18 posts tagged “live”
Tonight is the final night of Coheed & Cambria's four night Neverender event in Chicago. Jess managed to beat hundreds of emo kids to get us VIP passes, so we've been allowed early entrance, decent seats, and tonight we'll also get to attend an acoustic set and meet and greet with the band.
Rock fucking on. We've had guitar techs playing generic, wimpy emo; stories about kidney stones and being compared to Rush and forming bands in school; we've had Iron Maiden covers; we've had their videos on repeat for hours before they came on stage... it's been great.
As a farewell, I thought I would post my favourite songs from all four albums.
The Second Stage Turbine Blade
In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth: 3
Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume I: From Fear Through Eyes Of Madness
Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume II: No World For Tomorrow
Well, it's over. I meant to post a recap of who I saw on Saturday yesterday morning, but I got sidetracked; and I've been in bed feeling like rubbish all day today. Not sure whether Lollapalooza's to blame or some other source of lurgee, but I can at least see straight now.
So, Saturday. We got to Grant Park in time to see a snippet of Foals. I had no opinion on them either way, which is odd considering they're one of the many "saviours of rock n' roll" that get trotted out by the NME every year. I also caught a little snippet of The Gutter Twins, featuring the inimitable Mark Lanegan. I wasn't paying too much attention, but they sounded alright.
The first band proper for me was MGMT, whose weird Bowie meets dance sound was perfectly suited to the festival vibe. I really enjoyed them, and their guitarist's shredding all over 'Kids' was fantastic.
Josie went off to see DeVotchKa, who are like a Hispanic gypsy folk take on The Smiths, while Jess and I hung out waiting for Brand New to come on. We saw them live already, but in a terrible venue full of teenyboppers, so we were hoping they'd be better at a festival. Not so much. The highlight of their set was the dudes brawling a few metres away from me. It's a shame, because on CD, they're great.
At least frontman Jesse Lacey was as disappointed as us, at one point telling the crowd "You should all be watching Explosions In The Sky."
Somehow, there was a big gap for us, until we ended up watching Okkervil River while waiting for Broken Social Scene to come on. They weren't what I expected (the name conjured up rootsy blues, but they were more folky and upbeat). I liked them.
Then Broken Social Scene... Broken Social Scene were my second favourite band after Radiohead. For a band with such an inconsistent line-up, they manage to be consistently awesome, and played some of my favourites including '7/4 (Shoreline)' and 'Farewell To The Pressure Kids'... and they had Amy from Stars with them, awesome.
We caught the tail end of Toadies' set (apparently they were big in America, never heard of them... and gladly so), then sat patiently waiting for Rage Against The Machine. I had chosen them over Wilco as I don't know that I would get to see them again.
I was... kinda non-plussed. While musically, they were tight, it sounded exactly the same as the CDs. To me, part of the appeal of seeing a band live is seeing how they mess with their arrangements. Add to that the fact they *kept* stopping so Zach could lecture the moshpit, and it wasn't all that entertaining. A massive shame. I wish I had seen Wilco now.
Sunday was the least action packed of the three days, reflected by the fact we were able to head down so late (not helped by The Weakerthans pulling out).
As we arrived, we could hear Iron & Wine and decided against them as they would be a bit of a Debbie Downer. So, our first act of the day was the brilliant Saul Williams. The girls weren't fans, but he did put on an energetic performance.
We caught snippets of Blues Traveller and Love & Rockets, but the next band proper was The National. Having seen them in the colossal United Center supporting REM, I wanted to see if their sound fared better in a relatively smaller environment... and I am pleased to say it did. I love them.
After they left the stage, the girls went over to catch the start of Kanye West's set while I watched Nine Inch Nails. I'd seen them before and really enjoyed them, but for some reason, the magic just wasn't there this time around... I think mostly because they decided to kill the mood a short way into their set by playing some of the instrumental pieces from Ghosts I-IV... which, while great to listen to when you're chilling out, is not really much fun when you're stood in a field.
They did play an awful lot of material from The Downward Spiral, though, which sort of made up for it. Especially 'Closer'.
