The last four times I've seen Against Me! have been with my concert pal, Janey. (We actually met because of this band, when her boyfriend/my friend wanted to get out of going to see them in London in '14). This concert got announced right after she received a present of tickets to another show on the same night. She was gutted, but we decided to catch another show and took a trip to Vienna for it ten days later, which you can read above. I did briefly consider skipping this show, but couldn't bring myself to miss it, particularly since seeing AM! at the same venue two years ago is possibly my favourite concert memory ever. Nope. I was going.
The openers were Mobina Galore and Milk Teeth, the latter's set I caught part of, and it was reminiscent of 90s indie bands, almost riot grrl stuff, like Veruca Salt. They were a little dull to watch until the drummer stood up to try to get the audience into it.
I'd bought Janey Laura Jane Grace's new autobiography Tranny at the merch table, so with it in a cloth bag tied to my belt, I tried to keep it from bashing those around me, as I can never help myself from jumping around when AM! play. And from the opening notes of the first song, I was jumping! The whole set was full of energy and passion. It was great to hear all the songs of the new album live and it seemed that the band was having fun playing them.
Laura talked to the crowd between songs, with some familiar banter ("this is about self-care, smoking cigarettes and drinking whisky") and some new banter. She commented that Rebecca sure has a lot of words, and how happy she was to play in the UK, where she knows with 100% certainty that no one there voted for Trump. She dedicated Dead Friend to "old friends" and 12:03 to "new friends". Bamboo Bones she prefaced by saying she's an atheist and how performing feels for her is what she imagines going to church feels for others, and she said you can call this song "an atheist's spiritual". She also said that she hopes we are excited to hear new songs, cuz they are excited to play them, but they are conscious that people like to hear old songs, and they played the "deep cut" Tonight We're Gonna Give It 35%.
Really glad I went. Note to self: Never miss Against Me!
Setlist:
True Trans Soul Rebel
333
Haunting, Haunted, Haunts
Unconditional Love
Pints of Guinness Make You Strong
White Crosses
Dead Friend
12:03
Crash
Delicate, Petite & Other Things I'll Never Be
Rebecca
Bamboo Bones
Tonight We're Gonna Give It 35%
T.S.R. (This Shit Rules)
Cliche Guevara
Walking Is Still Honest
Transgender Dysphoria Blues
I Was a Teenage Anarchist
Black Me Out Encore:
Baby, I'm an Anarchist! (Laura solo)
FUCKMYLIFE666
Boyfriend
Sink, Florida, Sink
Full Set recorded by fan, pbrook:
Or watch on youtube, with comments and song timing marked.
33 songs is a lot for the average concert. But, I was really surprised at some of the omissions. It made sense when I checked the setlist for this blog entry, and saw the following night's setlist in the same venue. They almost didn't repeat themselves. This would have been awesome for the fan attending both shows, of course. So, I missed Wave of Mutilation, Monkey Gone To Heaven, Gigantic, and some lesser gems like Is She Weird and Subacultcha. But, fortunately I got to hear U-Mass, my favourite Pixies song, to which I lost my shit over. As you do. Because they're touring in support of their new album, Head Carrier, I was expecting to hear the first single which I really like, Um Chagga Lagga. The next night's fans got that treat.
We got a good spot with a view of centre stage, and I spent much of the show letting the Pixies sound/noise wash over me. It was a slow builder, and no one in the band addressed the audience, but slowly you get swept into their sonic sea. The early songs are mostly back lit, obscuring the detail of their faces, as they seemingly take their time letting us into their world. Then the full colour hits and by the first notes of Here Comes Your Man, we are fully welcomed in, with the attendant singalong.
It was great to experience the Pixies' sound live, having loved many of their albums and tracks for years. Some bands are all about showmanship or energy or loudness, but the Pixies' live are all about the sound. And they got it right. It was special, and before a brief encore, the band took a bowing curtain call, which you don't often see at rock shows. Then, just before they came back on, the dry ice machine belched a massive wave over us. As it cleared, it was like emerging from a warzone, grey and surreal. As the Pixies played Into The White in the eerie fog, the new bassist Paz Lenchantin stood silhouetted with her low slung bass and sang almost motionlessly. Then more massive waves of dry ice buffeted us. It was by far the most I've ever experienced and then that was repeated half a dozen times. This final destination was a fittingly atmospheric representation of the enveloping aural journey we'd been taken on.
