I'm making it a mission to go to at least one concert a month. This blog is mostly just for memory keeping purposes but feel free to come along on the journey with me.
So it's been a little while, since we last spoke I decided to up and move across the country all the planning and preparation was putting my November show at risk of not happening. I had planned to attend The Whigs show at the Troubadour on November 19th (with the lovely Feliciana Warren) but I had several other events going on that week so I was unable to make it. I researched shows in Michigan taking place when I would be there during the last week of November but didn't see anything that caught my eye/ear. I had all but given up hope when a friend told me that Corb Lund was going to be doing a set at The Hotel Cafe. I'd been dying to go there to hear anything and I'm a big fan of Corb Lund. I'd previously seen Corb twice at The Mint in LA and he never disappoints so I thought it would be the perfect event for my last LA show as an LA resident.
Corb is a tall, charming, Canadian cowboy, Alberta specifically (that's just north of Montana if you're wondering). He is a real life cowboy and has a long family history of ranchers and rodeo people. That family serves as inspiration for much of his songwriting in which he unfolds rich stories about his way of life and his fathers before him. Although country comes by him honestly he did not always showcase that side of his musicality. In prior music endeavors he was actually quite a bit more rock-n-roll with a stint in (what he refers to as a modern Black Sabbath) The Smalls from 1989-2001 although he had already began playing country gigs in about 1993 and did both for quite some time. In his current musical incarnation he's on his 6th album though it's his first American release. Corb Lund and his band have received high praise from many critics as well as accolades from the Canadian Country Music Association as well as Canada's JUNO awards.
In my opinion Corb Lund has three great things going for him (he has quite a bit more but let's keep it short)- -Amazing presence -Awesome band -Fantastic songwriting
Corb Lund is probably six feet tall maybe a few inches more with curly hair usually topped by a large cowboy hat. He stands on stage with his guitar and his voice and he has you immediately!
His awesome band named The Hurtin' Albertans is comprised of Kurt Ciesla on the upright bass who's so good his got a song dedicated to him and his bass.
Brady Valgardson as the band's drummer keeps time with the best of them and and naturally he comes from a family of drummers. Lastly sharing the stage is the 2008 CCMA Guitar Player of The Year winner Grant Siemens as lead guitar, lap steel and banjo player. I don't think Lund could ask for better guys to be on stage with!
And his songwriting, which is always the area that excites me most. He tells stories straight from his heart, straight from the daily news and straight from Canadian folklore. I asked him via twitter if song writing came easy and he replied no
though that's hard to believe and you wouldn't be able to tell from all the songs you hear from him filled with stories that keep you hanging on. Some of my favorites are "This is My Prairie"(below) which is off the latest album.
"Horse Soldier Horse Soldier", "Brother Brigham, Brother Young" off the previous record and his take on the classic "Rye Whiskey" which is probably my favorite uptempo song of his called "Rye Whiskey/Time to Switch to Whiskey" (seen below) though he's been playing it for a while it's just now made an appearance as a live recording on the newest album.
For his Hotel Cafe show Corb did lots of material off his new record which I'm instantly a fan of including "Devil's Best Dress" and "Long Gone to Saskatchewan". His set wasn't very long but as usual he didn't disappoint. Although I was sad this was my first and last show at the Hotel Cafe for the foreseeable future but I had a good time.
Corb is just wrapping up his tour so I'm sorry I wasn't able to get this review to you sooner but do check him out on the interwebs, myspace, twitter and iTunes!
This show needs little introduction for some. I'll keep my back story on this one to a minimum. I've been a Kings of Leon fan for less than a year. I wan introduced through a friend soon after giving them a try I was hooked. I started consuming all things Kings of Leon related the whole catalog, every article, magazine spread, and any and every interview on YouTube. I snatched up a ticket to the LA show I had previously passed up and made plans to see them at Lollapalloza too. Both of the shows were great but after hearing about the Nashville date I couldn't resist. It was going to be the last show of an unbelievable tour in the boys hometown no less also a town I have significant ties to (by significant ties I mean a city I'm in love with)!
