus, some excellent ad lib jamming during older songs from Turn on the Bright Lights and Antics, and the visuals were decent enough, too. Of course Carlos D cracked us up by whispering into the microphone as they walked off stage, "Such good Christians" (this taking place in SLC).

Interesting thing to note: at every show except Muse, singers forgot/fudged their words. Britt Daniel during "Lines in the Suit" (played it off fairly well with some babbling substitution), Win Butler during "Power Out" (with an apologetic "f me"), and Paul Banks during "C'mere" (it took him a little bit to get back on track).
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Lummer on 12 Nov 2007, 14:44: I'm going to see HIGH ON FUCKING FIRE this coming friday. It will be awesome.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 12 Nov 2007, 15:36: The only reason I would go to see High on Fire on their current tour would be to see Mono again. I kinda wish they were playing a show nearby so I could watch Mono's set and then leave.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: WeThreeVoices on 12 Nov 2007, 16:49: ive seen two shows in the recently

i saw Arcade fire with LCD sound system, which was an amazing show but a bit long for me. it was one of those all day type concerts with three opening bands. i spent the first 3 hours of the show sitting on the floor (really ground b/c it was outside) and watching people play scrabble. still the opening bands were good: after the show i downloaded "Les Savy Fav." once LCD started playing the show was fantastic; the crowd were i was was really into it b/c most were dancing, all were singing along. Arcade fire were very good, the drummer (as QC points out) did crazy stuff- at one point climbing the support beams.

the second show was of montreal. the two opening band were good, but MGMT's performance was a bit to static-y for my liking. the other group (grand buffet?) was hilarious -- a humorous white rap duet. Of montreal's preformance was amazing: they played all my absolute favorite songs, and put on a great show. they had a sword fight (among other things) on stage. the only fault i had with the show was they did an all instrimental songs (which i cant remember the name of off the top of my head) while Kevin Barnes went backstage. besides for that song, the audience got into the music everyone was dancing and singing along: there was a great atmosphere to the whole thing.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: tomselleck69 on 12 Nov 2007, 17:08: most memorable show i've seen was radiohead in camden NJ, august 2003. stephen malkmus and the jicks opened, radiohead came out and played basically every song we wanted to hear, then did nice dream, my iron lung, no surprises and karma police for an encore. they went backstage, then thom came out and picked up the "for a minute there i lost myself" part a cappella, singing with the crowd (ohh boy it was a moment). they came back out and did 2+2=5 and closed with everything in its right place.

i'm going to see saul williams later this week, will report back with details.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: 2HourHiatus on 12 Nov 2007, 18:33: I saw Animal Collective in Toronto, in early September. Eric Copeland (a guy from Black Dice) opened, and it was ear-burning. He was half-entertaining, half-painful. But AC came out and were amazing. Panda Bear kept playing this keyboard that was so loud and low, you could feel it. Also, they did this fully electronic version of Leaf House that was incredible.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: BrittanyMarie on 13 Nov 2007, 00:54: Quote from: imagist42 on 12 Nov 2007, 14:24
Liars... let's just leave it at, "they were terrible."

This, folks is a damn dirty lie. I saw the Liars with Interpol, and while the Liars were amazing (though they only played a little bit from Drum's Not Dead, and nothing from any other album that wasn't that or the newest), Interpol was boooooorrrrrrriiiiiiiiiinnnnnnggggggg. All Interpol songs sound the same*. Where I was (State Theatre in Minneapolis) everyone was standing up and NOT DANCING (not even nodding!) (okay except a couple of girls). I sat down and played with my Liars record the whole time. Oh yeah, and the Liars ended with The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack, which was absolutely gorgeous, which is actually a tie for "best concert moment ever" (the other one being Spencer Krug doing a really really slow version of You Are a Runner and I am my Father's Son with just his keyboard right before Sunset Rubdown played).

[*fact]
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Der Turm, der Leute frass on 13 Nov 2007, 04:43: i was at a Porcupine Tree gig yesterday, PORCUPINE TREE!!!!!!!
those were the best 150 minutes of my life so far
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Morda on 13 Nov 2007, 07:34: Was that the London show? My most recent gig was when they (Porcupine Tree) were in Oxford.

They were pretty awesome, their encore was utterly face-melting and included an utterly amazing rendition of Even Less and Halo.

Incidentally, I'm wondering what they played in London. There were some surprises in the set list, shall we say...

Also, gig tonight - Cardiacs, hopefully good, I've heard a lot about their live shows.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Liz on 13 Nov 2007, 08:33: I am seeing Band of Horses on Thursday, so I will let all of you know how that goes. I am ridiculously excited for it.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: imapiratearg on 13 Nov 2007, 08:39: *Envy!*
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: valley_parade on 13 Nov 2007, 09:10: The last show I saw was American Steel/Lawrence Arms in Boston. Quite interesting in that the openers were Sundowner and The Falcon, which are both more or less also the Lawrence Arms, personnel-wise.

The show was fantastic, though. I'd never seen or heard American Steel before, but they turned out pretty good. The only problem with the Lawrence Arms set would be that they didn't play "Turnstiles".
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: SeanBateman on 13 Nov 2007, 09:27: Is muse cool now? Is this what has happened? I thought they were kind of generally looked down on!

I am seeing of Montreal on Saturday!
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Bishop138 on 13 Nov 2007, 09:29: Quote from: Dirk Hopeless on 13 Nov 2007, 09:27
Is muse cool now? Is this what has happened? I thought they were kind of generally looked down on!

I am seeing of Montreal on Saturday!

Well I don't give a shit what other people think of them, I like their sound and such, that's all that matters to me.

And they put on an amazing show.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Johnny C on 13 Nov 2007, 09:40: I guess Muse is cool now? People like them and stuff, and they don't get played on the radio outside of Europe so it's alright to enjoy them? I wouldn't be able to abide one of their gigs, I can hardly go to popular shows anymore because I can't stand the crowds.

I will be going to The Most Serene Republic tonight. Unfortunately Mother Mother will be there. I might be one of those dicks that goes outside and smokes for a whole set.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: KharBevNor on 13 Nov 2007, 10:49: I haven't been to a gig since the last Wacken Open Air. What was that like? Kind of like THIS (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laSzQrGfpB0)*

And also a bit of THIS (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqAQZrPAyfo)

And a touch of THIS (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fczXXU1ZGE) for seasoning.

I pity non-Europeans

*I am actually visible for a few seconds in this video, in the pit for 'For Those Who Died'. See if you can spot me! I jump out from the middle of two other people and off to the left at about 0:26 and then you can see me again running round the edge of the pit headbanging from 0:40. I'm wearing a black t-shirt and a denim cut-off. As if that helps
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Misereatur on 13 Nov 2007, 13:04: I saw The Stooges and the Melvins live, guys.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: monkandmovies13 on 13 Nov 2007, 13:10: I saw The Pipettes last night. It was really a lot of fun! A lot of dancing and singing and laughing and being silly. I also met them afterwards, and they signed my CD and took a picture, and said that they noticed me dancing more than anyone around me and thought that was very cool. Not the most intellectual music, obviously, but so much fun and fantastic live. There was this opening act that was amzing though. I think her name is Nicole Adkins? Or something? Anyway, her CD just came out, and I can tell you right now she's going to be huge.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: SeanBateman on 13 Nov 2007, 13:32: Quote from: Misereatur on 13 Nov 2007, 13:04
I saw The Stooges and the Melvins live, guys.

I saw the stooges too. It was pretty cool!

Also people who say they don't give a shit what other people think about shit are lying.

The song Muse has in Guitar Hero 3 is fun though.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Kai on 13 Nov 2007, 13:49: Quote from: Misconception on 13 Nov 2007, 08:33
I am seeing Band of Horses on Thursday, so I will let all of you know how that goes. I am ridiculously excited for it.

I've seen them twice pretty much on accident because they were opening for other bands.

They're pretty boring live.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Scarychips on 13 Nov 2007, 16:00: The last show I saw was Final Fantasy with opening bands Basia Bulat and Ohbijou for the Pop Montreal festival.
He was great, Ohbijou were great and Basia Bulat too. The best show I ever attended.
I was supposed to go see him again in Quebec City next Monday but I have school so better luck next time.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: october1983 on 13 Nov 2007, 16:20: It's been a pretty good couple of months for gigs in London. Since the beginning of October I've seen the New Pornographers (seemed like a good performance, but the sound was so bad it killed the show), Battles (was a great show, full of their usual insane energy), Seasick Steve (quite the performer, and I love a bit of blues) and Animal Collective (second time recently, was a great show.. I've only really got into them in the last year or so, so it's still pretty fresh for me). Last weekend I also saw Andrew Bird, who always leaves me grinning like a moron at his shows, and Beirut, who were a lot of fun and made a refreshing change from everything else. I've also seen a load of smaller bands from London, most notably these guys (http://www.myspace.com/theycamefromthestarsisawthem) (sadly they don't seem to get anything resembling the energy of their live shows across on record, but they're a lot of fun).

I need to get tickets for of Montreal when they play in December. Also, Caribou is playing here this month - worth catching? They're supported by Dirty Projectors, who I'd love to see, so I'm very tempted.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Liz on 13 Nov 2007, 17:14: Quote from: Kai on 13 Nov 2007, 13:49
I've seen them twice pretty much on accident because they were opening for other bands.

They're pretty boring live.
God damn you.

Thanks for ruining my fun.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Kai on 13 Nov 2007, 17:58: I will admit that I really don't enjoy their music much at all. You seem to like them more than me.

I just prefer noise shows where things explode and people bleed from their foreheads.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Bishop138 on 14 Nov 2007, 01:02: Quote from: Dirk Hopeless on 13 Nov 2007, 13:32
Quote from: Misereatur on 13 Nov 2007, 13:04
I saw The Stooges and the Melvins live, guys.
Also people who say they don't give a shit what other people think about shit are lying.

Well if you're going to let other people oppinion dictate your listening selection, then that's your problem. Sure I don't like people ragging on the bands I like, but it's not like I'm going to stop listening to something I enjoy just because some arsehole says it's shit.

In other words, blow it out your arse.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: SeanBateman on 14 Nov 2007, 01:10: Out my arse and onto your face.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Der Turm, der Leute frass on 14 Nov 2007, 01:37: Quote from: Morda on 13 Nov 2007, 07:34
Was that the London show? My most recent gig was when they (Porcupine Tree) were in Oxford.

They were pretty awesome, their encore was utterly face-melting and included an utterly amazing rendition of Even Less and Halo.

Incidentally, I'm wondering what they played in London. There were some surprises in the set list, shall we say...

Also, gig tonight - Cardiacs, hopefully good, I've heard a lot about their live shows.

no, I was in Zürich (switzerland)
they played some older songs (smart kid, waiting, dark matter, even less etc.) but unfortunately they dropped "the sky moves sideways" wich they played in london and at some germany shows

@ topic:
I saw Oceansize on 3.11., they were pretty cool

oh, and did I mention that I saw fucking CYNIC in july??
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: FireAarro on 14 Nov 2007, 02:56: Quote from: Ishotdanieljohnston on 11 Nov 2007, 00:01
HERBIE HANCOCK. Fucking incredible show. Played for ages summing up most of a 58 year carreer. So energetic and just really into his music. Halfway through this guy randomnly walked out onto the stage and it was CHICK GODDAMN COREA totally unscheduled, hancock was as shocked as the crowd was, jammed with him for a good half hour. Could go on and on about it but i won't.

BOB DYLAN. He has been my all time favourite since I was 6, so as one can imagine, I was fairly excited about this show. There was alot of skepticism whether he could still hold his own, and he did. He sounded fantastic with his band, they were all really really into it. Played a really good set list but I wish it could have been longer.

I saw these!

Best gigs I've been to were Deerhoof (both times they were in Aus). Amazing band, especially live. The first show introduced me to Calvin Johnson and The Crayon Fields, who they played with. The second time was an overage show and Greg let me in the back door which was pretty much the best thing ever. They're such fantastic musicians.

The runner-up is actually some house show in North Fitzroy I think where Pikelet, Talkshow Boy, Actor/Model and Shooting At Unarmed Men (ex-McLusky bassist's new band based in Melbourne) played. Wine in bags, crowd singalongs, percussion handouts and drunken dancing made it totally awesome.

Next would be Mars Volta at Big Day Out. I don't really listen to them anymore (haven't heard Amputechture), but they put on a good show. I ran over to see Iggy + Stooges in the middle of it (grr @ scheduling them simultaneously), and immediately came back because it wasn't as good (no Raw Power songs and I couldn't see the pit).
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Johnny C on 14 Nov 2007, 05:57: Right, Mother Mother were obnoxious twee fucks and Dragonette were irritating bastards with pre-recorded synths. Thankfully The Most Serene Republic were incredibly tight and played gorgeous music.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: El_zilcho on 14 Nov 2007, 06:56: Let's see, who have I seen this year?

I saw The Hold Steady two nights in a row, at Lupo's in Providence and Roxy in Boston. The band was better in Boston, but the crowd was terrible. Better crowd in Providence (that, and I was thoroughly liquored up). They played a couple new songs "Ask Her for Adderall" and "Lord, I'm Discouraged," so I imagine they'll be hitting the studio soon after this tour ends.
I saw Gogol Bordello a couple weeks ago, also at Roxy. That show was totally awesome. I've never seen a band enjoy what they were doing as much as they did.
Caught The White Stripes in July. Jack seemed a little pissed off about the sound quality, but it was still a good show. They played a lot of cuts off of The White Stripes and De Stijl, which was cool.
Saw Spoon back in April. It was awesome to hear the new stuff before the album came out (which I think is one of the top releases of the year).
And I saw The Decemberists in February. Very theatrical. Bummer that they cancelled their fall tour, cause they're a great live act.

Muse is definitely on my list of bands to see. I also haven't been able to make it to an Arcade Fire show yet. LCD Soundsystem is a must for me too. I missed of Montreal when they were in Boston last month, so I need to get with them next time around.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Lexington, 125 on 14 Nov 2007, 09:25: Quote from: Johnny C on 14 Nov 2007, 05:57
Right, Mother Mother were obnoxious twee fucks and Dragonette were irritating bastards with pre-recorded synths. Thankfully The Most Serene Republic were incredibly tight and played gorgeous music.

I saw The Most Serene Republic with Broken Social Scene a couple years back, they were incredible! I've been meaning to see them again. Sadly, they haven't been around my area since.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: godinpants on 14 Nov 2007, 13:44: Quote from: Ishotdanieljohnston on 11 Nov 2007, 00:01
HERBIE HANCOCK. Fucking incredible show. Played for ages summing up most of a 58 year carreer. So energetic and just really into his music. Halfway through this guy randomnly walked out onto the stage and it was CHICK GODDAMN COREA totally unscheduled, hancock was as shocked as the crowd was, jammed with him for a good half hour. Could go on and on about it but i won't.

I hate you.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: BrittanyMarie on 15 Nov 2007, 00:00: Quote from: Misconception on 13 Nov 2007, 17:14
Quote from: Kai on 13 Nov 2007, 13:49
Kai quote.
Liz quote.

It's okay, Liz; he said that to me too when I saw them in Chicago. I guess I liked them but I was awfully drunk, and everything's awesome then. I just dislike that it's all ages (sorry!) because it's more expensive and it's so early!
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Liz on 15 Nov 2007, 07:10: Yeah, I know. It is only $11, that's not all that expensive! But I do agree on the early part, I don't see why all-ages shows can't start at 10 or 11 like other ones. If you or your parents don't want you staying up that late, you shouldn't be going to the show.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Katherine on 15 Nov 2007, 07:20: I just saw Yo La Tengo with Broken Social Scene presents Kevin Drew on Sunday. I went for the Yo La but ended up thoroughly enjoying BSS as well.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Misereatur on 15 Nov 2007, 09:32: For anyone who paid attention in the sendspace thread: I'm going to see the Peter Brotzmann Trio live next month.

On topic: the Black Lips are pretty awsome live.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: valley_parade on 15 Nov 2007, 09:59: I should mention how recockulous Dropkick Murphys was this past St. Patrick's Day, and I mean that in both a good and bad way. While their show (and the openers, Deadly Sins and The Aggrolites) was nothing less than great, the venue (Boston University) and the security was horrid. The GA section of the arena was split into two, with about a 30 foot gap between them. My friend and I were stuck in the back section. Secondly, BU's no moshing rule. I understand you don't want your shiny hockey arena trashed, but we had security in our faces the entire second half of the Murphys' set trying to pull kids out of the back section of the floor. At one point, a friend in the front section ran back to say hi to me, and was immediately thrown down by security. Absolute bullshit.

I'm hoping that with the Avalon closed for renovations, they can find a good venue for next year's shows that isn't BU.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: kablaaamo on 15 Nov 2007, 16:09: Quote from: Lexington, 125 on 14 Nov 2007, 09:25
Quote from: Johnny C on 14 Nov 2007, 05:57
Right, Mother Mother were obnoxious twee fucks and Dragonette were irritating bastards with pre-recorded synths. Thankfully The Most Serene Republic were incredibly tight and played gorgeous music.
I saw The Most Serene Republic with Broken Social Scene a couple years back, they were incredible! I've been meaning to see them again. Sadly, they haven't been around my area since.

I've seen the Most Serene Republic three times.....far and away one of my favourite live acts. Some folk think that Adrian can be a little overdramatic (and yeah, it's an understatement) but I eat it up. They're so good. That being said I decided not to go see them on this tour due to a severe severe SEVERE lack of sleep.

Instead, I saw Do Make Say Think two days beforehand, and wow, what a mistake. They're beautiful on record but ridiculously boring live. Especially since the crowd they attract is prett much all old and overly pretentious.

COMING UP NEXT IS FINAL FANTASY AFWOERUJSOEJWMROUJ I AM EXCITED. No need to tell me how good he is live, I've seen him before, I am ridiculously stoked to hear some new material and pretty much my entire crew is going as the show is the 'big deal' of the season, it seems. IT IS ALSO MY BIRTHDAY WEORUJSMCFOWERJWEFM BEST SHOW CIRCUMSTANCES POSSIBLE.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Bishop138 on 15 Nov 2007, 19:26: Quote from: valley_parade on 15 Nov 2007, 09:59
I should mention how recockulous Dropkick Murphys was this past St. Patrick's Day, and I mean that in both a good and bad way. While their show (and the openers, Deadly Sins and The Aggrolites) was nothing less than great, the venue (Boston University) and the security was horrid. The GA section of the arena was split into two, with about a 30 foot gap between them. My friend and I were stuck in the back section. Secondly, BU's no moshing rule. I understand you don't want your shiny hockey arena trashed, but we had security in our faces the entire second half of the Murphys' set trying to pull kids out of the back section of the floor. At one point, a friend in the front section ran back to say hi to me, and was immediately thrown down by security. Absolute bullshit.

I'm hoping that with the Avalon closed for renovations, they can find a good venue for next year's shows that isn't BU.

Oh man, that's sketchy as fuck! Dropkick Murphys came here, I saw them, to this day it was one of my favourite gigs. I can't imagine one of their gigs without a mosh, that'd just be re-dick-ulous! It was a really fun night for me, and the crowd was fucking great, just rough enough so that you could get knocked around, but as with almost all Perth crowds friendly enough to pull up fallen comrades. It was such a great atmoshphere (heh, I just made a new word!), you could throw an arm around the dude next to you and you'd be both singing along and all that shit, it was kick arse!
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Felix_ on 15 Nov 2007, 23:55: A few weeks ago I saw (http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d61/Coffinwood_Mill/Wolves_in_the_Throne_Room_Logo.gif) play out in the forest on a night with a full moon and a bonfire nearby.

It was "kvlt" to say the least.
(http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d61/Coffinwood_Mill/w8.jpg)

;)
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Bishop138 on 16 Nov 2007, 00:06: Aw geeze, that's gr1m!
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: valley_parade on 16 Nov 2007, 07:00: Quote from: Bishop138 on 15 Nov 2007, 19:26
Oh man, that's sketchy as fuck! Dropkick Murphys came here, I saw them, to this day it was one of my favourite gigs. I can't imagine one of their gigs without a mosh, that'd just be re-dick-ulous! It was a really fun night for me, and the crowd was fucking great, just rough enough so that you could get knocked around, but as with almost all Perth crowds friendly enough to pull up fallen comrades. It was such a great atmoshphere (heh, I just made a new word!), you could throw an arm around the dude next to you and you'd be both singing along and all that shit, it was kick arse!

Yeah. Yelling the words to "Kiss Me, I'm Shitfaced" with a security guard in your face is kinda awkward.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Liz on 16 Nov 2007, 07:07: Band of Horses last night was ridiculously good. If you would like photographic evidence, here it is, (http://ndsu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2067216&l=36889&id=33809235).
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: morca007 on 16 Nov 2007, 15:39: Felix- That Wolves gig sounds so amazingly awesome.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: a pack of wolves on 16 Nov 2007, 16:15: I too am hugely jealous of the Wolves gig. I don't like a lot of BM but they're one of the few I can really get down with, and playing out in the woods... that's pure BM class.

Quote from: Misereatur on 15 Nov 2007, 09:32
For anyone who paid attention in the sendspace thread: I'm going to see the Peter Brotzmann Trio live next month.

Peter Brotzmann is jaw-dropping live, I saw him play at ATP last year with Han Bennink and it was astounding.

I went to see Schwervon last night. They were good, I realised I've had songs by them floating around in my head for years without realising who they were by. Still, good as they were I was left with this feeling of how unremarkable they were. Odd since I did enjoy their set but somehow in retrospect they were... well, not bad but simply yet another example of a style of music I've seen too much of lately. I think I'm getting a little bored of DIY without bite to it. There needs to be more kicking of arse, and Schwervon did not deliver that. I feel kind of bad that this little review is so negative, so I guess I should reiterate that they really are very good at the whole sweet male/female indie pop duo thing.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Melt Down on 16 Nov 2007, 17:03: i went to see the Killers last Tuesday.

I know some of you will have instantly stopped reading just for that, but for the rest of you, the were well worth it live

i was way more into them when i picked up the tickets few months back, but they were pretty awesome live, and that was a good enough reason to buy their new album.

Unfortunately, they had two front bands, the concert started at 7:45 and we only saw the killers at 9:30 ish, so that kinda sucked.

Overall, when they were on stage they were good, but they weren't on long enough.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: a pack of wolves on 16 Nov 2007, 17:21: I don't get it, why is simply having two support bands not enough? Less than three bands on a bill and I usually won't show. 9.30 also seems like a very reasonable time to start playing, unless you live somewhere with insanely early curfews then that would leave at least an hour and a half for them to play and I can't think of any bands I'd like to see do a set longer than that.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: KharBevNor on 16 Nov 2007, 19:40: Used to be all bands would have to finish at about 11, a\s thats when the bars closed. At least thats downb here in the south
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: BrittanyMarie on 16 Nov 2007, 22:30: I like your pictures Liz! I didn't end up going to Band of Horses-went to Charlie Parr instead. He fit my two criteria for male solo artists--1. Is he oldish and 2. does he have a beard. It was at an insanely classy joint too!
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Tom on 16 Nov 2007, 23:26: I saw the Panda Band at the easter show earlier this year.

They got up on stage and the scenester kids who were there looked up and were all like "ohh look band, wait a second they're not dressed entirely in black and they don't look like they've ever been on the cover Rolling Stone. Come social zombie bretheren lets take our leave!"
They then all waddled off in their unfathomably tight black jeans in search of a place where they could smoke.
at 1st the band was a little down-hearted by the sudden mass departure but after like 10-minutes they really warmed/loosened up for the me and the 4 stoner kids that were hangin around.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: tomselleck69 on 17 Nov 2007, 00:03: oh whoops saul williams turned out to be a combination poetry reading and question/answer session and not a gig proper

still absolutely great though. dude has a mind like a steel trap. dresses well, too.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Ishotdanieljohnston on 17 Nov 2007, 02:53: Quote from: Misconception on 16 Nov 2007, 07:07
Band of Horses last night was ridiculously good. If you would like photographic evidence, here it is, (http://ndsu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2067216&l=36889&id=33809235).

I envy you so much
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: imapiratearg on 17 Nov 2007, 08:16: Seconded.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Johnny C on 17 Nov 2007, 08:32: Quote from: a pack of wolves on 16 Nov 2007, 17:21
I don't get it, why is simply having two support bands not enough?

Personally I'm happy with being on a two-band bill at a smaller gig. It means I get paid decently and the other band gets paid decently too.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: imagist42 on 17 Nov 2007, 11:05: Quote from: BrittanyMarie on 13 Nov 2007, 00:54
Quote from: imagist42 on 12 Nov 2007, 14:24
Liars... let's just leave it at, "they were terrible."

This, folks is a damn dirty lie. I saw the Liars with Interpol, and while the Liars were amazing (though they only played a little bit from Drum's Not Dead, and nothing from any other album that wasn't that or the newest), Interpol was boooooorrrrrrriiiiiiiiiinnnnnnggggggg. All Interpol songs sound the same*. Where I was (State Theatre in Minneapolis) everyone was standing up and NOT DANCING (not even nodding!) (okay except a couple of girls). I sat down and played with my Liars record the whole time. Oh yeah, and the Liars ended with The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack, which was absolutely gorgeous, which is actually a tie for "best concert moment ever" (the other one being Spencer Krug doing a really really slow version of You Are a Runner and I am my Father's Son with just his keyboard right before Sunset Rubdown played).

[*fact]

You and I saw two different shows. We didn't get "The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack" (one of the only songs from either They Were Wrong or Drum's Not Dead that I really care about) and did get all the worst tracks from their latest. The only song in the set that didn't disappoint me was "Houseclouds." Plus, I really don't care for their mannerisms on stage. They just try far too hard to be far too eccentric and it becomes more obnoxious than anything else. Now, I would pay loads to see Krug doing what you describe, but unless their next record is roundhouse-to-the-face amazing, I won't go out of my way to see Liars again.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Tom on 17 Nov 2007, 11:55: Krug better get himself down to Sydney and play an all ages gig or i will be very unhappy.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Liz on 17 Nov 2007, 15:30: Quote from: Ishotdanieljohnston on 17 Nov 2007, 02:53
I envy you so much

Good, I like that. I also had a nice chat with Ben and snagged a setlist at the end of the show.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: a pack of wolves on 17 Nov 2007, 22:36: Quote from: Johnny C on 17 Nov 2007, 08:32
Quote from: a pack of wolves on 16 Nov 2007, 17:21
I don't get it, why is simply having two support bands not enough?

Personally I'm happy with being on a two-band bill at a smaller gig. It means I get paid decently and the other band gets paid decently too.

I suppose it depends on where you're playing. Round here there's always gig clashes so having only two bands playing means a lot of people will go elsewhere, so nobody's going to get paid. It might sound cheap but if my £4 can get me four bands instead of two then nine times out of ten that's the gig I'll be at.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Joseph on 17 Nov 2007, 22:46: Just got back from seeing Wintersleep. The show was fantastic. They played a ton off of their untitled album, were really tight and rocking. The drummer was intense, his hand constantly a blur, and the rest of the band meshed beautifully. Tons of energy and great showmanship. Highly, highly recommended.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: amok on 18 Nov 2007, 04:01: I went to the Out Of Line festival last night. Which was supposed to go from 5pm til late, with Hocico headlining. Instead, the incompetent promoter forgot to get Hocico (Mexicans) a work visa and their tour bus was held at the border for hours, and eventually they were forbidden to enter the country. Gig didn't start til 8.

Could've been a shambles given the shortened sets but the other bands played on (all were from EU so no worries) and the colossal fuckup made the Germans really angry, which kinda suits an EBM show. Ashbury Heights were mindblowing, Proceed were so-so (smoke break) and Spetsnaz tore shit up, seen em a couple of times and wasn't that engaged by 'em last time but they were so fucked off that their set was just mindblowingly energetic, and great sound too. Good night.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: KharBevNor on 18 Nov 2007, 04:10: Aren't Spesnatz Swedish?
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: amok on 18 Nov 2007, 04:11: Yeah, probably. I just assume angry EBM bands with accents are German. lol racist
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: pompiste on 20 Nov 2007, 18:38: In response to a couple people out there who said that Muse are incredible live, I wholeheartedly agree. I've seen a few of their performances online, and they're quite good. I've been a fan of their music for a decent time now.

I finally got to see them in concert in St. Petersburg (FL) about six or seven months ago. I was overwhelmingly excited, except for the fact that they were the opening band. For My Chemical Romance.

Muse was pretty great, though our seats (I went with my mother, father, and twelve-year-old brother) were rather crappy. They only played from the two most recent albums, which was neither unexpected nor necessarily a bad thing; still, I wish they could have played a bit of Origin of Symmetry. As an opening act, however, I didn't really expect a two-hour performance; they played six songs or so. Honestly, I completely dislike MCR, so I would have left after Muse was done. My family wanted to stay, though, so I sat through My Chemical Romance and, frankly, they weren't really that bad at all. They obviously had a far more elaborate set than Muse, pyrotechnics and all. Either way, it was certainly a fun night.

What I'm trying to say is that if you want to see Muse in concert, I would strongly recommend going if they're the main act. If they're opening, however, I would still go; just take into account that unless it's a massive show, it really isn't going to be anywhere near as epic as you might hope or expect.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: JimmyJazz on 20 Nov 2007, 18:44: I saw the White Stripes at Madison Square Garden a few months back. It was incredible. The duo had so much energy, and everyone was singing along and they interacted with the crowd so well and played a 15-minute version of Death Letter which was amazing. Also, Nick fucking Cave opened with his band Grinderman, which was also awesome. One of the best gigs I've been to.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: mberan42 on 20 Nov 2007, 20:47: I'll read the thread in its entirety when I'm at the office tomorrow, (can't be bothered to right now), but here's my contribution:

Art Brut / The Hold Steady. Halloween 2007. Metro. Chicago, Illinois. -- It was a massive night.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: kablaaamo on 20 Nov 2007, 21:40: Just saw Final Fantasy.

Yep. He was good, but a little snippy; apparently, it was the last night of touring that had been going on since April. I wasn't wholly impressed but I suppose I can't blame the dude for being tired.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Lexington, 125 on 20 Nov 2007, 22:17: I went to see Bright Eyes/ Felice Brothers last thursday, & it was a solid show. Felice brothers played a great set, & really kicked the show off well. Bright Eyes played a good mix of older/newer songs, & were pretty tight. Lua was performed with James Felice on accordian, & all of Felice Brothers joined Bright Eyes onstage for a couple songs. They did a Neil Young cover, & I'm pretty sure they played a Petty cover as well. Bright Eyes ended with something that sounded like Desaparecidos, which made me happy. I've since been on a non-stop Felice kick & will likely go to see them in Syracuse (with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band) early December.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: imapiratearg on 21 Nov 2007, 08:48: It's not really a gig, but I stopped by a cafe to catch a friend of mine do a splendid cover of "Lua" for open mic night.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: october1983 on 21 Nov 2007, 08:55: Quote from: kablaaamo on 20 Nov 2007, 21:40
Just saw Final Fantasy.

Yep. He was good, but a little snippy; apparently, it was the last night of touring that had been going on since April. I wasn't wholly impressed but I suppose I can't blame the dude for being tired.

I'm not sure I can imagine seeing Final Fantasy at a conventional gig. I mean, if he was playing London, I'd go, but I saw him play at Latitude Festival, and there was something about watching him in the woods that seemed just right.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Ishotdanieljohnston on 11 Jan 2008, 22:45: This hasn't been done for a while but I think it's a good thread. So here is a revival attempt.

Alright, couple of weeks ago I saw Built to Spill and they were really good. Unbelievably into their music, I think half the time they forgot there was even an audience watching them. It was a horrendously hot night and half way through a guy front and centre collapsed onto the stage. Only one of the guitarists noticed and started calling out for security. Who just didn't come. Couple of minutes later he stopped the show to help the guy himself and give him his water. I was also impressed by how "un-indie" they looked. They were just wearing crumpled t-shits and were balding and over weight. Its obviously more about the music than it is the image. They finished with "Randy described eternity", which went into this epic ambient jam which felt like it lasted the century. That was the lowlight actually, the encore should be cleaner than that, leave the show on a high.

Last nnight I saw Andrew Bird. Excellent show. I dragged along my girlfreind who'd never heard of him. This was a very big mistake. Within 15 minutes, she was whispering: "he shall be mine, oh yes, he shall be". It was a great show though, even with her quite publically swooning with me by her side. We got some Nervous Tic Motion action, which is always good. He read the crowd very well, and changed the set list a couple of time to meet their demands. Really funny, crazy, charismatic guy. Fucking talented. I'd deffinitely see him again. Most impressive was his masterly use of the loop pedal, which worked brilliantly, and he actually altered a few songs using this with different whistling layered over and shit.

I'm seeing the National next saturday, which should be a good show.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Ishotdanieljohnston on 12 Jan 2008, 07:31: That would've been fantastic. Can't wait to see him next month.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Johnny C on 12 Jan 2008, 09:20: Quote from: Sam on 12 Jan 2008, 07:20
the top 10 favorite scenes from the mask.

What were they?
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: KickThatBathProf on 12 Jan 2008, 12:12: I haven't been to any lately, but I'm going to see Holy Fuck in Feb and Justice in March. I'm also intrigued about a Stars of the Lid show in April, mainly because I'm not sure what they'll be like live.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: KvP on 12 Jan 2008, 13:22: Quote from: tomselleck69 on 17 Nov 2007, 00:03
oh whoops saul williams turned out to be a combination poetry reading and question/answer session and not a gig proper

still absolutely great though. dude has a mind like a steel trap. dresses well, too.
Cool. He always has a nice collection of scarves.

I need input. Should I shell out money to go see the Liars next month?
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Jackie Blue on 12 Jan 2008, 13:32: Two of the best shows I've seen, period, end of story, were two Legendary Pink Dots shows in the same venue two consecutive years, 97 and 98. Both times I seriously thought the fucking spaceship was landing and we were all going to ascend to heaven.

Also, Acid Mothers Temple last year was epic.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: amok on 12 Jan 2008, 13:37: Been a quiet month for gigs but I'm psyched about February: I bought a pair of Okkervil tickets for what I thought was 2nd May but I forgot American dates are ass-backwards; I'm actually seeing them 5th of Feb :-D 2 days after Die Krupps and Faderhead. Hell of a week that's gonna be.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: casull on 12 Jan 2008, 14:41: I caught Isis supported by Jesu back in march or so. Jesu was earthshatteringly loud and deep, and Isis put on a show that was perfect both in terms of visuals and audio. It was a little venue, no lights or anything. I was standing about 3 feet from Justin Broadrick and Aaron Turner. It was really a great show. The crowd was largely tool fans, but it was a nice crowd overall.

I also saw the blood brothers at the same venue a week earlier. They were good, but not great, and the crowd was mostly scene kids.

