Coachella 2009 Recap
posted Apr 25, 01:50 AM by Rick WebbFile under: Hit the Road , Festivals
Oh hai. I went to Coachella. For the fifth time. I love coachella. I love the desert. I love the sun. I love renting a vacation house and making breakfast burritos and swimming and then mozeying on over to the Empire Polo Grounds and rocking out.
Ironically, every year, I get lazier and lazier about it. I used to go at like 1 or 2 in the afternoon, now I’m arriving at the field at like 5 or 6, enjoying an hour or two of sun, and then cooling off in the dark, leaving at like 11 or 12. It’s still awesome, though.
This year’s lineup was good, but it was definitely no 2008. Most of the headliners I had seen recently, and though I liked them all, which was nice, there weren’t any insane surprises like Roger Waters and Prince last year. This is not to say there weren’t some amazing things booked: getting Paul McCartney is a coup, no doubt, and Throbbing Gristle? The Orb? Public Enemy? Leonard Cohen? Awesome.
Day One
Day one I got there at 6ish and caught a little of Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band who were the muddled mess they usually are. I am a die hard Conor Fan – one of the best folk shows I ever saw was that dude, sitting there by himself, at the age of like 20 or something, and he blew my mind. But Bright Eyes eventually mushroomed into like ten people, and with the Mystic Valley band it’s even worse. Much like Iron and Wine and Devandra Banhart, Conor needs to ditch the band and be himself. But, then, dude’s got ten times more talent than I do, so he probably shouldn’t listen to me.
Next up was a quick trip around the feild checking out The Bug featuring Warrior Queen which was not my thing, N.A.S.A. which was exactly the type of electronica band that such a name would entail, and then to the main stage for Franz Ferdinand, who were fun and Franz Ferdinand like, and they had one new song that sounded awesome, but really, I do like them but never LOVED THEM.
Then back on over to the second stage for Leonard Cohen. This marks the third show on Leonard’s comeback tour that I’ve caught. It was substantially shorter than the other ones, of course (about 2 hours shorter) but was every bit as awesome, and he had a HUGE crowd, and they set up a secondary, auxiliary speaker column about a hundred yards back so people could hear, and he brought it. “Who by Fire,” “Tower of Song,” “First We Take Manhattan,” and, of course, “Hallelujah,” which the crowd LOVED. I love that little guy. I always have. I am psyched that he’s doing this tour, I’m psyched how endless it’s become, and I’m psyched at how much money he’s making after his evil manager embezzled his life’s earnings.
Anyway, next up was Morrissey, and… ugh. I have obviously loved the Smiths at various points in my life, but… god, it was not my thing this time. I momentarily got slightly excited when he started “Girlfriend in a Coma,” but it was fleeting. His annoying comments (“Are you sick of this yet? I am” and “Oh, dear me, I can barely handle the stench of cooking flesh”) are sometimes funny and clever but this time I was just like “meh.” Dude wears a cape now. Game over.
Skipped Silversun pickups even though we like them in exchange for adventurism – hit Peanut Butter Wolf who is an awesome mashup DJ with videos that was super awesome (especially impressed about his integration of the Pumpkin’s “I am One,” complete with video). Seems to be a lot of good stuff going on in that ream – reminded me of the Bassnectar guy I saw opening for Jane’s in Austin. Beirut were their usual faux-old world, Neutral Milk Hotel wannabe cardigan wearing (or at least considering purchasing) selves, and it got boring pretty quick. Checked out Mike Patton’s new project – Patton & Rahzel – which seems to be beatboxing with distortion effects and it was actually kind of hypnotic and intriguing. A Place to Bury Strangers KILLED IT. I love them live I love how noisy they are and they are like the perfect band in the world.
Then over to the main stage for Paul McCartney. He was great, opened with “Jet,” played a ton of beatles songs, had 300 foot tall HD video screens so everyone could see, and was generally awesome. It was the anniversary of Linda’s death, so that was sad. He played “Blackbird” and “The Long and Winding Road” and “Got To Get You Into My Life” and a bunch of other Beatles songs, and Wings songs. Maybe a bit too many new ones, but it was awesome.
