Month: May 2016

Conor Oberst 6/6/15

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(a) setlist

    1. Time Forgot
    2. Hundreds of Ways
    3. Zigzagging Towards the Light
    4. Classic Cars (Bright Eyes cover)
    5. We Are Nowhere and It’s Now (Bright Eyes cover)
    6. Enola Gay
    7. Double Life
    8. Danny Callahan
    9. No One Would Riot For Less (Bright Eyes cover)
    10. Governor’s Ball
    11. If The Brakeman Turns My Way (Bright Eyes cover)
    12. Shell Games (Bright Eyes cover)
    13. Another Travelin’ Song (Bright Eyes cover)
    14. Laura Laurent (Bright Eyes cover)
    15. Ladder Song (Bright Eyes cover)

Encore:

  1. Lover I Don’t Have to Love (Bright Eyes cover)
  2. Lua (Bright Eyes cover)
  3. I Don’t Want to Die (In the Hospital)

(b) highlights

  • seeing Conor for the first time after being a Bright Eyes fan since high school!
  • “Classic Cars”!! Omg!!
  • “Lover I Don’t Have to Love” = the O.G. angst ballad, so good
  • the entire performance being much more positive, less sad, and more energetic than I always imagined a Bright Eyes/Conor show being
  • realizing that Conor is kinda dorky and down-to-earth and not the tortured soul everyone thinks he is – that makes me happy

(c) lowlights

  • the crowd was legit the W.O.R.S.T. – so rude, so obnoxious, so Brooklyn
  • I try to avoid the Music Hall of Williamsburg when I can – always a bad crowd and, ironically, the venue feels so unsuited for live music; there’s so much dead space and acoustic holes

(d) overall thoughts

I first discovered Bright Eyes in high school, which is like saying “I learned to walk when I was a toddler.” I had a bit of a Bright Eyes phase and I stand by it – my favorite album of theirs to this day is probably 2007’s Cassadaga, which honestly has such lively and beautiful songs on it that feel both unlike the moody Bright Eyes everyone knows but still very reminiscent of all Conor Oberst’s work. I was beyond thrilled when he played not only so many Bright Eyes songs, but tracks specifically from that album. “Classic Cars” is my favorite from Cassadaga and I remember screaming when he started playing it – god, what an incredible feeling it is to hear that one song you’ve always loved but never thought you’d hear.

This show was a Governor’s Ball After Hours special, so the set was definitely geared to a New York crowd and people didn’t get a chance to make the festival. Unfortunately, because it was so late, more than half the crowd was super drunk, so obnoxious, and Conor was not having it. After a douchebag legitimately in 2015 yelled out “Freebird!” when Conor was talking, I thought he might walk off stage. Instead, he chewed the guy out, spit in the crowd, and kept going. More power to Conor, I say.

I think people have this preconception that Conor Oberst is the cry-baby, indie-emo singer to Bright Eyes just in the same way that Ben Gibbard is the cry-baby, indie-emo singer to Death Cab For Cutie. I kinda think that whole idea is bullshit, but whatever – to each his own. I can pretty definitively say, however, that Conor was gregarious, smiling, and a showman; there wasn’t a dark, dingy stool in sight. I was pleasantly surprised at the overwhelming feeling of joy in the songs and undeniable lightness to all that heart in them as well.

Bottom Line: I would definitely recommend people give Conor a chance; if you’ve ever even thought that one Bright Eyes or Conor Oberst song was good, you’ll dig his live show.