Setlist:
Where Is My Mind?
Nimrod's Son
Break My Body
Brick Is Red
Winterlong (Neil Young cover) Blown Away Mr.Grieves La La Love You Ana
All the Saints
Here Comes Your Man Motorway to Roswell
Magdalena 318
Tenement Song
Classic Masher
Head On (Jesus and Mary Chain cover)
U-Mass I've Been Tired Velouria Havalina
Snakes
Caribou
Rock Music
Baal's Back Isla de Encanta
Oona
Planet of Sound
All I Think About Now
Hey
Gouge Away
Debaser
Tame
This concert has been a long time coming. I was a fan from the first, back to '94's Blue album. And Island in the Sun is probably my favourite pop song....Of. All. Time. Weezer seem to play a lot of festivals, and as you may know from reading below, I avoid festivals unless they are really really packed with amazing bands I can't bring myself to miss. Then, finally, back in 2008, Weezer were playing Vancouver and I was on the verge of buying tickets when I checked out the date with my brand new (at-the-time) boyfriend, Steve. Uh-oh. Same date as his best friend's wedding, of which he was the best man, and of which I was his date. Can't really wriggle out of that one. Many swear words were invented and tested out that day. It's probably a good thing I didn't know then it would take another eight years for this to finally happen. But it has. And it was great.
It wasn't great in exactly the way I thought it would be though. Based on the many mellow songs Weezer has, I was worried it would be a more sedate show than I really like. Sure lots are poppy and make you want to move, but not in a moshing kind of way. But fans mosh to Weezer. There was a definite crush up front, not helped by some idiotically placed permanent barriers on the O2 Academy floor. Maybe I was a little less sweaty than I would be after an Against Me! gig but I jumped up and down a whole hell of a lot. Many songs live are more energetic than off the albums, Island in the Sun being a prime example. The prettiness of it got lost somewhere between the fans screaming along and the less sparse, simple arrangement of the recording. The perfection of the "hip, hip" moment, produced perfectly on the record, was just an approximation on this night, but it was enough for me.
I heard plenty of North American accents, as we wound our way from the bar towards the stage.
The crowd looked to be about 75% geeky college boy, which makes sense.
No bad asses in sight, and a few cute, if straight-laced, girls. I'd say
most in their mid to late 20s, but it's harder to tell as I get older.
But, they seemed a good deal younger than that when Weezer closed the
main set with the Sweater Song and a violent grappling of a jumper
ensued after someone held theirs aloft. They will have a good story as
to how they lost a sweater during that song at a Weezer concert, but the garment, I'm sure, is history.
So, my impression is that Weezer live are a massive and bouncy sing-a-long band, even though the band themselves are pretty low-key. I thought that the show would be more centred on the new, White album, as it only dropped 4 days ago, and the show seemed to be promoted in that light (and it's a bit of a trend to do whole albums these days), but we only got 5 out of the 10 new tracks. My favourite new track Do You Wanna Get High? was my least favourite new live song of the bunch which was weird, but there were so many other highlights it was fine.
Setlist:
California Kids
My Name Is Jonas
Hash Pipe
Back to the Shack
L.A. Girlz
El Scorcho
The British Are Coming
Pork and Beans
(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To
Do You Wanna Get High?
Cleopatra
The Waste Land (Instrumental)
Thank God for Girls
Say It Ain't So
The Good Life
You Gave Your Love to Me Softly
King of the World
Island in the Sun
Undone- The Sweater Song Encore:
Beverly Hills
Buddy Holly
Full Set recorded by fan, Vaso Proiou:
Or watch on youtube, with comments and song timing marked.
Against Me! and The Gaslight Anthem were booked to play the Leeds Festival on Friday, August 28th and the Reading Festival on Sunday, August 30th. Being the lazy sods they are, they slotted in another gig in London on their night "off".
The venue was a great size with 3 tiered levels above the ground. We were on the floor and found it easy to get near the front. The show had amazing energy as is usual for Against Me! in a small-ish venue (2000 capacity, but only 1150 on the floor). I did notice that this time Laura Jane Grace had her hair over her face more often than not (she did this at Reading too). They did about an hour with no encore as The Gaslight Anthem were following.
We stayed for most of The Gaslight Anthem, leaving just before Frank Turner joined them onstage. Because we had an early start for the Reading Festival in the morning, and there was some train strike action, we were playing it safe. Our priority was AM! anyway.
