Radiohead at Nissan Pavilion 5-11-08

Ok, I don't want to write about the rain, the miserable, cold, driving rain. I don't want to write about the two hours it took my crew to travel 45 miles to the show (leaving 3 hours early no less). I don't want to talk about sitting in the parking lot without moving for more than two and a half hours after the show. I don't want to talk about the countless others that experienced the exact same thing or the countless others that couldn't even get to the venue due to flooding and ridiculously bad venue management. I don't want to write about all these things, but these aspects so dominated Radiohead's set at Virginia's Nissan Pavilion that it would be impossible to not talk about them.

Leaving several hours before the show was supposed to start, we sat in traffic on the 20 mile stretch from the DC beltway to Bristow, Va. It rained the entire time and there were no signs of the rain stopping. Getting off the highway, traffic was backed up miles from the venue. It rained the entire time and there were no signs of the rain stopping. Finally pulling into the parking lot we huddled in our car until the very last minute. It rained the entire time and there were no signs of the rain stopping. Walking to the venue I was soaked within minutes. It rained the entire time and there were no signs of the rain stopping.

Ok, you get it, it rained alot.

The benefit of going to a venue in the middle of nowhere and that lets cars in one at a time is that by the time you finally get there it is time for the headliner. Colin Greenwood was the first band member to appear from backstage and bounded to his bass in typical Colin manner. The rest of the band joined him and they started into "All I Need" which felt appropriate at such a miserable time. The primary set was heavy on songs off of their new album, "In Rainbows", with "Jigsaw Falling Into Place" and "Bodysnatchers" showing that the band can still rock and "Reckoner" and "Videotape" being delicate, yet powerful. Thom Yorke had some trouble on "Faust Arp", not being able to get in sync with Johnny Greenwood and having to restart the song. The rain, which was blowing onto the stage, may have been the problem, in which case nobody in the crowd could blame Yorke. Old favorite "Paranoid Android" took on new meaning, as the soaked crowd sang out "rain down, rain down, rain down on me". "Myxomatosis", "Idioteque", "Just" and "Everything In It's Right Place" rounded out a heavy primary set.

The first encore featured a sharp version of "Optimistic" and an inspired (by, as Thom put it, "those people on the Hill") "Karma Police". Radiohead reached back into their catalog and finished their encore with "Planet Telex".

The second encore started with the always passionate "Fake Plastic Trees" before Colin Greenwood's bass started pounding out the opening notes of "The National Anthem". The crowd, which had been mostly beaten down and docile the entire night, finally responded as Radiohead's brilliant new set flickered and pulsed behind them. After genuinely thanking the rain soaked crowd, the band ended the night with "House of Cards", sufficiently bringing things down a notch before sending us back to reality.

At no point in my life had it ever been so apparent that music is a necessary distraction from the hardships of life. Immediately upon leaving the venue, the crowd was faced with calf-deep streams and mud, not to mention the rain that continued to fall. Seeking refuge at our car, we thought the worst was behind us, after all we were no longer being pounded by icy rain, so things had to be better, right? The physical hardship may have been over (well, somewhat, as sitting in wet clothes in the backseat of a Mazda 3 is not exactly comfortable), but the psychological hardship was just beginning. On the walk out, we saw cars headed for the exit, sadly those were the last cars we saw move for more than two hours. Literally, we did not move for two hours and it was just as frustrating and miserable as you can imagine. I'm not sure how the Nissan Pavilion people can sleep at night, knowing that thousands of people are literally trapped at their venue following shows (not to mention the safety risks), but I'm sure they are working on it, since the $6 per ticket parking fee HAS to be going toward something.

Sadly, a(nother) tremendous Radiohead show will be forever linked to miserable weather and an awful venue.

Arcade Fire at the Beachland Ballroom March 3 2008

Holy fuckin' shit. Holy fuckin' shit! HOLY SHIT MAN DID THAT JUST HAPPEN?!

72 hours ago, I heard that the Arcade Fire would be putting on a free show in Cleveland. Free. Cleveland. Holy shit. 48 hours ago I was devising a plan with my brother on how the hell we'd get in line early enough to get in (the show was announced as first come, first served, no advance tickets). 24 hours ago it was announced that a late show had been added, and tickets could be picked up in advance. Holy shit! Not long after, I heard that my brother had scored some of these elusive tickets (big ups AMart). JESUS CHRIST HOLY SHIT I'M SEEING ARCADE FIRE TONIGHT FOR FUCKING ZERO DOLLARS IN A PLACE THAT HOLDS 500 PEOPLE.

