show review: The Gaslight Anthem and The Hold Steady, The Stone Pony, Asbury Park. 5/25/13

The Gaslight Anthem on the Asbury Park beach. This had the potential to be perfect.

What it was, however, not.

I was so excited for this show, which lately hasn't really happened. I couldn't wait to get up there and hang out with my old friend and see two of my favorite bands, together, in one of my favorite places, which also happens to be basically TGA's "hometown." (I know they aren't from there, but if you listen to their stuff you understand where I am coming from.)

I met up with a friend from my WC days, her husband, and two of her friends, and we had dinner at a place in the Berkley Hotel. It was nice, and I really rather like this whole eating a nice meal before a show thing I seem to be doing lately. It definitely beats starving through a set.

While we were inside, the rain came down like crazy, but it was tapering off as we started down to the venue. At this point, though, the sun was down and it was getting really cold. We all ended up bundling up a little more and then headed down...as we were walking, Ben came back and said, "we are missing the hold steady." We thought their set started at eight, but they were finishing their last song at 8:17 so obviously that wasn't right. I did get to see a few songs, and we heard a few while waiting in the STILL RIDICULOUS line to get inside.

By this point we were all bundled up, a little bit wet from the rain that had just passed through, and anxious for Gaslight to take the stage. I find myself wondering if all of that anxiousness was for nought. I find that shows that I drag my feet about attending are generally kick-ass, and the shows that I build up as SUPERAWESOMEHAPPYFUNTIMES in my head tend to leave me wanting more.

First, the crowd sucked. A crowd makes or breaks a show for me, and this one definitely broke it. I guess ill just never understand why anyone would pay concert ticket money, not to mention ticketmaster fees, just to stand around and talk over the band. I maybe get it with an opener, because its less likely that anyone is there to see them specifically (though I realize that people do sometimes go for the opener) but the headlining act? It would be much cheaper to invite your friends over, buy a few bottles of wine and play the records in the comfort of your own home. At least then you aren't
 wasting money or distracting anyone who actually wants to hear the band.

Not only could I not hear, but I could not see anything. When I held my camera up to snap pictures, I could see through the lcd screen, but mostly I was just looking at the backs of the heads of the Jolly Green Giant impersonators that were standing up ahead of us. So, at this point, I cant see the band or hear the band, and that was when the guy behind me decided he was going to start grabbing my butt. After elbowing him a few times, punching him once or twice, and moving away from him, I just couldn't take any of it anymore and told the people that I was with that I was going to the back of the venue.

I ended up buying a tee shirt and dancing around by myself in the back until the show was over.

I was also really disappointed that they didn't play "Blue Jeans and White Tee Shirts." It is literally a song about sleeping on the Asbury Park beach and buying a house in AP, and I havent heard it live yet because I got into Gaslight too late, I guess. I am almost betting that they will play it tonight, though, along with the other few songs that I was really hoping to hear.

The setlist wasn't bad, though.

Handwritten
Old White Lincoln
American Slang
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
Casanova, Baby!
The Diamond Church Street Choir
Biloxi Parish
Angry Johnny and the Radio
45
The Patient Ferris Wheel
Blue Dahlia
Too Much Blood
Miles Davis and The Cool
Meet Me By The River's Edge
Mullholland Drive
Great Expectations
Keepsake
****************
She Loves You
The '59 Sound
Here's Looking at You, Kid
The Backseat

I guess the setlist is pretty kick-ass, I just wish I would have been able to enjoy it better.

(I just made the mistake of looking at the setlist from THS last night. I am really disappointed that I didn't get to see their set.)

I can feel it in my bones that Gaslight will play "blue jeans" tonight. I almost want to ride up there and sit on the beach to listen, but that kind of seems silly, I guess.

Show Review: Iron & Wine at Union Transfer 5/15/13

I put off writing this entry right away because I was struggling with a few things about it. First, I don't know the titles of the songs on the new album well enough to keep an accurate set list so i had to wait for one to show up online (though i realize i absolutely could have gone on and written an entry minus the setlist) but the second thing kept me from wanting to do even that. The second thing is that i am not sure how to write these anymore. I mean, i understand the logistics of a review, but i only see bands that i like so i rarely have anything negative to say and i am beginning to feel like this flood of show reviews is very uniform. I have a formula that ties it up into a nice, easy package and I am just going with it. I suppose that is fine, but i would really be interested in finding a way to change things up.

I will work on finding a different angle for the next few shows. I think for this one, though, we are going to stick with the norm.

