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Viva City from Newcastle, UK. No new shows announced as of yet - look for them to come back to the states in the New Year! They are currently playing in Texas - bringing dance-y electro rock with a hard edge guaranteed to get your ass on the dance floor. If they cant do it - you just might be dead!
Gruff Rhys (Super Furry Animals)
Eleanor Friedberger (Fiery Furnaces)
Rockwood Music Hall
1/13/11
Its a new year which of course means lots of new shows. And its easy to judge a year seeing how the first show was.
Well, aside for the fact that I am not a fan of Rockwood Music Hall (for various reasons), it is a great place to see shows. Its small and intimate and seeing a show with maybe 100 other fans is pretty special.
Gruff Rhys definitely does not disappoint live. On stage was just him, a table and a chair. The tables were covered with records and a tiny keyboard along with a few other things. One of the great things about seeing him live is that he really works with the music. He changes things up and makes it interesting if not becoming totally bizarre.
The first song started out with him just putting on a record which he said was Birds from Finland. And sure enough, it was just birds chirping along. He slips on his guitar and starts with the slower songs. As he said, he needed to get these out of the way. “Science & Fiction” was pretty beautiful with just his vocals, a guitar and birds chirping.
Each song was a bit different with other things he’d add to it. He’d wind up a metronome to keep time and you would just hear the click click as it went back and forth before he’d start a song. He always had some funny things to say and was quite funny. He also played a few songs in Welsh, telling us so kindly what he was singing about.
“Candylion” was a definite highlight to the show. As he told a story about a missing CD, which was also on a broken computer, which led to him playing the song with his own 12″ record. With all things crazy, only the first 15 secs of the song had just the drum beats. So he’d start the song on record, sing his vocals, and then he’d have to lift up the needle and go back to the beginning. It was confusing at best, hilarious as hell, and was creative as all get up.
His use of a kids keyboard that lit up when the keys were touched was quite cool. He tried to originally create a song with ‘Gangstas Paradise’ (one of the pre-programmed beats), but ended up using a different beat. His use of playing with sounds, looping his vocals, changing them up and adding his own things to each – really made his music stand out. If anything, Gruff proved to be a hilarious and humble guy and was just having a great time.
Gruff brought along with him Eleanor Friedberger of Fiery Furnaces, a band from NYC that the Super Furries had previously gone on tour with. I knew nothing of them (aside for the fact she used? to date Alex of Franz Ferdinand). Her music was quite good – it was just her and a guitar. She seemed a bit nervous at first but then quickly warmed up to the crowd. She was totally humble and self-deprecating – telling the crowd how she knew we only wanted Gruff. She played some songs of Fiery Furnaces and then some new song she wrote. It was a really short set – maybe 20 mins, but quite enjoyable. Her songs did have the problem in that they werent very distinguishable. Regardless, she was awesome to watch and had a great voice.
All in all – 2 great people – and 1 great night.
Btw – leaving the venue to finding about 20 police surrounding the building and not letting people out of the other doors was pretty crazy. Still trying to figure out if a drug-bust was going down or will it be another LES venue that has doors temporarily shuttered?
Setlist:
Science & Fiction
Sophie Softly
Shark Ridden Waters
Cryndod Yn Dy Lais (Super Furry Animals B-side)
Lonesome Words
If We Were Words (We Would Rhyme)
The Court of King Arthur
Candylion
Gyrru Gyrru Gyrru
Sensations in the Dark
Cycle of Violence
Rubble Rubble
Gwi Mi Wn
Shark Ridden Waters
The Dandy Warhols
Blue Giant
The Bell House
11/5/10
I must say that it will be really hard to top tonight’s show. An incredible 2 hour set that went through most of their albums (more DROK please) and was high on the fun factor. Zia is managing to look younger as she gets older and is always as cute and nice and friendly as ever. Fathead looked pretty out of it from the moment on stage – him smoking up on stage also added to it – and Courtney and Pete not much had changed.
The set opened with Be In and as always its a great intro to start things up. It was immediately followed by We Used to Be Friends and the crowd was really into it, jumping around, dancing and singing. Im not even sure if the setlist was followed as it seemed so many other songs were played, but its hard to remember it all. Zia was dancing around and shaking like no tomorrow and soon enough she was stripping out of her tights. In all fairness, it was a sauna in there and no doubt I should have done the same.
Some of the highlights included, during Zia’s pee break, Courtney going on about how he doesnt understand what she is saying most the time. After that we had a choice of what we wanted (but since the crowd agreed on choice 1 – no clue what our second choice was) and were treated to an acoustic version of ‘Every Day Should be A Holiday’ complete with a crowd-sing along. Yeehaw! F’ing awesome and it sounds beautiful stripped down.