Setlist:
1. Intervention - very solid. Neon Bible didn't do nearly as much for me as Funeral, but there were two songs I was hoping to hear from the second album, this and "Keep the Car Running". We got this one and I was happy to have it. Just like on the album, it started slow but its power was undeniable from the jump. Soon enough, we had a full-blown anthem on our hands as people were singing and dancing along. Because the show was for a political cause, and the general tone of the evening was a hopeful one, the song seemed a bit desperate and the lyrics took on a new meaning ("I can taste the fear/Lift me up and take me out of here/Don't want to fight, don't want to die/Just wanna hear you cry") and especially "Working for the church while your life falls apart/Singing hallelujah with the fear in your heart". Beautifully done and really a powerful moment. But only a hint of what was to come.

2. (Antichrist Television Blues) - I'm not crazy about this song and the performance didn't do too much to make me reconsider. All I took from it is that at times Win sounds a hell of a lot like Bruce Springsteen.

3. A Gimme Some Truth (John Lennon cover) - This was really nice and well done, but nothing compared to...

4. Change is Gonna Come (Sam Cooke) - My favorite Sam Cooke song (the only one on my iPod, regrettably) and probably one of the best bands to pull it off. Really an understated rendition, Win obviously doesn't have Cooke's vocal chops but the band worked hard to put their heart into it and the results were phenomenal. The song came across as the classic that it is, and it was an appropriate choice for the evening - "It's been a long time comin'/But I know a change is gonna come". This sentiment echoed the prevailing (at least in the Ballroom) attitude that Barack Obama represents real and significant change for our country.

Then shit got completely out of control.

5. Rebellion (Lies) - You may have seen photos of this one. Right off the bat, the crowd goes absolutely crazy when we recognize the song. This is a great song on the record, but when played the way it was last night, with seemingly primal desperation, well it's something special. When it really got rolling, about three minutes (where everyone starts yelling and the subtle part of the song is over and emotion takes over) Win just jumped into the crowd, mic stand and all. He's covered in sweat, and he's wading through a throng of adoring backup singers (screamers, really) and people are losing their shit. Everyone takes a picture, touches his vest, jumps up and down and basically goes hoarse yelling. Then he keeps moving through the crowd and settles literally right in front of me (albeit with his back turned to me). I was within about 6 millimeters of Win Butler for the next 4 minutes, as the extended chorus ("Every time you close your eyes/Lies! Lies!") is screamed over and over by people who seemed to really mean it, including me, and there are some pictures of me looking pretty nerdy (but heartfelt) out there. By the way, he's like 6'3'' - interesting side note. He goes back on stage and the band launches right into...

6. Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) - Absolutely no let down here, as the band and the crowd both relished screaming the "Whoo-hoo" parts between verses, and for a minute I really thought Regine was going to pop a blood vessel - she can't possibly perform like this every night, can she? Or can she? Amazing. Before we knew what hit us, Win threw the mic triumphantly down and they walked off to something more than applause - just the sound of heartfelt thanks and sheer admiration. This would have been a great way to end the night, except the mood at that moment wasn't one of optimism or hope, but closer to extreme excitement, the kind that in young people (a group to which I luckily no longer belong) would probably create a riot. So it was lucky that they came back for a quick encore.

7. Wake Up - Another amazing singalong moment. After a quick false start, there was much more OOOOOOOOOOOOing, and the crowd jumped the gun at one point at the band nearly lost their spot again as they laughed at us. I think they forgave us because they knew we were in awe. A totally triumphant moment, and as I walked out I just couldn't believe what I'd seen. People were delirious. Arcade Fire in a 500-capacity club, with electricity in the air. Incredible.

Review: Daft Punk "Alive 2007"

Full disclosure: Bitchfork was unable to attend any of Daft Punk's live shows, ever. First of all our passports aren't what you'd call "convincing" and secondly we were saving the world from Nickelback that weekend (okay we failed on that one but the important thing is we tried). But if we had, we would have put a hurting on the ecstasy market and basically turned that motherfucker out.

However, we've been fans for a long time and we shelled out the fifteen bucks for Alive 2007 in hopes that we'd be transported to the land of the two robots.

We weren't. But that's through no fault of Daft Punk. Without the truckloads of LED equipment the Frenchmen took on tour to dazzle the eyes, the listener is left to enjoy the experience through, you know, his ears. Still, Alive 2007 serves as an amazing mix of their great and not-great-but-this-has-potential-to be-great hits, all designed to rock your ass into the ground. The potential is here realized. It's lucky that we weren't beamed into a Daft Punk show because there's no way we'd have had the energy to be beamed back to reality afterwards.