When the announcement of this date was made, i was gung-ho about getting a ticket, but then forgot or got sidetracked or i don't even know what but i never got tickets, and then it sold out. Also, I mostly forgot about the show when carrying on my day to day business, and would only think "crap, i need to figure out tickets to that" when someone would bring it up, which wasn't very often.

Here's the thing, though. I saw Iron & Wine at Bonnaroo. There is no better venue for that band, and while i have seen Sam Beam and company since then, nothing has that 'Roo feel to it, so i think a small part of me didn't want to go, but when it comes down to it, there is a much larger part of me that would have pouted for weeks if i didn't get tickets, so after much whining on twitter and general nonsense, i sucked it up and paid an arm and a leg for a pair of tickets on stubhub.

The opening band kicked some serious ass. They are called The Secret Sisters, and the band is made up of two sisters hailing from Alabama, and they harmonized on CSN&Y levels. I actually spent the whole of their set thinking "this is what i wish Eisley sounded like." I bought their record and got to talk to the girls after the show, and the fact that they were saccharin sweet made me love them even more.

Here is a picture of the girls:



and here is a video, so you can judge for yourself: 

Laura and Lydia earned themselves a new fan last night, for sure. And if my glowing recommendation isn't enough for you, Jack White produced their album. yes, THAT Jack White.

Iron & Wine's set was...weird. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't what i am used to in a concert, either. The crowd stood still and no one seemed to be singing along or anything like that. And I'm not saying that the crowd was bad, either, it was just the vibe in that room last night. it didn't seem to bother Sam, though, because he just kept talking about how awesome we were. (for the record, i was dancing for most of the show, even after getting run over by a student earlier in the day.)

like i said, i don't know the titles well enough to write a set list myself, so i am snagging wxpn's.

Setlist
The Desert Babbler
Carousel
Kingdom of the Animals
Low Light Buddy of Mine
Tree By the River
Belated Promise Ring
Grass Widows
Sixteen, Maybe Less
Free Bird tease (solo)
The Sea and the Rhythm (solo)
Woman King (solo)
Resurrection Fern (solo)
Such Great Heights (Postal Service cover, solo)
Caught in the Briars
Sundown (Back in the Briars)
Jezebel
Grace for Saints and Ramblers
Passing Afternoon
Singers and the Endless Song
Lean Into the Light
Your Fake Name is Good Enough for Me
Baby Center Stage

Encore
Upward Over the Mountain (solo)

the setlist was not bad, by any means, but it was strange. there are a lot of songs that i come to expect to hear at an Iron and Wine concert and none of them were really present Wednesday night. I was pretty darn excited to her Jezebel and Woman King, though, and you can imagine how happy hearing "such great heights" made the audience. 

******
I have left this sitting as a draft for about a week and a half now, and I just don't think I am going to get around to finishing it, especially since I have no idea where I was going with it, so I am going to go ahead and post it as is.

here are some pictures, though.

show review: five iron frenzy at the chameleon club in lancaster, pa

i just saw my favorite band play a show.

this wouldnt be that big a deal, except that my favorite band called it quits 10 years ago or so.

college me is so freaking happy right now.

the setlist:
Blue Comb '78
Handbook for the Sellout
Pre Ex-girlfriend
Hope Still Flies
At Least Im Not Like All Those Other Old Guys
One Girl Army
*New Song*
Phantom Mullet
American Kryptonite
When I Go Out
Milestone
You Cant Handle This
Power of Love (Huey Lewis cover)
Where the 0 Meets the 15
You Probably Shouldnt Move here
*so far* (another new song)
O Canada
Farsighted
Every New Day

House of Heroes opened the show. i dont know them, and didnt pay attention, but im pretty confident in saying that Brand New could have been the opener and i would have been anxious for FIF to take the stage. I had been waiting for this for 10 years. I wasnt interested in waiting any longer.

here are some pictures:

this is a very disjointed entry. i know. im tired and sore and too old for this nonsense, but i loved every minute of the show tonight.

show review: Andrew McMahon at the TLA 4/10/13

It took me years to take an interest in Something Corporate. In fact, Jack's Mannequin's first album had already dropped before I heard my first SoCo song on purpose, and the second J's M album was out before i bothered getting my hands on a SoCo album.

But I loved Jack's Mannequin from the first listen. I played the crap out of "Everything in Transit" that first summer that it was out. it became routine to get into the car, roll down the windows and blast songs like "Holiday from Real" and "la la lie" on my way to and fro. 

