Archive for the 'Concert Reviews' Category
HEAD BACK TO SCHOOL WITH ALAN PARSONS AT LEHIGH UNIVERSITY
Author: Jeff Boule
How often does one of your favorite artists play a concert in your backyard? Never, right? Oh sure there are those contests where you can win and have the band play in your yard. How many times do people in apartment buildings win and can’t have it happen? How many times does the band set up in the backyard and the old neighbors call the cops after one song and they break it up before the band can play five songs? How many of these contests are bogus and no one really knows who wins if anyone?
A pipe-dream, right?
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Anderson and violin set the stage for some democracy in action. Photo by Lynn Vala
If you attended or read about the Adrian Belew Painting With Guitar show at the World Café Live July 1st, you saw or heard about posters for the Laurie Anderson Another Day In America show. This show was only advertised at the Belew concert, World Café Live was banking on the fact that they could draw from Belew’s audience to help fill the room for Anderson. Belew had worked with Anderson on some projects so the logic was sound.
Anderson didn’t need the help.
They even set the seating up to accommodate a more attentive, mature and dare I say it, refined crowd. There was less open space, three rows of seats, a couple of rows of tables, and then the remaining usual seating around the bar and in the upper mezzanine. I managed to get some front row seats and a photo pass for this show, so get ready, with my trusty photographer and my abysmal narrative, I will take you through…
Another Day In America.
Gonna be a killer show.
"Fabulous babe" Julie Slick bids adieu to the hometown crowd at World Cafe Live. Photo by Lynn Vala
Her last track, which I missed the name of, is another manic track. With eerie synths, this time the track is louder than the bass, even with the harmonizer on the bass. Even a fake-out stop can’t break her concentration; she counts it off, comes right in on time and wails to the end.
Ever shoeless, the thanks us and exits the stage having conquered it. During the intermission she disappears into the crowd.
After a brief change over to remove Slick’s equipment for the most part, Daniel Rowland comes out and starts the show with a midi-generated track, but no Belew???
One guy, a ton of equipment, and an even bigger sound. Photo by Lynn Vala
Belew then announces that his album e will be performed by an orchestra in Amsterdam. He then attempts to play “d” from his e album. After two times he gets his loop right. After that, flawless.
He seemed pleased with it.
Adrian Belew brings his art and music together in one place, The World Cafe Live. Photo by Lynn Vala
Philadelphia PA – I had seen the warnings on the suburban Philadelphia news channels. But no one told me JUST how bad the highway construction was going to be getting down to Philadelphia. I had seen multiple automobile accidents, right from the time I left my house before I even got on a highway, a few blocks from home was a triple-car rear ender. I knew the show was going to be worth the delays, I hoped it would be worth the apparent danger.
We were basically dodging bullets to get there.
Belew motions for you all to come out to one of his shows and see his music. Photo courtesy Coming Age
In case you readers in the South East region of Pennsylvania don’t know about it, there is a wonderful multi-level music club/eatery/radio station near the 30thStreet Train Station called World Café Live. I have been there several times and even blogged about a couple of those experiences. It is a really nice venue for artists who don’t require the impersonality of a stadium. It is an intimate performance space capable of handling the loudest metal band to the most introspective and demure acts.
I’m positive Adrian Belew will plunk us somewhere right in between those two extremes.
Coachella 2010
Author: Gabriel Barrio
Such was our discourse, a lengthy journey that would tear at our seams and restore our souls. It took 636 miles to reach this destination, this divine spot. Each mile counted was one in waiting, an eagerness accompanied each mile closer. The trek was arduous and most tiring, leaving with such little sleep and arriving at 3:40 in the morning to meet a line of cars entering the campgrounds. Bumper to bumper traffic more reminiscent of daytime gridlock in major metropolises than anything else. After many hours sitting in a line of cars as people of many ages imbibed spirits, beer, wine, and smoke we had arrived at our humble campground inebriated, the sun rising as we put up our tent. We had finally reached our destination, and this would be an indicator of the days to come. We had laid our weary heads down, we had arrived at Coachella. Read the rest of this entry »
Top Ten Musician Lists for 2009
Author: Jeff Boule
This year’s top ten list is a bit late. I will confess that I have been busy setting up a new business venture that is finally starting to provide its own sustainability. It involves people and things I am not allowed to elaborate on. While it is something I love to do, it is not music related directly. Therefore I feel this is an incorrect forum for this and subsequently no need to go into the details.
If you remember last year’s Top Ten, we certainly stirred up some controversy regarding the omission of a certain electronic guitarist due to a scheduling snafu. For those of you who don’t remember, and due to the fact that their scheduling snafu affected shows that were due to happen this year, that same omission is applicable again this year. That and the fact that a certain omitted electronic guitarist was asked by a member of the Montreal Gazette about the incident that occurred right here on the blog earlier this year.