My most recent show was Of Montreal over christmas break. They were really really fun. Fun light show, neat costumes, and there was this nice blend of glam and self-concious silliness in their stage manner.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Statik on 12 Jan 2008, 21:31: Whee, this is a long list.
I saw Clutch on new years, who played for about 1.5 - 1.75 hours, and got very drunk both during and even more so afterwards. Their opening bands were... unspectacular. One of the bands singers kinda sounded like Lemmy, if he was from the south? I dunno, I went for Clutch, and was happy with the set. (although they didnt play "Drink to the Dead" which made me sad, but Neil did play a cowbell, which was awsome) They played a good variety of songs, of course they played Electric Worry, but surprisingly didnt play Burning Beard. I think the addition of a harmonica player and an organ player has only made the band sound even better, although it is still a bit odd to me to hear some of the older songs with added organ and harmonica bits, it does fit and blend well.

Last wednesday, I got to see Wu-Tang Clan, for the price of a single beer. I wouldnt have gone otherwise, because while I enjoy the Wu, I wouldnt have enjoyed paying $50 odd bucks to see them, and only them (as their "opener" was just a DJ spinning rap singles), especially while broke. However, they put on an amazing show playing for about an hour and fifteen, but the stand out performer had to be Method Man doing flying leaps into the crowd, a front flip into the crowd, and even standing on the audience for part of one song. (My opinion is also helped by the fact that Method Man and a few others stayed on stage for a full 20-30 minutes after the set to sign peoples stuff and him throwing Ravens gear (two different hats and a Ray Lewis jersey) into the crowd. Also, I didnt realize how BIG method man is until I was standing next to him when I was moving gear.

In the past few months, bands I have seen that impressed me:
Amon Amarth put on an amazing offdate (non headlining) show here in baltimore, which they were amazing. Their show in Philly was quite nice as well.

Lamb of God has always impressed, seeing them once in baltimore, once in Pittsburgh (Ozzfest) and once in Reading, PA (with Killswitch Engage, Devildriver and Soilwork supporting, all of whom did well, but the pits were terrible, stupid PA)

Behemoths headlining show was absolutely amazing, after some sound issues when they were here with LoG, their show was just amazing. And having Gojira to support, well, that just makes the show even better (and Gojira's tour manager was incredibly nice)

3inches of Blood, the multitude of times that I have seen them in the past six months (with LoG, Ozzfest, GWAR, etc) have never failed to impress, they are very good showman, and also a bunch of nice canadians.

GWAR, on the Viva La Bam tour with Cradle was rather bleh, mainly because of issues I probably shouldnt get in to, but the short version is that they werent able to do their full show (and even without their full show, god damn they have a lot of gear to load up, more than CoF and CKY combined) they made up for it with an excellent "home" show at the 9:30 club in DC.

An Ozzfest stand out: Cthonic, a taiwanese (sp?) black metal group, was incredible, flawless execution on stage, I had never heard of them, and didnt expect to be impressed as much as I was.
Also, Ozzy seriously needs to just retire and give Ozzfest to Black Label Society. His voice was terrible for the first half of the show, and even after he had warmed up, it still wasnt what I had seen in years past.

I unfortunantly missed seeing Arch Enemy and Aesop Rock (seperate dates of course)

Shows I am currently looking forward to:
Black Dahlia Murder plays this thursday, woo!
Exodus plays northern VA next month.
In march I go broke from seeing Soilwork, Today is the Day, and Devildriver all in less than 10 days.
In april I go extra broke from seeing Nile, Ministry and Paganfest (featuring TYR)
Then at the end of may is Maryland Death Fest, which should be good.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Landstander on 13 Jan 2008, 00:39: Unfortunately for me, I really haven't been to that many shows. It just seems like anytime a band I'm interested in seeing comes around, I've got something else going on, no way to get there, etc. Anyway, shows I've been to and some brief thoughts, in chronological order.

Sonic Youth with Wooden Wand: I sure picked a good one for my first real live music experience. I found Wooden Wand a bit underwhelming, but I could have imagined really liking them under different circumstances. I keep meaning to give them a listen, but I always forget. Anyway, Sonic Youth was...well, Sonic Youth. Loud and awesome. They played mostly stuff from "Rather Ripped," but mixed in some older stuff as well. I was hoping they'd play Teenage Riot, but no such luck. Still, fantastic show and the best I've been to.

Thursday with Fear Before the March of Flames, Murder by Death: This one was ill-advised. Really liked Murder by Death, sort of enjoyed a couple songs by Thursday, had never heard Fear Before the March of Flames. If only it could have stayed that way. I thought they were awful and the singer looked and acted like a douche. Murder by Death played a decent set, so I felt like I got my money's worth. Overall, would've been pretty forgettable if some strange dance moves by the singer for FBtMoF hadn't become sort of running joke between my friends and I.

The Decemberists with My Brightest Diamond: Great show. Drove about 3 hours to get to this one with a couple friends. I didn't care for My Brightest Diamond all that much, but all my friends seemed to love them. Different strokes, I guess. Anyway, The Decemberists put on an awesome show, with the drummer and guitarist coming down into the audience to do a reenactment of the Battle of Gettysburg, narrated by Colin Meloy. "The Tain" as an encore=amazing. On the way home, my friend's car got keyed in a restaurant parking lot. Awesome.

Mono with The Drift, World End's Girlfriend: Phew. Wow. Saw this one in a fairly small college lecture hall, which was the perfect venue. I was really impressed with The Drift, who played sort of jazzy post-rock. World's End Girlfriend was even more impressive. You wouldn't believe the sounds this guy makes, and it's even better when you're almost close enough to touch him. I can't even really comment on Mono all that much. I got too lost in them to even remember a lot about it. Amazing. If you ever get the opportunity to see them, jump on it.

The Mountain Goats with Bowerbirds: Another great one, The Mountain Goats being one of my favorites. I'd never heard Bowerbirds before and I absolutely loved them. I'm thinking "Hymns for a Dark Horse" is going to make my top 20, which I'm still putting together. Mountain Goats were even better. Played a smattering of things from "Get Lonely," "The Sunset Tree," and some older stuff. Did a cover of "The Sign" by Ace of Base as an encore and stared directly at me for about a minute. If I were gay, I'd have been incredibly aroused.

And finally, Bob Dylan with Elvis Costello, Amos Lee: I can't really comment on Amos Lee, since I arrived a little late just as he was finishing up. Really, I don't think Elvis Costello and Dylan need much commentary. Elvis played a couple songs from "My Aim Is True" and a smattering of others. Bob Dylan was Bob Dylan. Obviously he can't do things exactly as he used to, but he's adapted excellently. Played an interesting version of "Ballad of a Thin Man" and what basically amounted to Hendrix's version of "All Along the Watchtower," which was a little disappointing. I don't care what anyone else says, I still think Dylan's original is superior. It was obviously in a big arena, so you had a lot of jackasses talking and the sound quality could have been better, but still a possibly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so no complaints.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Ishotdanieljohnston on 13 Jan 2008, 02:48: Wow, there's some nice show going experiences. I saw Dylan and loved it. But i'm a total fanboy with Dylan. I'm seeing Sonic Youth play Daydream Nation in a few weeks and am totally pumped.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: amok on 13 Jan 2008, 03:23: Sonic Youth was the first band I saw live (Liars supporting too, sweet gig). They are awesome.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: littlelove on 13 Jan 2008, 13:15: first band I saw live was apparently the backstreet boys.. but I don't remember it, so moving on.

umm best concert I have been to would have to be warped tour '06. Less than jake was there. I like them. so was joan jet and the black hearts, nofx, billy talent (terrible live), alexisonfire, the fully down and a bunh bunch more. I had the best time and the sound was really good for an outdoor show.

best show ever ever ever would have to be alexisonfire when I saw them 5 years ago at a country bar.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Phaedra on 13 Jan 2008, 17:04: I saw Andrew Bird on Saturday night. I CANNOT get over how freaking awesome it was! It's a shame, but I generally find myself being disappointed by live shows - I guess my standards are too high or something, or maybe since my town is fairly isolated a lot of musicians end up bone tired by the time they get here. I always feel bad about this; the bands have put in a huge amount of effort to play for us and the tickets aren't free either...(does anyone else experience this kind of unidentified disappointment after a gig?)

Anyway, Bird just totally blew me away. I think it was pretty much the best concert I've ever attended. His voice is amazing, and his skill with the violin is even moreso; and for those who've heard his records but not seen him live, he can whistle that well live!
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Landstander on 13 Jan 2008, 17:26: Man, I would love to see Sonic Youth with Liars. That sounds like an awesome show.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: hannahrochelle on 13 Jan 2008, 18:04: First big gig I ever went to was David Bowie w/Something for Kate at Rod Laver Area in Melbourne when I was 16 (2004). I love that man to death. He is an amazing entertainer, and even though I didnt know many songs, I still loved it with every ounce of my being.. I didnt like SfK that much at the time because I heard one of their songs skip for an hour at Luna Park, and it drove me bonkers.

Last year I saw Anberlin and Copeland w/Angelas Dish at Corner Hotel in Richmond. First time I'd actually seen Anberlinin a gig setting, instead of the 2 acousitc shows I'd seen Anberlin do. They were amazing, and it was awesome to have the guys remember me from the acoustic shows. I shouldnt have turned down the invitation to go to the casino with them though :P Copeland were beautiful, and Angelas Dish were pretty cool as well. I know them well, since they're local-ish, and they play a lot of gigs in Melbourne.

I also saw Architecture in Helsinki twice in a month. 30th November w/Bridezilla at Billboard and NYE at the Espy, where I spent most of the night in the bandrooms with them and the other bands. Both amazing shows, but I was right in front of the stage at Billboard, and they signed things for me. Coolest thing? a couple of days before NYE, Cameron and I think it was Jamie, made an appearance at a club I was at seeing another band that had supported them before, Soft Tigers. Best thing ever.

I also go to see a lot of bands locally too.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Gilbert on 14 Jan 2008, 05:04: I just got home from Sufjan Stevens and it was freakin' great. The night was almost ruined but when he encored with "Chicago". Luckily he had enough class to not close on his most recognisable song and came back for a few more. My only other gripe was that he played a song supposedly just because a fan asked for it when he saw him in a well known park earlier that day. Sufjan said he never plays that song and had to parctice it just before the show. The main problem was that it was accompanied by a well edited video back drop matching the theme of the song perfectly and he was also accompanied by 5 or so band members who performed a little to well. Maybe i'm wrong? Maybe he is just that awesome and can throw it all together in a few hours? either way, it was a little sus and seemed like an opportunity to name-drop locations.

Looking forward to Arcade Fire supported by Spoon next week. I didn't expect such an impressive support when i got the tickets but it was a pleasant surprise. Unfortunate to all those who got in early for the first night. No spoon for you guys.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: pinkpiche on 14 Jan 2008, 06:35: It's been a while but I thought I would share it anyhow.
Torche, Akimbo and the Full Nelson. The Full Nelson played first, being the local danish band playing a hybrid of massive trucker rock'n'roll and trash. Really cool set, but they kinda lack a singer though. The drummer was wearing, in jest, a Immortal tank top! Akimbo was amazing as always. They tour so much I have seen them thrice in a year, and that's big for little Denmark. Their drummer was especially cool, since they played the track "I'm A Fucking Ice Giant" off of Elephantine, but he prolonged the already fantastic drum solo and yelped along on the lyrics too. Other than that they got really cool guitar lines and even a couple of days after you can catch yourself humming them. Torche was heavy as fuck. Someone may have heard of Floor, Ryan Pattersons outfit, but this elaborates further on what Floor was trying to do and still has their own style.. Great lineup overall.

Looking forward to Kylesa/Baroness here in a couple of weeks!!
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: hannahrochelle on 14 Jan 2008, 17:49: Rage Against the Machine/Bjork at Big Day Out in 2 weeks! http://www.bigdayout.com/lineup/artists.php/lineup/artists.php (http://www.bigdayout.com/lineup/artists.php/lineup/artists.php)

Cant wait.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Dizzydes on 16 Jan 2008, 01:21: i saw andrew bird last week in brisbane, and he was incredible.
it was a really fun rocked up concert, not at all like his cds that make me want to sit and do nothing, but was still as awesome as his cds.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 20 Jan 2008, 15:14: My college hosts quite a lot of concerts. Boris played in a room with a 150 person capacity and Mount Eerie played in a tiny one room building. Most of the shows are in a converted garage, however. I forget the name of the last band that I saw there but I do remember that at one point one of the members flipped over a congo drum, stuck a cello neck down into the cavity of the drum, and proceeded to play the cello with a conch shell and a small pair of deer antlers. I still don't know what I thought about that.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: FireAarro on 20 Jan 2008, 18:23: Quote from: Phaedra on 13 Jan 2008, 17:04
I saw Andrew Bird on Saturday night. I CANNOT get over how freaking awesome it was! It's a shame, but I generally find myself being disappointed by live shows - I guess my standards are too high or something, or maybe since my town is fairly isolated a lot of musicians end up bone tired by the time they get here. I always feel bad about this; the bands have put in a huge amount of effort to play for us and the tickets aren't free either...(does anyone else experience this kind of unidentified disappointment after a gig?)

Anyway, Bird just totally blew me away. I think it was pretty much the best concert I've ever attended. His voice is amazing, and his skill with the violin is even moreso; and for those who've heard his records but not seen him live, he can whistle that well live!

Andrew Bird is amazing live. His whistling is even better than on the records I think, mainly because it's louder and more piercing, it really hits you. I missed out on seeing him on the 11th (Friday night) because I was out of town. I saw him last year when he opened for Joanna Newsom and for me, he stole the show. I hadn't heard of him before that, but was an instant convert. ~~Apparently he's not a particularly pleasant fellow, though.~~ Yeah, I'm gonna take that back because I'm not really qualified to say anything.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Inlander on 20 Jan 2008, 18:37: I saw Caribou on Saturday night, and it was one of the dullest gigs I've been to.

I went to the gig largely on spec, because the only Caribou/Manitoba album I have is Andorra, but I like that well enough, and the gig was just up the road, so I thought "Why the hell not". Well. The songs they played from Andorra translated pretty well to the stage (it was Dan Snaith and three other people up there), but all the other songs were incredibly boring and repetitive. Obviously I don't know if that's representative of the recorded versions or not, but I'm not in a hurry now to go and find out. Worst of all, though, there was almost zero interaction with the audience. Literally. No eye-contact, and nothing at all said between songs besides "thankyou" at the applause.

I should say that there were certainly people at the gig who seemed to be really getting into it, and the band did get enough of a cheer to come and play an encore, but even that seemed touch-and-go: besides the people going off in front of the stage, all the rest of the applause at the end of the gig seemed pretty lukewarm. They had to flash the lights behind the stage to try and gee up the audience! Seriously!

D- would not see again.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Phaedra on 21 Jan 2008, 04:10: I saw Caribou this week past as well, and thought it was good, but not great. Perhaps because I've seen Snaith perform twice before and those two shows were both better in terms of sound, performance energy and visuals, but yeah. Also it was about 55 degrees C inside that venue, aargh.

Quote from: FireAarro on 20 Jan 2008, 18:23
Andrew Bird is amazing live. [...] Apparently he's not a particularly pleasant fellow, though.
That's kind of a pity. He seemed like such a great guy from the show (and on his records), I almost felt like he was my friend by the end of the evening.

Quote from: amok on 13 Jan 2008, 03:23
Sonic Youth was the first band I saw live (Liars supporting too, sweet gig). They are awesome.
I'm seeing SY perform Daydream Nation next month in a big leafy park :-D :-D :-D
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: McTaggart on 21 Jan 2008, 08:13: Quote from: Phaedra on 21 Jan 2008, 04:10
Quote from: amok on 13 Jan 2008, 03:23
Sonic Youth was the first band I saw live (Liars supporting too, sweet gig). They are awesome.
I'm seeing SY perform Daydream Nation next month in a big leafy park :-D :-D :-D
Ha!, so am I. Though probably not in a big leafy park. I actually don't know the venue at all.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Ryder on 21 Jan 2008, 09:32: The best show I was at in a long a time was The Fat Alberts. Mosh pit, teeeeny tiny little room, and a guy in a toga. The whole shebang.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Phaedra on 21 Jan 2008, 14:40: Quote from: McTaggart on 21 Jan 2008, 08:13
Ha!, so am I. Though probably not in a big leafy park. I actually don't know the venue at all.

I see you are from Perth! They're playing in "Beck's Music Box" on the Esplanade which I initially had confused with the Supreme Court Gardens where they also occasionally host gigs. The Esplanade is not quite so leafy, alas.

S'gonna be a fuckin' awesome venue for Explosions in the Sky though :-)
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Ishotdanieljohnston on 21 Jan 2008, 14:52: I'm seeing EitS in a few weeks myself! Can't wait. The other night I saw The National and they were great. Really good performers who put on an intense show. Abel and Mr November were the highlights, they went absolutely nuts. At the end they were handing out bottles of wine and just came across as really nice guys. Unfortunately my friend was feeling really sick and I had to get him out of there pretty early, so I missed most of the encore. Great show though.

Next Monday is Big Day Out, so I'll have a massive wrap after that, and on the Wednesday I'm seeing Spoon.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: McTaggart on 21 Jan 2008, 22:51: Quote from: Phaedra on 21 Jan 2008, 14:40
S'gonna be a fuckin' awesome venue for Explosions in the Sky though :-)

Well grass is kinda leafy. I suppose EitS will be thoroughly sold out by now because that is pretty much the perfect venue for it. Why did I have to be broke when all the tickets came out?
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: FireAarro on 21 Jan 2008, 23:19: Quote from: Gilbert on 14 Jan 2008, 05:04
My only other gripe was that he played a song supposedly just because a fan asked for it when he saw him in a well known park earlier that day. Sufjan said he never plays that song and had to parctice it just before the show. The main problem was that it was accompanied by a well edited video back drop matching the theme of the song perfectly and he was also accompanied by 5 or so band members who performed a little to well. Maybe i'm wrong? Maybe he is just that awesome and can throw it all together in a few hours? either way, it was a little sus and seemed like an opportunity to name-drop locations.

The videos and songs were different each night, I think. I asked my friends, who went to the show the night after I went, and the order was different and the accompanying videos changed too. For example, I got stars in Seven Swans. Swan shaped stars. But my friend says he got stars in the UFO song. Kinda weird.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Phaedra on 22 Jan 2008, 02:32: Quote from: McTaggart on 21 Jan 2008, 22:51
Well grass is kinda leafy. I suppose EitS will be thoroughly sold out by now because that is pretty much the perfect venue for it. Why did I have to be broke when all the tickets came out?

According to the Perth Festival website tickets are still available. Might be worth having a look?
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Lien. on 22 Jan 2008, 02:48: I noticed a few people mentioned Wolves In The Throne Room - I heard that at some point of that tour, they smelled so bad their audience ran away.

They're touring Europe now, so I suppose I'll see them pretty soon. I'm curious!
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: McTaggart on 22 Jan 2008, 04:19: Hey you're right. I didn't notice the whole subtle link to bocs/no link to bocs on the pages for not sold out/sold out shows. Awesome.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Cire27 on 25 Jan 2008, 09:34: Well I saw Against Me! last night. That was fucking amazing. It is nice to know that they haven't lost touch in their musicianship too.

A local band, Smoke Up Johnny, opened the show. They were alright. Then this guy named Cory Branan came out with his acoustic. Fucking spectacular.

Against Me! even managed to play a lot of their older songs.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: gardenhead_ on 27 Jan 2008, 02:48: I saw Joanna Newsom with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra two nights ago. It was the best concert I have ever been to and probably will ever be to. Seriously, words can not describe how amazing it was.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: thedavo on 01 Feb 2008, 16:09: i went to a hardcore weekender thing last weekend in my town.

the saturday night was pretty forgettable, unfortunately i missed saturday day due to having to work.
the sunday though was really good. a local band galled Bloody Gain opened things up and set the tone for the whole day really. Other bands that stood out were Abandon Ship, as it was their second to last show, and their last show outside their hometown, and Shipwreck, who were the best band of the weekend (they're from Boston, MA and a hardcore band, so they were about as thuggish as expected). Blacklisted finished things of with a pretty solid set aswell.

i'm seeing municipal waste this sunday with toxic holocaust. the 'waste are always great live, and toxic holocaust will be interesting as it's a one-man operation, not sure if he's bringing over a "live" band or what.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: valley_parade on 01 Feb 2008, 17:11: Quote from: Cire27 on 25 Jan 2008, 09:34
Against Me! even managed to play a lot of their older songs.

I'd cross my fingers and hope they do the same on Warped this summer, but that's still 6 months away and my fingers have other things to do.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Cire27 on 01 Feb 2008, 17:57: Quote from: valley_parade on 01 Feb 2008, 17:11
Quote from: Cire27 on 25 Jan 2008, 09:34
Against Me! even managed to play a lot of their older songs.

I'd cross my fingers and hope they do the same on Warped this summer, but that's still 6 months away and my fingers have other things to do.

From what I see the lineup isn't that great for Warped this year.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: valley_parade on 01 Feb 2008, 18:00: Not so far, but I think $20 just for Against Me! and the Street Dogs is a pretty fair price. I got my money's worth (and free shoes) out of 07 and 06.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Cire27 on 01 Feb 2008, 18:13: Are there any other good bands going to be there? I skimmed over the punknews list, but it was pretty unimpressive.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: a pack of wolves on 01 Feb 2008, 18:15: Quote from: thedavo on 01 Feb 2008, 16:09
Other bands that stood out were Abandon Ship, as it was their second to last show, and their last show outside their hometown, and Shipwreck, who were the best band of the weekend (they're from Boston, MA and a hardcore band, so they were about as thuggish as expected). Blacklisted finished things of with a pretty solid set aswell.

Bugger, I'd always fancied seeing Abandon Ship and I guess I won't get to now.

Tonight I saw Pixel Pixel Pixel, Red Stars Parade, Gentleman's Pistols, Bilge Pump and DJ Scotch Egg. I thought Pixel Pixel Pixel might be fun, a nice bit of video game music to start things off. He comes out in a rabbit suit and proceeds to load up Street Fighter II on his laptop. And plays it. I thought he'd go into actually playing some music but no, he just keeps playing Street Fighter II. Toss. Thankfully Red Stars Parade were on afterwards and were as good as they always are with their Will Haven reminiscent riffing. The only pity was that there weren't enough people there. It got packed out for Gentleman's Pistols though, who I thought were decent enough in a cabaret sort of way. I admire their studious recreation of 70s rock but I wouldn't ever want to sit down and listen to it, and I did pop outside for a fag while they were playing so I wasn't exactly gripped. It is pretty funny to see a guy who used to be in Voorhees playing in a band like that though. Then there was Bilge Pump, who are so effortlessly better than most bands it makes you feel bad about being a musician. I'm just glad I'm not a drummer, I don't think I'd ever feel comfortable hitting things with sticks if there was a possibility Neil Turpin might hear me doing it. I'd just be embarrassed. DJ Scotch Egg was just as much fun as he usually is, with lots of daft sounds, crowd surfing and yelling unintelligibly into the mic. His insistence on it being an 80s disco party was particularly entertaining.

Tomorrow, Spy Versus Spy. Excellent.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: valley_parade on 01 Feb 2008, 18:19: Quote from: Cire27 on 01 Feb 2008, 18:13
Are there any other good bands going to be there? I skimmed over the punknews list, but it was pretty unimpressive.

The Briggs, I guess. There's a ton more yet to be added, though.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: RedLion on 01 Feb 2008, 22:45: More than I can count, but these are the ones that stand out:

The Decemberists W/ My Brightest Diamond - I was invited to go up with a group of friends at the last moment, and it was well worth it. The show was great; The Decemberists are by no means my favorite band, but the mood was energetic and they put on a good performance. But I almost enjoyed My Brightest Diamond more. I had never heard of them before, and was extremely surprised in a pleasant way. I very much dug their noise-rock sound. For their last song they played a cover of 'Kashmir,' which sounded absolutely amazing with female vocals.

Gogol Bordello - Quite possibly the best show I've ever been to. 2 1/2 hours of pure, unadulterated energy, dancing, Grade-A music. Near the end of the gig, Eugene went backstage and got an old Bass drum, which he then stood and crowdsurfed around on while singing. The strange Asian midget hype man was kind of unnecessary, but he was easy to ignore. There's simply no words to put to the raw, kinetic sense of life that pulsed in every beat of every song. There wasn't one still body in the entire theater.

The Hold Steady W / The Heartless Bastards - I've always been a fan of The Hold Steady, if not a rabid one. The venue for this was perfect: a small, crowded, claustrophobic side-entrance of an old abandoned theater. Sweat and beer were everywhere. It was nothing profound or life-changing, but it was fun and intense in a paradoxically laid-back way. The opening act, The Heartless Bastards, were another pleasant surprise a la My Brightest Diamond, though the two bands sound nothing Alike. The Bastards are grungy, heavy folkish-rock with a female singer who has just the right amount of gravel in her voice to be compelling.

Dream Theater - Say what you will, but Dream Theater know how to play. A 4 hour, nonstop sonic onslaught of some of the most complex time signatures and rhythms you'll ever hear, topped with mind-bindingly technical solos, followed by a 45-minute medley encore. It was just great to watch and hear them in person. The best part of the show was their improv piece, which they made up off the top of their head on-stage and went on for around 10 minutes. Amazing.

Bruce Springsteen - I hate "Born In The USA," and most of Bruce's 80's work for that matter. But his first 4 albums are classics, as are his recent ones, from the late 90's onward. Luckily for me, he did mostly work from those two periods, including "Rosalita," "Born to Run" "Jungleland" "Blinded By the Light" and others. Dumb as it may sound, this was the happiest time I've had at a show. I think Jon Stewart summed up the experience of a Springsteen concert best: "Do you like joy? Bliss? Go see Bruce Springsteen."

Bob Dylan - I love Dylan, always have, always will. Sadly, this was a little underwhelming. His voice (as should be expected) is no longer what it was, and he spent the whole concert hunched over a piano..not sitting, not standing, but kind of crouched there, barely moving. He said nothing in between the songs, in fact said nothing the entire night except at the end a curt "Thanks. 'night." It was still great to hear his stuff life, though.

The Stooges - Saw them at Lollapalooza in Chicago last summer during their reunion. Absolutely mind-blowing. Iggy urged the crowd to come up on stage. So, of course, everyone who could did. Wisely, they played all their older stuff, and not much off of their new (pretty shitty) album. "Raw Power" indeed.

Rage Against The Machine - Can you say "Mass Hysteria"? This was the day after an absolute deluge at an outdoor venue, with the stage at the bottom of a large, steep hill that was nothing but purely liquid mud. Throughout the entire night, dozens of people came sliding involuntarily down the hill, falling into the pit between the end of the stage and the crowd area. I can't imagine what it must have been like for the security officers; with the band behind them and a seething mass of, well, raging fans ahead of them, both of them possessed of an utter contempt, hatred even, for authority, even if it was just for that moment. This was easily the hardest moshing I've ever seen.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: valley_parade on 02 Feb 2008, 09:42: Yeah, My Brightest Diamond are pretty rad. Haven't seen them yet, though.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Ishotdanieljohnston on 02 Feb 2008, 18:02: I saw Spoon the other night. I enjoyed my self. I'm seeing Explosions in the sky in a couple of weeks- quite looking forward to it.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Jimmy the Squid on 02 Feb 2008, 19:47: I went to see Nightwish on friday night. It was actually a lot better than I thought it would be and much more crowded than I thought, though the crowd was more or less what I expected (a bunch of conventional pre-teen goths and emos) but there were a lot more morbidly obese bikers than I expected. The crowd was actually pretty good except for one drunk guy standing behind me who kept threatening to kill the band members if they didn't play his favourite songs but the bikers shut him up eventually.

The opening band was this awful power metal act called Lord. They used to be called Dungeon but they changed their name because of some line up changes. Unfortunately they were really terrible and I had to sit through a 40 minute set of "whoa whoas" and "meedly meees" that basically sounded like every other power metal band in the world. I could have walked away but I had a really good spot right at the front so it wasn't worth it.

Once Nightwish got on stage (after a further half hour of waiting between bands) the night improved significantly. They had a huge amount of energy and were obviously enjoying themselves. The new singer did a pretty great job of working up the crowd amd generally being a good frontwoman. All in all it was a really enjoyable performance and they played very well. They even did a fair amount of their older stuff which was interesting as the new singer is not particularly operatic but all in all I had a good time.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Tom on 02 Feb 2008, 19:53: Anette Olzon, is pretty hot, it is on that reason that I'll give them a listen even if it's only their first album with her.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: sean on 02 Feb 2008, 20:39: I saw Beethoven's 5th piano concerto and 5th symphony tonight! It was rather enjoyable. The 5th symphony was extra excellent, since the conductor made a point of playing the 5th in it's original super fast tempo. Basically, it was asldkfjsadlk;jflasd.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: phil51506 on 14 Feb 2008, 23:34: I've seen Thrice a few times, the first time they ripped through 9 songs in half an hour, and the second time on their first headlineing tour, with a really good band called Vedera. Also CSS and Ladytron. CSS puts on a fun show.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: MadassAlex on 15 Feb 2008, 04:05: Iron Maiden was basically the best show ever.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Lummer on 15 Feb 2008, 04:08: I saw Baroness this wednesday night..

Fuck, did it rule...
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Spluff on 15 Feb 2008, 04:23: The two posts above me make me quiver with rage and envy.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: SilentJ on 15 Feb 2008, 05:00: O.A.R.: Caught them in summer 2006, I believe, and it was one of the best nights of my life. They're a hometown band who made it big, so when they come home they always play a great show. However, they sold out big time with their latest album, so now their hometown shows are just like the others, in that they're playing what their manager wants them to to sell records, as opposed to what the crowd wants to hear. I realize this sounds a bit odd, as record sales are pretty much the point of going on tour, but especially when your new music isn't very good, one would think that a band would play what the crowd wanted to hear.

VIRGIN FESTIVAL 2006

THE WHO: Fucking incredible. People were just going nuts towards the stage, everybody in the audience was a fan, and there was just so much energy flowing from the stage to the audience that I could feel it from the back. I was actually working a Red Bull stand by the DJ tent, and I still left like five times to go watch more of the Who (Pretty much I did this all day to go watch other people, and this is how I found out about Kasabian and Wolfmother, and saw a little Gnarls Barkley, but it wasn't very good). For a buncha old guys whom one might think would have lost a step live (and probably have, for all I know) I'd still say it was a rpetty kickass show.

RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS: I didn't see as much of these guys as I would have liked; I'll be honest, the majority of the show that I caught was after the DJ tent closed me and the people working at the stand closed it all up and stood on top of our stand so we could see the stage. I left the stand once to go see them, but I couldn't stay for too long. But, from the little I saw, it was enough. These guys fucking slayed. At this point, pretty much everybody left there was either too drunk to care about what they were listening to or so drunk they could barely stand, but everybody was still going pretty wild in the crowd.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Lummer on 17 Feb 2008, 13:18: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGXZskKVstw (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGXZskKVstw)

Fuck.... Municipal Waste is probably the greatest live band ever.

I saw them last night, and I have never tried a crazier moshpit in a smaller venue :D
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: donovangelonardo on 17 Feb 2008, 22:21: I saw Liars with No Age last night at this small club here in Austin called the Mohawk. No Age seemed pretty cool and I can see why they're paired up with Liars, but I was trying to get beer and find my friends through the tiny bit of their set that I caught. Liars took forever setting up, which sucked cause it was outside and cold, but Angus eventually took the stage in a bright pink suit and things got rolling. Apparently his back is still fucked up, as he spent much of the show propped up on a stool, but he still managed to command some incredible stage presence. I'm not familiar enough with their stuff to remark on the set list, but a friend told me it was a mix of all four albums. I know they played Other side of Mt Heart Attack as their closer, but then came back with two more as an encore and closed for real with Let's Not Wrestle Mt Heart Attack, which was killer live. It wasn't the most mindblowing show in the world, lots of fans bundled up and huddled around the outdoor gas heaters, but pretty damn good. Would recommend.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Ishotdanieljohnston on 17 Feb 2008, 23:41: A couple of nights ago I saw Explosions In The Sky, and it was far and away the best show I've been to- and I've been to some kick ass shows. They only spoke twice in the show, at the start to say "hi, we're explosions in the sky, we're from Texas", and at the end but I'll get to that later. From the very start they just had so much fucking energy an were getting the crowd so into it. HYPNOTIC, CARTHARTIC, HEAD FUCKING. They didn't pause once, working into each song, there was just constant music for an hour and a half and they put absolutely everything they had into every second. Think Warren Ellis and replace his violin with a guitar, that kinda energy. At the end, the just stopped and walked off and the crowd were so pumped for an encore, but then one of them walked back on and said "there is no way you can expect us to give you and encore after we gave you every ounce of our energy. Sorry and Thankyou". What a show.

On Thursday I'm seeing Sonic Youth so I'll report back after that.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: McTaggart on 18 Feb 2008, 01:36: I saw them last night! We got a little more conversation at the start though. They were really good and had a ton of energy all the way through until just after they stopped playing when they seemed pretty drained. I'd never really listened to much of their recorded stuff before so I went in expecting just post-rock and nothing specific. They covered the whole spectrum of sounds I'd have expected blending between songs with plain and pure feedback, noise freakouts and repetitive time-delay stuff. They played about an hour and a half of beautiful, delicate melodies and roaring crescendos.

The venue was excellent too. It was at this temporary open-air venue that's been put up for the Perth International Arts Festival. There is basically a stage covered on top and loosely around the sides with white sails looking south away from the skyline of the city onto a bit of an open area that's a little bigger than the standing room you'd expect at a large club. Behind this there are a couple of small steps up and then an area a little larger than before with these comfy purple two or three person couches and little cushions and coffee-tables scattered about with tall orange curvy lamps along the edge. Then behind there on the wings there were small little grandstands with rows of seats and another section of couches in the center. It was all decorated really well and as you walk in from the back you're greeted by this big, bright painted pastel panel that sort of sets the mood for the whole place. It was really friendly and there was enough space for everyone whilst still being fairly cosy despite being pretty big. I'll try to remember to get pictures when I go see Sonic Youth there next weekend.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Ishotdanieljohnston on 18 Feb 2008, 03:38: Shit you're seeing Sonic Youth too? Like I'm doing everything you're doing a couple of days before.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: McTaggart on 18 Feb 2008, 04:59: Unfortunately that's the limit of the music I'm going to see until probably the Mountain Goats in April (or August, I'm not sure). I saw them last time they came out too. I would go again even if John Darnielle just sat on the stage telling stories.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Caspian on 18 Feb 2008, 05:30: Quote from: McTaggart on 18 Feb 2008, 01:36
I saw them last night! We got a little more conversation at the start though. They were really good and had a ton of energy all the way through until just after they stopped playing when they seemed pretty drained. I'd never really listened to much of their recorded stuff before so I went in expecting just post-rock and nothing specific. They covered the whole spectrum of sounds I'd have expected blending between songs with plain and pure feedback, noise freakouts and repetitive time-delay stuff. They played about an hour and a half of beautiful, delicate melodies and roaring crescendos.