Overall, it really was a good weekend, marred only - really - by feeling horribly ill today.
It's hard to believe that it's already August, and odd that I'm attending my second Lollapalooza since moving here. Crazy!
Yesterday, after an oddly productive morning at work, I left the office to meet Jess for lunch then headed to meet our friend Josie. She's in town to join in with the shenanigans.
When we dropped her stuff off and endured the slow buses down to the festival grounds, we had missed the first few songs by Gogol Bordello, the band she wanted to see. Their music wasn't really my thing, but their gypsy punk was at least entertaining to watch.
We started to watch Mates Of State, but live they're very difficult to endure - the already ear-damaging vocals do more damage when they're out of key - so we went to wait for Jess by the merchandise stand, hearing little snippets of what I think was Grizzly Bear, judging by the schedule.
With Jess now a part of the gang, we went on down to see Bloc Party. Last year, we bought tickets to see them but didn't think we knew them well enough to justify going. They're really great live, so naturally I regret that decision. They didn't play their best song, 'Little Thoughts', but they busted out 'Helicopter' and 'Like Eating Glass', so I was happy.
After hemming and hawing about whether to stay in place for Radiohead (who were over an hour away), we decided instead to go get food. This had the added bonus of putting us in line with the stage CSS were playing on. I feel bad that I didn't give them my full intention, they sounded tight live, and were obviously far more entertaining than the annoying-sounding Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks they were competing against.
- 15 Step
- Airbag
- There There
- All I Need
- Nude
- Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
- The Gloaming
- The National Anthem
- Faust Arp
- No Surprises
- Jigsaw Falling Into Place
- Reckoner
- Lucky
- The Bends
- Everything In Its Right Place
- Fake Plastic Trees
- Bodysnatchers
- Videotape
- Paranoid Android
- Dollar And Cents
- House of Cards
- Optimistic
- 2+2=5
- Idioteque
Highs:
- 'Weird Fishes/Arpeggi'!
- The awesome radio sampling on 'The National Anthem'
- 'Idioteque' (even though we heard it from outside of the venue as we didn't want to be crushed by the rumoured 75,000 people as they left)
Lows:
- 'The Bends' was played way too slow. There are awesome guitar lines on the verse with the line "The planet is a gunboat on a sea of fear", but the build-up to them didn't work.
- We were too far to see Thom's crazy dancing, boo.
- NOTHING from Pablo Honey? Boo!
I think 'Weird Fishes/Arpeggi' is a strong contender for my favourite song of all time.
How many houses have you lived in? How is where you live now different from where you grew up?
Let's see... 12, if you count stays as short as a month. The main reason where I live now is different from where I grew up is that it's in another country that's 4,000 miles away.
Oh white rabbit.
I've not updated properly in a few days. To be honest, I've been lazy. There's a lot going on this month so it's been nice to just do nothing at all.
I suppose you want the good news first. Well, on the immigration front, we have our interview appointment. While it's not good news that we even need an interview, and I am concerned about one of the items I have to take to it, it does mean I am closer to getting my green card.
I also have a biometrics appointment for my renewal EAD in between, so I should get that not long before my green card, rendering it almost completely useless.
Oh well.
The weather in Chicago is being a little schizophrenic right now, but the general warmth has allowed us to do more than just sit in front of the TV. We were out and about over the weekend, and tonight we went to watch my co-workers play their first softball game in a local league. That's right, I didn't play. I wanted to gauge the general skill level before making a tit of myself.
As well as softball season, crazy season has started. Over the next few weeks, we...
- See Death Cab For Cutie with Rogue Wave
- See REM with The National and Modest Mouse
- Go to Butterfest, a festival in Jess' hometown, with the in-laws
- Get to spend time with my parents, who are over for a week
- See Dethklok with some real metal bands
And now it's time for bed, if I can prise Jess off of Dr Mario: Online Rx, a Nintendo Wii sequel to the classic puzzle game. It's awesome.
Last night, our friend Tim came into the city so he, Jess and I could go see Assassins - an excellent local band - playing in a bar down in the Ukrainian village. We got there before the 8pm opening time, and thus had to sit in another nearby bar drinking beer till it opened.
