ok...it's been a few days, but i'm ok. The Ryan Adams show monday was awesome. I took many pictures, but i haven't had a chance to develop them. Anyway, I don't have a scanner right now to post them. I'll put what i remember from the setlist up when i get it organized.
highlights:
playing shoeless to show off striped socks
playing records onstage because he could : madonna -like a virgin -material girl
Brown Sugar
Fools we are as men - many people thought it was a new song...hahaha
playing a new song he wrote a few days before...he had a roadie hold up the lyrics...fun stuff
Reeking of cigarette smoke is an acceptable side effect of an awesome show. I just hope my jacket recovers. It's new and I don't want to retire it.
Anyway, unknown to me there were three opening bands and the show started roughly around 8:45. The Flaming Sideburns came on first. I had never heard of them so that was interesting. The lead singer was trying to get everyone crazy, but there was a huge circular space between him and the crowd. i didn't blame people for being a little weary. Eventually people got into it and were having a good time. At one point he got everyone to kneel down. Why? I haven't figured that out. This one guy decided to stand there instead holding his beer. He was too cool or something. They were pretty good, but I was there to see mooney.
So then here comes Cyclub. Nice little punk band. One dude came out in a pink smoking jacket and skirt or something. He was more than a little strange. The lead singer was cool. She decided to pull out a trumpet for one song. Their drummer was demented. He looked familiar. I may have seen him in another band. Then again, a lot of drummers have that demented look. It was getting later, and at that point I was still planning on taking the bus back....
Sahara Hotnights rocked. I've heard a lot of good things about them, but any band from Sweden is cool with me. The vibe changed when they came onstage. The other bands were good, but they were real tight. People were no longer inching closer to the stage, but were right there. It was nice. Minor mosh pits. It was a small place. I like the people that give them looks like "dude, stop." I didn't mind because I just got pushed closer to the stage. I was in an awesome spot for mooney.
some general info I stole directly from their site:
Sammy James Jr - Vocal/Rhythm Guitar
Graham Tyler - Lead Guitar
Michael Bangs - Bass Guitar
Augie Wilson - Drum Kit
So, the Mooney Suzuki come out and set up their own stuff. I think a lot of people thought they were just roadies or something. Sammy didn't have his shades on yet either, so he wasn't in the full rock mode yet. They finished, left, and came back out like they had been electrocuted, pacing up and down the stage, glaring at the audience as if we had offended them by not being loud enough. The lead guitarist was having a great time not so much jumping as falling into the crowd and whacking everyone with his guitar. After one sorry attempt at another mosh pit, I found myself all the way in the front. It was the danger zone. He kept threatening me with the guitar, pointing the neck at me so I had to lean into the people behind me. I had to keep an eye on him all the time. I came close to getting hit a few times. One of the many highlights was when the drummer grabbed the pointing hand that had written on it "ladies only come on back" and marched around the stage while the whole band chanted number one. Then of course there was Sammy's tirade about sports drinks and power bars being a sham and how they were gonna "create energy tonite out of thin air". He also managed to mention that the mooney suzuki wasn't going to save rock 'n' roll because the mooney suzuki never lost it. Then of course he had to go and put the guitarist on his shoulders and walk through the crowd. The speakers kept on rolling off the front of the stage, but people gladly set them in their right places. Overall I'd have to say the show was very nice.
I ended up squeezing into a cab with five other people at the end of the night, but it was alright. Stupid pvta.
Pearl Street Thursday Oct 31 2002
written 11.01.02
Fun stuff. Everyone was decked out in their Halloween best. The moldy peaches were too, but that's how they always dress. Kimya decided to wear a full, what I consider to be authentic, Alf costume. She didn't take the head off much. It looked like her security blanket onstage. I tried to take some pictures just because they looked awesome, but we'll see how they come out. I came back smelling worse than from the mooney suzuki show. Don't smoke people. Not only is it bad for you, it makes everyone around you smell like cigarettes. I'm not complaining. It's not going to stop me from going to Pearl Street, but immediate showers are necessary.
Oh ya. The no bus situation after 12. I thought we were going to have to take a taxi, but after the show we run into my friend Erica's spanish teacher. She was nice enough to give us a ride back. It was interesting. She's an awesome crazy lady who just happened to be dressed up as a guy and the guy she was with was wearing a skirt and a tank top. Yes, these are the cool people you get for teachers if you come to Mt. Holyoke.
I haven't been able to listen to any of my Wallflowers CDs since the concert. The show was too good.