Other Lives 5/30/15

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(a) setlist

    1. Reconfiguration
    2. Easy Way Out
    3. As I Lay My Head Down
    4. Land Forms
    5. Desert
    6. 2 Pyramids
    7. Pattern
    8. For 12
    9. Tamer Animals
    10. English Summer
    11. Dark Horse
    12. Weather
    13. For The Last

Encore:

  1. Black Tables
  2. Something In The Way (Nirvana cover)
  3. Great Sky
  4. Dust Bowl III

(b) highlights

  • seeing Other Lives for the first time and not being disappointed!
  • the wonderful use of horns on several tracks – never over-powering, always just the right amount
  • loved the band’s use of strings
  • Jesse Tabish is an interesting frontman, an understated performer who still leads
  • how their “middle plains dust bowl”-vibe was actually authentic and not annoyingly put-on like Mumford & Sons or nonsense like that

(c) lowlights

  • a random drunk chick in the audience who was annoying and needed to go home

(d) overall thoughts

I had only ever heard a song or two by Other Lives before this show. My roommate is a big fan and considers the band local hometown heroes, seeing as she – like the band – hails from Oklahoma. It can be strange going into a show with no real idea how things will turn out, but I thoroughly enjoyed Other Lives. They walk this unique line of being a rock band with an alternative dust-bowl, not-quite-country edge and add a brass and strings section. And it totally works.

Their live show is a bit ethereal and intimate, personal and large-sounding at the same time. The Bowery Ballroom is a small venue, but I felt like the music could’ve beautifully filled a place like Carnegie Hall, or even bigger. The lights were coordinated to the sound in a perfect way; it felt like we had journeyed together through something real and emotional by the end of it.

Bottom Line: More people should know about Other Lives – they’ve got a huge, unique sound while still remaining intimately close with the audience, and that’s cool.

 

Big Talk 5/26/15

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(a) setlist

    1. Hold That Line
    2. Animal Husband
    3. What Happened to Delisa?
    4. La Rue D’Awakening
    5. Cocktail Party
    6. I’ve Been Sentimental Lately
    7. What The Night Can Do
    8. All My Luvin’
    9. White Dove
    10. The Void
    11. Another Satellite
    12. Neon’s Not Enough Light

(b) highlights

  • seeing Ronnie Vannucci play in Las Vegas is just as awesome as it sounds
  • the in-between song banter never fails to entertain: “there’s a lot of hot ladies in here tonight….onstage.”
  • the Hawaiian shirt game was very strong
  • chatting before the show was next-level amazing; Ronnie is great, Taylor is so so sweet, Brooks is so cool

(c) lowlights

  • the show started late and I had to catch a flight immediately after, so that was stressful

(d) overall thoughts

Caught a quick flight to Vegas from LA to see Big Talk again, and hot damn, was it a good time. It was hot as hell, but waiting outside was so worth it when Ronnie brought out water and snacks to the line (my heart), and definitely worth it to hang out in the courtyard pseudo-desert-garden area of the Bunkhouse Saloon. The show definitely felt like a hometown show in a lot of ways even though Ronnie hasn’t lived in Vegas for awhile, if only for all that Killers-in-Vegas history.

The setlist was exactly the same as the night before, which might sound like a bad thing, but it honestly wasn’t. Again, we didn’t have an album at this point. We pretty much had one single and that was it, so to hear all those songs again and really grasp the garage-band-y vibe of it gave more context. “I’ve Been Sentimental Lately,” “All My Luvin’,” and “What The Night Can Do” were immediate stand-outs aside from the lead single “What Happened to Delisa?” and I still dig those songs a lot to this day. The newer songs fit right in with the debut album in my opinion, even though Ronnie mentioned a couple of times that he disliked the older songs. If I had to guess, I think that opinion is mostly informed by the first album’s production; RJV was adamant about Straight In No Kissin’ having a less slick and more gritty sound to it, and the band certainly accomplished that in more ways than one. The crowd dug a lot of it and I felt very lucky to have witnessed that show.

Bottom Line: The Bunkhouse Saloon was the perfect environment for Big Talk to perform their newest album in Vegas; gritty songs with pop-y melodies fit best in dingey cowboy bars on a hot desert night.

