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.
She & Him Sleuthing, Sub Pop 20, etc
posted Jun 2, 10:50 AM by Rick WebbFile under: Hit the Road , Festivals
Haha! I feel so Sherlock Holmes! I had read on Brooklyn Vegan that She & Him were doing some more shows. I had missed all of their SXSW shows and haven’t had a chance to see their NYC shows yet, so I decided to check out if they were coming to Boston or not. They were not. BUT they were doing a show in Northampton, MA, on July 24. That seemed undoable until I realized I had to be in Connecticut for a wedding the next day. Serindipity!
So I set out to buy tickets, only to discover it’s basically impossible to buy tickets for this Academy of Music Theater over the web. Not at Ticketmaster, not at Ticketweb. There was a website, but all of the tickets said to call. So I did, and went to the ticketing extension, only to listen to a really long voice mail about a lot of movies that aren’t Zooey Deschanel and M Ward singing cute songs. Then it hung up.
But!
But I noticed that one movie had tickets available at something called Tix.com, so I went over to the site and sure enough, I did a search! And yes! the show was there! AND I GOT 4 TICKETS, SECOND ROW CENTER. Score! Buy now.
In other news, I’m hitting Sup Pop’s 20th Anniversary Festival in Seattle In July. I was on the fence about it until a) I just visited my friends in Seattle and realized how fun it would be, and b) THEY ADDED THE VASELINES TO THE BILL. OMG. That’s too exciting. I bought a ticket for their Brooklyn show @ Southpaw too to be safe, but I’m pretty sure I’m going. That’ll be fun.
Also figured out where to see Nick Cave this year – 9:30 Club in October.
So that leaves really one artist I haven’t figured out how I’m going to see. Leonard Cohen. Still gotta figure that out. Dude’s not playing america. Road trip anyone?
Nick Cave
posted May 17, 05:10 PM by Rick WebbFile under: Hit the Road ,
Had a really hard time fitting the upcoming Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Tour – everywhere he was, I had to be somewhere else, most notably the date closest to me, the New York date, where I have to be at a wedding in Delaware that day.
But A Ha! The next day he’s playing DC, at the 9:30 club! Like HALF the size of Terminal 5 in DC. YAY. So down we go, DC road trip!
Echo and the Bunnymen
posted May 14, 07:41 AM by Rick WebbFile under: Reunions , Hit the Road
Oh I should also mention the 30th anniversary Echo and the Bunnymen show @ Radio City. I wasn’t gonna go because while I love the Bunnymen with an endless passion, the last couple shows have been a bit lackluster – Ian’s been on the sauce again, and his voice has been crackling and it’s all been kinda painful.
But then I learned that a) this is a one-off, b) it’s at Radio City Music Hall, which I’ve never been to, c) it’s got a 12-piece orchestra, and d) they’re doing all of Ocean Rain, in order. OMG. yes please. I am there.
Now I just have to figure out what city I can catch Nick Cave in this year. It’s looking like DC, for its combination of fitting into my crazy schedule and being at the 9:30 club, which is a pretty solid venue. I think. Or maybe I’m mixing it up with the Black Cat. Anyway, that’s the one for me.
SXSW 2008
posted Mar 22, 05:14 PM by Rick WebbFile under: Festivals , Hit the Road
All right! Let’s wrap this thing up. Some Rock blogger I am – I’m like a week late on my blog update. Such are the travails of a blogger with a busy job, I guess.
ANYWAY, SXSW Music. Year 4 or 5? Basically, it was the same. A continuation of last year’s battles between SXSW and the parties around it seemed to be a continuing trend. I believe some sort of grand bargain is really in order here. I can see both sides of it. For instance, I am continually bullshit about the Fader Fort, and it’s impossible lines and acts that aren’t playing SXSW and the fact that my platinum pass won’t get me in there, for my $1,000 or whatever the fuck. But at the same time, I can totally see why the festival needs things like Mess With Texas, and I can totally see why the Breeders took a paying gig @ Mess With Texas instead of a SXSW slot, for no money. And a telling quote by a JetBlue marketing exec in the WSJ – “Attendees don’t know the difference between official and unofficial events” – pretty much exemplifies the concerns of the SXSW organizers.
Still, though SXSW needs to recognize that the event is more than an industry confab. And indeed, the quality of the industry confab would probably be improved dramatically if there were some arrangement with the day and free show organizers to handle the public while SXSW focuses on the industry.