Setlist:
When You're On Top
Everybody Out of the Water
Three Marlenas
How Good It Can Get
If You Never Got Sick
6th Avenue Heartache
Three Ways
Sleepwalker
Letters From the Wasteland
Empire In My Mind
See You When I Get There
One Headlight
Feels Like Summer Again
Bleeders
Too Late to Quit
Everything I Need
Encore:
Invisible City
(Rami on keys, Jakob on acoustic guitar)
Up From Under
(Rami on keys, Jakob on acoustic guitar)
Angel On My Bike
(Rami on keys, Jakob on acoustic guitar)
Peace, Love, & Understanding
The Difference
When they did Peace, Love, and Understanding on "Live from Alcatraz", I was a little disappointed and they looked like they were freezing their butts off. At the show they did an awesome version. Another highlight was Jakob forgetting all the words to Angel on My Bike. I donŐt mean mixing up the verses or leaving out some lines- he blanked out. He and Rami did a nice instrumental version until he managed to sing the chorus a few times and squeeze in a verse. They had to play The Difference because the video for it was shot at The Fillmore. If not, I would have been upset. They were all cool and came out after the show to sign autographs even though it was raining a little.
(pictures)
Whether my headache is due to the heat or the noise made by Year of the Rabbit remains to be determined. I expect concerts to be loud, but their sound was just too loud to try and listen, but from what I caught, they weren't very good. They had the "we're too cool to be here" look and pushed their debut cd a little too often. I remember all this because I was looking for something to keep my mind off the volume.
Grandaddy was better than I would expect from the name (I was worried the openers were going to be Peter Rabbit being chased by Farmer Brown). It was determined they were a mix between Neil Young (in a trucker hat) and The Beach Boys. Radar for trucker hats has been relatively high and I would insert exhibits A-D here, but I saw people's cameras being taken away and didn't want to have mine swiped for taking pictures of funny looking people.
setlist:
Undercover
Pass Me By
June
For Nancy
Crystal Village
Intro/Come Back Home
Burrito
Lose You
I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend* (*Ramones cover)
Black
[beginning of Born to Run]
All At Once
Long Way Down
Committed
Strange Condition
Murray
Encore:
Bandstand In The Sky [for Jeff Buckley]
Closet
She Bangs The Drums* (*Stone Roses cover)
Life On A Chain
[]= my additions to the setlist from Pete-Yorn.com
The setlists seem pretty set for this tour with a few exceptions.
Jurassic Park rules! At least that what I imagined Dolf thinking before he abandoned Jurassic Park: Lost World for backstage. As the frontman, he needed the few extra minutes of preparation while his bandmates were playing pool. That or the dinosaurs got the better of him and he was out of quarters.
When not playing arcade games or rooting on the star spangles from the merch table, Dolf was onstage jumping off amps and kicking apart the ceiling. Oh ya, he was also helping The Datsuns rock the modest audience that happened to be drawn to Skrappys on this particular night.
They played a few "new" songs which, unsurprisingly, were a little quieter than the rest of the set. Playing their entire self-titled album straight may have caused them to explode, or possibly boil from the summer heat. As Dolf noticed "It's hot here in Tucson." In case we needed reminding about how awesome the heat can be, he added "What do you guys do for fun besides drink water?" Songs like Thing I Lost were well recieved by both the dance-happy people in the crowd who needed a break and the people on whom they had been dancing.
Michael Davis, bassist for the MC5, joined the Datsuns for one song (Fink for the Man?). Apparently he likes the heat because he's lived in Tucson for awhile now. He thanked the Datsuns for "bringing him out of retirement".
They went out with a ten minute version of Freeze Sucker and a Kodak moment of the whole band gathered 'round the drums. Sadly, the people in front of me were too tall for me to capture the magic. The Datsuns were rebels, keeping the kids out 15 minutes past curfew. But they did "apologize to the children for the profanity" so it was magically erased from their (and their parents) memories.
Happy Birthday to Howard, whoever and wherever he may be.
Wainwright Leaves the Crowd Wanting One More
By Catherine Maldonado
Rufus Wainwright performed Friday in Northampton at Pearl Street Ballroom to a crowd of very enthusiastic fans. Wainwright remarked, "It's the second show of the tour but it feels like the last, in a good way."
Neither Teddy Thompson, the opener, or Rufus Wainwright could help commenting on the venue. Downstairs, in the clubroom, a very loud string of bands were also playing. During Thompson's quiet, solo set, the bands in the clubroom made their presence known. Some of the muffled music could be heard through the vibrating floor. Thompson did not let it bother him, only asking, "is there another band playing downstairs?"
Teddy Thompson, returned to perform with the rest of Wainwright's band wearing a black knit hat, possibly to keep his red hair from distracting the audience from the man who sat behind the piano. Thompson won the audience over with his quiet, lonely love songs and stories about how he injured himself earlier that day when everyone in the band was doing yoga.
As Rufus stood up from behind the piano to play guitar after the second song, it became obvious there was a ghost orchestra hiding somewhere. Rufus was the first to point it out saying "There's little string players in the lights". The rich orchestra that accompanies all the tracks on Wainwright's latest release, "Want I", were present in the form of recordings for practical touring reasons. The early morning yoga sessions may get a bit crowded with a full orchestra.