Day 2
Got to the place as Spearhead was finishing up, sadly, and then checked out Henry Rollins, who was doing spoken word but it was pretty cool. Always gotta love Henry. Then a DJ set by The Bloody Beetroots who I have no idea about but if you can get 10,000 people raving in 100 degree heat you must be doing something right. Then we went to see Glasvegas but they were cancelled, sadly, and then Calexico who were doing their Calexico thing which I like on record but have never super gotten into as much as their Giant Sand/Friends of Dean Martinez associates. Then TV On The Radio who were AWESOME. Amazing new super fast version of “Staring at the Sun,” new songs that were awesome, and confidence and great stage presence, and YES. Then Fleet Foxes who are so insanely, perfectly talented and great that you have trouble even believing it’s live. I felt this the first time I saw them last year @ Emo’s, but even moreso now with all these people there. Just perfect. Then a bit of Junior Boys who were kinda boring, then Electric Touch which were actually pretty great in their own special glam rock way. I will check them out again. Then a bit of the Chemical Brothers DJ set, which damn, how awesome would it have been if it was a live set? Then Turbonegro who are so wonderfully insane live that was a great time, then a bit of Glass Candy which was more dance but with giant beach balls and a hot singer, so I’d check that out again.
Then Band of Horses who were doing that whole thing where they open with the rockers (“Great Salt Lake” and, especially” Ghost in my House”) and then settle into mid-tempo tedium. I wish they’d move “Funeral” up their set, too.
Then Thievery Corporation who were so excessive – ten musicians and A DIFFERENT SINGER FOR EVERY SONG. God, tens of thousands of dollars on transatlantic airfares right there. Oh Perry Ferrell was one of the singers.
Then MIA who was a little better than the other times I’ve seen her, but… jesus. Thievery Corporation has ten musicians and ten singers and they can switch from one song to another in seconds, but MIA revels in the between song pause. She doesn’t banter, it’s not for setup, she just DOESN’T FUCKING GET STARTED. And she always has these samples – last year it was a gun shot, this year it was an air horn – and she plays them OVER AND OVER AND OVER until you want to murder someone. Maybe that’s the idea. Maybe it’s experimental. Fuck if I know. I keep giving her a chance and she’s always bordering on disdainful to her audience. Whatever.
Then, finally, the Killers. People harsh on them, but I think they’re a good band. My friend Ryan recently called it – they’re the modern Roxy Music. New Wave, a bit weird, a bit glam, a bit pop. I stayed through the double-pyrotechnics burst of “Mr. Brightside” and “All these things that I have done” which was AWESOME. Left before the encore, but really – how could they top that? Same set more or less as their boston show I saw a few months ago, but the desert environs and pyrotechnics really added to it. Also, their set on this tour involves palm trees, so doing this @ Coachella amongst the real palm trees was kind of genius.
Day 3
Got in around 5:45 and caught the tail end of Peter Bjorn and John as we walked in, and then walked around and caught a smidge of Clipse and then a lot of X who were awesome. Then the Yeah Yeah Yeahs which I have often referred to as the worst live band in the world, but I now must revise that to formerly the worst live band in the world, because those dudes can play now. Karen O’s still kinda useless, but the music is good. Then Paul Weller who was awesome but played not enough Jam and Style Council, but it was great when he did, then a quick peek into The Kills who were great, and Devandra Banhart (see Conor Oberst, above).
Then over to the main stage for My Bloody Valentine. Now. I have seen them. A lot. I saw several shows on the loveless tour. I have seen them since they reunited. They are good live, but every show has been the same. But, then, every show I saw of theirs was in a club. Seeing My Bloody Valentine in a club? A LOUD version of the album. Seeing them in the desert, with 50,000 people? UNFUCKINGBELIEVABLE. Oh man. It sounds better. The 15 minute noise opus in the middle of “You Made Me Realize” was wonderful – I was worried they’d shorten it for the masses, but no way. That’s a serious social experiment right there. Seventeen years after they first did it, it still seems insane, progressive, radical. People were curled up, covering their ears, running away, but surprisingly most people stayed and when it was over, the world applauded wildly. I shot it all in HD.
Next up was Public Enemy, who were awesome! YES! 21 years since “It Takes a Nation of Millions” and they’re still awesome. Every song was awesome. They had the whole crew. It was wonderful. I wish I could watch it again and again.
Then The Orb, who got props for being a live electronic act and not just a DJ set, but it was a little slow going.
Then Throbbing Gristle hahahaha. Zomg. Wonderful. I am thrilled I saw them. But they were pretty bad live. I mean, no surprise there. My partner at work and I were talking about it, and how we own something like 25 Throbbing Gristle live albums, and none of them are that good, so why did we expect this show to be any good. But it was fun to see them all, and “Persuasion” was pretty solid, so that’s something.
