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-->First off, I’d like to say that I love how the Wexner center puts together these “black box” events. Basically, they pull a curtain across the front of the main stage in and set up a second stage in the wing. The audience then stands on the main stage to watch the show. It really is a great use of the space for smaller shows and sounds great.
Continue reading ‘Review: The Blow; October 2, 2007 at Mershon Auditorium; Columbus, OH’
Pomona, CA was the last stop on Band of Horses‘ 2007 US Tour. Pomona?
Continue reading ‘Review: Band of Horses; November 26, 2007 at Glasshouse; Pomona, CA’
VHS or Beta, Feist, and the Hives played the 94.9 Anniversary Bash at 4th & B in downtown San Diego.
After a hassle with misappropriated tickets and a trip back to the car to return what is apparently my “professional rig” camera, we got into 4th and B, got drinks, and found seats. A friend’s description of the venue pretty much proved true: outside, it looks like a skyscraper; when you first walk inside, it looks like someone’s dilapidated barn; when you get into the actual venue, it looks like a pretty decent place.
Continue reading ‘Review: Iron & Wine with Califone; Tuesday, November 27, 2007; 4th & B, San Diego’
So I went to see the Animal Collective play again, this time in Nashville as opposed to Birmingham, which cut the drive in half.
But let me tell you something. I would have driven to Iceland to see these guys again. I’m typically a fairly cynical guy, but seeing these guys is almost a spiritual experience.
Cross item number fourteen of my list of things to do before I die: I have seen Bob Dylan (number fifteen, touch Dylan, is still unaccomplished).
There are three separate and distinct Ryan Adams stage personas: the folk guitarist of his early solo years, the front-man for a band that sounds suspiciously like the Grateful Dead, and bad alternative country heartthrob. At Foellinger Auditorium last Thursday, we got a taste of the last two, with a side bonus of the pissy wannabe-rock star Ryan Adams that started showing up a few weeks back. It’s a shame, though, because it a solo acoustic show in the very intimate Foellinger could’ve been great.
Okkervil River are loud, passionate, energetic, and nice guys to boot who put on a good, diverse show. No one can accuse the band of giving less than 100%.
It’s no surprise that Rilo Kiley’s Jenny Lewis can sing. And it’s not much of a surprise that Blake Sennett can play guitar. But what is a surprise is that both of them sound just as good live as they do in the studio, and that the rest of the band’s musicianship is of such a high caliber. Lewis, talented and sexy as ever, nailed every note while transitioning through the group’s wide array of styles and switching from keys to guitar to bass and back all night long. Sennett’s guitar playing was spot-on. And when he stepped up to the mic for songs such as “Ripchord” and “Dreamworld,” he only further proved his abilities.
Continue reading ‘Review: Rilo Kiley; September 15, 2007 at Riviera; Chicago’
LCD and Arcade Fire; my iPod couldn’t have devised a better 1-2 punch on random. On a brisk night (by southern California standards) in a legendary venue, LCD officially started the party with the addictively repetitive “Yeah” and their sign-off, “New York I Love You.”
Continue reading ‘Review: Arcade Fire w/ LCD Soundsystem; September 21, 2007 at the Hollywood Bowl’
After 13 years, 6 studio albums, hundreds of shows, and several personnel changes, the collective that is Wilco is having fun. That much was apparent at Wednesday night’s performance.Throughout their albums, a common theme of well-crafted songs is present, though styles have changed drastically and each incarnation of the band shines through with each new release. For this performance at home in Chicago, Wilco showcased all of their styles–unexpectedly playing songs from each of their albums.
Continue reading ‘Review: Wilco; September 12, 2007 at Millennium Park (Pritzker Pavilion); Chicago’
It was night 2 of a 3 concert stint at the Henry Fonda Theater, a moderately sized general admission venue with a seated balcony. Needless to say, this was a superb venue to see Spoon.
Continue reading ‘Review: Spoon; September 11, 2007 at Henry Fonda Theater; Los Angeles’
There are three undeniable truths I learned from the 13 straight hours of electric guitar at the Crossroads Guitar Festival:
Continue reading ‘Review: Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival; July 28, 2007; Bridgeview, IL’
Note: Photos in this essay depict re-enactments of actual events, not the events themselves.
Thursday, July 12
McCaskill picked me up at my folks’ house at 9PM. We weren’t planning to leave Jackson until about 1 or 2AM, but we’d decided to hang out a while and say goodbyes because, naturally, we may never come back.
Instead of going to the bar, for obvious reasons, we opted for dinner. Regardless, as with alcohol, we are both bottomless pits for food. The meal was uneventful, save for the fact that our waitress had apparently served McCaskill once before, and had taken offense to a conversation about foreskins. Despite this, the food was palatable and (hopefully) spit-free.
Let’s get this out of the way: fuck the Chicago Tribune. They messed up a lot of indie fans this past weekend by printing completely wrong directions to the Pitchfork Music Festival. Despite having lived in the Chicago area for nearly eight years and being with two people who attended the festival last year, I still managed to take the Green Line L train all the way to the end of the line (as per the directions), nearly five miles south of Union Park. A long string of expletives and one forty minute bus ride later, we had missed nearly all of Slint, the first act of the first night. It’s a shame, too, as they sounded pretty damn good.