The venue was excellent too. It was at this temporary open-air venue that's been put up for the Perth International Arts Festival. There is basically a stage covered on top and loosely around the sides with white sails looking south away from the skyline of the city onto a bit of an open area that's a little bigger than the standing room you'd expect at a large club. Behind this there are a couple of small steps up and then an area a little larger than before with these comfy purple two or three person couches and little cushions and coffee-tables scattered about with tall orange curvy lamps along the edge. Then behind there on the wings there were small little grandstands with rows of seats and another section of couches in the center. It was all decorated really well and as you walk in from the back you're greeted by this big, bright painted pastel panel that sort of sets the mood for the whole place. It was really friendly and there was enough space for everyone whilst still being fairly cosy despite being pretty big. I'll try to remember to get pictures when I go see Sonic Youth there next weekend.

Agreed, this was an excellent gig. I was right up at the front of the stage. Crowd was great, venue was great and EITS were KILLER. They played a basically perfect set list (4 out of 5 songs from Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place, which is great because it's easily my favourite album), and the whole thing was jus epic and soaring and really, really good, although exactly why the crowd cheered after every quiet bit was beyond me. Still! An absolutely killer show that I really, really enjoyed. Highlights would've been The only Moment we were Alone, First Breath after Coma, Memorial and some random tunes off How Strange, innocence that also dominated. Seeing as they're fairly tame on album I wasn't expecting too much beyond some pretty guitar interplay, but I was very surprised and absolutely loved it. Not as good as Sigur Ros or Sunn O))), but far better then anything else I've been too. 9/10.

Also, McTaggart- There's Mum (the icelandic band) coming next month.. and IMMORTAL. Don't tell me you're not going to see either of them.

Oh and on a final note, I saw Caribou a few weeks ago and that was pretty good times. Haven't heard anything by them before but I enjoyed it, less vocals and more shimmering distortion would've been good, though. 7/10.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: McTaggart on 18 Feb 2008, 05:55: I was unaware of either of them. Also I've never really given either a good listen. Oh and the fact that my spending right now so far outweighs my income that everything I let myself do is a guilty pleasure.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: pinkpiche on 18 Feb 2008, 06:10: Municipal Waste is BADASS live
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 18 Feb 2008, 08:42: Dan Deacon played here at my school recently in the campus center's multi-purpose room (basically a pretty big, empty room). The show had an opener which I missed, a presentation of Ultimate Reality (a crazy video art thing with Dan Deacon playing and two drummers doing all sorts of crazy stuff. Very cool, that) and then Deacon himself. The fact that he plays pretty much in the midst of the audience, eschewing any kind of stage, is pretty awesome. He had a great rapport with the audience and the music was pretty frickin great. I'm not usually into this kinda scene but it was essentially a crazy dance party that lasted a good few hours. Deacon's a really nice guy and if this show was any indication a great performer. Not the best show I've seen recently but probably the most fun.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: thedavo on 18 Feb 2008, 14:19: Municipal waste were great here aswell. so much fun.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Inlander on 18 Feb 2008, 16:06: Quote from: McTaggart on 18 Feb 2008, 04:59
Unfortunately that's the limit of the music I'm going to see until probably the Mountain Goats in April (or August, I'm not sure).

The Mountain Goats have announced dates? Sweet.

I've been having a bit of a gig lull recently (apart from the annual return of the mighty Vulgargrad a couple of weeks ago), but it's all about to kick off again in an insanely big way as of next week. Between then and mid-March I'll be seeing Broken Social Scene, Feist, Beirut, Iron & Wine, Múm, Jens Lekman . . . Should be good!
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Lummer on 19 Feb 2008, 08:01: Quote from: thedavo on 18 Feb 2008, 14:19
Municipal waste were great here aswell. so much fun.
Quote from: pinkpiche on 18 Feb 2008, 06:10
Municipal Waste is BADASS live

Oh hell goddamn yes...

I got a knee in the face at one point, and I DID NOT CARE!

I did have to stop and get water a few times though, and that's pretty telling because I am actually in pretty darned good shape. But fuck, that moshpit was crazy.
Plus, they have some of the coolest stage banter ever.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Catacombs on 20 Feb 2008, 13:02: I saw the Foo Fighters last night at MSG. They were fucking wild. Against Me! opened for Serj Tankian who opened for the Foos. Against Me! were good though i wish i had been there for more of their set. I guess Serj was good but i don't like him. Plus, he's a fucking wack job.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: thedavo on 20 Feb 2008, 15:59: i've just got back from seeing Dillinger Escape Plan and Between The Buried And Me. both bands were awesome for entirely different reasons.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: PassiveTheory on 20 Feb 2008, 16:44: Grand Ole Party at the Crepe Place (Santa Cruz) last night was fucking amazing. They're going to be HUGE.

Get Humanimals, their new CD. You will not regret it.

SOOOO glad I snagged the set-list. =D
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: nothingrevolutionary on 20 Feb 2008, 22:30: Quote from: gardenhead_ on 27 Jan 2008, 02:48
I saw Joanna Newsom with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra two nights ago. It was the best concert I have ever been to and probably will ever be to. Seriously, words can not describe how amazing it was.
jelluz. i want to see her live so bad.

segway (although i've heard rumors that they broke up): monday night i went to see bill callahan with jonathan meiberg, and it was phenomenal.

jonathan meiberg: i've never seen anyone try so hard to be jeff mangum and fail so miserably at it. he was hilariously bad and he irritated the piss out of me. he was part of bill's backing band, so he got less annoying as the night progressed (he's a genuinely good guitarist, at least), but man. that solo thing. whoo doggie.

bill callahan: ah, now the good part. it was pretty much perfect. his backing band fleshed things out just enough, the sound was great, the crowd wasn't too big and the atmosphere of the venue was perfect, he played every song i wanted to hear with the exception of "dirty pants", etc., etc. he's beautiful and a genius and that is that.

at one point i considered driving to austin to see him live, so the fact that he was practically in my damn back yard was fucking sweet. afterwards me and my friend talked to him and made him sign things and he seemed so uncomfortable about the whole thing. admittedly we were reduced to giggling schoolgirls and i'd be willing to bet that's never happened to him in his entire career.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: pinkpiche on 21 Feb 2008, 04:34: Quote from: nothingrevolutionary on 20 Feb 2008, 22:30
Quote from: gardenhead_ on 27 Jan 2008, 02:48
I saw Joanna Newsom with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra two nights ago. It was the best concert I have ever been to and probably will ever be to. Seriously, words can not describe how amazing it was.
jelluz. i want to see her live so bad.

Yeah me too. I'm totally addicted to my vinyl copy of Ys.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Ishotdanieljohnston on 21 Feb 2008, 06:07: I just got back from Sonic Youth. Holy Fucking shit. Best gig I've been to. I was in the front row and about as close to Thurston as you cold be, I had several thousand roaring, head banging enthusiasts behind me and it was fucking sweet. These two canadian stoners befreinded my freind and I and they turned out to be the funnest nicest guys. And they pretty much led the party. There was bogan bitch annoying the hell out of us and in between songs one of the guys turned to her and screamed "THE WORLD DOES NOT FUCKING REVOLVE AROUND YOU! IT REVOLVES AROUND SONIC YOUTH- at which point the crowd roared in support and we got a nod of approval from Thurston.Seriously if you ever get the opportunity to see these guys just fucking take it. And i got Thurstons Pick!
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: pinkpiche on 21 Feb 2008, 11:11: That sounds sweet!!

Mars Volta tomorrow. I am so stoked.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 21 Feb 2008, 14:43: Ghengis Tron is playing here tomorrow. Aught to be a killer show. Lined up for the next couple months are Au Revoir Simone, Frog Eyes, Xiu Xiu, An Albatross and Converge. Should be a good mix of crazy good music. Guess I'll post my thoughts once I have them.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Beast on 21 Feb 2008, 15:18: I'm seeing Gogol Bordello on the March 4th
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Lummer on 21 Feb 2008, 16:30: Quote from: pinkpiche on 21 Feb 2008, 11:11
That sounds sweet!!

Mars Volta tomorrow. I am so stoked.

That will be Denmark then!?

In that case: FUCK YOU

I have no money, plus work the following morning. Craaaap...
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Shadows Collide on 21 Feb 2008, 17:35: Sonic Youth blew my fucking head off last night, in a good way. I've never gone so crazy over music, plus we were right up the front near Thurston and Kim Gordon, who was incredibly sexy and danced when she sang. Completely exhausted now though.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: FireAarro on 21 Feb 2008, 20:30: Quote from: nothingrevolutionary on 20 Feb 2008, 22:30
segway (although i've heard rumors that they broke up): monday night i went to see bill callahan with jonathan meiberg, and it was phenomenal.

I think they broke up a while ago. Last I heard she was going out with one of the masterminds behind Dick in a Box.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: pinkpiche on 21 Feb 2008, 21:44: Quote from: Lummer on 21 Feb 2008, 16:30
Quote from: pinkpiche on 21 Feb 2008, 11:11
That sounds sweet!!

Mars Volta tomorrow. I am so stoked.

That will be Denmark then!?

In that case: FUCK YOU

I have no money, plus work the following morning. Craaaap...

Yup! Store Vega. Didn't think you were a TMV guy?
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Johnny C on 21 Feb 2008, 22:39: Tonight I saw A Place To Bury Strangers and Holy Fuck.

Both bands were excellent, but there's a post on the music blog outlining how incredibly disappointed I was by the sound of APTBS. Had the show been mixed right it would have been unimpeachable.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Lummer on 22 Feb 2008, 04:52: Quote from: pinkpiche on 21 Feb 2008, 21:44
Quote from: Lummer on 21 Feb 2008, 16:30
Quote from: pinkpiche on 21 Feb 2008, 11:11
That sounds sweet!!

Mars Volta tomorrow. I am so stoked.

That will be Denmark then!?

In that case: FUCK YOU

I have no money, plus work the following morning. Craaaap...

Yup! Store Vega. Didn't think you were a TMV guy?

Yeah I know, probably the best large-ish venue in the whole damn country!

Hey, if it's good, it's good, and The Marz Volta is DAMN good :)
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: BrittanyMarie on 22 Feb 2008, 09:56: Quote from: Johnny C on 21 Feb 2008, 22:39
Tonight I saw A Place To Bury Strangers and Holy Fuck.

Hey! I saw them Tuesday- I was actually going to PM you about it since I knew they'd be in Regina. We had a dance party basically during Holy Fuck- they were more funky than I expected.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Johnny C on 22 Feb 2008, 18:31: So groovy!

APTBS were great though. What a tremendous live act.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: michaelicious on 22 Feb 2008, 21:59: Holy Fuck are so much fun. I saw them a couple years ago and it was pretty much a dance party then too.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: McTaggart on 23 Feb 2008, 20:21: Holy shit guys, Sonic Youth. God damn. If you get half a chance, go see them and stand right up the front and have all the fun in the world with an excellent band playing great music really well. I really want to write some big long thing about the gig, but I keep getting stuck on 'it was pretty much perfect' and there's nothing I could say that hasn't been said about some other, less amazing show.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: imagist42 on 24 Feb 2008, 00:22: So now I am going to do everything I can to go see Explosions in the Sky next month (with Lichens and Black Moth Super Rainbow) but freaking Islands and Minus the Bear have to come on the night of my Physics final. So pissed off.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: BrittanyMarie on 24 Feb 2008, 00:53: Oh man Sam I always call "Bad Kids" my theme song with everyone. The "They try to give us pills/ OH WAIT / give us all the pills!" is the best ever.

I saw Big John Bates and the Voodoo Dollz tonight. Basically a bluesy New-Orleans-backwoods-inspired rockabilly show with burlesque dancers. The Voodoo Dollz are sexy as hell, and I am always pro-women using their sexuality as empowerment. Plus they were good at twirlin their boobie tassels and dancing. To tell you exactly how awesome it was, I suck and never dance but I am super gross sweaty from shaking my baby-maker and it was probably because of their voodoo music magic.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Ishotdanieljohnston on 24 Feb 2008, 02:38: I just got back from the laneway festival in Melbourne and I had a really good time. I just stuck to the main stage cause I managed to get front and centre. So "im gonna list the bands I saw in order of how much I enjoyed their set for people who can't be bothered reading my spiel:

1. Okkervil River- Goddamn are they a good live band. They seemed to be having such a time and had great energy. Really looking forward to see them again on Tuesday.

2. Broken Social Scene- Just an absolute blast, a pleasure to watch such talented musicians.

3. Feist- Fuck is she sexy. And fun. And an awesome singer. And a surprisingly good guitarist.

4.Devestations- Hadn't heard them before but really enjoyed there set.

5. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah- really dissappointing because I really enjoy there music but they were boring and looked bored.

6. The Panics- Just really quite dull.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: pinkpiche on 24 Feb 2008, 04:59: I just want to say that I was at The Mars Volta show this Friday and I got my face rocked clean off! 2 and a half hour's worth of show, INSANE drum solos (their new guy is unbelievable), Cedric's singing was flawless and the whole place was packed. I was standing up on one of the balconys and I could see almost all of the stage. There were only a little bit of mosh and a tiny bit of stage-diving and someone threw beer at the stage (near Omar's effectboard), which Cedric (rightfully) bitched about. "This is my dance floor, and that down there is your dance floor". They played four tracks off of De-Loused (Haunt of Roulette Dares and Eriatarka!!! e.g) and a few tracks from Frances and the rest was Goliath. The new record is actually pretty great. Amazing night.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Lummer on 24 Feb 2008, 05:35: I'll go cry now...
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 24 Feb 2008, 07:31: Saw Genghis Tron last night. The Austerity Program opened. TAP is a two person band so it's a guitarist/vocalist and a bassist with some complex drum machine programing and a ton of amps. It was loud, fun punk/screamo although, as usual in bands like this, I kinda missed a live drummer. I feel like having a drum machine live makes these kinds of bands lose something in the way of energy, especially considering often the machine was programed to simply sound like regular drums and considering the times when it had a synthier sound they were such that they could have been produced on a real drum set with proper micing. Still they were quite good.
Genghis Tron was pretty awesome. It's only three guys and there's no bass or drums. It's guitars, vocals and a bunch of keyboards and synths and such. They combined electronics with elements of grindcore and screamo and despite the fact that that sounds kinda awful they were actually quite awesome. The lack of a drummer was again a hindrance I think and hurt the set a bit but not too much. The trio still had a ton of energy and made some very cool and complex sounds considering the lack of instruments. Overall a very fun show and it's gotten me even more excited for Converge in April.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Ishotdanieljohnston on 26 Feb 2008, 07:59: i just got home after Okkervil River, and man, what a fucking show. i actually half want to go to a bad show so as I have somethign more unpredictable to say, but I'm on a real streak. They played everything you'd want them to play and with such ferocity and energy. You know you're watching a good show when they seem to be having as good a time as you. What can I say, it was sheer craftsmanship.

After I was having a few beers in a bar and the band wandered in, so I went and spoke to Will Sheff, came across as a really nice, humble man. We shook hands and i left him to the rather lovely looking lady who'd taken an interest in him.

My girlfreind took over 300 photo's so I might post a few of them in the next couple of days. Tommorow I'm seeing Broken Social Scene so I'll report back after that.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: LucyStag on 26 Feb 2008, 13:54: I saw Against Me! last weekend, for the second time in my life. The show in '05 was amazing, this was less so. I wanted to like their new album -- as an added bonus of annoying people -- but most of it is just not exciting. Show-wise, it didn't help that they playe da short gig, were done by 10:00 pm and then the place turned into an under 21 nightclub and a bunch of God damn 15 year olds who needed emergeny pants transfussions started pole dancing.

That really didn't help me go out on a rock and roll, yeah!!!!! highnote. More like an urge to stab out my eyes, and the guilt that came with loathing those 15 year olds.

Wasn't I talking about music or something?
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: A Wet Helmet on 26 Feb 2008, 14:19: The first gig I went to was Black Flag back in '84.

Yeah... I'm old.

In the intervening 24 years, I've been to a lot of shows. D.C. was a magic place in the late 80s for a music obsessed, angst ridden teenager.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: pinkpiche on 27 Feb 2008, 13:08: You seen Rites of Spring, Indian Summer or something like that?

Because if you have, I envy the flying fuck out of you
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Nebetsu on 27 Feb 2008, 13:12: Arrogant worms.

They were pretty awesome.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Lummer on 27 Feb 2008, 15:04: I strongly consider going to see Electric Eel Shock next saturday. Ie. the 8th.

I am certain it will be a lot of fun.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Ishotdanieljohnston on 27 Feb 2008, 16:58: I was meant to go to Broken Social Scene last night but work got in the way :cry:
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Inlander on 27 Feb 2008, 19:59: You missed a pretty good show! Though not as good as their show at the Corner when they were last out here in 2006. Only about half the band were there, but Kevin Drew said that hopefully it won't be another two years until they're next out here, and that when they next come to Australia they'll try to bring some "girls and horns" with them.

I saw Feist at the Prince in St. Kilda a couple of nights ago. It was a pretty awesome gig, so much so that instead of writing about it here I think I'll do a fuller review and put it up on the music blog.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Shadows Collide on 27 Feb 2008, 22:22: I was at both Feist and Broken Social Scene. Last night the best song was a new one for me, the one named after a Mexican town they like. That, or Cause=Time.

Does anyone know why Feist wasn't there at all? At her show, she said she would be pissed if the others weren't at her show. She was particularly amazing on Tuesday when she performed my favorite song of hers "The Water" on piano. Great show.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: muffy on 03 Mar 2008, 14:14: Quote from: Ishotdanieljohnston on 26 Feb 2008, 07:59
i just got home after Okkervil River, and man, what a fucking show. i actually half want to go to a bad show so as I have somethign more unpredictable to say, but I'm on a real streak. They played everything you'd want them to play and with such ferocity and energy. You know you're watching a good show when they seem to be having as good a time as you. What can I say, it was sheer craftsmanship.

After I was having a few beers in a bar and the band wandered in, so I went and spoke to Will Sheff, came across as a really nice, humble man. We shook hands and i left him to the rather lovely looking lady who'd taken an interest in him.

My girlfreind took over 300 photo's so I might post a few of them in the next couple of days. Tommorow I'm seeing Broken Social Scene so I'll report back after that.

I saw them a couple of years back, and they were absolutely spectacular - I went to the show not having heard them on record, yet every song was immense and had a way of pulling you in straight away - Will Sheff kind of sings like a sober Tim Kasher...also, met them then and they were among some of the nicest, most sound people ever, and gave me a copy of Black Sheep Boy - I'm gutted that I missed them on their more recent outings, though :(

Other good gigs recently (ish):
Furthest Drive Home/Tellison/The Maple State - Erring to the generic side of emo-ness, but still a sign that the genre hasn't wiped itself out entirely, all of the bands had enough oomph to sound awesome on stage. The audience credited their efforts by standing rigid and staring the ENTIRE TIME. I think I was one of about two people attempting to move.

Tonight Is Goodbye - kind of disappointing - Largely because all-ages gigs are either: full of people desperate to see the bands, who are young enough not to have cultivated the kind of polite disdain for the musicians on stage and dance like their lives depend on it (the good kind), or the kind of all-ages gig where you walk into a room full of 15 year old scenesters-in-training who turn and stare because a) you're a foot taller than them and b) you're not kitted out in the kind of clothes they sell in the catalogues that come with Kerrang! magazine. It would have been ok if the band were special enough to detract from it, but, they weren't.

The Good Life - I've never seen Tim Kasher so pissed on a stage. Or on an amp. Or skating round the venue on said amp. Still pretty immense.

And, I'm missing MGMT tomorrow because it's sold out and my blagging skills have deserted me, missed I Was A Cub Scout last week because I was putting on a club night (which the drummer later came to - woop!), missed Grammatics because they cancelled...

BUT - seeing This City/Data:Select:Party next week and The Ghost Frequency the week after.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Hat on 03 Mar 2008, 14:49: Man, Broken Social Scenes performance at the Brisbane Laneway was pretty average in terms of the songs they played, I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as the last time they came out, but with that said, the finale of "It's all Gonna Break" was amazing. There was some kind of technical malfunction but the way they played around it and worked it into the song was brilliant, and seeing Stars and BSS back to back was great. I actually enjoyed Stars performance more than Broken Social Scenes actually, which I didn't expect at all, considering they seemed to sound a bit dead at first, but by the end of their set I was going nuts, and then they closed with "Your Ex-Lover is Dead"

I actually bailed for Feist because it was just too many people and I didn't know enough of her songs to bother so I kind of retreated to the smoking area to calm down and shake some of the acid out of my head, since there was nobody in there.

I wound up hearing some of CYHSY, which was nice, but I bailed before the presets just because I couldn't be fucked by that point, I was having trouble keeping my head together and I left to get pissed.

Earlier in the day, I also managed to see Damn Arms and Okkervil River, both who were utterly fantastic.

Really the weirdest thing about Laneway was just how many people I haven't seen in ages that I ran into, and the fact that I didn't remember any of them. Apparently I am a lot more memorable than I am capable of remembering people.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Lummer on 04 Mar 2008, 16:41: YOU GUYS

I'M SEEING DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN TOMORROW

I'LL PROBABLY DIE IN THE MOSHPIT

NICE KNOWIN' YALL
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Ishotdanieljohnston on 07 Mar 2008, 05:33: I got surprise free tickets to John Williams today and just got back from this incredible show. Fuck can that man play. He wasn't on for nearly as long as i would have liked, the rest of the set was filled with wonderful Mahler renditions from the Melbourne Symphony.
HOORAY FOR FREE SHOWS!!!

If work doesn't get in the way again I'm going to Cat Power and Beirut next week, fingers crossed.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: pinkpiche on 07 Mar 2008, 05:54: I'm seeing Efterklang tomorrow! Will report in due time
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: valley_parade on 07 Mar 2008, 05:55: Expect a few goodies from me in the next two weeks, including:

Dropkick Murphys/Ted Leo & The Pharmacists
Fu Manchu
Tilly & The Wall
and possibly a trip to see Holy Fuck.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: a pack of wolves on 07 Mar 2008, 08:33: I went to see Perth Express with Mob Rules, Threads, Burning The Prospect and Fluid last night. Mob Rules were excellent, lots of Man Is The Bastard and general evil hatred in the mix. Thoroughly unpleasant and negative, that band are going to do some great things. Threads didn't grab me too much but then again hard rock and heavy metal isn't my favourite thing. I like it and all maybe not enough to go for Threads, so I think my disinterest was due to my tastes rather than any failings on their part. Burning The Prospect kicked out a dense d-beat wall of sound but it all seemed a bit uninspired to me. Fluid I missed due to catching up with people. Perth Express were amazing, far more intense than when I saw them a couple of years ago (and I liked them then). They played like they were on the edge of collapse and managed to give a unique spin on that whole epic crust sound with a more compacted metalcore vibe. That's a rubbish description but they really were something special, I really recommend anyone who likes Tragedy, His Hero Is Gone and The Endless Blockade to check them out.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: pinkpiche on 08 Mar 2008, 01:10: Perth Express are excellent! I saw them once up at 1000fryd here in DK and they really know how to kick a show.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: a pack of wolves on 08 Mar 2008, 23:57: I just heard that this tour will be their last, they're going to call it a day once they're done. A real shame.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: pinkpiche on 09 Mar 2008, 09:42: Yes I heard that too. Too many good bands are throwing in the towel.

Efterklang, with Peter Broderick

I swear this show is in my all time top 5 shows-list! And I've seen Boris.
Seriously though, Parades didn't really catch my attention the first four or five times I listened to it. Didn't have enough RAWK. But god was I wrong. They rocked the stage off, while maintaining a tension that was almost unbearable at times. It was mostly tracks off of Parades as well as two tracks from their previous record, Tripper. They merged the brass section equally with a fantastic choir and their unique blend of glacial electronica, and still they rocked. It was amazing. They were wearing costumes as usual:

http://jp.dk/kultur/popmusik/concerts/article1171787.ece?showInfo=image&relatedField=picFrontpageArtTop (http://jp.dk/kultur/popmusik/concerts/article1171787.ece?showInfo=image&relatedField=picFrontpageArtTop)

That picture doesn't really do them justice though. I think it was the most accomplished mix of music, graphics and "style" I've seen in a long time. Panic at the Disco can go fucking shoot themselves. Other than that, there wasn't ONE person not smiling the whole show through. Efterklang is a fascist-killing machine, for sure.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: quietnow on 09 Mar 2008, 10:32: last night i went to the smell and saw the mae shi with few other bands, notably, old time relijun, whose drummer is really cute.

my thoughts? i need to do this more. it has been eons since i've been to a real garage-type show. even though the smell is a pretty popular place for hipsters, it is tiny, and independently run, and reminds me of an all ages club i grew up at in orange county. it has been probably three years since i've felt so HAPPY at a show, and i've never felt so INCLUDED. the only band that even comes close to this kind of feeling in my memory is against me!, who went and started making bullshit that doesn't have anything to do with me. maybe crass-era chumbawumba was also similar. the plus is that the mae shi aren't political, so you get all the fun without the sermon.

there was a canvas tarp that got thrown over the pit. about 78% of the show i had no fucking clue where the band was (except bill and whoever's on keys), because the entire fucking crowd was onstage, singing every song. in fact, it was the crowd that started singing their banger, run to your grave, at the end of their short set (like 4 or 5 songs?), and it was not like it was on the cd. it was how we made it. thee end.

they're playing like 15 shows at sxsw, so go see them. you won't regret it. http://www.myspace.com/themaeshi
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Lummer on 09 Mar 2008, 11:02: Guys, Electric Eel Shock is THE BEST LIVE BAND EVER!!!!
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Noct on 09 Mar 2008, 14:34: I just did a little personal bloggy-type thing about a little show I went to last night, so I guess I'll just paste it in here.

The Venue: Bordello is a little bar on the edge of little tokyo (I guess?) that, in an earlier lifetime, served as a legal and functioning brothel. The decor is consistent with its name and history; lots of red, heavy velvet curtains, black chandeliers, low light, etc. The sound in the main stage area was pretty good, loud, but not horribly distorted, and the mixing was pretty good. Overall, good little place.

Opening Band: I never did catch the name of the band that went on before LoveLikeFire. They mentioned it a couple times, but could never make it out. This is actually fairly indicative of their vocals which were not my favorite thing in the world. They had a couple interesting songs, but most of it was fairly same-y indie rock stuff. Didn't make much of an impresssion on me.

LoveLikeFire (http://www.myspace.com/lovelikefire (http://www.myspace.com/lovelikefire)): I've only been aware of this band for about a week but in that time I've really fallen in love with them, and their live show did not disappoint. Ann Yu's vocals were absolutely spot-on, go hit up their myspace and check out "From a Tower", her voice is absolutely perfect for this type of song. She is capable if singing more cleanly, but I love it when her voice has more of that quirky edge to it. She's also completely adorable whist rocking-the-fuck-out. It wouldn't have hurt if they pushed her vocals a bit higher in the mix though, I really would have liked to hear more. The upside to this is that it really drew more attention to their soaringly epic guitar work. Nothing overly complex, mind you, but it was a big and richly textured sound that's much more powerful than on their recorded work. The rhythm section was rock solid, sometimes breaking into a galloping western-themed beat, mostly keeping it fairly steady, always more interesting than your standard rock beat.

TL,DR version: They blew me away, and I hope these guys make it big. Go listen to them.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: sean on 09 Mar 2008, 15:28: Quote from: pinkpiche on 09 Mar 2008, 09:42
hai guys i saw efterklang lawlz

lkasdujflaskjdf

I swear, these guys need to come to the U.S. now.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: feh on 09 Mar 2008, 20:19: I don't get to many shows these days, but when I do I make it a good one. Last show I got to see was one of two Robert Pollard shows he did in 2007 (Dec. 1 at Southgate House). Blew my mind. He put together a band that had one practice to learn two albums worth of new material, plus his older material and a few older Guided by Voices classics. They tore the place up.

I also got to go to his 50th birthday party in October, and he played about 6 songs with an impromptu GbV reunion of random members of various previous incarnations of the band. Doug Gillard, Nate Farley, Jim MacPherson were up there. I think it was Kevin Fennel on bass. Once in a lifetime experience, to say the least.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: doombilly on 11 Mar 2008, 05:26: Last Night:
Yayyyy. I finally got to see the Meat Puppets. It is so good to see (albeit grizzled) Chris Kirkwood out of the slammer/rehab etc... He was quite the energetic bass playinz last night. The only shortcoming was the fact that they were opening for some band called Built to Spill who I guess are some kind of big deal. But you know, they weren't the fucking Meat Puppets (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meat_Puppets). And Meat Puppets rocked...in a southwestern~countrified~punk rock sort of way.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Ishotdanieljohnston on 11 Mar 2008, 06:00: Hey, don't you be bitchin on Built to Spill! Well I'm one angry fucking camper tonight, beirut fucking cancelled on my ass! He informed the venue two hours before the show. FUCK. Cat Power on Thursday better goddamn make up for this.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: doombilly on 11 Mar 2008, 06:56: Or else you'll what?
heh

nm, if you are excited about seeing Cat Power...
Here's hoping that works out ok. BTS were ok. They need 10 more guitar players in the band though. :evil:
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: karl gambolputty... on 11 Mar 2008, 10:26: Quote from: Ishotdanieljohnston on 11 Mar 2008, 06:00
Hey, don't you be bitchin on Built to Spill! Well I'm one angry fucking camper tonight, beirut fucking cancelled on my ass! He informed the venue two hours before the show. FUCK. Cat Power on Thursday better goddamn make up for this.

I don't think you missed out on much with Beirut. They were pretty underwhelming when I saw them. They had a metric fuckton of people onstage, all playing over each other, it was a mess. Zach Whatsisface was pretty great though, the dude can sing.

Cat Power will more than make up for it
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 11 Mar 2008, 11:33: I'm seeing Frog Eyes tonight in the converted garage/concert venue type thing here on campus. I've heard mixed opinions about 'em as a live band. Anyone know what I should expect? Thoughts to follow, I guess.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Inlander on 11 Mar 2008, 16:07: I was disappointed about Beirut, but I don't think it's fair to be angry about it. I mean, according to the venue's website, dude had a throat infection and was told by a doctor not to perform. What do you want him to do? Unless he actually went and rubbed bacteria onto his tonsils just because he's so overwhelmed by ennui that he can only get his kicks out of sabotaging his own shows and pissing off his fans, there doesn't seem to be much to be angry about. Unless you're angry at the infection itself, I guess.

I've been to a couple of shows in the last few days. Iron & Wine was disappointing : great venue, great musicians, great songs - but too much long-winded playing that sounded like guys jamming. And too heavy a focus on the new songs. Now, don't get me wrong, I love the new songs, and I'd hate to be one of those guys who insists that a musician live in the past, but when the last song of the set (excluding the encore) was a simply stunning version of "Upwards Over the Mountain", arranged for the whole band and played in what we might call the "Shepherd's Dog style", it made me really yearn to hear more of his old stuff transformed in that way. Oh well.

Jens Lekman on Monday night, however, was something else entirely. What a gig. I've been to a few pretty awesome gigs this year, and this one was right up there. It was the third time I've seen him perform, and probably the best (although the second doesn't really count, as he was losing his voice). He had a full band up there with him, including a cellist and a violinist, and it was just wonderful to hear tracks like "Maple Leaves" and "Black Cab" played by so well by real actual musicians (although he had his usual backing tracks too, they complemented and filled out the sound, rather than dominating it). I've been a little underwhelmed by his most recent album so far, but I'm going to have to revisit it now - it was one of those gigs that made me hear songs I'd otherwise dismissed in a new and revelatory light.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: FireAarro on 11 Mar 2008, 16:14: Quote from: Sam on 11 Mar 2008, 07:24
thanks for talking up the Mae Shi kari, i'm seeing them thursday night.

went to tokyopoliceclub for the 2nd time last night, it was okay. they played better than when i saw them in the summer, but the crowd wasn't as good and this show was outside.

The Mae Shi are pretty much my favourite band. It's funny you mention "without the sermon" though, their new singer is Christian and so are all the lyrics off their latest album. I don't mind it too much though. Quote Jeff the guitarist "A lot of people think we are a Christian band. We get criticized for being dogmatic, but we aren't dogmatic at all".

Jens Lekman! I was gonna see him on Monday but underage+tickets sold out. My friend's sister's playing 'cello in his band, he was playing violin before uni started. I hope I can see him soon.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Inlander on 11 Mar 2008, 16:27: Well if he moves out here permanently, you'll have a pretty good chance!

P.S.: your friend's sister played very well.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: FireAarro on 11 Mar 2008, 17:23: Thanks, I'll let her know :P

My friend said Jens might only be staying here for the year, and might be taking a break sometime... hopefully those aren't all true.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Beastmouth on 11 Mar 2008, 17:29: I saw Jonathan Richman a couple weeks ago, just him with a looper and a classical guitar and a drummer. It was utterly fantastic, and then after the show I talked to him, and I think maybe he might be from this planet
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: DMart on 12 Mar 2008, 00:14: Quote from: Inlander on 11 Mar 2008, 16:07
I was disappointed about Beirut, but I don't think it's fair to be angry about it.....

I've been to a couple of shows in the last few days. Iron & Wine was disappointing ...

Yeah, Beirut cancelling kinda sucked - I was so amped for it - and I definitely agree on the Iron & Wine thing. I was hoping for a lot more of the early stuff - besides, acoustic instruments would have suited his attire much better than the SG he was playing for most of the show.

I saw CW Stoneking the other week too - truly entertaining. I wouldn't go out of my way to listen to his material very often (actually I'd never intentionally listened to any of it prior to going to see him), but I'm damn glad I went.

And 'plus one' (har har) for Okkervil River being excellent live.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 13 Mar 2008, 10:26: Frog eyes was fairly excellent. The two opening bands were pretty local (from SUNY Purchase I believe). The first was fairly forgettable but the second, 'In the Distance: A Light!' was excellent (an extremely eccentric front man with awesome vocals and tons of energy). Obviously Frog Eyes and related bands were an influence on the vocals. Really raucous, energetic, longish songs. Well worth checking out (although the myspace songs aren't quite as good as the live set was and have less instrumentation in some cases). Take a listen: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=80738420 The song 'The Man with the Frozen Arm' is particularly good.

Frog Eyes kicked ass. All their songs were extended versions of what's on their albums, they were incredibly energetic, played a new, awesome song, and ended with a 15 minute rendition of 'Bushels' which was absolutely killer. Carey Mercer is also one of the funniest people I've encountered on stage. His between song banter was hilarious and he was incredibly friendly after the show. Although I've heard mixed things about Frog Eyes as a live band, I thought the performance was seriously great. I missed out on what looked like an awesome experimental music/video/slide performance to see this show and I was worried that I would be let down but I got immediately taken in by the energy of the band and they managed to sustain it over long songs and for the entire set.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Ishotdanieljohnston on 13 Mar 2008, 17:38: So I went to Cat Power last night, and... total surprise, Mick Turner and Jim White opened for her. Dirty Three are my favourite Australian band so you can imagine how I felt when I turned round from the bar at the forum to see them both up their. Man, Jim White is just incredible, I think everyone in the crowd was just totally transfixed by him, his left and right arm appeared to belong to seperate bodies, doing their completely own thing and just flying all over the place. Incredible. Mick, of course, was great as well and man cn he loop like a mother fucker, building and building these amazing Mogwai like soundscapes. I bought their new album after the show and am listening now.

