• 05-01-2007, 06:10 AM
    Rae
    Rae's live music appreciation thread
    I decided to start posting all the shows I go to in this thread so that I don't feel bad when I get 15 views and zero replies. ;-) The first couple are reposts.

    ~Rae
  • 05-01-2007, 06:12 AM
    Rae
    4/7/07 - Neko Case, John Rauhouse @ First Avenue
    All, right, so we went to this show last night and had a really good time.

    John Rauhouse opened and he was an unexpected delight... he had a quartet and they played primarily-- oh, I don't know how to describe it-- old timey guitar instrumentals. I recognized some of the tunes from recordings in my collection by similarly retro-fetishist groups like They Might Be Giants and Soul Coughing, but I'm sure that those sounds are recycled from earlier songs. He brought out Kelly Hogan to sing on a few numbers, and at one point she said "John, we can't do two Johnny Mercer songs in a row!"-- it was that kind of a set. Looking him up on allmusic, it looks like he's a member of the Grevious Angels, who I haven't heard (but feel like I've heard of-- but maybe I'm just thinking of Gram Parsons).

    Neko was in fine form as well... the set was heavy on material from Fox Confessor, but she did trot out a few standbys like "Lady Pilot," "Deep Red Bells," and "Favorite" as well as a few covers ("Train From Kansas City," Dylan's "Buckets of Rain," and "Knock Loud," which was the second encore). The highlights for me were a rollicking version of "John Saw That Number" and some great harmonies between Neko and Kelly Hogan on "If You Knew". If I had one complaint, it's the same one that I have about the last record-- too often, the vocals were drenched in reverb. I was actually looking forward to hearing some of the songs from Fox Confessor live in the hope that they'd be a little more stripped down and raw, but no such luck. I don't really mind it, but I'm not sure why it's employed so often when Neko has such a clear, strong, commanding voice on her own.

    Anyway, an enjoyable evening! I don't get out to as many big shows as I used to, so this was fun. Next up is Ted Leo at the end of the month...

    ~Rae
  • 05-01-2007, 06:13 AM
    Rae
    4/25/07 - Ted Leo & the Pharmacists, Love of Diagrams @ First Avenue
    We went to see Ted Leo on his Living With the Living tour at First Avenue last night.

    The opening band was Love of Diagrams, who are evidently from Australia. Couldn't be more timely with all the talk we've had around here about early Siouxsie & the Banshees recently; these guys had that sound down to a tee. I was kinda into some of the guitar work and there's no doubt that they'd mastered a particular style, but overall it just didn't hook me.

    Ted & the Pharmacists took the stage in a relatively timely fashion and ran through a set that was pretty heavy on material from the new album and Shake the Sheets. It was nice to see that James Canty was back in the band after a hiatus that seemed to have started right before Hearts of Oak. Things went a little awry about halfway through when Ted got a little overenergetic in the middle of the set and accidentally knocked over his stack. Rather than take the time to get the equipment back together, he just finished the set sans guitar. There were a few other technical difficulties, and before the encore, Ted basically apologized for a "bad show" and promised they'd be back soon. I don't think that the audience saw it that way, though, as most everyone was pogoing up & down the entire time. They finished with a fine cover of the Chumbawamba track "Rapaport's Lament" (which is also on the bonus EP Mo' Living that came with first pressings of the new album).

    Overall a good time although probably not the most memorable of the 10 or so times I've had the pleasure of seeing the Pharmacists over the last six or seven years.

    ~Rae
  • 05-01-2007, 06:14 AM
    Rae
    4/30/07 - Nudity, Synchrocyclotron @ the New Bedlam Theater
    My friend Rayna threw a show at the recently reopened Bedlam Theater last night. It was as much an excuse to go check out the venue as it was to check out the bands.

    Nudity was all right. They were a guitar-bass-drums threepiece from Olympia, WA. Most of it was pretty straight-ahead psychedelic jams, somewhat similar to the Sunshine Fix.

    Synchrocyclotron played their usual brand of sometimes carnivalesque instrumental prog-punk.

    It was a good time.

