SXSW 2009

posted Apr 4, 07:37 PM by Rick Webb

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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.

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All Tomorrow's Parties NY: My Bloody Valentine

posted Nov 27, 09:09 PM by Rick Webb

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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

I never got a chance to write about All Tomorrow’s Parties NY: Curated by My Bloody Valentine, of which I had the pleasure to go to a month or so ago. It was located at a comically quaint holiday resort in Monticello, NY, called Kutsher’s, that was apparently the inspiration for Dirty Dancing and also where they filmed Wet Hot American Summer.

I drove up with DMD and his wife Stella, who were also my roommates, and Jocelyn. We met up with the boston posse of Ashley and Emma and Brandon and some others. We traded Jocelyn for Emma on the room front, but we were all lucky enough that in the giant complex, our rooms were right across the hall from each other!

Kutscher’s was a pretty fair replica of Butlins and Camber Sands, the two holiday centers that host ATP in the UK. It was an all-in-one complex, with two venues, and several bars, and a great lobby with a grand piano, and an “executive card room,” where Steve Albini hosted card games the whole weekend. The one thing that I would say was less awesome than Butlins or Camber was the food, which was confined to a weird sort of outdoor ad hoc food court.

Also, as Bradley noticed, there seemed to be a bedbug infestation at Kutscher’s, but that seems to have been professionally and promptly dealt with, and thank god we didn’t get any of those.

Several other friends were in attendence at ATP, including Bradley and Tim and his girlfriend, and Ben and Marcie and Harry and Alice and Steve Marchese from the Webby’s and his wife. It was a nice little posse, as each posse had some friends with it, and we all got to meet some good people.

But really, it was about the bands. I mean, seriously. A stunning lineup. So many amazing things. We got there and checked in and immediately ran into the big room to see Tortoise playing Millions Now Living Will Never Die, which was such a weird thing to see. Tortoise. Playing that whole album. That you listen to all the time and… wow. Weird. There was also some solid comedic performances – including my favorite,* Eugene Mirmann*, and Patton Oswalt, who had some hilarious descriptors (“cookie bath” and “uncle touchy’s naked puzzle basement” are two that come to mind).

The center bar was pretty awesome, too, making a fair replica of the venerable Pub at Camber and Butlin’s. The one sad thing was that of the 5,000 or so attendees, I think only like 2,000 actually stay at Kutcher’s, so you don’t get the full sense of 5,000 off-their-gourd after-hours revellers like you do at Butlins – because many people are shipped off to other hotels. This makes the dancing more sporadic, but we finally met Declan this year – my favorite DJ in the whole wide world – and we definitely had some awesome moments of getting to dance to the ATP hits like Super Furry Animal’s “Ther Man Don’t Give a Fuck,” New Order, Joy Division, Mudhoney, Shellac, Sonic Youth, Big Black, the Butthole Surfers (Satan! Satan! Satan!) and the like, as well as some new favorites like Hot Chip, etc. The other DJs – non-declan were comical in their drunken ineptitude, playing the same songs over and over, and even passing out behind the DJ booth.

The first night was also rounded out, for me, with some of Thurston Moore and his posse playing “Psychic Hearts” which was okay, but the need to stick to an album format sort of robbed Thurston of his usual improvisational brillance. The night ended with a stunning, perfect rendition of “Perfect from Now On” by Built to Spill that gave me shivers it was so awesome. The half hour, two song encore? Skippable. “I heart a fly” and “Randy Described Eternity?” Amazing. Holy hell. Amazing.

Saturday was the ATP curated day – and it brought me gigs by Wooden Ships (solid, but very ATP-esque), Fuck Buttons (as noisy and wonderful as ever – the bulk of their set was listened to from the side of the lake while eating free Ice Cream), Harmonia (awesome in that old german krautrock sort of way), Om (the same as always, but definitely always a surreally disturbing minimalist affair), and Autolux (not my thing).

Then the night really kicked in, with a disturbing, tense set by Low, ending with a creepy new christmas song. I always love low. I love the vast majority of their albums and songs and I love how spanning their oevre is and how you never know what they’re going to play. Polvo rocked the house in a way everyone forgot they could do it, and then Thee Silver Mt. Zion Orchestra, though I had seen them a few weeks earlier. They’re great and intense but it’s like the same set, so it’s a little weird. Then came the glorious, fucked up ridiculousness that is Les Savy Fav, and holy hell was that insane. Dude is crazy, and playing to like 4,000 people in a giant constellation-splattered round room really inspired him to be insane. He licked Emma’s hand (and we were WAY in the back) and the best antic was that he brought a ladder out into the crowd, climbed it, and then made the audience lift the ladder up and he crowd surfed. WTF. Man, I love them live. Funnest live band in the world.

It would have been hard for Shellac to follow that up, but they managed. Man I love them. I loved their sparse lights. Their bluesy version of “Prayer to God.” I love that they didn’t play “The End of Radio.” I loved the version of “Steady as she Goes.” I loved the way they ended the set by breaking down the drums as he was still playing. Steve Albini is so awesome. Lightning Bolt followed, and I do like them, but… I dunno. They’re overrated. I only watched a bit.

Then we danced and wandered around and drank and partied and watched all the revellers wander and stagger around until the sun came up and we enjoyed the ridiculous party atmosphere that only ATP can offer.