Then, finally, The Cure, who I love, but had just seen recently. They were playing new stuff, too. No opening it up with “plainsong.” But, I mean, by and large they played the hits people wanted to hear – “Just Like Heaven,” “In Between Days,” “Boys Don’t Cry,” etc. They played a few for the fans – Primary, A Strange Day, Prayers for Rain… The main problem with a cure set is that all the SERIOUSLY AWESOME SHIT is at the end. We left around Primary, and I’m looking at an online setlist now and the end looks awesome – “If Only Tonight We Could Sleep,” “The Kiss,” “One Hundred Years,” “M”, “A Forest”, “Play for Today,”... and it looks like they played 40 mins past curfew – with the plug being pulled, ironically, during “grinding halt.” Wow, I wish I stayed. But then I’d not have been home until like 4 AM. And I am old.
SXSW 2009
posted Apr 4, 07:37 PM by Rick WebbFile under: Festivals , Reunions
Bands: Bob Schneider and the Lonelyland w/The Fireants, The Dicks with David Yow, Vetiver, Circle Jerks, Sleepy Sun, Peter, Bjorn and John, Juliette and the New Romatiques, Echo and the Bunnymen, Kid Congo Powers, I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness, Shepard Fairey, Monotonix, Republic Tigers, Peter Murphy, No Age, Baptist Generals, Red Red Meat, Meat Puppets, Phosphorescent, Foreign Born, Kenan Bell, Bassnector with A-Trak, Jane’s Addiction, Silversun Pickups, Metallica, Tricky, Glassvegas, Primal Scream, Octopus Project, Lou Barlow, Morning After Girls, Longview, Crystal Method, Wayne Kramer, MSTRKRFT, Quaff
Wednesday, March 18: – Got up LATE. Laid around the hotel. Did work. Eventually went to Casino El Camino to meet Megan, Charlotte, Emma, Tara, and whats-his-name. Drank a lot of beer. Ran into a dude who made a calendar of pictures of cranes (the building kind) and I thought it was so adorable I bought a copy. Eventually Emma and I pedicabbed to the Austin Music Hall to see David Yow play with the Dicks. Turned out we went to the Austin Music Awards Show so everything was behind schedule. Saw some of Bob Schneider and Lonelyland w/The Fireants and then a lot of the awards show and then finally The Dicks w/David Yow and that was good – weird gay punk. I liked it. Then another pedicab to Emo’s and Emo’s Jr where we saw Vetiver, and then some of the Circle Jerks and then some of Sleepy Sun who were very interesting in their weirdness. Then we went to Vice to try and see Glasvegas but they were late so we saw a very ramshackle, stripped down Peter, Bjorn and John, which was strange and the place was too hot and I couldn’t find my friend Austin so we left and went back to Emo’s to see Juliette Lewis and the New Romantiques, who were better than the licks but still kinda boring, though the last song was good and Juliette is really a born performer. Then Echo and the Bunnymen which was a weird thing to see at Emo’s and they didn’t seem really into it but Emma hasn’t seen them a million times like me and she liked it so they probably delivered. Then inside for Kid Congo Powers who was actually kinda awesome.
So this is where it gets kind of weird. My friend Nussy basically pulls up and offers me and Emma a ride in this giant stretch white limo, and off we go to the Red Bull Moon Tower after party, since his friend, who also owns the limo, owns the place where the party is happening and did all the lights, stage, etc. The place looks beautiful and we roll VIP. We caught I love you but I’ve chosen darkness who I love love love, then Shepard Fairey DJing, which was a great song selection and whole songs but not particularly overly skilled at DJing, then Monotonix who were INSANE and played in the crowd and things went crazy (photos and a good writeup here) and then The Republic Tigers again, who I really like now I think. I gotta check ‘em out on recorded medium next.
The limo, after some good driving around, dropped us off at our hotel around 5AM. Ha.