    ~Rae
  • 05-01-2007, 07:16 AM
    Jim Clark
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rae
    We went to see Ted Leo on his Living With the Living tour at First Avenue last night.

    The opening band was Love of Diagrams, who are evidently from Australia. Couldn't be more timely with all the talk we've had around here about early Siouxsie & the Banshees recently; these guys had that sound down to a tee. I was kinda into some of the guitar work and there's no doubt that they'd mastered a particular style, but overall it just didn't hook me.



    ~Rae

    I've got that Love of Diagrams album and EP. Really thought I'd love it and I just like it. It has it's moments but it really hasn't grown on me too much yet.

    And yes, Melbourne, Austraila is where they hail from.

    Melbourne,
    Crazy, crazy Melbourne.
    You've got everything from restaraunts
    to kiddie porn.
    And would I leave?
    Man you must be kidding me
    unless you send me to Sydney.

    jc
    with apologies for the obscure and pointless Wall Of Voodoo reference.
  • 05-01-2007, 07:43 AM
    Swish
    Pity click!
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rae
    I decided to start posting all the shows I go to in this thread so that I don't feel bad when I get 15 views and zero replies. ;-) The first couple are reposts.

    ~Rae

    Well, I was going to comment on the Ted Leo and the Farmer's Cysts show, but got distracted and never came back to it. I like Ted just fine, but I haven't seen him live and didn't really have much to say other than something bland and unimaginative. Would you rather I posted something like that or nothing at all? Now I'm just waiting for you or one of my other RR 'friends' to say that all my posts are bland and unimaginative.

    Swish
  • 05-01-2007, 11:59 AM
    Jim Clark
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Swish
    Well, I was going to comment on the Ted Leo and the Farmer's Cysts show, but got distracted and never came back to it. I like Ted just fine, but I haven't seen him live and didn't really have much to say other than something bland and unimaginative. Would you rather I posted something like that or nothing at all? Now I'm just waiting for you or one of my other RR 'friends' to say that all my posts are bland and unimaginative.

    Swish

    plus we messed up his whole zero replies thing.

    jc
  • 05-01-2007, 12:01 PM
    ForeverAutumn
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Swish
    Now I'm just waiting for you or one of my other RR 'friends' to say that all my posts are bland and unimaginative.

    Swish

    Oh sure, take the fun out of it. :prrr:
  • 05-02-2007, 10:47 AM
    Monkey Bones
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rae
    Nudity was all right.

    I hear ya my young friend. Nudity at a party is always all right in my book, too. The more, the better. Well, maybe not at a Rave Recs party, but you know what I mean.

    Hood in the sound machine right now. Outside Closer. Unfortunately, never quite the understated masterpiece that was Cold House, but still pretty good.
  • 05-02-2007, 11:42 AM
    -Jar-
    Well, I'm appreciating live music thru the cd medium. Thanks for the Slint. Beautiful recordings. Man, I always said that if Slint got back together I would drive cross country to see them. Well, the idea didn't match the reality. I don't think they even played in Ohio. Thanks for the memories even though I wasn't there. Were you able to catch any of their shows? There's always hope they'll do it again.

    Last live gig I was at? oh lord.. I want to say Braid but I'm not sure. I know I saw my friend's band Quickening a few times. I saw Bob Mould solo, but that was over a year ago. Mastodon and Clutch are playing in the same week in May, Mastodon a day after Clutch. Both are House of Blues shows.. ugh. I don't know if I can even make one of them.. sad very sad..

    -jar

    ps, it's interesting if you listen to "Kid Dynamite" real close you can hear a chord progression they later used in "Good Morning Captain"
  • 05-06-2007, 08:15 AM
    Rae
    5/5/07 - Naked Raygun & Dillinger Four @ the Triple Rock
    We packed into the Triple Rock last night for a sold-out show celebrating the 13th anniversary of Extreme Noise, a local volunteer-run punk record store. Shot Baker and the Methadones played first, but we hung in the bar for those two (it's in a separate room and you can't drink and watch bands at the same time at an all ages show).

