I’m quite psyched to be heading out in a few hours to catch Umphrey’s McGee and The New Deal play here in San Francisco at the Warfield, even if I’m totally and completely lame by deciding to just skip dressing up in a costume this year. I’m just not feeling it. I’d be faking it too much — I guess that’s the point — but I just couldn’t come up with something that I was cool with that I felt was fun and original. So I just said fuggit. I knew my plans were revolving around the show tonight anyway, so I’ll go and people watch and dance my butt off to the band that I’ve seen more than any other. I think the opener is going to help us get the party started right, too.
Hopefully I’ll have some updates tomorrow morning or tonight even; I’ve obviously been way out of the live music loop lately and I know it’s been obvious by my lack of posting. The worst kinda bloggers apologize for not blogging, so I’ll just stop and make sure I focus on continuing to work on a quality site with a bunch of awesome and loyal readers. Seeing the band kinda made me nostalgic for some of the writing I’ve done on UM over the years, especially on this site, and I think I need to remember that the blog and this band has really helped me to get where I am today with my career and geographical location. That’s pretty sweet.
The Apollo Sunshine tour rolls on further with three nights (starting tonight) as The Apollo Sunshine Experience, a tribute-esque performance with costumes and music celebrating the art of Jimi Hendrix. Sam’s going to be there tonight and I’m sure it’s going to rule. Then the band rolls through the rest of the country supporting their fantastic release, Shall Upon Noise, as the opener for Dead Confederate, a band I saw at SXSW and didn’t really think too much of.
Apollo Sunshine Fall 2008 Tour Dates
Oct 29 – New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge*
Oct 30 – Cambridge, MA @ The Middle East (Downstairs)*
Oct 31 – Northampton, MA @ The Iron Horse Music Hall*
Nov 02 – Belfast, NORTHERN IRELAND @ Mandela Hall (w/Dirty Pretty Things)
Nov 03 – Dublin, IRELAND @ Academy (w/Dirty Pretty Things)
Nov 05 – Cork, IRELAND @ Cyprus Avenue (w/Dirty Pretty Things)
Nov 06 – Wicklow, IRELAND @ Greystones Theatre (w/Dirty Pretty Things)
Nov 07 – Galway, IRELAND @ Roisin Dubh (w/Dirty Pretty Things)
With Dead Confederate
Nov 08 Austin, TX @ The Mohawk (Fun Fun Fun Festival After Party…w/White Denim)
Nov 11 Tucson, AZ @ Plush
Nov 12 San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
Nov 13 Las Vegas, NE @ Beauty Bar
Nov 14 Los Angeles, CA @ Spaceland (Co-headline)
Nov 15 Visalia, CA @ The Cellar Door (Co-headline)
Nov 16 San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
Nov 18 Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge
Nov 19 Seattle, WA @ Chop Suey
Nov 20 Boise, ID @ Neurolux
Nov 21 Park City, UT @ Sidecar
Nov 22 Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge
A few weeks back I went to go see David Byrne at the Davis Symphony Center for the first of two nights here in San Francisco and I’m surprised I never got around to writing something up on it. It was an absolutely incredible show for a Monday night affair, and it was my first time getting to see David Byrne perform musically (I saw him speak at SXSW 2007 about the death of record labels; that was pretty cool). On this tour, he’s performing new music from his recent album Everything That Happens Will Happen Today along with some of the classics while being surrounded by a largely nondescript set of session musicians and three performance dancers that improvise ballet pieces around the stage set to the music piping out of the PA. It was kinda weird, to be honest. But then again, it was also incredible. Seeing “I Zimbra” live was straight-up powerful, and they even played a few real bonuses that I never thought I’d hear like “The Great Curve” off Remain in Light. The new stuff sounded pretty good, too.
For the encore, the Extra Action Marching Band came out by playing down the aisles and bringing the crazy drumline / burlesque show to the stage, which culminated into an epic performance of “Burning Down the House” with the full Byrne band. It was a seriously awesome time. Check out this clip from that encore:
I was so pleased to see Byrne has continued to play with the same boyish enthusiasm that made him such a magnetic figure in the first place. Go catch him on this tour if you’re a fan at all. Great stuff this time around. I need to pick up that new album once and for all.
