Leonard Cohen
posted Jun 8, 04:03 PM by Rick WebbFile under: Hit the Road , Reunions
In a hard core bit of Rock Tourism, Judi and I took a 9 AM flight from Boston to Buffalo, and drove to Toronto Saturday to see the legendary Leonard Cohen at the Sony Center.
Oh my god.
One of the best shows I have ever seen. Leonard’s still got it, along with his ten piece band. He played selections from his whole career – I’m Your Man, Tower of Song, Democracy, Waiting for the Miracle, The Future, A Thousand Kisses Deep, Closing Time and more from the 90’s and on, and Bird on a Wire, Suzanne, If it Be Your Will, and more from the past. The best of the set: a tear-jerking version of “Hallelujah” that had the audience in spontaneous one minute long mid-set standing ovation, all 3,000 of us. I nearly cried.
His wit is intact, his politeness is impeccible, his voice is as solid as ever. I had wondered before the show how he’d merge the casiotione cheesiness of the instrumentation of the I’m Your Man era with the folk of the past and the lounginess of the present, but it was so effortless, so perfect that it seemed a silly question to even ask. His spanish guitarist was genius, his backup singers could bring a tear to your eye on “If it Be Your Will” and crack you up with their “Doo da dum dums” on “Tower of Song.” Everything was genius.
A three hour set, with intermission and 4 encores. Oh my god.
Before we left, Judi and I are both so busy, we debated not going. “We’ll probably regret it the rest of our lives” she said when we contemplated a quiet weekend at home. If I had known how good it was going to be, I never would have doubted. And thank god we made it.
Leonard’s playing 47 more dates, though none in the US. Your best bet is Montreal the week of the 21st of June. “I know many of you went to significant geographic or financial pains to get here,” he said, “and for that, I thank you.” It was worth it. I can’t recommend it strongly enough.
This is shaping up to be the best year of my life for live music.
She & Him Sleuthing, Sub Pop 20, etc
posted Jun 2, 10:50 AM by Rick WebbFile under: Hit the Road , Festivals
Haha! I feel so Sherlock Holmes! I had read on Brooklyn Vegan that She & Him were doing some more shows. I had missed all of their SXSW shows and haven’t had a chance to see their NYC shows yet, so I decided to check out if they were coming to Boston or not. They were not. BUT they were doing a show in Northampton, MA, on July 24. That seemed undoable until I realized I had to be in Connecticut for a wedding the next day. Serindipity!
So I set out to buy tickets, only to discover it’s basically impossible to buy tickets for this Academy of Music Theater over the web. Not at Ticketmaster, not at Ticketweb. There was a website, but all of the tickets said to call. So I did, and went to the ticketing extension, only to listen to a really long voice mail about a lot of movies that aren’t Zooey Deschanel and M Ward singing cute songs. Then it hung up.
But!
But I noticed that one movie had tickets available at something called Tix.com, so I went over to the site and sure enough, I did a search! And yes! the show was there! AND I GOT 4 TICKETS, SECOND ROW CENTER. Score! Buy now.
In other news, I’m hitting Sup Pop’s 20th Anniversary Festival in Seattle In July. I was on the fence about it until a) I just visited my friends in Seattle and realized how fun it would be, and b) THEY ADDED THE VASELINES TO THE BILL. OMG. That’s too exciting. I bought a ticket for their Brooklyn show @ Southpaw too to be safe, but I’m pretty sure I’m going. That’ll be fun.
Also figured out where to see Nick Cave this year – 9:30 Club in October.
So that leaves really one artist I haven’t figured out how I’m going to see. Leonard Cohen. Still gotta figure that out. Dude’s not playing america. Road trip anyone?
Nick Cave
posted May 17, 05:10 PM by Rick WebbFile under: Hit the Road ,
Had a really hard time fitting the upcoming Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Tour – everywhere he was, I had to be somewhere else, most notably the date closest to me, the New York date, where I have to be at a wedding in Delaware that day.
But A Ha! The next day he’s playing DC, at the 9:30 club! Like HALF the size of Terminal 5 in DC. YAY. So down we go, DC road trip!
Echo and the Bunnymen
posted May 14, 07:41 AM by Rick WebbFile under: Reunions , Hit the Road
Oh I should also mention the 30th anniversary Echo and the Bunnymen show @ Radio City. I wasn’t gonna go because while I love the Bunnymen with an endless passion, the last couple shows have been a bit lackluster – Ian’s been on the sauce again, and his voice has been crackling and it’s all been kinda painful.
But then I learned that a) this is a one-off, b) it’s at Radio City Music Hall, which I’ve never been to, c) it’s got a 12-piece orchestra, and d) they’re doing all of Ocean Rain, in order. OMG. yes please. I am there.
Now I just have to figure out what city I can catch Nick Cave in this year. It’s looking like DC, for its combination of fitting into my crazy schedule and being at the 9:30 club, which is a pretty solid venue. I think. Or maybe I’m mixing it up with the Black Cat. Anyway, that’s the one for me.
