2009 Concert Journals

[enemy anemone]

yeah, Tom Waits gets covered often, but not always in that "look at how oddball and cool we are" way.

and what do you know, while I was clicking around looking for Tom Waits covers, I found a recording of Vienna Teng's cover of Idioteque here.

[bloop]

That Radiohead as interpreted by Vienna Teng cover was great, schil.  Thanks.

[murlough23]

That Radiohead as interpreted by Vienna Teng cover was great, schil.  Thanks.

Do you think it beats Fiction Family's version?

NP: "The Young and the Brutal", House of Heroes

[bloop]

Yeah, I think it does, actually.

[murlough23]

Yeah, I think it does, actually.

I go back and forth. Teng's version is more faithful to the structure of the original. Fiction Family's is more of an intentional deconstruction (or reconstruction? Radiohead's original version was kind of trying to deconstruct the notion that rock music needed guitars and melody and all that.) FF also took me by surprise with it because I couldn't tell what it was until the lyrics came in.

But neither version beats the original. (Even if I like Teng's vocals about a thousand times more than Yorke's.)

NP: "White Lights", Deas Vail

[bloop]

It takes a lot for me to say a cover outright beats the original, but there are a few.  Teng's version does go down easier, but the song is meant to be unsettling, so I suppose I'm not making an exception here.

[murlough23]

It takes a lot for me to say a cover outright beats the original, but there are a few.  Teng's version does go down easier, but the song is meant to be unsettling, so I suppose I'm not making an exception here.

Yorke's vocals are obviously the best fit for the song. There's no debating that.

[murlough23]

Forgot to mention one of the most amusing moments from the Vienna Teng concert... she inserted a little snippet of the Star Wars Cantina song into "In Another Life". I hadn't seen the original Star Wars in so long that I had to ask my friends why they had laughed so hard at that.

NP: "Young Atlantis", A. C. Newman

[ajyouthguy]

i knew i spoke too soon...we're getting flood-like rains, so the festival RRFB was playing at got canceled today, so i don't get to see them.  the Jars show tomorrow is in serious doubt as well.

[plvarona]

This past Friday I went to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.  I figured since this is the major music festival in the area, I might as well give it a shot at least once.  I'm glad I went too.  The lineup is quite diverse, and most of the people there are pretty good at what they do.

Here's a brief snapshot of whom I saw.  I didn't really see anybody I follow closely, so I won't get too detailed, but there was one artist I may want to check out more.

Fredy Omar con su Banda: He's a local DJ at a New Orleans club every week, and he and his band do contemporary Spanish music.  If nothing else, it was fun to listen to.

BeauSoleil: They are one of the biggest Cajun/zydeco artists.  The music wasn't exactly my thing, but the guys are quite talented, and good at what they do, so I can at least enjoy it on that level.

Cheick Hamala Diabate: He's from Mali, and he performed traditional African music.  I was especially impressed with his percussionist, who nailed quite a few fast passages, and was also a pretty good showman to boot.

The Dirty Dozen Brass Band w/ The Rebirth Brass Band: Two fairly well-known jazz brass groups, and this also falls into the "fun, if nothing else" category.

Bonnie Raitt: She's assembled quite a talented band, and she still sounds good in her late 50's.

Patty Griffin: Her set overlapped with Bonnie Raitt's set a little bit, so I only caught the last 30 minutes.  However, I was very impressed with what I saw.  I see why she has a bit of a following on this board.  I definitely need to check out her music a little more.

Poncho Sanchez Latin Jazz Band: He's one of the most famous Latin Jazz Percussionists, and I see why.  He's quite talented.

So overall, it was a nice day out, and a good exposure to music I don't listen to on a regular basis.

[Aaron]

BeauSoleil is very good.  Nice that you got to check them out.

[ajyouthguy]

i DID wind up getting to see Jars of Clay, in the rain outside today.  they were stellar as usual.  i commented to my youth worker that was with me that they were much more 'rocking' and more of the songs were purely electric with no acoustic guitars on most of them than probably any other time I've seen them.

i didn't have anything to write with so i'm doing this primarily on memory, and not in order at all, except for the first two.