So read on, get angry, write me nasty comments and tell me I do drugs and I should be sued for libel.
Been there, done that…
The Tale Of a VMA Concert Attendee
Author: Melissa
As with every year, the first moments are spent looking back at the success, defeats, and…er…peculiar moments of the past year. One this same note, I will use this time to look on a particular moment in 2009 that, for me was its highlight. Read the rest of this entry »
MYSBLT: NYE 2010, Vampire Weekend, Coachella 2010, Jay Reatard
Author: Taylor Roberts
In this issue of Music You Should be Listening to:
Welcome to 2010! The Indie music world has been gearing up for these first couple months and MYSBLT is all a buzz for things to come. New Years Eve is one of the best nights for hearing good music, but only if you are willing to spend a little extra. So I will let you in on the secret to dropping less coin without sacrificing good tunes. For those of you who have been on the edge of your seats waiting for the new Vampire Weekend album, I will let you know what I think of my first couple listens. Want a hint? I am not happy. On the side of recent news, the Coachella 2010 lineup has been announced and we finally have news from the guys at Brand New who have been tormenting their fans with the possible release of God and the Devil on vinyl. And finally, MYSBLT will pay its last respects to indie garage rock mastermind Jay Reatard who tragically passed away on January 13th at the age of 29.
MYSBLT Bands to Watch in 2010: Part 2, The Local Natives
Author: Taylor Roberts
Here at MYSBLT and The Princeton Record Exchange, we cannot tell you how excited we are to bring to you our second issue in the feature: Bands to Watch in 2010. I was lucky enough to sit down with Los Angeles band, The Local Natives, before their show in Boulder, Colorado, on December 1st. As it so happens, I met with the band the eve after they had announced signing with New York indie rock mega-label Frenchkiss. Going backstage with the band before they opened for Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes, we discussed their music, signing with Frenchkiss and the upcoming debut release Gorilla Manor. If you have yet to hear their tunes, you can expect to be blown away. The Local Natives are MYSBLT’s second act in our feature: Bands to Watch in 2010, and I thank them for welcoming me and my cameras backstage.
Todd Rundgren poses as master of disguise during his time travel back to 1973. Photo by Lynn Vala
On the two and a half hour drive from my home base in the fascist surrounds of Salisbury Township, Pennsylvania to Stamford CT, all I kept saying to myself is “This better be worth it, I am too damn old to be doing this!!!” There were extenuating circumstances this time. I had first volunteered to assist in the production, working concession organization the night before. This was when the show was not yet a minor tour, and only happening in Akron OH on the sixth. I had even been contacted by my former band mate from The Goodz, Marc Blanc, and he had proposed my best thing to ever happen to me and I join him and his cousin Jaime to venture first to Penn State, then to the Rock and Roll hall of fame in Cleveland.
Their proposition had become pricey, and times, as you know and can well verify for yourselves, are tough.
I had decided as temping as this was, I had to decline. This is where the volunteerism had come into play. I made sure to contact one of the promoters, someone who I must interview, with his partner Cruiser Mel, as they are most fascinating topics, yet the nicest, down to earth people you will meet, Doug Ford and let him know I could not attend but would lend assistance in anyway possible, promoting it in the blog, etc. Did I mention they were nice? Mr. Ford then suggests that if my best thing to ever happen to me and I were interested, we could work concessions, sorting merchandise by size, type etc. the night before the show. This was when the show was in Akron OH and was a one-off. Interest became so great that a second show was added. Then a show in Stamford CT., then Bethesda MD, London, and more. I had contacted Mr. Ford and asked could the arrangements be switched, and while the opportunity to sell merchandise was occupied, the spots available were assisting in the ticket sales, Will Call and reserved V.I.P. tickets.
Follow me through an adventurous, enlightening and needless to say entertaining evening, an evening I like to call 999 (09-09-2009).
Rundgren takes the mic back from Sulton for the ever popular 'Soul Medley'. Photo by Lynn Vala
Rundgren reemerges with an Orange suit on, much like the one worn during the Liars tour. This medley is obviously what they rehearsed the most, or it at least sounded that way as apart from some errant Theremin notes (and those things were hair-trigger at best) this was as tight as it gets.
Ever enchanting Amos warms the ivories on her trusty Bosendorfer piano. Photo by Lynn Vala.
Picking up from last time, we are now reviewing the concert show for Amos’ most recent release Abnormally Attracted To Sin. Red Bank to the average visitor (which I consider myself to be) is a quaint hamlet akin to Philadelphia’s South Street before the Mardi Gras riots of a few years ago. After a lovely dinner at a local diner, we venture to the venue. An all-American meal before seeing a show from an all-American girl.