Anyway, Cat Power herself. I'd heard from people that she was really unenthusiastic live and quite a selfish performer, if this was ever true, boy has she changed. There was just o much energy in her and such stage presence. Her band with Jim White in tow was fantastic. She wasn't bogged downby a piano or guitar or anything and just danced around thes stage. The sound was pretty badly mixed though and much of her singing was drowned out by the guitar. At the end of the show she insisted the house lights be turned on ad just took a minute to stand there and admire her audience, at which point she handed me a flower :lol:, which made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.She really just didn't want to leave the stge at the end she just kept hanging round after the band was gone making silly voices and prancing around, having fun with the audience. What a woman.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: pilsner on 15 Mar 2008, 10:47: So, Iron Maiden last night in NJ was amazing. The 8 foot tall Eddie from the future with Terminator gun, fireworks and flames, and the fact that Dickinson still has a hell of a voice combined for maximum fun in an evening where they performed most of the old favorites including Fear of the Dark, Run to the Hills, The Number of the Beast, Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner, and Can I Play With Madness. They also announced a June 15 show at MSG.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: FireAarro on 15 Mar 2008, 20:12: Quote from: Sam on 13 Mar 2008, 23:21
i saw the mae shi 3 times in the past two days, and i'm seeing them again tomorrow or saturday.

new favorite band? maybe.

one of us... one of us...
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: valley_parade on 15 Mar 2008, 22:04: DKM/Everybody Out/Big D & The Kids Table (afternoon show)

Everybody Out: Riotous fun. English punk ahoy!
B+ would see again! Attempted to buy a t-shirt, but they were sold out.

Big D: Uninspiring, really. They played two covers, and those were probably the best tracks.
D+ Booooooo.

Dropkick: I'll get back to this. See the later review.

Dropkick/Ted Leo & The Pharmacists (night show)

Ted Leo: The set was REALLY high energy, but unfortunately the crowd was made of mostly drunken dudebros who were screaming about how bad Ted Leo is. At one point, Ted started arguing with them. I loved it, but I think I was the only one there that did, sadly. I ended up leaving the general area before the last two songs (they closed with an amazing Stiff Little Fingers cover) because I could not stand the dudebros.
A- Great show, but the crowd wasn't into it. *sigh*

I hate to say it, but I guess Dropkick Murphys are too big, or rather, the fanbase totally sucks now. I almost don't want to go next March to see them. I mean honestly, the pits were a mix of drunken frat-boy dudebros, 12 year old girls, and thirtysomethings who think they're still hip. I'm sad. I long for the good ol' days when they were rocking tiny clubs (even though I wasn't a huge fan back then?).

Both of their sets were wicked fun, though. I really enjoyed the shows...just not the crowd.
B+ It's frigging Dropkick Murphys on St. Patty's weekend. You should experience it at least once. Before the dudebros take over entirely.

(http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h76/captain_applesauce/031508_20141.jpg)
I guess this proves nothing aside that Ted Leo and at least one Pharmacist were playing a show.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Kai on 16 Mar 2008, 09:48: Seeing Built to Spill and the MEAT PUPPETS tomorrow night. Hella excited.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: pilsner on 16 Mar 2008, 14:03: Quote from: valley_parade on 15 Mar 2008, 22:04
I ended up leaving the general area before the last two songs (they closed with an amazing Stiff Little Fingers cover) because I could not stand the dudebros.

Suspect Device, right? Ted Leo's cover of that song is epic.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: valley_parade on 16 Mar 2008, 14:34: Yep! It was so good.

Got my ticket today for Fu Manchu on Thursday. \m/
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: DMart on 17 Mar 2008, 06:03: Just got back from Múm at the Corner - Wow. I thought I was in for a night of regret - It was really hot outside let alone inside the bandroom, I was tired and in a fairly shitty mood and just plain didn't want to be in a room full of strangers (most of whom were taller than me, as usual). I actually considered calling a friend to see if I could sell off the ticket so I could just go home instead... and then they got on stage and I forgot about all that. I didn't expect them to be so captivating really. And on top of that, they were so modest and appreciative of the crowd's reaction (actually I haven't seen the whole crowd that 'into' the band playing in quite a while), and they seemed to be having a genuinely great time on stage. If you're into their music and have the opportunity to see them, don't waste it.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Inlander on 17 Mar 2008, 06:15: I just got home from that same gig. My impressions are pretty much the same as yours - at about 7 o'clock this evening I was feeling nauseous from the heat and really didn't feel like going out, and I from their music (which I only have a passing familiarity with, anyway) I was expecting the band to be really subdued and introspective on stage. I couldn't have been more wrong. So glad I went - it's unusual to see a band so genuinely surprised and delighted at the crowd's response to their performance. It was a rare pleasure to see a band that, without actually jumping around or doing much on stage, nonetheless radiates so much joy and and enthusiasm. It created a very special mood in the whole room, which everyone in the crowd instinctively picked up on.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: valley_parade on 20 Mar 2008, 22:12: Fu Manchu: the most fun I've ever had at a rock show (including The Aquabats).

And it has nothing to do with me asking a cute girl out after the show. She said no, anyway.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 21 Mar 2008, 16:39: Quote from: Objects inside Clouds on 09 Mar 2008, 15:28
Quote from: pinkpiche on 09 Mar 2008, 09:42
hai guys i saw efterklang lawlz

lkasdujflaskjdf

I swear, these guys need to come to the U.S. now.

Sorta like the ones they're playing in late May you mean?? I'm seeing them the 26th in Philly!

I'm seeing Xiu Xiu for the second time tomorrow. First time I saw them was bizarre and awesome so I'm really excited. Thao Nguyen and the Get Down Stay Downs are opening (and playing a live, in-studio set in our lovely little radio station beforehand. Check it out! Link's in my sig (sorry for shameless plugs).) Thoughts Sunday probably. Expect them to be good ones though.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Ishotdanieljohnston on 21 Mar 2008, 17:03: I really wanted to see Maceo Parker at the corner last night but tickets were 79 and none of my friends are fans, I ended up at the venue round the time he started though and listened from outside for a few minutes. Sounded incredible.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: LucyStag on 21 Mar 2008, 23:29: I just saw the Slits. Holy shit awesome pretend trip to London 1977 happy dance party.

Go see them, everyone ever.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: doombilly on 22 Mar 2008, 09:19: Quote from: LucyStag on 21 Mar 2008, 23:29
I just saw the Slits. Holy shit awesome pretend trip to London 1977 happy dance party.

Go see them, everyone ever.

Wow, you ARE a LuckyStag.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: lol@yourface on 22 Mar 2008, 16:16: bands i've seen live:
Lost Prophets, Iron Maiden, Taking Back Sunday, Trivium, Anti-Flag, Alexisonfire, UnderOath, Saosin, My Chemical Romance, Funeral For A Friend, Kids In Glass Houses, Paramore, The Gallows, Senses Fail, Enter Shikari, and lots of small local bands.
The best was by far Iron Maiden, saw them back in december 06 the only bad point was they played the entire of A Matter Of Life And Death and only a few of their older songs.
The next best was Funeral saw them december 22nd 07 they were amazing, a good mix of all their albums and involving the crowd, keeping everyone entertained.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: ZedAvatar on 23 Mar 2008, 02:48: I managed to catch Imogen Heap the last time she was in Chicago. For a one-woman band, she puts on a heck of a show!
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Leprechaunic on 25 Mar 2008, 09:06: I lived in Hawaii most of my life and few bands EVER go there. However, I did get to see 311 two years ago. It was fantastic. Great live band and I had a lot of fun.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: amok on 25 Mar 2008, 09:50: got a few gigs upcoming in the next ~month 1/2 (ted leo, low, i am x) but the cream of the crop has to be ulrich schnauss w/ airiel at the Bristol Lousiana, such an awesome lil' venue. hell will freeze over before there's a fleeting chance that won't rock my face off.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: valley_parade on 25 Mar 2008, 09:54: Have fun with Ted Leo. He put on a GREAT set in Lowell, but the crowd wasn't into it at all.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: amok on 25 Mar 2008, 09:56: Man, Ted Leo was going to play my favourite venue in my hometown Bristol when he cancelled for unknown 'family reasons' the date before.

I mean the guy's so lovely that he obviously had a legitimate reason but my heart broke. I snapped up a pair of tickets the second I saw he was over here again. :)

fuckin' guarantee that at least 2 of the crowd will be 'into it' very much :)
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 25 Mar 2008, 13:55: Just saw three shows three nights in a row, the first two at SMOG, a garage here on campus, the last one in the campus center multi-purpose room.
Saturday:
Xiu Xiu with Thao Nguyen and Symbol:
What a let-down! I've seen Xiu Xiu and Thao live a couple of times in the past and they shows were fantastic. For some reason, something was seriously wrong when I saw them. I think whoever was doing sound must have been stoned or drunk or something since I've never heard worse sound mixing in my life. Thao, a singer/songwriter with a backing band, was a mess. Although the band rocked out and were really high energy, Thao's voice was totally overwhelmed by the instruments and her acoustic guitar was barely audible. Eventually she got frustrated and plugged it into the guitar amp which kinda killed the acoustic quality of it. There was a lot of energy in the performance and the crowd was really into it anyway but the music itself was disapointing. Fucking sound guy.
Xiu Xiu had the exact same problems and then some. The venue is fairly tiny so it got extremely crowded. Like, 'wow I can't move' crowded. The crowd was extremely noisy so during lulls in songs, voices almost drowned out Jamie Stewart's vocals which, again, were barely audible to begin with. The band was trying but the crowd was just not getting into it and everything sounded fairly terrible overall. The keyboard has a list of 12 songs and settings for each song on it, which I would presume was a playlist, but the band only did six songs before ending the set. A serious let down, especially since they've been awesome in the past. Fucking sound guy.
Symbol was a ambient/drone/noise improv band which I rather loved but I think most people couldn't get into it. They sounded a bit like Tarentel which endeared them to more. A rather longish, continuous set. Probably the best part about the show, to be honest.

Sunday:
An Albatross with Apes
Well this show was so fucking bad-ass that it more than made up for Saturday. Apes were absolutely killer, putting on one of the most energetic and enjoyable live sets I've had the pleasure to see. Awesome, vaguely industrialish, super energetic rock with guitar, lots of awesome keyboard and a fucking awesome drummer who played drums probably harder than anyone I've seen. The lead singer was amazing. He had a great, unique voice and tons of energy, coming off the stage and into the audience to dance and sing like a madman. This set was tons of fun and it alone would have made the show more than worthwhile.
An Albatross were brilliant. They blew me away. I think my ears are still ringing from all the rocking the fuck out they did. Seriously intense hardcore electro-y rock god amazingness. The lead singer had perhaps the best stage presence I've seen in a long while, the instrumentals (drums, guitar, bass, keyboards) were fantastic, the entire set was almost non-stop and unrelentingly intense. So much fun. They drove a car into the venue (it's a garage so it works) and even played on and in the car. Overall a killer stage presence and a really amazing sound. Truly awesome.

Monday:
Crystal Castles with Health
I miss Health. I heard they were good.
Crystal Castles was fairly boring. They used a strobe light for the entire show which was kinda annoying. They weren't bad but I think the most I can say is that they were sorta fun and inoffensive. Basically they make kinda average 90s-ish dance/club music. They had a singer, keyboardist and live drummer, the last of which was pretty superfluous. If they wanted a live instrument, they should have had a drum machine play the repetitious drum parts and used a real bassist in lieu of the keyboard bass, which sounded kinda weak. It wasn't a bad show and I guess I had fun but it was pretty clean and mediocre.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: pinkpiche on 25 Mar 2008, 14:41: I CURSE you, for having seen An Albatross. That band is so ridiculously awesome it hurts.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: a pack of wolves on 25 Mar 2008, 16:38: Yeah, An Albatross put on a great show. It's nice to see a band who won't let the fear of looking a bit silly get in the way of a fun performance.

I just got back from Sinaloa, Don't Mess With Texas, Feint and Kids Return. I unfortunately only caught the end of Kids Return's set but they impressed me enough to pick up the LP (which is made from an old Olivia Newton John record, excellent DIY recycling second only to an Impressions 7" I have made from an old Frosties packet). Good old school emo with good songs and a lot of passion. Feint were as great as they always are, really cutting through to what emo should be all about with a very distinctive style. They're ramshackle in the best possible way. Don't Mess With Texas had a pleasant sound but lacked any real meat, I felt they really needed a singer. As an instrumental group they didn't really cut it. Sinaloa were good, I wasn't blown away but it was a tight set and I liked the fact that they'd talk about what the songs were about like a proper punk band. Kids Return and Feint were definitely the highlights, finally the UK is producing emo bands that can compete with the mainland.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 25 Mar 2008, 16:52: That's a very odd lineup, no?
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: a pack of wolves on 25 Mar 2008, 17:46: Quote from: TheFuriousWombat on 25 Mar 2008, 16:52
That's a very odd lineup, no?

How so? They all seem to fit pretty well together to me.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 25 Mar 2008, 17:53: Well it's a pretty decent older sounding emo-ish band, another emo-ish band, a kinda mediocre post-rock band (who are pretty decent but also not to compelling when recorded) and, from what I've heard of the last band, a slightly more electronics driven/more hardcore sounding band. I guess it's mostly DMwT that seems a little out of place now that I think about it...
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: a pack of wolves on 25 Mar 2008, 18:02: Sinaloa weren't using any electronics live, I haven't heard the records so I don't know about them. They definitely had a more hardcore sound than Feint and Kids Return but it was still emo. DMWT were on a very different tip but they're definitely coming out of the DIY scene, and live their twinkly bits with louder sections sits alright with emo. I always prefer a more diverse bill myself, I miss the days when you'd get The Ataris supported by Fall Silent and Dragbody playing with Joe 90.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: DMart on 27 Mar 2008, 15:49: Rodrigo y Gabriela played at the Forum last night. I was kind of expecting it to be a fairly sedate affair, like a lot of acoustic shows - musicians on the stage, sitting on stools, playing their stuff, no big fuss. It still would have been great if that was the case - seriously, listen to their album if you haven't already and consider that they pulled that sound off with just the two of them on stage, and with the same momentum. But then there was a visual show to go with it - they had like 4 or 5 cameras set up on the stage; one pointed at each of their right hands, one down the neck of their guitars and a few placed elsewhere. So while they were doing their stuff, these views were projected in black and white behind them. To top it all off they were great showmen (showpeople?). They had the crowd just as fired up as they were the whole time. Fucking excellent. Top notch musicians with a good sense of humor. Gabriela has more rhythm in her right hand than Meg White does in her whole body :-D
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Ishotdanieljohnston on 27 Mar 2008, 16:29: I really wanted to go to that, not quite sure why I didn't. Glad to hear it was good times.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: october1983 on 29 Mar 2008, 11:27: Last night I went to see El Guincho at the Old Blue Last, and he was fucking awesome. A lazy description would be Person Pitch but with a kind of Mediterranean/Caribbean/tropical bent, but frankly it's so loaded with influences from all over the world it's hard to describe or pin down. Most importantly it is music to dance to, without a doubt. Anyone who goes to his live shows and does not feel utterly compelled to dance is completely ignoring the most base of all human impulses, I swear. Unfortunately the Old Blue Last is a pub owned and run by Vice magazine, and a good portion of the crowd was clearly too fucking cool to dance, to the extent that one guy actually told my friend to stop. Bastards. We still had fun.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: DMart on 04 Apr 2008, 07:10: Smashing Pumpkins at Festival Hall... the sound wasn't great - loud, but a bit unclear. Apart from that, Billy, James and the rest of the crew can fucking rock out AWESOME STYLEZ. I'll probably edit this in the morn and add a bit more... but basically they played 3 songs off their latest album, and the rest was older stuff, along with a cover of Britney's 'You Wanna Piece Of Me?' and Floyd's 'Set the Controls to the Heart of the Sun'.

Whoa.

On the downside, the 5-0 hassled me and my brothers (literally... i'm not african-american) for 'borrowing' pint glasses from a pub after the gig. Bad idea: Yes. As severe as the hero-like officer of the 3 made it out to be: No.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: yipinglim on 04 Apr 2008, 07:28: A couple of the best gigs I have been to are here in London.

Caught Mono a while back, and hands down, best band I've seen live. Was in a small venue, at this place called Underworld. I woke up the next morning with my ears ringing. Here's a picture from that gig.

(http://farm1.static.flickr.com/148/377122234_835c4f35af.jpg)

Another gig which I went to which I really enjoyed was Calexico a while back as well. They had A Hawk and Hacksaw, and Beirut open up for them. That concert was so alive. The best part about it was that all three bands came out at the end to play together on stage. Fucking awesome!
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: karl gambolputty... on 04 Apr 2008, 10:25: Going to see Les Savy Fav tonight. I hear they put on a pretty kick-ass show. Details to follow
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: valley_parade on 04 Apr 2008, 10:28: Also to follow: my adventures in seeing John Vanderslice/Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks tonight.

John Vanderslice: Awesomely fun. For their last song, they ended up venturing into the middle of the crowd and playing an acoustic song.

Malkmus/Jicks: Roooooooock. I mean..really. Shouldn't every show end like this, guitars and mics strewn about an old, beat-up amp? The only problem with the entire show was the inconsistencies of Malkmus' guitars. He must've broken 4 strings on his Jazzmaster, and the Les Paul was having tuning issues left and right.

(http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h76/captain_applesauce/040408_23011.jpg)
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 05 Apr 2008, 08:17: Quote from: yipinglim on 04 Apr 2008, 07:28
Caught Mono a while back, and hands down, best band I've seen live. Was in a small venue, at this place called Underworld. I woke up the next morning with my ears ringing.

Aye, MONO is easily one of the best live bands I've ever seen. They don't tour all that often but I always go out of my way to see them as many times as possible when they do. I only do that for a few other bands.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: voidSkipper on 05 Apr 2008, 08:31: Managed to see Budgie a couple of weeks back. The crowd was a bit tame, as the major interest came from people that had missed them before they stopped touring some 30 years ago.

All that remained was the bassist/singer, who clearly wanted to be Osbourne - but goddamn could these guys play. Sorta funky, riff based, bass driven rock. For an old fella, he could move pretty well, too.

They kept making jabs at the kids wearing Metallica shirts, though. Little known fact that they wrote Breadfan and Crash Course in Brain Surgery - "and we play it with only three people", he growled while introducing the former.

The support bands consisted of a slide guitar driven country rock band, Swayback (They put on a hell of a show, but I bought the album and it was a little disappointing in comparison), and a three-piece metal band, Stone Ox. These guys had a lead bassist, and he was a bit of a joke as far as stage presense went - grinning sideburn to sideburn and making Rokk poses from the '80s, but he could definitely play. He blew an amp halfway through though, and their show kinda suffered from it.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: karl gambolputty... on 05 Apr 2008, 10:53: Got to the Les Savy Fav show to find that it was sold out, and I was the only one in the group who had bought tickets online, because I knew the show would sell out, because DC is full of teenage scenesters with too much money. So I scalped the ticket to one of the scenesters (made $1.30 WOO) and we went and saw Enon, and they fucking ROCKED.

They played mostly songs from the new album with the long name and High Society, pretty much all their seriously rockin' stuff. Peace of Mind was mind-blowing.

Shitty phone-photo:

(http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/1581/26765272zs7.jpg)

Quote from: yipinglim on 04 Apr 2008, 07:28
Caught Mono a while back, and hands down, best band I've seen live. Was in a small venue, at this place called Underworld. I woke up the next morning with my ears ringing. Here's a picture from that gig.

Mono is amazing. I couldn't enjoy any show I saw for months after I saw Mono.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: a pack of wolves on 05 Apr 2008, 11:53: Last night was War All The Time, Mob Rules, The Uprights and Total Dismay. Total Dismay had a good 80s hardcore vibe going on, more concerned with kicking out the jams than technical skill. Solid. The Uprights are a three piece dealing in some noisy indie rock, the kind of stuff that could have been made any time since the 80s and still sounds as good now as it ever did. Mob Rules were as great yet again, heavy and punishing, guitar stabs and grinding rhythms while the singer contorts and barks. I can't remember the last new hardcore band that sounded this good. War All The Time were playing their first gig after an Asian tour (lucky bastards) and they were easily the best I'd ever seen them. "Alright, this one's for all the squatters. And those on the dole, and on housing benefit." That quote and their name rather sums up their approach. Possibly the best d-beat band in the world right now, the crowd kicked off and the night finished in style.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: pinkpiche on 05 Apr 2008, 15:36: I am so sorry for myself that War All (of) The Time still reminds me of Thursday.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: valley_parade on 05 Apr 2008, 17:00: That was the one Thursday album I liked.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: orangepeas on 05 Apr 2008, 18:20: Silverchair May 2003,I was super sick at this show. I went anyway, they were amazing live. If you ever get a chance to see them, go see them!

Muse(part of the Curiosa Festival): I agree with what everyone else has said about them. Awesome band,Awesome show!
The Cure: Saw them as part as the Curiosa festival at molson amphitheater, friggen amazing and the view from where I was standing was amazing!

Rheostatics at Massey Hall: This was their last concert and it was spectacular. For their encore they went out to the crown and played anacoustic set.

Final Fantasy: He played a small show in Toronto and I was extremely close to the stage...he was great!

I've also seen Sigur Ros,Sonic Youth,Silverchair(two other times),Rheostatics numberous times and I'm seeing D.O.A in May.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: valley_parade on 05 Apr 2008, 18:22: Rheostatics! I'm not familiar with them, music-wise, but I have a book Dave Bidini wrote about traveling the world and playing hockey.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: orangepeas on 05 Apr 2008, 18:27: do you want some Rheostatics music?
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: valley_parade on 05 Apr 2008, 18:30: Yeah, throw some into the mediafire thread, if it's not a problem. Thanks!
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: orangepeas on 05 Apr 2008, 18:31: Coming right up!
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: DMart on 06 Apr 2008, 15:53: Saw the Smashing Pumpkins at V-fest - heaps better than at Festival Hall, mainly because of the sound, but also they were playing a bit better and I was in the crowd rather than the stalls. They played Zero and Cherub Rock, which they didn't do for most of their shows from what I've heard. F**king excellent. Billy had his autistic brother come out on stage with a tamborine during 'Set the Controls to the Heart of the Sun' (he did this at Festival Hall too) - that guy seriously rocks out on the tamborine. It looked like there were a lot of Pumpkins fans at the festival too - like 1 in 20 people had Pumpkins apparel.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: absurdabsurd on 06 Apr 2008, 17:01: I still don't know how I feel about the Pumpkins gig at the O2 Arena in London back in Feb. I had seen them at Reading Festival last summer as well, where they were completely outplayed by NIN who were on just before them, but I decided to shell out around $70 plus trainfare to go see them again because they are the band that accompanied me through HS and adolescence and all that BS.

Oceansize opened and they were excellent.

The Pumpkins opened on Porcelina... and I completely melted, then went into Behold! The Night Mare which set such high standards for the rest of the set list because that's two of my favourite Pumpkins tunes right there. Most of the hits got dropped into the set, various things off the new album, and then a massive long drawn out FUZZDISTORTIONGUITARWANKERY section that was all shades of rock-awesome but started to get a tiny bit boring after around 15-20 minutes, though that might be because I was a) seated and b) in a state of massive sleep deprivation where maintaining my concentration span was an insanely difficult task. Overall they played for around 2.5 hours. They finished on a cover of Echo & the Bunnymen's Lips Like Sugar, apparently because the Brits don't know how to appreciate their homegrown music. Billy also mentioned Joy Division when saying this and for a moment my heart was jumping for a JD cover. Oh well. They didn't play Cherub Rock, and I may or may not have read somewhere that they intended to finish on that instead of the cover but I can't really remember. (They did finish on Cherub Rock at Reading. I think people would have rioted otherwise, from what I was hearing around me.)

The lights were fucking weird, including psychedelic flower patterns and all sorts of geometric weird shapes which completely ruined it for me occasionally. Stick to spotlights/atmospheric lights/flashes, stay away from the patterns and acid colour overload!

Outfits awesome as usual. METALLIC SKIRT yay.

Anyway, that Pink Floyd cover sounds interesting. I DO like me some Echo & the Bmen, but Pink Floyd or Joy Division would have been way more awesome as covers.

I still want/need to see them play either Soma or Aeroplane Flies High (Turns Left, Looks Right) live at some point in my life so I guess I will keep paying for overpriced tickets next time I get a chance to go...
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: DMart on 06 Apr 2008, 17:12: Quote from: absurdabsurd on 06 Apr 2008, 17:01
...started to get a tiny bit boring after around 15-20 minutes, though that might be because I was a) seated and b) in a state of massive sleep deprivation where maintaining my concentration span was an insanely difficult task.

I entirely blame this... After being seated at Festival Hall and being a bit tired I felt a little bored as well - it's a lot harder to get into the vibe when you're so far away from the action and the sound isn't really up to the task. In the crowd at V-fest: Wow. Just -- wow. Oh, and there's probably videos on Youtube of the Floyd cover, I think they rocked it out at quite a few shows.

...and I actually thought the lighting was really good! (particularly considering it was just lighting, i.e. no projectors/tvs/whatevers)
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: absurdabsurd on 06 Apr 2008, 17:40: Quote from: DMart on 06 Apr 2008, 17:12
...and I actually thought the lighting was really good! (particularly considering it was just lighting, i.e. no projectors/tvs/whatevers)

I just found it unneccessarily distracting and flashy in the 'shapes' phases because I don't really associate the Pumpkins' music with bright yellow/blue/green/pink/red/purple triangles, squares, and flowers. Simpler lights all the way through would have been the key really.

I remember the screens Billy had with him on his solo tour back in 2005 or whenever it was. Those were awesome, even though when not lit up it did make everything look a little tiled and sterile. That was such a let-down show for me though... the venue he played at here in Milan was way too big for what they were trying to do, Billy didn't seem to think anyone in the audience spoke any english whatsoever so I don't think he really spoke at all, and the entire thing more or less ended with him in a fit of anger, disappearing off stage and never coming back on. The opening band, Gliss, were liquid sexy shoegazey awesomeness though.

_{I actually liked his solo album, too....}
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: chizzle on 06 Apr 2008, 20:17: Last decent gig I went to was by a guy called Colin Macintyre, he used to go by the name of Mull Historical Society but decided to give the actual society their name back! He played at one of my favourite venues ever, a converted church in Glasgow, Scotland called Oran Mor (translated from Gaelic means "cool place") which is intimate and, well, just damned excellent! I've been trying to get people to listen to his music for ages now, he makes some very interesting mixes (he was credited on one album track of playing "seagulls"!). He's playing in a crappy Manchester venue next month, but I'm still going along, I'm sure it'd be a riot.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 06 Apr 2008, 21:02: As funny as Family Guy may or may not be, pic sigs are against the rules here. Please get rid of yours, Chizzle. Thanks.

On topic, I'm seeing These United States (super good psyche-folk) on Wednesday and The Death Set (Kinda old-school sounding punk with electronics) next week, both on campus. Both shows should be pretty great. Thoughts to follow I suppose.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: pinkpiche on 07 Apr 2008, 01:40: No one can pull a Pink Floyd cover off like Kylesa can.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: BrittanyMarie on 07 Apr 2008, 20:45: I saw Why? tonight and I thought it was pretty fantastic. It combined my favorite things- cutesy pop, intelligent hip-hop, glockenspiels and Jewish men. Opening was Fake Project, which sounded to like like the Go! Team would sound like if they traded the pom poms for more distortion and a heavier bass.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: BrittanyMarie on 10 Apr 2008, 03:41: Goddangit guys, I look like I am double posting but there are QUITE A FEW DAYS between the two.

I saw American Music Club! But rembember page 2 of this thread? (http://www.topatoco.com/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=TO&Product_Code=QW-TODO&Category_Code=QW) You know, where Tommy and Sox made "obscure tshirt designs" about American Music Club? There were about 25 people at this show. MAYBE. They were all "Thanks to the two people who actually like us". I wanted to hug them all.

(Afterwards I went to my friends place and watched Beautiful Girls and had my first "WTF is that Greg Dulli?" experience)
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 10 Apr 2008, 12:32: Saw These United States (twice) yesterday, once with Motel Motel
The first TUS show was a live in-studio at WXBC that I helped set up/hung out at. It was a really stripped down setup with the drummer using wire brushes on a hardback suitcase. It was great though and some other radio people and I got dinner with the band after the show. They're really cool guys. I guess I could describe them as a fairly rollicking psyche-folk rock band with a singer that sorta reminded me of that guy from Kings of Leon.
The night show, in Smog, was incredible. Motel Motel blew me away. I had never heard of them before but I'm very glad I went to the show and now know about them. They played fairly cross genre stuff, music that swung from folk to bluegrass to insane instrumental rock. The songs verged on 8 minutes each and careened all over the place, devolving from somewhat placid folk rock to brilliant and intense almost "post-rock"ish instrumental jams before dropping down into quiet, piano driven movements. The vocalist was really terrific and an incredibly nice guy. I talked to him after the show and it's really cool to see someone so enthusiastic about and into making music. Check these guys out if they ever play around you since it was an awesome performance.
These United States were also great. With the full set up, which included a bad ass pedal steel guitar and harmonica on top of the lineup used in-studio, the band was seriously rocking, really loud and super high energy. Apparently they're on a 33 show tour where each night they have a different opening band which plays with them. After playing four songs on their own, the three piece TUS was joined by the four members of TUS and three audience members. There were ten people jamming out. The band played TUS songs but no one in the audience or even from Motel Motel really knew the songs beyond having heard them a couple times so they became largely improvised. In addition to the full drum kit, two members of MM and the three audience members all played on partial kits, making for 6 percussionists which was fucking insane. There were also two guitarists, a bassist, a keyboardist and three singers. The sound was huge and raucous and the whole atmosphere was basically one of uninhibited fun.
It was a pretty flawless show overall. The sound was incredible, the audience was small but really into the music and all the musicians seemed really into it. Definitely one of the better shows I've seen recently.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: valley_parade on 11 Apr 2008, 09:54: last night: Trouble vs. Glue

Quite honestly, the one good thing I can say is that the girl in the band played a nice, sparkly red Danelectro U2.

That's about it. They weren't good at all. I'm glad I didn't pay to get in. Neither of them had particularly good voices.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: imapiratearg on 11 Apr 2008, 11:37: I'm seeing The Weakerthans in Northampton, Mass. tomorrow night.

HLUGAHGLUALGHALUGHLA

(I'm excited, to say the least.)
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: valley_parade on 11 Apr 2008, 19:54: The show I'm working tonight: A random jam session featuring artists playing in the Williamstown Jazz Festival

They sound really good right now. There's a bunch of musicians rotating on instruments, and they sound so tight as a group. Really enjoyable, especially compared to last night's shit fest of a band.

And a goodie for everyone; a live snippet as recorded through my MacBook's internal/Garageband! It's about four minutes long, 160kbs .mp3.

Code: [Select]
http://www.mediafire.com/?smgnoyl0w7j
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Liz on 13 Apr 2008, 16:09: Shearwater is coming to Fargo on May 14th and I can't go because the show is 21+. I have been wanting to see them live for about four years and this is what I get for it.

SAD DAY.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: RedLion on 13 Apr 2008, 17:07: Holy shit, the lineup for Lolla this year has been released!

Gigs I Must See at Lollapalooza

Radiohead
Rage Against the Machine
Lupe Fiasco
Kanye West
The Raconteurs
Gnarls Barkley
Broken Social Scene
The Black Keys
Gogol Bordello
Girl Talk
Steel Train
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 13 Apr 2008, 17:20: Quote from: Misconception on 13 Apr 2008, 16:09
Shearwater is coming to Fargo on May 14th and I can't go because the show is 21+. I have been wanting to see them live for about four years and this is what I get for it.

SAD DAY.

To be honest, they aren't too brilliant live. Good, but hardly spectacular. Okkervil River is far better as far as far as Will Scheff is concerned.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: sk8brder40 on 13 Apr 2008, 18:12: I just saw the fucking Used last night in Hampton Beach, NH. They played with Straylight Run, Army of Me, Street Drum Corps, and some unoriginal opening band.

The show was AMAZING. The crowd was FAR from boring. The pits were awesome, although I lost my shoe in one and some huge chick landed on my leg, but that's okay.

My friend and I both crowd surfed to the front of the stage, where we met some pissed off guards, but it was well worth it. All of the bands were awesome, I grabbed the singer of Army of Me's arm, and I was so close to Bert Mckracken. Was badass.

--
I also went to Projekt Revolution in the Tweeter Center in Mass last summer. That was a great show, although I had to stay in a seat the whole time
--

The black parade tour with MCR and Rise Against was also an AWESOME show, but I'm sure many of you people will be trashing on me for liking MCR. Don't care.

Buuut, yeah, awesome shows. I plan on going to the Paramore and Jimmy Eat World concert on the 30th. I love Paramore and cannot wait :)
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Liz on 13 Apr 2008, 19:28: Quote from: TheFuriousWombat on 13 Apr 2008, 17:20
To be honest, they aren't too brilliant live. Good, but hardly spectacular. Okkervil River is far better as far as far as Will Scheff is concerned.

Man, that does not matter to me. I have liked them a lot for a long time and I want to see them live and they will be playing a few blocks away from my apartment and it's just not fair.

I wonder if I could sneak in the back or something...
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 13 Apr 2008, 20:21: You might as well just try to get in if it's that close. Maybe they won't even card and if they try to maybe you can talk your way in (you forgot ID and came from 5 hours away just to see the show or something). Worth a shot.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Albatron on 13 Apr 2008, 22:51: Just saw Explosions In the Sky at the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta, Probably best concert ever, for me. I was on this platform and only about 20 feet from the stage so the only better spot was right at the stage. They only played for about an hour and a half but it was their second show for the day and still incredible.

On Castastrophe and the Cure, Munaf put down his guitar and kept doing that weird-awesome swaying he does grabbed some drum sticks for his drum part and totally beat the hell out of that tom. Then on the last song, I forget which one it was, he duct taped something to his guitar and then proceeded to destroy a tamboine by smashing it into the floor, after about 20 secs the little discs started to fly off. And the end he said, "I hurt my hand, but it was fun". I still don't think I've processed how good this concert was. I was also amazed that it all sounded nearly exactly the same as the albums.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: McTaggart on 14 Apr 2008, 04:43: Quote from: Albatron on 13 Apr 2008, 22:51
They only played for about an hour and a half

What?
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: imapiratearg on 14 Apr 2008, 04:49: Guys, I saw The Weakerthans on Saturday.

SO FUCKING GOOD.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: valley_parade on 14 Apr 2008, 05:26: Quote from: sk8brder40 on 13 Apr 2008, 18:12
Hampton Beach, NH.

:laugh:
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: absurdabsurd on 14 Apr 2008, 05:40: This is the first Europe/UK Gogol Bordello tour I won't have been to at least once since summer 2006.
They're passing through neighboring cities right now.

ERROR / REGRET.

Hopefully Foals tonight (no.) and Black Lips tomorrow (maybe.) will make up for it.