With the crowd energy piped in at audible but by no means annoying levels, this album feels like you've just witnessed a triumphant World Cup final. You're not sure what the fuck is happening, but you like it, and you want to dance. One thing you do know: they must really be robots because no human could, in good conscience, so mercilessly lay down music so addictively danceable.

Ultimately for Daft Punk, this is the album that puts them over the line of "overlooked genius" to "overlooked cultural phenomenon". No matter what, your kid won't know who Daft Punk is, but all the people who attended these soon-to-be-legendary shows and anyone who loves laughably good beats will never forget what happened in '07.

Score: 47 out of 50 (-3 points for lack of transportation abilities)

Bright Eyes at DAR Constitution Hall 11-11-07

Welcome back faithful reader(s?). Indie rock wunderkind Conor Oberst took the stage at Washington DC's historic (well, mostly historic because the racist bastards that ran the place didn't let Marian Anderson play there in 1939) with his Bright Eyes band mates on a chilly, rainy fall evening. After the Felice Brothers (4 bros from New York, if you are scoring at home) opened the show with a interesting bluegrass infused set , Bright Eyes entered and immediately broke into a song I didn't know, so much for making an impression. They followed that up with a song I did know, "Another Travelin' Song" off of 2005's I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning. The live version of "Travelin'" provided to be a nice twist on a familiar tune, with the percussion accurately mimicking a clanking locomotive on the way to some far off town. "Arc of Time" showed the bands ability to transition from their classic acoustic, indie rock into a hazy electronica sound. Conor showed off his trademark emotion and intimacy on "Lua" and "Poison Oak".
The highlights of the show came after the intermission, adding the accordion playing Felice brother for fan favorite "Bowl of Oranges". After this, the other three Felices and Nik Freitas joined Bright Eyes on stage. At this point I was a little puzzled. What angst ridden, depressed, self deprecating song could all these guys get into? Well to my surprise Conor led the band into Tom Petty's "Walls" (off the 1996 soundtrack of Jen Aniston flick "She's the One"). The song came off marvelously, providing an emotional release and getting everybody on stage dancing and having a great time. Unfortunately the young crowd didn't resonate the energy on stage, since most were probably in elementary school when the song was released.
The show ended with Oberst finally giving in to his political side, telling the crowd that he is over Bush, but if he ever saw ever saw Dick Cheney he would "knock that motherfucker out". With that the band broke into an up tempo, hard rock protest song that really isn't comparable to anything in their catalog. The crowd was caught off guard as the normally passive Oberst spit venom laced lyrics over power chords. As the song ended, Oberst slammed his amp to the ground and used his guitar to create feedback before walking off.
The setlist could have benefited from the addition of songs like "Middleman" or "Easy/Lucky/Free" and the show end with a perplexing mix of joy and rage, but Oberst and his Bright Eyes mates played a solid and passionate set that was a nice complement to their diverse catalog.

BRMC at House of Blues Cleveland

You've probably been seduced before. There's always promise. Promise, promise of something wonderful, or POWERFUL. Have you? because when you're seduced, it's no fun being let down. If you know what I mean then you may have fit in on Monday night seeing Black Rebel. Unquestionably a great band, BRMC came out with guns-a-blazin'. And they played for two hours. Heavy riffs and bleating vocals, they played hard and satisfied many. But they could have done so much more. The Club played a bunch of new songs to a supposed small town crowd, who theoretically should just be happy that a name band came to their burg. This is the cross that crowds that aren't located in NY, LA, DC, Chi, etc. have to bear. We are their practice field. But that's beside the point. The problem wasn't just the new stuff. The real flaw tonight was that BRMC cut the balls off every good song they've ever written.

There are not many common themes throughout BRMC's four albums. The first two are fairly straightforward garage rock, while the third wanders into territory belonging more to blues. Their latest attempts to straddle the line even more than Howl. But what is never absent is the feeling, the absolute proof, that this band has power to spare. Even when making a conscious effort to harness (some might say suppress) this power, it is always evident. This is a strength. So why oh why would Black Rebel Motorcyle Club ( that's a heavy name - they're not the Socially Conscious Dudes Who Care, they're the fucking BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB) choose to downplay their most rollicking tunes? I don't know and I suspect they don't either. It's the thing to do. Try to sound sophisticated by toning down your toughest tunes to ballads. Well, it didn't fly in this little town and I doubt anyone else would like it either. BRMC played a decent set but never let us revel in the tides of soul and power that they've fed us in the past.

This show was disappointing. But only in the sense that they could have given us so much more.