New Music Purchasing Habits for the Digital Age, plus Yaz, British Sea Power, Built to Spill
posted May 14, 07:16 AM by Rick WebbFile under: Rock Musings , Festivals
I’ve been excited for a while about the upcoming US shows by Yaz at Terminal 5 in New York, even though Terminal 5 is a bastardization of everything a club should be. But whatever. It gets the job done, and when it’s a choice between going to some arena show or seats, often I’d prefer Terminal 5. But today I learned that after selling out two shows at Terminal 5, both of these for which I have tickets, they are adding a third show at the much nicer Beacon Theater. MAN. Not fair! Do I need to buy again?
In other news, I saw British Sea Power again last night. I think that band thrives on the crowd. They had a good sized crowd this time – compared to their last Boston show which was unfortunately timed to land on the day the Sox beat the Yankees for the title. Paradise was probably about 85% full this time. But they played for a LONG time, and a lot of mid-tempo stuff from their second album. I have a few theories about this. First, I think it takes a while for a band to realize and accept which album is their best, and which the fans like the best. BSP are still trying to make us like the second album, which I kinda like actually, but isn’t as awesome live. Songs from that one should be nuggets that suggest a deeper, richer offering in the recorded world. Goldfrapp does this brilliantly now, four albums in. She knows which songs from which albums work best live, and doesn’t push too much.
My other thought about this is that I think in this modern downloading age, there’s a trend in record sales bands may not have identified yet. I think that people do still purchase albums, but they purchase albums in a different way. They’ll discover a band, listen to a free-downloaded album over and over, and when the next album comes out, they’ll buy the album, as a sort of micropayment/patronage/makeup thing for the one they didn’t buy the first time. I have very little data to support this, save for some anecdotal stories by my friend the wife of an indie band of moderate fame who says people routinely try to just hand her $20 at shows when she’s working merch to make up for their downloading habits. And I could totally see BSP being under the impression that people like the second album better because it sold better, when every fan knows their first album is their best (though the new one is a strong contender), and thus playing a lot of songs off of it. Except every single one of us who discovered BSP on their first album pretty much discovered it on the internet, and didn’t buy anything of theirs till the second. Um, actually, to be honest I don’t think I’ve bought a single BSP album, but I have paid good hard cash to see them five times or so plus two rock tourist outings to Coachella and SXSW, so I think they made a buck off of me.
In other news, Built to Spill, Dinosaur Jr and the Meat Puppets are playing a show together just after their appearances at The Greatest Rock Festival Ever planned. Will BTS and the Meat Puppets play their don’t look back sets? Man, that ATP lineup is so awesome. So Awesome that I keep forgetting that BTS are going to play all of Perfect From Now On, in order, which is like a great rock event in its own right.
65daysofstatic, The Cure, Cut Copy
posted May 13, 06:29 PM by Rick WebbFile under: Reunions ,
I didn’t tourist for it, but I saw three pretty awesome bands last night. First, I headed over to the Agganis Arena at Boston University, my Alma Mater. I hadn’t been there before, so I decided it was time. The show was The Cure, an old fave of mine, and 65daysofstatic, a new one, that I hadn’t had the chance to see live yet.
The show was a reschedule so I was lucky enough to get good seats at the last minute. And man, was it worth it. 65daysofstatic are in the Mogwai mold, and they totally delivered. Loud, awesome post rock that I love love love.
I approached the Cure with some trepidation. I’ve loved them since I was a kid, but man I have no idea of a single song of theirs since Wish, which I still conisder to be late period cure and it’s, um, 16 years old (I have this problem with REM as well – I still think of Green as a new album).
But man, did they deliver. Out of the first ten songs, 5 of them were from Disintegration. The amazingly opened with “Plainsong” and “Prayers for Rain” back to back. They played a few new songs, which were decent, but in the 100 minutes I saw them they also played “The Blood,” “Hot Hot Hot,” “A Night Like This”, “Pictures of You,” “Lullabye,” “Lovesong” and “The Edge of the Deep Green Sea.” Wait they may have also played “The Same Deep Water As You.” In any case, it was awesome.
Then I left early (That HURT) to go see Cut Copy next door at the Paradise. AWESOME. The kids of Boston dance again at shows, did you know that? This is like the fourth show I’ve seen recently in town where the entire place was hoppin. They don’t stand around with their arms folded anymore. Yay Boston. You loosened up. Or the kids did. Or something.
I also think it’s interesting this whole new school of merging rock and dance. Cut Copy, MGMT, and Hot Chip are the leaders of it. All of them are basically a dance band with guitars. I mean there was the whole dance punk thing a while back – The Rapture and !!! – and LCD Soundsystem’s been blazing that trail too, but I LOVE IT. I love it. I’ve been around a long time, and I’ve been constantly frustrated with the separation between dance – which has been totally limited in the techno realm – and rock – which most people think you can’t dance to.
So this whole new thing, these last few years, I love it. Yay dance rock! Yay dancing Bostonians! Yay 30 year old goth bands that still play half of Disintegration 20 years later! What an awesome night out of rock.