Then came Sunday, the My Bloody Valentine curated day. Started with Robin Guthrie from the Cocteau Twins, who experienced a lot of technical details in playing along to his movie, and was basically the atmospheric instrumental part of the Cocteaux without the creepiness or the vocals. Still not bad. Next were the Lilys, who were good and they played that song I love but I was completely distracted by the drunken dancings of this Stacey Duda lookalike in a too tight jeanskirt and too much to drink. Then came Gemma Hayes who was creepy and kinda awesome but not quite right. Then we skipped a few acts and then came Mercury Rev, from whom I wasn’t expecting much, as their Secret Migration shows were definitely a bit anemic, but OH MY GOD. They were back. It was rocking. The news songs – “Senses On Fire” especially were amazing. I loved the show. It made me so happy.

It was especially poignant since it was Mercury Rev who opened for the first My Bloody Valentine show I ever saw in 1992, which I consider one of the best shows I’d ever seen. Then we caught Spectrum, which was AWESOME because he had a full band and played a full hand of Spacemen 3 songs including “When Tomorrow Hits,” “Suicide,” “Revolution” and more. Oh my god. Talk about reliving your youth. Only a smidge of Yo La Tengo since they were on a mellow kick and I needed to eat something. Then a bit of Trail of Dead after dinner, who were awesome and INSANELY loud, and then Mogwai who were SO AWESOMELY AWESOMELY AMAZING and loud and perfect and the room sounded amazing and oh my god. Apparently right after the show the drummer was taken away via medivac since his PACEMAKER BURST THROUGH HIS SKIN while playing. Talk about badass. It caused the Boston show to be postponed, but hopefully that means we get to see them again soon. Then Bob Mould who from what I saw seemed to be playing songs from his whole Husker Du/Sugar/Solo oeuvre, which was sweet, and then Dinosaur Jr who are so rockin and loud and noisy live, and actually seeing them before MBV made me see the connection with them WAY more than I usually do. I always think of MBV as way more “etherial” but they’re not – they’re just as noisy and insane as Dinosaur. Next was the Brian Jonestown Massacre who actually bothered to play a decent show including some of their hits and some from Methadrone and Strung Out in Heaven, which was sweet.

And then the night ended with My Bloody Valentine. As insanely loud as ever. I think the set was most notably amazing for the fact that it sounded EXACTLY like their old shows, so if you saw one of these, you can rest easy and know that it was basically as good. It was intense, loud, crazy. Listening to Bradley’s recording it sounds amazing, but the sound was overpowering. Eventually we departed and listened from just outside the room and that was awesome. But man. Talk abut a loud band.

Sop there we go. Another awesome ATP, this time in America, and man I am ready for more. I have already bought my tickets to the Kutcher’s ATP, whoever may be curating, and I am debating between the Fans ATP )(with the Jesus Lizard!) and the Breeder’s ATP at Butlins. Both have pretty serious lineups.

Photos are here.

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Leonard Cohen

posted Jun 8, 04:03 PM by Rick Webb

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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.

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Echo and the Bunnymen

posted May 14, 07:41 AM by Rick Webb

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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.

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65daysofstatic, The Cure, Cut Copy

posted May 13, 06:29 PM by Rick Webb

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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.

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Coachella 2008!

posted Apr 29, 12:03 AM by Rick Webb

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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.

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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 and showed up, and we had one last nightcap and all went to bed.

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.

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Coachella, The Verve, ATP:MBV

posted Apr 23, 06:13 PM by Rick Webb

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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.

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Reunions!

posted Mar 7, 07:30 PM by Rick Webb

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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!

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Jesus and Mary Chain + Hope Sandoval

posted Nov 18, 04:01 PM by Rick Webb

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One more quick note: Rock Tourist has hit LA a few times in the last few months, and on the 23rd of October we hit the Wiltern Theater for the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club/Jesus and Mary Chain Show.

The Jesus and Mary Chain has been doing “Just Like Honey” with various female backing vocals – you’ll recall we caught Scarlett Johansen singing the song with them at Coachella Last year. So we were excited to see who they’d get this time.

Lo and Behold, it was none other than Hope Sandoval, of Mazzy Star. They finished up “Just Like Honey” and went right into their 1992 or so hit “Sometimes Always” and I was just in bliss. I had caught that tour back in the day, two shows of it, but they only played it at the Boston show, as the Providence show they seemed to be in a fight. Anyway, Hope looked awesome – older but just as good – and it has made me forgive and forget the catastrophic Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions appearance here in Boston.

The Chain also played Darklands and Nine Million Rainy Days, back to back for the encore, so, come on. seriously. How awesome is that?

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My Bloody Valentine...

posted Nov 18, 03:42 PM by Rick Webb

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So All Tomorrow’s Parties – my heroes already, even moreso now – have announced a series of dates across the UK for My Bloody Valentine. Rock Tourist participant Ashley is headed to the Glasgow show, and I bought for one of the Manchester shows, figuring it’s high time I went to the city that brought me so much music I loved.

Unlike most people freaking out about these shows, I’ve actually seen My Bloody Valentine before – three times on the Loveless tour, including the last show, to date, the band has ever played. And while they were pretty awesome shows, I do think there’s little chance the poor band can possibly live up to the hype of the reunion.

I’m also pretty convinced the Coachella rumors are true, and we’ll be seeing stateside shows, starting with a Coachella date. If that, plus the Portishead rumors are true, well, then, Coachella is shaping up to be pretty awesome.

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