After months of watching the tour crisscross the globe and talking about this show with fellow KoL fans it was time to depart to Nashville. I arrived in Nashville Friday morning technically since it was after 12:00am, I woke up excited with my normal preshow mania. I had previously decided that we (me and my ex-boyfriend William who bought the tickets for us) should do a drive by at around noon to assess the line situation but before that I was already tipped of by Carrie that there were people already waiting in line at 10:00am! We get ready and have to make a few stops which include me buying gym shoes since I seem to have lost the only pair that I owned. We grab some fast food and hit the highway which is where I was when I got Nathan's second tweet about hot cocoa. I was already too excited to eat my fast food and his tweets were NOT helping! We got to downtown Nashville and I was immediately hit with an overwhelming flood of memories. I have missed this city!
We park around the corner from the venue and walk to entrance to meet up with the others I spot Carrie almost immediately and she points out the other HA'ers to me. There was lots of waiting in the cold and after a while William and I decided to go across the street to a cafe to get him some hot cocoa since there weren't many people in line anyway. While we were lingering taking advantage of being out of the cold I see a man in work clothes talking to the people who were lined up I tell William and he says he has brought them cocoa in shock I yell "He did not!" and he says "YES he did" I couldn't believe it but once again I feel reassured of my decision that Nathan is THEE best ever! We commence to waiting in line again and a while passes when people at the doors hear Frontier City being sound checked. I'm trying not to get ahead of myself but I feel like this has to mean our pleading has worked.
We wait wait wait until a guy come out and starts giving us instructions for entrance once the doors open at 6:30. I along with many other couldn't hear and the only problem with this is I had never been to and was not familiar the Sommet Center (formerly known as Gaylord Entertainment Center known around town as The Gec). I was worried that I wouldn't have a clear idea of where to go and I would waste precious seconds getting to the floor because it didn't seem they were going to do a lot to control the crowd or the running so I was preparing for mass hysteria. I put together what bit and pieces I heard and figured there were two entrances to the floor that were labeled and any other route would get us lost so I planned to go to the left entrance so I would be on Matt's side. As we inched closer and closer to 6:30 the crowd was clearly abuzz the minutes ticked past our deadline and everyone was antsy. Finally the doors opened and people started shoving but it didn't get terribly crazy. We got our tickets scanned and marked as well as our hands stamped and booked it to the floor where we were instructed to sit and I was quite glad for this.
I took in the Sommet Center it is quite a venue and chatted with people nearby. I stood up to look for other HA'ers we were all pretty close to the stage. We wait wait wait and then the lights go down and without any pomp Mother Father start their set. I was expecting the worst but they weren't too bad, they had a dark and moody sound but keep their set fairly short which I appreciated. Next up were the White Lies who I was looking forward to because I had heard god things about them. The did a pretty good job although some of their songs sounded a bit too much alike. I'll definitely give them another listen but I can't say the same for some of the audience members I was standing near. After several songs everyone was pretty anxious for them too get off stage and gave a loud cheer followed by a few groans after a song expected to be the last would end another would start. They were very gracious and thankful to the Kings and their staff and although they may have made a fan out of me I couldn't have been happier for them to end that set.
The lights go up and Nacho, Darrin and the rest of the crew get to work. Some fans call Nacho's name and he gave a wave and smile. I noticed there was a box of kleenex on Nate's drum riser and I hoped that Caleb was feeling better. We watched them work quickly on stage and eventually the lights went down and the crowd got crazy. It seems like it took a a long while but Lacrimosa came on and and the boys appeared!
