Boris @ Echoplex This Sunday

[Tickets]

Bloc Party @ Mayan Theatre, 7.29.08

[More @ Flickr]

Great show. But, probably the last time I grab a ticket for just this band. We've said it before numerous times on this blog: why doesn't this band explore their catalogue more? "Version 2.0", "Staying Fat", "The Once and Future King", "Two More Years" all come to mind. They are an extremely talented band that puts on a very solid-worth the price of admission show, but there is nothing above or beyond the main set, break, encore, and out. Give me a cover. Give me a B-side. Give me something. Anything. I left fulfilled but thinking about the likes of The National, Arcade Fire, and TV On The Radio. Bands who - every time I have caught them - come out with guns blazing and never let up.

"Flux" is flat live (disappointingly so), but "Mercury" (which I didn't like on first listen) had a great energy to it (but I'm pretty sure I was the only person in the audience singing/dancing to it - ahhh, L.A.). "Positive Tension" perhaps, the greatest song this band has ever crafted was nowhere to be found.

UPDATE: Apparently their San Fran show was ill. Three encores.

Setlist:

"Hunting for Witches"
"Like Eating Glass"
"Waiting for the 7.18"
"Price of Gasoline"
"Song for Clay (Disappear Here)"
"So Here We Are"
"The Prayer"
"Uniform"
"Mercury"
"This Modern Love"
"Banquet"

"Sunday"
Intro > "Flux"
"She's Hearing Voices"
"Helicopter"

Video: Boris - "Statement"

August 3. Echoplex. With Torche and Lair of the Minotaur.

New Broken Social Scene?

BSS, along with new TVOTR, would make two very nice additions to 2008. I hope this news in true.

"Bloggerati, commence your Twittering, the new joint drops in August."

Chris Cornell and Timbaland (What!?!?!)

Seriously, what happened to Chris Cornell? Chris, please see prior post of Pearl Jam video for inspiration. This is trash. My jaw is still on the floor. The song "Long Gone" is below.

boomp3.com

VH1 Rock Honors: The Who

The show airs tonight, July 17th at 9pm on VH1. Pearl Jam performed "The Real Me" (love the horns) but I guess my question is, are they performing anything else? Video below.

• VH1 TV Shows
• Music Videos
• Celebrity Photos
• News & Gossip

One Day As A Lion - "Wild International"

The first song from the Zach de la Rocha/Jon Theodore collaboration is up on their MySpace page. Good tune. I like where this is headed.

3 Doors Down @ Yankee Stadium, 7/14/08

You can't make this stuff up. Who knows, maybe ESPN thought this would be a good encore to Bon Jovi's 60,000+ show at Central Park on Saturday. I was at the Home Run Derby last night and thankfully Josh Hamilton was too because it's quite possible that he saved the event. Without any Yankees (or superstars, for that matter) in the competition, the place was practically asleep before Hamilton stepped up as the last of 8 participants in the first round. As it turns out, Hamilton's jaw-dropping performance provided a pretty nice little ending to what was a very memorable wedding weekend of Metro D's own, NF. Congratulations again buds.

Fleet Foxes @ Bowery Ballroom, 7/9/08

photo taken by Elizabeth Weinberg

Occasionally, there are moments in this internet age where a band can actually live up to the hype and praise garnered upon them. It's rare but it happens. From the moment Fleet Foxes collectively started singing last night, I was left speechless. Apparently lead singer Robin Pecknold is pretty sick but I can't remember the last time I was ever this blown away by someone's voice (maybe the first time I heard MJK). I love the Sun Giant EP, "Mykonos" along with Portishead's "The Rip" are the two best songs I've heard this year, but I've been on the fence about their self-titled debut. But after hearing the new(er) songs live last night, they take on a completely different meaning. Consider them added to the handful of bands that I'll be following very closely moving forward.

Sun Giant ->
Sun It Rises ->
Drops In The River
English House
White Winter Hymnal
Ragged Wood
Your Protector
Crayon Angels [Judee Sill Cover] (Robin solo)
Oliver James (Robin solo)
He Doesn't Know Why
Mykonos
Blue Ridge Mountains
(encore)
Tiger Mountain Peasant Song (Robin solo)

As an aside, I got a kick out of Robin's comment today on BV (he is also a frequent poster on Ateastweb, the Radiohead site that I frequent quite a bit):

Hey hey, came on here to see if the midnight show tmrw was announced. I'm really sorry for sounding sick tonight, it's been a long long haul the last few weeks and I feel really really super bad about not singing 100%. I even went to an emergency doctor today just to get some stuff that might help for this night's show and I waited around in a Duane Reade for an hour to get the prescription but I guess I took the pill too late. I will never smoke another cigarette as long as I live as well

I'm really sorry if you were let down :(

Also my hat looks stupid, I have a dumb haircut, and I need to lose some weight

Luff
Robin

Too funny.