Of course, the seasons changed, and it got colder, and i shelved that album, forgetting it existed. 

A few summers ago, SoCo got back together and i landed some tickets for the show. I decided that i should probably know some of the songs going in, so i started listening to "Played in Space" quite often and fell in love. I knew right away that this was solid stuff, and even though some of the songs were quite a few years old, they were new to me. 

During this time, my best friend fell for Andrew's writing, as well. I knew from seeing J's M that Andrew was a lot of fun to watch perform, and i remember pointing that out before the show. I think its why she fell in love with Andrew, but i dont fault her for it. 

Anyway, back in February I went out with said best friend right around my birthday and she told me that another friend of ours had bought us tickets to go see Andrew McMahon in April at the TLA. If I am being totally honest, at first I was a little bit pissed off that they would get me these tickets because in that moment i wasn't a huge andrew fan, (really, i wasnt a huge anything fan...i take birthdays hard) and i kind of felt like it was a bit rude to just assume that i had nothing to do that night. Really, though, i can be an awful bitch and that was just one of those moments. i did get over it quickly.

The night of the show came around and i was pretty excited. I left work early and met up with Nicole so that we could head over to the TLA. neither of us had eaten dinner so we stopped at one of the many establishments on South Street, Hagan Daas. Ice cream for dinner is totally acceptable, right?

We walked into the show, and immediately hit up the merch table. I bought the softest tee shirt ever, and was holding it up while walking, and damn near walked right into one of the teachers from my school. I couldnt even tell you about either of the opening bands because i was so busy talking to the girls i was standing with and saying hi to fellow Shoners that were there. (I am telling you, not since FIF have i come across a band that bonded me so instantly with fellow fans. This shone thing has been incredible.)

Obviously, though, we shut up when Andrew took the stage. (an aside: I never, ever understood paying not only the ticket price but the insane ticketmaster fees just to go and talk though the headliner. If you wanted to have a chat with your buddies, stay home, put the CD on and cork a bottle of wine. save the rest of us your nonsense...same goes for those who go to a show and make out the whole time. I just dont get it.)

The set was awesome. it was a healthy mix of SoCo, Jack's, and a few of Andrews solo songs. The atmosphere in the room was good, the entertainment was definitely not lacking, and i say this a million times, but there is something totally special about singing along loudly with an entire room of people some lyric that everyone relates to. In this instance, it was the sold-out room yelling "fuck yeah!"

The set list:
Mix Tape
I Woke Up In A Car
Resolution
Me And The Moon
Watch The Sky
Learn to Dance
Swim
Amy, I
Punk Rock Princess
Ruthless
Holiday From Real
Straw Dog
Synesthesia
Bruised
Hey Hey Hey
Dark Blue
*********
No Man Is An Island
Konstantine
La La Lie

We were tipped off that Andrew was going to come out and greet people after the show, so we waited around in the rain for like an hour waiting for him. I am a dummy, though, because I never know what to say to anyone in a situation like that, and he kept looking at me like he was waiting for me to say something, and i just kind of stood there like an idiot. haha. oh well, at least I got this:

sometimes I'm a little crazy

you know what? i am pretty lucky to have friends that indulge me in my insane decisions to do crazy stuff at the last minute.

This past Friday, my favorite band, Brand New, played out at State College at their annual spring event, called Movin' On. I was very up in the air about the whole thing because the last time i saw BN at a college show (down at Stockton a few years ago) the sound was awful and it wasn't the best experience.  But i also have not seen Brand New in a year and a half, so that was weighing on me, too. And i just kept thinking that i was going to miss something big, like an announcement of a song coming out of the vault, if i didn't go.

But then my car decided it wanted to be a punk. I have had so much work done on it lately, only for it to die on the highway on my way to look at computers. (i ended up ordering a MacBook Air online, and this is my first post from my new pet.) My dad heard me say that I had taken a personal day on Friday, so he made an appointment for my car to go into the shop on Friday.

cool.

so then i was all bummed out again because even though i hadn't made a decision, the decision had been made for me. i knew id get my car back at some point that day, but with state college being such a far trip from my house i didn't think we would have time to make it.

but then the gears started turning and i came up with an idea. here is something you may not know about me. i am the laziest piece of butt on the planet, but if i want something, i will find a way, no matter what. i mean, i suppose that is human nature, but i see it as a character flaw. i MUST get my way. anyway, i have a buddy that i know is generally bored, and who only works part time, and who has a car, so i asked her what she was doing. of course she had to work that morning, but was going to be done in what should have been plenty of time to get out there, so we decided, sometime Thursday, that we were going to do this.

