Despite a last-minute cancellation by Lykke Li, a sold-out crowd showed up Sunday for the FM94/9 Independence Jam in Oceanside. Several local bands on the Casbah stage traded sets with the main stage acts as the smell of kettle corn wafted through the air. The sun was out, the surf was near, and the music was top-notch as usual.
Photos of Everest, Heavy Hawaii, Surfer Blood, Band of Skulls, The Soft Pack, Crocodiles, Peter Bjorn and John, The Silent Comedy, and Cold War Kids are below. Continue reading…
A couple hundred fans packed San Diego’s Casbah on May 11 to watch freaky Philadelphians Man Man prove once again that they’re not just a band with a “doom-wop” schtick. Continue reading…
Friday’s TV on the Radio show almost didn’t happen. Originally scheduled for May 2, the concert was nearly derailed by the sudden death of bassist Gerard Smith. But anyone expecting the Brooklyn band to hang their heads at the 4th & B show were instead treated to a fast and furious performance that was anything but solemn.
TV on the Radio’s latest, Nine Types of Light, was released in April to critical acclaim. But instead of leaning on that album, the band treated the crowd to a diverse set that touched upon all eras of their discography. Songs like “Satellite” and “Staring at the Sun” (both from the group’s groundbreaking 2003 EP Young Liars), “Dreams” (from their debut full-length Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes) and the crowd-pleasing “Wolf Like Me” (from their mid-career smash Return to Cookie Mountain) were all given their due.
If the five-piece was still dealing with the emotional fallout of Smith’s death, you wouldn’t have known it. The band played with focused energy, rarely letting the final notes of one song fade out before launching into the tremolo strums of the next. The night served as a triumphant statement of purpose from the group — no matter what befalls them, TV on the Radio proved that they can bounce back stronger, and more rocking, than ever. Check out our photos.
Last Friday, indie-rock flower children Fleet Foxes treated a sold-out Spreckels Theatre crowd to a set of immaculate compositions.
To say that the band was methodical would be an understatement. Whereas most performers take the stage and immediately launch into their first song, Fleet Foxes singer Robin Pecknold took a couple minutes to get situated before trickling into “The Cascades,” an intricate instrumental from the band’s acclaimed new album, Helplessness Blues. Continue reading…
Last Saturday night, after an intense (and dimly lit) opening set by The Black Heart Procession, J Mascis took the stage alone. With only an acoustic guitar and a small half-circle of monitors and amps – which seemed paltry compared to his customary wall of Marshall stacks – he performed songs off his new record, Several Shades of Why, as well as a few Dinosaur Jr. tunes. As he effortlessly bent the strings of his acoustic guitar during one solo after another, he also proceeded to show the crowd that he was a better at guitar than any of us could ever hope to be. Continue reading…