The National. 9:30 Club. Tickets.

Tickets to the June 20 show at 9:30 Club are now on sale. Go here. And yeah, that's about the fiftieth picture I've used from their site. I just can't seem to get enough. You can stream all of Boxer at their other site or on AOL Spinner. It hits stores on the 22nd.

Shapes & Sizes [MySpace] and Talkdemonic [MySpace] are opening.

MP3: Shapes & Sizes - "Island's Gone Bad"
MP3: Shapes & Sizes - "Wilderness"

The Bravery: TV Shows & Promos

The Bravery's show at La Zona Rosa is available for viewage over at MSN. They're playing 9:30 Club on June 7th (Tickets). Their song "Public Service Announcement" is currently being used for the Rescue Me Season 4 promo. The Sun and the Moon drops on May 22. Rescue Me kicks off on June 12th.

TV On The Radio @ 9:30 Club, 4.19.07

I feel like there is a track (or three) missing in here. Perhaps after "Blues" or before "Dirty Whirl". I don't know. I thought I saved the whole thing in my phone and I didn't. Fantastic show. They continue to get better with every performance. This was far and away the best I have seen of them. An almost correct setlist:

"Tonight"
"The Wrong Way"
"Dreams"
"Province"
"Wolf Like Me"
"Young Liars"
"Dirty Whirl"
"Blues From Down Here"
"Snakes and Martyrs"
"Dry Drunk Emperor"
"Satellite"

Encore
"A Method"
"Let the Devil In"
"Staring at the Sun"

TV On The Radio Last Night

TV On The Radio on Jimmy Kimmel Live

It started like this. I was texting JK with the setlist and then I lost my grip. Lost control. And couldn't stop dancing. The first eight tracks were...

"Young Liars"
"Wrong Way"
"Dreams"
"Province"
"Wolf Like Me"
"I Was a Lover"
"Dirty Whirl"
"Blues From Down Here"

Closed with "A Method". Encore was "Staring at the Sun". Anyone have a more complete setlist? "Let the Devil In" was in there somewhere, as was "King Eternal"...maybe? Someone help me out. "Wash the Day Away" was definitely in there.

Pics and a better recap to follow.

The National Add 5th NYC Date

[Photo Credit: MySpace]

First four are sold out, I think (the 29th is the one possibility). Tickets to the June 1st show go on sale today at 12. A look at the new album at Billboard reveals the reasoning behind Bowery Ballroom over Webster Hall:

"The choice was between doing two shows at Webster Hall or multiple shows at Bowery Ballroom, and I think we felt playing Bowery would be a more fun and intimate way to introduce these songs to our audience in New York," [Aaron] Dessner says. And we're excited about having different openers each night."

While I cringe at the news that Sufjan Stevens is in the mix...the whole violence behind the bridge sounds like something right up my alley:

"Boxer" features a guest turn by Sufjan Stevens, who plays piano on "Racing Like a Pro" and "Ada." Padma Newsome helped arrange trumpet, flute, clarinet and strings, while Doveman's Thomas Barlett chipped in on keyboards and Marla Hansen sang backup on a number of tunes.

"I don't really have favorites, but there is one song where I beat the crap out of my guitar behind the bridge, and at the moment I find the violence of this playing to be very cathartic," Dessner says.

You can read more of the Billboard article here. Review the bidding...

NYC
May 28: Bowery Ballroom, w/ The Broken West *SOLD OUT*
May 29: Bowery Ballroom, w/ Doveman // Tickets
May 30: Bowery Ballroom, w/ My Brightest Diamond *SOLD OUT*
May 31: Bowery Ballroom, w/ Elysian Fields *SOLD OUT*
Jun 1: Bowery Ballroom, w/ The Philistines Jr. // Tickets

US/Canada
Jun 2: Johnny Brendas Philadelphia
Jun 4: Cabaret Montreal
Jun 5: Opera House Toronto
Jun 6: Magic Stick Detroit, Michigan
Jun 7: Metro Chicago, Illinois
Jun 8: 400 Bar Minneapolis, Minnesota
Jun 9: High Noon Saloon Madison, Wisconsin
Jun 11: Duck Room St. Louis, Missouri
Jun 12: Headliners Music Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Jun 13: The Earl Atlanta, Georgia
Jun 14: Bonnaroo Music Festival Manchester, Tennessee
Jun 15: 20th Century Theater Cincinnati, Ohio
Jun 16: The Basement Columbus, Ohio
Jun 18: Beachland Ballroom Cleveland, Ohio
Jun 19: Rex Theater Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Jun 20: 9:30 Club Washington DC
Jun 21: Middle East Downstairs Boston, Massachusetts
Jun 25: Casbah San Diego, California
Jun 26: El Rey Theater Los Angeles, California
Jun 27: Bimbos 365 Club San Francisco, California
Jun 28: Berbatis Pan Portland, Oregon
Jun 29: Richards on Richards Vancouver
Jun 30: Neumos Seattle, Washington

The Boxer has been leaking everywhere from Radiohead message boards to Smashing Pumpkins message boards. Interesting. I'm a man of my principles and I won't dabble until it drops. The word is it knocks Alligator on its ass. And that's saying something.