Also, I caught Shearwater last friday and Clinic. Shearwater were awesome. Then my friend Lele told me that the amazing Jetpack McLeod Interviewed Shearwater at our McLeod Residence recently. Awesome! Also caught some of Clinic, who I’d heard a little bit of, but they didn’t really do it for me.
British Sea Power tonight. Cut Copy in New York again tomorrow. Bought tickets to Bon Iver, Beth Orton and Phosphorescent today. Gotta figure out where I’m gonna see Nick Cave on this tour.
It is the season of the rock.
Coachella 2008!
posted Apr 29, 12:03 AM by Rick WebbFile under: Festivals , Reunions
Bands: Architecture in Helsinki, The Breeders, Múm, Goldfrapp, Spank Rock, Swell Season The Verve, Fatboy Slim, Hot Chip, Scars on Broadway, Cinematic Orchestra, Dwight Yokam, Deathcab for Cutie, Rilo Kiley, Kraftwerk, MIA, Portishead, Prince, The Shout Out Louds, Stars, Swervedriver, Does it Offend You, Yeah? Spiritualized, Metric, My Morning Jacket, Love and Rockets, Roger Waters, Chromeo, Justice
Movies: Out of Sight, Margot at the Wedding
Coachella, year 4. Things that were different: Better art. Much better art. We had backstage access, and VIP access, which was awesome for the good bathrooms and vodka. The middle drinking area between stages 1 and 2 was MUCH bigger, and stage 1 was brought forward enough to make the sound better. The whole entry area was re-worked to get faster entry, and that worked awesomely. Much better signage. Better fencing. The frozen lemonades weren’t frozen solid. There was a crappy VIP area behind the dance tent. It seemed like most second-tier bands were in the tents and not on the second stage. The stupid rave in the middle of the festival was still there. The sound was, generally, much better. There was still a ton of pot in the air. No one was wearing any clothes. Man, Coachella is Cognitive Dissonance defined for New Englanders still used to winter. It was awesome to have my sister there, and our friend from Alaska growing up Lila Marley was there, which was awesome. I had randomly run into her at Coachella two years ago, so this was a treat to get to have her with us. Emma’s friends were super nice, and it was hilarious to see Christine and Emma interact and bicker and whatnot. Our vacation house was bigger than last year. Maybe like 5% less nice, but the AC worked, which was awesome. Judi managed to save like $200 on the car rental – I think she should do the car rental every time. Never caught up with half my friends like Laurance and Baily, but I did randomly run into Trammel, which was awesome.
All in all, the headliners are getting bigger and weirder and I have NO IDEA how they’re going to top that next year. Prince, Roger Waters and Jack Johnson were all gutsy moves for an alterna-festival. Prince and Roger Waters delivered. Jack Johnson did not. I’m hoping for Bowie or the Beatles next year. I mean, come on. What can they do? Oh, they do need to get Spacemen 3 together if they can. ha. And Ride. And Tones on Tail. But as you can see, none of these are particularly big. Oh, the Smiths. ha. yeah. This Mortal Coil. Cocteau Twins. Wolfgang Press. The Dead Kennedy’s with Jello. The Knife. Jay Jay Johansen. Man, one day into the next year and I’m already carried away with 2009 Coachella speculation.
Thursday, April 24 BOS – PSP. HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUG! Got up insanely, uncomfortably early and caught a 7 AM flight to Palm Springs via Salt Lake City. Judi and I landed around noon and headed to In N Out Burger, of course. Then we tried to go to our rental house, but there was no key under the mat as there was supposed to be, so we thought maybe it was the unit upstairs, and, um, I walked in on an old man on crutches. Oops. So then we called the rental place and they said we couldn’t check in till 2:30 so we went to Radio Shack and got a cable for the iPod so we could rock in the car, and then we went and picked up my sister Val at the airport. Then we went grocery shopping for the weekend and then got to the house. We ate and debated going and seeing the Salton Sea – something I’ve wanted to do for ages, especially since Judi and I watched The Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea this year – but none of us could work up the energy to inspire the other ones to go. So we watched Out of Sight. Judi went to bed and Val and I drunkenly watched Margot at the Wedding, which is pretty funny to watch with your sister. At the end she said “man I’m glad I’m not insane.” Every bit of the film was great, and the dialogue was solid, but it was just… too much. And with no resolution, it missed something. Which is pretty much how I felt about Squid and the Whale. Anyway, eventually Emma’s friends Christine and Mike showed up, and they went to bed, and then around 2 AM
