The Black Angels Tour Dates

[MySpace: The Black Angels]

I just realized that Passover came out in 2006. For some reason I thought it was 2005. My Top Ten Albums list is so fucked. I completely omitted 10,000 Days for some reason and never looked into this one as much as I should have. I loved it during my first few listens and then got hooked on something else. Sometimes that's the way it goes. At any rate, Ryno first introduced us to The Black Angels last summer when he caught them opening up for The Black Keys in Seattle, WA. They are kicking off a tour tonight at Piano's. If their live sound is what Ryno says it is, then Piano's should be rocking. Hard. I'll get mine at the Rock 'N Roll Hotel come April.

Feb 1 Piano's New York, New York
Feb 10 Emo's Austin, Texas
Feb 13 The Granada Dallas, Texas
Feb 16 Liquid Room Edinburgh, Scotland
Feb 17 ABC Glasgow, Scotland
Feb 18 Rock City Nottingham, England
Feb 20 Wulfrun Hall Wolverhampton, England
Feb 21 UEA Norwich, England
Feb 22 The Leadmill Sheffield, England
Feb 23 Manchester Academy Manchester, England
Feb 25 The Old Fire Station Bournemouth, England
Feb 26 Sonic Cathedral @ The Legion London, England
Feb 27 Shepherds Bush Empire London, England
Feb 28 Shepherds Bush Empire London, England
Mar 1 La Cigale Paris
Mar 2 Handelsbeurs Gent
Mar 3 Tivoli Ultrecht
Mar 14 Emo's Annex Austin, Texas
Mar 22 The Jackrabbit Lounge Shreveport, Louisiana
Mar 24 The Bottletree Birmingham, Alabama
Mar 27 Village Tavern Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina
Mar 31 Southgate House Newport, Kentucky
Apr 2 Beachland Tavern Cleveland, Ohio
Apr 3 Little Brothers Columbus, Ohio
Apr 5 The Rock and Roll Hotel, Washington DC
Apr 10 Middle East Upstairs Cambridge, Massachusetts
May 24 Doug Fir Lounge Portland, Oregon
May 25 Richard's on Richards Vancouver, British Columbia

 

MP3: The Black Angels - "The First Vietnamese War"

VIDEO: The Black Angels - "The First Vietnamese War"

Live Music Weekend Recap

With all the craziness around CMJ this week in New York, I did my best to partake in the events this weekend catching 8 different bands in a 24-hour period. It was exhausting, I felt like I spent a full day at Austin City Limits. Here are some thoughts on the various acts.

Friday, 11/3: The Black Angels, The Black Keys @ Nokia Theatre
I was looking forward to hearing the Black Angels, I haven't had a chance to listen to their album in full but I like most of their songs. They sounded great in what must have been the largest venue they've ever played (2100 which was full during their show). My lady actually felt bad that the band had to drag their own equipment off the stage after their set. I explained to her that not all bands have a crew the size of U2, her response: "Well, they're living the dream". True. The Black Keys were entertaining as always. I believe this is the 4th time I've seen them and this was by far the best set list, combining the best of Magic Potion with past greats. Patrick Carney, of course, did not disappoint on drums. A very nice reminder as to why he is one of the best on tour today.

Saturday, 11/4: Brooklyn Vegan Show @ The Annex
I can't thank BV enough for putting this show together. He literally managed to pull together all of my favorite new bands (White Whale, Tokyo Police Club, and SSPU) in one venue for a FREE show. Amazing. I missed Takka Takka who came on first at noon but here were the rest, in order:

White Whale: I've been waiting and waiting for these guys to come to NYC to promote their album. They haven't received much of the critical acclaim that I feel their album deserves but I thoroughly enjoyed their brief set. After many shows this week, Matt Suggs barely had his voice but the band was nothing short of awesome. They need to come back.

Annuals: Despite all of the buzz, I'm not really a huge fan of the album, Be He Me. The potential is there and some of the songs are great but the album just seems to fade in the latter half. That said, no band left me more impressed. Adam Baker's energy matches his age and although they only managed to get through 4 or 5 songs, I firmly believed that their future will be extremely bright. Random aside: why hasn't Pitchfork reviewed this album? No one built these guys up more after posting the mp3 to "Brother." Get the sense that maybe they felt the same way that I did about the album? A little disappointing to be sure - and yet no review. Hmmm...

Elvis Perkins: I didn't know his work beforehand and I didn't really hear anything that would give me cause to listen further. Sorry, just a bit too depressing for me.

Tokyo Police Club: My vote for best new band in 2006. They easily managed to cover the most ground in their allotted 30 minutes, getting through about 9 songs half of which were new material. Always entertaining, I can never get enough of these guys.

The Big Sleep: "Murder" is one of my favorite tracks this year and there is no question that the band can rock out with the best of them. Unfortunately, I need to hear some more vocals. I get the sense that if they followed in the footsteps of Broken Social Scene that they would also experience similar success.

Silversun Pickups: This is probably one of our most blogged about bands and deservedly so. Entertaining as always, Brian Aubert and Nikki Monninger seem to be more comfortable on stage with each show. I just wish they could have played a bit longer. "Lazy Eye" and "Kissing Families" are quickly becoming show staples. Solid.