The bar was dark and spacious, with leather boothes reminiscent of a speakeasy. We were practically the only people there for a good while, but the place started filling out just in time for the first band, The Strange Young Lovers. None of us liked them but I have already forgotten what they sounded like. I do remember I just wanted to stab my ears.
After some scary young dude with a white trash mullet sang some sub-Soft Cell rubbish over a backing tape, Marvelkind were on stage. They were half electronic, half punk, and moderately listenable on a few songs. Apparently the night was to pay tribute to their guitarist, who was heading to Germany, so members of Kill Hannah got up for a couple of covers, including 'Dancing With Myself' by Billy Idol.
Then, at what I believe was 12.30am, Assassins were on. We had slunk to the front of the venue to see the band and, being sober and tired, were all too aware of the constant bumping of people who were too busy chasing each other around the venue and being douchebags to pay attention to the music. I had never seen the band live before, and they were very good. Even in a tiny venue, they sounded huge.
This is one of my favourite songs by them.
We got home at around 3am. Tim and I played some Mario Kart Wii and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, then he drove home while I passed out until lunchtime.
This week, I will mostly be listening to Assassins and my new acquisitions, including Minus The Bear. Here's a good Minus The Bear song.
This year's Lollapalooza line-up was announced this week. Jess and I already had tickets on the strength of the rumour of Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails, meaning we paid $175/£88 instead of $205/£103. Boy, am I glad we decided to go... the line-up is pretty intense. Bolded acts are acts I love, asterisked acts are acts I would be interested in seeing.
Radiohead
Rage Against the Machine
Nine Inch Nails
Kanye West
Wilco
The Raconteurs*
Louis XIV*
Love and Rockets
Gnarls Barkley*
Bloc Party*
The Black Keys* (they played last year and I enjoyed them)
Broken Social Scene
Lupe Fiasco
Flogging Molly
Mark Ronson
Cat Power*
The National
G. Love & Special Sauce
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings
Explosions in the Sky*
Brand New
Gogol Bordello*
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks*
Dierks Bentley
Okkervil River
Amadou & Mariam
Blues Traveler
John Butler Trio
Girl Talk
Your Vegas
CSS
Eli "Paperboy" Reed & the True Loves
Battles*
Steel Train
Jamie Lidell
Bang Camaro
Butch Walker
The Blakes
Mates of State
Tally Hall
Spank Rock
White Lies
Brazilian Girls
Magic Wands
Chromeo
Electric Touch
Duffy
Innerpartysystem
The Kills
The Postelles
Rogue Wave
The Parlor Mob
The Go! Team
Bald Eagle
Mason Jennings
Krista
The Gutter Twins*
Ha Ha Tonka
Yeasayer
Witchcraft
Grizzly Bear
We Go To 11
MGMT*
Sofia Talvik
The Weakerthans*
Booka Shade
Santogold
Black Kids*
Black Lips
Dr. Dog
Nicole Atkins & the Sea
The Ting Tings
Kid Sister
Office
The Cool Kids
What Made Milwaukee Famous*
Does It Offend You, Yeah?*
The Whigs
Manchester Orchestra
Foals*
Uffie
The Octopus Project
Cadence Weapon
Ferras
De Novo Dahl
Noah and the Whale
Margot & the Nuclear So and So's
K'NAAN
Serena Ryder
Newton Faulkner
I only went to V and Glastonbury in the UK, but for the past three years, Lollapalooza has far outclassed both of those... and being hosted by Chicago's gorgeous park land, it's a short bus ride from home, with decent places to eat, drink and stay nearby.
Where did that weekend go?
I left work at a reasonable time on Friday night and met Jess at home. We went to a vaguely Irish pub to grab a bite to eat, then headed to the Metro to see Nada Surf.
The opening act was The Jealous Girlfriends, a four piece featuring a girl on vocals/guitar, a guy on guitar/vocals, a guy on keyboards playing bass lines and synth parts, and a wee chap on drums. First and foremost, the drummer impressed the crap out of me, he was great. I liked the band's music, too. I'm struggling to compare it to anything... when the guy sings, I hear the twat out of Snow Patrol, but the girl reminds me of someone and it's been annoying me for days.