Friday, April 25 – Got up and I made breakfast for everyone – my absolute favorite thing to do on Coachella vacations. Big piles of breakfast potatoes, eggs, bacon, tortillas, two kinds of home made salsa, etc. Yummy. Then we sort of got motivated and headed to the festival via our secret back-door route. And we passed the Beer Hunter again! Best name for a bar ever. I had forgotten all about it since last year. Funny how all of the Desert Cities roads slowly came back to me over the weekend. Anyway, we arrived at the festival at exactly 4:09 and caught a few songs of Architecture in Helsinki, who were upbeat and fun, before heading over to The Breeders. The Breeders were in good form that day – they can be sloppy. But they nailed it pretty much, and played the hits. And for an old time fan like me, I was happy to see their first album, Pod, represented in Iris and Happiness is a Warm Gun. Pretty awesome. Next up was Múm, who are like totally twinkly and saddle creeky now and not sigur rosy like they used to be. I liked it but it was a bit muddled. Still, though, an interesting change. Up next was the winner for the day, I think, Goldfrapp, who had some sound troubles for the first couple songs but bounced back and was fuckin’ fantastic by the end. She ended with “Caravan Girl” and “Strict Machine” and it just sounded glorious. I shot a video of “Number One” as well, which I gotta put on youtube soon. Next it was over to the dance tent for a quick peek at Aphex Twin, but he was doing exactly what he did in December when we went to All Tomorrow’s Parties, so we moved on. Listened to a song or two of Swell Season while getting dinner, but they had rejiggered the fences so you coudln’t eat and watch the band this year, those meanies. Then on to the main stage for The Verve who were fucking awesome, and opened with This is Music. Other than that, though, they basically played all of Urban Hymns, which, you know, is a good album, but i would have liked to hear something from A Storm in Heaven. The old stuff was represented by a single song – “Life’s an Ocean” which is certainly good but no “Slide Away” or “Already There.” Still, though, they delivered, and “Bittersweet Symphony” was one of those Coachella singalong moments you love. At least up front. Anyway, by this time we also picked up a friend of Catherine’s, Danny, who is the new drummer in Chop Chop. Danny also is friends and he had two backstage wristbands which was pretty sweet. We made much use of these, and man, it’s awesome back there and in the VIP area and now I feel dumb for blowing off my CAA guy to hand out with my friends because by the end of the weekend we had 4 wristbands and five people. The VIP area is a totally different and luxurious and has sushi and video games and an air conditioned bar. We popped back there for the shorter bathroom line throughout the weekend. Oh and red bull and vodkas. Anyway, after the Verve we caught a smidge of Spank Rock , who were fun, and then ended the night with Fatboy Slim, who was big booming techno like you’d expect. Nothing awesome. Good intro, though. Then we went back to the house and watched the two hour pilot of Firefly, which was awesome.
Saturday, April 26 – Woke up, made breakfast for everyone. Mine and Val’s friend from Alaska (though she lives in SF now) Lila showed up at 10 AM so I got up a bit earlier than I’d wanted. In the end, I knew we’d miss MGMT, and there was nothing else I really wanted to see till six, so Christine and Mike and Emma left and I took a nap. Catherine went and drove out to Joshua Tree – she had a genius sightseeing in the day/rocking at night approach that I was impressed with. So me, judi, val and lila headed in round 5 and started the day with Hot Chip who were as awesome as they were last week and sounded AMAZING in the dance tent. Then I took a walk and checked out a bit of Scars on Broadway (not my thing), Cinematic Orchestra (ditto, but in a early Massive Attack kinda way), and Dwight Yokam who was pretty genius. Then I met up with the gang and we caught Death Cab For Cutie who delivered a solid but mildly uninspiring set. Then we popped over to stage two for some Rilo Kiley who were better than one would think. Then Kraftwerk who were AWESOME on the main stage – amazing sound, great visual show. They totally delivered. Popped over to the dance tent to give MIA another chance, but again, I didn’t like her. Checked out a bit of Akron/Family but they were doing their noisy freakout thing and not their awesome mellow “sorrow boy” type thing that I totally dig, so back to the main tent for the end of Kraftwerk. Next up was Portishead who did the same set as I saw in December, but man, it totally worked on the giant stage. AMAZING sound. Visuals looked brilliant. Seriously, Coachella really, finally, worked out the sound problem on the main stage this year. Portishead sounded as perfect as a rock show I’d ever heard. I do with they’d can that dumb rave area in the middle of the festival, or move it away from the second stage and the gobi tent, though. There used to be NO sound bleed problems at Coachella, and ever since they put that dumb rave in the middle, you can hear it everywhere.
ANYWAY, the night was capped by PRINCE. Yes Prince. And man, did he deliver. A 3 song intro that “got the night going” by introducing MORRIS DAY AND THE TIME, and then SHEILA E, who did “The glamorous life.” Then he busts into 1999 and then oh, look, Chaka Kahn’s there too and they all do “I feel for you.” He also does “U Got the Look,” “Cream,” a great version of “Little Red Corvette,” “Musicology” and a bunch more. Judi and I eventually decide we’ve had enough. Prince was phenomenal but the sound was kinda crappy and REALLY quiet: the LA Time theorizes they just started the show at a low volume because they knew it would run late. On our way out he covered “Creep” by Radiohead, and then, apparently, Sarah Maclaughlin and the Beatles before ending with “Purple Rain.” Nice. He was pretty f’n amazing, I have to say. I’m happy to have seen it.