Thursday, March 19 – Good breakfast at Manuels. I love that place but i probably shouldn’t say that cuz I like how it’s never crowded. Then some work at the hotel and the rock begins at 7PM with Peter Murphy at Elysium. It’s all new stuff, but the dude’s hilarious (“does anyone have any questions for the grandfather of goth?”) I’d have loved to have stayed for Blue Aeroplanes but we shoot for another 7 Hour show and head over to Radio Room for No Age, who are awesome but started early so we only caught about half of, and then The Baptist Generals, who I liked in their Neutral Milk Hotel meets Fleet Foxesness, except about 1/5th as good as that implies. Then we saw a little of Red Red Meat which was a fun time machine activity that was keeping in the good theme of this southby (my theory is that this was SXSW 1991 all over again) and then over to Stubb’s for The Meat Puppets, and then to the Mohawk for Phosphorescent and Foreign Born. Phosphorescent were awesome, Foreign Born not so much. We were working our way up Red River to get to the Playboy/C3 Presents party, and we did, and OMG. Okay first ban Kev and something. Um. Lemme look it up. Kenan Bell. Then an AWESOME DJ named Bassnectar who ROCKED IT. Occasionally he brought out an MC Apparently named A Trak. But really nothing could you prepare for the awesomeness of Jane’s Addiction, who have reformed with the original lineup, and want you to know they are really into the original Janes’s Addiction. They opened with Three Days, which really set the tone of awesomeness, then plowed through Ain’t No Right, Whores, Standing in the Shower Thinking, Ted, Just Admit It, Been Caught Stealing, Had a Dad, Mountain Song, Ocean Size, Stop! The last three were total and utter perfection. And you know how many bands I see. I haven’t even thought about Jane’s in a decade, but they were my first show, and they fucking ROCKED. YES. WOOOO! Oh and I still have hearing loss 20 days later. Great.
Friday, March 20 – after two days of late nights, I needed sleep, and I needed to do some work. So I didn’t roll out of the house until kind of late, and I made my way to Stubb’s for the Guitar Hero:Metallica Edition party, and caught Silversun Pickups who were great, but man it’s hard to open for… omg surprise! METALLICA. Yeah, that ruled. RAWWWWWK. Ashley would have hated it. Ha. But it was great. Then to Aces to try and see The Airborne Toxic Event, but it was packed and I could only see a smidge of them through the window so that doesn’t count. Then to the Austin Music Hall for Tricky who RULED and OMG I wish I could see him again on this tour but I missed the SF show but man he is still awesome. And then to La Zona Rosa for Glasvegas who were great and then my most anticipated band of the festival Primal Scream who TOTALLY RULED. OMG. Opened with Kill All Hippies, played Miss Lucifer, Higher than the Sun, Deep Hit of Morning Sun, Shoot Speed Kill Light, Swastika Eyes, Moving on Up, Get Your Rocks Off, Accellerator, Country Girl. Basically everything but Loaded. But it RULED. I was so happy. OMG OMG OMG More please. But apparently they can’t play long tours cuz they are drug addicts. Or so the E Street band says. Ha.
Saturday, March 21 – breakfast at Hickory Street – I forgot about that place but it does the job. Then puttering during the day then dinner with Megan, Woody, Charlotte and Emma. Then to the Rock. First Emo’s for The Octopus Project who I had never seen and man they were great! Very weird and arty. Then to the Parish for Lou Barlow w/Imaad Wasif and that was AWESOME. I love love love his last album, Emoh, and he played three songs from it, as well as some folk implosion stuff and some new stuff from his upcoming Merge album and that would rule. I am ready. Then we had some time to kill so we picked a band with a good name on the way to where we wanted to go and ended up at Pangea for The Morning After Girls who were not girls but rather awesome australian post rock meets the bad seeds and actually pretty much lived up to that awesome premise. Then to Cedar Street for longview who were really really good and not what i expected at all and I gotta remember to look them up and give them another listen and then to La Zona Rosa for The Crystal Method who were straight up big beat techno, and then to Maggie Mae’s to try and see Wayne Kramer but we literally saw one song because he went on early and we ran into my friend Adrienne from LA on the walk. Then to Radio Room to try and see MSTRKRFT but there was a giant crowd at the door and they made you go in the back, LAME, and even though there was probably room in the courtyard for us badged types, you couldn’t actually get to the door. OOPS. So we gave up and went to Elysium and ended SXSW music at Japan Rocks night which was HILARIOUS and we caught the last bit of Asakusa Jinta and then Quaff who were HILARIOUS and a perfect ending. When in doubt at south-by, go somewhere different and off the path, and it will rock. Rewarding.
Sunday, March 22 – AUS – SFO. Got up, got breakfast, and watched all three hours of the BSG finale, which RULED. Got on the plane and watched it again. Came home and started playing mad catch up with work.
2008 Wrapup
posted Jan 17, 04:51 PM by Rick WebbFile under: Rock Musings ,
OKAY!
Let 2009 begin.