Big Talk 5/25/15

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(a) setlist

    1. Hold That Line
    2. Animal Husband
    3. What Happened to Delisa?
    4. La Rue D’Awakening
    5. Cocktail Party
    6. I’ve Been Sentimental Lately
    7. What The Night Can Do
    8. All My Luvin’
    9. White Dove
    10. The Void
    11. Another Satellite
    12. Neon’s Not Enough Light

(b) highlights

  • I don’t even know where to begin….the whole fucking day. the entire day was a highlight. all of it.
  • meeting Ronnie Vannucci and Taylor Milne before the show started, and making jokes and laughing with them for like 20 minutes – a dream
  • the entire show from beginning to end, the end
  • after the show ended, the band stuck around to chat with everyone and gave me and my friend who waited all day big bear hugs, what a perfect day

(c) lowlights

  • n o t h i n g

(d) overall thoughts

 

So. Instead of writing a novel no one wants to read, I guess I’ll sum up this day and show with this: do you ever just have these out-of-body experiences where everything falls together so, so well that you have to believe that it’s all a dream? Like, an actual dream that involves you eventually waking up? That was this day. From beginning to end.

I flew out to California for a friend’s wedding, so catching this show right before the festivities began was like fate. To every human who remotely knows me knows that I love The Killers to death and Ronnie Vannucci is one of my favorite people ever. I never got to see Ronnie’s side project Big Talk during their first album tour in 2011, but I’d loved the music immediately.

Magically, Ronnie and his Big Talk bro Taylor Milne came out to chat with a few of us in line. Many memorable quotes were said and good times were had by all, but I’ll keep those close to the chest. Ultimately, Big Talk performed almost entirely new songs (what a ballsy freaking move that is, right?) for their first performance in over four years and it freaking rocked. What else is there to say? Their new album hadn’t even been released yet and they presented it with style, grace, and announced it would be called Straight In No Kissin’. Ronnie used a guitar pick with a picture of his dog Archie wearing a jetpack on it. I mean, come on. What a band.

Bottom Line: The only thing better than hearing a bunch of solid as all hell tunes is knowing that the dudes playing it don’t really care what anyone thinks and just wanna have fun. Admirable and impressive, to say the least.

Kaiser Chiefs 5/13/15

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(a) setlist

    1. The Angry Mob
    2. Ruffians on Parade
    3. Everything is Average Nowadays
    4. Everyday I Love You Less and Less
    5. Falling Awake
    6. Modern Way
    7. Na Na Na Na Naa
    8. Never Miss a Beat
    9. My Life
    10. Take My Temperature
    11. Ruby
    12. I Predict a Riot
    13. Pinball Wizard (The Who cover)
    14. Coming Home

Encore:

  1. Misery Company
  2. Oh My God

(b) highlights

  • being front row center in the super small and intimate Irving Plaza = gold
  • hearing “Falling Awake” for the first time!!
  • basically the whole damn setlist, let’s be real
  • Ricky Wilson being his most Ricky Wilson self
  • going to the show with my friend who’s been a fan as long as me, but who had never seen KC; it was amazing to be there with her experiencing it all
  • Simon Rix personally handing me his (bass) guitar pick before the encore, such a freaking cool dude

(c) lowlights

  • it was the end of their tour for Education, Education, Education & War and you could tell the band was a little tired
  • would’ve loved to hear my favorite song off the newest album, “Bows & Arrows”

(d) overall thoughts

God, I will always love Kaiser Chiefs. I loved them pretty much the moment I heard their first song “I Predict a Riot” back in 2005 and became enamored with them and their buddy-buddy relationship with The Killers during the NME Tour in 2005. To me, they will always be the babes of my 14-year-old summer and I love that they’re still making music now – and freaking great music at that.

This show at Irving Plaza shines so brightly in my mind because this show – like all Kaiser Chief experiences – was full of so much joy. The energy is always so high when Ricky Wilson is involved, and the songs over the years have made it so easy for everyone else to give their energy to the performance too. That’s what’s so great about seeing a band like this; the audience becomes part of the performance too. Everyone’s jumping and losing themselves in all those Employment oooooooooohhhhhh!‘s, working just as hard as Ricky and all the guys are. At least, that’s how I feel most of the time. They show up to perform, so I better step up and start dancing too.