The other cool things – the Dandys mention of how this was their first show EVER in Brooklyn (its not Park Slope – Blue Giant – we’re in Gowanus). With the crowd yelling for ‘Lou Weed’, we were given a short story about how this is NY and of course theyd play it. It was also interspersed in the song with some anecdote about shopping in a grocery store, buying vegetables and seeing Lou Reed 🙂 Around this time Pete and Fathead couldnt stop laughing as the story got more and more involved and who knew where Courtney was going.
The band sounds as tight as ever and still seem to love touring as much as they ever have. Its great to see them all get into songs like ‘Rave Up’ and get into for about 10 mins long. Its been too long since Ive heard that played and it still sounds as great. Equally great that two members of Blue Giant joined in on the song with some added tambourines and more dancing!
Zia is definitely a bigger part of the band – but it’d be nice for people to stop yelling at her to take her shirt off. Her playing harmonica is a nice touch to some of the songs. The remixed version of a lot of their songs make them sound fresh and new and its a great way to go.
Was glad that I missed the fight that nearly broke out behind me, which apparently was pretty out of control. Also was nice to hear their thoughts on encores – how some bands write 2 encores into their set and its so forced. Naturally there was no encore tonight – when it was done it was done. Its hard to argue with a 2 hour set. In that respect they remind me of the Manic Street Preachers. More bands should take note – or at least dont write every encore into your set list 🙂
Blue Giant were an interesting opener, also from Portland, OR. An alt-country band that had some great harmonies. Some of their songs were quite catchy and they had a nice long 1 hour set. Zia joined in on a few of their last songs and it was nice to see the camaraderie between the bands.
It is their only show in NYC as theyre headed back to the west coast and will rejoin the Dandys when they return. Tomorrow night we will get NY’s Hopewell – and I cannot wait for them!
Set List (which may not be in order) — I cannot remember where Lou Weed or Every Day Should Be A Holiday fit in
Be In
Used to be Friends
Shakin
Junky
Last High
I Love You
Good Morning
New Country
(You Come In) Burned
Its a Fast Driving Rave Up With the Dandy Warhols Sixteen Minutes (maybe 10?)
Trucker
Horse Pills
Solid
Bohemian Like You
Godless
Get Off
Pete Int’l Spaceport/Boys Better
Country Leaver
PRINCE – 5 Purple Days in December went on sale today. The pre-sale tix rather sucked so Im hoping to get some better seats tomorrow (at 10am they go on sale). Looks like December is turning into quite a great month 😀
12/2 Warpaint – $15 @ Music Hall of Williamsburg 12/3 George Clinton & The P-Funk Allstars – $37.50 @ BB Kings 12/3 Freezepop – $10 @ Mercury Lounge 12/4 Body Language – $10 @ Glasslands Gallery 12/4 Jeff Tweedy – $45 @ Bowery Ballroom 12/7 Chief – $13 @ Bowery Ballroom 12/14 Ben Folds – $39.50+ @ The Beacon Theatre 12/14, 15, 17 Prince – $20.10 @ IZOD Center 12/16 Fran Healy (Travis) – $30 @ Bowery Ballroom 12/17 Bear Hands – $13 @ Bowery Ballroom 12/17 Steve Mason (Beta Band) – $15 @ Mercury Lounge 12/18, 29 Prince – $20.10+ @ Madison Square Garden 12/30, 31 Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings $39.50/$55 @ Best Buy Theatre 12/31 Guided By Voices – $72 @ Irving Plaza 12/31 The Roots – $85 @ Brooklyn Bowl 1/1 Gogol Bordello – $35 @ Terminal 5 1/4 Cracker/Camper Van Beethoven – $22 @ Highline Ballroom 2/4 Tapes n Tapes – $15 @ Mercury Lounge 2/13 Pat Benatar – $45+ @ Wellmont Theatre 3/18 Crystal Castles – $25 @ Terminal 5
Its not too often that I’m so lucky that I can see a band 3x in a week. Especially one that hails from Newcastle! You know, that place where ale comes from! Viva City was here for CMJ and then is off on a small tour throughout the U.S. Currently they’re playing somewhere in Texas. Luckily for all of us, early next year this 4-some from the UK will be on this side of the pond.