Basically what I'm trying to say is that if you haven't seen Gogol Bordello live you are missing out on something spectacular.
I neither can nor want to write up a full live review because I think it'd be a pretty damn futile exercise, but it's like getting a fresh-energy-injection every few months.
I'm guessing that even if you don't like their albums you'd have a fucking blast and/or be converted. ONETWOTHREEGO.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Albatron on 14 Apr 2008, 07:43: Quote from: McTaggart on 14 Apr 2008, 04:43
Quote from: Albatron on 13 Apr 2008, 22:51
They only played for about an hour and a half

What?

Yeah I know, we all cheered like hell after they left stage and Munaf came back to say something like "that thats all there is, those guys are already asleep" Then explained about how it was their second show. The drummer actually left the stage after his part ended but before the song ended. He kinda staggered off really. I mean I was their second show for the day, without a whole lot of time in between. They still played 100% right up to the end and all in all, $12.50 well fuckin spent.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 14 Apr 2008, 07:47: ....My guess would be that the 'What?' was in response to the word 'only' in your post since, y'know, that's kinda a long time. Hardly a short set anyway, especially considering the continuous nature. If you took many bands' sets and took out all the between song cheering/banter ect. you'd have a markedly shorter show. That's not at all a short length especially for EitS who always play shorter sets and NEVER play encores (they only have once or twice ever and not because they wanted to).
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: a pack of wolves on 14 Apr 2008, 08:07: An hour and a half is far too long a set for almost any band in my opinion. Forty five minutes is an upper limit that should only be breached for good reason. Speaking of long sets, I saw Clinic on Friday who split their set into two. The first half consisted of their latest album played through in its entirety with what they called their archive set afterwards. They announced this at the start, presumably so nobody would start freaking out over not hearing Walking With Thee. The result was mixed. The new material's good but putting it up against a following set where they could cherry pick from throughout their career (which is pretty long at this point) meant that it was overshadowed. Also, Clinic are much better at pop gems than they are the the more meandering numbers, and there's a few too many on the new album. If they'd just taken the best tracks like The Witch and slotted them in amongst the older songs they would have had a very tight, powerful set. It was a very enjoyable gig and the sound was as good as it usually is at the Brudenell, just a pity that when I finally get around to seeing them some ten years after hearing them on Peel they didn't produce a gig as good as they clearly could have done.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Albatron on 14 Apr 2008, 14:57: Yeah I realized what he meant about 30 min after I posted that and now that I think about it, an hour and a half, maybe it was more like 15, is a long set, but I certainly don't think they played too long.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: sk8brder40 on 14 Apr 2008, 16:06: Quote from: Sam on 13 Apr 2008, 18:30
Quote
I just saw the fucking Used

Quote
The black parade tour with MCR and Rise Against was also an AWESOME show, but I'm sure many of you people will be trashing on me for liking MCR. Don't care.

:?

haha wha?
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: E. Spaceman on 14 Apr 2008, 18:49: he is making fun of your horrible taste.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: onewheelwizzard on 15 Apr 2008, 02:25: I forgot to post on this thread after seeing Explosions in the Sky at the Starlight Ballroom in Philly last Wednesday. I had my best friend (Clintaga) and my since-recently-girlfriend with me and we had all had a little bit of blotter (just fractions of a hit each, it was a weeknight after all) and it was really amazing. They were totally on point and played a fantastic set. It was basically exactly what I'd wanted out of the night and I loved it.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: absurdabsurd on 15 Apr 2008, 03:26: Foals were ok. I'm not a massive fan and was mostly killing time, but they've gained some respect from me. They played at the shittiest venue in Milan that only puts on international bands sporadically - namely the ones that aren't quite famous enough to get booked at one of the bigger, proper venues. It's a concrete basement with terrible acoustics and an abysmal sound system. Maybe 50 people showed - Italy's a tough nut to crack. Additionally, their drummer was feeling quite ill and initially wasn't even going to play. All that considered, they let out a whole lot of energy on that stage.

They're masters of theatrics, and their convulsions on stage are actually very fun to watch. The guy doing the lights completely caught on to this and initially there were A LOT OF LIGHTS, mostly on/off synchronized with the beats - until they realized they actually prefer to be able to see their instruments when they play so they asked him to keep the lights on.

They've got a much rawer edge live; more rock and less pop than on the albums, which was quite pleasant. The set was pretty standard as were the song choices - standouts for me probably include 'Two Steps, Twice' and 'Hummer' - namely, the older tracks (presumably stemming from the era when Youthmovies' singer Andrew Mears was still heading up Foals).... and the closer 'Electric Bloom' for which they brought out an extra snare that Yannis basically pummelled into the ground.

I know a lot of people look at Foals as a lot of pop crap, but basically that is what they intended to do with their most recent album. I don't enjoy it as much as the pre-album material, but I appreciate that they wanted to make more accessible music and then had the courage to do so. And if it serves as a gateway for a lot of young kids into things like Youthmovies and Battles ... well, I don't see why that should be a bad thing, really.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Daft pun on 15 Apr 2008, 04:03: So I saw a bunch of bands at the Motel Mozaique festival this weekend, some awesome, others disappointing.

It started out on Friday with Phosphorescent, just a single guy with his guitar playing what could best be described as lo-fi slowcore folk. He simply said "we are Phosphorescent" before unloading a giant wall of looped guitars on his audience. After this intro he played his more usual fare of songs with beautiful lyrics and sparingly used guitar action.

Next up was Pivot, an Australian experimental-electronic-rock trio somewhat reminiscent of Battles. They're signed to Warp and are set to release their debut later this year. While they showed promise, most of the songs they played were a little rough around the edges. If they refine their sound a bit they could be awesome.

Everyone should know what Holy Fuck does by now, for they are much hyped, which was apparent by the size of the crowd. They were off to a rocky start, it just wasn't quite as tight as on the album. The crowd dissolved a bit after this, most people hadn't heard a single note before I'm sure. Oh well, more room for the people left to dance, and dance we did as the band kicked it into next gear. When they finally played Lovely Allen everyone was dancing like idiots, much fun was had by all.

Trentemøller was the last act of the night. The former DJ has a couple of friends on guitar and drums to accompany him nowadays. The set was a mix of techno and live instruments. While it was good, it didn't blow me away or anything.

The second day started of with the stunning Efterklang. This group of 8 Danes make post rock that takes after Sigur Ros and Mum yet with a lot of different elements. Throughout the show every member changed instruments at least once and pretty much all of them sang, creating one of the finest shows you'll ever hear. They captivated the audience from the get go, never once letting go. The frontman actually had to point out that "this is a festival and there's lots more music playing tonight" so they could get off the stage.

Goldfrap was up next. She mostly played songs from the new album with a few older ones thrown in for good measure. This was their first show of the tour so it was still a bit new for them. Which gave them the chance to try out some stuff as well, like a countryfied version of 'Ooh La La'.

At last it was time for M83. I was expecting a lot from these guys. They started with songs from the new album. Right away it just didn't click. They didn't seem to enjoy themselves, it all sounded a bit off and the audience wasn't really into it either. It got a bit better when they played 'Don't save us from the flames' but that was the only older song they played, it never recovered. They walked off stage after 45 minutes when they were supposed to play an hour. Everyone was expecting an encore, even the DJ's were silent for a couple of minutes, waiting for them to return, but nothing. I think they'd planned to play Couleurs as an encore, was a bit weird that they hadn't played it after all, but that they'd just decided to cut their losses and call it a day.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Lexington, 125 on 15 Apr 2008, 07:54: Wow pretty bummed to hear how the m83 set played out, I'm planning on attending the Toronto show. Could just be working the kinks out.... I hope Gonzalez incorporates some older tracks as the tour goes on though.

I saw Explsions In the Sky, only not on acid. They played a great set & sounded just like they do on the album. Ho hum.

Friday night I saw The Dodos play Mohawk Place in Buffalo. I've been listening to their album Visiter for a couple weeks or so, mostly due to the drumming. However I was a bit uncertain (as I often am before seeing a band play live) how into them I could get. One thing about the album irked me- the lyrics are at times kinda cheesy. So after seeing 2 horrible openers, (one a lonesome guy on the acoustic playing scattered chords & wailing too much about his feelings, the other a band featuring a guy on a banjo, & another looking as if he was either on the verge of an overdose, or special) it was shaping up to be a craptastic night. Thankfully the Dodos did not disappoint. From the opening track they had the audience's attention using a third member to play the xylophone & a drum that had been beaten to shit. With 3 members, they pull off the sound of a 5-piece. The guitarist/lead singer played very well, looping vocals & other various sounds providing a nice backdrop to his intricate fingerpicking. However, drums are the star of this show, & I would say the lead intrument.No kick dum, everything on stands, knocking out frenetic rhythyms without missing a beat. Definitely bonus points for the tambourine duct-taped to his foot. I have to put Logan Kroeber up there as one of the best drummers I've ever witnessed live. At one point he pulled what looked like an empty nitrous tank out & put it on his stool, then proceeded to kick out of the most jawdropping patterns I've heard. They are definitely a band that must be seen live to truly appreciate them- a very energetic show. Also a pretty long set, all the while staying interesting. Best live band I have seen so far in this short year.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Daft pun on 15 Apr 2008, 11:45: About the M83 show, I'm pretty sure they had technical difficulties of some sort. I remember the soundman being very nervous/freaking out about something during the gig.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: sk8brder40 on 15 Apr 2008, 13:17: Quote from: E. Spaceman on 14 Apr 2008, 18:49
he is making fun of your ~~horrible~~ AWESOME taste!

Ah thanks, dude! It really means a lot!

Psssh, music is music. We all like our own stuff. For instance, I think that indie music is plain terrible. It's all just noise to me. But, I respect that people here listen to it. The only people that should be taken out back and shot are hip-hop and rap lovers.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: a pack of wolves on 15 Apr 2008, 14:13: I'd be offended by that, but given your taste it's more of a compliment.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: RobbieOC on 15 Apr 2008, 14:43: There's a local band here that just got started up not too long ago. I hadn't been to one of their shows yet, and kind of felt bad because I know two of the guys pretty well, until Friday night and I was pleasantly surprised. They have a really great sound. The show was at the university they go to, so most of the people there were students and friends and stuff, but they all got real into it. It was a benefit concert, which was even cooler. You guys should check them out, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised also:

http://www.myspace.com/thenonband (http://www.myspace.com/thenonband)
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: imapiratearg on 15 Apr 2008, 16:02: Quote from: sk8brder40 on 15 Apr 2008, 13:17
Quote from: E. Spaceman on 14 Apr 2008, 18:49
he is making fun of your ~~horrible~~ AWESOME taste!

Ah thanks, dude! It really means a lot!

Psssh, music is music. We all like our own stuff. For instance, I think that indie music is plain terrible. It's all just noise to me. But, I respect that people here listen to it. The only people that should be taken out back and shot are hip-hop and rap lovers.

Clearly, you have not been listening to the right "indie" music.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: sean on 15 Apr 2008, 16:19: @ Robbie

I'm pleasantly surprised by your friend's band's music too! They are quite good!
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: imapiratearg on 15 Apr 2008, 16:33: I checked them out too, and at first they made me think of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I heard the rest of the song, and all I could think of was the Red Hot Chili Peppers weeping bitterly, because this band makes them look like pansies.

The rest of the songs up there sound nothing like RHCP, which is awesome.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: RobbieOC on 15 Apr 2008, 19:52: Quote from: Objects inside Clouds on 15 Apr 2008, 16:19
@ Robbie

I'm pleasantly surprised by your friend's band's music too! They are quite good!

Yeah. They've been getting all kinds of local awards and praise and stuff. And really, the music on the myspace is pretty good, but it's way better live... which probably doesn't do anything for you, but it's awesome for me!

I'll let them know that people on the internet like their music.

Quote from: imapiratearg on 15 Apr 2008, 16:33
I checked them out too, and at first they made me think of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I heard the rest of the song, and all I could think of was the Red Hot Chili Peppers weeping bitterly, because this band makes them look like pansies.

The rest of the songs up there sound nothing like RHCP, which is awesome.

Yeah, they've got a lot of good variety in their songs. Glad you liked them! Buy their CD! :-D
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: sk8brder40 on 18 Apr 2008, 17:54: Quote from: imapiratearg on 15 Apr 2008, 16:02
Quote from: sk8brder40 on 15 Apr 2008, 13:17
Quote from: E. Spaceman on 14 Apr 2008, 18:49
he is making fun of your ~~horrible~~ AWESOME taste!

Ah thanks, dude! It really means a lot!

Psssh, music is music. We all like our own stuff. For instance, I think that indie music is plain terrible. It's all just noise to me. But, I respect that people here listen to it. The only people that should be taken out back and shot are hip-hop and rap lovers.

Clearly, you have not been listening to the right "indie" music.
I'm talking about the indie music jeph posts on the site. I've checked it out on itunes thinking hey jeph's a cool dude, QC pwns, i bet this music will be awesome. But, uh.. nope, just noise.
But, once again, people don't always like the music I like. Everyone has different taste and I have no problem with people who enjoy indie stuff.

Quote from: Sam on 15 Apr 2008, 18:12
Quote from: sk8brder40 on 15 Apr 2008, 13:17
The only people that should be taken out back and shot are hip-hop and rap lovers.

i am guessing you think all black people like fried chicken malt liquor & watermelon too

racism

When did I say anything about black people? I'm just saying, rap and hip-hop aren't even music. It's just rhyming and it's just bleh. I am NOT racist.

Quote
the point of my post was to say "hey it is odd that you said the used all normal and then get bristly+defensive once you mention my chemical romance, as if the first is more credible than the latter"
know what, I'm actually sorry for that, and you're right. I just said that because I've seen a lotta disses toward them on this forum. But I agree, I sounded bad in saying that and I apologize.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: a pack of wolves on 18 Apr 2008, 18:01: The racism thing was just you being mocked for not understanding music. Same thing with the other comments really.

It's alright though. I can't fix a toaster, maybe you can. Not everyone can understand everything.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: sk8brder40 on 18 Apr 2008, 18:03: "not understanding music"? What do you mean by that?
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: a pack of wolves on 18 Apr 2008, 18:09: Quote from: sk8brder40 on 18 Apr 2008, 17:54
I'm just saying, rap and hip-hop aren't even music.

I mean you said that, basically. It is music. There is no coherent argument for it not being music, whether you like it or not.

Anyway, back to the point of the thread. Tonight I saw DAT Politics, Printed Circuit and Monster Killed By Laser (Cissy were also on the bill but I showed up late). I wish I liked Monster Killed By Laser. I do when they cover John Carpenter. But on their own material they just string a series of riffs together. They're nice enough riffs but there's just no point to it all. Thankfully, there's the other bar in the Brudenell to retreat to while they finish up. Printed Circuit have dropped the songs which were less danceable and more electro pop with the additional singer in favour of a set full of excellent party tunes. Stylophones, eighties keyboard sounds, videos of people playing pool and table tennis... I really love this band. They make things even better with a Bilge Pump cover, all synthesizered up and close with that great song that urges people to help them carry their gear. Perfect preparation for DAT Politics, who seem to be on a mission to be as party as humanly possible. They manage it. Actually, I can't really describe them any more than that, probably the best dance music I've ever heard live (or possibly at all).
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: sk8brder40 on 18 Apr 2008, 18:10: Eh, sorry, you're right it's debatable. Sorry for sounding like a dick haha
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: DMart on 18 Apr 2008, 20:15: Last night was the Raveonettes at the Hifi bar - fairly dissapointing (IMO). They used a lot of pre-recorded stuff for drums and bass (well anything that wasnt played on either a ~~Jag~~ Jazzmaster, tom or snare... 'cos that's all the instruments that were on stage). One really annoying thing was the pre-recorded bass overpowering their voices/guitars, particularly in Attack of the Ghost Riders, when the guitars need to cut through everything. They were a shitload better last time I saw them (same venue about 2 years ago). Did anyone else from here go to this? Your thoughts?
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: snowball on 21 Apr 2008, 11:17: well two reviews,

I went to the God is an Astronaut show. This was their first stop on their first US tour ever. :-). The openers were forgettable... But the main act was one of the most amazing shows I have even been too. Everything was there a combination of a small venue, perfectly played post rock, a set list that couldn't have been put together better and videos running in the background to match everything. This show was nigh on orgasmic and i would recommend it to anyone into post rock.

2nd review was the My Chemical Romance concert I went to last night.
Opener was crap I cant even remember there name 12 hours later. Anyway on to the real reason i was there. The 2nd act was Billy Talent. These guys played an amazing 1 hour set that i was sad to see end. They played just as well live as on the albums if not better. The stage banter was top notch also. Only complaint other than the set not being 3 hours was the mosh pit was a little weak compared to a good metal show but the audience was a touch younger due to it really being a MCR show. The main act was sub par, they tried to compensate their poor playing with loud volume. The music was semi fun so it wasn't a compete let down. My final verdict is that Billy Talent made up for any of the other bands faults.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 22 Apr 2008, 14:02: I saw Cex the other night. There was no backing band as there often is but nonetheless it was rather excellent. Imagine Girl Talk with less popular rap samples and on lotsa hallucinogenics. That's pretty much what it was like.
Ecstatic Sunshine opened. I only caught the end of the set but it seemed to be a pretty cool, electro-duo a la The Berg Sans Nipple (but not as good) or a very toned down Fuck Buttons.
Both bands definitely recommended.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: karl gambolputty... on 22 Apr 2008, 14:30: I'm going to see Polvo on the 9th. I predict my thoughts shall be "WHOOOO MOTHERFUCKING POLVO WHOOOOO!!"
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: sean on 22 Apr 2008, 14:41: Man thanks for reminding me about how I'm probably not going to see Polvo on the 9th unless I can get my friends (who are fucks) to go.

I did just get my tickets for Silver Mt. Zion on the 23rd of May though! I can't wait for that show!
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: imagist42 on 23 Apr 2008, 00:23: Re: Islands. I got there a little late but I wasn't worried because a couple relatively local bands I'd already heard and dismissed were opening. Little did I know when I got there an hour late the show was just starting because both those openers flaked at the last minute. So on comes Kid Theodore, who I'd never heard before. They were surprisingly engaging, especially as all three band members besides the drummer switched off between guitars, bass, keyboards and vocals for various songs. Then there was Future of the Ghost, who were mildly entertaining but delved too far into spazzy noise-fests during some songs for my liking. Finally around an hour and a half later than expected Islands came on. It's a shame, really, because they spent the greater part of the first two and a half songs ("Vertigo," "The Arm," and "Creeper" all off the upcoming album) trying to get the sound guy to fix the levels on everything from guitars to keyboards to Nick's mic. I swear the guy had to be retarded not to understand that looking directly at him, tapping something and pointing up means "turn me up!" The feedback on Nick's guitar got so bad during The Arm he dropped it and grabbed the mic so he could walk around and signal to the sound guy everything that needed to be adjusted, still singing the whole time. Once everything was fixed, the rest of the show was great. You could tell the crowd (small as it was, maybe 100 people at a generous estimate) was into the songs, dancing around and singing along to all the old songs like "Don't Call Me Whitney, Bobby" and "Volcanoes." You could tell the band got real invested in the crowd too, as Nick stopped to chat longer and longer between the last few songs because, well, we chatted back. They even played a Sinead O'Connor cover, which I thought was unusual until I found out they'd been playing it for a while now. There were only a couple times when everything seemed to lose a bit of energy, namely during the slow parts of "In the Rushes" and "Life in Jail," but the closing with "Swans" was fantastic and brought everything together. When we coaxed them back for one last song Nick asked, "Do you guys want us to play Rough Gem?" and everyone shouted yes at once to which he responded, "I guess I shouldn't have asked." I swear, I've never seen such a small crowd act make as much of a ruckus as we did during that song.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Tom on 23 Apr 2008, 05:14: I'm so fucking jealous
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: valley_parade on 23 Apr 2008, 05:37: Quote from: snowball on 21 Apr 2008, 11:17
The main act was sub par, they tried to compensate their poor playing with loud volume

This happened when they were on tour with Green Day as well. The sound was all fucked up, guitars too loud (imagine me saying that, christ), vocals barely audible.

Anyway! Saturday, I hitched a train from Cambridge down to Braintree to see Everybody Out! play a show at Newbury Comics in honor of Record Store Day. I think I'd mentioned before (from the Dropkick Murphys show) that they're insanely fun live, and once again, they didn't disappoint. With all the CD racks and whatnot, we were shoved in to a somewhat small, open space in the store. The set was great, aside from some problems with mic cables in the first few songs. Best part? It was Chris Sweeney's birthday, and someone decided to bake him a cake. It ended up getting passed through the crowd mid-set. That or me and Rick Barton going back and forth for a minute about whether or not they should play "Jack The Lad" (they did).

(http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h76/captain_applesauce/041908_15521.jpg)
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: sk8brder40 on 23 Apr 2008, 18:29: dearandtheheadlights,paramore,jimmyeatworldinoneweekkkk :D
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: DMart on 27 Apr 2008, 21:05: Thursday night I got to see Little Red at the Corner Hotel. 'Nuff said.

On Saturday however I saw the Eels' "Get to Know the Eels" show at the Palais. Instead of a supporting act, they showed a film about E's quest to get to know his father and to understand his work ("Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives"). It was fairly interesting, but I was in the second row so my neck got a bit of a workout. The documentary went for an hour, which IMO was perhaps a little long. After that, E and the Chet came out and did their stuff. A lot of it was really good, but a few songs (i.e. Dog Faced Boy, Souljacker pt1, more that I can't remember at the moment) suffered more than a little from having just the two of them on stage. E and the Chet also took time to read occasionally from E's autobiography - probably for a total of 20 minutes(or maybe it just felt that long?) which got a bit annoying... I'm sure it's a good read and all, but that's just not what I paid AU$72.50 to see. Many, many cheesy moments... E read fan mail (oh what? hate mail? oh how did this get in here?) and Eels live reviews (Ooooh, this one is for the EAGLES, not us!) and talked for a bit about "how good it is to be me/a rock and roll star". Some of it was funny, some of it just sort of made me think "oh... so you're a jerk? Ok then.".
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Tehz on 27 Apr 2008, 22:30: One word: Aquabats.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/kalnaar_khan/l_001197f7a0e93352f705b872a8104c59.jpg)

Saw 'em in NYC back in February. I'm almost strictly an indie rock guy, but I just have a soft spot for the guys. The people in the audience were great, the 'bats themselves sounded fantastic, they played most of their best songs, and they fought a giant tick monster onstage. Seriously, best show I've ever been to.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Ishotdanieljohnston on 27 Apr 2008, 23:28: Quote from: DMart on 27 Apr 2008, 21:05
Thursday night I got to see Little Red at the Corner Hotel. 'Nuff said.

That show was off tap... had a great time even tough my girlfriend cancelled and it was just me and a friend who's just broken up with his gal.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: np96 on 28 Apr 2008, 03:41: Muse , NIN and Smashing Pumpkin had the best sets out of the gigs I've been to. The Kaiser Cheifs and Franz Ferdinand were also surprisingly impressive with thier live performances. The Kaiser chiefs really got the crowd going with thier shenanigans. The Red Hot Chilli Peppers were really disappointing. As soon as Anthony Kelidis (sp?) jumped on stage, he stepped on the guitarists wire and broke it! They also didn't do Under the Bridge and few other songs which was disappointing. My next gig will be the flaming lips and I think I may die of excitement before the gig is over.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: valley_parade on 28 Apr 2008, 04:52: Quote from: Tehz on 27 Apr 2008, 22:30
One word: Aquabats.

Saw the Aquabats in either 05 or 06. They fall into my "bands that are just recockulously fun live and would see over and over" list, along with Everybody Out! and Fu Manchu.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Caspian on 28 Apr 2008, 05:34: I saw Grey Daturas and Cease yesterday? I think? Wait, 3 days ago. :/ I'm not exactly WHY the promoters decided to have 3 even noisier support acts before (though one of them was pretty sweet and stood out a lot, mainly because they had riffs instead of just distortion and delay pedals). It was pretty cool.

Doubt there's anyone else here from perth except for maybe D_D but Cease are a rather awesome live band. A very mellow and hypnotic drone doom thing, as far as I can tell completely improvised, sort of like an even more stoned version of Dopesmoker. To be totally honest the riffs aren't THAT good, it's just that the overall vibe is incredibly awesome, and the huge amount of feedback from teh other guitarist helped a great deal, and the drummer knew his Sleep beats.. I was so droned out from them I didn't even bother watching Grey Daturas. It was only $12 though, so I'd got my money's worth.

If you happen to live in Perth WA, SEE CEASE ALREADY.

Also: I forgot to mention that i saw EITS a few months ago! They were freakin awesome.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: DMart on 28 Apr 2008, 06:19: Quote from: Ishotdanieljohnston on 27 Apr 2008, 23:28
Quote from: DMart on 27 Apr 2008, 21:05
Thursday night I got to see Little Red at the Corner Hotel. 'Nuff said.

That show was off tap... had a great time even tough my girlfriend cancelled and it was just me and a friend who's just broken up with his gal.

From what I remember yeah it was awesome... but I don't remember a lot. Biiiiiiig night. I don't suppose you're a fan of the Spun Rivals too? They're good mates with Little Red, and are supporting the Silents this Wednesday at the Northcote Social Club (which I will also be going to).
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: doombilly on 28 Apr 2008, 07:21: Muse, I think they are the beast live band of all times. Saw them gee, two yrs ago in Atlanta at the Tabenacle. Only band I'd go to a big venue to see.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Calaveth on 30 Apr 2008, 19:41: Just got back from seeing This Will Destroy You, Growing and Boris. I'm a bit shell shocked, to be honest. This Will Destroy You were great, but I was a bit confused at first because I had gotten in my head that Growing would be the opening act (and I had never seen either band, and never even heard Growing), so I was thinking that "gee, these guys in Growing sure sounds just like any other post-rock band...like This Will Destroy You...wait a minute...".

Anyway, I got the feeling they converted a bunch of people on the spot who had never heard them before, even though they only got to play for at most 30 minutes. It definitely felt quite short. Next, Growing had a tough gig. I don't think a lot of people at the show had heard them before, and their experimental, electronic post-rock didn't really seem to capture people's attention. I think more people were in the bar drinking beer during Growing's (also short) performance than there were people watching. I got the sense that their music didn't have much direction - usually post-rock does, heading toward those inevitable crescendos, but Growing seems to feel that part of post-rock to be overrated...

Finally Boris, opening with Flower Sun Rain (which I believe was limited to the Japanese release of Smile?). A bit odd choice for opener I thought, so atypical of what Boris usually sounds like. But from there on, it was no mercy. They absolutely slayed. A good mix of songs primarily from Smile, Heavy Rocks and Pink from what I could tell. I don't know what else to say. I wobbled out afterwards from one of the best concerts I've ever been to.

Sunday I saw Einstürzende Neubauten at Berns here in Stockholm, a gorgeous venue, old theatre with paintings on the walls, huge mirrors, candeliers, gold and velvet decorations everywhere. The rock audience looked decidedly out of place, but Einstürzende seemed to like it. They're a top notch live band, both because there's always something going on, with all the improvised instruments they use, but just as much because Blixa Bargeld is simply such a good front man.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Ishotdanieljohnston on 30 Apr 2008, 23:35: Quote from: DMart on 28 Apr 2008, 06:19
Quote from: Ishotdanieljohnston on 27 Apr 2008, 23:28
Quote from: DMart on 27 Apr 2008, 21:05
Thursday night I got to see Little Red at the Corner Hotel. 'Nuff said.

That show was off tap... had a great time even tough my girlfriend cancelled and it was just me and a friend who's just broken up with his gal.

From what I remember yeah it was awesome... but I don't remember a lot. Biiiiiiig night. I don't suppose you're a fan of the Spun Rivals too? They're good mates with Little Red, and are supporting the Silents this Wednesday at the Northcote Social Club (which I will also be going to).

Haha actually Spun Rivals were just in front of me and were going nuts. I talked to them for a while before the show and they seemed like good guys. I was wondering if they were any good or not.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: DMart on 30 Apr 2008, 23:54: Haha you might have seen me there then, I was hanging out with them for most of the night... I was wearing the "disturbingly green" hoodie. You should definitely check them out (http://www.myspace.com/spunrivalsstuff), last night at the NSC was great (as seems to be the case usually with them). Top blokes too (the bassist is my housemate :-D).
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Johnny C on 01 May 2008, 00:16: Cadence Weapon and Buck 65 tonight. Excellent bill. They're on tour together right now. Please try to catch them.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Ishotdanieljohnston on 01 May 2008, 00:49: Quote from: DMart on 30 Apr 2008, 23:54
Haha you might have seen me there then, I was hanging out with them for most of the night... I was wearing the "disturbingly green" hoodie. You should definitely check them out (http://www.myspace.com/spunrivalsstuff), last night at the NSC was great (as seems to be the case usually with them). Top blokes too (the bassist is my housemate :-D).

Man you totally pushed past me half way through the show and I may have given your back the finger (no offense). Small world! I think I was one of the very few who was vaguely sober at that show.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: DMart on 01 May 2008, 01:22: heh, sorry - I was DEFINITELY not even close to sober by then. That was the first big night out I'd had in a while, it probably showed - normally I'm not such an arse (i think?).
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: pinkpiche on 01 May 2008, 04:17: Quote from: Johnny C on 01 May 2008, 00:16
Cadence Weapon and Buck 65 tonight. Excellent bill. They're on tour together right now. Please try to catch them.

Oooh! Oooh! I love both of them. I'm seeing Cadence Weapon this summer but Buck would be awesome as well..
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: krcko on 01 May 2008, 10:22: So there's this festival going on around here for about two weeks, and the lineup is fantastic this year. Which is not a good thing since I'm more or less broke at the moment and there's no way I'll get to see everything (tickets are sold separately for each venue :/ ).
However, I did get to see Amon Tobin last week and the gig was amazing, he was much better live than I expected. I'm terrible at memorising setlists and such, so you'll just have to take my word for it :)
I missed Notwist, but that's ok because I'm seeing Shellac and (OMG OMG OMG) Gang of Four (OMG) in about two weeks, so yay!
Oo, and Six Organs of Admittance after that.
But I guess this is kind of offtopic so I'll come back after I actually GO to the concerts :D
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Beastmouth on 01 May 2008, 13:14: I saw Lou Reed Wednesday night.

Melt Banana did not make it for the opener, but still, I saw Lou Reed!
At the Orange Peel in Asheville, it was sold out, packed solid.
Felt just like live at Max's Kansas City for certain reasons...
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: a pack of wolves on 02 May 2008, 20:25: Tonight I saw Crocus, meandgoliath, Violent Breakfast and Feint play a house gig. Feint kick things off and they're just as good as they always are, I'm sure I must have written them up a bunch of time in this thread by now. The interesting part came at the end of their set, caving in to the crowd they swapped instruments and became Warboys. They then proceeded to kick out a few songs of harsh powerviolence with lots of time changes in the Spazz style, I hadn't managed to catch Warboys before now so that was a treat. Not as good as Feint but it was still good stuff and a fun way to end the set. Violent Breakfast were up next... and they were absolutely amazing. Definitely band of the night, they slammed out a tight set of punchy screamo. Okay, so they're not breaking the mould but who cares? This is brilliant music played in the perfect setting. Massively recommended for anyone into screamo. They're from Italy, I think there's something in the water over there what with them producing the kings of modern day emo La Quiete as well. If you can catch any dates on their tour then do it. Meandgoliath have a really hard act to follow after that, and at first it looks like they aren't going to manage it. Their first couple of numbers are solid but nothing to write home about. But then they swing into the third track and it's just perfect, a total example of doing the style right and I start moving again. The last song that they have to be prevailed upon to play is probably the best of their set, thudding drums and un-amplified screams. Superb. Crocus are really going to have to pull out all the stops after that and they do, bless them. Despite wrecking the mic during the first song they continue to thrash out the most chaotic emo of the night, the singer twisting and writhing to the music so much that he had to go outside to vomit from exertion before their final song, that closed with the whole band rising up and screaming the last words. A perfect ending. Violent Breakfast might have been the band of the night but it was the sheer quality of the whole line-up that made this one to remember.

I also appear to have joined a stadium crust band with guys from Feint and Benchpress as well as an emo band with the stated aim of being 'like Violent Breakfast, but with two bassists' during the gig. We think it'll probably end up sounding like a cross between Violent Breakfast and Girls Against Boys, and I can see no way that can be a bad thing. All in all, this is exactly what DIY should be all about.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: SilentJ on 02 May 2008, 22:28: Today/Tonight I saw Cobra Starship, Simple Plan, The Bravery, and Wyclef Jean at Maryland; it was a show called Art Attack, and I liked how it was done. Between each band's set, after one band finished they would go to a booth to meet with fans and sign autographs, and the roadies would set up the stage for the next act and soundcheck and whatnot, while the MC would come out and entertain to the music spun by a DJ on the edge of the stage. Beach balls and glowsticks were given out to accentuate the crowd; plus everybody got a free magnetic calendar and condom upon entering. Many, many more free condoms were thrust upon everybody throughout the show. Not surprisingly, balloons were made. Good times, overall.

COBRA STARSHIP:
They definitely brought it all out tonight. Sadly, I could only catch the last few songs of their set, but I was still impressed by what I saw. The music was pretty good, as I expected it to be, but mainly I liked their interaction with the audience. I know it's pretty much expected, but I respect a band that's willing to say more to the audience than "thanks! alright, this next one is..." between songs.

Grade: B+

SIMPLE PLAN:
I'd never heard of these guys before I saw them tonight. The music was surprisingly good! Very rhythmic, definitely written with people jumping around and dancing at shows in mind. Plus the mock mosh pit that started during their set was pretty hilarious.

Notable quotes from the band:
"Was that a penis balloon I saw during that last one? That's just rude, guys." (note: it was.)

Grade: B

THE BRAVERY:
Another new band to me. A song or two of theirs was pretty much just atonal, fuzzy, distorted noise that overpowered any vocals whatsoever, but the other songs more than made up for it. The sound was very similar to that of Simple Plan, but a lot heavier, much better to just rawk the fuck out to. Actual mosh pit during this one.

Grade: B+

WYCLEF JEAN:
What can I say? Wyclef fucking killed it tonight. The songs from his latest album were great, but about half of his set was cut by a DJ, and was a mix of popular hip-hop tunes from today/the '90s, some of which was either early Wyclef or some work of his back from the Fugees. Bringing his sister out to sing a song was a nice touch. As was bringing some random dude from the audience up on stage to just rock the fuck out for a while. Plus he climbed a fucking rafter in the middle of a song. Then he got everyone in the audience to take their shirt off. Classic. Probably the best show I've ever seen, no joke.

Notable Quotes:
"Which way's DC? That way? A'ight, everybody look over there: [singing] George Bush mind your business..."
Several things to the effect of "George Bush needs to get the hell out"
"If you know Obama is the next president, put yo hands up"
"Hey, when people are crowdsurfing, be nice to them, a'ight? Ain't every black motherfucker can have people crowdsurfin'. Shit is rock and roll, baby."
"War in Iraq costin' us a billion a month. You have any idea how much weed I could buy with a billion dollars?"
"Yeah, you, come here. Guys, let him up. *to fan* You just do whatever the fuck you want, man."