As I said, this was the end of the tour for their fifth album, Education, Education, Education & War, which I freaking loved. It’s truly a pleasure as a fan to seriously love a band so much at such an important age – like when you’re in high school – and have them continually put out outstanding music. I watched as critics and naysayers worried that the band’s work would plummet after the original drummer and one of the band’s main writers, Nick Hodgson, announced he was leaving the band in late 2012. But I knew things would be fine. And they were. How could I not love a band that both repeatedly releases bombass songs and always puts on such a fun and energetic live show? It also means so much to me that Ricky, Simon, and Whitey in particular have noticed the fans – like myself – who come out to all their shows and have a good time. Man, that means so much and always keeps me coming back for more.

 

Bottom Line: Yeah, Ricky Wilson was on the UK version of The Voice, who freaking cares when the songs are still solid as all hell and the band continually puts on awesome, high-energy shows? This girl doesn’t care and no one else in that happy crowd did either.

We Are Scientists (Surfer Blood Benefit) 5/12/15

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(a) setlist

    1. After Hours

(b) highlights

  • seeing a looooot of bands I otherwise wouldn’t have
  • helping raise money for a good cause
  • literally watching a two and a half hour show just to see We Are Scientists play “After Hours” = worth it

(c) lowlights

  • cancer sucks

(d) overall thoughts

Even though I’ve never really known much about the band Surfer Blood, I remember when I first read that their guitarist Thomas Fekete was battling cancer. The whole story was pretty devastating, and this show was put together as a benefit for both him and the band to come together to help pay some of his medical bills. What a world we live in where that happens.

Surfer Blood and We Are Scientists weren’t the only bands to play, so we also got to see peeps like Julianna Barwick, Cults, Marnie Stern, Kip Berman of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Andy Boay, and others. It was a small taste of all these people who knew Surfer Blood and Tommy well, so it was a bittersweet experience.

We Are Scientists were their usual selves, seemingly stumbling onstage in ripped up t-shirts probably purchased at K-Mart and just roaring into one of their instant classics, “After Hours.” Does anyone not love that song? If anyone says they don’t, they’re lying. Fact.

Bottom Line: Cancer sucks, but it’s cool when people get together to jam and raise money.

WASbowerymay122015

Muse 5/8/16

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(a) setlist

    1. Psycho
    2. Dead Inside
    3. Supermassive Black Hole
    4. The Groove
    5. Madness
    6. Apocalypse Please
    7. Interlude
    8. Hysteria
    9. Stockholm Syndrome
    10. Animals
    11. New Born
    12. Uprising
    13. Time Is Running Out
    14. Reapers

Encore:

  1. Bliss
  2. Starlight
  3. Knights of Cydonia

(b) highlights

  • seeing Muse in the smallest venue I’ve EVER seen them in = amazingggg
  • straight up being at that show; it had sold out in about 0.0343 seconds and s o m e h o w I got tickets – to this day, I never know how that happened
  • “Apocalypse Please”!!! “Bliss”!!! “Stockholm Syndrome”!! “The Groove”!! “New Born”!!! “HYSTERIA” whaaaaaat
  • Starting out in the 10th row at the beginning of the show and ending up in the 2nd row by the 3rd song just by pure crowd energy and movement = magic
  • knowing that a band that uses production so, so heavily can still shine in a tiny, stripped-down venue without any production whatsoever, my god
  • got Matt Bellamy’s guitar pick…from the literal sky out of nowhere

(c) lowlights

  • I have never sweat so much in my entire life, I swear to God – Webster Hall had never been so damn hot and there were so many people, I looked like I had jumped into a pool

(d) overall thoughts

This show was magic. I couldn’t even believe I was there. It was one of those shows that felt like everyone on Earth was trying to going to, and Webster Hall is so small and it was just crazy. Tickets were will call only, so all our names were on a list and it was honestly unbelievable to see my name on that piece of paper. God, what a feeling.

As I mentioned previously, Muse is one of my all-time favorite bands and I’ve seem them many times over the years. But I’d never seen them like this. A band so strongly associated with huge lights, sounds, screens, smoke, cameras, and all that jazz totally taken away just to have three dudes on stage playing massive songs – the only thing that remained massive in that small venue. The new songs were amazing to me, the older songs were such a treat  – each moment felt like a string of gifts connecting to the next melody. What a time.