A few small things were done this year – more or less under the radar but telling – that indicates some of this might be possible in the future. Firsts, many popular bands played more than one official showcase show. A Place to Bury Strangers, for example, had a few, as did other bands. This is a small thing, but it does indicate n acceptance of reality a bit by the SXSW organizers that some bands are going to play more than once, and demand maybe larger than one show can accommodate. This was originally, I feel, how the day shows and free shows got off the ground – because WAY more people wanted to see a band than could. It’s nice to see SXSW finally – in a small and belated way – recognizing that. It DOES however, set a good groundwork for some sort of grand bargain where there are free shows for the public, every band playing at least one showcase that the platinum passes can get into, and maybe a few paid shows, day, shows, etc.
The second thing that seems to have happened is that forces in the city have coalesced a bit to allow the off-festival parties – day, night and after hours – to go forward. SXSW was a bit dodgy last year, probably, for shutting them down or causing them to be shut down on safety grounds – if they cared so much about safety, they would have told these places in advance to go legit. Those tactics really only work once, though, and this year the Ticketmaster lounge, red bull lounge, fader fort, and the vice and C-3 Presents/Playboy parties were all unmolested, as was the IHEARTCOMIX party, aside from times the cops would enforce more than reasonable 1-in/1-out rules.
As a platinum consumer, I had absolutely no problem getting into anything official that I wanted – including big name shows like REM. I didn’t even TRY to go to the Fader Fort this year – I cannot stand that line.
From the viewpoint of the average consumer, though, I think the Fader Fort is pretty cool – it lets people exchange time for money. You RSVP, you wait in a hellacious line, and then you’re treated like a VIP (which you’re really not, but still, it’s cool), and get a bit of the cool experience.
The whole thing would be AWESOME if the Fader Fort didn’t have bands you couldn’t see anywhere else. I understand where they’re coming from, but it’s annoying. The schedule is impossible to find, I have to spend all this time on the internet figuring out the RSVP and, worst, I have to actually read or sign up for Fader. Ew. I’m sure many people are psyched about the free gift of music and love fader for it, but man, I hate them.
Especially contrasted with Filter, who’s Cedar Street party each year is awesome. Yeah, RSVPing works, but so does a badge, and that’s great. There seem to be a ton of day parties like that – free if you RSVP, and free with a badge. That is perfect. Both needs are addressed.
Then there’s the large, public, sponsored events: the biggest, of course, was Mess With Texas, but I’d say the Onion party and the PItchfork party at Emo’s sort of fall into this category as well. These are awesome. Wait in a line, see some awesome band. I love them. Saw a lot of awesome shit at all three of these this year, as in past years.
SO, Grand bargain propositions:
- VIP and elite after hours things like Red Bull and Ticketmaster should be left alone to do whatever they want
- SXSW will provide sponsorship, listing, and promotional consideration to day events that take badges
- The more free day events the better
- All daytime events should either be one of the following:
- free to all, and comprised completely of bands that are playing official showcases (ie the onion)
- have non-SXSW bands but be free with tons of room and no lines (ie Mess With Texas)
- have non-SXSW bands but be free with RSVP or Badge
- have non-SXSW bands but have advance ticket sales
I think that would pretty much do it. Go for it!
So, the festival itself.
I met a lot of people in the music industry. I met music website owners and bloggers and musicians and booking agents and internet people who work for booking agents and internet people who work for recording artists and people who sell tickets for venues and photographers and mastering engineers and bookers and club owners and and and… but I only met one sole person who worked at a record label.
The record industry is dead. Long live the music industry.
The music industry is fine.
The Bands: Til We’re Blue or Destroy (two times), Freezepop, Wedding Present, FREE SOL, Kid Beyond, Yeasayer, Lemonheads, Naked Raygun, Georgie James, The Stills, Shout Out Louds (Twice), Phosphorescent, Secret Shine, Bildmeister, Caleb Engstrom, Magnolia Summer, Soiled Mattress and the Springs, Boys in a Band, Working for a Nuclear Free City, Totally Michael, HEARTSREVOLUTION, Bon Iver, Mark Kozelek, MGMT, Moby, Justice, Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes, Blitzen Trapper, British Sea Power, Jason Collett, Coconut Coolouts, Make Model, Crystal Castles, The Dodos, Grand Archives, Handsome Furs, Half Japanese, Beat Union, Headlights, Tilly and The Wall, A Place to Bury Strangers, Chromeo, Pissed Jeans, Two Gallants, Atlas Sound, Most Serene Republic, The Raveonettes, James Yuill, The Teeth, SYME, Soundtrack of our Li ves, The Slits, Jay Retarded, Dark Meat
*During Interactive…
**Till We’re Blue or Destroy* – Still the best band in austin. Still awesome. Still needs to become huge.
Freezepop – So awesome they finally got to SXSW. I saw three shows of theirs, all went well. The Showcase was solid, and people loved them.
Wednesday….
The Wedding Present – For some reason he only had half his band – and he was clearly embarrassed about it. He plowed through, though, and played some awesome songs – he played “Suck” and, really, what more do you want out of life? He should really learn that America loves Seamonsters the best, but he played some of the old hits too – that England loves: “My Favorite Dress,” “Why Are You Being So Reasonable Now?” etc. Still a good time.