Fiery Furnaces at the Black Cat, Washington DC 7-5-07

Dios Malos opened with a sound reminecent of My Morning Jacket, but noticably less boring. The So Cal natives played a sharp set filled with wide open jams and full sounds. Unfortunately the Malos killed it by ending with two songs out of their apparent punk rock days. I don't care how much fun they were to play, the sucked, do you hear me Dios, they sucked, don't play them anymore.

A two cigarette smoke break caused me to miss the beginning of the Furnaces set. Dammit all. Appropriately enough the Furnaces were in the middle of "Vietnamese Telephone Ministry" when I returned. Matt Friedberger was on the organ, sis Eleanor was singing front and center flanked by a guitar and in front of a drummer and multi-percussionalist. As is the Furnaces style, everything was played up tempo, really accentuating the organ and percussion. While songs like "Blueberry Boat" and "Quay Cur" benefited from the change, the intricacies of "Benton Harbor Blues" were swamped out. Fan favorite "Single Again" sounded rushed as Eleanor spat the vocals with some intense angst. "Tropical-Iceland" also suffered from the Furnaces live treatment, nearly becoming a completely new song from the one they had previously played live. Unfortunately Matt decided to spend the entire evening on his organ, leaving all the vocal duties to Eleanor and depriving the audience of another element of the Fiery Furnaces.
Despite the stylistic adaptations, the Furnances played amazingly crisp and together, routinely snapping songs into completely new directioins. While they may have abandoned some of their pop elements, it was very impressive to see a band fearlessly attack their songs in new ways.

Wilco at Merriweather Post Pavilion 6-21-07

A few rain drops were falling as I walked into Merriweather (just in time to see slo-core pioneers "Low" walking off stage). When Wilco took the stage approximately 45 minutes later, the setting sun was starting to poke through the rain clouds. This was an appropriate metaphor for the evening, since Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy appeared comfortable and even a little playful. During the show Tweedy took time to discuss a macrame owl (telling the crowd he someday hoped to have an entire macrame stage), sing happy birthday, make a mocking reference to Wilco's label of "dad rock", and lightheartedly add a "Hello" after the crowd sung "Goodbye" near the end of "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart".

The first half of the Wilco set favored material from "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot", with "I Am Trying...", "Kamera", "War on War", "Jesus, etc." and "I'm the Man Who Loves You" sounding fresh. Tweedy seemed especially interested in "Hate It Here", a Beatles-esque song about a middle age divorcee keeping busy with menial tasks while hoping his lover will return. Wilco wrapped up their primary set with fan favorite "Hummingbird".

Wilco's first encore started with "California Stars" and transitioned to an impressive performance of "Poor Places". "Spiders (Kidsmoke)" followed as an extended jam session before the band walked off stage.

The residents of the Baltimore/DC area were treated with a five song second encore starting with the ever popular "Heavy Metal Drummer". Several older songs satisfied the long term fans, before Wilco wrapped up with the always fun "I'm a Wheel". As I picked up my blanket and started toward the exit, I was a bit surprised that the house lights weren't coming on. No longer had that thought gone through my mind as I saw Tweedy walking back on stage for a third encore. Tweedy thanked the crowd for a great night before starting into the band's current single "What Light" (http://www.myspace.com/wilco), an appropriately mellow nightcap to a night that started with raindrops and ended with a shining peformance.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club at 9:30

The once heralded noise trio Black Rebel Motorcycle Club took the stage to a capacity crowd at Washington DC's premier rock club on a hazy Saturday night. The 9:30 club was filled with a strange mix of post-hipsters (Jesus and the Mary Chain influences are so 2003), neo-hippies and at least three generations of one family (who may well have been made up of both post-hipsters and neo-hippies).


Anyway, as best as I can remember (and with the show starting at 11:30, we were well past peak remembering time), BRMC began their set with the opening tracks from "Baby 81", starting with the bluesy "Took Out a Loan", the more straightforward "Berlin" and the apathetic "Weapon of Choice". BRMC had a very businesslike approach to their first 10 or so songs, until relaxing a bit with some older, more "worn in" songs like "Shuffle Your Feet", "666 Conducer" and "Stop".

The encore took a nice turn, as Peter stayed on stage and played a couple of acoustic/harmonica songs from "Howl" (I think "Devil's Waitin'" and "Fault Line"). These songs were very intimate and resonated with the crowd. The rest of the band returned confidently, adding a nice touch with a trombone on "Promise" and rocking through fan favorite "Ain't No Easy Way". As the show continued well past the 20 song mark, the band began taking requests and blistering through early material like "Six Barrel Shotgun". While by no means a historic performance, BRMC left the DC crowd buzzing from nearly two hours of quality Americana rock.