I've added some videos I found on youtube, but they are pretty blurry.
AM! Setlist:
True Trans Soul Rebel (video)
Pints of Guinness Make You Strong
Unconditional Love
Walking is Still Honest
Cliché Guevara
White People for Peace
FuckMyLife666 (video)
Transgender Dysphoria Blues (video)
Dead Friend
White Crosses / Spanish Moss (short version)
Thrash Unreal
Black Me Out
I Was a Teenage Anarchist
Lights dimmed. "The Hives" red neon sign snaps on. The Hives file in quietly and quickly in the dark, and launch right in with 'You Got It All...Wrong', with Pelle Almqvist skidding up to the microphone stand just in time for the first vocal. An exciting, choreographed start that sets the tone for the next hour: the sonic equivalent of the first half of Trainspotting. No letting up -- go, go, go!
Nattily dressed in matching black suits with white trim sporting crests with The Hives' logo, and diagonally striped black and white ties, they look like cheeky school boys. I'm reminded of Malcolm McDowell from the movie If.
A few songs in and the heat is rising; the jackets and ties come off to reveal black shirts. Almqvist is throwing the mic stand around and snapping it back to him with the cord. Nicholas Arson, as much a showman as Almqvist, is zipping around making faces at the audience. And drummer, Chris Dangerous, stands up clapping vigorously, encouraging the audience to clap along. We don't need much prodding; the dancefloor is bouncing and arms are flailing.
Almqvist chatted to the audience almost constantly throughout their set reveling in his megalomaniacal yet instantly endearing persona: "I love you. We love you. You love us. Hello Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada!" Amusingly, he referenced our full location three times in his Swedish accent, introducing 'Die, All Right' by saying "Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Canadoo, Canadeye, CanISing, CanIDie, Can I Die All Right."
If you haven't sensed it already, The Hives put on one hell of a live show. This may be the best show I've seen in 2008, and I would love to see them again. The songs come fast and furious, Pelle whipping his head from left to right and back, hair flying, hand jauntily on hip a la Jagger, with leg kicks thrown in to emphasize a beat. They faithfully reproduce the sound of their albums with the clean, sharp sound and tapping urgency. Of course, the stellar Commodore sound system helped with this.
Setlist:
You Got It All...Wrong
Try It Again
Square One Here I Come
Die, All Right!
A Little More For Little You
Walk Idiot Walk
You Dress Up For Armageddon
No Pun Intended
Diabolic Scheme
Won't Be Long
Main Offender
Tick Tick Boom Encore:
Bigger Hole to Fill
Two-Timing Touch and Broken Bones
Return the Favour
When Pinback played Richard's on Richards in February, they were suffering from colds and initially out of tune. And although I don't think it was a great show, I have to say I would gladly see them again if given the opportunity.
Playing mainly material from their 2007 Autumn of the Seraphs album, Pinback was able to recreate the beauty of their recorded music for the assembled crowd. And for a group of mainly 20-somethings, the crowd was somewhat diverse: the expected indie hipster types, baseball cap sporting hip hoppers there for the opener MC Chris, some moshers, and the bookish girls who discovered Pinback on an OC soundtrack on stools circling the balcony, flanked by their harmless-looking boyfriends.
My musician friend pointed out Zach Smith chording on his bass, and after that I was aware that Pinback certainly seem to be all about the bass. Two are featured on some of the songs and bass duties are shared among Smith, Rob Crow and one of their touring musicians. Smith plays bass exclusively and is the higher voice on vocals; the heavily-bearded Crow standing behind a keyboard for the perrformance, switches between that, guitar and bass and does the remaining vocals. Two backing musicians play guitars and keyboards on either side of the Pinback duo when needed and the group is rounded out by the drummer.
Pinback play their set at sped-up tempos making for a more energetic show than you may imagine from listening to them at home. And I was delighted to find the sound was just as pretty and transporting.
Within the 16 song setlist, thoroughly covering the album they're touring to support, Pinback also played a half dozen songs from their earlier albums, including 'Non Photo-Blue' and the best-known song 'Fortress' (welcomed by high-pitched eruptions from the balcony) from the 2004 Summer in Abaddon, 'Penelope' from 2001's Blue Screen Life, and a lone song, 'Loro', from their 1999 debut Pinback.
I know they weren't playing their best on this night, but they still made a bigger fan of me than I was going in. The show gave me an inkling into how good Pinback likely are when in top form, and I hope to have that pleasure one day in the future.