Mr. November? Let's Hope

I love it. Shirts are available for $18 via The National's web site. All proceeds go to the campaign. via

Yorke + O'Brien = Yes, Please (The Interview)

Is there a better entertainment website out there?

AVC: Hail To The Thief was piled up with sound, but it felt like that was where the album was coming from. The music, the artwork, even the title "In Rainbows" suggests this album is coming from somewhere else.

TY: The title Hail To The Thief was pretty much stamped on the top of what was going on, just an anger thing. There was a lot of anger in that record—a lot. There's very little anger in In Rainbows. It's in no way political, or, at least, doesn't feel that way to me. It very much explores the ideas of transience. It starts in one place and ends somewhere completely different. That was the only way we could fit it together, but it turned out to be a real upside in the end. The first half of it is pretty raw, pretty hectic. Even though you have "Nude," what the lyrics are actually saying is pretty messed-up, nasty. After a while, everything calms down and you get it out of your system. You feel better; there's this feeling of elation. As far as the artwork goes, that was heavily influenced by the pictures NASA puts on their website. They have this great library of stuff online that we were looking at, and it coincided with [Radiohead album-cover artist] Stanley Donwood's experiments, throwing wax around. It was just experimentation, but it gave a sense of release, letting go. [Dig]

Is there a better band in the world right now?

Sweetness

I'm sure our Chi-Town contigent will dig that headband. A little more 'fro on top and he'd be rocking that headband Walter Payton style.

"During his acoustic set at today's O2 Wireless Festival in London's Hyde Park, Ben JUMPED THE BARRICADE INTO THE CROWD after the plug was pulled and finished his performance!" [Photo/Story Credit]

Pearl Jam @ Beacon Theatre, 7/01/08

Pics courtesy of Jonathan Bayer on flickr

It's a pretty great feeling to just mosey on down the street to see my favorite band at the Beacon. It's also a good feeling knowing that PJ raised 3 million dollars for the Robin Hood foundation during this event. Not a cent went to the band. The energy couldn't quite compare to either of the two Garden shows (how could it?) but the first five songs (all seated) were incredibly rewarding. "Undone" was also a nice surprise. "Baba O'Riley" absolutely kills. I'm a little bummed that this show won't be available on the bootleg series so I'm hoping there is a fan copy out there somewhere. The Beacon is a great venue, my first time there, and after seeing Pearl Jam 3 times in the last week, I'm definitely saddened that this is all over. For now.

Set List: Low Light, Small Town, Sleight Of Hand, Harvest Moon [with guest vocalists Fonzi Thorton, Arif St. Michael, Vaneese Thomas], Masters Of War, Down, All Night [with guest vocalists Fonzi Thorton, Arif St. Michael, Vaneese Thomas], Corduroy, Even Flow, Light Years, Army Reserve [with guest vocalists Fonzi Thorton, Arif St. Michael, Vaneese Thomas], W.M.A [with guest vocalists Fonzi Thorton, Arif St. Michael, Vaneese Thomas], Marker In The Sand [with guest vocalists Fonzi Thorton, Arif St. Michael, Vaneese Thomas], Wasted Reprise, Wish List, Why Go, Do The Evolution

Encore 1: Undone, Who You Are [with guest vocalists Fonzi Thorton, Arif St. Michael, Vaneese Thomas], Given To Fly, Black, Crazy Mary

Encore 2: Ed has the front of house engineer play a CD by a group composed young siblings called 3MJ. Their father is serving in the military. The title of the song is "Make A Difference," No More, Last Kiss, Alive, Baba O'Riley

One Day As A Lion: Get Some

Bring together one of my all-time favorite vocalists, Zach De La Rocha, and one of the best drummers period, Jon Theodore (ex-The Mars Volta), and I think you've got a nice little band brewing. One Day As A Lion will be releasing their debut EP on July 21. [Read More]