The Setlist went as follows:
Closer Crawl Be Somebody Taper Jean Girl Molly's Chambers
Caleb gave a little speech about just playing whatever they wanted and I pretty much knew what that meant... then there was a bit of riffing before they went into FRONTIER CITY!!! And even though I had a feeling it was coming it took me off guard I couldn't believe they were playing MY song! I turned to tell William what was going on and I felt tears coming and my breath choking like I would hyperventilate. I pulled it together as to not miss the moment I'd been waiting so long for and recorded the whole thing despite being told previously that video recording want allowed. I did my best to stay in that moment and soak it up and it was awesome the concert could have ended there and I would have been on cloud nine thankfully for other people they continued on with:
Fans Revelry I Want You My Party Charmer Four Kicks The Bucket Sex On Fire Notion Manhattan On Call Cold Desert Slow Night So Long
The Encore included:
Knocked Up Use Somebody Black Thumbnail
Caleb made a few speeches through the night he couldn't believe they had packed the Sommett Center, he was happy their grandmother and come to her first KoL show although she wouldn't be back after hearing Sex on Fire and also gave his Nashville critics a few words.
Once again Cameron Matthew Followill got the gold star from me. There is just something about that kid on stage he just exudes rockstar badassness and I love it! The show was great, the boys were on the crowd was quite good although I feel like LA was a bit better. Everyone around me seemed to be singing along to everything one problem Nashville seemed to have an inordinate amount of annoying people from girls asking sing to trade places with you, people faking trying to get security to get to the front, guys getting physical with girls and people getting bitched out everywhere you turned there was a lot of hostility in the crowd.
At the end the lights came up and I felt great I had a smile plastered to my face and was hoping for a souvenir of some kind. Darrin collected the setlists and shoved them in his pockets. Some girls already had Caleb's cups in their hands but not sure how they had got them. Darrin pulled up one more setlist and pointed out someone who he wanted security to give it to and that was it. I made my way out and headed to the merch table I got my cherry shirt that I had been eying and I was done for the night.
It's been a long road to this date but it couldn't have gone much better. I was in a city I loved listening to a band I love and that's as much as I could ask for. I haven't really thought about how long I'm going to have to go before seeing them again I'm just holding on to what happened that night for as long as I can while dreaming about album number five.
I was very much looking forward to the Great Lake Swimmers show. I had just recently discovered them via Jessie Baylin. She was doing some self promotion and said one of her fave music blogs just did a little piece on her, and it included a live music session with her that made me fall in love with her music. I checked the website out some more and then one day I came upon the sessions for Great Lake Swimmers I was immediately hooked! The songs from their session were so raw but smooth and beautiful but brutal I loved it! Upon adding them to the iLike application on FB I started watching for shows in my area but nothing was coming up. After a while and out of the blue an LA show sprang up and I was all too ready to gobble up a ticket. From raving on Twitter I connected with some of their other fans one of them being none other than Mrs. Feliciana Warren. We made plans to go and all that was left was the wait.
The day finally came but with it bad news Feli was still suffering from a long lasting cough and wouldn’t be able to make it, I’d have to fly solo. I never did a real concert alone so that gave me some anxiety (silly I know, I can be full of silly anxiety at times) but I knew Great Lake Swimmers would be worth it. The El Rey theater is right down the street from my day job (I pass it often when I walk to various places for lunch or on errands) so I move my car down the street and got a perfect spot right across Wilshire Blvd directly in front of the theater. I read in my car for an hour because no one is there yet (something I not accustomed to after KoL shows).
After a couple chapters I make my way inside and take in the beauty of the El Rey. The whole venue is general admission. The walls seemed to be covered in red velvety material that was draped in bunches that hung from the ceilings. There were three massive chandeliers coming down the center of the rectangular room and half chandelier sconces hung on the walls.
There was a row of chairs lined along each of the walls and nothing but open space between them. I look around for a while then grabbed a drink at the bar at the front of the house near the entrance. Before heading to a seat I stopped off at the merch table.
After picking up a GLS tshirt
I head to the floor to claim a spot. There are two small steps to get down to the main floor and I saw others taking advantage of this as a seat so I joined. There were people spread out sparsely throughout the venue I was happy people were sitting because I felt this band was much more of a lay in a grassy field under the summer sun type band not so much a stand packed in like sardines band. But seeing as how this was an indoor concert on an October night I had actually been wondering would people really be standing. I took my seat and waited.