I discovered Viva City when listening to the plethora of bands that were here for CMJ. Not many stood out, but from the first song I heard – it was HOOK, LINE, SINK! Their electro beats are enough to get anyone on the dance floor and add catchy lyrics and youll be singing along as well. The guitars on most the songs give it a grittier feel adding some edge to something that could have become just another boring keyboard electronic act. Their song ‘Switch’ could be an even better version of Prodigy’s “Smack My Bitch Up” is all that I could think upon hearing it. Its heavy and intense sounding with a pulsating beat that drives the song along. “Hot Wax” is beyond catchy and insanely awesome to hear live. Well – I could say that about a lot of their songs (its always hard to choose a favorite).
Most nights sadly they played to near empty clubs, but at least on most nights there was some dancing. The guys do bring enough energy to each of their shows regardless of crowd size. Trev and Ali dance up a storm on stage and are awesome to watch. Trev is usually glammed up – with glittery make up, black polish and some sorta glittery shirt and dancing like crazy behind the keyboard. He looks the part of rock star but thankfully is quite charming when talking to him. Ali was equally charming and our conversation about SF made me want to spend a few hours with lots of beer chatting the night away.
Cant wait till they come back! Might just be my favorite band of 2010!
Setlist:
Fontana’s – 10/26/2010
(if anyone can fill in proper song titles – itd be most appreciated – no clue on some of their writing 🙂 )
Sound of Youth
Hotwax
C4 (cavalcade?)
Brother
Sleep Together
2 Lazers
Vice Audio Ends
Her Royal Hedonist
Remove Money Maker
Heat It Up
Ends
Some pics from the show. All photos and video by Tear-n Tan! DO NOT USE WITHOUT PERMISSION!
2. Travis music is really really awesome! I sometimes forget how much I really like their music. I’ll dismiss it for a little while but whenever i come back it fits like an old glove and makes me happy.
C. 12 Memories of Urban Bohemia might be the best album title ever (thanks Dandy Warhols – 13 Tales from Urban Bohemia is my favorite album ever, sorry Travis).
4. Andy is awesome! When I met him he immediately said “We’ve met before”. And he was convinced we had met, Im pretty sure we hadnt. Like he said, maybe in a past life and then he said something about a snail. Must be a Scottish thing – Im still perplexed.
d. Fran is really charming. Did I just say charming – I need to add REALLY CHARMING. He gave me a big hug upon leaving and then a huge kiss on the cheek. I think I floated out the door.
E. Fran telling me about the drunken assholes in the very front. It was just random conversation which led to him telling me how obnoxious they were. I had already wanted to throw my beer at them, but Im sad to hear they fucked up his set by singing so loudly and just being pure obnoxious.
2 dudes (if you ever read this) its fucking Fran and Andy’s show, not yours. Youre at Joe’s Pub not some huge club where he cant hear you. He can hear every single f’ing thing now be polite or get the hell out!
(sorry for my rant)
7. Me telling Fran I drank his glass of wine. yes its true- he had a glass of wine on the stage for him. And he left without ever taking a sip. Upon asking their roadie/tech guy for his setlist he also asked if I’d like Fran’s wine. Of course I said yes. And the wine was delicious; and more importantly Fran told me he was glad I drank it.
X. Fran warning Sally and I he might spit into our food. Our table was so close (thats an understatement) to him it was a bit unreal. Maybe he should have spit into my cake, it was way too dry and could have used something to make it more moist 😉
9. Andy disappearing between songs and Fran panicking about what happened to him. This is just so not the stuff that happens at shows. Andy was in the loo and yes he was ok 🙂
Y. Sally (my new friend thanks to Craigslist) is awesome. Aside for buying my dinner as a thank you and for scoring the best table ever, is also super cool. She showed me her picture of her and Ovie and I nearly died. Wait! A hockey fan and Travis fan. For real. She was also at the Manics – Sally scored major bonus points!
Z. Walking home at 2am in Hells Kitchen was surreal The streets were beyond empty and it was eerie and I started wondering if I was in a Zombie movie. I was picturing something like 28 Days later and picturing how they were all going to appear and they werent slow zombies they were fast. Needless to say I was f-ed and got the hell home fast 😛
and finally #12. The best memory ever was that this was easily my favorite show of this year and probably would rank easily in my top 10.
The slideshow, the pictures, the maps and the picture of his adorable boy really made them human. They were real people at that moment and not these huge rockstars. And it told the story of the music of Travis and how so much of it came about. And I just love the stories of him going to the cinema as a kid with his granddad and seeing Bad Lieutenant. Some things Ill just never forget.
And Im so making a sign next time they come here saying ‘S(w)ing’. It’d be awesome. And a few people would totally understand where it came from.