    Dillinger Four was in fine form and ripped through about seven or eight classics during a boozy, high-energy set. They don't seem to play that much anymore-- maybe they are caught up with side projects or the workaday world (Eric is co-owner of the club)-- but they sounded as good as they ever did. No new tunes, although it has been rumored that they might be recording this year (it'd be about time as the last thing they put out was 2002's Situationist Comedy).

    I sort of wrestled with the question of whether Naked Raygun was going to be purely a nostalgia show or not... no John Haggerty, and the rest of the band is composed of old old men at this point. Unfortunately, they didn't do much to put those fears to rest. For a band that seemed to have made its reputation on live shows as much if not more than on the strength of their records, they seemed curiously unengaged. I've heard rumors that Jeff Pezzati was diagnosed with Parkinson's...? Don't know if that's true or not-- if it was, it would certainly explain the low energy level of their set, if not why these guys are still trying to go out on the road. Still, the crowd was clearly into it (400 inebriated punks can't be wrong) and it was fun to hear favorites like "The Peacemaker" and "Potential Rapist" played live for the first time.

    All in all, an evening well spent!

    ~Rae
  • 05-10-2007, 08:53 AM
    Rae
    5/9/07 - Black Audience with Flavor Crystals @ the 7th St Entry
    Ahh, what a beautiful evening to bike to a show in Minneapolis. This was a pretty casual affair; some of my friends had put together an impromptu band and it was an excuse to drink and socialize out on the town.

    Flavor Crystals played first; they owe a heavy debt to Washing Machine era Sonic Youth. The frontman even wears his hair like Thurston Moore. There are worse sounds and hairstyles you could imitate, though.

    My friends' band, Black Audience, played only six songs, but it was thoroughly enjoyable. They went for sort of a rootsy, almost gospelly sound. The musicians included members of Valet, the Legendary Jim Ruiz Group, Dreamland Faces, and the Restless Souls, and they played all covers... some Dylan, a Harry Belafonte song, and a couple from Sweet Honey in the Rock.

    Good way to spend an early summer evening.

    ~Rae
  • 05-11-2007, 06:24 AM
    Mike
    Jesse Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter
    Saw Jesse Sykes the other night at a small venue, I was a bit sceptical on what her live sound might be, alt country goth is not my first choice for a live sound, but it was a cracking show. She covered mostly stuff from the latest album with some old favourites from previous albums. The Sweet Hereafter are a great little band with an excellent solo guitarist who really gave them an edgey sound, nice use of effect pedals too.

    Special mention to John Tillman who is supporting her UK tour, never heard of him before but one to seek out methinks. He came on unannounced, tuning his guitar like a roadie then just started singing, he had the whole crowd mesmerized you could hear a pin drop. He didn't speak until he had nearly finished his set when in his own words described himself as a 'homeless Charles Mansun'

    Cheers
    Mike
  • 05-11-2007, 06:43 PM
    Audio Girl
    I wish I had participated in this thread right after I saw the following artists (too much time now to be specific):

    (1) Lindsey Buckingham -- January 30, 2007 -- Bass Performance Hall

    (2) Rickie Lee Jones -- March 30, 2007 -- Lakewood Theatre

    For those who are fans of these artists, I would highly recommend attending one of their latest concerts, emphasizing that Rickie Lee Jones absolutely blew the doors off the joint in Dallas. She is as amazing in 2007 as she was when I saw her in the late 1970s. Lindsey did a nice job too but the day following RLJ's concert, I was reading everything about her latest release I could get my hands on. That's always a good sign.
  • 05-25-2007, 08:10 AM
    nobody
    Saw Morrissey this week...great show.

    Wife and I were both talking about how we didn't know if he'd still have his voice and all, but he was fine and he's got a nice big catalog to choose from. He opened with the Queen Is Dead (a great Smiths tune) and followed that up with ome of my favorites of his newer material, First of the Gang to Die. Show was heavier on Ringmaster of the Tormented than I would have liked, but the band was absolutely top notch (two full time guitarists plus a third who went from guitar to keyboards to trumpet, etc...and an excellent rhythm section) and he trotted out old hits like Boy With The Thorn In His Side, Girlfriend In A Coma and capped off the night with a killer version of How Soon Is Now. I was a bit surprised to hear him do Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want on one of the encores, and the whole night was a bit special as it was his 48th birthday and the crowd sang to him to get him out for the encore and he was getting presents passed up to him throughout the night.