MP3: The National - "Lit Up" (Remix)

Ted Leo + the Pharmacists @ 9:30 Club, 3.29.07

Another great show for the 9:30 Club books. University of the District of Columbia yellow jacket with red racing stripes. Flourescent Asics. Jeans. Short hair. Plugged in, wired up he gets the heads bobbing. The hands clapping. The kids dancing. For all intents and purposes this was my introduction. We walked in the door as it all kicked off. 10 minutes ahead of schedule. I don't own an album, but I've listened here and there. I've always dug it, but never got consumed by it. Too many albums, too much music, not enough time. That excuse is dead. Ted brought the pain. And I loved every punked up, rocked out minute of it. Perhaps there's no better way to meet a band.

Flickr: [More Pics]
NPR: [Download, Interview, Pictures, More]

Tonight @ 9:30 Club: TPC & CWK

***SOLD OUT***
Doors 7:30
Delta Spirit 8:00
Tokyo Police Club 8:45
Cold War Kids 10:00

I'm hoping my Fantasy Baseball draft ends in time to get out for Cold War Kids. If I don't make it, Top will be our eye in the sky.

It seems like only yesterday we were planning for V Fest, catching drummers break sticks while wearing gasmasks and watching Tokyo Police Club set Warehouse Next Door on fire.

The Good, The Bad & The Download

I missed The Good, The Bad & the Queen at 9:30 Club because I've been down in Florida since Wednesday (partly cloudy, 70s, occassional showers so far). Information Leafblower was in the house taking great pics, but didn't seem to be impressed with the Blur + the Verve + the Clash combo. You can judge for yourself via the stream/download at NPR.org.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Tour

New album is May 1, "Weapon of Choice", the first single, is still streaming here, along with some other new tracks.

May 5 Marquee Theatre Phoenix, AZ
May 6 House of Blues San Diego, CA
May 8 The Wiltern Los Angeles, CA
May 9 The Fillmore SF
May 11 Roseland Theatre Portland, OR
May 12 Richard's On Richards Vancouver, BC
May 13 The Showbox Seattle, WA
May 15 The Big Easy Boise, ID
May 16 In The Venue Salt Lake City, UT
May 17 Gothic Theatre Denver, CO
May 18 Sokol Underground Omaha, NE
May 19 Granada Theatre Lawrence, KS
May 20 The Pageant St. Louis, MS
May 22 First Avenue Minneapolis, MN
May 23 The Rave Milwaukee, WI
May 24 Vic Theatre Chicago, IL
May 25 St. Andrews Hall Detroit, MI
May 26 Kool Haus Toronto, ONT
May 28 La Tulipe Montreal, BC
May 29 Avalon Boston, MA
May 31 Webster Hall New York, NY
Jun 1 Theatre of the Living Arts Philadelphia, PA
Jun 2 9:30 Club Washington DC [Tickets]
Jun 4 Newport Music Hall Columbus, OH
Jun 5 The Music Mill Indianapolis, IN
Jun 6 City Hall Nashville, TN
Jun 7 Roxy Theatre Atlanta, GA
Jun 9 Culture Room Fort Lauderdale, FL
Jun 10 The Social Orlando, FL
Jun 12 Zydeco Birmingham, AL
Jun 13 The Republic New Orleans, LA
Jun 14 Meridian Houston, TX
Jun 15 La Zona Rosa Austin, TN
Jun 16 House of Blues Dallas, TX

Wolfmother: April/May Tour Dates

Apr 15 Warfield Theatre San Francisco, California
Apr 18 Fillmore Auditorium Denver, Arkansas
Apr 21 Bijou Theatre Knoxville, Tennessee
Apr 22 Workplay Soundstage Birmingham, Alabama
Apr 24 Disco Rodeo Raleigh, North Carolina
Apr 25 9:30 Club Washington DC, Washington DC [Tickets]
Apr 28 Webster Theatre Hartford, Connecticut
Apr 29 Avalon Ballroom Boston, Massachusetts
May 3 Bogart's Cincinnati, Ohio
May 4 The Orange Peel Asheville, North Carolina
May 9 The Grove of Anaheim Anaheim, California

Iggy & the Stooges @ 9:30 Club

Tickets for this show went from on-sale to sold out in a heartbeat at some point last week. I didn't get the e-mail in time, and, to be honest, don't know if I would have hopped into the feeding frenzy to begin with. Regardless, the prices on eBay have dropped slightly (about $5 to $10) and you can now get down for about $80, plus outrageous shipping. Over at StubHub they are $75 before shipping.