Setlist:
Bouquet
Torch
Non Photo-Blue
Penelope
Good To Sea
How We Breathe
Walters
Devil You Know
Subbing For Eden
Microtonic Wave
(something I didn't recognize)
B
From Nothing To Nowhere Encore:
Loro
Fortress
AFK
This is the first show I've been to at The Bourbon, and while the door staff were polite and doing the best job they could, I wasn't too impressed with anything else about the venue.
Doors were supposed to open at 8pm for a 9pm show, but with delays for sound checks, we had to stand in the cold with the assembled 20-something hipsters until almost nine o'clock. The boys were shaggy and sensitive-looking, the girls, safe and smart.
It was not a diverse crowd, although I did spot one Mohawk in the crowd later. But this is getting par for the course at Vancouver shows: spot the token "punk".
When MGMT finally took the stage at 9:30pm, the 400-capacity venue made it easy to get close up to the band, but the stage is awkwardly positioned in the middle of the room facing the opposite near wall in a long room. The sight-lines are not great for the entire room, only for the 200 audience members standing between the pillars closest to the stage, or just up the steps at the back third of the room.
MGMT were the reason I wanted to see this show, so I was pretty eager to see how they'd do. They began with their best-known song, "Time To Pretend", which they just performed on Letterman (Jan 8). While MGMT consist of Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser, their touring band has five members, including a bassist who stuck around out front after to watch Yeasayer's set. Andrew who announced "It's my birthday today. I'm 25", is front and centre on guitar and vocals, and Ben is tucked away behind the keyboards. Another guitarist and drummer round out the touring setup.
It wasn't a spectacular performance and the sound was a little fuzzy, but it was a nice introduction to this young band, and an audience member echoed this feeling with a screamed "thank you for coming to Vancouver". It was a short set, perhaps cut short by the initial delays, and I was a little disappointed not to hear "Kids" or "Boogie Down" off their "Time To Pretend" EP. But they are touring to support their debut full-length album "Oracular Spectacular", and understandably focused on that material.
So many things about this band make me think of Ween, and to be clear, I'm a huge Ween fan. From their videos and artwork, to the intelligent but intentionally unselfconscious lunacy, I was hoping more of that feel would make it into the live show, and it didn't. Opening bands often have to pare down their live presentations to fit into someone else's tour, so when MGMT come through as a headliner, you can be sure I'll be there.
Both bands come from Brooklyn, but in contrast to MGMT, the front-man of Yeasayer, Chris Keating, was much chattier and more personable. The four-member band were squeezed onto the very small Bourbon stage along with two keyboards positioned sideways, one distractingly sitting atop a lumber-jacket style checked blanket, and the drumset behind. Anand Wilder also had a guitar to contend with in front of his keyboard, but they all managed.
Yeasayer began with "Final Path", while not on their new album "All Hour Cymbals", it's a song similar to their well-known "2080" in vision. "2080" itself was another highlight for me, but my favourite moment of the show came from Ira Wolf Tuton, the bass-player, and his vocals on "Sunrise". It was like a Middle-Eastern chant, fast, repetitive and hypnotic. I was utterly transfixed and transported. As their MySpace page says "Enya with balls" indeed!
Chris Keating humourously shared with us that his girlfriend is from Vancouver and she recommended to him a restaurant located in Blood Alley. Even coming from Brooklyn, he said he was amazed to pay $45 for a salad when he had to step over a guy shooting heroin in order to get inside. He added "it was a good salad though". Just before 11:30pm, and before we filed out past pissed-off looking clubbers lined up outside, the lead singer thanked his Vancouver friends once more and Yeasayer gave the cheering room a brief encore.
I wasn't a Yeasayer fan before this show, but as I knew I'd be seeing them, I brushed up on their music, beyond the familiar-to-me "2080". And to be honest, I was a bit wary of how world-music/new-agey they may come off. But, even in such a small, unimpressive live venue, I was impressed by their heart and musicianship, and would consider seeing them somewhere else in the future. Yeasayer make their influences their own with new and unique results, and I will definitely be listening to "All Hour Cymbals" and any new releases as they appear.
Partial Setlist
Yeasayer
Final Path
Sunrise
2080
Wait For the Summer
Wait For the Wintertime
MGMT
Time to Pretend
Weekend Wars
Electric Feel
Pieces of What
The Handshake