Sunday, April 27: Got up 11 ish, made breakfast for everyone one last time, and headed to the festival. Got in at 3:30, in time to catch the last half of The Shout Out Louds, who I really dig. Then we moved up close so we could see Stars, who were awesome, even if they didn’t play “The Ghost of Genova Heights.” They threw a lot of roses into the audience and started with “Elevator Love Letter,” which made me really, really happy. Next up was Swervedriver, who I LOVED back in the day, but I really loved their first album, “Raise,” and they were playing a lot from “Mezcal Head.” They did play “Rave Down” though, which was pretty sweet. Then Judi and I popped over to see the last coupe songs of Does it Offend You, Yeah? who were not what I expected but were awesome! I’d go check them out. Then Spiritualized, who were doing an acoustic mainlines set, and, sadly, it went about as well as you would expect at a massive, booming festival. Tons of feedback, couldn’t hear the strings, too much noise bleed from the other stage. I kept pushing forward, though, and by the fifth song or so he did “Walkin With Jesus” and the sound problems were worked out and I was in the front row and it was sublime, but after having seen that at the MFA, I am ready for him to go back to rockin. Next was Metric, who were great and energetic and she had some funny silver lamé hot pants on which you can’t ever really complain about. Then I popped over to the main stage for My Morning Jacket, who I listen to a lot but I had NO IDEA they were so good live. Like, man, effortlessly perfect harmonies and solos and perfect sound. I was really impressed. Then I popped back stage to pee and to take a picture of Roger Water’s giant pig. Then over to the second stage for Love and Rockets who were actually good! Weirdly, their best track was “An American Dream,” which I had never thought much of, but man, they nailed it. Their entire set was from their first four albums, which was funny. But it did the job, and nostalgia was running high.
Good thing, too, on the nostalgia front because next up was Roger Waters. Um… Okay. I thought this would be a mildly funny thing to watch but it turned out to be AWESOME. First off, it was billed as him doing Dark Side of the Moon, but he played for an hour and a half before that, doing really solid versions of “Up Against the Wall,” “Mother,” “The Final Cut,” “Wish You Were Here,” “Shine on You Crazy Diamond,” “Have a Cigar,” “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun,” one of his solo songs from Radio Kaos (which involved serious explosions which was awesome) and a few others. The finale, though, really took the cake, when he did “Pigs” and brought out a GIANT FLOATING PIG, AND HAD A PLANE FLY OVER THE AUDIENCE AND DROP SPARKLES. Oh, and did I mention the whole show was in surround sound? Like 12 point surround sound. Um… Yes. The best part, though, was a the end of Animals, they LET THE BIG GO and it flew up, up and away into the air, never to be seen again. “There Goes My Pig” he said, barely containing his self satisfied glee at the absurdity of it all.
THEN he settled into Dark Side of the Moon. Oh, and it ended with a fireworks display. YEAH. I didn’t think anything could top Prince, but I gotta say, ole Roger Waters pretty much did exactly that. And the SOUND was so much better. Smart man, starting at 8:30 instead of 11. He was done not long after Prince went on.
Then over to the dance tent to end Coachella was Chromeo and Justice. Both of which were a little better than I remember from SXSW, and Justice was particularly solid, but exhaustion was catching up with me, so home I went.
Modnay, April 28 PSP – BOS. Take sister to the airport, back to the house, pack up, and me, judi and emma hit In N Out Burger, and then to the airport and fly home. Landed around midnight.
Coachella, The Verve, ATP:MBV
posted Apr 23, 06:13 PM by Rick WebbFile under: Festivals , Reunions
Rock Tourist season is kicking into high gear this week with the second festival of the year, Coachella. This will be a great time. Me and my ladyfriend, my sister and some other pals for a long weekend in a Palm Springs house, with some awesome live sets by The Verve, Portishead, Spiritualized, Swervedriver, Love and Rockets, Roger Waters, um… what year is it again? New stuff, too, like Hot Chip and MGMT and the like, though I’ve seen most of them already this year.
In other news, ATP is attempting a return in a big way to america (after the Matt Greuning curated ATP LA way back in ought one or so, which I actually went to and it actually… wasn’t that awesome). This time it’s in upstate New York, and seems to be more aligned to the Camber/Minehead events in the UK, which as you know I love love love and am obsessed with. And, of course, it’s My Bloody Valentine’s first show in the US in 16 years. I actually went to the last one, as well, in LA in 92 or so when visiting my friend Hugh, so I suppose I should keep up. The lineup is extraordinary: Built to Spill playing “perfect from now on,” Tortoise playing “Millions Now Living Will Never Die,” Thurston Moore playing “Psychic Hearts” (WTF!), along with three of my favorite bands ever – Low, Mogwai and Shellac. I’m a bit annoyed to have to learn about it from Pitchfork, though. Hey Barry. I’ve been on your mailing list for 5 years. would it be too much to ask to let your customers buy tickets before telling the world through Pitchfork, or, even, you know, emailing us?