    I was skeptical about springing the $35 bucks they wanted for this show, but did it since the wife is such an old Smiths fanatic. But, in the end, it was a great show and may just have been close to worth it.
  • 05-29-2007, 06:54 PM
    Rae
    Forgot to dash off something about our last Saturday night spent show-hopping... started when I got off work around 10:30pm with an acoustic living room show in Uptown, where we revelled in the sounds of a few amateur Mountain Goats & Wolf Colonel worshippers, then a quick bike trip to the Church, a soon-to-be demolished underground noise venue in an abandoned iglésia where we took in the valleys-and-peaks static of Newport, and then onward to Memory Lanes (the old Stardust Lanes bowling alley made famous on Let's Bowl that is trying to reposition itself as a punk venue alá the Fireside), where we bopped to the Oh Sees, a new project of Coachwhips frontman Jon Dwyer. All in one sentence, no less.

    ~Rae
  • 05-30-2007, 10:34 PM
    Rae
    5/30/07 - Dinosaur Jr. with Awesome Color @ the Triple Rock Social Club
    My ears are still ringing from this evening's jam session.

    IT WAS A SOLD-OUT SHOW! HEARD THE ROAR OF THE CROWD! YOU CAN PICTURE THE (freak) SCENE!

    Awesome Color opened for these old guys and kicked out some psychedelic raveups. I was real into the first couple songs but it got kinda repetitive. Still, if you are into unpretentious sixties-style guitar rock, you could do worse.

    This was the second night of a two-night stand for the Dinosaurs, and I had heard nothing but bad things about the first night. Frankly, though, I thought they were on fire this evening. They kicked off with "Almost Ready" and ran through a healthy mix of both old and new. Sure, there wasn't much onstage banter (okay, none) and the guys didn't even look at each other (well, J didn't look at Lou or Murph), but they honestly seemed to be feeding off of each other quite a bit. The rhythm section was energetic from the get go, and while J started out with his standard stock-still-hair-in-the-face-mumbling-into-the-mic pose, after a while he started rocking a little bit too. The encore was "Just Like Heaven" into a furious "Lightning Bulb", and the crowd was left reeling from the ear-shattering rock music and gasping for breath. I could've stood to hear "Start Choppin", "Raisans", or "Crumble", but I wasn't too disappointed.

    ~Rae
  • 06-10-2007, 04:50 PM
    Rae
    6/8/07 - The Pipettes @ the 7th St Entry
    We took a risk and checked out this much-buzzed about girl group from the UK. They were pretty much what I thought they would be-- costumes, choreographed hand movement, extremely catchy songwriting... the only aspect of the hype that I disagree with was their harmonizing-- no WAY can these ladies sing as well as classic girl groups. Still, it hardly matters when the melodies are as infectious as this. It's basically standard-issue indie pop playing dress up, which is fine with me. All in all, they put on a really fun live show, but I have no real urge to run out and pick up the record.

    We showed up at 10:30pm for the show (which was billed as 'doors at 9pm') and were disappointed to discover that we had already missed the second band, Smoosh. I've never gotten the opportunity to hear this act, but I've heard a lot about them... c'est la vie.

    ~Rae
  • 07-01-2007, 01:33 PM
    Rae
    Oh dear, I feel I've neglected this. I must've gone to a show since that Pipettes affair... well, maybe not. I did miss out on last night's excellent Tortoise/Make Believe bill at the Cedar Cultural Center, but I wasn't too disappointed since I was able to take in a set by my friends in Hex in some South Minneapolis basement... they manage to sound just like the Melvins with a lineup of drums, viola, and tuba. Go figure.