on Friday we spent a total of 11 hours in the car (there and back) to hear 2 and 1/2 songs. i believe that most people would be angry that they missed out on seeing their favorite band, but i had such a good time in the car, and i was just so damn happy to see those boys on that stage that it just didn't matter. The fact that sun was setting over the mountains in the background made it even better. two and a half songs by my favorite band was probably better than an entire set by anyone else.

and as if seeing the band wasn't enough, i got to meet Paige, a fellow shoner, and ran into Ryan, another fellow shoner. oh, and i got to go to sheetz and to eat n park which may mean nothing to you, but when i found out there was an eat n park nearby i started jumping up and down like an over-excited five-year-old. SMILEY COOKIES.

It would have been very easy to get angry at the late start and the traffic that kept us from getting there on time, but the experience was just as much fun. the only thing is now i definitely need to see Brand New again, just so that i can say i have seen them 33 1/3 times.

some leftover thoughts from last night's show

I know that in the blog reviewing the show, i said that i wanted to keep what Vinnie said to us to myself because i thought that it was special and that i should keep some of the night back for my own memory, but i have been thinking about that 20 minutes all day long and i think i need to write about some of it to get it out of my head.

One of the things that stuck out the most to me was how down in the dumps Vinnie was about how quickly people jumped off of the Shone bandwagon. First, i think those people are stupid. flat out morons. They got a little butthurt because there was no Jesse Lacey so they jumped ship without really giving the band the attention that they deserve. That is their bad, because this band has some killer talent. I cant even tell you what it was like to watch Ben Homola and Brian Lane drum together, in sync, for a few minutes, and just kill it. I was in awe. I just stood right there at the front of the stage and stared at the drumsticks, likely with my mouth wide open. I have always been a fan of Brian's drumming (if you have any doubts about that man's skills, listen to "the archer's bows have broken" and then come talk to me.)

Andrew Accardi's vocal range floors me. The things that that guy can do with his voice are almost unnatural. I have only listened to ROBBERS a few times. I saw them once or twice but neither were ideal settings to really get to listen to a band, (you know, gymnasiums and lobbies and stuff. terrible acoustics) but i am definitely going to make it a point to pay more attention to them. One of the things that Vin said last night that i thought was so humble and so sweet was about Andrew, and that was that Andrew "is more talented than I am. He always has been the one with the talent, and I'm blown away by it." I had just finished joking with Vin about Andrew always reminding him that he sucks, basically, (to which i quipped "isn't that what brothers are for? He laughed and agreed) and that moment of humility totally changed my perspective on Vincent Accardi. He came down a few notches on the "OMG ROCKSTAR" ladder (which probably isn't a bad thing) but definitely went up a bunch on the "this dude kicks some serious ass" ladder.

I guess what i took away from all of that is that i feel sorry for the people that jumped ship because they are missing out on something really special. A lot of the people reading this are people that i would have never met if it weren't for this band, but we freaking stood out in the freezing cold (and eventually snow) together to read a message from a scary clown-like dude on a screen and then went on a scavenger hunt together. we pulled together before that to root for the others in Long Island on the first hunts. We stood in line (again, in the freezing cold) together to wait to get inside of a club in NYC, some of us travelling super far, just to see what this was all about. The people in that room that night were so awesome to each other and it was refreshing to be in a room that felt like family after being in so many rooms full of pretentious douches so often lately.

To give all of that up because Jesse Lacey's name isn't attached to this?

Stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I fangirl over Jesse with the best of them, but I'm not so far up his ass that i cant appreciate good music that he isn't a part of.

Vinnie also addressed the fact that people thought the album was scary. Yes, at first I was a little freaked out by Andrews vocals in places, but I mean, a dead guy that killed cats and probably some girls was the one that informed us about this band to begin with, so would it make sense for some pop music to come from that? of course not. the music, the vocals, the whole package, it all went together perfectly. Did we over think things some? yes. of course. Brian has as much as said that they underestimated the intensity in which this would be followed.

The album doesn't scare me anymore. I think its pretty beautiful, actually. I cant remember what scared me about it. what i can tell you, though, is that when i am pissed the hell off at whatever is wrong at a particular time, i put on track 5 and dance my ass off until i forget what was bothering me. Babyshakes is one of my favorite songs right now.