Songs:
"The Long Fall," "Weapons," "Work," "Heaven," "Closer," "Safe to Land," "Boys," "Hero," "Two Hands," (one other song off the new album I can't remember b/c it was as we were walking out), "I Need You," "Revolution," "God Will Lift Up Your Head," "Flood," "Love Song for a Savior," "Carry Me (Dead Man)," "Frail."

[ajyouthguy]

^^for what it's worth, that show made me a MUCH bigger fan of the new Jars album than i had been before.  it's not that i didn't like it, but something about hearing most of the album live made me like it a lot more than i did before then.

[murlough23]

The last time Jars of Clay was largely electric in concert (circa The Eleventh Hour), I didn't like their live sound as much. Thought they were trying too hard to put on a big rock show when that really isn't their strength as a band. Then again, Good Monsters had a pretty good live show. But that was more balanced; I didn't feel like they were trying to "rock out" songs that didn't call for that approach in the album versions.

Seeing a band live often makes me appreciate songs that I hadn't gotten into that much on the album, but on the flipside, seeing Jars of Clay in concert a lot has made me start to get really tired of songs I loved on their older albums, too.

[Aaron]

The last time Jars of Clay was largely electric in concert (circa The Eleventh Hour), I didn't like their live sound as much. Thought they were trying too hard to put on a big rock show when that really isn't their strength as a band. Then again, Good Monsters had a pretty good live show. But that was more balanced; I didn't feel like they were trying to "rock out" songs that didn't call for that approach in the album versions.

Seeing a band live often makes me appreciate songs that I hadn't gotten into that much on the album, but on the flipside, seeing Jars of Clay in concert a lot has made me start to get really tired of songs I loved on their older albums, too.

PLAY FLOOD!!! JUST PLAY IT!!!!!

[murlough23]

PLAY FLOOD!!! JUST PLAY IT!!!!!

If you did that at an actual Jars concert, I would have to bust a cap in your ass.

[Aaron]

If you did that at an actual Jars concert, I would have to bust a cap in your ass.

I would never do that. 

[ajyouthguy]

It WAS kinda cool hearing a band do a song like "Flood" when it actually had flooded for the past 2 days in Central Arkansas, and was raining pretty steady, if not heavy, and the ground was soaked and oversaturated to the point that i could put my umbrella in the ground and leave it standing straight up and down and walk away, etc.

[murlough23]

It WAS kinda cool hearing a band do a song like "Flood" when it actually had flooded for the past 2 days in Central Arkansas, and was raining pretty steady, if not heavy, and the ground was soaked and oversaturated to the point that i could put my umbrella in the ground and leave it standing straight up and down and walk away, etc.

I'm not objecting to them playing that song. It's just that it's a given. Honestly, why call out a request for it if you know it's guaranteed to be played? To me, that basically communicates, "Hey, we don't give a shit about anything you guys did after the first album. Just play the hits!"

NP: "Humm", The Violet Burning

[murlough23]

I am idiot. I kept forgetting to get Relient K tickets and now it's sold out.

Oh well. I'll go back and see them after the new album is out. It'll be better that way anyhow.

NP: "Helicopters", Falling Up

[ajyouthguy]

I was supposed to see Flyleaf last night at Little Rock's Riverfest, the biggest arts and music festival in the state.  I waited in the rain for 2 hours, only to hear them call off that show and the one to follow it, which I wasn't staying for anyways.  It was frustrating, but at least I hadn't had to pay for anything, and we as a family made the most out of the experience in other ways.

[Ian]

Will hopefully go see Sir Richard Bishop on Friday in Iowa City.  His new CD is really good.  Other than that, The Antlers are the only band I'm probably going to see this summer, although I might check out Maylene & the Sons of Disaster as well.

[NinjaRob17]

although I might check out Maylene & the Sons of Disaster as well.

I saw them in concert last September. Fun times.

[murlough23]

My wife and I made the last minute decision to see Katie Herzig at the Hotel Cafe tonight. Hopefully it's worth the effort to drive out to Hollywood on a weeknight. We could have seen her at other L.A. area gigs this weekend, but she was opening for someone else and I'd really like to see her do as close to a full set as time allows. (Though I would have gladly caught her opening for Vienna Teng, had that tour made it out this way.)

More details will be posted after the concert...

NP: "Songbird", Katie Herzig

[murlough23]

(Though I would have gladly caught her opening for Vienna Teng, had that tour made it out this way.)