First, a few wrapups from last year. You’ll find my full gig list – you’ll find my full gig list – 280 some performances and five festivals – over here. Highlights from 2008:
65days of static at Boston
A Place to Bury Strangers at SXSW and Boston
Acid Mothers Temple at Boston
Auburn Lull at Boston
Bon Iver (three times) at SXSW & Boston
Broken Social Scene at Lollapalooza
Dean & Britta at Boston
Dinosaur Jr at ATP NY
Echo & The Bunnymen at NY
Fleet Foxes at SXSW
George Michael at Boston
Glasvegas at NYC
Goldfrapp at Coachella & NYC
Gutter Twins at Boston & Lollapalooza
Hot Chip at Boston, ACL and Coachella (ACL Wins)
James at Boston
Jarvis at NYC
Jason Collett at SXSW
Kanye West at Moline, IL and Lollapalooza
Kraftwerk at Coachella
Laurie Anderson at Boston
Leonard Cohen at Toronto
Les Savy Fav at ATP NY
Lilys at ATP NY
Loney, Dear at NYC
Mark Kozelek at SXSW
MC Hammer at SF
Mercury Rev at ATP NY & Boston
MGMT at Boston, SXSW, Lollapalooza and Coachella
Mogwai at ATP NY
My Bloody Valentine at ATP NY
My Morning Jacket at Coachella
Naked Raygun at SXSW
Neil Halstead at NYC
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds at DC
Phosphorescent at SXSW
Portishead at Coachella
Prince at Coachella
Radiohead at Lollapalooza
REM at Boston
Rihanna at Moline, IL
Roger Waters at Coachella
Roky Erikson at ACL
She & Him at Northampton, MA
Shellac at ATP NY
Six Organs of Admittance at Boston
Spectrum at NY and ATP NY
Spiritualized Electric Mainlines at ACL
Spiritualized Acoustic Mainlines at Boston & Coachella
Submarines at NYC
Super Furry Animals at Boston
Swell Season at Coachella
Swervedriver at Coachella
The Cure at Boston
The Elephant 6 Collective at Boston
The Hold Steady at SF
The Magnetic Fields at Boston & Northampton, MA
The National at Lollapalooza and Boston
The New Year at Boston
The Shout Out Louds at Coachella and SXSW
The Smashing Pumpkins at Boston
The Vaselines at NYC
The Verve at Coachella
The Wedding Present at Boston and SXSW
Till We’re Blue Or Destroy at SXSW and Austin
Tilly and the Wall at SXSW, Boston
Ulrich Schnauss at Boston
Wilco at Lollapalooza
Yeasayer at SXSW and Boston
And then here’s my year-end wrap up/best of on the recorded music:.’‘
2009 Begins!
posted Jan 17, 04:35 PM by Rick WebbFile under: Festivals , Hit the Road
And here we move into 2009.
So far, we have five festivals planned. Tickets are bought for All Tomorrow’s Parties UK weekend 1 – The Fans Strike Back This takes place in Minehead, Somerset UK again, at our old friend Butlins Holiday Resort, just after my Birthday May 8, 9 and 10. So far on deck for it are Devo, The Jesus Lizard (who I have not had the pleasure of seeing in over a decade), Spiritualized, Sleep performing Holy Mountain and selections from Dopesmoker, Grails, Young Marble Giants performing Colossal Youth, Antipop Consortium, The Cave Singers, Retribution Gospel Choir (Alan Sparhawk from Low’s other band), Shearwater and Beirut. More bands to be announced. They’re about halfway there on the lineup, the vast majority of the remainder being voted on by the attendees. I’m hella excited about Devo, Spiritualized, The Jesus Lizard and Young Marble Giants, who I never in a million years imagined I would ever get to see live.
I’ve also purchased tickets for next year’s US iteration of All Tomorrow’s Parties, which will take place in September, once again at Kutscher’s in Monticello, NY. This year will be curated by The Flaming Lips, and so far them, along with Atlas Sound, Animal Collective, Panda Bear, Antipop Consrotium, Suicide and the Dirty Three. The exciting one there for me so far is Suicide, who will be performing their first LP. Awesome.
I love ATP so much and am tempted to throw caution to the wind and go to ATP UK Weekend 2, curated by the Breeders, featuring Throwing Muses, Bon Iver, Holy Fuck, Gang of Four, Shellac, and Teenage Fanclub, but I’ll probably skip it in hopes that the ATP Nightmare Before Christmas is a good curator, since there are too many American bands in that lineup to justify another trip to the UK.