Free Sol – Rap Rock, well done, very well done, LOTS of gear, live guitarist.
Kid Beyond – I have no recollection of this at all
Yeasayer – Best new band of the festival. As awesome live as you could imagine from their album. I hope this conference breaks them.
Lemonheads – Only caught one song since I’m seeing them in a week or two, but yeah, man, It’s a Shame About Ray. Lots of people watching them, which was nice.
Naked Raygun – Made me feel 18 again. From the looks of it, made them feel 18 again too. I love seeing old punk bands. These guys were of the Pegboy ilk – kind of bemused and giddy about it all.
Then we tried to go to REM but they wouldn’t let us because I had a camera, so Emma and I went back to the Ticketmaster lounge, which a client had gotten me into earlier that day. That was awesome. It was the sophisticated adult lounge I had been longing for – complete with awesome dancing to a good DJ, and waiters who brought us Stubbs BBQ and french fries. Excellent way to end the night.
Thursday….
Georgie James – From what I remember, it was not my cup of tea
The Stills – First album is still the best. Early signs on third album are moderate – not as murky as the second, but pretty bland rock potentially. Holding out on a final decision until I hear it.
The Shout Out Louds – Awesome. I love scandanavians. They’re this year’s Loney Dear
Phosphorescent – Loved it, but rocking time was not the time to see a NEW mellow indie band. Once I know them, I’m sure I’d love it live but I felt a little disengaged. Made a mental note to dig into them more, however
Secret Shine – Awesome shoegaze but man they sing out of tune
Bildmeister – Tight angry post rock meets loud shoegaze. I liked it.
Caeb Engstrom – Boring Folk
Magnolia Summer – Ditto, but slightly more competent and lush
Soiled Mattress and the Springs – YES. I don’t know anything about this band but they were AWESOME. Reminded me of an angry evil Smashing Orange. I need to investigate them more.
Boys in a Band – as fun, infectious and ridiculous as they were at Iceland Airwaves, and even funnier banter as they made fun of Texas. The Faroe Islands’ answer to the Birthday Party
Working for a Nuclear Free City – Um… AWESOME? How did I not know about this awesome post rock band? When I was texting Jon Whitney to tell him that his APTBS was cleaning up SXSW, he asked if I had seen Working For a Nuclear Free City yet, as if I should know who they were. It was luck I could say yes. But… man, they were awesome. Best post rock potential band yet.
Totally Michael – Um. Totally hilarious. WTF. Geekiest of the white geek rappers yet. Cracked me up.
Heartsrevolution – Good from what i remember. But not my cup of tea.
Bon Iver – Awesome. Awesome. I need to listen to this a milion times.
Mark Kozelek – I’m growing tired of this schtick of his. The one guitar, one key, all songs completely reworked, refusing to play very much that we know and love, and if he does (he played “Rock and Roll Singer, for example”), he changes the music so much it’s unrecognizeable. I loved that when he first started – like his Star Spangled Banner and Shock me – but now that he’s doing it to his songs… eh. Even this I loved like three years ago, but… it’s time for the next evolution of Mark Kozelek. My vote is he becomes a straight up folk singer and plays his songs in the keys they were written.
Playboy party, which was a fun VIP style event that C 3 Presents got me into.
MGMT – Awesome. Way more rock than I thought they’d be. To the point that I wasnt paying attention because I didn’t realize it was them. I was busy getting free jack daniels, eating free BBQ and looking at playboy bunnies.
Moby – Pretty solid DJ set I have to admit. I haven’t seen him DJ in like.. um… I dunno, 15 years? I figured he didn’t really do it anymore. but he does. And it was good. He ended with Paradise City which was pretty great.
Justice – Good but not great. Severely improved with the presence of dancing playboy bunnies and giant chipmunks. It would have been nice if they played their hits.
Friday….
Fleet Foxes – Awesome beard rock. Better than Grand Archives, not as weird as Akron/Family. Solid.
Blitzen Trapper – Eh. Nothing stuck for me. I’ll have to reinvestigate.
British Sea Power – Awesome, but the first album is still the best. Man they’re good. Man I love them.
Jason Collett – Solid and a decent addition to the BSS solo spectrum but now Kevin Drew.
Coconut Coolouts – Fun but not in fruit costumes, which was very confusing for those trying to identify Lele’s new husband
Make Model – Good spacerocky, but a bit atonal for me in places
Crystal Castles – Awesome! Atari Teenage Riot’s adolescent kids. Perhaps take themselves a smidge too seriously, but hey, so did ATR.
The Dodos – Lots of percussion. I remember liking it a lot at the time but remember very little of it.