Looks like the joke's on me. Katie was actually opening for Vienna Teng tonight, despite the rest of their tour together being an East Coast thing. Why it wasn't listed on Katie's website, I have no idea, but that was a helluva surprise once we arrived at the venue!

Anyway, even if Vienna hadn't been there, Katie's set provided plenty to gush about. It was her and an all-girl band... Katie on acoustic, one gal pal on electric, and another on cello. The three harmonized beautifully and Katie's delectable voice filled the small venue with ease. You can tell from Katie's music that she is a playful soul, and I expected, this was reflected perfectly in her live show, from the "fake trumpet solo" during "Forevermore" to the (presumably) older song "Hey Na Na", which sounded more like a dance/pop sort of thing than one could expect to get away with in a nightclub/coffeehouse type of venue. She offered a handful of other tracks from Apple Tree as well as a few new ones, and when asking for requests to determine the final song, it came down to "Hologram" vs. "How the West Was Won". (I was one of the folks who shouted for "Hologram", and it won, since the vote came down to a personal friend of Katie's in the audience who was celebrating a birthday that day.)

Oh, and Vienna came on stage to sing and play piano with her during "Wish You Well", which greatly increased my appreciation for what I thought was one of the lesser songs on Katie's album. Katie has now sung with Vienna Teng and Jars of Clay, thereby reducing the degrees of separation between my two favorite artists to 2.

Now for Vienna's set... it had a number of the same songs from when I saw her two months ago, but for most of the set it was Vienna solo, joined for two songs by a "professor" who contributed accordion and clarinet. She had her looping device, and in addition to its expected use for audience-contributed BGV's on "Gravity" and the entirety of "The Last Snowfall" looped on her own, she also used it to rebuild "1Br/1Ba" from the ground up, rhythm and BGV's and all, save for the afoermentioned clarinet, which got in a hell of a solo. The set was heavy on Dreaming Through the Noise, which I can't complain about since it's my favorite Vienna album, rounded out by tracks from her new disc and one oldie. Excellent set as always - I may prefer her with a full band, but seeing her solo took me back to the good old days when Waking Hour was still the only thing I had of hers to treasure.

The wife was a trooper - she was expecting a 1-hour concert starting at 8 instead of a 2-hour concert starting at 9. Thankfully it was someone she really liked (plus she missed Vienna when I went two months ago due to school), so she hung in there. But she has to get up at 6:30 tomorrow - OUCH. She thanked me for a good date, so thankfully I'm not in the doghouse for insisting we stick around until the end. (Seriously, she almost nodded off during "Recessional". Beautiful as the performance was, I can't say that I blame her.)

[plvarona]

Believe it or not, I actually saw someone worth noting at last weekend's 4th of July festivities in New Orleans.  One of the bands that played was Amanda Shaw & The Cute Guys, a Cajun band led by an 18-year old violinist.  She is quite talented too, as she was knocking out fast passages like they were nothing.  Shoot, I would even have been impressed at half the speed she was playing!  On top of that, Amanda has lots of energy, pretty good stage presence, and also plays to the crowd quite well.  As for their set, it was a mix of originals and covers.  The covers were pretty diverse too, ranging from the expected "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" (made famous by the Charlie Daniels Band) to the out-of-left-field cover of The Clash's "Should I Stay or Should I Go?"  As for the originals, I know they definitely played a few songs from Amanda's label debut CD.  So overall, they were definitely a lot better than I expected, especially given the event they were playing.

[Ian]

The Antlers on Friday!

[Ian]

^This was actually last night.  I was one of about 15 people in attendance.  I thought they were a bit more popular than that, but oh well, made it easy for me to meet the band.  Really good concert though, much better than you would expect from their sound.

[Aaron]

^This was actually last night.  I was one of about 15 people in attendance.  I thought they were a bit more popular than that, but oh well, made it easy for me to meet the band.  Really good concert though, much better than you would expect from their sound.

15 people? dang.

[Ian]

Yeah, there were literally only 5 people for the opening act.  The second band must have been local, because probably 40 showed up for them.  Couldn't believe they all left, they missed a pretty stunning performance.  My only gripe with The Antlers is that they didn't play "Sylvia", but the near 30 minute version of "Bear" more than made up for it.  Yup, 30 minutes, and not one of those moments was I close to being bored.