    ~Rae
  • 07-12-2007, 12:47 PM
    Rae
    7/11/07 - F*cked Up, Pandamonium @ the Triple Rock Social Club
    I ran into a friend on the street last night who talked me into spontaneously accompanying him to this show. It was all right. I guess I expected something a little more distinctive from Fucked Up-- I know a lot of people that are into them that aren't normally into hardcore. They're on Jade Tree, which isn't really associated with the genre as a label, they're from Canada, and they've got some queer politics in their music, but honestly they were pretty straight ahead. It was pretty hard to understand the vocals anyway, maybe if I had been reading a lyric sheet during the show, I would've had a different impression. Still not that bad, though. Pandamonium is fun and has a few members that I know from way back from bands like the Goochers and Freeze Baby... anyway, tonight should be better-- Radio F'n Birdman!!!

    ~Rae
  • 07-12-2007, 12:51 PM
    Rae
    It bothers me that I couldn't say "queer" in the above post.
  • 07-14-2007, 02:39 PM
    Rae
    7/12/07 - Radio Birdman, Pearlene @ the Triple Rock Social Club
    It's two days later and I'm still feeling the effects of this show. A little Early Times and a large bottle of Fat Tire made me feel like I was invincible at the time, but that is clearly not the case. Ohh, my aching neck.

    Pearlene opened and they were not really my cup of tea. A little too much boogie in their organ-driven punk, replete with vintage guitars and tattooed & bouffanted backup singers.

    Radio Birdman is o-o-old. It was hard to ignore how ancient they looked, especially Rob Younger (think Donovan at the end of The Last Crusade after sipping from the poorly chosen cup). Still, they rocked hard and it was hard not to get caught up in the wall-to-wall pogo-worthy setlist, especially the sublime stretch of "Burned My Eye"-"Murder City Nights"-"Maelstrom" and the set-closing "What Gives" into "Aloha Steve & Danno" along with an encore of "Til the End of the Day" and "New Race". These guys are three decades out from freshness, but they still play with an infectious passion that's impossible to resist.

    ~Rae
  • 07-14-2007, 02:44 PM
    Rae
    7/13/07 - Black Audience @ the Hexagon
    Caught these guys again last night and they are getting better all the time. Still no originals as far as I know but a great eclectic selection of covers including "Sweet Jane" and Alberta Hunter's "You Can't Tell the Diff'rence After Dark."

    ~Rae
  • 09-16-2007, 06:12 PM
    Rae
    9/15/07 - Vampire Hands, STNNNG, Gay Beast, DotS @ Big V's
    Holy fuck last night was a blistering rock & roll show. I almost have the urge to break this post out of my lil' live appreesh thread ghetto because I think that the seeds were sown for something you guys will be hearing about. Maybe I'll wait until I pick up the record. Anyway, Vampire Hands headlined a ridiculous lineup of Minneapolis' finest noise/punk/whatever bands in a tiny tiny venue to kick off their impending tour and celebrate the release of their new full-length Virgin Dust, American Lips. At least three of the bands on the bill could've filled up a larger venue than the 200's-pushing-it Big V's Saloon on St. Paul's Midway. Daughters of the Sun were the relative newcomers and played first. Very cool, trance-y, acid-damaged vibe along the lines of Acid Mothers Temple or bands of that ilk. Gay Beast filled the second slot and basically destroyed-- they've now incorporated tenor sax into their live show, and the sax/guitar interplay really snapped some necks. STNNNG played third and were also absolutely devastating. They closed their set with a new cover of a Signal to Trust song that blew me away. Vampire Hands were the dark orchestraters of the evening and ruled supreme over pretty much everyone. After three incredible opening sets, they raised the bar even further. You guys will know them (by their trail of... you'll know them). Psychedelic drugs are back in the midwest and this is their soundtrack. Awesome.

    Spaces: Vampire Hands STNNNG Gay Beast DotS oh man.
  • 09-16-2007, 06:51 PM
    nobody
    I'm listening to the Vampire Hands MySpace stuff right now...interesting. These guys got any actual CDs out yet?

    Psychedelics, huh? Not sure I wanna drop acid anymore...maybe a little mushrooms.