Grade: A+

Great fucking night.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: ZedAvatar on 04 May 2008, 15:58: Nightwish is playing near Chicago on May 31!!! I don't know about anyone else, but I am definitely going.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 04 May 2008, 16:20: I'm seeing No Age and Aa tonight. I'm excited. Thoughts to follow.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Lexington, 125 on 04 May 2008, 19:11: Quote from: SilentJ on 02 May 2008, 22:28
THE BRAVERY: Actual mosh pit during this one.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: imagist42 on 04 May 2008, 20:09: I'm not sure what you meant to say/imply with that post.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Tom on 04 May 2008, 23:58: Quote from: SilentJ on 02 May 2008, 22:28

SIMPLE PLAN:
I'd never heard of these guys before I saw them tonight. The music was surprisingly good! Very rhythmic, definitely written with people jumping around and dancing at shows in mind. Plus the mock mosh pit that started during their set was pretty hilarious.

Notable quotes from the band:
"Was that a penis balloon I saw during that last one? That's just rude, guys." (note: it was.)

Grade: B

Isn't there a really bad pop-punk band from Montreal called Simple Plan?
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: SilentJ on 05 May 2008, 04:35: Quote from: n0t_r0bert_b0yle!! on 04 May 2008, 23:58
Isn't there a pretty good pop-punk band from Montreal called Simple Plan?

why yes, yes there is
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: FireAarro on 05 May 2008, 04:48: Quote from: SilentJ on 02 May 2008, 22:28
SIMPLE PLAN:
I'd never heard of these guys before I saw them tonight.

Seriously? If I were you, I'd feel quite lucky.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: amok on 05 May 2008, 09:16: ! long wordy interesting reviews post !

recently I have seen:

low - awesome
(supported by: the helio sequence - also awesome)
ted leo - awesome

soon I will be seeing

delerium; iron & wine. forecast: awesome x2.

(footnotes: the guy from Low was really stoned so we mostly got mellow tunes, not as much from great destroyer as I would've liked, but they did amazing grace which was amazing. the Helio Sequence singer is somehow even better live than on record and the drummer rocks out hard enough for like 5 people so you don't really notice it's just the two of them. Ted Leo is Ted Leo and if you need telling why that's awesome then Ted Leo Ted Leo Ted Leo.)
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: SilentJ on 05 May 2008, 21:36: Quote from: Lexington, 125 on 04 May 2008, 19:11
Quote from: SilentJ on 02 May 2008, 22:28
THE BRAVERY: Actual mosh pit during this one.

If you were going where I think you were with this one, what I meant was that during Simple Plan it was a bunch of drunken frat boys just shoving each other around a whole lot and laughing about it; during The Bravery it was people just rocking the fuck out, and closer to what one would call a mosh pit than the first attempt.

Quote from: FireAarro on 05 May 2008, 04:48
Quote from: SilentJ on 02 May 2008, 22:28
SIMPLE PLAN:
I'd never heard of these guys before I saw them tonight.

Seriously? If I were you, I'd feel quite lucky.

But, see, I like them. This is why I felt it necessary to point out, because I feel bad about it.
Also I definitely realized about an hour ago that I had indeed heard of them before, just didn't connect the experiences.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Kai on 05 May 2008, 21:45: Wilco play Kansas next wednesday! super pumped.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: a pack of wolves on 05 May 2008, 21:59: I saw Zombie Zombie, Health and Two Minute Noodles the other night (I skipped Random Number who was also playing). Two Minute Noodles were even better than the last time I saw them, and I liked them then. They're a two-piece with really simple organ and keyboard parts, the songs are very much led by the drumming. He keeps the beat down well but adds lots of very non-ostentatious flourishes, particularly on the hi-hat, to keep things interesting. Very danceable. I wasn't sure what to expect from Health having only heard that collaboration with Crystal Castles. They kicked out noise rock for the dancefloor. Again, the best thing about the band was the drumming. The three guys screeching up front could have ended up being rather weak, but the drummer gave the songs the muscular definition they needed. He really drove the whole thing, giving a solid beat while they played with effects pedals. I was impressed. Zombie Zombie kept up the trend of the night by being once again led by the drums. I like the whole horror movie soundtrack thing they have going on with the keyboards. In fact, I think they're best summed up by that t-shirt idea someone posted in Inexplicably Obscure T-shirts thread: "to be used in the event of totally rad apocalypse".
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: imagist42 on 05 May 2008, 22:03: Quote from: Kai on 05 May 2008, 21:45
Wilco play Kansas next wednesday! super pumped.

Yeah, I'm seeing them in Austin on Monday the 12th. Can't freaking wait.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: valley_parade on 06 May 2008, 05:55: August 12 for me. Should be a fun night. I'm going with a bunch of friends.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: DMart on 10 May 2008, 08:00: Guys..... Rocket Science. fuck yes.

I have never seen someone sweat as much as the singer/organist did in the space of that (approx) hour. And what's the deal with bands like Jet and Wolfmother getting all the attention? There's plenty of original rock coming from Australia with a lot more character than that stuff. These guys are a prime example. (okay, so maybe I can't think of any more examples... edit: Ground Components! the Living End!)

Good grief, the east brunswick club holds gigs for that kind of music well. Now I have to go nurse my broken right ear.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: karl gambolputty... on 11 May 2008, 14:13: I saw Polvo on Friday night. They were pretty brilliant. My ears haven't quite stopped ringing yet. The best non-song moment was probably when... I think it was Dave, said "Damn, there are some drunk 35-year-olds in here".
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: sean on 12 May 2008, 14:30: Waaaaaaaaaah...

I shoulda been there. Nooooooooooo faaaaaair.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: doombilly on 12 May 2008, 16:03: I dream I keep going to amazing shows. The bands are great. Only nobody is ever there except for the bands. And maybe one of their girlfriend/boyfriends. Oh wait, no. That's not a dream. It is how I've spent the last 20 years. Sonofa..
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Mr. Mojo on 12 May 2008, 18:39: *sigh* Sadly, the only kind of music around me is powerpop, and folk punk, which i both happen to dislike. So i don't really go to shows unless my Girlfriend drags me there.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: imagist42 on 12 May 2008, 22:40: Saw Wilco tonight. I didn't exactly like the location, but I won't go into that because my issues are strictly personal. Let us just say that Stubbs' outdoor venu is, objectively, a worthwhile venue with great sound. Anyway; opener was Retribution Gospel Choir, really awful name and at best mediocre lyrics, although they sure sounded fun and were an appropriate mood-setter for Wilco. Wilco played, roughly, an hour and a half set with a 20?-minute "encore" (no break really, just a minute for the band to grab drinks and get back on stage; I basically forget where the set ended and the encore began) followed by a 30-minute finisher. It was an odd crowd compared to what I expected, really; lots of older guys and couples in their thirties or forties, and consequently the set consisted mostly of older stuff. The main set pulled strongly from Summerteeth and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, with even a couple tracks off A.M. Crowd favorites during the set and the first encore included opener "Via Chicago," "Hummingbird," "Shot in the Arm," "Passenger Side" (a real surprise for me), "Theologians." The first encore ended perfectly--as always--with "Spiders." This left the crowd fully energized, which made the second encore very interesting. They started by invited the members of Retribution Gospel to come out and play "California Stars" with them, then pulled out a few more crowd favorites--"Heavy Metal Drummer," "Hate It Here"--and eventually wound up just playing through pieces of Being There: "Kingpin," "Red-Eyed and Blue," "I Got You," "Monday." They were all very different from the studio versions, transformed into spectacular live jams for the current band over the years, and even Jeff seemed to be in his best form for them even after playing them all so many times. In fact, they only played five songs off Sky Blue Sky, which seemed low for a tour being touted as support for the album. I wasn't complaining, though; at the end I was, like everyone else, sad to see them go. In fact, I probably would have paid for another ticket entirely if they'd only come back to do all the songs off Yankee Hotel Foxtrot that they didn't (namely "Radio Cure" and "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart," but there were others).
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: DMart on 14 May 2008, 20:23: Ok, so I'm looking for a bit of feedback - who has seen the Black Keys, and what did you think? I've heard completely polarised opinions going both ways, and they're playing in about a month. I like their studio stuff, but I don't know if they're gonna be worth the $60 to see them live...
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Liz on 15 May 2008, 12:18: So earlier in this thread I was freaking out about my favorite band playing a 21+ show here in Fargo making it impossible for me to go. Then I learned about the "secret entrance" and decided to try sneak it. And it worked. So.

Last night I saw Shearwater in concert and it was amazing. Now i know pretty much everyone here is all "OMG Okkervil River is soooo much better than Shearwater blah blah blah" but I think you are all silly. Then someone in this thread was all "Shearwater sucks live" and that made me sad, but you are wrong, person who said that. Their entire set was so goddamn good, I could have listened to them play all night. Their set was pretty much half from Palo Santo and half from their new album, Rook, which doesn't hit stores until June 3rd but they had on pre-release at the show, so I snagged a copy. Before the show Brittany (BrittanyMarie) and I sat and talked with Jordan, the newest band member, for a while. He was a pretty cool guy and even got me a set list later to add to my collection. After the show I talked with Kim for a while as well, and she was ridiculously sweet and just cute as all get out. All in all it was damn good time.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 15 May 2008, 12:46: Woah, I remember that conversation. I think I may have mentioned a somewhat negative, perhaps uninspired is a better word, experience seeing Shearwater live but it's cool you got to go and enjoyed it. 21+ age restrictions are silly since most venues I go to serve alcohol at all shows regardless of age limits.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Liz on 15 May 2008, 13:01: It was SO GOOD. I was in heaven the whole time. And I found out that they are doing a headlining tour, one show of which will be in Toronto the day I would leave if I decide to attend Tronnocon.

Grrr. Boo. Hiss.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Lummer on 15 May 2008, 13:36: Last week I saw Jason And The Scorchers, and it was absolutely incredible. The band played their ass off, most notably Warner E. Hodges, the guitarist.
He really pulled out all the stops, with the pirouettes-while-playing and the guitar-slingin' and the chunkiest, meatiest Telecaster-sound in the history. That man has officially changed my opinion on Telecasters, so much that I even considered buying one the next day.
His playing was also absolutely amazing. He is hands down one of the rockingest motherfuckers on the planet, and anyone who dares dispute this fact are DEAD WRONG. He had unbelievable stage presence, downright scary chops and stage moves that shouldn't be physically possible, considering the man's Texas-sized beer gut. Plus that, he had a beard and cracked some wicked jokes on stage. He is officially deemed awesome now.

Jason Ringenberg is still the same ol' lanky, hyperactive, made-of-rubber-bands shitkicker he's always been. Tacky rhinestones, cowboy hat and snakeskin boots and all. His vocals were on fine form, as well as some fantastic stage banter and humour. The rapport between him, Warner and the crowd created a down-home, fun atmosphere within seconds.

The drummer was a new guy, from some swedish roots rock band whose name I didn't catch. He did however rock the fuck out of the kit, and really looked like he was having the time of his life.
The bass player was not really rocking out, but his playing was spot-o.

Nevertheless, they played a really long set, with a twenty minute break in the middle for autographs. Sadly, they didn't play "White Lies", my favourite song of theirs, but other than that it was utter kickass. I am SO gonna see it when they come back next year. Not all reunions suck. Some of 'em, are downright fantastic.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: muffy on 15 May 2008, 19:00: I got given free entry to We Are Scientists last night and was kind of underwhelmed... the high point was possibly Keith getting semi-naked onstage, and when a gig earns its points from generic indie-fitness and seemingly rehearsed banter, it's generally a sign that something's amiss...
That said, Maths Class were supporting - saw them support Blood Brothers last year before they split, and a couple of times since then and they were awesome - if anyone ever sees their name on a bill, see them live - they're like the band Foals wish they could be if they made the passage out of their own self-involved scenester-dom.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: sean on 15 May 2008, 20:25: I just listened to Maths Class. They are actually very good! I usually don't dig pop-electro-punk whatever, but these guys are very enjoyable. It must have something to do with my long-standing crush on the Blood Brothers. I can see why they played a show with them.

Anyway gig thread, I'm seeing A Silver Mt. Zion next week. Expect copious amounts of gushing then!
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 15 May 2008, 23:12: Where are you seeing SMZ? In Philly, perchance?
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: doombilly on 16 May 2008, 06:07: Quote from: Misconception on 15 May 2008, 13:01
It was SO GOOD. I was in heaven the whole time. And I found out that they are doing a headlining tour, one show of which will be in Toronto the day I would leave if I decide to attend Tronnocon.

Grrr. Boo. Hiss.
-related public service announcement-

Children of earth. If you are underage and drink at a show and get the venue ticketed or closed because of it you should be banned from attending shows for the rest of your unnatural lives. I do not agree with the laws but other people's livelihoods are at stake. Please be considerate of venue owners and bands. Get your drink on before or after in your mom's basement. (http://thingsididlastnight.com/) Thank you. I am doombilly; and I endorse this message.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: a pack of wolves on 16 May 2008, 08:17: I saw The Paper Chase last night. I was intrigued as to how they'd manage to translate the controlled, somewhat theatrical feel of their music to a live setting with only four musicians. Turns out they do it by having a demented frontman, and it was just as full of anxiety, paranoia and tension as I was hoping. Brilliant. Vessels played before them, they've improved a lot since Pete joined the band. Good post rock. Black Mountain were headlining. They looked bored. I was bored. I left.

Pissed Jeans are playing tonight, and then it's the last two days of Chinchillafest. Hooray!
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 16 May 2008, 09:49: Hmm, I'm not at all a fan of The Paper Chase and a large part of that was due to their live performance. I saw them open for EitS a couple of times which, to be fair, is a pretty bad pairing. I understand the band members are all friends but did EitS expect most of their fans to get into a TPC set? They were mistaken if they did. The crowd responded poorly and at one show some staggering asshole heckled the band. While it was a shitty thing to do, I was pretty much thinking a lot of what he was shouting. It was great when Munaf called the guy out when EitS took the stage. Nonetheless, I found it weird and boring and was very turned off by the front man. And it's not just that he was eccentric. I've seen, and absolutely loved, Deerhunter live for example. I definitely wouldn't call them "post-rock" either since that has very definite connotations that don't apply, in my opinion, to this band. Anywho, maybe it was just the shows I was at but just thought I'd throw in my rather different perspective.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: a pack of wolves on 16 May 2008, 10:34: Maybe EITS just wanted to play with a band they like? One problem bands often run into is that promoters often just use the local bands that sound the most similar to them as supports and they end hearing the same kind of music night after night. I find it really boring to see myself. I don't want to have to sit through hours of bands all trying to do the exact same thing, it gets dull. Some things can be a bit much, putting I'm From Barcelona on with Anaal Nathrakh would be a bit silly (although I'd have a blast), but if I'm going to see a metalcore band then I don't want metalcore bands supporting. I'd rather see some emo, pop punk, grind and doom on instead.

Out of interest, what was it you didn't like about Congleton? Oh, and it was Vessels I described as post rock not The Paper Chase, just so you don't think I'm crazy.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 16 May 2008, 10:38: Oh, I do understand that they just wanted to tour and play with their friends. That's cool and does make sense. I'm just not surprised that the crowd didn't respond well, is all. They have to expect, I think, a mediocre reception in many cases when making those kind of choices.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Liz on 16 May 2008, 10:58: Quote from: doombilly on 16 May 2008, 06:07
-related public service announcement-

Children of earth. If you are underage and drink at a show and get the venue ticketed or closed because of it you should be banned from attending shows for the rest of your unnatural lives. I do not agree with the laws but other people's livelihoods are at stake. Please be considerate of venue owners and bands. Get your drink on before or after in your mom's basement. (http://thingsididlastnight.com/) Thank you. I am doombilly; and I endorse this message.

1) Why did you quote that post?

2) The show in Toronto will be 19+, and I am 20.

3) I did not drink at the 21+ show that I went to.

Please don't assume you know things that you don't.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: BrittanyMarie on 16 May 2008, 13:40: It's still a silly and I think archaic law that even if you (a minor) don't drink, the venue could lose their liquor license, and in many cases that is the only reason why the place can survive financially as a venue.

Liz forgot to mention that Jordan is hopefully a lurker on this forum by now. HI JORDAN YOUR PIZZA WAS PRETTY GOOD EVEN IF IT DID HAVE SAUERKRAUT ON IT
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: sean on 18 May 2008, 15:18: Quote from: TheFuriousWombat on 15 May 2008, 23:12
Where are you seeing SMZ? In Philly, perchance?

Holy delayed response batman! Apologies, I haven't read this thread in a few days.

Anway, I am seeing them in DC at the Black Cat. So, no Philly (sorry bout that too.)
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Funk Thompson on 18 May 2008, 15:59: Oh boy here goes...

First off, Flaming Lips. Seen them 3 times now, the first at Wakarusa 2006. I'll be seeing them in less than a week, at Summercamp, and again at Wakarusa this year - 2 weeks later. By far my favorite live show. Honestly, it sounds silly but Flaming Lips at Wakarusa 2006 changed my life. I saw them before in 1993, actually, but I barely remember the show - I just remember them doing "Vaseline." It was with STP and Butthole Surfers. Anywho, at Wakarusa my friend had told me just a bit about their show, but I really had no idea what to expect. It was... amazing, and the most fun I've ever had at a concert, period. The times since then have been cool, but I don't think anything will compare to that first show. Last I saw them was earlier in the year or maybe last fall, don't recall, here in St. Louis.

OK other shows this year... saw Umphrey's McGee at The Pageant, it wasn't the greatest show but they blew me away at 10klf last year. They've always been hit or miss for me, but when they hit it is pretty amazing.

Backyard Tire Fire - saw them at Lucas School House, which is this fantastic converted schoolhouse here in St. Louis. Very nice to see these guys in such a small venue. The guy is a prolific songwriter, I only recognized maybe 2 of the songs they played and was just blown away.

I see Madahoochi all the time, a local / regional act here in St. Louis - they play around the midwest and at lots of the festivals, playing Waka and Summercamp this year, plus some smaller ones. Got some YouTube videos if anyone wants to check them out, Cycle of Creation (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rURNZ4CE6JI) being one from last night actually.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Herzapplikator on 20 May 2008, 05:26: Dear Mr. Valley_Parade (I figured that'd be less creepy than "Shane". Both options look equally creepy now), when you're going to see Boris, the most important thing is not to stand too far on either side. You will end up hearing only half of the band, and "Flower, Sun Rain" and "My Neighbor Satan" are no fun without vocals. Hearing Wata would've been quite helpful, too.

Also, I grossly overestimated their volume, thanks to you guys. I made myself some earplugs, because I was worried about my hearing. I wouldn't really have needed them, and I used the stage as a footrest, so I can't have been too far away from the amps.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: doombilly on 20 May 2008, 06:28: Quote from: Misconception on 16 May 2008, 10:58
Quote from: doombilly on 16 May 2008, 06:07
-related public service announcement-
~~

1) Why did you quote that post?

2) The show in Toronto will be 19+, and I am 20.

3) I did not drink at the 21+ show that I went to.

Please don't assume you know things that you don't.
I never said you did. I said it was RELATED. I am super happy you got into a show that would have otherwise restricted your attendance. It reminded me of this 17 yo friend of mine that once talked her way into a Ramones show. My reasoning was that some kid went to a show here recently. Obviously got someone with proper age, ID to get a drink and give it to him. A.L.E. (http://www.nccrimecontrol.org/Index2.cfm?a=000003,000005) caught him. Who got pinched? The venue owner. What was the fall out. He cancelled all shows. So I apologize if that was not clear. I was a bit pissed as I had to cancel a performance. To recap, GREAT, GO TO SHOWS. NOT enough people "of age" do. But please if you drink, be careful to not get the venue in trouble with the State. And that is not pointed at YOU personally, but in general.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: a pack of wolves on 20 May 2008, 06:34: Quote from: Herzapplikator on 20 May 2008, 05:26
Also, I grossly overestimated their volume, thanks to you guys. I made myself some earplugs, because I was worried about my hearing. I wouldn't really have needed them, and I used the stage as a footrest, so I can't have been too far away from the amps.

Yeah, this forum seems to have a weird thing about Boris being ridiculously loud. I actually have an aversion to incredibly loud music (I've never seen Earth or live dubstep for this reason, and I've had to walk out on Wolf Eyes twice) and Boris haven't bothered me either time I've seen them. Palehorse are far louder than Boris.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Funk Thompson on 20 May 2008, 09:51: Quote from: doombilly on 20 May 2008, 06:28

Who got pinched? The venue owner. What was the fall out. He cancelled all shows. So I apologize if that was not clear. I was a bit pissed as I had to cancel a performance. To recap, GREAT, GO TO SHOWS. NOT enough people "of age" do. But please if you drink, be careful to not get the venue in trouble with the State. And that is not pointed at YOU personally, but in general.

Agreed.

I have underage girls try to flirt with me all the time to get me to buy them a drink. I just look at the "MINOR" stamps on their hands, then explain politely about how they could get the venue, and by extension the band, in trouble. They don't listen, they just slink off to feign interest in some other poor mid-life crisis schmuck, but at least I'm not the one being an arse.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: doombilly on 20 May 2008, 10:15: Quote from: Funk Thompson on 18 May 2008, 15:59
Oh boy here goes...

First off, Flaming Lips. ---- I saw them before in 1993, actually, but I barely remember the show - I just remember them doing "Vaseline."
That's about the first/last time I saw the Lips. They were opening for Throwing Muses. (btw, I've always disliked the Vaseline song). I would have to say that there performance was pretty unremarkable for me. I seem to remember a lot of fog. But I was probably just really anxious about seeing the Muses.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Funk Thompson on 20 May 2008, 10:20: Yeah, the '93 show failed to leave an impression.

And really they aren't a band to see for amazing music - a few songs are brilliantly done and the stuff from At War with the Mystics is danceable and idiotically positive. It is more Wayne's "Cult of Personality" I think. It is an audio / visual circus now, the confetti cannons and such, capitalizing on the inebriated nature of the audience :laugh:

*I* think it is an amazing show, just due to the overall euphoria of the crowd and Wayne's "Self Help Seminar" lyrics ;), but to each their own.

I've never even heard of the Muses.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: doombilly on 20 May 2008, 10:25: Quote from: Funk Thompson on 20 May 2008, 10:20
I've never even heard of the Muses.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Throwing_Muses
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: karl gambolputty... on 20 May 2008, 11:14: Quote from: Objects inside Clouds on 15 May 2008, 20:25

Anyway gig thread, I'm seeing A Silver Mt. Zion next week. Expect copious amounts of gushing then!

Me too! It should be an excellent show.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 20 May 2008, 11:18: I can't wait to see them either. Should be terrific. I'm seeing them at a place with no backstage so they'll have to pretty much be in the audience. I'm excited to hopefully meet, or at least shake the hand of, Efrim. Thoughts on the show soon.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: youthcant on 20 May 2008, 12:55: anyone seen Flowers Forever? I dig 'em. they are playing in birmingham. I was thinking about going but, it depends on if enough money after I see Russian Circles & Daughters. Plus the radiohead show in atl took $120 bite out of my wallet.
so, flowers forever yes or no?
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 23 May 2008, 14:07: I saw "Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra and Tra-la-la Band" last night in the basement of the First Unitarian Church in Philly. It was a pretty spectacular show. Beautiful, epic, intense music in a cramped, stuffy room jammed with people. It's amazing how well seven musicians play together, cueing each other with winks, nods and silent counts yet each one seemed wholly absorbed in the music. On the records on occasion Efrim's voice is pretty weak, sure, but live with the cacophony of the instruments, the edge is taken and it becomes a lot more palatable. I was surprised to learn from Efrim that it was the band's 166th show ever. I know they rarely tour but I didn't know it was that few, considering how long they've been around. Anyway, what have been people's experiences thus far?

Set list for 5/22, First Unitarian Church, Philadelphia
1. 13 Blues for 13 Moons
2. Could've Moved Mountains
3. Mountains Made of Steam
4. One Million Died to Make this Sound
5. (New Song!!) There is a Light
ENCORE
Microphones in the Trees
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: sean on 23 May 2008, 14:41: Quote from: karl gambolputty... on 20 May 2008, 11:14
Quote from: Objects inside Clouds on 15 May 2008, 20:25

Anyway gig thread, I'm seeing A Silver Mt. Zion next week. Expect copious amounts of gushing then!

Me too! It should be an excellent show.

Dude, you are a big indian guy, right? I will try to say hi to you! I have a dumb green hat and a pelican shirt on!

Edit: They played Mountains Made of Stream? Really? I heard they were not playing Horses in the Sky stuff. Interesting.

Edit part 2:
Quote from: a pack of wolves on 20 May 2008, 06:34
I actually have an aversion to incredibly loud music (I've never seen Earth or live dubstep for this reason, and I've had to walk out on Wolf Eyes twice)

I saw Earth play with Pelican and Priestbird last summer and I can't say I remember Earth being too terribly loud. I may be insensitive to loudness though, since my hearing isn't exactly top notch (nor is it terribly bad, thank you).
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 23 May 2008, 15:02: Quote from: Objects inside Clouds on 23 May 2008, 14:41
Edit: They played Mountains Made of Stream? Really? I heard they were not playing Horses in the Sky stuff. Interesting.

They did indeed. I was really surprised. Efrim has a habit of announcing each song before they play and, even though I was up against the stage and only a few feet from him, I still thought I had misheard him. It was probably one of the best songs of the night.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: sean on 23 May 2008, 15:36: I hope they play it tonight too then! That is one of my favorite tracks by them.

Also I am gonna be sad if there is no Blindblindblind.

I'll shut up now.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Jyan on 23 May 2008, 17:46: Quote from: imagist42 on 12 May 2008, 22:40
Saw Wilco tonight. I didn't exactly like the location, but I won't go into that because my issues are strictly personal. Let us just say that Stubbs' outdoor venu is, objectively, a worthwhile venue with great sound.

I, too, have personal reasons not to like Stubb's. I doubt they're the same ones however.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: imagist42 on 23 May 2008, 21:56: Really? What are yours? Mine are basically that I hate being anywhere that so many people have such vast freedom to light up just about whatever they want wherever they want, particularly upwind of me. That and the venue ought to open up wider, side-to-side, rather than opening up toward the back in such a narrow manner. Makes for very little room to be anywhere close to the stage or otherwise in sight of the band.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: a pack of wolves on 24 May 2008, 01:48: Quote from: Objects inside Clouds on 23 May 2008, 14:41
I saw Earth play with Pelican and Priestbird last summer and I can't say I remember Earth being too terribly loud. I may be insensitive to loudness though, since my hearing isn't exactly top notch (nor is it terribly bad, thank you).

They were playing at an All Tomorrow's Parties I was at last year and I figured I'd catch some of their set since I quite enjoyed Earth 2. Then I heard them checking their amps and realised I was not going to enjoy it. You didn't need good hearing to know it was loud either, the vibrations made you shake. They must not have had the same kind of gear when you saw them, either that or you're made of steel.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: karl gambolputty... on 24 May 2008, 08:59: Quote from: Objects inside Clouds on 23 May 2008, 14:41
Dude, you are a big indian guy, right? I will try to say hi to you! I have a dumb green hat and a pelican shirt on!

Actually I am practically a midget, but I am pretty sure you were standing a few rows in front of me at some point! If you were standing at the right-most edge of the stage! I was not sure, and very drunk, so I did not say hi.

The show was amazing. I took a picture.

(http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/1828/1000059fb7.jpg)
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: sean on 24 May 2008, 10:11: I was at the right-most end of the stage! I think I saw you too. You shouted something when they were going on with the "Heat Stroke" thing, right before Efrim trashed Vampire Weekend if I am correct.

Anyway, that show was fucking ridiculous. It was probably one of the best shows I've been to. The opening act, Vic Chestnut, was pretty fucking good too. One thing I noticed about him is that on some songs is that when members from a silver mt. zion came on, they seemed to inject some godspeed influence in there. Especially the last one. The way Efrim tremolo picked screamed godspeed. Which was cool. After that, Silver Mt. Zion just blew the place away. They opened with one of their new songs, which is probably one of their best to date. They seemed to play their older songs with a heavier edge cause of their new sound, which was really awesome. They even had ridicouly good stage banter. I really wish I had recorded it.

This is the DC setlist if I am remembering correctly.

I Built Myself A Metal Bird, I Fed My Metal Bird The Wings Of Other Metal Birds (new song)
Could've Moved Mountains
Mountains Made Of Steam
1,000,000 Died To Make This Sound
There's a Light

Encore
Microphones In The Trees

I think that is correct. I also have pictures, but there are so many that I will not dump them here.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 24 May 2008, 10:12: Oh man, you got two new songs?? No fair!
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: sean on 24 May 2008, 10:17: Yeah dude. It was fucking awesome.

And one more thing I forgot. If anyone wants to hear their new songs, they have versions recorded from their show in Montreal in March. My friend was there and he said they were excellent! They have all of 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons up live too.

Shazam! (http://www.silvermtzion.com/media.php)
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: karl gambolputty... on 24 May 2008, 10:26: Quote from: Objects inside Clouds on 24 May 2008, 10:11
I was at the right-most end of the stage! I think I saw you too. You shouted something when they were going on with the "Heat Stroke" thing, right before Efrim trashed Vampire Weekend if I am correct.

Yup, that was me, although I can't for the life of me remember what I yelled. Their stage-banter was hilarious, which I didn't see coming at all, considering how serious and somber their music is.

Oh, and I found that review they were pissed about. It's pretty awful. (http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/display.php?id=34832)
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 24 May 2008, 11:27: Efrim ac Co. are terrific at between song banter. I was genuinely surprised by this. I don't know why but I guess I was assuming they were going to be distant or something. They were incredibly nice and had the whole crowd laughing for some time, however. Also, thanks for the link to the new songs live. I'm excited to hear what I missed.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: muffy on 24 May 2008, 12:07: I saw The Ghost Frequency and This City at Club NME in Brighton on Wednesday - the bands were fantastic - loud, pulsating hybrids of post hardcore and full on disco, but the crowd acted like limpets - seriously, I have never seen quite such a large gathering of arms clutched to chests and blank or disdainful expressions. Brighton crowds are notoriously irksome for this, but I think this tipped the scale. Possibly, people saw the NME logo and thought 'oh, cool, we have to act even more unimpressed than usual', but this was to the point that in an audience of 200 odd people, I stood out because I was moving. The upshot of this is - if you get to see either band live, do it. Just take some kind of electric shocking device for the people around you.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: the Goat on 24 May 2008, 16:22: Quote from: a pack of wolves on 24 May 2008, 01:48
Quote from: Objects inside Clouds on 23 May 2008, 14:41
I saw Earth play with Pelican and Priestbird last summer and I can't say I remember Earth being too terribly loud. I may be insensitive to loudness though, since my hearing isn't exactly top notch (nor is it terribly bad, thank you).

They were playing at an All Tomorrow's Parties I was at last year and I figured I'd catch some of their set since I quite enjoyed Earth 2. Then I heard them checking their amps and realised I was not going to enjoy it. You didn't need good hearing to know it was loud either, the vibrations made you shake. They must not have had the same kind of gear when you saw them, either that or you're made of steel.

Did you stick around to see them play or did you leave before the set began?

The reason I ask is because I saw the same tour with Pelican and I have to agree they were not as loud as I was expecting. At that time they were just a trio with a half-stack for the bass and guitars. I had only given a cursory listen to Hex when I saw them and I was expecting fuzzed out drone metal a lá Earth 2.

They sounded nothing like Earth 2. They were playing this sort of slowed down version of electric country. Kind of the same idea as before, but replacing the fuzz with twang. It was really incredible, in my opinion they blew Pelican off the fucking stage, but I think the twangier sound helped mitigate the volume so it didn't feel like my ear drums were being torn out.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: the Goat on 24 May 2008, 16:37: Last show I saw was Jay Reatard at the Black Cat in DC, and it was pretty fucking great. I had missed him the past couple of times he'd been in this neck of the woods so I was pretty psyched and it lived up to all of my expectations.

I stood around for about half an hour waiting to be let upstairs, then sat through another 2 hours of opening acts and setups. Jay Reatard came on and played for 30 minutes, straight. No greeting to the audience, soundcheck was 10 seconds long, and every single song sounded like it was in double time. When they finished a song, there was a brief pause, then Jay would shout the next song and then they'd start playing. It was very much in the style of the Ramones; no bullshit, just lots of fast, loud rock n' roll and then gone. If I were to make a none-ordinal list of best shows, it would definitely be up there.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: sean on 24 May 2008, 21:02: Quote from: karl gambolputty... on 24 May 2008, 10:26
Oh, and I found that review they were pissed about. It's pretty awful. (http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/display.php?id=34832)

Oh, man, its the City Paper. That is just perfect.

Seriously, this is cracking me up right now.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: DMart on 25 May 2008, 14:55: To the gentleman I was discussing Little Red with recently (Ishotdanieljohnston) - check out the Greasers if you haven't already - It's sort of Dom (Lil'Red frontman)'s "side project". Much bluesier. They're doing 3 gigs this week, can't remember the venues though. I saw them at the East Brunswick on Friday night, then proceeded to get very drunk. My housemate and I wound up watching Chris Cunningham videos and drinking tequila until 4. But yeah, hoping to catch them again on Thursday I think?

Also: (shameless plug) Fritzwicky's second gig this Saturday!
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 25 May 2008, 19:34: I'm seeing Efterklang tomorrow night! I really can't wait. I've heard nothing but spectacular things about their lives shows. Thoughts to follow.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: sean on 25 May 2008, 19:41: Man, I should of seen Efterklang yesterday, but all my friends were cunts and did not want to go. Also the venue they were playing at is not very metro accessible and I take metro just about everywhere. Fuck you rock and roll hotel.

I hope they are good!
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Jyan on 25 May 2008, 20:47: Quote from: imagist42 on 23 May 2008, 21:56
Really? What are yours? Mine are basically that I hate being anywhere that so many people have such vast freedom to light up just about whatever they want wherever they want, particularly upwind of me. That and the venue ought to open up wider, side-to-side, rather than opening up toward the back in such a narrow manner. Makes for very little room to be anywhere close to the stage or otherwise in sight of the band.

Oh, see, I don't mind the crowd so much, its the people who work there that tick me off. Every one I talked to was so unhelpful and such dicks, plus the damn venue messed up my press stuff so I couldn't get in to the frickin show.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: imagist42 on 25 May 2008, 23:29: Ah. Well, my experience with the staff was mostly an idiotic security guard who shuffled through the crowd to break up two drunk guys who were barely curt with each other, hardly about to start a fight, and then not noticing the frat boys taking hits of weed right next to him. Even the worst venues I've been too have been pretty on-the-ball about stopping people who are so obvious about it, but not Stubb's. Otherwise, not much I can say on the staff front.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: a pack of wolves on 26 May 2008, 00:37: Quote from: the Goat on 24 May 2008, 16:22
Did you stick around to see them play or did you leave before the set began?

The reason I ask is because I saw the same tour with Pelican and I have to agree they were not as loud as I was expecting. At that time they were just a trio with a half-stack for the bass and guitars. I had only given a cursory listen to Hex when I saw them and I was expecting fuzzed out drone metal a lá Earth 2.