They're kinda shoegazer indie rock, I guess. Whatever that means.
Nada Surf were pretty freaking great - helped in no small way by the addition of Martin Wenk from Calexico on keyboards and trumpet. He added what Jess called a "Debbie Downer" vibe to the gorgeous '80 Windows', and brought some swagger to songs from recent album Lucky.
Matthew was very upbeat and chatty, getting the audience to participate on harmony vocals and talking up a storm. It was a really enjoyable show. As far as I can remember, they played...
From High/Low:
'Stalemate' (which morphed into 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' by Joy Division)
From The Proximity Effect:
'80 Windows'
From Let Go:
'Blizzard Of '77'
'Fruit Fly'
'Blonde On Blonde'
'Inside Of Love'
'Hi-Speed Soul'
'Kilian's Red'
'Happy Kid'
'Paper Boats'
From The Weight Is A Gift:
'Concrete Bed'
'Do It Again'
'Always Love'
'Blankest Year' (with audience participation on the "fuck it!")
From Lucky:
'See These Bones'
'Whose Authority?'
'Beautiful Beat'
'Weightless' (with audience participation on the "ooh aah ooh")
'I Like What You Say'
'The Fox' (for which Matthew donned a creepy looking fox hat)
Some dude kept screaming out "Popular!" but was thoroughly denied. BURN.
Saturday was a nice, sunny day so we went out for brunch, I picked up a game in Best Buy, then we headed down to the zoo. Despite the abundance of Americans, it was entirely pleasant. Having a zoo so close by is highly recommended.
After that, we schlepped home and had a quiet night in, watching The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford. It was a really enjoyable film - and not as crazy long as I'd been led to believe.
I had to work on Sunday, preparing the latest project to go into QA. An unrelated emergency sprang up that we managed to contain, but we still got everything we needed to do done by 5pm. I left work and went over to meet Jess and Josie. We did a little shopping, went bowling (oh yes, all three of us are awesome at bowling) then took Josie to the train station.
And that was my weekend.
So I'm in the office today, working. We're swamped so I've been working all manner of extra hours.
One of the guys who owns the company is also in today and came over. He found a cassette in his desk and thought I could do something with it: it's a recording of a Radiohead show from 1996, taken directly from the soundboard. The gig was at the Metro some time in April that year.
I just did a Google and found they played a show at the Metro on 4 April 1996, the set list:
My Iron Lung
Bones
Electioneering
Black Star
Lucky
Street Spirit (Fade Out)
Planet Telex
Anyone Can Play Guitar
Nice Dream
High & Dry
Lift
Creep
Just
The Bends
Bullet Proof..I Wish I Was
Fake Plastic Trees
Blow Out
I'm going to see if I can transfer the show from cassette to MP3 via Jess's old stereo and the audio input on my Mac. I'll let you know how it goes!
Hard Fi, an extremely careerist (and, in my opinion, bland as shit) indie rock band who have often talked about how they want to be as big as Eminem, have branded Led Zeppelin 'dinosaurs' and slagged off their reunion as a cash grab. Full article
Yes, that's Hard Fi, whose music you may have heard on numerous television shows, adverts and computer games. For free, of course, because doing anything for money is bad. Unless you're as big as Eminem. But not as big as Led Zeppelin.
Wait, I'm confused.
You know, I also resent the fact that a lot of these well-established artists charge ridiculous prices for their shows. Especially when their recent material is lacklustre and they play it in lieu of the songs you liked them for in the first place. That being said, this supposedly one-off reunion show is to raise funds for the Ahmet Ertegun Education Fund, a charity named after the late Atlantic Records founder. Whatever Led Zeppelin make out of it, and I'm sure they'll do very well indeed, their reformation after over twenty years is a huge draw and is also going to benefit the fund in a big way.
Let's face it, Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings, Foreigner and Paulo fucking Nutini weren't going to lure in the numbers now were they?
I can't wait to see how Hard Fi spend their twilight years, if they even last that long professionally.