There were two opening acts first Laura Gibson and two gentleman who called them selves the Laura Gibson’s. She did a fine job with her interesting voice and her band mate’s wide variety of instruments. The Wooden Birds went on next hailing from Austin, Texas. They were very entertaining and fun and they closed with one song I particularly liked.
Finally Great Lake Swimmers were up, they went right into their set list and their lead singers voice was just a beautiful and serene as on their albums. They were very thankful to the crowd and congratulatory to their openers. The room wasn’t packed so many people were still strewn about the floor and sitting on the steps (which I appreciated) a small group had gathered right at the edge of the stage but the crowd was pretty relaxed. GLS played song after song with perfection that made me not regret coming out that night. I was just a tad bummed they didn’t play Various Stages which is a little obsession of mine. The audience did get a good collection of their four studio albums.
With songs like Pulling on a line, Let’s Trade Skins, Palmistry, and one of the standouts of their catalog to me Your Rocky Spine.
The show ended just after midnight (way past my bedtime for a Monday night). I would implore you to check out the Great Lake Swimmers their beautiful melodies and harmonies along with intriguing lyrics are crushingly beautiful songs and with that I leave you with a clip from their Laudromatinee Sessions which is a must see.
So one day I'm at my part-time job where we listen to one of 3 stations we have 80's hits, 90's hits or Dance. My fav was on 80's hits and none other than Pat Benatar "Love Is a Battlefield" comes on I'm bopping around the store mouthing the words when a customer looks over smiles and chuckles a bit. She says you know Pat Benatar is going to be at the L.A. County fair on Sunday (the next day). I say no I didn't but thanks that's very tempting. My wheels start turning I put the word out via Facebook and Twitter to find some accomplices. I forget to check the ticket price and she times until it was already late in the afternoon when it hit me I just said aww bummer. The following day I go to work and a coworker asks about the concert and for some reason I go to the LA County fair website just to see and lo and behold I realize I actually hadn't missed it! The concert was the upcoming Thursday at 7:30 and then I realized that fair admission was only FIVE dollars after 5pm that day, not to mention fair food! I was SOLD! And so was my coworker.
Thursday we left work a bit early to drive to Pomona,CA where the fairgrounds are, traffic was thick most of the way and made me nervous. We go there just minutes before showtime. Upon arrival we were greeted with a long line at the ticket counters but we did confirm there was an opening act (Berlin) so I felt a bit more at ease. My ease soon dissipated when my co-worker Christy noticed a sign that said there were only a limited amount free general admission tickets which had started being distributed at three pm. We got our fair tickets and started hightailing it to the grandstand we can hear Berlin on stage. Once there we found the box office and there were still tickets left SUCCESS! We get in and take our seats.
We catch just the end of Berlin they sounded great and Terri Nunn looked great as well! Main event time the lights went down and people jot pumped up, Pat Benatar came out looking great and sounding even better. I was ery impressed as a person who longs to have been a teen in the 80's it was great seeing her up there doing her thing. On this tour they were celebrating their 30th anniversary as a band which was clearly seen in how tight and insync hey were on stage. I thought it was awesome that she has been touring with her husband who serves as lead guitarist Neil Giraldo for so long, just adorable and really a testament to their relationship I'd have to assume. They had an awesome setlist that included all the favorites. We Belong, Hit Me With Your Best Shot, Invincible (which she noted was in the worst movie of all time The Legend of Billie Jean,which I used to watch every time it came on TV!) Love Is a Battlefield and the closer of the night Heartbreaker. It was a really fun show and It was great to see the cross section she drew out that night. It put a smile on my face to see guys, soccer moms and young kids rocking out with Pat. I'm so glad I took the oppurtunity to see Pat Benatar live in concert she is truly great! I'd have to suggest buying her greatest hits album.