SO, then, festival three is, of course, the first of the year, South by Southwest. Lineup is trickling out, and for me, so far, the exciting bands include Primal Scream – one of the greatest live bands out there – along with the Vaselines (who are having some money trouble getting there, we hear, but we’re hopeful), Grizzly Bear, Au Revoir Simone, Andrew Bird, Grant Hart, The Ravonettes, Red Red Meat, Starsailor, Parenthetical Girls and Explosions in the Sky.
Moving on, we’re committed to hitting Coachella this year. The lineup hasn’t been announced yet – based on past years we expect it this week – but we are hopeful. The rumors, as usual, are insane, and we’re READY.
Next up we know we’ll be hitting Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits again this year, thanks to our good friends at C3 Presents, but we have NO IDEA what to begin to expect on the lineup.
Other festivals we’ll be keeping our eye on – Primavera, which is already shaping up nicely with Michael Nyman, My Bloody Valentine, Spiritualized and the Vaselines. We really want to go back to Iceland Airwaves again this year, so with the depreciated Icelandic currency we’ll be keeping an eye on that as well.
Finally, some really great tours have already been announced for this year. We’re insanely, ridiculously excited to learn that the Tindersticks will be venturing out this year – I’ve not had the privilege of seeing them in over a decade and I loved it. Antony and the Johnsons are on the road soon, as well as Andrew Bird, Loney Dear, Acid Mothers Temple and more. One more exciting thing – Leonard Cohen makes his first US appearance in eons this February in New York. Having schlepped all the way up to Toronto to see him in one of the best shows of the year last year, I can’t wait for that one.
Last year I claimed that 2009 wouldn’t be as insane as 2008 on the Rock Tourism, but it is not looking that way at all.
Austin City Limits!
posted Nov 27, 09:24 PM by Rick WebbFile under: Festivals , Hit the Road
Bands: M Ward, Mates of State, Hot Chip, Jenny Lewis, NERD, David Byrne, Man Man, City and Colour, Erykah Badu, MGMT, Spiritualized, Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, Black Keys, Roky Erickson, Beck
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All Tomorrow's Parties NY: My Bloody Valentine
posted Nov 27, 09:09 PM by Rick WebbFile under: Reunions , Festivals
Bands: Tortoise performing “Millions Now Living Will Never Die,” Eugene Mirman, Thurston Moore performing “Psychic Hearts,” Patton Oswalt, Built to Spill performing “Perfect from Now On,” Wooden Ships, Fuck Buttons, Harmonia, Om, Autolux, Low, Polvo, Thee Silver Mt. Zion Orchestra, Les Savy Fav, Lightning Bolt, Shellac, Robin Guthrie, Lilys, Gemma Hayes, Mercury Rev, Spectrum, Yo La Tengo (a very little), Trail of Dead (very little), Mogwai, Bob Mould (very little), Dinosaur Jr, Brian Jonestown Massacre, My Bloody Valentine
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Lollapalooza 2008
posted Aug 9, 03:32 PM by Rick WebbFile under: Festivals , Hit the Road
Hit lollapalooza last weekend. It was awesome. Mad thanks to C3 presents for the hookup. What a great festival. I gotta hand it to them. Unbeatable setting. Convenient accommodations. No one mile walk to a car. Awesome VIP area. My only gripe – speaker poles in the VIP area. It’s quiet over there. Coachella rocks that. Anyway, it ruled. Here’s the recap:
The Bands: Steven Malkmus and the Jicks, Radiohead, Gutter Twins, MGMT, Devotchka, Explosions in the Sky, Broken Social Scene, Okkervil River, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, Wilco, Brazillian Girls, Chromeo, Iron & Wine, Flogging Molly, Love and Rockets, Nine Inch Nails, Kanye West
Pictures are here
Friday, August 1 – got TONS of sleep. Then I met up with Emma and began our Lollapalooza experience! It started off not so hot, with a 2 hour wait in line for my C3 VIP passes. I should have gone the night before like emma and ashley! Emma politely waited in line with me until Ashley arrived, and off they went. I could here Mates of State, Grizzly Bear and Bloc Party while waiting, and I made some line friends, which is always nice, but I was woefully unprepared for 2 hours in the direct sun, and I got serious sunstroke. Luckily I didn’t burn, but I did get a nice tan. When I got to the front of the line ran into my man Fef, VP of Marketing for C3, and he let me pick up the passes for all the Barbarians coming, so at least no one else had to wait in line. Finally made it into the park and found Emma, Ashley. Kate Beaton, Doug P, Mike P and a few of Mike’s friends and we all congregated in the VIP area. Caught Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, who were totally as wanky as Ashley said they’d be. So sad. Pavement RIP. Then, of course, the mighty Radiohead, who were awesome and had an awesome light show. And then fireworks went off, and then the fireworks finale was right when the crescendo in “Fake Plastic Trees” broke and everything was right in the world and I nearly cried and god damn I’ve probably seen Radiohead 20 times at this point – from their first show in Boston at the Paradise in 92 when I lived across the street from it and went because I secretly thought “Creep” was a great song, right through to one of their only shows in the US for Kid A at the Greek Theater in LA to their pre-In Rainbows tour in 06 which I caught from the third row of Harborlights. It’s easy to be inurred by now, but they pulled it off and now I am plotting going to the Greatwoods show, esp. since Judi missed them due to a delayed flight. So on that note, me, ashley and emma walked back to our hotel area (our hotels were three blocks apart). We found a loungy bar for drinks and dinner and then went to their bar for more drinks, but I was so tired and when Judi finally got in at 1 I opted to go back to the hotel and meet her and promptly pass out of heat stroke and sleep 12 hours.