I hope that they guys don't get discouraged and stop doing this. I don't want to see Shone end because some Brand New fans cant appreciate the work of some of the guys (which really doesn't make any sense to me. how can someone be a fan of a band and not love the talent that the guys have?) because this band has some serious talent and they are just so much damn fun to watch. Okay, you watched the live stream from my shitty iPhone 4 so now you know that they aren't fun? fuck that. you cant tell anything by watching blobs of light and hearing audio that is clipping more than it is normal.

Alright. my eyes are getting blurry from staring at the screen for too long, but i hope that this makes a difference somewhere, because there is a lot of love for this band, but its not enough. People need to stop being assholes and start paying attention to talent, otherwise we will be stuck with nothing but Kesha and Chris Brown wanna-be's and that is just not something i am interested in seeing happen.

show review: Shone at the North Star Bar in Philadelphia 4/6/13

If you haven't taken my advice yet and listened to Shone, you are a dummy, because you are missing out on some really, really good stuff. Stop being a dummy. Listen to Shone.

My ears are still ringing from tonight's concert. I think they probably will be for a few days, but I'm mostly okay with that. I realized a long time ago that I am probably going to lose my hearing due to the amount of concerts in which i attend. its cool. whatevz. 

There is really so much I want to say about Shone. I have formed friendships with people based solely on this band and it is amazing to me. I'm talking FIF level stuff here, dudes. I love having that bond with the people that I am attending shows with. I knew pretty much the entire front row before the first band took the stage, and I introduced myself to the two guys I didn't know. Its like a big ole' family, and that is really effing cool. I hope that Brian Lane and Andrew Accardi realize that they have given that to us, because that is really something special in my eyes. 

Alright, enough blubbering about my Shone family. They rock. Its cool. Onward with the story. (I am in a rambly mood tonight. This might take a while.) 

Pre-show, a bunch of us gathered in the bar and did what normal, of-age adults do in a bar...proceed to get silly with the help of some beverages. This really doesn't mean anything at all, except that it put all of us in really good moods for the show, so that was nice. And our waiter was pretty nice, which definitely helped. 

The first band that played was called Cold Fronts and I liked them. They have a very Hot Hot Heat sound about them, I think, and that is not a bad thing. I wasn't as into the second band, though. Val de Val sounded like someone put a band under water and it just wasn't the mood I wanted to be in right before seeing Shone. Their last song or two had a very BN feel to it, though, and so it wasn't as bad as the rest of the set, but i don't know that they are a band i would go out of my way to see again. 

Shone came out and played everything from their album except for "Bestial." BUT I did get the scoop on that both before and after the show, so knowing why they didn't play it (because, basically, they CANT. both Brian and Vin said it just sounds like junk when they try to play it and that they didn't want to give that to us as fans. I can respect that, for sure) I wasn't as sad about it as i was after the NYC show. These guys are just so much fun! Ugh. It kills me that so many people fell off of this bandwagon as soon as they heard that Jesse Lacey wasn't directly involved. This band has some serious talent and deserves to be respected on their own merits, not because it was believed that it was some JTL secret band shit that was going on. I dunno. I guess people will argue that they should not have let people believe that it wasn't BN from the get go, but i guess i never really did, so i didn't get that butthurt when i found out it was Brian and Andrew behind all of this madness. Like Vincent (haha. random, yeah? that's how he introduced himself tonight.) said, people are fickle and i say its their loss for jumping ship. Leaves more room for me to shake my fat ass! (seriously, try to listen to babyshakes and NOT dance. i dare you. i bet you cant.) 

after the show, Vin kind of collapsed to the ground and sat there for a bit, and somehow that turned into him giving a group of us a sermon about the band and the talent in the band (i promise he wasn't talking about himself) and on how to be nice to each other. There was more to it than just that, but i kind of feel like that was a special thing for those of us that were there and maybe i don't want to type up the minutes and cheapen the moment. It was just really awesome to spend some time having a conversation with a guy that plays in my favorite freaking band. it wasn't an awkward moment at a signing (of which i have had plenty) but this was the real deal. It was cool to get inside of his head a little bit, and it definitely made me appreciate Daisy a lot more. 

Look, I feel like I am talking a lot and not really saying anything, and its pretty effing late, so i am going to end this with a few pictures taken tonight. (okay, probably a lot of pictures. I'm in a mood. deal with it.) 

i am really in love with that last picture of vinnie. i kind of don't want to share it.