Also, catching the Verve post-coachella in NYC next week, that should be awesome. Got George Michael tix too, so I’ll be hitting MSG twice this summer. Never been before, it should be fun.
Full writeup after Coachella. Also hiting ATP:MBV, Lollapalooza, ACL and a Day of Saasquatch this summer. Iceland Airwaves in the fall. ATP Nightmare Before Christmas (hopefully, if the curator is good) in December. It’s a fine year for rock.
SXSW 2008
posted Mar 22, 05:14 PM by Rick WebbFile under: Festivals , Hit the Road
All right! Let’s wrap this thing up. Some Rock blogger I am – I’m like a week late on my blog update. Such are the travails of a blogger with a busy job, I guess.
ANYWAY, SXSW Music. Year 4 or 5? Basically, it was the same. A continuation of last year’s battles between SXSW and the parties around it seemed to be a continuing trend. I believe some sort of grand bargain is really in order here. I can see both sides of it. For instance, I am continually bullshit about the Fader Fort, and it’s impossible lines and acts that aren’t playing SXSW and the fact that my platinum pass won’t get me in there, for my $1,000 or whatever the fuck. But at the same time, I can totally see why the festival needs things like Mess With Texas, and I can totally see why the Breeders took a paying gig @ Mess With Texas instead of a SXSW slot, for no money. And a telling quote by a JetBlue marketing exec in the WSJ – “Attendees don’t know the difference between official and unofficial events” – pretty much exemplifies the concerns of the SXSW organizers.
Still, though SXSW needs to recognize that the event is more than an industry confab. And indeed, the quality of the industry confab would probably be improved dramatically if there were some arrangement with the day and free show organizers to handle the public while SXSW focuses on the industry.
A few small things were done this year – more or less under the radar but telling – that indicates some of this might be possible in the future. Firsts, many popular bands played more than one official showcase show. A Place to Bury Strangers, for example, had a few, as did other bands. This is a small thing, but it does indicate n acceptance of reality a bit by the SXSW organizers that some bands are going to play more than once, and demand maybe larger than one show can accommodate. This was originally, I feel, how the day shows and free shows got off the ground – because WAY more people wanted to see a band than could. It’s nice to see SXSW finally – in a small and belated way – recognizing that. It DOES however, set a good groundwork for some sort of grand bargain where there are free shows for the public, every band playing at least one showcase that the platinum passes can get into, and maybe a few paid shows, day, shows, etc.
The second thing that seems to have happened is that forces in the city have coalesced a bit to allow the off-festival parties – day, night and after hours – to go forward. SXSW was a bit dodgy last year, probably, for shutting them down or causing them to be shut down on safety grounds – if they cared so much about safety, they would have told these places in advance to go legit. Those tactics really only work once, though, and this year the Ticketmaster lounge, red bull lounge, fader fort, and the vice and C-3 Presents/Playboy parties were all unmolested, as was the IHEARTCOMIX party, aside from times the cops would enforce more than reasonable 1-in/1-out rules.
As a platinum consumer, I had absolutely no problem getting into anything official that I wanted – including big name shows like REM. I didn’t even TRY to go to the Fader Fort this year – I cannot stand that line.
From the viewpoint of the average consumer, though, I think the Fader Fort is pretty cool – it lets people exchange time for money. You RSVP, you wait in a hellacious line, and then you’re treated like a VIP (which you’re really not, but still, it’s cool), and get a bit of the cool experience.
The whole thing would be AWESOME if the Fader Fort didn’t have bands you couldn’t see anywhere else. I understand where they’re coming from, but it’s annoying. The schedule is impossible to find, I have to spend all this time on the internet figuring out the RSVP and, worst, I have to actually read or sign up for Fader. Ew. I’m sure many people are psyched about the free gift of music and love fader for it, but man, I hate them.
Especially contrasted with Filter, who’s Cedar Street party each year is awesome. Yeah, RSVPing works, but so does a badge, and that’s great. There seem to be a ton of day parties like that – free if you RSVP, and free with a badge. That is perfect. Both needs are addressed.
Then there’s the large, public, sponsored events: the biggest, of course, was Mess With Texas, but I’d say the Onion party and the PItchfork party at Emo’s sort of fall into this category as well. These are awesome. Wait in a line, see some awesome band. I love them. Saw a lot of awesome shit at all three of these this year, as in past years.
SO, Grand bargain propositions:
- VIP and elite after hours things like Red Bull and Ticketmaster should be left alone to do whatever they want
- SXSW will provide sponsorship, listing, and promotional consideration to day events that take badges
- The more free day events the better
- All daytime events should either be one of the following:
- free to all, and comprised completely of bands that are playing official showcases (ie the onion)
- have non-SXSW bands but be free with tons of room and no lines (ie Mess With Texas)
- have non-SXSW bands but be free with RSVP or Badge
- have non-SXSW bands but have advance ticket sales
I think that would pretty much do it. Go for it!
So, the festival itself.
I met a lot of people in the music industry. I met music website owners and bloggers and musicians and booking agents and internet people who work for booking agents and internet people who work for recording artists and people who sell tickets for venues and photographers and mastering engineers and bookers and club owners and and and… but I only met one sole person who worked at a record label.