[plvarona]

I just saw Switchfoot perform at Blue Bayou / Dixie Landin' amusement park earlier tonight.  Overall, they did a good job, even if it wasn't the best I've seen them.  On the plus side, I did get to hear two new songs, and as I've stated earlier, I like hearing songs I've never heard live before.  However, other than those two new songs, the set list was pretty much the same one from the last few times I saw them live (except they added a cover of Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down", and took out "American Dream.")  In retrospect, it might have been a better idea to a wait until after their new album came out before seeing them again, but at the same time, Baton Rouge isn't exactly a concert hot spot, so there was no guarantee they would be coming back this way after the album released.

As for the two new songs, both of them were quite heavy.  Fortunately, both went over very well in a live setting.  "Mess of Me" sounds like its in the same vein as "Ammunition" and "Politicians" with a fast pace, heavy sound and a repetitive chorus.  I liked their other new song, "The Sound", the better of the two.  That one actually had a vibe similar to Led Zepplin's "Immigrant Song."  I'd say I have a positive initial impression of both songs.

So overall, I'd say this was a good show, but not "Concert of the Year" material.

[murlough23]

(except they added a cover of Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down", and took out "American Dream.")

Ah. So no stupid long-ass pause. That's an improvement.

[murlough23]

Saw Jars of Clay tonight. I was wondering what the band would sound like playing their new stuff from The Long Fall Back to Earth, a mostly keyboard-dominated album, and after tonight, I still have to wonder. They played plenty of songs from Long Fall, but Charlie Lowell was absent from the band, with his wife due to give birth any day now, which I'd say is about the best excuse a band could have for being short a core member. Dan filled in on the keyboards for crucial parts like "The Long Fall" intro before "Weapons", the beginning of "Safe to Land", and even some keyboard soloing after a generous electric guitar solo during "Frail". (Yeah, "Frail". They actually acknowledged the existence of Much Afraid... and played a track from it that I'd never seen them play live before! The mind, it boggles.) Aside from that, the lack of keyboards did create a bit of a hole in the band's sound, but that really just made live versions of the higher energy stuff from Long Fall resemble the sound of Good Monsters - not as colorful, but more aggressive. Down-tempo stuff like "Boys (Lesson One)" was presented in more of an acoustic format (which I actually liked better that way than on the album), and when keyboard parts were really needed and Dan couldn't play 'em, they were piped in (most glaringly on "Two Hands" - I'd have been fine with skipping that one altogether, except it was called the "Two Hands Tour", so no luck there). They covered the bases admirably, for the most part. They did the best they could with the five folks on stage (three core members plus drums & bass). Due to some monitor problems, the band took a while to find their groove, which made a few of the early songs a bit flat, but it wasn't egregious.

While I did have my beefs with the setlist (no "Hero" or "Scenic Route"? The latter wasn't surprising, but I'd have figured "Hero" for an obvious audience-rouser that would even resonate with the youth group set or the "we liked 'em back when we were in youth group" set), they did play about 2/3 of the new album, plus the first two tracks from Good Monsters, the aforementioned "Frail", and gave a nod to TEH with "I Need You" and "Revolution". (There may come a day when I tire of "I Need You", but I don't give that song the flak that some other JOC fans do. Most focus on its repetitive chorus, but the verses still strike me as profound to me all these years later.) The first album wasn't even acknowledged until they were almost all the way through the main set, including a lengthy down-tempo stretch of mostly new stuff that I could tell had most of the audience scratching their heads. (I don't know how this band puts up with such poor audience support, honestly. Seriously people, if you're going to go to a concert in 2009, you might want to familiarize yourself with the material they recorded in 2009. Just sayin'.) Eventually, it made sense to whip out those old favorites - "Love Song for a Savior" and "Flood" all dressed up in their new clothes as heard on the Closer EP. The main set closed with the triple punch of "Flood", "Dead Man", and "Revolution", and that was just a hell of a good way to build up energy. (One drawback of the new album - much as I do enjoy it - is that none of the "rockers" achieve quite the same level of rhythmic intensity. Maybe "Hero", which they didn't play.)