I remember seeing some rumors posted a while back about the fact that Led Zeppelin was going to return to the stage for a tour and/or a new album to support it, but I’ve never really given too much weight to anything I saw written. It all seemed to be the British tabloids just going overboard on something they know would get easy headlines, but late last night I caught wind that the BBC is reporting that Led Zeppelin is indeed going to return, with or without Robert Plant as the front man. I’m not sure I expected that either.
Rock legends Led Zeppelin are planning to tour and record but without frontman Robert Plant. Bassist John Paul Jones told BBC Radio Devon that a new singer was being sought after Plant ruled himself out.
How can this be anything that fans would even come remotely close to wanting? To go on and suggest otherwise and even suggest that you don’t want to become a “tribute band,” this just seems like weak sauce to me.
I just got done watching something kinda interesting and it’s kinda live music so I thought I would share. Plus I got the link from my music blog crush (aka Carrie Brownstein’s fantastic Monitor Mix blog).
Two young Swedes go into the woods and record a cover of “Tiger Mountain Peasant Song” by Fleet Foxes. Thus proving, yet again, that Scandinavia is a magical place to which the rest of us cannot relate.
One of the reasons I’ve been so out of the loop in recent weeks is that I’ve been packing and moving from my first apartment here in San Fran. I’ve wanted my own place for a while now. I wanted to start setting myself up in a more proper setting to record podcasts (and/or start practicing drums again). Having my own apartment is definitely the way to go in helping to make some of that stuff happen. At any rate, moving has meant that I now have my own control over the multimedia setup in the household. I’ve got cable going again, which means that I get to actually watch TV while some good stuff is going to be coming back soon (uhm, Lost anyone?). I’m also quite a fan of The Colbert Report, and I’m psyched to see that he’s starting to feature musical guests on the show.
The Breeders have announced a few dates on the West Coast still supporting their latest album released earlier this year, Mountain Battles. I saw them in March at SXSW at the Mess with Texas 2 party and didn’t manage to get photos myself (but Prefix Mag has me covered there). I was totally blown away by what I saw, though. The band opened up with “Overglazed” and went right into “Bang On,” which is exactly how the album opens. It was an incredible start to the end of my day before heading over into an absolutely incredible set by Simian Mobile Disco. Which reminds me, why the hell haven’t I written about any of this before?
The Breeders Fall 2008 Tour Dates
November 2008
11 – Seattle, WA – Neumos
12 – Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom
14, 15 – San Francisco, CA – Slim’s
17 – Los Angeles, CA – Wiltern Theatre
A few Sundays back, I was among the lucky few to attend the Fleet Foxes show here in Chicago. It was a perfect a show for a Sunday – tangible energy from the crowd and melodic music from the band. Yet, I caught Fleet Foxes back in July at Pritzker Pavilion and was a little underwhelmed with the direction of their live show. They would hit on some amazing sections and I would be in folk heaven but rarely would they stay in that place. It was like listening to CSNY if Crosby had ADHD. In Fleet Foxes’ case the potential was there and that’s all I need to give a band a second chance.
This second live show affirmed the group as the force many claim them to be musically; they quickly enveloped me in an array of sound and I found myself lost — in a good way — for the first half of the show. But they failed to put together the entire package a great live show must claim. The second half was more stage banter than music, which I can’t endorse as a way to maintain a concert. The crowd seemed to be enjoying themselves and there were a lot of laughs but it was somewhat lost on me. Some of the band even seemed annoyed at these numerous misdirections.
Over the course of the night I took some photos from the bird’s eye view I found myself in but I was lucky enough to have any view at all because Metro was packed with people. If you’ve seen Fleet Foxes before let us know what you think about their approach to the onstage conversation. Follow the jump for some more photos from the night. READ MORE
Mike Swanson is heading out for us again this week to see a solid up-and-comer, Telepath. Here’s the lowdown… Telepath will be kicking off the Halloween weekend here in Charlottesville, playing host to the Hallow’s Eve Ball at IS this Thursday. After feeling the effects of two primary local venues closing over the past year [...]
Man we were light on posting last week. I’ve been totally out of loop since moving into a new apartment, but now that I’m settled in and mostly unpacked I’ll have some more time to devote to this here website. Sorry for the lack of updates from my side. I always apologize, I know — [...]
