Rae's live music appreciation thread

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Originally Posted by nobody

I'm listening to the Vampire Hands MySpace stuff right now...interesting. These guys got any actual CDs out yet?

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Yeah, 2 EPs and then the new full-length.

~Rae

This show came at the perfect time, considering I've probably listened to every one of Loudon's albums several times through in the last month in preparation for the comps I was putting together.

The opening act for this tour is Loudon's daughter with Suzy Roche, Lucy Wainwright Roche (a heretofore unknown musical Wainwright, to me!). She had an awkward charm-- evidently she quit her job as a second-grade teacher last year to pursue her music career, and at times, it seemed like she was interacting with the audience as if they were a classroom-- and a pretty, slightly airy voice. Her short set was enjoyable, although she has yet to follow in the footsteps of her half-siblings and create a fully-realized sound of her own.

Loudon played a set of decent length that was heavy on material from his new Strange Weirdos (music written for the film Knocked Up with Joe Henry). Most of it sounded good and it was interesting to hear the songs without full production or a backing band, especially the Henry-penned numbers. The catalog stuff was mostly his crowd-pleasing later work (lots of goofily humorous meditations on mortality and growing old). Highlights for me included "White Winos" (sans the intro that he did last time that seemed to make some pretty creepy insinuations about his own son), "Half Fist", and an impromptu honored request of "The Picture". Lucy joined him for a few songs (even singing some Kate McGarrigle parts, which I can only imagine is a weird arrangement for Loudon).

Overall, a very good show. I went with my father, which heightened both our appreciations of the concert, since a lot of Loudon's songs are about family relationships. If you're on the last leg of this tour, I'd recommend checking it out.

~Rae

The show was all right. Much mellower and over earlier than I had expected. I was knocked out by the contact high.

~Rae

Ohh, Jens. This show had such high expectations after the last time that he came through and it satisfied so completely. It wasn't quite the same all-Swedish all-girl backing band, but he did have horns (and strings!) and the set list was just about perfect. "A Postcard to Nina", "Maple Leaves", and "A Sweet Summer's Night on Hammer Hill" were pure giddiness, and the night ended with a cover of Paul Simon's "Call Me Al" (sans chorus- Jens explained "this is a silly song but the chorus is just too silly and I hate it") and a hypnotic, crowd-supported version of "Pocketful of Money" with a hundred or so people channelling Calvin Johnson over and over for what felt like ten minutes. So good!

~Rae

^ Glad it was a good show! I was about to go see Jens but got sidetracked by wine, movies, and hangin' mellow...plus I knew I was going to see Richard Buckner at the Turf Club this Tues. I'll try to remember to post feedback on him...

Oh man, I had forgotten that that Buckner show was coming up! I'll see if I can make it. Maybe I can buy ya a beer or something if I do.

Last time I saw Richard Buckner was at the Cedar Cultural Center with Doug Gillard (and Eric Bachmann opening). That was quite a show. Hypnotic, one might say. I'm sure his bar shows are a horse of a different color.

~Rae

tell ya' what...I'll have a green hat, either on or in my back pocket. I'd gladly say hi and have a beer...
a different beast - but your 'hypnotic' reference makes me think of a time I saw Will Oldham, playing as Palace, alone at a bar in Portland,OR. He sat with his back to the audience for much of the show but somehow, he remained totally engaged, and not only engaged, but he guided everyone through their evening - through extreme ups and downs, darks and lights, etc. Crazy show!

Hey Jonny, I was there. I looked for a green hat but didn't espy one. I was surprised at how similar the show was to the Cedar one. The steel guitar and more of an emphasis on acoustic guitars on Richard's part gave the sound a little bit of a different vibe, but his demeanor was pretty much the same. Were you there? What'd you think?

~Rae

I was there...hadn't seen him before but really liked the show. Liked the looping of his guitar as he switched instruments/songs. It was kinda like a sorbet between courses and added some atmosphere. Plus pedal steel...always cool. I'd been telling my wife about how great his lyrics are but it was kinda hard to hear them clearly.

Yeah, he did the looping thing before, too.

So what's next on yr concert-going agenda? What should I be hip to? I just missed the Minnesota Orchestra doing Arvo Pärt this last week and it looks like I will miss the reunited Meat Puppets tonight...

~Rae

A coupla short capsules...

Last Friday night I shouted in a Minor Threat cover band as part of an all-covers show at my friend Andie's new show/art space. Other performers included Dolly Parton, DRI, ZZ Top, X, The Epoxies (fronted by an 8-year-old!), Lifter Puller, Rod Stewart, The Wipers, Flipper, Sun Ra, and my personal favorite, two drummers replicating the Max Roach/Buddy Rich record Rich vs. Roach.