Saturday, August 2 Woke up the next day fully recharged and ready to rock. Luckily for all my time in the sun on friday I drank 8 bottles of water so I stayed hydrated, and I didn’t burn so there was no long term damage. Judi and I walked to the festival in time to catch the last song (Number 9) by the Gutter Twins, who I love love love. Then we caught a bit of MGMT, or tried, but the crowd was so insanely huge and it was so hot we gave up almost immediate (esp. since we just saw them @ the paradise like two weeks ago) We retreated to the north stage VIP area – oh and man, the VIP areas were so sweet. You could sit in the shade and get free massages and free drinks and dinner and yeah man, I’m 36. Fuck it. I’m gonna roll in VIP areas if I can get it for free why not, right? I am forever in debt to C3 presents. They are awesome. They made our weekend. Anyway, we listened to Devotchka, who were really good actually – I had been meaning to check them out for a while. Kinda worldy but not in a bad way. Then I chatted up the backstage access girl and she informed me that our wristbands would get us onto the sweet side stage balcony, so shit yeah, Judi and I did that for Explosions in the Sky, who were awesome, and later for Broken Social Scene, who were also awesome. In between we caught Okkervil River, who were almost awesome. Caught up with everyone – Kate, Mike P, Doug, etc. And Carrie S. joined us today, from our San Francisco office. It was really a great day. We rounded it out with Wilco, opting to skip Rage Against the Machine, since, well, their crowds are terrifying and we already went through that once at Coachella last year. Wilco were awesome in their ridiculous sewed embroidered suits, in different colors, each one matching their guitars. They had like teddy bears n shit sewed on them. It was a solid show, and for me it was highlighted by an amazing, pumped up, totally driving version of Kidsmoke/Spiders that was awesome. We spent a long time waiting in line to get back up the Balcony, but it was worth it once we did. Great view. Afterwards we all went out to a bar in Wicker Park, called Gold Dust, which was a good time, then another one called Maggie’s, I think. Brandie told us funny stories, doug entertained us with his silliness, and me and one of mike p’s friends shot the shit about Alaska, where her boyfriend lives. Good times.
Sunday, August 3 Last day of Lollapalooza! Woke up pretty late but still managed to get to the festival to catch a bit of the Brazillian Girls, who didn’t do it for me, then Chromeo, ditto. Then over to see Iron and Wine, who were also a bit boring and has lost the hauntingness and turned into a jam band. Judi had to leave then, which was sad. Back to Boston for her since she had to work early on Monday. And a wise move, too, given the airport hell we experienced monday. The day kicked in after that, really, when we met up with Fef and he got us backstage on the side stage for Flogging Molly, which were super high energy and MAN do they amp up the crowd to a ridiculous extent. After that Love and Rockets, who are great trip down memory lane for me, and their song selection is a fanboy’s dream and they even bust out the Bubblemen, which is kind of awesome and ridiculous. Then The National, who sounded awesome and great and yay. Then Nine Inch Nails who had too many new instrumentals for my liking, but they still rocked and are always a good time. Left halfway through to see Kanye again, who had retooled his set since the Glow in the Dark tour, but the set was basically the same. Man that dude’s got an ego. He’s a great performer, but he needs to stop reminding us of it. Someone needs to explain to him that he has been endowed with an ego AND talent, and despite his protestations that the ego drives the talent (a message that might be useful for the youth, as he was hoping, if he didn’t interject himself into it so much) – in fact he has talent and an ego. The ego doesn’t drive the talent. Someone should explain that to him. Ha. Anyway, the long march back to the hotels and me, emma, ashley, kate and carrie had a good champagne nightcap, bringing lolla to an end. what a great time.