July 07.13.2009 Incubus Hollywood Bowl Los Angeles, CA
This was my first time at "The Bowl", I'd driven past numerous times and heard first hand accounts of how cool it is. It's definitely a cool venue! The seats I had weren't that great but I had a wonderful time. I think the sound quality could have been better but that may have been due to where I was seated. Incubus did not disappoint! Stellar in the night air and under the stars (what I could see of them for being in LA ie. Smog heaven and millions of lights) was all I needed and their cover of Prince's Let's Go Crazy was just the cherry on top.
August 08.07-09.2009 Lollapalooza Grant Park Chicago, IL
Toooo many bands to name, so many I didn't get to see. Highlights Kings of Leon, Arctic Monkeys, Fleet Foxes, Cage The Elephant, Santigold and Passion Pit. Chicago lived up to all of it's hype that I had placed on it and I can't wait to go back!
08.22.09 Kings of Leon The Forum Los Angeles, CA I have an IN-DEPTH review here
September 09.17.2009 Yeah Yeah Yeah's The Greek Theater Los Angeles, CA
I had been pining away over seeing the Yeah Yeah Yeah's before the year was out and my hopes kept being dashed! I couldn't make it to Sasquatch or any their other festival dates they played and I had missed shows in my area, then out of nowhere it seems this date came up. I was all over that presale like white on rice. And Just as I was securing the tickets for myself and five friends I heard the news they would be filling in for The Beastie Boys at Lolla. Which was just around the corner at that time. I got the tickets anyway and was quite alright with seeing them twice. My view at Lolla wasn't great, I kinda just hung back and watched the video screens because I knew I'd get my real show the following month.
Concert night. I finally figured out who was opening that day at work I checked out YATCH and The Breeders on MySpace neither left an indelible mark so I was okay with missing them. We got there at the end of The Breeders set who were having some sound issues as well as trouble wining over the crowd. They had a pair of songs which seemed to be mre popular and gained the a bit more love from the audience so they left the stage on a pretty good note.
The YYY's take the stage Karen O. is donning some dinosaur type onezie/suit complete with a headpiece and commences to do the things that makes me call her the best front woman in rock going right now. They blister through the set hitting all the right marks Runaway, Zero, Hysterics (my current FAV which Karen had a spot of trouble with and required a do over but in the most endearing way possible) as well as tracks off the previous record like Pin and Date With The Night and of course Maps which they do an acoustic version of now. I heard this version at Lolla and was a bit disappointed but when I heard it at The Greek it was great and didn't leave me wanting. Not sure if it was because I knew what I was gonna get or if it was the much better vantage point but that night the rendition was awesome. They released huge eyeball beach balls into the crowd I was obsessed with hitting one. I was standing next to a rather tall fellow who kept them just out of reach but I finally got a little touch in and that made me happy. In the end Karen O's voice along with pink and white confetti being blasted into the air was a magical feeling.
P.S. I love The Greek it's quite similar to The Bowl with the whole outdoor amphitheater but smaller (which I always prefer in a concert setting) not to mention cup holders in the bathroom stalls can you say GENIUS! And I'd be remiss if I didn't include the celeb sightings of Chris Kattan, Topher Grace, Kate Walsh and Sweet Pea (of Project Runway fame).
I've always been a huge lover of music but I never went out of my way to see shows. Recently I started listening to a band that tours nonstop and spends lots of time at international music festivals and it made me yearn for live music like never before. I've picked up this dirty little habit and I realized that I get through days and weeks of monotony by thinking about the next time I will be at a show. It dawned on me I'm living my life from one concert to the next and it keeps me happy and sane and away from sharp objects when life has me nearing a 5150 hold. After that realization I realized since July of this year I've been to at least one show a month soon after that thought I decided I should try to keep this up for a whole year, so here goes.
Before I start that let's get some things out there I'm not a writer, I'm not a music critic I am a girl who loves music like I need air in my lungs. This blog may or may not contain in-depth reviews of concerts and this blog may or may not contain in-depth reviews relating to said concerts so sit back relax and be happy with what you get.