Options: [eBay | Craigslist | StubHub]

On a related note, I had to run home from work yesterday and pick up something I forgot. On the way out the door I left my iPod blasting Rainbow in my office. Sans iPod and in need of constant stimulation, I turned the dial to DC101 just to see what Elliott was up to. They were doing this thing where they have three sets of different tickets and the first person to call gets first dibs, so on. So forth. The first guy calls in, hears "Iggy & the Stooges" and goes "I don't even know who that is", so he obviously grabbed another set of tickets. The next kid, who probably thought he was getting "sloppy seconds" gets on with the "Is this me? Am I on?" and was completely ecstatic when the Iggy Pop tickets were still available. Good for him. I guess that radio thing isn't half bad.

Overheard @ 9:30 Club Last Night

In reference to DC's new non-smoking policy in bars and clubs:
"This place is weird without the big cloud of smoke hanging in the air."
-----
Crowdmember: "Play the first song!"
Converge frontman: "We did play the first song. It was the first song."
Crowdmember: "Play the fourth song."
Converge frontman: "We played the fourth song, too. We played 8 or 9 songs. I don't know...I can't count, I went to fucking art school."
-----
The last song to play before Mastodon took the stage was The Mars Volta's "Tetragrammaton". Some knucklehead next to me to his knucklehead friend (these kids were like 16, 17 tops):

K #1: "Is this off Amputechture?"
K #2: "Yeah, fuck The Mars Volta."
K #1: "Is this fucking "Tetragrammaton"? Uggh."

Kids these days. At least they had the sense to be catching Mastodon. Maybe they weren't up to speed on the fact that two members of The Mars Volta helped out on tracks on Blood Mountain. Or maybe they truly hate The Mars Volta. At any rate, "Tetragrammaton" had me in prime shape for Mastodon.

Mastodon, Converge & Priestess @ 9:30 Club, 02.17.07: More Pics

Mastodon









Converge









Priestess

Mastodon @ 9:30 Club, 02.17.07

As 9:30 Club excellence goes, nestled somewhere behind Ben Harper's 3.5 hour epic and somewhere in front of everything else, lies the show I just witnessed. Mastodon exceeded all of my expectations. Fucking phenomenal.

They haven't changed the setlist up much during the tour, and I just pulled this off the forum. Let me know if it is jacked up - I don't know a lot of their songs by name. I am trying to replay all of them and remember where and when, but for the most part, this looks good.

Setlist:

"This Mortal Soil"
"The Wolf Is Loose"
"Crystal Skull"
"Capillarian Crest"
"I Am Ahab"
"Sleeping Giant"
"Circle Of Cysquatch"
"Iron Tusk"
"March Of The Fire Ants"
"Where Strides The Behemoth"
"Mother Puncher"
"Aqua Dementia"
"Bladecatcher"
"Colony Of Birchmen"
"Megalodon"
"Blood And Thunder"
"Hearts Alive"

Tonight: Mastodon, Converge & Priestess

The info over at 9:30 Club:

This show is sold out.
Doors 7:00
Priestess 7:45
Converge 8:30
Mastodon 9:40

Peter Bjorn And John: Spring Tour Dates

Via Filter Magazine.

April
28 Indio, CA - Empire Polo Field [Coachella]
30 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
May
01 New York, NY - Webster Hall
02 New York, NY - Webster Hall
03 Philadelphia, PA - TLA
04 Boston, MA - Paradise
05 Montreal, QC - Le National
06 Toronto, ON - Phoenix
07 Columbus, OH - Wexner Center
08 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle
09 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
12 Vancouver, BC - Commodore
13 Seattle, WA - Neumos
14 Portland, OR - Doug Fir
15 San Francisco, CA - Bimbo's
16 San Francisco, CA - Bimbo's

Plan for Tonight

In no particular order...

1. Ponder my cash flow, the Cat Power show at 9:30 Club next Monday that isn't sold out, my desire to attend and the intersection of those three things.

Check out Cat Power's set with the Memphis Rhythm Band at La Route Du Rock at the back-in-action rbally. The French commentary in between songs is so delicious it hurts.

2. Watch Chan-wook Park's Lady Vengeance.

3. "Stack bodies".

Trail of Dead @ 9:30 Club, 11.14.06

Setlist
"Mistakes & Regrets"
"It Was There (That I Saw You)"
"How Near How Far"
"Stand In Silence"
"Gaterwaul"
"Homage"
"Aged Dolls"
"A Perfect Teenhood"
"Will You Smile Again"
"Totally Natural"

Encore
"Another Morning Stoner"