To put a total cap on the whole event, as I’m standing there after the show has ended, still trying to process everything that happened, a flash of yellow falls from the sky in Webster hall and lands a foot away from me. I divebomb on it in my prototypical ungraceful way, and my God – it’s Matt Bellamy’s used guitar pick. Where did it come from? How did it end up 20 feet from the stage in an open arena where I’m looking like a mess? Don’t know, don’t care. That’s magic.

 

Bottom Line: There’s something so strangely emotional about the impact this show had on me, and there’s so much more I could say about it, but all that really matters is that it was incredible to me.

PILE 4/28/16

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(a) setlist

    1. The World Is Your Hotel
    2. Mr. Fish
    3. Baby Boy
    4. The Browns
    5. Special Snowflakes
    6. Grunt Like a Pig
    7. Pets
    8. Appendicitis
    9. #2 Hit Single

(b) highlights

  • love the hell out of Baby’s All Right – cute, intimate, solid venue
  • this hilarious moment of my friend spending the whole night falling in love with a dude who was dramatically leaning up against the prototypical Brooklyn exposed-brick wall…who turned out to be the lead singer of PILE
  • going to a show and seeing a band I literally know nothing about and having a great time

(c) lowlights

  • 15-year-olds wearing backpacks and unnecessarily moshing…actually, that was funny

(d) overall thoughts

I ended up at this show by accident, which is always kind of great. A friend of mine was BFF’s with the opening act – a solid dude named Yaz who’s into the whole 70’s psychedelic rock ‘n’ roll shindig and he was cool. Turned out, he had been playing guitar in PILE for a tour or two, so we stuck around for them. They’re Boston-based, which sort of comes through in their performance, but I’m pretty sure that’s 70% based on their beards, outfits, and one of them vaguely saying, “So…we’re from New England.” They were post-hardcore punkish – whatever that means – but, in a strange way, they reminded me of a bunch of pseudo-emo kids who were really into the slower, smarter Blink 182 songs (whichever ones those are) and maybe the sadder Offspring songs (again, do those exist?? somehow, I feel like they do).

The show felt small and intimate in a way that you consciously think, “I’m seeing something special that no one else really knows about right now…and that’s nice.” There’s passion and real emotion behind the occasionally erratic guitar and always erratic drums, and I would definitely aim to catch these guys again. Yeah, you can jump around and connect with the punk-ish roots, or you can directly connect to the emotion behind those songs – there’s a bit for everyone when it comes to PILE.

 

Bottom line: They’re not the second coming of Nirvana or anything, but PILE’s got the guitar chops, rock ‘n’ roll attitude, and sad grunge-y undertone of real heart to reel you in.

Note: I actually took many more pictures than this – I vividly remember most of them, but I think my computer ate them. This is somehow most fitting for this show. Even more of a secret now.

pileband1

Joywave 4/9/15

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(a) setlist

    1. Destruction
    2. Destruction
    3. Now
    4. Parade
    5. Feels Like a Lie
    6. Somebody New
    7. Tongues

(b) highlights

  • those dudes actually played “Destruction” twice, hahahaha
  • going to a show only for the opening band has its perks – you leave when they’re done!
  • seeing Joywave totally command a room of people who weren’t even there to see them
  • no, really, they played “Destruction” twice

(c) lowlights

  • having to be in such close proximity to Bleachers’ fans, who turned out to be the worst

(d) overall thoughts

I don’t often go to shows only to see the opening band, but I do that when the opening band is Joywave. They opened for Bleachers at Terminal 5, and even though I had absolutely no interest in seeing Bleachers, I knew I couldn’t miss Joywave. I first discovered them when they opened for The Killers in August 2014 and it’s been really cool to watch them rise since then. They hadn’t even put out a full album at this point, but did have one of the best damn EP’s I’ve ever heard: How Do You Feel? Most of the songs they played were featured on that EP, and eventually comprised half the album they released later that year, How Do You Feel Now?