Grand Archives – Good but didn’t live up to the hype for me. Got a LOT better as it went on. I need to investigate more.
Handsome Furs – Solid. Post Rock. yes post rock was well represented. I’d see them again.
Half Japanese – Needed to happen once in my life and it was pretty much exactly what one expected, with Ira from Yo La Tengo on sax adding to the absurdity.
Beat Union – These guys were awesome! LIke Black Rebel Motorcycle Club meets OK Computer. I would totally go see them again. If I remember.
Headlights – Awesome, as always. Man, they’re great.
Tily and the Wall – I was soooo tired but their infections Abba-esque songs and tap dancing really woke me up. Yay!
Saturday….
A Place to Bury Strangers – Awesome. Scary. Loud. Fast. Better and better every time. Weird to see them in the day time (I saw them again last night in the dark and it makes a difference) but as solid as can be.
Chromeo – Not my cup of tea, and ripping off Freezepop to boot. And thought they deserved an encore? huh.
Pissed Jeans – RAWWWWKKK!!!
Two Gallants – Chin stroking folkiness
Atlas Sound – Pretty awesome lush big sound, but we saw them at Mess With Texas, outside, which was a little weird. Still solid, though, and I’m glad we made it.
Most Serene Republic – Not as awesome as their albums. I didn’t like the lead singer. They should fire him and let the chick playing guitar take over.
The Raveonettes – WAYY better than they used to be. I’m totally into them now.
James Yuill – Yeah I liked them. More of that two people who can’t really play doing a duo with a sequencer thing, but there was something geekily good about them.
The Teeth – Reminded me of the Rembrandts.
SYME – Swedish space rock. Awesome in that they were Swedish Space rock, but not like amazingly Mogwai or something.
Soundtrack of Our Lives – took too long to come on, but they 3 songs we saw were absurdly great and funny and big rock and oasis meets spce rock meets spinal tap. ShoeLOLling
The Slits – Exactly how you’d expect the slits to Sound live.
The Vice After party, which Cameron deftly got us VIP wristbands to:
Jay Retarded – Big Rock. Decent.
Dark Meat – the single craziest band of the festival. 20 half naked insane people doing an arcade fire kind of thing mixed with bad acid, altamont, a circus and a parade all in one. Confetti. Glow sticks. Bouncing balls. Horns, guitars, I don’t even know. Last band of the festival and a perfect ending. Also hilarious seeing Carl from Great Scott pop out of the crowd completely astounded.
Best thing about the Vice afterparty. Fucked up played, and apparently the lead singer cut himself on the cheek after one song. Cameron comes back to the VIP area and is ranting and raving “dude, what the hell. Your band is called FUCKED UP and you’re a PUNK BAND and you quit playing after one song cuz you got a boo boo?” And the guy was standing right behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. Ha. Yeah dude, pick a fight when you just wussed out of playing a show.
SXSW
posted Feb 8, 05:53 PM by Rick WebbFile under: Festivals , Hit the Road
The 2008 SXSW lineup has been announced. I was going to go anyway, no doubt – this will be my fourth or fifth year going, and there’s always someone to see. This year’s lineup is basically as good as any other – there’s just so much @ SXSW that it’s never really all about one band or another.
For me, this year brings excitement from British Sea Power, Michael Brook, REM (I suppose, we’ll see), Dolly Parton, Mark Kozelek, Yo La Tango, Annie, F**k Buttons, Asobe Seksu, Film School, Half Japanese, The Meatmen, Holy F**k, Akron/Family, Boys in a Band, She and Him, Torche.
Also exciting: My friends band Sunburned Hand of the Man, and two bands from my record label The Archenemy Record Company – Freezepop and Neptune.
There’s some good stuff going on in interactive too! It’s shaping up to be a quality week.
Coachella
posted Jan 22, 11:14 PM by Rick WebbFile under: Festivals , Hit the Road
And, of course, let’s not forget Coachella. Not the most amazing lineup, but solid enough, and Coachella is a good time if you rent a house, even if the lineup isn’t everything you wanted. And, hell. I’s 1992 all over again: Portishead, The Verve, Spiritualized, Love and Rockets. Or is it 1982? Kraftwerk? Roger Waters?
Still, though, I am there The “lesser” bands are solid – The Breeders, Stars, Holy F**k, Les Savy Fav, Hot Chip, Vampire Weekend, etc. It could be worse. I am there.
Festival season has begun – so far I have firm plans for Coachella and SXSW, and am thinking of hitting Lollapalooza, Vineland, maybe All Points West, maybe Austin City Limits, definitely at least one ATP. Maybe Iceland Airwaves again, maybe Vegoose.
It’s going to be a good Rock Tourist year.
Full Coachella lineup here
Tickets go on sale Friday.