The record industry is dead. Long live the music industry.
The music industry is fine.
The Bands: Til We’re Blue or Destroy (two times), Freezepop, Wedding Present, FREE SOL, Kid Beyond, Yeasayer, Lemonheads, Naked Raygun, Georgie James, The Stills, Shout Out Louds (Twice), Phosphorescent, Secret Shine, Bildmeister, Caleb Engstrom, Magnolia Summer, Soiled Mattress and the Springs, Boys in a Band, Working for a Nuclear Free City, Totally Michael, HEARTSREVOLUTION, Bon Iver, Mark Kozelek, MGMT, Moby, Justice, Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes, Blitzen Trapper, British Sea Power, Jason Collett, Coconut Coolouts, Make Model, Crystal Castles, The Dodos, Grand Archives, Handsome Furs, Half Japanese, Beat Union, Headlights, Tilly and The Wall, A Place to Bury Strangers, Chromeo, Pissed Jeans, Two Gallants, Atlas Sound, Most Serene Republic, The Raveonettes, James Yuill, The Teeth, SYME, Soundtrack of our Li ves, The Slits, Jay Retarded, Dark Meat
*During Interactive…
**Till We’re Blue or Destroy* – Still the best band in austin. Still awesome. Still needs to become huge.
Freezepop – So awesome they finally got to SXSW. I saw three shows of theirs, all went well. The Showcase was solid, and people loved them.
Wednesday….
The Wedding Present – For some reason he only had half his band – and he was clearly embarrassed about it. He plowed through, though, and played some awesome songs – he played “Suck” and, really, what more do you want out of life? He should really learn that America loves Seamonsters the best, but he played some of the old hits too – that England loves: “My Favorite Dress,” “Why Are You Being So Reasonable Now?” etc. Still a good time.
Free Sol – Rap Rock, well done, very well done, LOTS of gear, live guitarist.
Kid Beyond – I have no recollection of this at all
Yeasayer – Best new band of the festival. As awesome live as you could imagine from their album. I hope this conference breaks them.
Lemonheads – Only caught one song since I’m seeing them in a week or two, but yeah, man, It’s a Shame About Ray. Lots of people watching them, which was nice.
Naked Raygun – Made me feel 18 again. From the looks of it, made them feel 18 again too. I love seeing old punk bands. These guys were of the Pegboy ilk – kind of bemused and giddy about it all.
Then we tried to go to REM but they wouldn’t let us because I had a camera, so Emma and I went back to the Ticketmaster lounge, which a client had gotten me into earlier that day. That was awesome. It was the sophisticated adult lounge I had been longing for – complete with awesome dancing to a good DJ, and waiters who brought us Stubbs BBQ and french fries. Excellent way to end the night.
Thursday….
Georgie James – From what I remember, it was not my cup of tea
The Stills – First album is still the best. Early signs on third album are moderate – not as murky as the second, but pretty bland rock potentially. Holding out on a final decision until I hear it.
The Shout Out Louds – Awesome. I love scandanavians. They’re this year’s Loney Dear
Phosphorescent – Loved it, but rocking time was not the time to see a NEW mellow indie band. Once I know them, I’m sure I’d love it live but I felt a little disengaged. Made a mental note to dig into them more, however
Secret Shine – Awesome shoegaze but man they sing out of tune
Bildmeister – Tight angry post rock meets loud shoegaze. I liked it.
Caeb Engstrom – Boring Folk
Magnolia Summer – Ditto, but slightly more competent and lush
Soiled Mattress and the Springs – YES. I don’t know anything about this band but they were AWESOME. Reminded me of an angry evil Smashing Orange. I need to investigate them more.
Boys in a Band – as fun, infectious and ridiculous as they were at Iceland Airwaves, and even funnier banter as they made fun of Texas. The Faroe Islands’ answer to the Birthday Party
Working for a Nuclear Free City – Um… AWESOME? How did I not know about this awesome post rock band? When I was texting Jon Whitney to tell him that his APTBS was cleaning up SXSW, he asked if I had seen Working For a Nuclear Free City yet, as if I should know who they were. It was luck I could say yes. But… man, they were awesome. Best post rock potential band yet.
Totally Michael – Um. Totally hilarious. WTF. Geekiest of the white geek rappers yet. Cracked me up.
Heartsrevolution – Good from what i remember. But not my cup of tea.
Bon Iver – Awesome. Awesome. I need to listen to this a milion times.
Mark Kozelek – I’m growing tired of this schtick of his. The one guitar, one key, all songs completely reworked, refusing to play very much that we know and love, and if he does (he played “Rock and Roll Singer, for example”), he changes the music so much it’s unrecognizeable. I loved that when he first started – like his Star Spangled Banner and Shock me – but now that he’s doing it to his songs… eh. Even this I loved like three years ago, but… it’s time for the next evolution of Mark Kozelek. My vote is he becomes a straight up folk singer and plays his songs in the keys they were written.