With the cigarette count around four by the third song, Wainwright noted, "I'm smoking a lot tonight." In reality, he was using cigarettes as a theatrical device. Before "Natasha" he lit a new cigarette, despite having another one smoldering in his ashtray, and propped his hand on top of the microphone just in front of his mouth. The smoke accentuated his words with each breath, escaping in sharp bursts from the end of the cigarette during verses and wafting slowly through the air when he held a note. The ash fell as he brought his hand down, marking the end of the song.
During the dramatic, orchestral build up on "Oh What A World", Rufus flung out his arms, cigarette in hand, and declared "I spent $300,000 making this album" then, as he flicked off some ash, "whatever".
It's no secret Wainwright felt some pressure to produce a somewhat more mainstream album in "Want I". He told CNN, "I wanted Want I to be very accessible. I tend to do little forays into operatic madness. 'Want I' I wanted to be available at Wal-Mart."
Those forays into operatic madness are what the crowd at Pearl Street were there to see. Fans clapped for the new songs they recognized, but screamed for songs from Wainwright's previous two albums causing him to comment, "The screams could be a weapon in the war on terrorism."
Wainwright only took a moment for what he called his "little spiel." "Saying Israel should be the homeland, according to those people according to the Bible I don't exist.Ó He went on to play "The Gay Messiah", a track that will be released on "Want II" next spring.
An encore was expected after Wainwright introduced one band member saying , "He might play the banjo later. This is our last song, goodnight." They returned with a two song encore, ending with the crowd favorite "Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk". Wainwright said goodnight and the little string players disappeared as the purple and green stage lights dimmed.
This CD looks good from the Paul Frank cover. BUT after looking at who's on it and what songs they cover, I'm not too thrilled. Phantom Planet's Winter Wonderland sounds decent, but Sense Field doing Happy Christmas ?! First off, nobody should touch Happy Christmas. John Lennon did it, and it was good. Don't mess with it. Second, Sense Field still owes me a free CD. I was contacted by their "people" to but a banner up on my wallflowers website about four months ago and promised a free CD. Their music sounded decent, so I did it. The CD never came. See if they ever get airplay on my show. Of course there is Jimmy Eat World, Bright Eyes, and Coldplay, bands we are all familiar with, but why? I know it's a Christmas album and benefits Toys for Tots, but I'm not digging it. I think itŐs the whole Sense Field issue. I don't know. You decide for yourself if you really want to. There is some guy already selling it for $8.99 on Amazon.com if you can deal with the idea of it being played once and having a tiny crack in the case. I know I can't. back to top
I don't know exactly what it is about The Kills but I like em. Maybe it's because they don't have a drummer. They use recorded beats for their live shows. Maybe it's because they have awesome nicknames: VV and Hotel. Or maybe it's because they just rock.
It's straight rock and they like doing it. It's simple and almost pretty. It's the kind of album I can see some kid buying just because it has an explicit lyrics sticker and looks cool. But those are the reasons it was hard to review for the station. Since we can't play "bad language" on air besides between 10pm and 6 am, I had the challenging job of trying to make the "clean" songs appealing. It's a good thing they rock. I've been playing
Wait off the Black Rooster EP on my show since I got it. I'm sorry. It's straight up sweet. Ya man.
The songs are all mellow, but everyone needs some good mellow rock every now and then. It's mellow but in an attentive way if that makes any sense. Their mean voices mesh so well and just make you want to sit and listen.
Tracklisting:
Superstition
Cat Claw
Pull A U
Kissy Kissy
Fried My Little Brains
Hand
Hitched
Black Rooster
Wait
Fuck the People
Monkey 23
Gypsy Death and You back to top
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[disclaimer: written under the influence of an extreme headache. I now realize I love Rock N Roll and need to listen to it more now that my headache is going away. Have a good laugh. I'll fix this later.]
I can't help but think this album is Ryan laughing at everyone who spent money on it. The album cover screams "Dr. Adams has the cure and it's Rock N Roll (spelled backwards)". I really want to like this album. I really do like it, but it's funny as hell coming from Ryan Adams.
If Heartbreaker, Gold, and Demolition were a sham, I want the sham-man back. Rock N Roll is a little too much of Ryan trying to one up The Strokes, Hot Hot Heat, Springsteen, and The Rolling Stones all in one album, sometimes in one song.
The production on most of the songs is over the top. The back up vocals from Billie Joe Armstrong, and the lead vocals on many of the songs, are overpowered by sonic boom after sonic boom. There's hardly any time to breathe. Parker Posey comes through loud and clear, but I don't really want to hear her.
It comes as some consolation that Love is Hell Part 1 was released Tuesday as well. Included is the cover of Wonderwall that made Liam Gallagher want to re-record it Ryan's way. Ryan slows it down, wipes the smirk from it's face, and makes it cry.
Love is Hell really is beautiful. Instead of knocking you through the wall, the songs let you relax. It sounds like a continuation of the honesty and genuine songwriting that can be found on the bonus CD from Gold, Side Four. Perhaps Rock N Roll could've benefited from having a few of these injected into it. Perhaps I would have completely hated it if it did.