The first night of CMJ was almost a failure. Thankfully some friends of mine who get off of work earlier managed to get a great place in line. Unfortunately, so many people werent able to get in. The great thing about this was once you were inside, it wasnt painfully crowded. There was so much alcohol (thank you 42below!) flowing. Better yet, they created their own drink concoctions which were beyond potent. The vodka was insanely delicious but the redbull combination was enough to do anyone in. Oh and free food all night long! All in all – easily the best CMJ showcase I attended (and it didn’t hurt that it was free). 🙂
Now – lets get to why we’re all really reading this. The music. New Zealand never disappoints when it comes to bringing in bands. Think: Cut Off Your Hands. And this year, there were a lot of great bands from there.
First up at the ridiculously early hour of 6:30pm was Surf City. They were beyond insanely hyped and were playing everywhere at CMJ. I have to say it was unreal how many shows they had. Unfortunately for the band, their first night they had a lot of sound issues. Vocals were non-existent and everything was so insanely loud and muddy. It just sounded like 30 mins worth of noise and it was not pleasant. (not to fret – I saw them Wed night too and they killed it!).
Motocade was up next and they were the band that I was really looking forward to. Very catchy hooks and that oh-so familiar britpop sound had me really excited. And they were good and catchy and the lead singer was charming. They were fun. I would definitely see them again.
At this point, with plenty of drinking going on, it was a great time to have Bang Bang Eche come on. Hard to believe that the band is comprised of what seems to be teenagers. I cant imagine they’re more than 17 years. But didnt matter. They played their hearts out and were jumping around all over the place, into the crowd and really had the energy. A sort of synthy-electro sound with lots and lots of keyboards and guitars. Nice to see the guys of Die Die Die in the crowd supporting them.
Ive decided that Kingston is my new Electric Touch. Indie-power-pop music at its finest. A lead singer that is very charismatic and has the personality and looks to engage everyone. All the women wanted to be near him and touching him. Their music is very catchy and will have everyone dancing along in no time. The lead singer managed to climb up on top of nearly everything from the bar to the speakers and even did some crowd surfing. Very cool and not something you see all the time. With songs like “You Want It”, youll definitely be singing along in no time…. You want it, You got it! Kinda sums them up. Theyre playing at Pianos in a week or so, so dont miss them. Will be a fun show if anything.
Last up for the night was Die! Die! Die! They definitely continued on where Kingston left off, in a total different direction. Their music is definitely not nearly as pop-sounding as Kingston’s. But their brand of electro-experimental-punk definitely had people moving and jumping. Soon enough a pseudo-mosh pit broke out featuring a lot of Bang Bang Eche. Lots of keyboards, heavy guitars and nearly shouting for vocals was a great way to end the night. Everyone was involved and walked out a sweaty mess.
I then ventured onwards to The Suffolk and had regrets about my last vodka/redbull. I was beyond wired and jittery and it was an awful combination. I was so irate with The Suffolk people who pretty much knew nothing when they told me The Lovemakers was not going to be free. So I ended up taking me and my buzz home for the night.
By far the New Zealand showcase killed it! Overall it was the best group of bands that actually remotely sounded like they should be on one bill. Most other shows were so many random bands it was easy to walk out after just a few.
The Long Count – a multimedia piece by Aaron & Bryce Dessner (of The National) and artist Matthew Ritchie at BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.
Oddly enough – a preview for the movie 2012 came up on my television. Ironic in the sense that its based on this premise that the Mayan calendar ends at 2012 and theres a lot of speculation what will happen at the end of the world.
And this is part of the idea behind The Long Count. The Long Count is based on a narrative poem titled the Popol Vuh about the hero twins and how the Long Count began. Its hard to explain, and I remember learning about this when studying Latin American Studies in college. It was long ago but this still makes sense in its own way.
This combines the World Series of baseball (1975/1976 – the year the Dessners were born) when the Reds vs Yankees were playing in the playoffs. Interestingly, the Yankees are playing again right now. The Mayan ball game was also a huge part of life although the losing team played a far higher price (beheadings were all too common). The beheading is also how the twins were born.
All of this leads to the idea of time and space and the way they believed in time and the power of the Sun/Moon and the earth and the way cycles work. And the idea of twins play heavily into this – they were very revered.
In this case, one set of twins, the Dessners, inspired another more famous set of twins (the Deals) to all come together and to work on this performance piece. What transpires has to be the most innovative show Ive seen in a long time. Easily my favorite show of this year. The art is massive and dark and invokes feelings of blood and earth and cycles. Things come, go, and move onward. Then you add the lovely Shara Worden whose voice was made for this and she invokes the goddess Venus as she sings about the sun and the moon. Her voice is powerful and strong and in the headdress youre moved into another world.