The most important thing to know about Joywave is that they really don’t give a fuck. It’s less than a little known secret that the band is obsessed with themselves and their song “Destruction,” in particular. The whole thing is sort of obnoxious and ridiculous and stupid, but 100% hysterical. Singer Daniel Armbruster not only demands that the audience jump, touch the floor, and scream for this song, but agree with him that is so-called “the greatest song ever written.” So the band opened with “Destruction.” But because not every member of the audience (who did not pay to see Joywave – with the exception of me, my friend, and maybe 3 other people) danced and moved and followed directions during the song, they played it again. God, I was laughing so hard. What a band.

Most importantly, Joywave is hysterical, yeah, but their songs kick ass. Every song sounds different, but every song sounds like them – a quality I find so, so uncommon in modern rock and indie music these days. These guys got heart and they’re still rising. Can’t wait to keep watching that.

 

Bottom line: Joywave have great freaking songs, but they will bully you into dancing along to them, which I am 100% okay with.

Brandon Flowers 3/24/15

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(a) setlist

    1. The Way It’s Always Been (acoustic)
    2. Dreams Come True
    3. Crossfire
    4. Magdalena
    5. Hard Enough
    6. Jilted Lovers & Broken Hearts
    7. Jenny Was a Friend of Mine (The Killers cover)
    8. Read My Mind (The Killers cover)
    9. Human (The Killers cover)
    10. Simply Irresistible (Robert Palmer cover)
    11. Swallow It
    12. Diggin’ Up The Heart
    13. Can’t Deny My Love

Encore:

  1. Right Behind You
  2. Only The Young
  3. Mr. Brightside (Jacques Lu Cont Remix)

(b) highlights

  • Brandon coming out before the “actual” start of the show to play “The Way It’s Always Been” for the fans that spent the whole day in the cold 🙂
  • getting to watch the whole crowd from the balcony – I rarely see shows from anywhere but the pit, so it was nice to look down on everyone and see the energy throughout
  • taking nice pictures for once; I took my old Canon Rebel XS to snatch good shots for friends
  • seeing Brandon’s solo material for the first time right alongside classic Killers’ material
  • “Jenny Was a Friend of Mine” really changes when Brandon sings it alone – it nearly transforms into an acoustic love ballad…which is crazy considering the song’s content

(c) lowlights

  • goofy ass “Swallow It”
  • never getting to hear my favorite track off Flamingo, “Playing With Fire”
  • 90% of the backup band

(d) overall thoughts

Due to God, fate, and the worst food poisoning of all time, I managed to miss every live Brandon Flowers show during the tour for his 2010 debut album Flamingo, so I was elated that he was coming back around my town for his 2015 album The Desired Effect. At the time of this show, we still hadn’t heard most of the album and didn’t know what to expect, so it was a pleasant surprise to hear a mix of his older material, a few new ones, and several Killers’ gems that had mostly been reworked for the new context.

I chose to watch the show from the Webster Hall balcony to avoid the crowd and have my own little concert upstairs. My friends stayed down in the pit and it was a cool way to watch Brandon literally in a new light. It felt a bit like watching the concert from the outside looking in – a unique experience for someone who’s definitely a die-hard fan when it comes to that music. The most memorable moment for me happened before the show even began; Brandon walked onstage with just one backing band member and performed an acoustic rendition of “The Way It’s Always Been” as a thank-you to fans for waiting outside all day in the frigid New York March weather. I’ve never seen him make such a gesture like this towards fans, and it felt very special. The rest of the night, Brandon was quite comfortable onstage and the crowd was so high energy, especially during The Killers’ songs, that I couldn’t help but feel a warm glow inside.

Bottom line: If seeing The Killers is a bit like eating a bombass sundae with chocolate fudge, whipped cream, and nuts on top, then seeing Brandon Flowers without The Killers is like eating a single scoop of vanilla ice cream: not as great as a sundae, but still something I’ll never turn down.