Who just so happens to live in England.
San Mateo School of Rock – San Mateo, California
Author: Beverly Paterson
San Mateo School of Rock – The San Mateo County Fair (August 22, 2009)
When rock and roll reared its raunchy head in the fifties, the majority of folks believed the music was just a fad. But how wrong they were. The beat goes on and on and on. Generation after generation, kids are strapping on guitars, picking up drum sticks, screaming into microphones and forming bands. And that brings us to School of Rock, which was established in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1998. More than a decade later, the school thrives, with operations dotted all over the country now. Read the rest of this entry »
So I here I am in the New Jersey dust bowl sitting through Street Sweeper Social Club featuring Tom Morello. While he is an innovative guitarist, I got nothing for him, I got nothing for Rage Against The Machine. I am here for Nine Inch Nails. If this is truly going to be one of those farewell tours that precede another farewell tour later on, I will be pissed. Street Sweeper Social Club is a mutation of “Kid Rock meets Poser Metal”. The PNC dust bowl is filling up and the crowd is respectably mixed in demographic. Morello, the guitar player for SSSC, tells the crowd to stand up for their last song (thankfully) but I adhere to no such demands from any front person.
SLIMMED-DOWN TUBES SPRING FROM NY ON WORLD TOUR – B.B. KING’S 05-31-09
Author: Jeff Boule
(Photo by Lynn Vala)
If you are a bit longer-in-the-tooth as I am, you remember a time when MTV played music videos, those alleged promotional devices that were short-form movies scripted to coincide with the lyrics and tone of the song being promoted. If you consider this time period (from 1981 to about 1992) when we were still recovering from the post-disco era, music that suddenly had images to accompany the sounds seemed like a logical place for this 7-piece-plus musical theater troupe of a band. Since their inception through their last major release, they have been minimally a 7-piece. TWO guitars, TWO keyboardists, bass, drums and vocals with occasionally added female vocals, dancers, roller skaters, actors, sometimes just the guys backstage would walk around on stage and it would be so heavily populated no one would notice.
Last Of Last Of The New-Wave Riders – Utopia Storm Tokyo, 1979
Author: Jeff Boule
Utopia bid adieu after a night on stage. Photo by Coming Age.
It is painfully; finally time to wrap up the on-going series of reviews tackling the Utopia box set Last Of The New Wave Riders. This set features Utopia playing to the American-culture-starved Japanese inquisitive yet reserved audiences. Japanese audiences were the most accepting of the some-time obscure and were willing to hear out the overtly obscure. No better place to play Utopia’s material. Unless you are Todd Rundgren and in your enthusiasm to entertain you do something that mortifies the people in the first few rows.
Acid Mothers Temple for beginners (like me!)
Author: Doctor B
I’d only heard a few of Acid Mothers Temple’s recordings before I saw them last April in Philadelphia. One of them was a seven-inch which sounded much to me like the output of any number of Japanoise bands, such as The Boredoms or The Machine Gun TV. Another was a live recording from 2004 which had them sounding like Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd jamming with Blue Cheer with members of Pere Ubu sitting in. This turned out to be merely a fraction of a fraction of the output of this extremely prolific Japanese psychedelic-rock band One day while I was in Philadelphia visiting friends, I heard on the radio that Acid Mothers Temple’s 2009 North American tour would bring them to a club in Philadelphia called Johnny Brenda’s. So I decided to make the trip and check them out. Read the rest of this entry »
LAST OF THE NEW WAVE RIDERS, UTOPIA LAND ON THE WRONG PLANET
Author: Jeff Boule
Roger Powell from Utopia Photo by Coming Age
For those of you following my blogs, you know that some of my earlier posts were eradicated through the magic of ones and zeros. The reason I am bothering to repost them is that some are referred to in other blogs. Then when the hapless reader looks for those blogs they aren’t even there! This blog is BRAND NEW!!! This section of the box set Last Of The New Wave Riders never made it to press as concerts came first. I won’t be making that mistake this time. We will finish the box set and THEN begin an onslaught of new reviews. Upcoming will be The Tubes from B.B. Kings in NYC and then the Nine Inch Nails FAREWELL TOUR. Yup, you heard it right, Trenty is hangin’ up Nails. At least for a while. New Tori Amos album Abnormally Attracted To Sin will soon be reviewed here, and hopefully some new releases as well, as well as dipping our toes in some literary territory.
It ain’t all about Utopia, but we are going to review two more discs from the box set then we have all new events and music to sink our teeth into.