Arctic Monkeys Live on Conan O'Brien 4-30-07

After an uninspired performance of "Brainstorm" last Thursday on Jimmy Kimmel Live, the Arctic Monkeys joined up with the king of late night TV for the first show in his week long stint in San Francisco. I fully realize that the Monkeys just released a new album, but I will be more than a little bit disappointed if they pass on this golden opportunity to play "Fake Tales of San Francisco".

Skipping over what was probably a very interesting and relevant interview with Dana Carvey, I stopped to watch some dude named Jasper Redd attempt social comedy, ouch. After fast forwarding past some more commercials, I finally got to Alex Turner and his mates. Conan introduces the Monkeys and says they are playing a song off their new album, so much for "Fake Tales". Instead it's "Brainstorm" again, but this time Turner looks slight more interested to be performing than he did on Kimmel. The song starts out in typical Monkeys style, fast and tight driven by heavy percussion. Turner adds in his biting lyrics as the song transitions naturally before a brief stop and crescendo. Everything we've come to expect from the Monkeys, but little else. Maybe "Fake Tales" wouldn't have been such a bad idea.

Spoon Live at Sonar 4-21-07 Baltimore, MD

The boys from Spoon kicked off their tour in support of the upcoming album ("Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga" or "It's Frightening" depending on who you believe) at Baltimore's Sonar. Maybe they really like the inner harbor, are big Orioles fans, or enjoy the Natty Bo, but odds are they are just tuning up for the big NYC show. If the Sonar show were any indiction, they don't need much work.

Since I haven't been able to find a set list, were going to have to do this from memory, which is always a bit hazy whenever Yuengling is involved. Britt Daniel and the boys announced their return to the road with AC/DC's "Back in Black" and despite some lighting issues rattled off two new songs. The first half of their set was centered around new songs (sorry, no names), with the band working really hard to successfully keep the songs tight. The new songs seemed to rely less on Britt's vocals and worked really well building up and relieving tension.

The second half of Spoon's set focused on "Gimme Fiction" and the high points of "Kill the Moonlight". An energetic Britt gave an inspired performance of "The Beast and Dragon, Adored" and "I Turn My Camera On", while the rest of the band carried the songs with little rust. Another possible technical problem killed some momentum at the beginning on "Paper Tiger", but crowd favorite "The Way We Get By" got things back on track.

After a brief break, Britt returned for the encore and played a solo guitar song, before the rest of the band joined him for "Small Stakes". Spoon ended their Sonar set with "My Mathematical Mind" and absolutely let loose, jamming and distorting to a crescendo and then walking off stage. All in all, an excellent and focused performance that was an introduction to some new songs and a passionate review of some old favorites. Well done Spoon.

Asobi Seksu Live at the Grog Shop, 1/29/07

Bears
After Sean the bass player was done fighting the Simpsons pinball machine at the Grog Shop - he was victorious after having lost a quarter and then tenaciously fishing it back out, Cleveland-based indie pop outfit Bears came out to an impressive crowd on a cold and snowy (in other words - "Cleveland in January") Monday night. The somewhat-hyped band played a fairly paint by numbers set. The band shined brightest when playing bigger sounding songs, the ones that featured more drums and louder bass. Sadly, the songs which sounded so sublime on their debut lost something in the translation to the live setting, as the drummer's weaker vocals were exposed and too much space in the songs left them somewhat muted. "How to Live", "Everywhere", and "Still Alright" were not done justice as the delicate but powerful songs that they can be. Luckily, two new songs as well as album-(and show-)closer "Stay" came off as mighty examples of what kind of live band Bears could be, and seem to be growing into.

JJ Magazine
I don't know anything about this band and their performance did not inspire me to learn any more about them. A five-piece with good musicians and a female vocalist with a nice voice, but the songs were lackluster. No new or interesting ground is being broken here. No more people showed up for this portion of the show than were there for Bears, giving the impression that no one else gave a dook about them either.

Asobi Seksu
Filling up an album with sound is a lot easier than filling up a room with sound. Going in, you know it will be difficult for Asobi Seksu's highly textural brand of new shoegaze to be satisfactorily reproduced onstage. The band was tight and clearly knew their strengths, Yuki's impeccable vocals and their branded soaring guitars and pulsating basslines. The only thing that sounded as good live as on wax was the aforementioned vocals, which were spot on and pure of tone throughout. Album standouts "Thursday" and "Strawberries" also shone through here, with the Pixies-esque loud/soft, start/stop dynamics being played up stunningly. However, other songs lacked power, and the set never really got rolling. By the time they closed with a cover of The Crystals' "Then He Kissed Me", the audience was left feeling like they'd already heard a variation on this sonic theme all through the show.