The encore was puzzling - "Don't Stop" and "Two Hands", and then they called it a night. To me, those just aren't encore-caliber songs. Personal preferences aside (they are two of my least favorites on Long Fall), they struck me more as the kinds of songs you'd use to gradually bring energy back up after the mellower portion of a set, or in the case of "Two Hands", to slip a recognizable hit for the fairweather audience with an instantly familiar hook in there early on. They just aren't the "big finish" kind of songs. People were of course screaming for "Worlds Apart" at this song. I like that they didn't play it - that's two tours in a row now where I've seen the band omit it, and I think that's a wise choice, given how much space it takes up in the setlist. I'm hoping that means it's "retired" and that maybe eventually they'll bring it back at a point when it feels fresh to them again, since it's the kind of song that I think can lose its power if you're forced to play it too much. I actually hope "Love Song" and "Flood" can similarly be placed in the drawer at some point - I love those songs dearly, but it'd be so nice to get a surprise like tonight's "Frail" in place of one of those. I know that doing this is likely to bleed out a good chunk of their audience, but I think that audience could use some whittling down, quite frankly. It'd be nice to go see my favorite band without having to get that constant whiff of "CCM sub-culture" that's just there to hear the most obvious Jesus songs and the one mainstream hit.

Phil Wickham was a lackluster opening act as expected, and of course his girlie voice (I'm being harsh; the guy does have genuine vocal talent) and room- filling amateur guitar delay techniques wowed the simpleton churchy crowd. Seriously, it's like the guy wants to be the acoustic Edge. It's novel for a song or two, then it wears off when you realize that the special effects and vocal acrobatics are the only things separating him from sounding like every other generic worship leader with dull chord progressions and repetitive lyrics. Maybe I shouldn't be so mean. Some of his lyrics had a more tactile, thoughtful bent to them. But it's stuff like repeating "Jesus is alive!" 8 times that gets this crowd excited, not thoughtful observations. So guess what he's gonna learn to gravitate towards over time? It's the crowds that perpetuate a lack of intelligent expression among most of the popular CCM acts of today. (Seriously, these people were bone-headed enough to start clapping to try and create a beat during one of his more intimate songs, and they all started getting off rhythm and I actually felt a little bad for the guy, though it wasn't like he was hurting for audience popularity at that moment) It must have taken a lot of resolve for Jars of Clay to escape it (though even the first-album songs that audiences constantly scream for are rather intelligently written - there it's more an issue of people liking familiarity and shunning change). I guess Phil managed not to suck as much as last time when I saw him open for David Crowder, but I'm still an emphatic non-fan.

[plvarona]

It looks like the Ten Out of Tenn tour is coming back this way in the Fall.  They're mostly touring the East Coast this time, and interestingly enough, they have a mostly new lineup.  (The only holdovers from the Spring tour are Trent Dabbs and K.S. Rhoads.)  Interestingly enough, Joy Williams (the same one who got her start in CCM) is in the lineup this time.  Here's a link to their website, where you can find more information:

http://www.10outoftenn.com/

This has easily been my favorite concert of the year thus far, so I'm definitely interesting in going.

[murlough23]

Interestingly enough, Joy Williams (the same one who got her start in CCM) is in the lineup this time.

She's apparently trying to recast herself as a singer/songwriter. We'll see if it works when she actually puts out an album.

[dgp11776]

She's apparently trying to recast herself as a singer/songwriter. We'll see if it works when she actually puts out an album.

I've heard almost a whole new album from her (4 songs from her EP released this year and 5 songs through Brite Revolution).  She's completely changed her style, and is currently my favorite female singer/songwriter.

[murlough23]

Dude, more concerts are coming up than I can handle. Future of Forestry tomorrow evening, Jennifer Knapp in a few weeks, and then in October, Mute Math and Mae/Deas Vail in the same weekend, and of course U2 later that month! I may not make it to all of these. Only Future of Forestry and U2 are for sure.

[dgp11776]

As usual, the concert gods have been against me this year.  Here are concerts I have missed or won't be able to make it to for one reason or another for the months of July - November:

Emery
Mae
Relient K/Copeland
Mute Math
U2
David Crowder Band
Jars of Clay
Sanctus Real

I may try to make it to shows by The Almost and Family Force 5, but I'll have to see if it's doable.

[murlough23]

Man, it must be pretty bad if FF5 is your consolation prize. I'd cite that as another example of the concert gods being against you.

[dgp11776]

Believe it or not, they're one of the best live bands I've ever seen.  It doesn't translate all that well to CD, but they're a load of fun.