They sounded nothing like Earth 2. They were playing this sort of slowed down version of electric country. Kind of the same idea as before, but replacing the fuzz with twang. It was really incredible, in my opinion they blew Pelican off the fucking stage, but I think the twangier sound helped mitigate the volume so it didn't feel like my ear drums were being torn out.

I left before the set began. I'm pretty sure they sounded like they did when you saw them from the reports I heard afterwards, but the twangy sound wouldn't have helped. It's bass volume that gets me rather than the abuse to my eardrums and they had it cranked up enough to shake the room.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: suitupletsgo on 26 May 2008, 17:29: as of this afternoon, my sister has purchased herself and I tickets to see Swervedriver on June 6th in Philly. she has been telling me for about 10 years now, that they were one of her favourite live shows. needless to say, I'm very excited.

I'm also seeing Jeremy Enigk on Friday, but no one likes Sunny Day or his solo stuff in these parts, haha.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: sean on 26 May 2008, 18:23: Not true, I believe a few people dig Sunny Day Real Estate. I myself enjoy their early material every once in a while.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: suitupletsgo on 26 May 2008, 18:33: well I suppose I mean stuff past diary. I'm more of a how it feels to be something on kinda guy myself. regardless, he puts on a very good show.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 27 May 2008, 09:15: Guys, Efterklang is absolutely fucking awesome! One of the best shows I've been to in a long time. In fact, I'm going to see them again tomorrow night in NYC based upon how good the show was. The venue, a rather old, very beautiful church, was perfect, the audience was palpably excited which really seemed to fuel the band and all nine members of the band that were on the tour seemed to play their hearts out. For the encore, the entire band grabbed various instruments that weren't plugged into anything (mostly brass, drums, tambourines and other jangly percussives) and marched up and down the aisles singing the chorus to the song. And the songs...well they were all fantastic. It was a totally absorbing, incredible musical experience. To top it off, the band (at least the members I talked to briefly) is incredibly humble and seemed pretty ecstatic about being able to go on this tour and get such strong reactions from their audiences. It's not likely if they'll tour again anytime in the near future if at all since they're only able to finance this tour with an art grant they got from (I think) the Danish government. The tour is wrapping up sort of soon so if they're playing anywhere near you at all, go see them!

Set list:
1. Polygyne
2. Monopolist
3. Frida Found a Friend
4. (New Song) Echo Wave
5. Mirador
6. (New Song) Mirror Mirror
7. Cutting Ice to Snow
8. Step Aside
ENCORE
Jojo
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Barrabas on 30 May 2008, 16:52: I saw Boris awhile ago in Bristol, I wasn't that impressed. They started and ended well, but got pretty generic sounding in the middle, playing something that sounded worryingly like some kind of pop-punk song (at least in the hackneyed chord progression and guitar tone). They were supported by Growing who completely blew them away. Their soundscapes were hypnotic and almost danceable. I stood next to the speakers for their set and the vibrations nearly blew me away. Fantastic times.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: imagist42 on 24 Jun 2008, 00:38: Holy... there just isn't a word. I thought Islands were great despite sound issues last time I saw them, but tonight's show at Emo's was beyond amazing and by far the most rocking set I've ever heard, even on songs I previously wrote off as a bit on the boring side like "In the Rushes" and "Life in Jail." I'm not going to say the whole gig was top-notch. Crayonsmith, who I'd never heard of, played good songs and were entertaining but the keyboards were far too loud and tinny and everything else was mixed far too muddy in the bass regions so I could barely stand to listen from the other side of the venue, behind a solid wall (I heard Emo's had good sound, but I didn't realize they meant loud sound or I'd have invested in ear plugs). Then there was AWOL-One, both a terrible name and a terrible hip-hop act (and I'd really rather Islands hadn't brought him on tour, not really because his act was bad but because he had to come in and absolutely ruin the rap segment in the middle of "Whalebone"). But Islands... they were just totally on the ball. They seemed more lively, more energetic, more playful with each other and with the crowd. Everything came exactly right, even when Nick's acoustic crapped out (apparently there was a bad connection so it wasn't coming up in the mix?) right before "Whitney, Bobby"; he just shrugged it off and played a clean electric, and we loved the song all the more for it. I'm not sure if two months ago they were just having a rough night (bad sound is one thing, but that wasn't the only thing; they weren't quite as cohesive back then either) or if they've just really come alive in the course of this tour, but I find myself wishing more than anything ever that they could have stayed for a couple more songs. About an hour and ten minutes into their hour and fifteen minute set they started up "Volcanoes," but quickly switched to "Creeper" when they realized they would be running out of time. I just know they could have done something mind-blowing with that song, but getting a three-song encore of "Humans," "Rough Gem" and "Swans" wasn't bad either. Man... what a perfect show.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Funk Thompson on 24 Jun 2008, 09:05: Last night's show was freaking phenomenal.

The band has been actually getting to go to the festivals and see other bands and it seems to have renewed their spirits, and they have really added a professional polish to their sets and playing style.

Imagine if you had met Frank Zappa before he made it big, or David Byrne. I feel like I am hanging out with a musical legend in the making. Scott Rockwood is becoming such an amazing and emotive guitar player, every note purposeful and played with passion. Watching his face as he plays it seems he is speaking to the guitar (and I'd love to see him play with a vocoder or whatever...)

Madahoochi people - they are the most amazing band I have ever seen live. Some may be "technically" better, some are more fun to dance to, but no other band puts out as much raw rock energy as they do. Their songs are complex and layered and played with skill and passion that I rarely see.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Kai on 24 Jun 2008, 11:23: Quote from: Sam on 26 May 2008, 19:14
i'm seeing swervedriver next tuesday.

anytime anybody mentions this band, I immediately confuse them with Skrewdriver, and then very poignantly point out, "you know those guys are like, nazis, right?" Then everyone looks at me oddly. Good times!
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Inlander on 24 Jun 2008, 19:25: I've started going to gigs again for the first time in months (I got kinda bummed out about going to gigs by myself). Last Friday I saw the Phoenix Foundation, from New Zealand, and they were fucking awesome. Like many people, I suspect, I've only heard of them through the soundtrack work they did for the film Eagle vs. Shark, so I was expecting a night of pleasant, low-key indie pop. What I wasn't expecting was a bunch of hirsute, blokey Kiwis to come on-stage and, in the friendliest and most cheerful way possible, rock the fuck out of the East Brunswick Club. Moral of the story: if you get a chance to see them live, take it!
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: imagist42 on 24 Jun 2008, 19:47: Quote from: Sam on 24 Jun 2008, 17:47
Quote from: imagist42 on 24 Jun 2008, 00:38
(I heard Emo's had good sound, but I didn't realize they meant loud sound or I'd have invested in ear plugs).

seriously?

I am not sure what you mean by this question. Did you wind up going, by the way?
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: imagist42 on 24 Jun 2008, 21:52: No no I understand music is loud, it's not like I've never been to a gig before but Emo's is probably the loudest set-up I've heard so far (possibly because the acoustic design of the place is fantastic, especially with the variety in areas appropriate for dancing vs. lounging, so nothing is lost or muddled on the floor). This is not an inherently bad thing, but the mixing for the opening acts was loud in all the wrong places (as you said, probably due to the sound guy working on it) and I was unprepared. The mix for Islands, on the other hand, was great.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: imagist42 on 25 Jul 2008, 22:52: Oh my god Wolf Parade. If you ever get the chance to see Spencer Krug or Dan Boeckner do anything, take it.

That set was perfect, even if Wintersleep weren't opening. Actually, it might have been better, because half the drunktards who were only there to hear "I'll Believe in Anything" didn't even know who Wintersleep were and refused to try to get into them. I still enjoyed their set too, but I wouldn't have had to hear idiots scream "Wolf Parade" after every one of their songs.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 26 Jul 2008, 07:37: Yay! Thanks for the good news! I'm seeing Wolf Parade on Aug. 1 in New York and am now even more excited. Plus I get to see Wintersleep!! I saw Frog Eyes at my school earlier in the year and it was great so I'm expecting great things from this.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Shadows Collide on 26 Jul 2008, 20:02: Mark Kozelek last night at the East Brunswick Club = Phenomenal. It was just him on acoustic accompanied by a nice quiet guy called Phil, who I think is also in Sun Kil Moon. It was just the thing I needed yesterday, as I was really tired and worn down and needed some very personal, beautiful music like this to soothe me (seriously).

Importantly, he did "Summer Dress" and finished with "Katy's Song" - two of the best Red House Painters songs, and my personal favourites were "Tonight in Balbao", "Blue Orchids" and "Carry Me Ohio". Me and my friend were the only teenagers in the crowd which I guess makes sense.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 26 Jul 2008, 20:26: I saw Gregor Samsa with Olafur Arnalds the other night in New York at a cool new venue in the village called Le Poisson Rouge. It was a pretty awesome show. Olafur Arnalds played on piano with a string quartet. It was beautiful sorta chamber music with some glitchy electronics mixed in for good measure. Gregor Samsa played an awesome, albeit too short, set. They closed with my favorite song of their's though, so that made up for it.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: sean on 26 Jul 2008, 20:33: Quote from: TheFuriousWombat on 26 Jul 2008, 20:26
I saw Gregor Samsa with Olafur Arnalds the other night in New York

Fight you
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: imagist42 on 26 Jul 2008, 22:27: wolf parade would have been a much better use of your time
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Ishotdanieljohnston on 01 Aug 2008, 18:57: Saw Sigur Ros last night... and it was amazing. Shitty shitty venue... festival hall... but I was front row so i didn't take much notice. They were great though, Gobldigook was the highlight, such a fun song live. Crowd was great and really friendly too.

Going to Bandof Horses on Monday...
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: valley_parade on 01 Aug 2008, 20:46: Working at the Next President show right now, holy FUCK they are loud.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Eli on 02 Aug 2008, 08:15: I saw The Melvins Thursday night. They were kinda underwhelming, but I think it was because my ears were totally shot by the time King Buzzo came on.

The first act was The Secret Chiefs 3. When they first came out on the stage, I was a little turned off. The frontman was wearing a druid robe and all these large crosses. Another member was wearing a ninja outfit. They played a mix of Persian-inspired metal that sounded pretty good, although repetitive. Apparently, the rest of their stuff doesn't sound like that at all.

Next was Big Business. The frontman in this band was the only person who spoke to the audience the whole show and all he said was, “Thank you all for coming out tonight, we’re Big Business.” They had a pretty generic rock sound and they only played for 30 minutes.

Then King Buzzo walked out in some heavy turtleneck sweater thing. That does not seem like something you should wear in Colorado in the summer. The bassist was dressed like Hercules or something. They segued all of their songs into each other almost perfectly and in a middle of one song, they sang The Star Spangled Banner. I'm not sure if they were trying to make a political statement or not, but if they were, it was nice they did it in that way. When I saw REM, they talked about Obama between every song and it was pretty annoying.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 02 Aug 2008, 14:25: I saw Wintersleep and Wolf Parade last night at Terminal 5 in NYC. It was fantastic! I really went to see Wintersleep. Wolf Parade was just an added bonus. Wintersleep were amazing live. They played 9 songs - 8 off "Welcome to the Night Sky" and one I hadn't heard before (it's not on their earlier albums either so I guess it's new/unrecorded). The energy was incredible and the crowd seemed pretty into it as well. Their songs were louder and had a more intense, epic, noisy chaos to them live. I can't wait for them to start headlining their own shows. Wolf Parade was great as well. Really fun, really energetic. The crowd was insanely enthusiastic. They closed with an epic, extra extended version of "Kissing the Beehive" which concluded with an awesome instrumental improv/jam several minutes long. Overall it was a terrific show (one of the better ones I've seen thus far this year).
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Uber Ritter on 02 Aug 2008, 23:01: I saw Boris nearly a month ago and they were amazing.

I walked into the club and my chest was pummeled by sound--and that was the opening act.

Here is my sketch of the setup:

___________Wall of Amps______________

<Band> <Fucking> <Band>
<double-neck>
<guitar>

| | |
| | |
| | |
V V V
Joy Beauty Fucking
Rock and Roll

<ME>

It was one of the best shows I've ever been to.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: pinkpiche on 03 Aug 2008, 08:30: Uber Ritter and everyone else who have seen Boris : FIGHT YOU

I just missed Converge, Integrity and Coliseum. On the same night. So that's basically world class missin'
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: valley_parade on 03 Aug 2008, 08:36: I missed Boris a last month, and it turns out I absolutely could have gone. *dies*
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: sean on 03 Aug 2008, 11:30: I could have seen boris if I really wanted to but decided not to because Wolves in the Throne Room pulled out of that tour.

Does this make me a bad person?
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: imagist42 on 03 Aug 2008, 13:27: I have never been terribly interested in anything Boris has ever done.

Does this make me a bad person?
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Uber Ritter on 03 Aug 2008, 18:00: Puzzling, but no.

Ditto.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: imapiratearg on 03 Aug 2008, 18:36: Yeah, drone kind of bores me, but hey, to each his own.

Gogol Bordello sold out and I don't have a ticket. :[ I'm hoping I can nab one off of a scalper or something.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: MobyDickhole on 04 Aug 2008, 01:25: I went to the Download Festival at the Gibson Ampitheatre at Citywalk.

It was an awesome lineup.

THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN
GANG OF FOUR
MUTEMATH
YEASAYER
GHOSTLAND OBSERVATORY
M83
CARIBOU
RJD2
MATES OF STATE
TAPES 'N TAPES
DATAROCK
KAKI KING
(plus others)

But there was essentially nobody there.
This was for two reasons. First of all, the advertising for it was done TERRIBLY. I only came across the information about it accidentally while looking up who was gonna be playing the Gibson because I work at Citywalk.

Livenation even dropped the tickets down to $10 (plus $11 in charges) but still it didn't even close to sell out. Livenation is to blame for this. It was advertised as a show and not as a music festival. I mean the line up is fairly awesome. a bit strange perhaps but awesome nonetheless.

So anyways, the ampitheatre (which is big enough for bands like Styx to play in) was essentially empty. And on top of that, the bouncers stuck to the wristband system so most people weren't allowed in the pit which made for a strange empty feel because we were forced to stare at an empty hole in front of the stage. (I ended up talking myself into getting a wristband by around the time Yeasayer came on, but that is besides the point)

The bands still did a good job of playing really good sets, but the energy was not really in the air. The only times when the place really got going was during Ghostland Observatory and Brand New (both of whom were in the small number of bands that I didn't really care about)

Kaki King was first. I felt bad for them because the place only had what felt like maybe 30 or 40 people in it. However, the set was beautiful. I always knew I kinda liked Kaki King's music, but live, it comes to a whole new level. They play with a lot of recorder pedals and strange instruments. sort of like an Andrew Bird thing. If you get a chance to see this group live, do not pass it up.

The nonstop 9 hours of music was all kinds of awesome, but the fact that their weren't other people around sorta killed the vibe and while it should have been up there with the best shows of the year, the whole thing felt kind of like watching a television. nonstop, sort of rushed, and unenthused

I really enjoyed Mutemath's set even if that's only because I was able to yell "I bet you can't play it backwards" after they played Typical and get away with it. It was Mutemath's first show in months apparently, so their energy was fantastic. I don't really have that much else to say though.

Caribou played on the smaller outdoor stage. They were awesome. Live, they sound almost COMPLETELY different than their albums. The only problem is that while Caribou was rocking outside, THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN were playing inside making seeing Caribou the most difficult choice of the festival.

By the way, Jesus and Mary Chain are awesome. I caught about 30-45 minutes of their set. and they rocked the place as if it was full. I wasn't really that aware of their music before the show, but I can tell you that that has since changed.

I'm not going to review the other sets because they weren't outstanding. As much as I love Mates of State, M83, and the others, their sets felt mediocre. I think the crowd is more at fault for that than the bands are. Hopefully I'll see them again in a better setting

The show however made for a great day. and was well worth the price of admission.
I just hope that they give the Download Festival another try in Los Angeles, because I think it has a lot of potential if they only backed it as if it had a lot of potential.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Wayfaring Stranger on 04 Aug 2008, 14:08: I just saw The Hold Steady and thoroughly enjoyed it. They have a lot of good energy. Their keyboard player is a pretty awesome guy too.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Ishotdanieljohnston on 04 Aug 2008, 17:03: I saw Band Of Horses last night and they were good. The venue wasn't to bad and the crowd were ok. The band themselves seemed pretty stoned... they kept exchanging I love you mans, but it didn't seem to effect thee performance to much. Solid show, it was fun.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: imapiratearg on 06 Aug 2008, 14:27: Gogol Bordello get better every time I see them. Oh man.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: McTaggart on 06 Aug 2008, 15:25: Quote from: Anyways on 06 Aug 2008, 13:26
Lykke Li.

I've been wondering how that was spelt.

Also, make sure you do not miss Sonic Youth. They're just excellent. I didn't rant about how great they were when I saw them simply because I couldn't come up with a better way to describe the show than just excellent. There is no way I'm missing them next time they're near me.

Has anyone been to a Ladytron gig? How are they? They're playing in Perth in october and I think I really want to go.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Catacombs on 08 Aug 2008, 07:07: Last night I saw Liam Finn open for Eddie Vedder. Both were excelent. I'll wind up posting their albums in the mediafyre thread later.

Even though i was four rows from the very top, my seats weren't bad because it was a small theater. Finn played with a woman, and used a lot of looping machines which i thought was pretty interesting. He started by playing a drum beat, then got up, and while that continued to loop played a bass part out on his guitar, then while those looped started to play the guitar riff. He did similar stuff throughout his set, in different order. He's also an awesome drummer.

Eddie Vedder was great. Just him & a guitar, center stage. He did cover's ranging from Cat Steven's Trouble to Bruce Springsteen's Growin Up to Bob Dylan's Masters of War. He also did about half the Into the Wild soundtrack and some Pearl Jam Stuff. Played for about 2:15. One of the coolest things was the stories and Q&A stuff in between songs. The best was when someone in the audience yelled out "WHAT'S THE WORDS TO "YELLOW LEDBETTER?" Eddie thought that was quite funny. All in all great show.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Chesire Cat on 08 Aug 2008, 09:31: The three best shows/performances Ive seen were.

The Weakerthans headlining in support of Reunion Tour (NOT there Osheaga '08 performance)
Crystal Castles with Health, man I was totally depressed going into this show and didnt get drunk, but once they started boy did I dance
Chromeo (This one at Osheaga '08), these guys know how to be everything that is cool, and then drag the crowd into it and make them cooler aswell.

Id elaborate on all these but Im feeling a mite lazy.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Tom on 09 Aug 2008, 18:24: Eugh, Cut copy are kinda boring. Their albums are mostly boring and bland filler with three or four good dance-pop tunes.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: imagist42 on 09 Aug 2008, 20:49: I love their albums through and through, but when I go to their Austin show in September there had better be people dancing or I'mma make 'em dance.

Any and all apparent references to Western gunslinger catchphrases may or may not be intentional.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: pinkpiche on 10 Aug 2008, 06:34: I just want to say, like so many before me, that Sigur Rós is absolutely FLAWLESS live.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: valley_parade on 10 Aug 2008, 07:02: Quote from: Anyways on 09 Aug 2008, 18:19
The last gig of the day was Sunn O))). Holy motherfucker these guys were loud.

I need to see Sunn O))) at some point.

Gig update: Not going to Wilco on Tuesday! My friends are lame and all sold their tickets, leaving me ride-less (and a taxi would be mad expensive).
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: dalconnsuch on 10 Aug 2008, 07:10: if any of you get a chance go see "the shaky hands" they're amazing live, like absolutey tears in your eyes amazing
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: allison on 10 Aug 2008, 07:36: I saw NIN at the Air Canada Centre, and snagged backstage passes. Got to watch the soundcheck - they are intense people. It was really cool - met Robin, Josh and Justin of the band, but Trent and Alessandro weren't exactly social. The show itself was amazing - it was more than a concert, it was a spectacle. I was impressed too by the energy that they exhibited, especially considering Trent was extremely sick. If you get the chance (and have the incredible ability to ignore all the douchebags that attend) go see NIN. Having to sit through Deer Hunter was even worth it.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: SilentJ on 10 Aug 2008, 12:15: Last monday my mom had 2 tickets to see Return to Forever. Now, I didn't know too much about who they were, and knowing my mom, I thought it would just be a buncha old jazz fans sitting around nodding their heads, and politely clapping between each song.

Turns out Lenny White busted out his rolodex before the show, so they had Larry Coryall opening for them. And his set was exactly like what I thought it would be. It clearly showed that they'd been together again for like six hours. Every song was just a simple back beat by the drummer, and everybody else in the band just took it in turn to solo over what they had. Now, I know this sounds like a lot of music, but I'm finding it hard to express. Like, it had a jam band feel written all over it. I don't think they even rehearsed anything they played. I'd give 'em a solid B-.

Then, after a fifteen-minute intermission, Return to Forever came on. I was not prepared for what ensued. I've never seen that many fifty-somethings rocking the fuck out, and by God it was hilarious. Plus they kicked some serious ass on stage. I didn't really know who was in it, but these guys are the who's who of jazz fusion. Chick Corea on keyboards, who is not only a hell of a keyboardist but even more so of a composer; Lenny White on the drums, who was not really given his chance to shine during the show. You had to pick apart the music to get a taste of how he is as a drummer, but god damn he's impressive; Stanley Clarke on the bass, who gets several props for being one of the first people to play the bass like it was a lead instrument. Dude is funky. And finally, an idol of mine, Al Di Meola on guitar. Dude was playing the hippiest guitar I've ever seen, rainbow-striped PRS. But god damn he is an impressive musician.

They surprised me so much with what they brought to the table. I mean, these guys are all good as shit on their respective instruments, but they're also in their 50's and 60's. I didn't expect much, and they blew my mind. Considering their impressive stage presence, I'd give 'em an A-.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: ledhendrix on 10 Aug 2008, 15:20: Was at Belladrum music festival the last couple of days. I was working so I didn't get to see all the bands I would have liked to but I did see a couple.

The Kazoo Funk Orchestra were amazing. I had high hopes for a band with a name like that but they surpassed all expectations. Their stage presence was incredible. They had 14 band members on stage, all giving it there all. The music was not what I expected, they were a real band and they were awesome, they had Kazoo's but they were not the main instrument. There was one hot dancing girl so we copied all her moves, right down at the barrier. Afterward we went and bought there album (Free crayon and colouring book inside) and T-Shirt (Which is really cool) and got free badges and our photo taken (which should be going on there website). After this I went back to work and spotted the big bearded guy with the Fender Jaguar. We had a big chat with him and persuaded him to buy a lamb burger, then a few of the other band members came along and we had even more chat. Basically they were the best live act I've ever seen and it will be hard to beat. GO SEE THEM.

Cold War Kids were alright.

Jefferson Starship were brilliant. They were all really old but they could still rock the fuck out, and they did it well. At the end of White Rabbit the drummer through his stick into the crowd and I caught it. Best moment ever.

There were a lot of excellent acts at belladrum, I can't wait to go back next year, it was amazing.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: sean on 10 Aug 2008, 16:12: Quote from: Anyways on 09 Aug 2008, 18:19
Isis was terrible!

This is making me so sad, you don't even know.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: benji on 18 Aug 2008, 08:42: On Saturday, I went to see My Morning Jacket at Waterfront Park in Louisville with 10,000 of my neighbors. I guess this is what they mean when they call someone a local hero.

This was my first time seeing them live. In my defense, I haven't actually lived here that long and so I never really got a chance to see them play at the little local clubs about town. They have a lot of on-stage presence, and the crowd had a lot of energy and enthusiasm. Also, they know how to throw a party. They ditched the usual budwiser and generic hot-dog stands you usually find at outdoor concerts in favor of local breweries and local restaurants. Jim James said he wanted it to be a "celebration of all things Louisville," and I think he succeeded.

I was walking in to the park as the first song was playing, and at first I was worried. The sound seemed off. I thought the engineer was trying to compensate for the outdoors and that many people by just over micing everything. But by the 2nd song, everything was blending properly and the remainder of the evening was amazing. They took a short break at one point, but other than that played continuously for about three and a half hours. We might make too much out of this band for being home town heroes, but they do put on a good show and they are doing rock in a way that far too few are doing it any more. There's a celebration of something going on when they play. They're playing because its fun and because they want us to have fun too.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Wraithzor on 18 Aug 2008, 09:22: There are two shows I can say were the best ones I've ever gone to.

One was a show with Off Minor, Comadre and Aussitot Mort. Aussitot Mort was pretty cool but nothing noteworthy to say about them. Comadre, however, was one of the best bands I've ever seen live. The atmosphere was very intense and everyone was standing extremely close to the band(I couldn't count how many times the singer bumped his ass against my crotch). Some people sang along at some part and of course they ended with "Hit me up on my celly-cell". Really awesome show. They were followed by Off Minor, who I thought were better than Comadre but no one seemed to think so. Suddenly the atmosphere disappeared and most people were too preoccupied with evading the singer/guitarists wild swings. Even so, they played a hell of a show. Jamie(the guitarist/singer) broke 2 or 3 strings during the show and the drummer lost a drum several times during songs.

The other show was Cutting Pink With Knives' last show ever at Rock Herk. There was a podium, security and a fence between the crowd and the band but despite that they jumped over the fence one by one to play IN the crowd. There was no drummer so it was doable(instead, they have their drum/synth beats on their iPod, which meant they had to get back up the stage to stop/start the song). In between songs the singer kept bullshitting about all kinds of stuff. Insinuating pedophilia is okay in Belgium and that all his jokes are as good as politically correct since he's Jewish. He was hilarious. The whole show was pretty chaotic, sometimes the bass would just give up and he would just use another one he set up. Or one of the roadies took the microphone and jumped over the fence to sing instead of the normal vocalist(those vocals were fucking amazing though). At the very last song the bassist bashed his guitar into the ground and everyone tried to get a piece. The show gave me an almost sexual afterglow for the next several days.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Liz on 26 Aug 2008, 20:47: Jonny Lang is a beast.

Jesus Christ. That was one of the best shows I have ever been to, period. Plus I got a poster and a guitar pick so whooo!
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: ViolentDove on 28 Aug 2008, 17:09: Ok, so the Brian Jonestown Massacre gig was pretty good!

They're really uh... "relaxed" on stage, though. So much so that they spent about 5-10 minutes talking complete shit in between songs. Also, it was Anton's birthday, so the crowd sang happy birthday. He seemed moderately pleased by this.

The supports were pretty damn awesome, also. The Black Ryder (http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=151495045) is a band consisting of two members of the Morning After Girls, and a bunch of guest people from other bands, like the Laurels and Brian Jonestown. They play kinda shoegazey stuff, I guess.

Go see them!
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: imagist42 on 28 Sep 2008, 01:56: I just got back from the ACL aftershow with Crooked Fingers. And Man Man. AND OKKERVIL ODKJAWODKJAWIJD RIVER.

I'm not going to talk about You-Know-Who tonight. All the lights around me are kind of oscillating between dim and bright and various tunes to nearly every song from Black Sheep Boy through The Stand Ins are swirling in my head to form the most perfect composition ever. So I'll talk about them tomorrow.

BUT, before I devote all tonight's memory cells to the one band, I'd like to talk about the openers.

Okay, so here's the scoop on Crooked Fingers: I had no idea who they were. They played some really weird songs to begin with involving really awful megaphones with enormous feedback problems, and lots of other random noise and static. If I was smiling, it was only to laugh at them (and possible at their two chicks, the bass player and the violinist/multi-instrumentalist, who were both pretty cute). But then they cut that crap out, gave the blonde her violin and started playing some slightly more straightforward, accessible and overall dance-able rock songs, with sensible vocals. They almost fully redeemed themselves by the end. Side note: I have been listening to their Myspace attempting to identify some of the songs I heard, but I can only assume that most of them were off their upcoming album (to be released in two weeks, although they were breaking the release date by selling it at the merch stand), because I only recognize "Crowned in Crime."

Re: Man Man. I have heard of them, and heard their songs, but never listened to a full album. And now that I have seen them live, I never want to, because I can imagine nothing on record that could compare and live up to the show I experienced tonight. It was, to the fullest (and most positive) sense of the word, a ridiculous display. They began setting up their instruments themselves (no roadies) while "The Hey Song" (that's right, the one played at stadiums during sports events) blared from the speakers. The members were enjoying themselves already, pumping their fists to each "Hey!" of the song, and tossing things back and forth between (or at) themselves. Then the song faded out, and... it came back again. And again. And again. Throughout their entire set-up and final sound check, the song must have repeated a dozen times. It began to get hilarious about the third song, and the crowd was really into it the fourth through seventh times around, but by then I think the members of the band realized it was beginning to grate. Perhaps they hadn't planned on taking so long to adjust volumes, because some of them were beginning to sound a little agitated. But then they went away, and a few minutes later, came back on stage with all white clothing and war paint.

All the agitation faded away.

They were set up facing each other (except for Chang Wang, who was off to the side a little but still joined in on others' mics when he didn't need to be playing his keys), with drummer Pow Pow across from vocalist fontman Honus Honus, in plain view (a refreshing contrast from most bands' philosophy of "hide-the-drummer"). They barely stopped playing throughout the whole set (I think Pow Pow might have been still all of ten seconds during the whole hour or so), and collectively they were the most energetic, playful musicians I could ever imagine. Honus Honus would be rocking back and forth at his keys, or standing up on his seat shouting into the mic, or running back and forth singing with his arms flailing about like a soul singer, or pulling away one of Pow Pow's tom toms and banging on it himself... it was all just, incredible. On that stage, those four men are one, both audibly and visibly.

In short, all five of my senses orgasmed tonight, before Okkervil River ever came on.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: valley_parade on 28 Sep 2008, 06:14: Ashers: Well..you've got the guy from The Unseen on vocals...and really, all street punk these days kinda sounds exactly alike. But I liked them more than when I saw the Unseen.

Flatfoot 56: I'd never even heard of them until they took the stage. They're a great Celtic punk band and I fucking enjoyed the shit out of their set. I am legitimately buying two or three of their shirts when I get some cash. Also, I managed to run into the frontman in a circle pit during Street Dogs, and he's a pretty rad guy.

Time Again: Wow, don't you guys sound like generic Rancid rip-offs. So glad they played a short set.

Street Dogs: I love Street Dogs, they're one of the better Boston punk bands, great on record..but dude. I was bored by their set. I left mid-way through. *sigh*
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Chesire Cat on 02 Oct 2008, 11:04: I went to Hot Chip in Monreal at Metropolis last night and it was amazing. One of the best shows Ive ever been too, the place was packed and they put on an amazing show. I couldnt get enough. I danced hard enough for two regular people and had a grand time, it peaked at Over and Over, where everyone lost their shit. And they closed out the set with an earnest rendition of Nothing Compares 2 U, it was beautiful.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: spoon_of_grimbo on 03 Oct 2008, 09:35: i saw a wilhelm scream at the birmingham barfly back in january, and despite the place being over half-empty, it was easily one the best gigs i've ever experienced in my life. the poor turnout didn't affect the band's performance in the slightest - i'm obviously slightly biased as they're one of my favourite bands, but in all seriousness, i've never seen a band so visibly enjoying themselves as much as those guys - constantly smiling, cracking jokes, and really down to earth guys (they came and chatted to everyone right after the set). it's also worth mentioning that despite the ridiculously fast and technical stuff they're playing (and the fact that pretty much all of them contribute vocal-wise and so have to stay fairly near to a mic at almost all times) they were amazingly energetic. it also helped that they their setlist was only a coupla songs away from being the absolute perfect setlist i'd been imagining.

seriously, anyone who's into punk or metal of any kind should check these guys out.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Liz on 15 Oct 2008, 01:44: Deerhoof! They are really entertaining live. The crowd was kinda horrible, though.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: De_El on 15 Oct 2008, 02:15: There was a moshpit full of people who didn't really seem familiar with the practice. Au and Experimental Dental School opened, and they were good as well. Oh, also drunk people wouldn't shut the fuck up while Greg Saunier was stammering and trying to say stuff to the audience. Assholes.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: FireAarro on 15 Oct 2008, 04:17: Quote from: Chesire Cat on 02 Oct 2008, 11:04
I went to Hot Chip in Monreal at Metropolis last night and it was amazing. One of the best shows Ive ever been too, the place was packed and they put on an amazing show. I couldnt get enough. I danced hard enough for two regular people and had a grand time, it peaked at Over and Over, where everyone lost their shit. And they closed out the set with an earnest rendition of Nothing Compares 2 U, it was beautiful.

Are they much more energetic live than on record? I never got into The Warning, I found it not particularly dancey and quite calm.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: KickThatBathProf on 15 Oct 2008, 23:23: Quote from: Misconception on 15 Oct 2008, 01:44
Deerhoof! They are really entertaining live. The crowd was kinda horrible, though.

Man Deerhoof was so entertaining. The insanity of Saunier. The quirky interplay between Ed and Satomi. Saunier stammering like an idiot.

And I was in a different venue (a theater), so I didn't have that whole fake mosh pit thing. It was a little impersonal except for the people in the first row, though.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Liz on 16 Oct 2008, 08:06: Ugh. The "most pit."