Saturday afternoon was the fifth annual Lunch Show, annually featuring Signal to Trust and the STNNNG with a rotating third band (Aneuretical, Noise Quean Ant, and Shellac in years past) which this year was FT The Shadow Government. Fun as always! I ate some great vegan chili, made a gingerbread house, and got a cool this-show-only 7" with Signal and STNNNG covering each other on each side.

~Rae

A friend and I drove down to the former Gabe's Oasis to see this reformed Iowa power trio. So fun and boozy, just like I remember it. I didn't remember that I could pogo for that long. I know Stone will remember these guys. One of my favorite live bands, hands down.

~Rae

Rang in the new year with a couple of shows. First we dropped by Stasiu's to see my friend play bass in his band The Darkos (formerly The Donnie Darkos, uggh). It was tons of fun & he's a great guy but I can't hang with their sound. Very radio-ready, Against Me! type pop punk.

The real party was at Medusa with surf-punk kingpins The Mojo Spleens and my very dear friends Jose Bove. The latter is about to go on tour, so if you live in the path of their destruction, please check them out.

myspace.com/josebove

Jan 2 2008 • Bloomington, Indiana
Jan 3 2008 • Columbus, Ohio
Jan 4 2008 • Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Jan 5 2008 • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Jan 6 2008 • Brooklyn, New York
Jan 8 2008 • Greensborough, North Carolina
Jan 9 2008 • Asheville, North Carolina
Jan 11 2008 • St. Louis, Missouri
Jan 12 2008 • Kansas City, Missouri
Jan 13 2008 • Iowa City, Iowa

My old roommates Eric & Andie both play drums, Jackie and Jonathan play noise guitars, and Tynan and Elyse play some circuit-bent keyboards. All are fantastic people and the music is great. I don't really know how to describe it... kinda rhythmic, grimy, good.

~Rae

You got a venue for the St. Louis date? I don't see anything listed on the MySpace. But, considering its a Friday night, I may end up checking 'em out.

I don't know off the top of my head but I will consult and get back to you.

~Rae

resurrect! yo.
I went out to a pretty great No Age show a few months ago...July I think. Lots of steppin' on looped and fuzzed-out guitar barrage pedals with the most blissful pop melodies laid over. No Age and Jay Reatard (who played the late show at the same spot that night but I was too tired for stickin' around...) both put out a perfect pop/punk mix that not many bands since maybe Husker Du and Wire have hit on in awhile.

btw...I'm going to see Wire at First Ave. on Oct. 17th and WovenHand on Oct. 23rd.
Thinking about driving to MegaFaun on Fri. Sept. 26th in Menomenie, WI...these guys have been playing as the Akron/Family house-band of late and were Bon Iver's band before he went solo last year. Neko Case is here tomorrow with Giant Sand opening...anyone seen her?...I'm debating this show at the moment.

Just saw Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet last night at the Guthrie Theatre. Really great band with Bela Fleck, Casey Dreissen, etc. She plays sorta traditional Appalacian-style bluegrass with alot of Schezuan Province traditional folk songs in the mix. Each member of the band takes the occasional solo that makes it worth the price of admission each time.

I was thinking about bumping this thread after I went to see Grinderman last week (Warren Ellis is a madman) but I had had had to do it for this one.

Superchunk was insanely great! My feet barely touched the floor throughout the entire set. So often, I've seen nostalgia shows that were fun but didn't move me (see: this summer's Pavement show) but I can't conceive of this band being any better in their prime. Hell, maybe this is their prime!

Times New Viking opened and they were okay. I was a little bummed that another touring band was brought into open this show (and it was odd that it was TNV, who just opened for Guided By Voices here about six weeks ago) instead of one of the legion of local bands that would've been a perfect pairing, but they weren't terrible. I expected them to be a little noisier but they were actually really crisp with propulsive drumming, some organ stuff, and razor-sharp guitar lines. The set seemed to get better with each song and ended on a high note.

Superchunk wildly exceeded any of my expectations. I can't even remember what they opened with but "Skip Steps 1 & 3" was what sent me into heaven, and the whole set was a sustained high from there. They hit all my favorite tracks on the new record ("My Gap Feels Weird", "Learned to Surf", "Crossed Wires", "Digging for Something") and ran through a cornucopia of catalog highlights like "Driveway to Driveway" and "The First Part". The encore was "Seed Toss" followed by "Everything at Once" and then an absolutely scorching cover of Hüsker Dü's "Something I Learned Today" into "Slack Motherfucker". My only complaint is that they didn't play "Detroit Has a Skyline" (I almost couldn't believe that they didn't play it). They were just so tight and energetic the whole time... man, a show for the ages.

Here's a pic (you can see the back of my head in the front row-- exclamation points added for emphasis):

http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/2...nkfirstave.jpg

~Rae

Just noticed the post above mine where jonny saw Jay Reatard (at the Entry?). RIP.

Also, I went to that Neko Case/Giant Sand show you mentioned, but in Duluth. It was grrreat.

~Rae