Playboy party, which was a fun VIP style event that C 3 Presents got me into.
MGMT – Awesome. Way more rock than I thought they’d be. To the point that I wasnt paying attention because I didn’t realize it was them. I was busy getting free jack daniels, eating free BBQ and looking at playboy bunnies.
Moby – Pretty solid DJ set I have to admit. I haven’t seen him DJ in like.. um… I dunno, 15 years? I figured he didn’t really do it anymore. but he does. And it was good. He ended with Paradise City which was pretty great.
Justice – Good but not great. Severely improved with the presence of dancing playboy bunnies and giant chipmunks. It would have been nice if they played their hits.
Friday….
Fleet Foxes – Awesome beard rock. Better than Grand Archives, not as weird as Akron/Family. Solid.
Blitzen Trapper – Eh. Nothing stuck for me. I’ll have to reinvestigate.
British Sea Power – Awesome, but the first album is still the best. Man they’re good. Man I love them.
Jason Collett – Solid and a decent addition to the BSS solo spectrum but now Kevin Drew.
Coconut Coolouts – Fun but not in fruit costumes, which was very confusing for those trying to identify Lele’s new husband
Make Model – Good spacerocky, but a bit atonal for me in places
Crystal Castles – Awesome! Atari Teenage Riot’s adolescent kids. Perhaps take themselves a smidge too seriously, but hey, so did ATR.
The Dodos – Lots of percussion. I remember liking it a lot at the time but remember very little of it.
Grand Archives – Good but didn’t live up to the hype for me. Got a LOT better as it went on. I need to investigate more.
Handsome Furs – Solid. Post Rock. yes post rock was well represented. I’d see them again.
Half Japanese – Needed to happen once in my life and it was pretty much exactly what one expected, with Ira from Yo La Tengo on sax adding to the absurdity.
Beat Union – These guys were awesome! LIke Black Rebel Motorcycle Club meets OK Computer. I would totally go see them again. If I remember.
Headlights – Awesome, as always. Man, they’re great.
Tily and the Wall – I was soooo tired but their infections Abba-esque songs and tap dancing really woke me up. Yay!
Saturday….
A Place to Bury Strangers – Awesome. Scary. Loud. Fast. Better and better every time. Weird to see them in the day time (I saw them again last night in the dark and it makes a difference) but as solid as can be.
Chromeo – Not my cup of tea, and ripping off Freezepop to boot. And thought they deserved an encore? huh.
Pissed Jeans – RAWWWWKKK!!!
Two Gallants – Chin stroking folkiness
Atlas Sound – Pretty awesome lush big sound, but we saw them at Mess With Texas, outside, which was a little weird. Still solid, though, and I’m glad we made it.
Most Serene Republic – Not as awesome as their albums. I didn’t like the lead singer. They should fire him and let the chick playing guitar take over.
The Raveonettes – WAYY better than they used to be. I’m totally into them now.
James Yuill – Yeah I liked them. More of that two people who can’t really play doing a duo with a sequencer thing, but there was something geekily good about them.
The Teeth – Reminded me of the Rembrandts.
SYME – Swedish space rock. Awesome in that they were Swedish Space rock, but not like amazingly Mogwai or something.
Soundtrack of Our Lives – took too long to come on, but they 3 songs we saw were absurdly great and funny and big rock and oasis meets spce rock meets spinal tap. ShoeLOLling
The Slits – Exactly how you’d expect the slits to Sound live.
The Vice After party, which Cameron deftly got us VIP wristbands to:
Jay Retarded – Big Rock. Decent.
Dark Meat – the single craziest band of the festival. 20 half naked insane people doing an arcade fire kind of thing mixed with bad acid, altamont, a circus and a parade all in one. Confetti. Glow sticks. Bouncing balls. Horns, guitars, I don’t even know. Last band of the festival and a perfect ending. Also hilarious seeing Carl from Great Scott pop out of the crowd completely astounded.
Best thing about the Vice afterparty. Fucked up played, and apparently the lead singer cut himself on the cheek after one song. Cameron comes back to the VIP area and is ranting and raving “dude, what the hell. Your band is called FUCKED UP and you’re a PUNK BAND and you quit playing after one song cuz you got a boo boo?” And the guy was standing right behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. Ha. Yeah dude, pick a fight when you just wussed out of playing a show.
Reunions!
posted Mar 7, 07:30 PM by Rick WebbFile under: Reunions , Festivals
Tickets bought!
Swervedriver, 6/11, Bowery Ballroom, NYC
Yaz, 7/16, Terminal 5, NYC
The Verve, 2 shows Madison Square Garden, 1 Coachella.
Headed to SXSW tomorrow. A few good shows during Interactive (Tokyo Police Club, Freezepop, Til We’re Blue or Destroy) and then the music madness begins.
Also headed to Providence for Explosions in the Sky.
And then… Coachella is ON for April.
Gonna figure out where to see Leonard Cohen, which will hopefully be @ Glastonbury (I registered to purchase tickets).
Let the rock tourist season begin!