3 Shows, 3 Cities, 3 Days
posted Jul 25, 01:34 PM by Rick WebbFile under: Hit the Road ,
Tuesday: Jarvis Cocker, Terminal 5, NYC. I like Terminal 5 more now, after going to a show there that was not unreasonably crowded. But it’s big, it’s cavernous, and it’s hard to fill, and hard to rock to a crowded, albeit 80% crowded house. Jarvis did a great job, though. His new songs were awesome, but it was the first time in, oh, I don’t know, a decade, where I’ve seen him and not already known every song, so that was a little weird. He closed with “Black Magic,” which was amazing, though I’m starting to think he should just do it first to get everyone fired up, because MAN does that song get everyone fired up.
Wednesday, MGMT, Paradise, Boston. I knew that despite their hit “Kids” and their dancy sound that MGMT is a rock band live. I had caught them a little bit the Playboy/C3 Presents party SXSW last year, so I was prepared. If you take MGMT to be a band in the psyche pop realm of the Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev (whose Dave Friedman produced their record, apparently, along with many of the lips records), it works. The noise bits and rock bits are awesome, but the fact is the kids just wanted to dance, which they only got to for three songs. They closed by playing “Kids” karaoke style, sans band, more in the Cut Copy realm (backing tracks, vox and a bit of guitar only) and the kids ate it up and danced and woo! Man, kids do not care if you play an instrument anymore. Still, though, I love the new dance rock – the rapture, MGMT, Cut Copy, Hot Chip. it makes me happy.
Thursday, She & Him, Academy of Music Theater, Northampton, MA. The best of the three. I love the album, but I still wasn’t sure if Zooey D. actually had a voice or it was all studio trickery. Well nosiree, no studio trickery here. All the backing vocals and harmonies were perfect, her voice was strong and confident and assured, and she hit everything personally and wow was she just cute as a button to boot. 6 piece band, 4 peeps doing backup singing, acoustic and electric guitar and piano (three different members, including Zooey and M Ward played). They started mid-tempo, went super intimate (the backing band left the stage for a few songs) and rocket it out hootenany style for the last 3-4 songs. It was a great show all around. M Ward has a great voice, and their sexy pregnant bass player was a pretty awesome bonus. Haven’t seen that in a long time. The venue was intimate and our seats couldn’t have been better – second row. A great night out and a great show all around.
Recap, Lollapalooza, ATPs, ACL
posted Jul 19, 05:08 PM by Rick WebbFile under: Festivals , Hit the Road
Well, I missed Yaz this week due to some stupidity around set times and an errant Brooklyn Vegan entry. UGH.
Since Leonard Cohen, I caught a few other shows “on the road.” Caught Kanye’s last Glow in the Dark show, or so he kept saying at the show, even though more and more of them keep cropping up. Not sure what’s up with that. It was pretty awesome, it has to be said, and man, the kids are all right. Excellent vibe there. Totally chill. Also caught Ludacris at a Webby Awards event, which was gloriously surreal.
Caught REM at Great Woods, which wasn’t really tourism since I live in MA, but we did take a limo there, which is always fun – we do it once a year to a show out @ Great Woods and REM won out this year. It was pretty awesome.
Worst is that I missed Sup Pop 20 because of my work load, which hurt a LOT, but I did trek out to Brooklyn to South Paw to see the one band I cared about the most: The Vaselines, which were wonderful and perfect and played their 18 songs and nothing more, nothing less, and had some seriously genius Banter. Some friends of my friend Aug opened up – band called The Indelicates who were pretty awesome.
Jarvis in New York is next up on the road, and then She & Him in Northampton, and then Lollapalooza next week, so things are picking up. Also hoping to catch Tilly and the Wall again here in Boston, and of course George Michael, which is insanely exciting.
Other upcoming Rock Tourist adventures include the My Bloody Valentine All Tomorrow’s Parties in Upstate New York, and Austin City Limits in Austin.
I debated hitting Tom Waits in Atlanta on the 5th of July but couldn’t get a flight back to NY that night and didn’t want to stay there. Ha. I was hoping for some European love too this year – Iceland Airwaves again, maybe, but the dollar is so insanely low I’m not sure I can pull it off.
Mike Patton and the Melvins are hosting the Christmas All Tomorrow’s Parties and I’m on the Fence about going. Is it psychotic to go to Minehead, UK just for the dancing?
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.