The Deal sisters add a whole nother pow to the show. Kim Deal’s voice is incredible and raw and add the violin pounding of Kelley and kabam! Its intense and the screeching of it hits you hard.
The real treat is the orchestra. Each person is beyond talented and if you read the bios have played with artists like the Arcade Fire. The violins are powerful, the saxophone is intense and the guy in front of me hitting the keys hard of the piano helps take you to this other world.
The music and lyrics are mostly written by the Dessners and its hard not to argue that they might be the most talented guys out there. I was fortunate to get to see them talking with Matthew Ritchie of the making of this art performance. It was interesting the way they came up with the idea and where it was going to go. They are talented guys who have transcended far beyond The National.
All I can really add – if this ever does a worldwide tour, it’d behoove you not to see it. The National are great to see (and Matt does perform one song – and his low voice might have been one of the best voices of the night) but this takes everything to a far greater place. Besides who wouldnt want to see the Deal sisters along with the Dessners together. It was insanely awesome!
10/7/09 – The Manic Street Preachers/Bear Hands – Webster Hall
Its only been 10 years since the lovely Welsh boys were last here. I was lucky enough to have been able to see I did see them 10 years ago at Bimbo’s in San Francisco. But sadly, I couldnt remember much of the show – aside from remembering that they never play encores.
I got there early as I knew I had to be on the far right side of the stage. Thats where one Nicky Wire would be. And Nicky Wire is awesome to watch. Unfortunately, due to many people pushing and shoving there was no way in hell Id be anywhere close to him, so I went to the left side of the stage. And with their set up as it was, it felt like I was a mile away from the band.
Thankfully James Dean Bradfield likes to work the stage and was all over the place. Hes like a kid with bundled up energy, jumping all over the place and just really getting into the show. Nicky Wire has impressive scissor kicks and can jump insanely high. The lovely glittering eyeshadow that he was wearing was so fitting.
Their new album was from lyrics written by Richey Edwards. Their new songs sound quite great and Edwards always could come up with the most beautiful lyrics. Id love to believe that hes off in his own world living the perfect beautiful life. I figure one day Ill see him in South America.
They had a great choice in songs and opened with Motorcycle Emptiness. Perfect song to get things going to. Their set had music from all of their albums and the 3some looked as great always (including 2 other people who were on tour with them – a guitarist from Boy Kill Boy?? or Big Country? Im so not sure). It would have been awesome if they had a female vocalist on Little Baby Nothing and Your Love Alone is Not Enough. I so hoped that Nina Persson just might show up. (sadly, she did not).
They promised they’d be back in 2 years and I hope thats not the case. Biggest weakness was the vocals seemed too low. And Id have loved to have had Nicky Wire come close at least a few times.
So, I was lucky enough to get into the show since it was sold out. But I volunteered for Summerstage, so I had an easy in. Of course, it really meant that I was working at the show. So I got there early and got to hear Passion Pit doing their soundcheck. They were already sounding great. A quick text to Andrew (one of the guys who works for them, and is also a friend of mine) to let him know how it sounded.
I was assigned to the ‘mobility -impaired’ section as its now called which is right in the front of the stage area on the right hand side. Great spot with a great view and also right next to the VIP section.
Passion Pit played a good set. I cant say I had the same feeling after seeing them in Chicago, but they were enjoyable. But Im a big believer in the fact that they need to just play their faster/upbeat stuff in concert, as their slower stuff doesnt translate as well. And honestly, I can only take so much falsetto. But their catchy songs do work live and the crowd was really living it up.
Phoenix would come on next. And me, being totally forgetful, couldnt understand why my friends were getting all excited. And behind me was Simon Pegg, Kirsten Dunst and Sophia Coppola (wife of Thomas Mars – lead singer of Phoenix). How on earth I didnt think for 2 secs she might show up, I dont know. But sure enough they were all there leaning up against the same fence I was. They seemed friendly enough, but you could tell they did not want to be bothered. And Simon nearly had to jump in and help me do security and get some guys out of the area.
Anyway, after all my celebrity gawking, Phoenix finally hit the stage. And the boys from France never disappoint. Their new stuff sounds great live and starting off with Lisztomania is a great choice getting the crowd really involved in their show. They played stuff from each of their albums, and it was really great to be hearing ‘Funky Squaredance’, although for all I know they play it at all of their shows. But its always a great song – Im just amazed how many people dont know it. Their encore had some of their other hits with Everything is Everything and If I Ever Feel Better. Thomas even did some songs by himself which was a nice change. Overall, they sounded great and what an awesome way to end the summer. Out in the park with gorgeous weather and the boys of Phoenix.
Ramblings of a Redhead Music Snob 