I wanted to hurt them all. It was so annoying.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: De_El on 16 Oct 2008, 16:06: I was trying to be an effective bit of perimeter but the whole time I had a cramp in my foot. It was awkward.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Liz on 16 Oct 2008, 20:04: Alex, there is no way you were going to stop them. Besides, I think I would have been a better perimeter to protect you- you are kind of a small little dude.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: De_El on 16 Oct 2008, 21:51: I hang my head slightly, but this is probably true. I hope this is not a problem.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Liz on 16 Oct 2008, 22:28: It is okay. You are pretty alright dude!
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: De_El on 16 Oct 2008, 22:37: I am glad you think so. It is a happy thing. Have you decided whether or not you're going to TVOTR Tuesday?
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Liz on 16 Oct 2008, 22:39: I will go if I find someone to go with me, and only time will tell on that one.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: De_El on 16 Oct 2008, 22:50: Aside from the fact of the drive, I should think that wouldn't be all that hard to do. TVOTR seem to be kind of big. Anyway, good luck with that.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Touch Me Im Sick on 17 Oct 2008, 13:13: Van Halen + Iron Maiden + The Who = Edmonton's been good for shows lately
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 17 Oct 2008, 23:03: Well I booked a Shearwater show at my school and it happened tonight. It was brilliant! They played in a very cool black box theater and the turnout/crowd excitement far exceeded my expectations. The band was truly grateful and said so repeatedly during and after the set over how well the show was going since i guess part of their planned tour had fallen through earlier and they had played a show a couple days ago that was pretty lame or something. Anyway they said the show really lifted their spirits and damn it if they didn't play like it. They rocked out. The energy was truly phenomenal, it sounded great, they played an awesome selection of songs (including, in the encore, a cover of "Going to California," which was prompted by someone jokingly shouting out, when the band asked for recommendations, "Led Zeppelin!" After briefly conversing, Jonathan Meiburg started playing the first few chords, said "I never turn down a dare" and the band launched into an awesome rendition of the song with the audience singing along), and generally were awesome. It was a long set to boot. I hung out and talked to the band after the show (since I had to clean up and strike the stage and such anyway) until they had to take off and they were all incredibly friendly people who were obviously completely devoted to their music and incredibly humble and genuine as well. It was cool to see them genuinely happy because of how well the show had gone. Anyway, long story short, they put on a phenomenal show, probably the best I've seen at school in my year and a half here, and I could not be happier. I got them all to sign a copy of "Palo Santo" that I picked up on vinyl and now I have it sitting on my desk with all sorts of personalized messages scrawled on it. Basically, see these guys live any chance you get. It's more than worth it.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Liz on 18 Oct 2008, 07:41: Oh fuck you I am so jealous.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: imagist42 on 18 Oct 2008, 09:29: Quote from: Misconception on 18 Oct 2008, 07:41
Oh fuck you I am so jealous.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: De_El on 21 Oct 2008, 22:05: So! TVOTR were really, really, really good. Opening for them was The Dirtbombs, who were pretty good, though basic nu-garage, probably not as much fun recorded as life. TVOTR themselves were pretty different live than recorded too, actually. Wrong Way, for example, was lot faster and dancier, which was something of a trend. The set came to a peak with Wolf Like Me, unsurprisingly, and the couple of songs after it gave the crowd a rest. Dave Sitek is fucking tireless; he plays so fast for so many songs, it's amazing. The set was really well planned and ordered; my only complaint is that they didn't play "Dreams," because I love it so, but other than that, dang. I am satisfied and also slightly dazed.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: imagist42 on 21 Oct 2008, 22:33: Crap. Does this mean I have do go see them on the 30th? Because I'd decided not to plan on it, but the new album already gave me doubts about that decision.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: De_El on 21 Oct 2008, 22:57: You don't have to do anything. But I think you'd enjoy it, if you went. I almost didn't go myself, actually, I was feeling rather depressed and blah prior to the bus ride there, but I figured since I'd already spent money on the ticket I may as well go and see what's up. It made my day into a quite fulfilling one, instead of the dreary and unproductive one it had been up to that point.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: MobyDickhole on 22 Oct 2008, 00:54: I just saw Andrew Bird at the Largo here in LA.
It's a TINY 280 seat movie theatre style venue.

He debuted like 5 new songs.
live for the first time ever.
It was awesome.

just awesome.

The new album (which he just finished) is going to be really good.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Liz on 22 Oct 2008, 07:51: Ah fuck you too.

All you people and your awesome shows can shove it.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: De_El on 22 Oct 2008, 13:59: After the fact, I am kind of glad to hear you didn't go because I was really worried you had gone I just hadn't been able to find you cus the crowd was so dense. That would have been sad.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: suitupletsgo on 23 Oct 2008, 23:31: I saw Minus the Bear tonight, and I was actually pleasantly surprised with their performance. I'm not too into their newer stuff, but they played a couple of songs from their first album and they were just all around pretty damn tight.

the openers blew though.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Thrillho on 25 Oct 2008, 03:17: Saw Funeral for a Friend the other night.

We were pretty late so we missed most of Attack Attack. What I did see didn't impress me.

In Case Of Fire seemed like the drummer was playing a different song to the rest of the band and the vocalist was singing in a different key.

Cancer Bats were good at what they did but it wasn't really my thing.

FFAF were really good - though I doubt they'd break my top 5 gigs. It took me back to five years ago when I was just a young emoshite. I still love those songs, man. And hey, they played all my favourite tunes from the new album, did 'Juno' instead of 'Juneau', and the guitarists were effectively giving a masterclass as the show went on. No '10:45 Amsterdam Conversation' but at least we got 'This Year's Most Open Heartbreak.' Also, they played 'Novella'! Holy shit!

Shame they only played for 90 minutes though. For a band with four albums, I think that's not much - but then admittedly the third album was fucking shite and they only played one song from it cause I think they realised this!

Honestly, I was more psyched about the gig cause I was going with my girlfriend. It was her first gig, and we had a hell of a time.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: De_El on 25 Oct 2008, 10:58: So, I went and saw Shiny Toy Guns. Pretty much everything about it was horrible. In the future, I will not impulsively honor drunken promises to go to shows for bands I don't like.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: BlahBlah on 25 Oct 2008, 12:42: I went to see the Fall two weeks ago but never posted about it.

John Cooper Clarke was sick so didn't show up and Milophobia were crap but luckily only played for about twenty minutes. The Fall came on, MES staggered to the centre of the stage a minute later, obviously out of it, then left 20 minutes later and the band just played instrumentals for another 10 minutes. For £20...

Tommy was right.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Latte on 25 Oct 2008, 12:55: Just saw Conor Oberst & the Mystic Valley Band last night. Dunno about his standing with people anymore but it was a pretty damn good time, they were all energetic and played a great encore set. Played stuff from the s/t and new songs from an EP they got out. Opening acts were decent (The Like aren't AGSFB though...)
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Hljómalind on 26 Oct 2008, 16:32: On Friday evening, I saw Aimee Mann, supported by The Submarines, at indigo2.

I like the venue: it's small enough to feel reasonably intimate (which, with someone like Mann, is needed for her quirky stage manner) but large enough to have decent acoustics. Her most devoted fans might have been slightly disappointed - stoned out "space jazz jam" interlude from the band while she fixed a technical difficulty, lots of new material, and a stumbling, five-attempt version of "Mr. Harris", with much prompting and only the piano accompanying - but otherwise, the show was a treat. Her band are super-tight, and she was pretty flexible with the set list (she added "Little Bombs" after "Little Tornadoes" - "I can deal with small, manageable catastrophes") and they really rocked out a couple of times. A haunting version of "Red Vines" was one of the highlights.

Her support was pretty decent, actually: chirpy indie pop from The Submarines, including the delightful "You, Me, & The Bourgeoisie". Definite influences from The Cure (who I later found out they've covered - "Boys Don't Cry" is on their Facebook page, and will be released on a Cure tribute album next year) and some of the songs had a distinct tinge of Cocteau Twins. Would see the band in their own right based on their albums.

Then, Friday night went to The Arches for the Mogwai afterparty. Aside from the insanely long wait to get in, it's a superb venue, and they had a bunch of really sound DJ sets: only saw the tail end of Fuck Buttons, but Caribou, Nathan Fake and (in particular) James Holden were all great. One of the guys from Mogwai did some entertaining and mildly improbable Public Enemy remixes.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: tigrar on 27 Oct 2008, 23:26: Just got back from The Faint. Dear Lord, that was fun.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: AanAllein on 28 Oct 2008, 01:05: So I'm pretty sure I'm not seeing any more live music in '08, since all the future gigs/festivals I'm going to are January/February next year. Thus, a quick list of my favourite gigs of '08...

5. Modest Mouse (V Festival Sideshow)

Couldn't quite afford to go to V festival, as tempting as it was with The Rakes, Queens of the Stoneage, etc. So we ended up at the Modest Mouse sideshow, supported by Sparkadia and Hot Hot Heat. Sparkadia were awful as per their recorded stuff, and Hot Hot Heat were disappointing. But Modest Mouse put on an impressive two hour set with a sprawling set list. I hadn't really enjoyed a lot of the stuff on We Were Dead... until I saw them here. Impressive. Also Johnny Marr looked far younger than I would've expected.

4. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (Laneway Festival)

Probably the gig this year that I was most looking forward to. While it wasn't perfect - the crowd was all looking forward to the Presets who were up next - it was a damn good show, with an excellent setlist. Props to Alec Ounsworth (singer) who kept "The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth" going despite the strap on his guitar breaking mid-song. Also "Clap Your Hands!" was both unexpected and awesome. Some dudes from another band - I believe Broken Social Scene, despite their set ending halfway through this one, so I can't be sure - joined them for "Satan Said Dance" and it was great.

3. The Polyphonic Spree (Splendour In The Grass)

I'd heard these guys were pretty amazing live, but their first half hour or so, all kitted up in their military style black gear, was impressive to watch but not that sonically amazing. Towards the end it really started to click, and had a great time with their last few songs, including an awesome cover of "Live and Let Die." They disappeared and I was pretty disappointed that it was over just as it as getting good - and then they turned up again, kitted up in their old school white robes, and let loose with another half hour or so of bliss. Was dancing like a loon at the back of the tent with my girlfriend, despite both of us only having a few drinks that day. "Light and Day" and their cover of "Lithium" were definitely the highlights.

2. Arcade Fire (Big Day Out)

Was originally planning on watching them from outside the D, so I could run off and catch as much of Battles as possible (stupid, stupid clash). Then they started playing and I just needed to get in. Great gig, great setlist. Best moment for me was when the organs kicked in for "Intervention," easily my favourite song of theirs, and goosebumps ran up my whole body. Though I could've done without the dude next to me going "PLAY INTERVENTION!" right after the song...

1. Okkervil River (Laneway Festival)

I wasn't overly familiar with Okkervil River before this gig, having only started listening to them because I knew they'd be at Laneway. I'd listened through Black Sheep Boy a few times, and had just started listening to a couple other albums. In hindsight, given how long they've toured for, it makes sense how amazing their live sound is, but it just blew me away. The highlight was undeniably the opening, where they started with a rocky version of "The President's Dead" that suddenly morphed into something else - then Sheff snarled over the guitars "I'm coming into your town" and goosebumps twice those I had at Arcade Fire's gig enveloped me. It still gives me chills thinking about it. The setlist was essentially perfect, right down to finishing up with "For Real"/"Westfall." Singlehandedly made me a fan, and I think they're the live band I look forward to seeing again most.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS:
(aka Probably would have made the list if I'd seen a full set...)

Devo: (Splendour In The Grass)

I only caught the last twenty minutes or so of their set. My girlfriend and I had left the Polyphonic Spree, and were heading off to catch Tricky when the sound of Devo's guitars hit us, and we wordlessly agreed to see Devo instead. I'm not overly familiar or impressed by Devo's recorded works, but they had hands out the best guitar sound I'd ever heard going. And they rocked out pretty well for old dudes!

Battles: (Big Day Out)

I only caught the tail-end of this set, running over from Arcade Fire. catching I believe "Race: In" and, of course, "Atlas." "Atlas" was, unsurprisingly, amazing, and while I was dancing my ass off to it, I was also impressed by the skills of the musicians - the lead singer darting from guitar, to keyboard, to mixing board, looping vocals while he's at it. Admittedly I have no real knowledge of what he was up to, but it sure looked tricky.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: FireAarro on 29 Oct 2008, 02:22: Where do you live? I was in line at the D half an hour before Arcade Fire's set and about halfway into it but no luck getting in. So I went to see Battles but they weren't that good.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: AanAllein on 29 Oct 2008, 03:20: Quote from: FireAarro on 29 Oct 2008, 02:22
Where do you live? I was in line at the D half an hour before Arcade Fire's set and about halfway into it but no luck getting in. So I went to see Battles but they weren't that good.

Brisbane, so the Gold Coast BDO. The D was pretty good until, I dunno, two hours before Rage came on. Admittedly I got pretty lucky to sneak into the D that late; it opened up just after I started lining up and I was one of the last people in before it closed.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: MobyDickhole on 29 Oct 2008, 03:25: Quote from: FireAarro on 29 Oct 2008, 02:22
I went to see Battles but they weren't that good.

I don't know about that specific show, But I have to say that Battles is one of the better shows I have been to. I saw them in a small club though and was standing maybe 15 people back from the stage.

But that show was just an absolute mindfuck for me.

(I still can't believe that I haven't seen the Arcade Fire yet)
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Dizzydes on 31 Oct 2008, 21:25: i went to the new pornographers the other day and it was one of the best gigs i've been to in forever, under beirut but above broken social scene for sures...
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Metope on 01 Nov 2008, 07:02: You. Saw. Three. Songs.

Of course Sheff was taking it easy at the beginning of the show, every band does! Start off slow, build it up and make the last half part of the show amazing, because that's what the audience is going to remember, instead of starting off with fireworks and going downhill from there. It makes sense doesn't it? Now, the show in august was different, because it was a festival, and they don't have the same amount of time as they have on a regular show. The delay was a shitty thing, and I'm sorry you missed some incredible moments, but you can't really "review" a show based only on the three first songs.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: valley_parade on 01 Nov 2008, 07:42: Quote from: Jeans on 01 Nov 2008, 06:33
Okay I have probably never been this disappointed in my life.

Jens, you should've come to see Street Dogs with me. Getting squished up against the stage during a slow, lackluster punk rock set is much more disappointing. Nevermind that it was the hometown stop of the tour.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Unosuke on 01 Nov 2008, 09:49: Saw Kamelot last night. They aren't my favorite but they were quite rockin.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Metope on 01 Nov 2008, 10:54: I know. I said "reviewing" because I lacked a better word for it. But they didn't start playing two hours after they were supposed to, they started playing two hours after the doors were supposed open. Playing two hours after the doors open is normal, so I don't really think they were delayed more than a half hour. The warm up band (which as you said was horrible. Seriously, what's the deal with having bad opening acts this fall?) also needs some time on stage.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: october1983 on 01 Nov 2008, 11:22: Do doors open around that time at most gigs over there? Most gigs here are over by 11.

I'm looking forward to Okkervil River when they come to London.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Metope on 01 Nov 2008, 11:29: At most gigs over here doors open around 8-9, and the band goes on stage 10-11. It's really annoying considering most public transport stops around 12. Jens had to leave early because he lives too far away from the city to take a taxi, and I missed the last subway and had to walk around for an hour until the night bus showed up (usually I take a taxi, but I'm sorta broke at the moment). The gig ended about 00:30, and I was home 2. Baah.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: damnitsteve on 01 Nov 2008, 12:30: I saw Muse a while back at Bamboozle. It was pretty good... I like Muse a lot, but the highlight was that it was my first (and only) time crowd surfing.

More recently, I drove six hours through a snow storm over to Binghamton so I could see the Foo Fighters, Serj Tankien, and Against Me! I don't really like the Foo Fighters much anymore, but at the time I thought that it was fucking sick. Regardless of whether they play good music or not, Dave Grohl obviously puts a lot of energy into his performance. The other two weren't bad either.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Captfamous on 02 Nov 2008, 21:46: Went to Braholween IV in Brooklyn. First three bands were ok (at best), but Awesome Color and Oneida were sick. People should look to check them out, they've opened for Dinosaur Jr. and Mission of Burma in the past, respectively.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Beastmouth on 02 Nov 2008, 22:14: Yeah, Awesome Color are great. I got their album at the Dino show a year ago but I still haven't plugged in my turntables since I got back in the country. I guess what I'm saying is I suck. :p

Finally caught the Broomstars last night, they were great. Of course, half the band has worked or still works at Moog Music, so why not?

Jettison Never from Chattanooga opened for them, and they really put the power in power trio. I walked in to buy me and my girl's ticket and heard like six bars from them. I was so worried because I had to go and pick up a friend who I knew would enjoy Broomstars and I thought I was gonna miss their set, but we got back halfway into their pre-penultimate jam. It was a hell of a show for all of twenty people to show up.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: FireAarro on 03 Nov 2008, 04:37: Quote from: MobyDickhole on 29 Oct 2008, 03:25
Quote from: FireAarro on 29 Oct 2008, 02:22
I went to see Battles but they weren't that good.

I don't know about that specific show, But I have to say that Battles is one of the better shows I have been to. I saw them in a small club though and was standing maybe 15 people back from the stage.

But that show was just an absolute mindfuck for me.

(I still can't believe that I haven't seen the Arcade Fire yet)

Maybe they weren't playing that well in my city, my friend went to the sideshow and was a bit disappointed by them as well, and he's really into them.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: KickThatBathProf on 04 Nov 2008, 23:07: Guys, I just got back from Girl Talk. OH MAN OH MAN WAS IT COOL.

I was on stage. One row from the front. About 3 feet away from Greg Gillis.

Also, there was a big screen behind the crowd showing election coverage and everyone just started fucking screaming when Obama was announced the winner
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: sean on 09 Nov 2008, 17:23: Are we still supposed to use this thread about shows we've been to? Oh well, I'll use it anyway.

So last night I saw The Sea and Cake play at the Black Cat. It was a pretty rad show! They sounded wonderful and played their songs wonderfully. My only complaint is that they played for a good hour and a half, which I think is a bit too long for a band like The Sea and Cake. As good as they are, their songs sound too similar for them to play that long. Other than that though, they were awesome.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: CarrionMan on 09 Nov 2008, 19:07: I got to go to the Who: Maximum R&B. It was pretty awesome for them being so damn old. The opener was pretty well, and we also had some pretty kickass seats.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: doombilly on 12 Nov 2008, 11:46: I saw Lake (http://www.laketheband.com) the other night and they were really good.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: valley_parade on 23 Nov 2008, 05:52: Local(ish) shoooooooow last night.

Next President (http://www.myspace.com/nextpresident): My friend Noel fronts this band. They're pretty good, but as we were talking about on the ride home, Andy (the bass player) really needs to pick it up on stage. He kinda keeps to himself and it seems to detract from the overall show. They generally rocked, though.

Routine Homecoming (http://www.myspace.com/routinehomecoming): Started off slow and I guess droney? I think I texted someone and called them "folky slowcore drone". But they got better, and I was pleasantly surprised.

The New Collisions (http://www.myspace.com/thenewcollisions): Female-fronted kinda 80s-ish new wave/punk? Hell of energetic, hell of fun. You should go see them if they're in your town.

As I Lay Awake In Ruin (http://www.asilayawakeinruin.com): I think the shitty name says it all. Have you ever heard one of those horrendously generic emo-pop bands? Then you've heard As I Lay Away In Ruin. The ONE upside to their set was that they played a Reggie and the Full Effect cover ("Get Well Soon"). That and the girl selling their merch was kinda cute. YOU'RE NOT VERY GOOD, GUYS.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Garrett A.D on 03 Dec 2008, 08:12: My giggage is mainly metal. Given most of my friends are.

Top gig goes to Stone Sour. Corey Taylor is masterful at crowd management and Jim Root's guitaring was as tight as ever.

I also saw Serj Tankian (the frontman from System of a Down) in his own solo project. Was a good night, Serj seems a lot happier doing his own thing than playing with System.

On a tangential note, I wants the top hat.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: ViolentDove on 03 Dec 2008, 23:43: Quote from: FireAarro on 03 Nov 2008, 04:37
Maybe they weren't playing that well in my city, my friend went to the sideshow and was a bit disappointed by them as well, and he's really into them.

I saw them at the Sydney BDO, and thought they were absolutely amazing. Highlight of the whole festival, in my opinion. However, I'd never heard them before seeing them live (I sometimes hold off listening to albums when I know a band is touring, because I like to see them play live first if possible), so perhaps some people had some issues with the live performance versus the sound on their albums?
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Nodaisho on 04 Dec 2008, 01:41: TSO show tonight, it was actually the first big concert I have ever been to, but it was epic. There were a lot of older people there, as well as some families and some college-aged people. One guy in front of us must have thought it was actually an orchestra, he was covering his eyes and probably plugging his ears. At the beginning, they came down on these little platforms that had been hiding in one of the set pieces, at one point between songs, Angus Clark played part of Voodoo child, and then all of the band played the intro to Kashmir, you could barely hear the first bit of Kashmir because of the cheering. At the end, they did an all-out version of Sarajevo 12/24, all of their many lights and pyrotechnics going off, I was completely blown away. Very good showmen (and women), very glad I went.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: valley_parade on 04 Dec 2008, 05:05: Are they not touring with Alex Skolnik anymore?
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Der Turm, der Leute frass on 06 Dec 2008, 09:39: so, yesterday, I saw CYNIC, together with the Ocean.....and Opeth

it was incredible
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Nodaisho on 06 Dec 2008, 22:50: Quote from: valley_parade on 04 Dec 2008, 05:05
Are they not touring with Alex Skolnik anymore?
From what I can tell, they are touring two groups at once. Jon Olivia wasn't there, Alex Skolknick wasn't there, the drummer was named Jeff Plate, Al Pitrelli and his wife were there, someone named John Lee did some vocals (lots of vocalists), don't remember any other names for certain. I do remember seeing that they had two shows scheduled for the third, I was thinking that was a scheduling error at first, but I think they might be in two groups, maybe to cover a large area in the christmas season.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: BrittanyMarie on 07 Dec 2008, 00:34: I saw Big John Bates and the Voodoo Dollz. There's a quip on the main page of their website of some reviewer who likened it to like being in a John Waters film, and that is very very true. The Dollz lit their boobie tassels on fire and that is just awesome. And sCare-oline stands on her bass, which makes me nervous in a good way.

Oh hey they blogged about it here (http://johnbates.exclaim.ca/).

Now I have to decide if I want to go to Priestess tomorrow night. Shows end at 2AM here, and I have a job interview at 10AM. Also I'm kind of broke. HMM.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Harun on 07 Dec 2008, 11:03: Saw God Is an Astronaut. Two words: aural sex. :-D Echoes sounds even more amazing live. They were in support of Fall of Troy, which were kind of meh for me (although the guitarist/vocalist is pretty nuts). God Is an Astronaut are definitely a band that deserves to headline a tour.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: KvP on 07 Dec 2008, 12:21: Quote from: Jeans on 01 Nov 2008, 06:33
The only one that looks like he's having fun at all is Travis, the drummer, who is probably the most frantic and intense drummer I've seen. He's not the fastest but he looks completely entranced and is banging away on the drums like there's no tomorrow. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPWjNX4PBlI)
?

Ah pagebreak, my old nemesis.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Fluxuation on 08 Dec 2008, 10:03: I saw of Montreal on saturday... Jesus Christ that was probably the best show I've ever been to. it was just insanely epic. I am not one to dance, but I could not stop shaking my hips. dancers, costumes, props, etc.. it was just insane.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: michaelicious on 08 Dec 2008, 10:24: Kevin Barnes get his dick out?
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Fluxuation on 08 Dec 2008, 10:41: nah he kept it in his pants, although he played about 3/4th the show in just very small underwear.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: idonthaveorgans on 23 Dec 2008, 03:37: Muse were the first band I saw, around the time OoS was about to come out, was amazingness. Pity their last two albums have mostly sucked. I can't seem them becoming good again.

I think British Sea Power at the natural history museum was the last band I saw live. was really good...no wait it was Lightning Bolt at Release the Bats, I didn't stay for the other bands as I was feeling really ill that day.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: eddie on 03 Jan 2009, 05:04: I noticed venues getting really fucking lazy with the music one guy played 15 minutes from the spinal tap soundtrack while the band were tuning up. They're also charging loads for drinks as well as tickets.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Retrospectre on 20 Jan 2009, 23:34: Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds last night.

Good show.
Dickish crowd though.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: sean on 21 Jan 2009, 17:36: Oh hey this thread came back I have been meaning to post here.

Anyway, on Sam's recommendation, I went to go see Monument (http://www.myspace.com/monumentisaband) play in a church in DC last friday. They kind of do the whole midwest emo / cap'n jazz thing. Nice dirty and loud emo that you can sing along as you jump up and down to. They fucking rocked my socks off. I mean, in one song the dudes yell "Get Rad!" These guys are incredible if they ever play in a basement in your city you should check them out.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: sean on 25 Jan 2009, 20:29: Can we also call this gigs we have played and our thoughts thread?

Anyway, my band played its first gig on friday. It was a post rock set after like, 5 punk bands to kids who have never heard post-rock before. And they surprisingly liked it! I feel so validated. It was fuckin' rad!
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: michaelicious on 25 Jan 2009, 20:35: Good Night, Sweet Prince is pretty much a perfect name for a post-rock band.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Christophe on 25 Jan 2009, 20:41: Sean I must totally listen to your band...

But only after I talk about how FUCKING AWESOME The Cave Singers (http://www.myspace.com/thecavesingers) were. They're very indie-folkish and absolutely full of awesome jams. The guitarist used to be the bassist from Pretty Girls Make Graves and was super excellent and had the entire bar on fire and stuff and it was one of the best live bands I've ever seen. Holy dickfuck probably the best show I've seen in town.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: sean on 25 Jan 2009, 20:49: Dogg we have not recorded a thing yet! And we probably won't for another month, but I will tell all of you when we do.

because i care.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Tehz on 25 Jan 2009, 21:22: M83 on Saturday was outstanding. They played every song I hoped they would, and a few awesome surprises that I didn't really expect. Everything sounded just perfect, and the crowd was pretty good also; people got really into it. Honestly, it was probably they best show I've ever been to.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Zingoleb on 25 Jan 2009, 22:09: Paleface. If you're around western New York, go to see Paleface. The single whitest Indians you will ever see.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: JayJayD on 31 Jan 2009, 14:27: Gregor Samsa last night. Awesome! Hauntingly beautiful and athmospheric. Their records I have heard so far (55:12 and Rest) don't even come close, unfortunately.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 31 Jan 2009, 14:34: Huh? They only play stuff from those records when they perform and from what I've seen of their shows, it's a pretty faithful conversion from album to a live setting.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: boneykingofnowhere on 31 Jan 2009, 14:49: I saw Someone Still Loves You, Boris Yetsin on Wednesday. Fantastic show, they're much better guitarists than the recordings would lead you to believe. I met their guitarist/singer/drummer at the merch table, nice guy. I'd recommend seeing them if you ever get a chance.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: JayJayD on 31 Jan 2009, 15:02: I thought the songs on Rest were even more quiet and less energetic on the album than at the show. And I liked Nikki's singing much better live, it sounds somewhat thinner in the recordings.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Retrospectre on 02 Feb 2009, 21:19: Perth leg of the Big Day Out festival.

Saw TV On The Radio,My Morning Jacket and Neil Young and they all rocked ultimate.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: eddie on 28 Feb 2009, 05:38: This...

(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e368/Malys1983/l_e5e2271a0d814142baea43130b30cb-1.jpg)

... was fucking amazing.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Retrospectre on 28 Feb 2009, 17:09: of Montreal last night.

I don't actually listen to them but it was a good show.
Nice open air venue near the river.

Thumbs up to the sound guy,probably the best sounding gig I've been to in awhile.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: sean on 28 Feb 2009, 21:09: Oh my god you guys i just got back from the finest punk show ever.

The first band I saw play is called Ante Up. They are an okay melodic hardcore band with a kid i know in it. They are a solid band and it is always nice to see them play. However, its a little depressing since they always get showed up at the shows they play. They arn't very good at energizing the crowd so there is no transfer of energy between the band and the crowd, which is an absolute must for punk bands. They put on a solid set, it just wasn't as good as the next to bands that played.

The next band was called Lonely are the Brave. I had no idea what to expect from this band. As they were tuning up though, I noticed they had a saxaphone and they kept on breaking out into funky shit, so I knew was to come. And then, once they started. Oh my god. The room fucking exploded, with bodies slamming together in the middle (it was too crowded to mosh mosh). They constantly alternate between a rappy shouting, soft singing, and out-right screaming. They were just incredible. They played oud, carefully calculated (but not quite math-y) punk that verges on emo and even has slight hints of post-rock in it. The sheer power they wielded was incredible.

I would have thought the next band couldn't top them, but they were Age Sixteen, so I knew to expect something on the same level. Boy, was I wrong. They fucking tore the house apart and then set it on fire. That was probably the greatest punk set I have ever witnessed. They played fierly, passionate emo that went from clean to loud and melodic to straight up violent and crushing. If people exploded during Lonely are the Brave, I can't think of terms in the english language to describe how crazy the room was during this set. Fucking hell, it was powerful. There are few things like watching an emo band play a show.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Vorian on 01 Mar 2009, 03:20: I went to a Lights/Lydia/Lovedrug/Copeland show late last year. It was in a reeeeeally small venue called the Clubhouse in Tempe, AZ

Venue was cramped and dirty but the sound was ok. Not perfect but not bad for such a small venue. No effects to speak of except a fog machine which was kind of irritating.

Lights was good, nothing special I guess.
Lydia was awesome. I hadn't heard them much till this point but they did amazing.
Lovedrug was phenomenal. I was pissed they only got 45 mins.
Copeland was pretty bad; they are kinda meh for me in general, but they were just awful live, not to mention all the copeland fans who apparently came just for them wouldn't stop smooshing my girlfriend and I into the stage. [we were located up front in the middle.] And they got a whole hour. Ew.

All in all an amazing show. I plan on seeing Lovedrug again whenever possible, and Lydia too.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: doombilly on 03 Mar 2009, 12:45: What the fuck is up with kids playing a show and not even sticking around for the other bands?
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: pulpfiction21 on 03 Mar 2009, 13:20: Quote from: Vorian on 01 Mar 2009, 03:20
I went to a Lights/Lydia/Lovedrug/Copeland show late last year. It was in a reeeeeally small venue called the Clubhouse in Tempe, AZ

Venue was cramped and dirty but the sound was ok. Not perfect but not bad for such a small venue. No effects to speak of except a fog machine which was kind of irritating.

Lights was good, nothing special I guess.
Lydia was awesome. I hadn't heard them much till this point but they did amazing.
Lovedrug was phenomenal. I was pissed they only got 45 mins.
Copeland was pretty bad; they are kinda meh for me in general, but they were just awful live, not to mention all the copeland fans who apparently came just for them wouldn't stop smooshing my girlfriend and I into the stage. [we were located up front in the middle.] And they got a whole hour. Ew.

All in all an amazing show. I plan on seeing Lovedrug again whenever possible, and Lydia too.

I went to that this show but in San Antonio. Lydia was the main reason i meant, actually the only reason, i didnt even stay for lovedrug or copeland. Lights was hot as hell, but nothing too special.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Liz on 03 Mar 2009, 23:26: Retribution Gospel Choir.

Yes.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: valley_parade on 05 Mar 2009, 06:42: Quote from: doombilly on 03 Mar 2009, 12:45
What the fuck is up with kids playing a show and not even sticking around for the other bands?

I guess it's better than leaving during a band's set. The last show I went to (was helping a friend's band load and unload their gear/selling merch), the crowd was great for the first three bands. The last group was some whiny pop-emo bullshit group. There were maybe 50/60 people there, half-way through their set it was down to 10.

(they were pretty terrible, to be honest)
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: doombilly on 05 Mar 2009, 07:08: But imagine your a band that got a gig because the last band set up the whole gig. And loaned you equipment to play. And before 5 minutes after your set passes, you just snap shut your guitar case and leaves. Kids that's bad form. OR,
you whine until you get to be the "headliner" and then wait out the other two bands in a separate room in the bar from the bands and run up on stage with your shit before the 2nd band has even gotten their gear off. THEN you play a sucky set that is about 12 minutes long AND you don't bring one paying person to the show. Oh and you are the local band. I'm pretty sure it's in the Torah, Bible and Koran that you are a douchebag in either case.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: spoon_of_grimbo on 10 Mar 2009, 06:38: went to see Off With Their Heads in Leamington Spa last night, it was a pretty immense gig - got to meet up with some people i met at the fest in florida last year (and haven't seen since, til last night) and their friends, got slightly drunk (for the first time in a few weeks), thoroughly enjoyed 2 out of the 3 support bands (which is a better ratio of awesome:crap than any other gig i've been to in a while), and to top it all off, Off With Their Heads played pretty much the perfect set - all my favourite songs, only a couple i didn't really know - and i got to be right at the front of the small, packed venue for their whole set.

wow, that's a hell of a run-on sentence, with bad grammar to boot...
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Catacombs on 16 Mar 2009, 16:14: Saw Modest Mouse last night. When I got there, a band called Japanese Motors were playing. They were pretty cool, and played fun, kind of poppy rock. After them, a band called Mimicking Birds came on. They were a three piece intricate folky band, and the singing reminded me a bit of Jim James from My Morning Jacket. They were probably very good, but were hard to hear over the chattery crowd. I would not have put them on after Japanese Motors tho, IMO, they were too different.

Then, with about 45 minutes between Mimicking Birds & them (15-20 minutes of which they didn't need), Modest Mouse finally came on. They are pretty damn great live, and they played all kinds of stuff from their whole catalog. I had a decent view (about 20 feet from Isaac Brock) and apart from the occasional douchebag "hey my friend is up there" pushing thru the crowd, an all around good show. Except I had to leave 30 minutes early :|
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: sean on 26 Mar 2009, 15:15: Okay so here is some concert reports from the past few days.

Monday night was basement punks @ the house of awesome times, in college park MD (by university of MD). The bands were The Fordists, Pansori, Osceola, and Suis La Lune (Lotus Fucker and Army of Kashyyyk probably played too but i left after suis.)

The Fordists are I guess kind of spazzy post-hardcore, kind of like Frodus. They were really fun and awesome and there is not much more to say about them. A very good band!

Pansori wasn't even on the bill, so I had no idea they were playing. There was also about an hour long gap betwee them and the Fordists, which sucked. But they also needed to set up four amps. Pansori is a lot like Envy, except from just going from quiet/post-rocky to post-rock paced hardcore, they go from queit/post-rocky to emo violence. They were insanely awesome. Plus they had a violin.

The next band, Osceola, is I guess just a straight emo band. Not to heavy, not to fast, but still some great stuff. I picked up a split by them since they were really the only band with merch. And they are playing again friday. And they played my favorite song by them first (Smile, its on their myspace, and its really a great track).

Then next was probably the main event of the night, Suis La Lune. These dudes are from Sweden and Monday night was the last night of their east coast tour. And my god, they tore up that basement. Before, nobody had really gone off since it was an older audience mostly (monday night duh) but people started going off during Suis. If you downloaded the Age Sixteen demo I posted a few weeks ago, Suis La Lune is somewhat like that, but with more jazzmasters. They are absolutely incredible and they played for probably over 40 minutes. It was amazing.

On Wednesday me and the kids drove down to Fredricksburg, VA to go see Romance of Young Tigers play. We drove down hoping to get there a little before the first band started but sadly even post-rock is affected by punk time. After being there an hour, the first act, this guy who goes by Gull, starts playing. Gull is a dude who plays drums, taps out mathy riffs on a tele, and sings reverberated vocals through a mic attached to a skeleton mask. And he does this all at the same time. It was one of the raddest things I have ever seen. If you ever get a chance to see this guy, I highly recommend it.

However, the rest of the night kind of went to shit. We needed to get the fuck outta Fredricksburg since its an hour away and since the show was on punk time we were only able to see 5 minutes of Romance of Young Tigers set. However, those five minutes were fucking stunning. Their music is so beautiful and live they are absolutely crushing. As we walked out of the house, they sounded so eerie. But it did suck so fucking much to leave as they played. I'll have to try extra hard to see them again.
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: Scandanavian War Machine on 26 Mar 2009, 15:23: Gull sounds fucking rad!
Title: Re: Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.
Post by: michaelicious on 26 Mar 2009, 15:56: Quote from: Objects inside Clouds on 26 Mar 2009, 15:15
However, the rest of the night kind of went to shit. We needed to get the fuck outta Fredricksburg since its an hour away and since the show was on punk time we were only able to see 5 minutes of Romance of Young Tigers set. However, those five minutes were fucking stunning. Their music is so beautiful and live they are absolutely crushing. As we walked out of the house, they sounded so eerie. But it did suck so fucking much to leave as they played. I'll have to try extra hard to see them again.

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Only 25pt because you only got to see 5 minutes.